If this tattered crown had been lying on the ground, Lin Lei probably wouldn't have given it a second glance.
It was so worn and decrepit that the sockets for inlaid crystals were all empty, and it radiated not the slightest trace of any special aura. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary crown made in some material plane. Whether it was a divine artifact or a Chief Deity artifact — any treasure that had been nurtured over time would generally carry some distinct aura.
Even cheap inkstone or netherstone possessed a unique presence.
Yet this crown was as plain and unremarkable as a common material-plane object.
But now, as Lin Lei gripped the tattered crown in his hand, a strange energy flowed directly into his body. The energy was utterly peculiar — it coursed through his wounds like a gentle spring rain, and in an instant, his severed arm and the numerous gashes across his body began repairing themselves at a startling speed, the wounds closing and vanishing.
In a single breath!
Lin Lei was left with only one small wound on his chest; every other injury, including his severed arm, had been completely healed.
"How is that possible?" Bei Bei was stunned, unable to believe what he had just witnessed.
The stronger the body, the harder it was to heal. Lin Lei's Dragonformed body, while not quite on par with Bei Bei's, was far tougher than a Highgod artifact. How could it possibly be healed so effortlessly?
"Boss, what happened? How did your injuries heal so fast? And why is that small wound on your chest still there?" Bei Bei immediately sent through divine sense. "Does it have to do with that strange broken crown?"
Lin Lei was equally shocked and bewildered.
"I'm not entirely sure either, Bei Bei. Inside this tattered crown, a peculiar energy flowed into my body. It really did heal my injuries in an instant. But the energy seemed to be very limited — it ran out before it could heal the wound on my chest as well," Lin Lei responded through soul transmission.
After delivering that single burst of energy, the tattered crown emitted nothing more.
In Lin Lei's palm, the tattered crown now held no special aura whatsoever. But Lin Lei clearly remembered the energy it had channeled into him moments before: "This tattered crown flew in through a spatial rift — it clearly came from the chaotic spatial tempest. The fact that it survived the tempest without shattering means that, at the very least, its material is tougher than a Highgod artifact."
Lin Lei knew full well how dangerous the spatial tempest was. Rifts spawned without warning, and the tearing forces within could reduce even Highgod artifacts to fragments.
Yet the crown had remained intact.
That alone proved it was no ordinary object.
"What's that?" The gold-robed giant Uman's gaze snapped to the crown in Lin Lei's hand, and he let out a cold, booming laugh. "Ha ha… you've actually had a spot of luck. This crown managed to survive the spatial tempest unscathed. It must be a Chief Deity artifact. Presumably one of the commanders died during their battle in the spatial tempest, and the Chief Deity artifact drifted here. But from the look of it… this Chief Deity artifact is nothing more than a broken shell."
Lin Lei flipped his hand and stored the tattered crown directly into his spatial ring.
The tattered crown was not something to be studied right now.
"Bei Bei, seize the chance — let's get out of here quick. Don't waste time tangling with this guy." Lin Lei once again manipulated the Black Stone space, and the Black Stone space infused with Destruction Chief Deity's power generated a powerful repulsive force directed squarely at the gold-robed giant Uman. "This gold-robed brute shrugged off even my innate divine ability. He's truly difficult to deal with."
Bei Bei had no desire to fight this giant either.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei shot forward together, simultaneously shifting the direction of the gravitational pull.
The repulsive force became an upward gravitational pull!
Uman couldn't help but drift upward, but he quickly adapted to the gravitational pull.
"Trying to escape?" Uman eyed the enormous spatial rift before him, initially flying upward, intending to pass over the top of it. Deep beneath the Planar Battlefield, especially at such extreme depths, even a powerhouse of Uman's caliber had to exercise utmost caution. If one were to be caught in the spatial turbulence, that would be the most terrifying thing imaginable.
But just as he flew above the spatial rift —
The upward gravitational pull suddenly reversed into a downward one!
"Die!" Lin Lei, who had been watching this spot all along, roared inwardly!
The 'Blackstone Space' powered by Highgod divine force — the gravitational pull was unimaginably powerful. Although Uman was a powerful Divine Emissary of the Light Sovereign, he had been resisting an upward pull. Naturally, his body was exerting a downward force to counteract the upward gravity.
But the gravity suddenly shifted from upward to downward! In an instant, his own force and the downward gravitational pull merged into one!
Uman, who had held the upper hand all along, despite being extremely careful — this sudden reversal still caused his body to plunge violently downward!
What lay below? The enormous spatial rift!
"Hm!" The golden-robed giant Uman, caught completely off guard, couldn't help but change his expression. He could feel the terrifying suction force of the spatial rift, and immediately the white halo around his body erupted violently. "Boom!" His mace swung wildly, actually distorting the surrounding space.
Using this rebounding force, Uman escaped the spatial rift.
"Those two bastards." By the time Uman escaped, though only an extremely brief time had passed, Lin Lei and Bei Bei had already fled two to three hundred meters away.
"I swear I will kill you both!" Uman roared in fury, then immediately gave chase.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei had finally managed to escape for the time being, but back on the surface, Lei Sijing and Lei Hong's situation was absolutely dire.
"Haha~~"
Montello's booming laughter echoed across the vast battlefield. At the same time, like a spider, his body shot out tens of thousands of tough, slender threads, winding toward Lei Sijing. The deadliest thing about these threads wasn't their toughness, but — their speed! Every single thread shot out as fast as a burst of light.
The threads kept wrapping around Lei Sijing.
"Montello, fight me fair and square if you've got any skill! Relying on these filthy tricks — that's no ability at all!" The spear in Lei Sijing's hand had been spun into a blur of afterimages, and countless threads were constantly being shattered and broken.
But for every thousand threads he destroyed, ten thousand more poured out from Montello's body.
As long as Montello's Highgod divine power held out, there was no worry about the threads being exhausted. Although Montello didn't possess the nearly inexhaustible supply of Highgod divine power that Lei Sijing had, he hailed from the Augustus family after all. As one of the rare genius powerhouses within the family, he naturally received exceptional treatment. His supply of Highgod divine power was far from meager.