Master of Strange Dao

She felt a summons, growing stronger and stronger.

She sensed that the object in her hand was guiding her on a new path, yet she found herself unable to take that step.

The Despair Abyss beneath her feet tightly bound her, allowing her no chance to escape.

As the confrontation intensified, a particular power began to appear in the Abyss at the end of the hillside, forming into black chains during the struggle against the summons.

The chains appeared out of thin air, two locking onto her scapula, one around her neck, two binding her hands, and one encircling her lumbar vertebrae.

The ends of these chains disappeared into the Abyss behind her.

And there were two chains binding her feet, with the other ends buried in the hillside beneath her.

All of this bound her, leaving her unable to make any choices, even when she had options.

She stood there, motionless, holding a small piece of beef jerky in her hand, its glow becoming ever more intense.

In the unknown dark Void, the swirling black mud had already enveloped the entire mine. The twisted upper body of the hungry ghost king stood tens of thousands of feet tall and filled the vast area of the mine.

His eyes, burning with bloody flames, stared into the depths of the Void, where there was a Dao Mark, and a power was hindering his call.

The drifting mine in the Void was wrapped in his presence, flying toward the direction indicated by the Dao Mark.

Midway through his journey, he seemed to discover something, turned his head to look at the dark Void, and the boiling black mud transformed into a great river, surging thousands of miles in an instant. The wave formed into his hand, reaching into the darkness.

With a sic, a point of light shattered in his palm, annihilated.

He turned his head again, following the Dao Mark's guidance, and continued to fly away.

Time passed slowly, and the aura of the hungry ghost king grew stronger. The closer he got to the Dao Mark, the more summons he heard, endless pain and despair crying out at the moment of death, burning in his eyes, making him ever stronger.

In the dark Void, it was unclear how long he flew, with no reference points, everything seemed to be standing still.

Suddenly, the rolling black mud transformed again, forming two metallic black claws that slowly tore open a light-filled fissure in the dark void.

On the other side of the fissure was a whole expanse of snow and wind, blindingly white and radiant.

...

An Lan had not left, for people from Daqian had arrived again.

They wanted to see if, after the Half-blessed land fell into the Void, some Jinlan Ore might still remain and take as much as possible.

After all, a Half-blessed land was rare, with part of it overlapping with the Wilderness.

Exploration and excavation continued. Over the past few months, they had several skirmishes with people from Dali, but she never rashly used all the power of One-day Cold.

A Divinity Transformation expert from Dali died, but before his death, he destroyed a Half-blessed land. Such a bizarre event could not simply be ignored by Dali.

Just after one battle ended, before An Lan had taken a rest, she suddenly sensed something amiss and landed at the edge of a large pit to search for what had triggered her alertness.

Then, she saw it: the sky had cracked open.

A colossal fissure spanning heaven and earth shot from the bottom of the huge pit straight into the sky.

Enormous black claws pierced through the miles-long fissure, forcibly tearing open the space here.

Alongside the emerging claws, the black mud-like substance seeped in through the fissure.

The terrifying pressure and chaotic aura erupted from the fissure, snowstorms reversing and recoiling, the leaden clouds that had hung in the sky for months shattered and dispersed in all directions under this fearsome force.

An Lan, standing by the pit's edge, was struck directly and froze on the spot, her face paling like a sheet. Despite the immense pressure not being directed at her, her entire True Yuan had solidified, unable to circulate.

Her Qi Sea shrunk into a ball, her Divine Soul stiffened, her body seemed to encounter an unbeatable predator, willingly freezing in place and minimizing her presence.

At the same time, a word emerged in her mind out of nowhere.

"Hungry Ghost."

In the blink of an eye, the black oil-like tide gushed out of the fissure like a tsunami, descending upon her head.

Her eyes trembled, full of despair, but being so close to the hungry ghost king rendered her powerless, without even the faintest thought of resistance.

Silently and without a trace, her flesh, Divine Soul, and Magical Treasures—all she had—vanished in the tide without a gesture of defiance.

Of course, there was one good thing; at least she knew whose hands she died at.

The bad news was, the hungry ghost king didn't even know whom he had crushed before he truly entered the Wilderness.

The colossal form of the hungry ghost king pried open the space fissure with his arms. His head peered through the fissure, casting a glance toward the Despair Abyss.

It was thoroughly sealed there, symbols floating mid-air, and Array Flags planted in all directions of the Despair Abyss, forming a Formation that completely locked it down.

They waited, hoping for someone from the Langya Institute to try refining and relocating this peculiar domain.

Meanwhile, the locust forest, which had also been blown apart by the explosion, remained mostly intact and was similarly sealed, awaiting further study.

At this moment, feeling the hungry ghost king's aura, the first to respond was the unhealed locust forest.

The thick carpet of fallen leaves started to turn over swiftly, revealing the ground, as paths appeared in front of each locust tree.

The locust trees split open, and, one by one, hungry ghosts stepped out.

Each was emaciated, with skin hugging bones, sunken bellies as if their organs had been hollowed out, and numerous root-like structures protruding from their backs and limbs, connected to the trees.

The act of emerging severed many connections, yet none of these hungry ghosts seemed to mind.

Exiting the trees, they knelt on the ground, issuing silent screams, welcoming their king, their beginning and end, arriving in this world.

The hungry ghost king did not spare them a glance, his gaze fixed on the Despair Abyss.

There was a power preventing his summons, impudently daring to withhold his Dao Mark.

Of course, this couldn't stand.

His two massive arms continued to widen the space of the fissure, as the tide of black oil surged toward the Despair Abyss.

Just as it was about to reach its target, the surging black tide suddenly condensed into a claw with a metallic sheen.

Before the claw struck, the sealing Formation of the Despair Abyss shattered layer by layer, as Array Flags burst into flames, turning into powder, and the stack of talismans floating in the air followed suit, turning to ash.

With the claw's descent, the Despair Abyss was struck into visible form, appearing as a vast grey bowl overturned on the land.

The unstoppable twisting force instantly tore innumerable cracks across its surface. With a crack, the outer layer of the Despair Abyss was shattered by one blow.

The reaching claw pierced into the Despair Abyss, driving into the Abyss behind the hillside.

As the claw pierced the Abyss, something within that dark void let out a soul-wrenching wail, swiftly silenced, the hidden force also vanishing completely.

The hungry ghost king's claw did not grab again but grasped Cece, who stood there head held high and smiling, pulling her out of the Despair Abyss.

The chains suddenly stretched taut, tearing through Cece's skin, yet she barely furrowed her brow, maintaining a smile. Even as she glanced back at the Abyss, a trace of mockery lingered.

The hungry ghost king seemed provoked. His eyes, burning with bloody flames, suddenly released two streams of blood fire, penetrating into the Abyss.

The dark Abyss was illuminated in that instant, crimson flames burning within. The end of the Abyss seemed connected elsewhere, where intense flames surged into a Fire Sea, an inextinguishable fire.

The flames scorched along, snapping the chains, severing Cece's connection to the deep Abyss.

As the hungry ghost king withdrew his giant claw, the entire Despair Abyss twisted and lifted with Cece. They were twisted and compressed by the hungry ghost king's power, rushing into Cece's body.

When the hungry ghost king forcibly dragged Cece out from the Despair Abyss, the roles were completely reversed.

The domain formed by the Despair Abyss wholly became Cece's.

Even though she didn't accept the summons or take that step, it was still hers.

Because the hungry ghost king disdainfully dismissed it, never seeing the benefit as a boon, all simply concluded as he searched for the Dao Mark.

After pulling her out, the hungry ghost king's giant claw reverted to a surging black tide.

Cece stood on the ground, looking up at the giant hungry ghost king with no hesitation, smiling as she stepped forward.

In the next moment, she transformed into a creature like a dried corpse, her belly concave, skin clinging to bones, resembling an ugly hungry ghost, yet her lips still bore a smile. Countless pieces of information appeared in her mind out of nowhere.

She lifted her head, watching as the hungry ghost king had widened the space fissure enough.

The massive form enveloping the Jinlan Mine finally stepped into the Wilderness.

The colossal mine resettled in its original place, only much higher than before, as if a giant mountain range had suddenly appeared on the land.

Because this time, it was no longer a Half-blessed land.

It was torn through space by the hungry ghost king and squeezed into the Wilderness forcibly. Now, the mine was no different from the other ridges in the Wilderness; it belonged to the Wilderness now.

The hungry ghost king's massive form slowly closed the enormous space fissure behind him.

Cece glanced toward the southeast, east, and northeast, then at the hungry ghost king's continually rising aura. She clutched the glowing piece of beef jerky in her hands tightly, walking deep into the mine.

The surging black tide of oil, with its distorting power, automatically parted under the Dao Mark's light, clearing a path for Cece.

She walked all the way, deeper underground, following the path cleared by the black oil, arriving at the deepest cave.

When the black oil dispersed ahead, she saw Yu Ziqing, eyes shut tightly, emaciated, with pain etched on his face, gritting his teeth, unrecognizable, quietly floating within the black mud.

She stepped forward, holding the Dao Mark with both hands, and approached Yu Ziqing.