Immediately, the power of the four Great Gods surged within Lin Lei's body.
"Lin Lei, refining a low-tier Fire Godhead only increases your Willpower by a small amount. Without a Sovereign artifact, you simply cannot withstand this move of mine." The Ruler of Destiny, Oph, once again conjured four sword shadows of different colors around his body, and they began to spin.
But Lin Lei had his eyes closed, the muscles on his face twitching slightly.
"These… these four types of divine power…"
In the past, the unique nature of fusing four types of divine power had made Lin Lei realize… that once the power of four Great Gods merged, it would definitely be something special. But the degree of that specialness had completely exceeded his imagination.
"Hsss hisss~~" The moment the four Great Gods' powers fully fused, they instantly transformed into a strange, misty gray energy. This "gray power" surged frantically through every part of Lin Lei's body — bones, skin, meridians, internal organs… even his mind and soul.
Lin Lei's muscles trembled, his entire body convulsing.
"Hsss hisss~~" The most minute components that formed his muscles, bones, and tissues were undergoing earth-shattering changes. Nearly every second, Lin Lei's body was being reinforced thousands upon thousands of times, constantly ascending, constantly strengthening. In the face of this "gray power" born from the fusion of four Great Gods' powers, Lin Lei's body knew only to rise and fortify without end…
"Be careful, Lin Lei." Belute's voice echoed in Lin Lei's mind.
Lin Lei opened his eyes.
"Whoosh!" That Sovereign artifact sword radiating four-colored light had already reached Lin Lei's chest.
"Pfft!"
Lin Lei's clothes shattered. On his chest, the Destiny Sovereign Sword had left only a faint bloodstain.
"What?!" Ruler of Destiny Oph widened his eyes.
"How is that possible?"
All the Great Gods witnessing this scene were utterly stunned.
Oph's unprecedented ultimate technique, "Surpassing the Cycle," had done nothing to Lin Lei beyond… scratching his skin?
"Hsss." The scratched bloodstain healed instantly, and at the same time, Lin Lei's body continued to ascend and strengthen. The most fundamental units — bones, muscles, and everything within — constantly shattered and reformed, rising again and again with each improvement more terrifying than the last, and this process showed no sign of stopping.
A vast amount of gray power was being consumed by Lin Lei's body.
"I spent countless years perfecting this most powerful sword! How… how can it not even pierce his flesh?! Impossible! Impossible!!!" Oph roared uncontrollably. Gripping the "Destiny Sovereign Sword," he attacked Lin Lei once more, four-colored sword shadows flickering into existence again.
A terrifying sword strike.
"Pfft." The Sovereign Sword landed on Lin Lei's body once more — and this time, it didn't even break the skin.
Oph stared blankly at Lin Lei before him.
"Bzzzz~~~" A shockwave of energy erupted violently from Lin Lei's body, blasting Oph backward. At the center of the wave, Lin Lei stood with his eyes closed, serene and still, like an invincible war god.
"Incredible… incredible…"
After withstanding that single strike from his opponent, Lin Lei had completely immersed himself in the changes occurring within.
He had expected an earth-shattering transformation of his body. But what Lin Lei had never imagined was that… the Godheads were dissolving!
Yes, just like ice melting.
The Godheads — extraordinarily hard, not a single one having broken in countless ages — were now all beginning to dissolve!
Enveloped in the "gray power," the four Godheads Lin Lei had refined began to dissolve, revealing the four sword-shaped souls within. Those four sword-shaped souls, together with the original "sword-shaped soul," were also transforming under the gray energy's embrace, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
Gradually…
The five floating sword-shaped souls merged together, flowing into one another like liquid, and finally became a single sword-shaped soul. Its color began to change — first cyan, then earth-yellow, then emerald green, then red, and at last it turned completely transparent, an almost invisible sword-shaped soul.
"Boom." Without clone souls and without Godheads, Lin Lei's four divine clones completely dispersed.
Now, only one body remained, and one transparent sword-shaped soul.
During this transformation, a tremendous amount of gray energy had been consumed.
"Too incredible." Though his souls had merged and the Godheads were gone, Lin Lei could still clearly sense the existence of the four elemental oceans. He could effortlessly call upon the four types of divine power. More than that, Lin Lei could now even perceive the existence of the "Light Elemental Ocean," the "Dark Elemental Ocean," and every other origin plane.
With a mere thought, Lin Lei could invoke any type of divine power.
"My Willpower… is gone?"
Lin Lei realized that after the Godheads dissolved and his souls fused into one, his original Willpower had vanished. Yet… Lin Lei felt an extraordinary sense of control over the surrounding space. This sense of dominion felt as though… this entire world was his own domain.
No Willpower needed. Nothing else required.
He could bind any enemy with the energy of heaven and earth and slay any enemy.
"No… impossible!" The always-invincible "Oph" was now like a madman, repeatedly attacking Lin Lei with his Sovereign artifact, but the shockwaves radiating from Lin Lei's body kept him at bay.
…
Stunned. Dumbfounded.
Every Great God who witnessed this battle was struck speechless. What had occurred in this moment had transcended their wildest imagination.
The power Lin Lei had displayed had surpassed the very limits of a Great God.
"A Sovereign God?" the Ruler of Death murmured.
Beside her, the Ruler of Destruction blinked: "Could it be… that a living being can cultivate into a Sovereign God?"
"Haha, wonderful!"
In the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range, Qing Huo and Belute watched Oph attacking like a madman without even touching Lin Lei's edge. They were beside themselves with joy.
…
"Are you done?"
A calm voice rang out. Amid the swirling shockwaves, Lin Lei opened his eyes and looked at Oph before him. The entire person Lin Lei was now resembled a single sword. After the soul's metamorphosis, a towering sword intent seemed ready to burst forth — simply looking at him made one's heart tremble.
"Hm?" Ruler of Destiny Oph abruptly pulled at the Sovereign Sword in his hand, but it wouldn't move. Lin Lei's right hand was gripping it.
"This Sovereign Sword…" Lin Lei sighed softly.
He suddenly had a feeling — the Sovereign Sword didn't seem all that hard. Lin Lei's right hand exerted slight pressure.
"Snap!"
A crisp sound.
The Sovereign Artifact that represented the pinnacle of supremacy had been snapped in two by Lin Lei.
"Mere trinket." Lin Lei casually tossed it. The half of the Sovereign Sword in his hand plummeted from the sky, falling toward the ocean below, and plunged into the water with a "splash."
All the observing Great Gods were struck dumb once again. Even the Ruler of Destiny Oph stared in shock at the half-Sword still in his hand. "This… how is this…"
Before his words had faded.
"Whoosh!" Oph's body suddenly transformed into a beam of light, fleeing at extreme speed into the distance. Even at this point, a sliver of hope remained in his heart — his homeland was in a material plane. He would flee into that plane and continue his research, until one day he surpassed Lin Lei.
He believed that just because Lin Lei's attack had grown stronger didn't necessarily mean his speed had as well.
Unfortunately—
"Still trying to flee?" Lin Lei's figure flickered, and in a single instant he crossed billions of miles, appearing right before Oph.
His speed surpassed Oph's by an unimaginable margin.
The formerly resolute gaze in Oph's eyes dimmed instantly: "I've lost. Completely and utterly lost." He understood that a Lin Lei who could snap a Sovereign Artifact bare-handed could easily shatter his own defensive Sovereign artifact as well. Oph's eyes suddenly blazed bright, fixing on Lin Lei: "Lin Lei, I hope… you'll use your strongest attack to kill me."
Though they were enemies, Lin Lei felt a trace of admiration for this Oph — admiration for his madness.
"Very well. I'll use my strongest attack to grant you death."
Lin Lei pressed his index and middle fingers together, forming a sword finger.
A gray, hazy sword shadow about one and a half meters long materialized. The instant it appeared, the surrounding space trembled, cracking open countless fissures.
Oph stared at the sword shadow, gazing intently.
"Whoosh!"
The sword shadow swept across the sky. Lin Lei's most powerful strike was unleashed once more — the Sword Intent of Four-Fused Laws!
"BOOM!"
A terrifying explosion erupted — an explosion unlike anything before! Lin Lei's single strike seemed to trigger a catastrophic change! Before him appeared a horrifying "black hole" nearly ten thousand miles across. Endless, dense gray energy surged from within toward the Netherworld, spreading in every direction.
"No!"
The gray energy expanded with such speed that in the blink of an eye it had spread across billions of miles. Eleven Great Gods who had been slightly too slow to escape were engulfed. Any being touched by this gray energy — whether an ordinary god or a mighty Great God, even lifeless "water," "plants," "rocks," and "metal" — was annihilated into nothingness.
…
Silence!
Nearly one-tenth of the entire Netherworld's Sea of Chaos had become a dead zone.
"Just now… just now…"
The Ruler of Destruction, the Ruler of Death, and the other survivors, all ashen-faced with terror.
The horrifying black hole Lin Lei's strike had created — the infinite gray energy pouring from it represented "destruction." Whatever it touched, whether an ordinary god, a powerful Great God, or even lifeless "water," "plants," and "rock," all were reduced to nothing.
"One step closer, and we would have died." Even now the Ruler of Destruction felt his heart racing.
"What… what was that just now?" The surviving Great Gods were completely shell-shocked.
In all their countless years, even witnessing Lin Lei's earlier display of power had not terrified them to this degree. That "gray energy" that had suddenly erupted from the "black hole" was simply too terrifying.
"The Great Gods who got close are all dead — not even their Godheads remain." The Ruler of Death was pale. "And Lin Lei… he was also enveloped by that gray energy and reduced to nothing."
The gray energy was a region that divine senses could not penetrate. None of these Great Gods knew… what exactly had happened within the area it had covered. But one thing was certain — everything within its reach had been utterly annihilated.
…
"Lin Lei!" Belute's face was deathly pale.
Qing Huo's face was equally white. They had never imagined… things could take such an abrupt turn. Lin Lei, whose power had just skyrocketed, had vanished within that terrifying gray energy, reduced to nothing.
By now, the gray energy had flowed back into the black hole and vanished entirely. Even the black hole itself gradually shrank until it disappeared.
This terrifying energy upheaval had sent shockwaves of astonishment through the entire Netherworld.
…
"Where am I?"
Lin Lei looked around. The space around him was filled with that strange, misty gray energy — the energy formed from the fusion of his four elemental divine powers, which had transformed his body and soul. And just now, his single sword strike had apparently pierced through heaven itself, causing this energy to flood in and kill numerous Great Gods.
Lin Lei turned around and saw the transparent membrane. Beyond it lay the spatial turbulence.
"Where… where have I ended up?" Lin Lei's gaze sharpened as he stared ahead.
Because a figure had appeared before him.
The man wore a simple linen robe, his long hair hanging loose in a disheveled manner. This middle-aged man had a look of great excitement on his face: "Haha… over a thousand kalpas, I've finally found you."
"A thousand kalpas?" Lin Lei was bewildered.
"Second brother, come with me." The middle-aged man smiled and reached out, grasping Lin Lei's arm. Then the two of them shot forward at incredible speed.
What sent a chill through Lin Lei was that with each step this man took, they crossed an inconceivable distance — his speed was beyond anything Lin Lei could fathom.
"Why do you call me second brother?" Lin Lei looked at him doubtfully. "And who are you?"
"Haha… because you are the first being in countless ages to break through the bonds of the universe and enter the Hongmeng space."
"What is a universe?" Lin Lei asked immediately. "You say I broke through the universe's bonds — do you mean the infinite planes I lived in are a universe?"
"To be precise, the countless material planes, the seven divine planes, the four sovereign planes, the various scattered planes, and the spatial turbulence — all together they form a single whole known as 'the universe.'" The middle-aged man smiled. "As for this energy, it is collectively called Hongmeng spiritual energy."
Lin Lei drew in a sharp breath.
So it was true…
The Ruler of Destiny, Oph, had sensed that countless planes seemed to be controlled by an invisible hand, and he had sought to break free. It seemed that invisible hand was very likely this mysterious man standing before him.
"Hongmeng spiritual energy?" Lin Lei studied the terrifying gray chaotic energy carefully.
"Up ahead is my home." The middle-aged man pointed forward.