Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 163 The Soul Returns, the Rebels Approach

The snow fell to the ground, and the lightning disappeared.

Chu Ning knelt on one knee at the heart of the shattered star map array, his knee slamming heavily into the cold earth, pebbles embedding into his flesh, and blood slowly seeping out.

He had no time to heed the pain; his fighting spirit receded like the tide, leaving only an utterly exhausted shell.

He gripped the Broken Snow Blade tightly, his knuckles turning white, his finger bones looking as if they were about to tear out of his flesh.

The blade was still trembling slightly; it was no longer an echo of power, but a struggle of lingering thunderous intent, just like his mind at this moment—broken, chaotic, and unwilling.

The thunder had ceased, the lightning had vanished, and a suffocating silence suddenly descended upon the world.

There was no more howling wind or sounds of battle in his ears, only his own breathing, heavy and labored like a beast's panting.

Each breath felt like it was tearing his lungs apart, carrying a rusty, bloody smell.

He lowered his head, and a thick, dark red thread slid down the corner of his lips, dripping onto the charred marks at his feet.

The rune, like ashes long since burned out, silently swallowed the drop of blood, as if swallowing a piece of dying will.

Blood is scalding hot.

But the world here was so cold it made one shiver.

The surrounding wind and snow froze at one moment, as if their souls had been ripped out.

The snowflakes hung motionless in the air, suspended without falling, as if an invisible giant hand had descended from the sky, pressing the entire world into an irreversible state of stillness.

Chu Ning slowly raised his head, gazing at the frozen sky, when a sentence he had heard before suddenly surfaced in his mind.

That was the village of Yaya at the edge of the snow-covered plains in the northern border of the Great Qian Dynasty. The old village chief whispered by the hearth:
"In the far north, the most dangerous time is when the snow stops."

At that time, he did not understand its meaning, but now he seems to have personally stepped into the reality of that ancient warning.

He finally understood that the so-called "snowfall cessation" was not a sign of peace, but rather a kind of suppression beyond nature.

Even the spiritual energy that was originally flowing between heaven and earth seemed to have sunk to the bottom of a frozen lake, becoming stiff, silent, and no longer flowing.

The wind no longer howled, the snow no longer danced, and even the air seemed to have solidified into transparent amber, sealing him in a deep and still cage.

All the rhythms of life, the waves of spiritual energy, the vitality of heaven and earth... seemed to have been put on pause by some indescribable will.

Chu Ning suddenly raised her head, her chest heaving violently.

He felt his own existence become unusually clear, as if he were the only person left alive in the world—but it was this sense of loneliness that chilled him to the bone.

It wasn't ordinary silence; it was as if... being stared at directly by some higher-dimensional being.

He had never experienced such deathly silence.

Even though I have faced life and death before, I have never felt as insignificant as I do now.

However, beneath the broken patterns of the star chart array, it seemed as if an even more ancient will was awakening.

He subconsciously raised his head, his neck stiff as if rusted, his gaze straining to pierce through the broken cracks in the star map array.

She... is still there.

That bluish-green soul shadow seemed to have never moved an inch, still quietly supported by that ancient soul fire, suspended between the sky and the ice field.

Her pale blue and white robes cascaded down like a waterfall. In a world where the wind and snow had stopped, she possessed an ethereal fluidity that required no wind, like moonlight reflecting in the mist, or like a divine projection leaping out of an ancient painting.

She just stood there quietly.

There were no words, no movements, and not even a trace of divine thought was released.

However, the golden-white halo surrounding her slowly rotated, each rotation seemingly changing something.

Chu Ning could sense that something "familiar" in the world was being peeled away little by little, just like the original lines of fate were being quietly erased stroke by stroke, replaced by a new "order" centered on her.

That was not supernatural power, not magic, not suppression at the level of laws.

That's a conceptual reconstruction.

And she was the source of that new concept.

Chu Ning held his breath—no, he couldn't breathe. His lungs felt like they were being squeezed by an invisible force, making even the most basic breathing difficult.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead, only to freeze midway down his cheek.

He didn't know whether he was kneeling or lying down; he only knew that all the blood in his body seemed to be frozen in his veins, and he couldn't move.

Why isn't she moving?

The thought suddenly and intensely surfaced in Chu Ning's mind, followed by an even deeper instinctive throbbing.

Her silence was not due to hesitation, pity, or loss of control.

It's like...waiting for something.

He didn't know who she was waiting for, nor did he dare to think about what she was waiting for.

All he knew was that at this moment, the whole world seemed to have been thrown into a frozen time field, and he was like the only conscious but immobile witness.

At that moment, something deep within Chu Ning's mind was suddenly torn open.

Consciousness seemed to detach from the cold reality of the present and be swept back into the past.

Those once quiet, yet deeply etched fragments, like streaks of lightning, pierced through the chaos, illuminating the heaviest shadows deep within his memory.

As the thunder echoed, he seemed to see that day, when the snow had just stopped and white mist filled the sky.

She was still a blue-eyed snow fox, who quietly appeared in his arms, her body still covered with lingering spiritual energy and frost.

In that instant, her fox eyes reflected the heavens and earth, her eyelashes trembled slightly as she tried to steady herself; she transformed into human form for the first time.

Dressed in white, she glanced at him the instant she approached his chest.

It was that glance.

He suddenly realized that there had never been such a beautiful soul in the world.

He still remembers that night at the Marquis of Wu's mansion, when golden lanterns hung high and cold words were like knives.

He was surrounded at the door by powerful and influential people dressed in brocade robes, who mocked his humble origins and humiliated him for his greed for wealth.

He gritted his teeth, but he was still unable to retaliate.

At that moment, the little snow fox quietly leaped onto his shoulder, bared its teeth at the people, its tail held high, and its sharp teeth gleaming silver.

Despite her frailty, she refused to back down, as if she were angry for him about all the injustices in the world.

That expression seemed to say:
I know the pain you've been through.

And from that moment on, for the first time, he no longer had to bear the whispers of fate alone.

He could never forget the time in the Wang family cellar when Wang Lin beat him until he vomited blood, his body curled up like a beast, the floor covered with bloody bite marks from his own bites.

Just before he completely lost consciousness, she, the little snow fox, did everything in her power to shield him, refusing to retreat even when her claws and teeth were broken.

Wang Lin waved his hand with a cold smile, but the injury landed on her slender back.

She fell to the ground, rolled, and trembled, yet she still desperately protected him, preventing the energy from harming her further.

For the first time, he shed tears not because of pain, but because... someone had risked their life to protect him.

Memories struck like thunder, shattering all the defenses in his heart.

He never said "thank you," and she never asked for a response.

But he knew that no one in the world could accompany him inch by inch through fierce winds, mud, and rivers of blood.

She was his first love, and the fire in his heart that never went out.

Now the fire has burned out, leaving only the "Qingli" figure standing coldly in the sky, its aura unfathomable.

Are you... still there?

A bitter taste rose in his throat, and a silent fire ignited in his eyes, but the arrogance of the past was gone, replaced by a deep, night-like obsession and pain.

The woman before me is no longer the quiet and reserved Qingli of the past.

She possessed no trace of human aura; that familiar loneliness was stripped away by an unfamiliar divine will, leaving only an unreachable existence.

"Does she... still remember me?" A sharp pain rose in Chu Ning's throat, and the softest part of her heart was pierced by an ice pick. The emotion was not fear, but a deeper loneliness.

He finally understood that the silence was not because she was still asleep.

Rather, she no longer needs to respond to the mortal world.

He stopped responding to anyone—including him.

An indescribable sense of oppression suddenly descended upon him, as if he were being scrutinized by a higher-dimensional will. That azure-colored soul shadow was merely the beginning, a prelude to an even greater force tearing open the heavens.

He suddenly understood that the soul fire was not supporting her, but rather a prologue.

Something colossal is awakening underground, and some broken "threads of fate" are about to be reconnected.

She was merely the chosen medium, a miracle that carried out destiny.

Chu Ning's knees sank again, his joints making a slight "click" sound, his back bent so low it was almost touching the ground.

That wasn't bowing; it was the instinctive submission of one's blood to the descent of divinity.

At that moment, he was no longer "Chu Ning".

They are merely dust, the people of the old era who bow their heads when looked upon by divine will.

She did not descend to earth, yet she already reigns supreme over all living beings.

"Are you... still Qing Li?"

Chu Ning murmured to himself, his voice as soft as mist drifting in the rain of blood.

But he dared not say it.

He feared that once he spoke, the one who would respond would no longer be "her," but rather "He," who was no longer of this world.

Chu Ning felt a tightness in his chest, and the thunderous energy surged erratically within him. He subconsciously darted toward another focal point on the edge of the battlefield.

Amidst the remnants of ice and snow, Dong'er lay quietly between a cracked piece of ice rock.

Its aura flickered uncertainly, like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

Without thinking twice, he quickly ran through the snow and approached, his lightning bolt turning into a blur as he slid down.

He knelt down and lifted her from the snow. At that moment, what his arms touched was a shocking chill and a deathly silence.

His palm touched her back, and gentle, delicate strands of lightning energy transformed into a warm current, flowing into her dantian to stabilize her breathing and dispel the embers of divine energy that had invaded her bone marrow.

"Dong'er, Dong'er, wake up!"

His voice was very low, as if he were afraid of disturbing the being in the heavens.

But hidden in that whisper was a tremor, like a crack in a snow wall about to collapse.

Dong'er's eyelashes trembled slightly, like a spider slowly awakening from its deadly state. She opened her eyes, saw Chu Ning's face, and her lips moved slightly, revealing a tired but peaceful smile.

"You...are still here."

Chu Ning paused with his fingertips, then gently wiped away the bloodstain between her eyebrows. In that instant, his expression softened, a rare occurrence for him.

"Of course."

He pulled her into his arms, his cloak billowing out to cover her thin shoulders.

He held her tightly, as if he would lose her at any moment.

Dong'er leaned against him, her gaze piercing through the wind and snow, quietly looking towards the distant Cangque Mountain.

Chu Ning asked in a low voice:
"Did you...feel anything?"

Dong'er closed her eyes, as if she were sensing something, or as if she were desperately digging out forgotten fragments from the depths of her memory.

After a moment, she spoke, her voice as soft as falling snowflakes:

“Cangque Mountain…I remember it.”

Chu Ning paused for a moment: "Cangque Mountain?"

Dong'er nodded gently.

“Yes.” Her expression was complicated, her eyes dim yet clear. “But I saw an inscription on a stele in the ancestral land of the fox clan. The stele was broken and only a few words remained, but it still makes my heart tremble to this day.”

She paused, then repeated softly:
"The Sleeping Fox God defied Heaven and refused to submit. Its bones were shattered and buried, and it was sealed in snow for a thousand years. It cannot be disturbed."

Chu Ning's throat tightened; every word in the inscription felt like a thunderbolt, striking his consciousness.

“Originally, I thought it was just a myth or legend of the fox clan.” Dong’er looked up at “Qingli” in the sky, her eyes gradually turning cold, and said softly, “Until today… I realize that it is not a legend.”

She raised her head, her gaze shifting to the Cangque Mountain, which was bathed in divine light and whose snow-white bones were exposed. In her eyes, she saw a broken bone that pierced the sky like a spine.

“She is not a god worshipped by the world.” She said in a low voice, “She is the god who buried herself.”

Chu Ning frowned and asked in a deep voice:

"So, that divine bone was originally the Fox God, the true Sleeping God?"

Dong'er nodded gently, her tone revealing reluctance and awe:
"Perhaps... her soul has long since perished. That divine skeleton was not meant for rebirth, but rather... to be nailed to the ground."

The air grew even colder in an instant, as if heaven and earth had heard this buried truth, and even the snowflakes trembled.

Chu Ning looked down at Dong'er, who was weak but had a determined look in her eyes, and a feeling of indescribable heaviness suddenly welled up in his heart.

A chill crept up my spine from my feet and spread to the depths of my soul.

"Then why is she awake now?" he asked in a low voice, his tone filled with unease and suppressed emotion.

Dong'er closed her eyes, as if she had heard something, and spoke after a moment.

"Because someone called her."

"Using Qingli as the medium, and the divine soul as the lamp."

She slowly turned her head to look at Chu Ning, her voice as low as falling snow, yet it struck the softest spot in his heart:
“If you don’t stop it, that god will no longer be just bones.”

Chu Ning suddenly looked up.

Above the sky, the slowly closing divine ring resembled a giant eye, silently gazing upon the entire earth.

He gazed at the figure in azure blue, and a fierce light suddenly ignited in his eyes, like a flame about to tear apart fate.

At his fingertips, a bolt of lightning reappeared.

Chu Ning gripped the knife hilt tightly with his left hand, a vein throbbing slightly on his forehead, and cold sweat trickling down his face.

A thought crossed his mind:
"Then let's do it now, while she... is not yet complete."

Almost at the moment this thought arose, a muffled sound, as if mountains were overturning, came from the depths of the Cangque Mountains on the distant horizon.

"Boom..."

Like an ancient behemoth slowly turning over deep within the earth's veins.

Immediately afterwards, the vast ice field trembled violently.

A cold wind from the earth rose from Cangque, traveling along the earth's veins, instantly stirring up a sky full of snow and dust, obscuring the sunlight.

At this moment, the lightning vein beneath Chu Ning's feet also cracked on its own, sending rocks flying and electric arcs leaping wildly out of control, as if some old order was collapsing.

An ancient, decaying, yet incredibly heavy and oppressive presence quietly rose.

"Cangque Mountain... the mountain is moving!" Dong'er exclaimed in surprise, her voice filled with fear.

And the next moment.

At the summit of Cangque Mountain, a pale divine light pierced through the mountain range, soaring into the sky like a pillar supporting the heavens.

The mountain collapsed with a deafening roar, revealing a broken yet sinister-looking white bone.

It was a skeleton, pure white and flawless, with shimmering bone patterns.

It is like jade but not jade, it resembles a beast but not a beast.

It lies crouching among the mountains, its long tail curved, its fangs faintly visible, exuding a certain "unapproachable" aura of power in its silence.

That was the remains of a god.

—The fox-shaped spirit remains.

It has decayed for countless years, yet it still makes people tremble and dare not look at it for long.

Chu Ning felt a chill run down his spine; even with Duan Xue in his hand, he couldn't suppress the tremor that surged from the depths of his soul.

That was not fear of power.

Rather, it is an instinctive resistance to the collapse of order.

At that moment, Qingli's soul shadow finally moved.

She slowly turned around and looked at the divine remains on the summit of Cangque Mountain. Her divine halo immediately accelerated its rotation, and her soul fire surged around her, as if responding to the divine command of flesh and blood.

She raised her palm, and a wisp of golden light flowed out.

Not fast, but extremely stable.

The divine light pierced through the blood river and the ice plains, as if penetrating the boundary of time and space, and went straight into the center of the divine remains.

next interest.

The earth shook.

The entire Cangque Mountain Range resonated with a deafening roar, its thousands of feet of mountain bodies sounding like heavy war drums, as if struck violently by an invisible hand.

"Boom-"

A low murmur, like the knocking of millions of souls on the gates of God, reverberated throughout the land.

In the distance, a martial artist's ears bled, his dantian roared, and he knelt on the ground in agony, muttering incoherently:
"He's here...He's here..."

The wind and clouds changed color, and snow clouds surged.

The divine remains began to move.

From the center of the broken bones, one white bone after another rose up under the guidance of golden light, their veins connecting with each other, like invisible threads pulling and reconstructing the body of a god.

A golden-white line emerged between the soul and the bones.

The divinity within Qingli seemed to have finally found a "container".

She is no longer a phantom.

She will "make it real".

The martial artists in the far north, even those hundreds of miles away, felt their hearts tighten, their body temperature drop, their knees buckle, and they almost wanted to worship.

It wasn't because of fear of death.

Rather, it was fear of this world.

Chu Ning stood on the icy plain, her gaze still fixed on the ethereal divine figure in mid-air.

He didn't know what consequences the "divine bone" would bring after the Cangque earth veins awakened.

But he had a vague feeling that the real crisis had only just begun.

Suddenly, the blood river in the sky began to ripple.

It was a tremor different from the previous divine array's operation; it was more like a living creature turning over underwater.

Immediately afterwards, the sky and earth changed color.

The starry sea, which had calmed down with the divine presence, was once again engulfed in thunderclouds.

Above the River of Blood, two extremely eerie figures rose.

The first figure slowly rose from the depths of the blood river, which resembled an inverted abyss. The blood waves around him automatically parted, creating a passage.

The childlike figure stood beneath the umbrella, his naked skin as pale as wax, tears of blood streaming down his face, his eyes as black as an abyss, devouring everything.

His footsteps were silent, yet they were like the patrol of death.

With each step taken, a drop of blood rained down from the sky, and the earth grew increasingly silent, as fox spirits self-immolated as a sacrifice.

“...Weeping rain, red child.”

Chu Ning recalled the annotations of the incomplete scripture in the cave: "Rain gives birth to red eyes, weeping rain buries the heart."

On the other side of the Blood River, the giant skeletal ape, bound by chains, finally broke free from its slumbering seal.

The Blazing Bone Ape Lord sat atop the bone boat, eerie soul flames burning amidst the cracked bones, and chains dragged across the ice with a piercing metallic clang.

He looked down upon heaven and earth, and in his silent roar, ten thousand bones wailed, as if the gates of hell had opened.

These two taboo names, once confined to the tattered scrolls, have now finally entered reality.

The weeping child looked up, tears of blood streaming down his face.

He gazed at the spirit, like a priest about to lose control, his eyes unable to conceal the final madness.

There was no reverence in his eyes, only a chilling solemnity.

"...He has awakened."

“We must not allow His ‘main consciousness’ to awaken.”

His voice was soft, yet it was as cold as the first chill of winter, each word carrying a chilling edge.

With a low roar, the ice field beneath his feet suddenly shattered, the chains beneath the ice flew off and broke, and bone fire shot into the sky.

"We don't need a complete 'God'."

“We…only want that divine bone.”

"As long as we can seal His soul back into slumber, we can use His divine body as a catalyst to reverse the seven luminaries and open the path to heaven!" "...Heaven will regard us as 'gods'."

It turns out that the so-called Seven Luminaries Sacrifice Array does not sacrifice heaven and earth, nor living beings, nor His divine soul.

They were offering sacrifices to His divine body.

As long as that wisp of divine consciousness is sealed off, and the gods no longer "know themselves," the Heavenly Way will be unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

This is the century-old plan of the Blood Refining Hall: to pass off falsehood as truth and to deceive the heavens.

But all of this now seems to have been in vain.

That crucial thread of divine deification... was severed by Chu Ning himself.

The weeping rain child's gaze slowly fell on him.

Blood mist surged, and solidified curse rings appeared around him, rising and falling in waves, seemingly about to transform into a purgatory at any moment.

“It’s you.” His tone was cold, yet it was like words carved on a broken stone tablet, carrying a certain decisive cause and effect.

"What you severed with your single stroke was the path to heaven that we had sacrificed for a hundred years."

Chu Ning did not respond, but the sword was already slowly drawn from its sheath.

A faint wisp of lightning slid out along the back of the blade, like a thunderclap pressing down on the sea.

He sensed that these two entities could no longer even be called "enemies".

They are more dangerous than any of the previous Priests of the Seven Luminaries.

The weeping child let out a soft sob.

The sound was hollow and eerie, like the mournful cry of an old soul dug out of a grave.

As a single tear of blood slid down his cheek, crimson raindrops suddenly began to fall from the sky.

A drop of blood pierced through the thick clouds, falling straight down to Chu Ning's feet.

With a hiss, the raindrop became scorching hot before hitting the ground, burning a trail of black smoke into the air.

Even the lightning armor beneath Chu Ning's feet was scorched by it, producing a wisp of smoke and a low rumble.

Chu Ning slowly lowered his head, narrowed his eyes, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

He knew that this battle was no longer just about protecting Qingli's divine soul.

It also prevented these two madmen from dragging the entire world into that abyss called "Divine Prison".

He took a deep breath, his smile bitter, and flicked his finger to put the last Guiyuan Pill into his mouth.

True energy surged like a tide, instantly washing over the meridians throughout the body.

He felt a violent tremor throughout his body, and his depleted true energy was instantly replenished, reigniting his fighting spirit.

But he also knew that even at his peak, he was still only a low-grade sixth rank.

These two madmen in front of us have never revealed their true cultivation level. Their aura alone is enough to crush any one of the Seven Luminaries.

It is at least a sacred place.

At least a fifth-rank official.

The Ape Lord grinned, his fangs bleeding, and roared like thunder:
"Stop struggling. You can kill seven of the Seven Luminaries, but we... are not them."

Weeping Rain Crimson Child slowly raised his right hand, and a crimson talisman appeared in his pale, corpse-like palm.

The runes seemed to be alive, wriggling in the palm of the hand, bringing with them wisps of blood mist. The surrounding temperature plummeted, as if even heaven and earth feared the existence of this rune.

His eyes were indifferent, but his voice was like an ancient inscription, each word pressing into people's hearts.

"This river is the blood left behind by the dead god."

"We have refined our blood for a hundred years, all for one purpose."

He paused for a moment, and the blood mist coiled into a dragon in his palm, roaring silently.

The runes quietly unfolded in his palm, emitting a dark red luster that illuminated his wax-white face.

Blood mist rippled around him, seeping silently into the ground like roots penetrating the heavens and earth.

He looked down at the churning river of blood at his feet, his voice as chilling as a winter night's wind:
"You think this is just a sacrificial array?"

He took a slow step forward, and the blood beneath his feet parted on its own, as if even the river dared not defile him in the slightest.

"At the end of ancient times, the sleeping god buried himself, and his will collapsed."

"Its blood... seeps into the earth's veins and never dries up."

The wind rose and the clouds surged on the ice field, the sky suddenly darkened, as if even the sun and moon were moved by his words.

"It does not enter the cycle of reincarnation, nor does it transform into a spiritual root."

"It does only one thing—corrodes the soul and destroys consciousness, disrupts thoughts and collapses the path."

He looked up at Chu Ning, his eyes filled with a suffocating coldness.

"We take this as our starting point and forge this river of blood."

"And then poured in the remnants of souls from millions of years ago, transforming them into an array."

He paused, then pointed his finger, and the River of Blood trembled violently. Countless wronged souls and ghostly faces appeared on the surface of the water, wailing and twisting as they struggled and churned in the blood waves.

"Why?"

"The knowledge of suppressing gods, the thought of bestowing gods."

His tone suddenly turned low, as if he were stating a taboo of destiny:
“If God’s will has not been extinguished, He will refuse to return to His place.”

“But what we want is His ‘form’, not His ‘soul’.”

"Therefore, we must appease the spirit."

He slowly opened his arms, and the Blood River seemed to be summoned, transforming into a crimson dragon that coiled in the air, meandering towards the soul on the verge of awakening in mid-air.

"This River of Blood... is the Soul-Suppressing Array."

A fierce wind howled, and the earth trembled slightly.

The snow line receded, the ice cracked, and streaks of red light spilled from the depths of the earth, as if the whole world was responding to this sacrifice against fate.

"If He awakens, His divinity will be restored."

"The Way of Heaven can no longer be deceived."

"Then we will have no chance to reach the heavens."

When Qi Yu Chi Tong uttered his last sentence, his tone was low, but every word was deeply moving.

His gaze shifted to Chu Ning, a barely perceptible killing intent gathering within him.

"Therefore, this river must not be cut off."

"Divine thought...cannot be formed."

Behind him, Ape Lord's rage soared into the sky, his bone flames surged, and his eyes burned with a ferocity that seemed capable of destroying the heavens.

"If He awakens, we are not qualified to rule as gods!"

He roared, and the bone imprints around his body burst forth, igniting with pitch-black battle flames. He leaped up and crashed down like a giant rock falling from the sky.

"I'm going to tear you apart!"

Chu Ning's eyes sharpened, lightning flashed around him, and he flashed sideways, his lightning shadow exploding.

"boom."

With a deafening roar, the Ape Marquis's punch landed, and the ice field suddenly collapsed by thirty feet. Large shards of icy crystals burst and flew everywhere, turning into glittering ice arrows that shot in all directions.

Chu Ning crashed heavily into the ice.

Snow and wind whipped up, making the world seem to split open.

But the Crimson Rain Child remained unmoved. He simply gazed silently at the divine soul high in the sky, the crimson light reflecting off his emotionless childlike face, making him appear even more eerie.

"...He cannot be fully awakened."

He murmured softly, his words like a spell.

The next instant, he stretched out his hands, and his ten fingers split open inch by inch from the knuckles, blood gushing out like a waterfall and splashing into the river of blood.

"Boom."

The River of Blood trembled violently.

As if infused with a will, it spiraled on its own, transforming into a coiled blood python, inch by inch coiling and climbing, approaching the place where the divine soul resided in mid-air.

Despite the blood and flesh tearing from the ten fingers of the weeping, red-haired boy, his expression remained unchanged. He murmured as if in a dream:
"Soul Guardian... Rebooted."

"With my blood, I summon the souls back to the formation."

The illusory image of the spirit trembled slightly in mid-air, as if sensing some kind of summons, and began to gradually sink.

The river of blood writhed, and wailing cries converged as more and more souls rose to the surface, only to be swallowed by the blood.

Meanwhile, Chu Ning has clashed with Yuan Hou once again.

Lightning and bone flames, like raging dragons and demonic stars, exploded and intertwined between heaven and earth, cleaving through thick snow and tearing apart the icy plains. Gale-force winds whipped up snow dust, turning it into swirling eddies, while thunder and howls nearly shattered the heavens.

Chu Ning's gaze was cold and stern. The lightning blade in his hand was pointed directly at his opponent, and lightning patterns spread out under his feet like a spider web, etching scorch marks on the icy plain.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, his body surging with lightning energy. His lightning armor shattered and reformed, revealing his lightning bones inch by inch, forming a second outer body on his skin.

"Thunder Armor - Third Form - Thunder Fiend Body!"

"Om-"

With a loud bang, Chu Ning's Qi Sea surged, and five-colored lightning energy appeared simultaneously: green, red, gold, purple, and black. The five types of lightning power were like five pillars of heaven, penetrating his Qi and blood.

His bones swelled in the light, his veins electrified, and his muscles were woven with lightning wires, as if thousands of lightning snakes were roaming his body. His blood flowed like a drumbeat, and as the lightning patterns leaped, his body was reconstructed by the intent of lightning, transforming into a divine lightning battle body.

Muscles wrapped around the exoskeleton inch by inch, like a brocade of lightning, embedded in the trajectory of swords and fists; in his eyes, lightning flashed like a reflection of a starry sea, and killing intent condensed into a cold, frosty glow.

He took a step, and the ground cracked and snow avalanches appeared. A longbow and a thunder blade emerged in the void, one bow like the cold moon casting its shadow, the other like the sky collapsing and teeth breaking.

Chu Ning took a deep breath and slowly raised the Thunder Blade horizontally in front of him.

The next moment, he moved.

"Silent World—Destroyed!"

This was the strongest strike he could muster.

Five-colored lightning surged from the blade, transforming into a rebellious thunder dragon, carrying an aura of destruction that shattered ice and snow and tore through the sky.

The heavens and earth trembled, the sky was dyed red, and a lightning bolt that stretched for hundreds of feet tore the entire ice field in two.

As the Ape Lord roared, the bone flames on his chest burned fiercely, and he threw a punch that was like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting.

"boom!"

The five-colored thunder dragon roared as it crashed into the Ape Lord's fist, but it was like a tide crashing against an iron wall. After a loud bang, it shattered inch by inch within the force of the fist.

Chu Ning's expression changed, and before he could retreat, Yuan Hou had already rushed in front of him, his bone fist slamming down like a pillar from the sky.

"boom!!"

He took the punch head-on, his lightning armor shattered, and his body flew backward for hundreds of feet, traversing the hillside and crashing through three ice cliffs before finally stopping, blood gushing from his mouth.

The entire left arm's Thunder Bone was shattered by the shock, and the Thunder Fiend Meridian was severed in multiple places.

"How is this possible..." He spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes cold and piercing.

With that strike, he unleashed all his lightning power, the five-colored lightning explosion and lightning armor overlapping, enough to sever a sixth-grade high-level martial artist. Yet this Ape Marquis... was completely unharmed.

In the snow, the Ape Lord strode closer, his myriad bone boats floating beneath his feet, surrounded by bone flames and wailing incessantly. With each step, the surrounding temperature plummeted several feet, as if heaven and earth themselves were making way for his rage.

"You broke the Seven Luminaries Formation, but you also disrupted the Soul-Suppressing Rhythm." He roared, his voice like a stone striking a bronze bell, causing the distant ice layers to collapse.

“His soul is restless, and his bones yearn to return.”

"If we do not suppress it by force, the First-Class Pavilion will also notice the anomalies in the heavens and earth."

"You ruined my plans, you deserve to die!" he roared again, slamming his fists into the ground and blasting open layers of dark bone arrays.

Despite the excruciating pain churning within him, Chu Ning braced himself with the Thunder Blade and slowly rose to his feet. The lightning patterns on his severed right arm continued to dance, their residual light undiminished.

He looked at Yuan Hou, his voice low and hoarse, yet each word as firm as iron:

"If fate is a sacrifice... then I will slay the god and make him my lamp."

He reversed the Thunder Blade, carried a longbow on his back, and transformed into a Thunder Shadow. Three Thunder Spirit Shadows appeared around him, each holding a spear, a halberd, and a seal respectively. They stood coldly and solemnly, clad in thunderous battle robes.

In that instant, the icy plain fell silent, and the wind and snow stopped.

Chu Ning charged again with his sword, the three lightning shadows moving in unison. The lightning swords flashed like lightning, carrying residual thunder and causing chaos, shaking the surrounding space and creating layers of illusory marks.

Ape Lord roared, his bone flames transforming into fists as he clashed his arms to meet Chu Ning's lightning strike.

One man could move mountains and rivers with his strength, another was as fast as lightning; amidst the flashing blades and clashing fists, the icy plains were completely engulfed in chaos.

Every collision was like a clash between gods and demons; every battle tore through the void.

But Chu Ning's figure grew heavier and heavier, the lightning patterns dimmed, and the five-colored lightning began to malfunction. He was ultimately only at the sixth rank, and even if he used all his lightning energy and activated the third layer of lightning armor, he still couldn't suppress the power of his opponent's innate divine bone.

Finally, with the third roar of the Ape Lord, a "Bone-Splitting and God-Piercing" strike landed squarely on Chu Ning's abdomen.

"Crack!!"

His armor shattered, his ribs broke, and his internal organs ruptured.

Chu Ning suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his whole body flew backward, crashing into the depths of the icy cliff, breaking through three layers of cold crystal.

He lay supine amidst the crumbling ice and snow, his body covered in blood, his lightning power nearly depleted, and his eyes blurred with blood.

The Ape Lord slowly approached from afar, bone flames rising around him, his divine might as deep as an abyss.

“You’ve done well,” he said coldly, “but you’re still just a mortal who hasn’t reached the fifth-grade Saint Realm.”

"Mortals cannot stop the path of the gods."

Chu Ning gasped for breath, trying to grip the knife again, but his hand could no longer be raised.

He could only watch as the spiraling river of blood in the sky gradually approached the floating phantom of the soul.

Crying Rain Crimson Child still stood in the distance, his ten fingers split open, blood gushing like a fountain, the talisman rings behind him spinning, his voice like a nightmare:
"He cannot wake up."

"You're too late."

Above the icy plains, a faint light descended from the heavens; the divine essence had not yet returned, but the killing intent had already spread throughout the nine heavens.

The battlefield has been completely transformed into a purgatory of blood and thunder.

Above the higher heavens, the phantom of the divine soul hovered silently, its divine halo rotating, as if being slowly pulled toward the earth by some force.

The Weeping Rain Crimson Child raised his hands, his palms surging with blood and energy.

He did not join the battle, but instead poured all his power into the river of blood beneath his feet.

“Sink,” he whispered. “All will should return to slumber.”

His ten fingers split open again, and blood, like snakes, flowed into the river.

In an instant, the blood river surged and the water swirled violently, as if the entire riverbed was resonating with it.

Chu Ning noticed it.

With a swift glance, he forcefully repelled the attack from the Ape Marquis using his illusory armor, then looked up at the center of the rising blood river.

Below, within the River of Blood, Chi Tong continuously channeled blood curses into his palm.

The crimson vortex swirled around the soul, like a prison ring wrapped around a celestial lantern.

—With each shrinkage, Qingli's divine soul dimmed a little.

The soul, which was originally as clear as the moon, now faintly revealed a pale, illusory form, and the subtle golden light around it was also drawn away by the blood lines, turning into a link in the chain.

Dong'er was shocked: "You are refining her."

Chu Ning looked up and saw that the divine halo that had once been clear in the sky was now surrounded by four layers of blood vortexes.

And the sky also quietly changed.

It was no longer a deep, intense blood red.

It is gray.

Dead ashes.

It was as if the entire world had been sealed off by an invisible coffin lid.

The wind stopped.

The clouds are still, and the thunder is silent.

Time seemed to slow down as the lock closed.

"If she gets through three more locks, she will lose everything."

Dong'er's voice trembled: "My soul will completely return to its shell, and there will be no more 'Qingli'."

Chu Ning's eyes flashed like thunder as he stared intently at the phantom in the sky that was being squeezed and sinking by chains.

He slowly drew the Broken Snow Blade, and the five levels of Thunder Soul gathered together.

"That's too late."

"I have no choice but to break the formation."

Lightning rekindles, and with each step taken, one defies the heavens.

"Go quickly." Qi Yu Chi Tong buried his palm deep in the blood river, the blood flowing through the bone pillars underground like curse threads. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his whole body seemed to be bound to the formation.

He didn't look up, but coldly uttered a sentence.

“I alone am enough to suppress Him.”

The Blazing Bone Ape roared, and bone flames surged wildly.

"Enough with the nonsense."

He had been putting up with the red-haired boy for a long time.

If Chu Ning isn't killed soon, the situation will only get more chaotic.

"I'll tear him apart!"

Ape Lord leaped into the air, roaring soaring through the sky, and a ring of chilling white bone souls suddenly appeared behind him.

The soul wheel seemed to open the gates of purgatory, with countless bones wailing and ghosts howling. Dozens of ferocious soul shadows coiled and twisted, roaring and howling. These were the "souls of bone demons" that he had suppressed and refined in his previous life.

"Bone Prison - Reincarnation!"

With a furious roar, the Ape Lord unleashed a torrent of resentment as his Soul Wheel spun. He swung his fist down, the force of which was like a collapsing mountain or river, bringing with it a Netherworld Soul Shadow that descended from the sky. Lightning dodged it, and space trembled.

Enveloped in lightning flames, Chu Ning darted out like lightning, forcefully avoiding a direct confrontation.

But in that instant, his pupils contracted sharply, and his mind was shaken.

That punch shattered not only space, but also pierced through his consciousness.

His Thunder Heart was violently churning within him. The Thunder Heart was composed of five colors: blue, red, gold, purple, and black; five souls: snow fox, soul lion, golden crow, nightmare tiger, and black snake; and five thoughts: injury, madness, anger, fear, and resentment.

Among the five thoughts, the "fear" was disrupted, the "madness" was torn apart, and the second thought—the resentment of the black serpent—was forcibly extracted by an evil force, stripping away the will like threads.

"He can... rip apart souls?" Chu Ning was horrified, a chill suddenly running through his heart.

High in the sky, the Ape Lord grinned wildly, his gleaming white teeth as cold as scythes in the ghostly mist:
"No matter how strong the Thunder Soul is, it still needs a 'soul' to bear it!"

"My path is dedicated to destroying the soul."

"The moment you utter a thought, my soul lock follows. The more you try to kill me, the more I can devour you!"

"I'm going to take this 'bomb'!"

Chu Ning did not respond. He knew that the Marquis of Ape was not a mere figurehead.

That's not just physical strength, but a soul-devouring technique called "Spirit-Splitting Reincarnation," which can lock, seize, and transform thoughts into food. It specifically devours thunder soul bodies constructed from obsessions, emotions, and battle spirits.

A forceful attack would only cause the remaining few remaining thoughts to collapse and be annihilated.

At this moment, the Thunder Soul within him had broken through four levels, his Thunder Bones were completely shattered, the tendons and bones of his legs were broken, and only one arm remained capable of holding a knife.

His only remaining left arm was also snapped off in the soul strike, blood gushing out, hanging down like a dead tree.

He was already severely injured, and his soul was on the verge of collapse.

But he still had one last thought left unsaid.

In that moment, there was no anger, no insistence on war, no reckless advance, but rather a solitary figure in the snow, silently watching over the wounded snow fox.

Chu Ning remained silent.

He simply lowered his head, placing the knife across his lap, a posture like that of a dying soldier preparing for his final blow.

He closed his eyes, his breath sinking into the snow, the lightning subsided, and his soul's shadow faded.

"...When all other thoughts are shattered, only this one thought remains, and it cannot be abandoned."

Snowflakes fluttered down, the wind was still as if in a tomb.

Under the sneer of the Ape Lord, Chu Ning slowly raised his bloodied and mangled face, his eyes gleaming with a ghostly light like a fox's newly opened pupils.

(End of this chapter)