Silver-Mercury Falls, Nebula Reveals the Divine Path

Several illusory figures hovered around Sun Yong, appearing and disappearing intermittently. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that they were Zhan Fang and the others. The resentment in the illusory figures had completely vanished, replaced by a sense of relief and fulfillment.

These are merely obsessions; their very essence and spirit have long since burned away.

Looking at these figures, Qiu Yan nodded. Under the reluctant gazes of Zhan Cheng and Zhan Zhen, he waved his sleeve, creating a gentle breeze that carried away the many figures, causing them to disappear completely from the Scholar Forest.

"Over the countless years, how many souls have vanished into the Scholar Forest, silent and without a trace, perhaps even unable to enter the underworld..."

Scholar Forest is a world of consciousness, where thoughts and ideas are everywhere. Those who enter Shilin exist as souls, which means they expose their own thoughts to the outside world. If there is no barrier, the thoughts, ideas, and ideas from the outside world can easily invade them.

Every person who lives among Scholar Forest is constantly influenced by external thoughts!

What blocks the spread of influence is one's own Literary Thought.

For a soul to gain a foothold in the Scholar Forest, it must be protected by Literary Thought and have its own soul stabilized. Qiu Yan had a general understanding of this, and he also understood why Prince Yan had tried to seize someone else's Literary Thought.

"Without the protection of Literary Thought inspiration, once you enter the Scholar Forest, your soul will soon be corrupted by their thoughts, assimilated by the world, and stagnant here. What will happen next is not yet clear, but coming from the Mortal Realm and finding it difficult to return is definitely not a good thing."

At this moment, the floor of the hall had returned to normal. As the Silver Mercury Divine Dragon collapsed, specks of Silver-Mercury fell down like a rainstorm. Each drop landed on the ground, immediately forming a ball, bouncing around a few times, and then disappearing into the ground.

Faced with this situation, the people on the ground hurriedly took cover. Fortunately, the area covered by the Silver-Mercury rain was limited, only covering a small part of the hall, leaving space for the scholars to take shelter.

Tang Qing, who had just made his move, now composed himself and his Divine Soul flew away, hiding in a corner of the hall.

In mid-air, Sun Yong's soul trembled violently, and his soul body underwent significant changes. The Silver-Mercury that had merged with his soul further invaded, but it wasn't merging equally; instead, it was devouring his soul body, attempting to usurp and assimilate it!

"Sun Yong himself doesn't produce Literary Thought. He steals the Literary Thought of others. Such stolen Literary Thought is like a tree without roots; once it's corrupted by the Scholar Forest' desires, it's consumed extremely quickly! No wonder Prince Yan was so ruthless back then, almost openly and blatantly seizing it..."

Without the protection of his Literary Thought, Sun Yong's soul was like a drowning person, rapidly corrupted by Silver-Mercury. His senses became hazy, and his perception of the outside world became almost zero!

"Young Master..."

Seeing this, Zhou Meng and Huang Xun disregarded the turmoil in their souls and forcibly took flight. They protected Sun Yong, diverting their Literary Thought to replenish Sun Yong's energy reserves and stimulating their own will to suppress the expansion of the Silver-Mercury, striving to prevent Sun Yong's soul from being destroyed.

Qiu Yan had no intention of intervening. As the saying goes, those involved are often blinded by their own interests. As Sun Yong's subjects, Zhou and Huang's first thought upon seeing this situation was to save Sun Yong. However, Qiu Yan knew that all of this was in vain.

Sun Yong first merged with the Ore Mother, adorning himself with Silver-Mercury, and then Dragon Qi Manifestation to merge with it.

In this way, his power will increase dramatically, and his control over the hall will also be greatly enhanced. He will have a greater chance of winning when fighting against Qiu Yan, so that he can suppress Qiu Yan and then control Qiu Yan's life and death!

However, when it came to close combat, Qiu Yan did not confront him head-on in terms of strength. Instead, he avoided the strong points and relied on skillful means to directly destroy Sun Yong's foundation in the scholarly world, causing his literary talent to collapse, his soul to be exposed, and his connection with the silver and mercury mine to be completely severed. In this way, Sun Yong's various advantages immediately became his death warrant.

Sun Yong was able to fuse with the Silver-Mercury not because of his own strength, nor because of his understanding of the "Dao" accumulated in the Book Mountain, but because of the arrangements made by his ancestors and the use of mysterious Technique Method.

This kind of manipulation can only be achieved if his own soul is not tainted by Silver-Mercury.

Now that Literary Thought has lost his foothold, Silver-Mercury is no different from anyone else to Sun Yong. In fact, because of the closer connection, it invaded his soul immediately, trying to assimilate and devour Sun Yong, turning him into a part of Silver-Mercury!

This was not something that could be quelled by losing half of one's lifespan. If even one's own soul could not be preserved, how could one suppress Qiu Yan? Therefore, the seemingly fierce attack immediately vanished without a trace and was resolved at its root.

This shared tendency between the soul and mercury will not be quelled by the intervention of the two individuals who have condensed their Literary Heart; at best, it will only delay the process by a few hours.

"This is a classic case of 'harming others ultimately harming oneself.' Sun Yong's current predicament is entirely his own fault. I originally intended to return the way I came and leave the cave, but this man deliberately sent men to rob me!"

Qiu Yan felt no pity for Sun Yong, and would never do anything to forgive and forget.

From beginning to end, it was Sun Yong who was provoking them.

On the other side, through the infusion of Zhou Meng and Huang Xun's will and Literary Thought, as well as the suppression of Silver-Mercury, Sun Yong's consciousness finally regained some clarity, and his collapsing soul showed signs of re-coagulation.

However, its soul had become too mixed with Silver-Mercury, making recovery impossible.

The extremely yin and cold aura is a kind of supplement to the soul, but the Silver-Mercury is also mixed with complex artistic conceptions and insights, which are devastating to the consciousness in the soul. In the end, the soul body can still exist, but the consciousness collapses, which is more miserable than death.

When a person dies, their soul enters the underworld and has the chance to Samsara. However, if the soul remains but consciousness does not, it is merely a shell of a soul, and may even be condemned to eternal damnation.

"Zhou Meng, Huang Xun ..." The soul struggled for a moment, but could not get rid of the Silver-Mercury. Sun Yong opened his mouth to speak, but could not make a sound, and only turned into a weak thought.

"Young Master! Do not be distracted! Once you are distracted, your mind will become hazy, and you will truly lose control of your soul..." Zhou Meng earnestly advised, while continuously pouring his own will and Literary Thought inspiration into Sun Yong's soul.

Huang Xun kept reminding him, "Young Master, you are connected to the palace; you can use your Literary Thought from the mountains to enhance yourself!"

Just then, an aged voice came from above—

"Mountain- Literary Thought? Mountain-borne Literary Thought originally belonged to the Scholar Forest. Even if one were to possess them, it would merely be a transfer from one hand to the other. What use would that be? Other Confucian scholars already possess Literary Thought. After being empowered by mountain-borne Literary Thought, their strength would increase dramatically, but it wouldn't extend their stay. On the contrary, because of their connection with the mountain's will, they would accelerate their assimilation into the Scholar Forest."

A figure descended from the Cloud-Mist Stars, casting two cold, sharp gazes directly at Sun Yong: "And you, Sun Yong, have no foundation to begin with, and now you are almost completely drained of your soul and spirit. Merging with the Literary Thought of the mountains is no different from drinking poison to quench your thirst. In the end, everything you have done is nothing but a mirage."

"Hmm?" Qiu Yan looked in the direction of the sound and found that the Elder Beiming, who had entered the clouds, had reappeared. His aura was weak and his soul shadow was dim, which was very different from before.

Noticing Qiu Yan's gaze, Bei Ming bowed respectfully and said directly, "Now that the Sun Household has been subdued, I implore Young Master Qiu to lend a helping hand and assist me in bringing my young master out. If we are too late..."

He was interrupted by a long laugh before he could finish speaking.

Sun Yong broke free from Zhou Meng and Huang Xun's Literary Thought and flew out. Compared to his previous weakness, he was unusually clear-headed and full of energy. His soul, which was on the verge of collapse, reformed into human form. However, the Silver-Mercury color on his soul spread rapidly and was about to cover his entire soul!

"Oh? Instead of preventing the Silver-Mercury from assimilating into your soul, you're using the essence of the Silver-Mercury to stimulate your soul, maintain the balance between the two, and stay awake. Are you going to burn your bridges and fight to the death?" Qiu Yan narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Don't even think about it. Before, you were able to control the Silver-Mercury because of the isolation provided by the Literary Thought. Now that the Literary Thought are gone, as long as you mobilize the Silver-Mercury, before you even harm anyone, the essence of the Silver-Mercury will enter your soul and break the balance. Then, you'll be overwhelmed by the essence of the Silver-Mercury and completely lose yourself!"

"Young Master!" Zhou Meng and Huang Xun looked worried. Huang Xun gritted his teeth and suddenly said, "Young Master, take my Literary Thought and use it to empower yourself!"

"Jing'er, you..." Zhou Meng looked surprised. Jing'er was Huang Xun's courtesy name.

But before the two could exchange more than a few words, Sun Yong raised his hand to stop them, saying, "You've done enough. Even if you replenish my Literary Thought, I'm still beyond saving..."

At this point, Sun Yong shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's laughable, really. I thought I had everything planned out, but in the end, it was all just wishful thinking. My great-uncle thought that by making the first move here, he could obtain the entire hall, but he never expected that he himself was being used. He thought he was the player, but in the end, he was just a bigger pawn."

As he spoke, he looked up.

Above, clouds drifted and stars twinkled.

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Qiu Yan's heart skipped a beat, and the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger. At the same time, he also had the Unseen sense that his own Fortune was changing, and a little desire arose within him.

On the other side, the Elder Beiming changed color and was about to speak, but before he could utter a word, he was interrupted by a thunderous roar from above!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The roar was truly deafening, emanating from the Cloud-Mist Stars, and echoing repeatedly throughout the hall!

Then, as the clouds churned, a colossal figure radiating light emerged from them!

"Oh no! How could it be so fast!?" Bei Ming looked up and his expression changed drastically.

At the same time, Qiu Yan was greatly shocked, as he sensed a rich Divine Path aura from the churning clouds!

"Divine Path aura! How could Divine Path aura appear? Could there be a deity within the clouds?"

Just as he was filled with doubt and uncertainty, stars twinkled in the clouds, giving off an atmosphere of awakening from a great dream!

Below, Tang Qing and the others suddenly screamed in agony. Black mist swirled around their souls, and their thoughts were forcibly pulled out by an unknown force and controlled by a powerful will. Their knees buckled, and they prostrated themselves on the ground!

In an instant, a strong sense of incense offering arose!

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