["What was the point of controlling the field?" You racked your brains, yet felt as though you had fallen into a fog.]
[That [Spirit Transformation Dao Master] lurking in the shadows was not only deeply concealed; their intentions were even harder to fathom.]
[You could not even sense where they were.]
[You turned your gaze inward, sensing your life-bound divine ability, [Heaven's Mandate].]
[Unlike [Qi Refining Spellcraft], a [life-bound divine ability] would continually evolve and grow stronger as one's rank rose.]
[By all rights, now that you had attained the Dao as a [True Lord], the divine might of [Heaven's Mandate] should have been even vaster and more resplendent.]
[Yet although you could feel that [Heaven's Mandate] had improved, it was like a treasured sword concealing its edge, its divine radiance withdrawn. It failed to stir Heaven and Earth into resonance as it had during [Foundation Establishment].]
["It was being suppressed..." You suddenly understood,]
["It was that Dao Master in the shadows! They were suppressing the growth of [Heaven's Mandate]!"]
[But new questions arose: how had this [Dao Master] detected and suppressed a hidden move that even Senior Lin Feng had failed to notice? More importantly—]
["Why was I being affected too?" A chill of alarm shot through you. Your thoughts seemed trapped in a mire, moving ever more sluggishly.]
["If they could influence me so easily, why not simply erase me instead of taking such a roundabout approach?"]
[Alarm bells rang in your heart, yet you felt that invisible erosion growing stronger and stronger,]
[Your memories and understanding of the "Dao Master in the shadows" were rapidly blurring and dissolving!]
["They were erasing my 'awareness' of them!" Your consciousness struggled, yet sank helplessly like a drowning person.]
[Your thoughts were about to grind to a complete halt, and every