"A snake?"
It seemed to be some kind of long, curved shape, growing clearer out of the blur.
"No, this isn't right. None of this is real," Dongguan warned himself, but the pressure was unmistakable.
Almost instantly, that being was about to manifest and leave an incredibly deep imprint on his consciousness, something akin to Soul Enslavement, seemingly forcing a change in the structure of his consciousness.
Within his Mental Space, the great book, the True Explanation of Comprehension, emitted strange fluctuations.
Whenever the structure of his consciousness was about to be altered, those fluctuations recorded the possible alterations.
But they also prevented the possible permanent changes those alterations could bring.
The phantom remained a phantom in the end, still just as indistinct.
The pressure remained, but it had changed somewhat.
What had originally been close to enslavement had now become pure oppression.
"Blasphemy! You are blaspheming against a great being-" Myriad-Heart Man rushed over with fanaticism written all over his face, a dagger in his hand, intent on assassinating Dongguan.
"Ugh..." Dongguan felt the phantom's pressure growing heavier and heavier, but he could still barely muster his focus. "Die!"
He casually swung his blade, striking Myriad-Heart Man in the chest. Endless Destruction Power was about to tear him apart when, at that moment, clarity returned to Myriad-Heart Man's face.
"I've bought enough time."
Those words gave Dongguan a bad feeling, but there was nothing he could do.
His consciousness gradually grew hazy, yet he forced himself to hold on.
"It's only a little hardship. And it's precisely an opportunity to temper my will, isn't it?"
His will, which had already reached the limit of a Universe Venerable, gradually began to transform once more.
Perhaps this should have happened long ago, and all he had lacked was an opportunity.
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