The next instant—buzz!!! No supernatural power was unleashed outwards; the Nine Nether Dark Ruins Demon Dragon itself transformed into the supernatural power "Nine Abyss Immersion!"—First Level— Blood Immersion.
Within a radius of a thousand miles, everything that still possessed life simultaneously underwent changes. The ancient gray-white plants hidden in the crevices of the rocks at the edge of the cold pool first shrank slightly, and then the entire plants quickly withered, the life force within their branches and leaves forcibly drawn into invisible thin threads.
Several strange beasts, which had just been startled from the depths of the cold mist, rushed outwards for only a few hundred feet before their bodies rapidly withered and shriveled as they fled. Their flesh collapsed, their bones turned to ash, and in the end, they left no complete corpses, only large clumps of grayish-white dust hanging in mid-air.
The force of detachment immediately collided with the Six Lives Return to Annihilation True Formation, and Chen Yong's right arm suddenly trembled. "Guard Life!" The five of them simultaneously activated their Fate Soul essence. The gray-white array screen lit up in an instant.
However, this time, the demonic dragon did not break through the formation from the outside. Deep within the Fate Soul of each of the six people, there was already a subtle connection, originating from the moment when they were seen by the demonic dragon, when they clashed with the demonic dragon, and when they touched the dragon with their Fate Soul perception.
The Nine Nether Dark Ruins Demon Dragon had already "seen" them, and that was enough. Six extremely fine life-source threads were gradually pulled out from the chests of the five people and from deep within Chen Yong's brow.
A cultivator at the True Annihilation Realm · Initial Stage turned deathly pale instantly. The skin on his right arm lost its luster at a visible speed, and the once plump flesh began to wither rapidly. Chen Yong's eyes sharpened. "Primordial Mirror!" The three-inch bronze fragment suddenly spun, and the warp and weft marks on the mirror surface extended simultaneously, illuminating all six life-source threads within it.
This time, the Primordial Mirror did not sever the connection directly, but only firmly anchored the life essence of the six people to the present world. Chen Yong immediately noticed the difference. The Nine Abyss Immersion could extract their life force, but it could not extract the fundamental existence of "Chen Yong is still Chen Yong" and "the five people are still the five people".
This gave them a respite, but the dragon didn't stop at all; the first dip was just the beginning.
The life essence swallowed by the 99,999 acupoints did not make it stronger; instead, it all surged towards the deepest ninth acupoint behind the dragon's head. The gray-blue life essence piled up, collided, and rotted wildly inside the acupoint, gradually turning into an extremely filthy gray-red Source Liquid.
The dragon's body convulsed violently. The second level— Consciousness Immersion —suddenly spread with a silent pull. Within a radius of ten thousand miles, all conscious beings simultaneously felt their memories being stirred by something.
The six Annihilation God Clan cultivators were the first to be hit.
A memory from her childhood suddenly surfaced before the sword-wielding woman's eyes. That past, which had been buried deep within her Fate Soul for tens of thousands of years, was forcibly pulled out and then dragged into the body of the demonic dragon along an invisible connection.
Her expression changed drastically. Instinctively, she wanted to hold on, but she found that the harder she resisted, the more emotions, obsessions, and fragments hidden deep within her Fate Soul were stirred up.
Another man suddenly heard the cries of countless strangers. Those sounds poured directly into his consciousness from the resonance between the Demon Dragon's sea of consciousness and his acupoints. Some were calling for help, some were cursing, some were begging for mercy, and some were repeatedly chanting names that had long been forgotten by the times. All the sounds overlapped with each other and finally merged into a chaotic mess that tore at the mind.
"Ah--!" The man finally couldn't hold back and clutched his head. Chen Yong swept his gun across. "Wake up!" Bang!!! The gun barrel struck the man's shoulder heavily. The physical pain forcibly pulled his consciousness back from the chaos for a moment. "Don't listen! Don't recall! Hold on to this moment!"
The five clenched their teeth and re-entered their Fate Soul into the great formation, but the changes in the Nine Nether Dark Ruins Demon Dragon itself had become even more terrifying.
The fragments of consciousness swallowed by the 99,999 acupoints were all poured into its own sea of consciousness. The giant dragon head began to sway irregularly from side to side, and the light in Youqing's eyes flickered.
Occasionally, it would reveal extreme ferocity; the next moment, its dragon eyes would flash with the fear of some unknown creature on its deathbed; and the moment after that, even a trace of bewilderment appeared, completely inconsistent with its ancient ferocity.
It is actively feeding the consciousness of all those it has devoured into its own Fate Soul, allowing countless pains, memories, and obsessions to tear each other apart, destroying the clarity of its enemies with its own chaos.
The true third immersion finally arrived. The dragon suddenly stopped absorbing, and half of the 99,999 acupoints closed at the same time. The ninth acupoint behind the dragon's head trembled violently, and the accumulated gray-red active pollution inside suddenly poured out, flowing along the dragon's neck and into its spine.
Crack!!! The first section of the dragon's spine burst open, followed by the second, the third, and hundreds of other sections, one after another, exploding without any bone fragments flying. From each of the split vertebrae, dozens of translucent tentacles grew out.
Those tentacles were long and soft, without scales on the surface, but inside flowed dense gray life marks. As soon as they appeared, they did not pounce on the nearest person, but instead directly probed into the depths of the cause and effect of heaven and earth.
The third level— Fate Immersion —caused Chen Yong's pupils to shrink sharply. For the first time, he truly felt the most dangerous part of this supernatural power, as one of its transparent tentacles pointed directly at him. The next moment, an extremely ancient cultivation experience within his Fate Soul was forcibly brought to the fore.
He once recuperated from his injuries in a desolate ancient mountain, where he comprehended the first turning point in spear techniques.
That experience had already become part of his spiritual foundation, but now, the source of "where he learned it," "why he was able to master it," and "how it has continued to this day" is being traced back by his tendrils.
Chen Yong's grip on the gun suddenly tightened. He clearly remembered the gun's movements, but the connection to "where it came from" began to break. If this continued, the supernatural power would remain, but he would lose sight of its origin, and then many more things would follow suit.
The wounds he suffered in the past, the pills he consumed, the path he cultivated, the teachings he received—all the origins that make up "Chen Yong" will be severed one by one. Once all sources are lost, he will be nothing more than an empty shell of Fate Soul suspended in the mortal world.
Then, dragged into the dragon's spine and becoming a new bone, Chen Yong finally understood that Nine Abyss Immersion true killing intent. It didn't want their lives; it wanted to weave them into its own body.
"All of you move closer to the Primordial Mirror!" Chen Yong shouted, and the five of them immediately tightened their formation.
The Primordial Mirror rotated above the six people's heads, and the four ancient meridians lit up again, simultaneously reflecting the origins of their existence onto the mirror's surface. The origins that were being traced by the transparent tentacles thus gained a new testament.
Chen Yong once comprehended the spear, and traces of it can be found in the mirror. The woman with the sword once forged the sword, and traces of it can also be found in the mirror. The cultivation, injuries, and Fate Soul Evolution of the other four people were also reflected one by one by the Primordial Mirror. The tentacles can still be traced, but they cannot completely eradicate the root that has been confirmed by the mirror.
The Nine Nether Dark Ruins Demon Dragon sensed it and suddenly raised its head. But at that moment, it began to bear the price of being Nine Abyss Immersion, and for the first time, it fully activated the Initial Aberration - Molt of Return to the Ruins. Its dark blue reverse scales began to fall off in large areas.
One, ten, a thousand, billions of scales were peeled off the dragon's body, but instead of falling into the Nine Nether Cold Pool, they quickly turned to ash in mid-air. Layers of translucent membranes grew where the scales had originally covered the dragon's body. Through those membranes, one could directly see the churning gray chaos and countless fragments of parasitic consciousness within the dragon's body.
Its left eye suddenly closed, the eyelid not covering it, and the entire area where the eye was located transformed into a gray vortex. Then, its right ear also changed. Its nostrils, mouth, and seven orifices began to close in turn, and after closing, they transformed into quiet, rotating gray voids, which in turn devoured the dragon's own out-of-control and dissipated essence.
An even more terrifying scene followed: the dragon's head suddenly twisted backward, its mouth opened, and it bit down hard on the tip of its own tail. Swoosh! A tail scale was torn off on the spot, and the dragon's body convulsed violently.
It clearly didn't intend to do this, but the Nine Abyss Immersion had already begun to erode it; it wanted to devour all living beings. It was itself being devoured by this very desire. Seeing this, Chen Yong's eyes sharpened instantly. He had finally seized the opportunity. "It's out of control!" The five of them suddenly looked up.
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Yong directly pushed the Primordial Mirror towards the center of the formation. "Six Lives Return to Annihilation, Guard One Reversal!" The Six Lives Return to Annihilation - True Suchness Guard One Formation, originally used only for defense, suddenly changed. The origins of the six Fate Soul expanded from the inside out, without attacking the demonic dragon.
Do only one thing—firmly nail the "I" of the six people who have already been confirmed by the Primordial Mirror to the present world.
Since Nine Abyss Immersion to incorporate them into the demonic dragon's body, they must first ensure their Fate Soul remain intact, preventing any part of their origin from becoming an "isolated entity" that can be dragged away.