Tower of Heaven, Divinity Riots!

"Holding the sun and moon in my hand, plucking the stars, there is no one in this world like me!"

Seeing the gray light appear, Long Yaochen could no longer concern himself with the reaction of Ma Xiaotao. He mobilized his entire soul power, surging it through his meridians like a torrential river, and within a few short seconds, a dense aura of sanctity and light erupted!

He could not remember the last time he had driven his martial soul in such a manner. Although Ma Xiaotao's evil fire had provided some relief over the past few days, he would still need to rest for several days after returning to recover from this.

However, seeing that mass of gray light heading toward him, it was all worth it...

Meanwhile.

By a stream on the other side of the Star Dou Great Forest.

A young man lay unconscious in a nearby clearing. Beneath his black hair was a slightly delicate face, though it could not hide his somewhat gaunt cheeks.

In front of him, an ice silkworm radiating a pearly white light was twisting its chubby body, still feeling a lingering fear.

"Scared the hell out of Brother! I thought some monster was going to snatch the person away from Brother?

Good thing it was scared off by Brother's aura!

Hmph! You know what's good for you!"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm tilted its head, dancing about triumphantly.

Then, it quickly shrank, condensing into a ball of pearly white light that dove into the young man's chest, slipping right into his brow.

"Yaochen!"

Ma Xiaotao exclaimed, looking at Long Yaochen, who was sitting cross-legged and focusing his mind, with a face full of worry.

That gray light from just a moment ago had entered Long Yaochen's body before even she, a Soul Emperor, could react.

She had no idea if this was the "fated opportunity" he had spoken of.

At this very moment, within Long Yaochen's spiritual sea, he was staring intently at the gray light.

If he took a single wrong step with this "fated opportunity," he would be plunged into an abyss of no return.

But for the most important opportunity of this era, and for the very foundation of his life, he had to gamble!

In Long Yaochen's spiritual sea stood a Tower of Heaven, and "Sanctity, Light, and Fire" were the three pillars supporting it.

It was precisely because the "Sanctity" and "Light" pillars were too strong that the tower had gradually begun to tilt.

By absorbing Ma Xiaotao's evil fire over the past few days, the pillar representing "Fire" had been significantly strengthened, allowing the tilting Tower of Heaven to barely straighten itself out a little.

But the moment the gray light entered his body, that fragile balance was instantly shattered!

The pure aura of light, which was almost equivalent to the might of a demigod, was like pouring oil onto a fire for his martial soul.

In an instant, the entire Tower of Heaven began to tilt rapidly.

And the golden light representing absolute divinity surged violently within Long Yaochen's spiritual sea!

The tower was about to collapse...

"Damn it..."

Long Yaochen's gaze sank. This was not the first time such a thing had happened, but this time, Long Xiaoyao was not by his side.

He could clearly perceive that the temperature of his entire body was beginning to fade, and his human emotions were being frantically squeezed and ground away, like a lonely boat in the ocean about to be completely swallowed by surging waves.

A cold golden light occupied his entire field of vision, his consciousness began to blur, and the sound of murmurs chanting "Praise the Sun" began to echo in his ears.

Did I lose the gamble...?

Having been a beast of burden in my past life, am I to meet such an end in this one too?!

No!

I am not reconciled!

A nameless fire ignited in the deepest part of Long Yaochen's heart, like a pair of invisible hands pulling him back just as he was falling into the abyss!

In that very instant, the gray light, which had been gradually fading, suddenly burst forth with a blinding radiance.

"Child, I shall assist you!"

After the gray light let out a soft sigh, the blinding radiance no longer felt even a shred of warmth.

Only infinite... death remained!

The vast, sea-like aura of death was not a whit inferior to the original aura of light, and within the spiritual sea, it seemed to transform into a black-robed deity whose face could not be seen.

BOOM--!

The deity reached out and steadied the collapsing Tower of Heaven in mid-air, and then, under the constant erosion of the death aura, the Tower of Heaven was straightened bit by bit. The spiritual sea, which had been on the verge of being completely occupied by the golden light of divinity, was also helped by the continuous, towering death aura to constantly compress and extinguish the golden light in return!

Just before the Tower of Heaven was completely straightened, the remnant soul of Electrolux could no longer withstand such a massive consumption.

The death aura filling the sky began to recede, and the golden light of divinity reclaimed some territory.

Some of the remaining death aura did not dissipate completely, but instead formed a gray pillar at the base of the tower, flickering in and out of existence as it propped itself up beside the "Fire" pillar.

At this moment, the stability of his spiritual sea was far beyond what it had ever been before!

Long Yaochen let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, followed by a surge of wild joy.

He had won the gamble!

It was just as he had estimated.

This was also thanks to the inspiration he had gained from that little accident before.

Back then, Long Xiaoyao had searched the entire continent but could not find a flame that matched the quality of his martial soul.

It wasn't until he swallowed his pride to beg for the Bright Phoenix fire from Ye Xishui that he realized the flame, which contained an aura of light, acted like a lethal poison to him, nearly causing him to be instantly devoured by the surging divinity.

Fortunately, Long Xiaoyao had used all his might to barely suppress it.

A blessing in disguise, it not only restored much of his state but also caused his spiritual power to skyrocket several times over.

Later, the master and disciple discovered that as long as they used opposing forces to suppress the "divine" and "light" fulcrums, the imbalance in his martial soul core could naturally be largely resolved.

At the same time, positive forces would only exacerbate the severity of the problem.

This was also the reason why Long Yaochen had never let the old man go looking for immortal herbs, and why he had been avoiding the Golden Tree.

Otherwise, one careless move could have killed him with an overdose of energy.

Of course, this method of treating the symptoms but not the root cause could not last long.

They couldn't have Long Xiaoyao expend so much effort to suppress it every single time, and as Long Yaochen's soul power grew stronger, the intensity of the divine suppression also doubled.

Thus, finding a way to both suppress and support the flame became the direction they had been researching.

Long Xiaoyao's idea was naturally Ma Xiaotao. Long Yaochen felt that while Ma Xiaotao was certainly important, capable of helping him increase his flame intensity while suppressing the divine light fulcrum...

But... it wasn't enough!

A mere Evil Fire Phoenix could not match the quality of his quasi-god-level martial soul.

Long Yaochen needed someone who could follow him at all times and possessed an extremely pure dark element.

And that person—was the Undead Scourge, Electrolux!

"Cough, cough! Ha—ha!"

As his consciousness returned to reality, Long Yaochen coughed violently and began to gasp for air, like a drowning man who had finally surfaced.

From humanity to divinity, and then being forcibly dragged back to humanity by death energy, this roller coaster of life and death had left him drenched in sweat.

Seeing him wake up, Ma Xiaotao hurriedly knelt before him. The once arrogant inner court genius now asked in a voice filled with worry:

"Are, are you okay?"

With that, she handed him a handkerchief she carried with her, which still held her unique, faint fragrance.

Feeling his heart pounding wildly, Long Yaochen's eyes were filled with joy.

The gray, cold chill that had once filled his world had nearly dissipated, and everything around him seemed to have come alive.

Including the Ma Xiaotao before him, who was worried for his sake.

A long-lost impulse surged in his heart. Instead of taking the handkerchief, he suddenly grabbed Ma Xiaotao's wrist.

Before Ma Xiaotao could cry out in surprise, he pulled her hard, bringing their noses nearly together, their warm breaths seemingly intertwining in that moment.

"So worried about me?"

Long Yaochen stared into her slightly flustered, pale pink eyes and grinned, his tone filled with teasing:

"Are you afraid of becoming a widow before we're even married?"

Ma Xiaotao's cheeks turned visibly red in an instant.

Looking at everything vivid and alive before him, Long Yaochen threw his head back and let out a wild, unrestrained laugh.

The pearl had been covered in dust for twelve years, but today, the clouds had parted to reveal the sun!