God Eye True Master's Ambush

Shi Yan, now only the upper half of his body remaining, lay sprawled on the bridge of the Holy Sound Ship. As for the severed lower half, under his control, it dissolved into divine power and dispersed.

Of course, that portion of divine power could never return to the True God Heart.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

Divine power surged within his body, and Shi Yan's form quickly repaired itself. Having barely withstood a single blow, he had already consumed two-tenths of his divine power.

Yet Shi Yan showed no sign of panic; instead, he burst into laughter.

In the distance, the Blood Orchid Ancestor's face twisted with shock and fury. Though she immediately tried to entangle Shi Yan again with her vines, she was a step too late.

Aboard the Holy Sound Ship, Shi Yan launched attack after attack, his Space-Time Secret Technique already pushed to its absolute limit. The Blood Orchid Ancestor's vines could no longer encircle him as they had before.

"Whoosh!"

As the distance between Shi Yan and the Blood Orchid Ancestor grew wider, her interference with him became increasingly negligible.

The Holy Sound Ship accelerated continuously, nearing a hundred thousand times the speed of light.

"Hahahaha... Having shaken off this Blood Orchid Ancestor, I won't have to flee into the Universe Boat Core Region unprepared." Shi Yan's heart was filled with exhilaration.

The Blood Orchid Ancestor's vines grew ever more frantic, yet they could not cross the thunderous threshold. As time passed, she became increasingly strained.

"At this distance, I should be able to teleport... I just need to fly out of the Forest of Decay."

Shi Yan slammed a palm strike back, repelling a mass of vines that coiled toward him, while simultaneously monitoring the surrounding space-time and sensing the fluctuations in space. He judged that the Blood Orchid Ancestor's interference could no longer prevent his teleportation.

However, the Forest of Decay was one of the most perilous locations deep within the Inner Domain of the Universe Boat. Within the range permeated by its aura of decay, teleportation was also impossible.

Of course, for Shi Yan, who had accelerated to his limit, flying out of the Forest of Decay would not take long.

Before long, the boundary of the Forest of Decay came into Shi Yan's line of sight. Beyond it lay a vast number of Void Wormholes—the passages leading to the Universe Boat Core Region.

The positions connected by the wormholes were fixed and also one-way. Once one entered, the only way back out was to fly slowly.

The intelligence on the Core Region corresponding to each wormhole had been explored by True Gods one after another, at great risk.

Throughout history, there had been True Gods who were forever lost in the Universe Boat Core Region—either their Miniature Universes suddenly decayed one day, or no one ever saw them again until the end of their three Reincarnation Era lifespans.

Thus, for any race, the maps and intelligence of the Three Great Forbidden Lands' cores were absolute secrets.

This was also why Shi Yan had never bothered to haggle with the races of the Primal Universe over Core Region intelligence.

"Shiiing!"

The Silver Flying Ship swept past the boundary of the Forest of Decay and entered the edge of the Universe Boat Core.

"Teleport!"

Shi Yan manipulated the spatial fluctuations, preparing to teleport away directly.

But just then, he faintly heard a hymn echoing at his ears, as if countless worshippers were praising the deity they believed in.

"All beings sing praise, the Eternal Kingdom!"

The sacred voice came from afar. Shi Yan turned his head and saw an existence with a God Eye phantom behind him standing calmly outside a towering Divine Temple, watching him.

Above the majestic temple floated a white orb like a sun, its holy light shining in all directions, and faint hymns emerged from within it.

The next moment, Shi Yan felt his control over his surroundings slipping away, and his Space-Time Domain was collapsing.

Since breaking through to True God, this was the first time Shi Yan had been completely suppressed by another in terms of domain.

The twisted space-time was smoothed out, the raging lightning was dispelled, as if all power was utterly purified under that holy light.

"..."

Shi Yan stared fixedly at the being standing outside the temple: "God Eye True Master..."

Indeed, this man was the current overlord of the Universe Ocean, a Ninth Order True God wielding three Supreme True Treasures—the God Eye True Master.

Shi Yan's domain was of Eighth Order power, while the God Eye True Master, using the domain-type Supreme True Treasure "Eternal World" at the Eighth Order realm, unleashed a domain of Ninth Order might. Only thus could he easily shatter Shi Yan's domain.

"Time Beast God, for a Natural Beast God to become a Universe Supreme Being, and to reach the Eighth Order without a Supreme True Treasure, is truly remarkable. Even I, in my time in the Primal Universe, was far inferior to you."

The God Eye True Master's gaze was indifferent. Riding the Eternal Palace, he flew toward Shi Yan and continued, "But now that you've run into me, your fate ends here."

The God Eye True Master was supremely confident. Before him, Shi Yan had absolutely no chance of escape.

Shi Yan's expression also grew grave. The God Eye True Master was not someone the Blood Orchid Ancestor could compare to. This was a super existence who had only been at a disadvantage before the Original Ancestor.

"God Eye True Master... Your God Eye Race seeks to transcend reincarnation. You will find no answers from me." Shi Yan met the God Eye True Master's gaze and spoke.

"Whether there are answers or not, my God Eye Race will explore them ourselves. The Time Beast God need not trouble himself."

At the mention of reincarnation, a shadow flickered in the God Eye True Master's eyes.

Seeing this, Shi Yan laughed, a laugh full of mockery: "God Eye True Master, I thought that as the strongest of your Reincarnation Era, you were someone worth noting. But now I see—you are nothing but bones in a grave. For a True God to transcend, one must rely on one's own might. External objects are aids, but if you place all your hope in them, transcending reincarnation is nothing but a dream."

Shi Yan's words fully ignited the God Eye True Master's fury: "Silence! My God Eye Race is destined to exist eternally! As for you, Time Beast God, today is your day of death!"

A halo lit up behind the God Eye True Master's head, and within the halo, a massive God Eye shimmered with golden light.

"Go!"

A gleaming golden ethereal sword flew out from the God Eye, rapidly stabbing toward Shi Yan. Before Shi Yan could react, it plunged directly into his body.

As an existence capable of withstanding the Tenth Order soul attack of the Original Ancestor head-on, the God Eye True Master's soul attacks were equally formidable.

"Heart Like, Bright Mirror Platform."

Shi Yan silently recited, the secret patterns of the Clear Heart Mirror already pushed to their limit. Combined with his True God-limit will, his Voidification divine power transformed within his sea of consciousness into countless illusory mirrors.

And at the end of those countless illusory mirrors, a single real bronze mirror floated quietly, its surface reflecting a mottled heart—Shi Yan's True God Heart, where his soul also lay hidden.

"Puchi! Puchi!"

The Illusion Golden Sword easily pierced through mirror after mirror projection, its own power steadily diminishing. By the time it had about twenty percent of its original might left, the golden sword collided head-on with the Clear Heart Mirror.

The Clear Heart Mirror trembled, its surface surging with Voidification divine power. This level of True God-on-True God combat had long surpassed the mirror's limits; it was Shi Yan's Voidification divine power propping it up, or else the Clear Heart Mirror would have been breached long ago.

"Boom!"

The Illusion Golden Sword finally exhausted its divine power and shattered. Shi Yan's face was somewhat pale: "As expected of a Ninth Order soul attack. If my will hadn't reached the True God limit, taking this one wouldn't have been easy."

Though the God Eye True Master was powerful, his will was merely at the entry level of the Void Level—probably a notch below even Star Lord Beichi. And his massive Light Ring Supreme Treasure wasn't a treasure specializing in soul illusions, so its amplification of soul attacks was limited.

"To withstand a full-force soul attack from me—there aren't many in the entire Universe Ocean who could manage it. Time Beast God, you should be proud." The God Eye True Master's gaze was icy.

But Shi Yan paid him no heed, only speaking softly: "Space-Time, Condense!"

At his command, the Space-Time Domain, which had been on the verge of collapsing, rapidly condensed to within less than one light-year around Shi Yan. The holy light pursued relentlessly, trying to completely dispel his domain.

Yet the domain, now condensed to less than one percent of its original range, seemed far more stable than before. The Eternal World found it unexpectedly difficult to invade.

Shi Yan, meanwhile, kept his eyes locked on the God Eye True Master, his mouth moving soundlessly: "Next time we meet, I'll repay you twofold."

With that, taking advantage of the moment when the opponent's domain couldn't suppress him, Shi Yan turned into a blur and shot toward the wormhole ahead.

"God Eye True Master! Stop him!"

Blood Orchid Ancestor, whom Shi Yan had shaken off, finally came into view.

"Do I need you to tell me?!"

The God Eye True Master was deeply shocked. He hadn't expected Shi Yan to wield his domain to such a degree.

Generally, when experts used a domain treasure—unless they fully condensed it into a weapon form—the power was roughly the same regardless of how wide it spread.

Clearly, there was still a gap in application between a self-mastered domain technique and an externally driven domain treasure.

"Eternal True God, Rise!"

The majestic Divine Temple emitted a hazy white light that shimmered all around it. Faintly, within the white light, countless phantom divine beasts appeared, bowing and worshiping toward the temple at the center.

"True God! True God..."

The chanting voices faintly battered Shi Yan's soul. If he were a weaker True God, he might have been affected.

But for Shi Yan, whose will had reached the True God limit, even the God Eye True Master's full-power soul attack couldn't do anything to him—a little background noise was nothing.

The God Eye True Master clearly hadn't expected these petty tricks to work. Endless white light rapidly gathered toward the Divine Temple, countless divine beast phantoms merging into it, as if sacrificing themselves to empower some great existence.

Ancient and mysterious secret patterns spread around the temple—not the patterns of the treasure temple itself, but some technique the God Eye True Master personally commanded.

The Supreme True Treasure "Eternal Palace" was merely a vessel for this move.

"Roar!"

As the light solidified, a massive beast appeared in midair—six claws, three heads, and three tails sprouting from its back.

The beast barely flicked its tail, and it felt as if the entire world swayed with it.

The same technique, when performed by the God Eye True Master—the strongest of the God Eye Race and the true inheritor of the ancient legacy they had stumbled upon—surpassed the combined might of any two other True Masters of the God Eye Race.

If he were the core, with all seven True Masters striking together, the power would be even more absurd.

But the God Eye True Master was confident: even acting alone, Shi Yan absolutely couldn't withstand this blow.

"Eternal True God, Kill!"

The God Eye True Master's voice rang out, dripping with murderous intent.

"Roar!"

The beast lunged at Shi Yan. The moment he was locked onto, Shi Yan felt his divine power screaming throughout his body, warning him of the danger.