Three months later, deep beneath the Covering Moon Sect's Market.
Jing Wen sat cross-legged at the center of an altar built from ten thousand bones, nine blood-red chains coiling around him-the Origin-Devouring Chains, forged from the soul essences of nine Golden Core cultivators. His eyes were tightly shut, and a blue-black demonic mark slithered across his brow like a living snake. Each pulse sent tremors through the earth's veins.
Enchantress knelt at the edge of the altar, holding a battered ancient book. Her voice trembled. "My lord, the final page of this Nine Nether Heaven-Seizing Art is missing... Forcing it to circulate may cause a backlash!"
Jing Wen slowly opened his eyes. Not a trace of humanity remained in them, only a bottomless, spectral chill. He chuckled. "A backlash? I stopped being human long ago."
Ever since discovering the demon seed planted inside Enchantress, he had not removed it. Instead, he had followed the vine to its melon and found the person behind it-the Covering Moon Sect's Grand Elder, an old monster half a step from the Nascent Soul realm. Jing Wen had feigned allegiance, using himself as bait to lure the elder into laying the Nine Nether Spirit-Devouring Formation. At the last moment, however, he had reversed its core and refined the old monster into its foundation.
Now he had gathered the secret arts of a hundred schools within himself: Lin Yan's starfire lineage, A Ying's heart-guarding lamp flame, Lu Wei's guidance of countless hearts, even the Star-Eroding Tribe's light-devouring method... All had been smelted into this forbidden cultivation art.
"Tell me, if I used the souls of every living being in the city as fuel, could I ascend to Deity Transformation in a single step?" Jing Wen looked toward the cavern ceiling, his gaze seeming to pierce a