Lord of the Rending Stars

The gray mist in the Meteor Abyss slowly churned, and Kanai's figure had vanished without a trace.

The meteorite fragment that Qingyang's Yuanhua clone had transformed into floated silently in the spatial folds millions of kilometers away from the battlefield. He had witnessed firsthand the entire process of the human race's main body being crushed and annihilated by Kanai, and he had also watched Kanai collect those precious treasures and tear through space to leave.

"Higher Cosmic Venerable..."

The Yuanhua clone opened its eyes. In those eyes, which were exactly the same as the original Qingyang human, there was no anger, no fear, only a calm and almost cold scrutiny.

After confirming that Kanai had completely left, the Yuanhua clone slowly unfolded from its meteorite form and transformed back into human form. Its enormous body, spanning 100,000 kilometers, appeared and disappeared in the gray mist before shrinking back to the size of a normal person.

Qingyang did not rush to leave. He stayed at the edge of the Meteor Abyss for another half day, using the top-level detector carried by his Yuanhua clone to repeatedly scan every inch of this area to confirm that no trace of tracking that could be exposed had been left behind.

Three days later, Qingyang transformed into a streak of light and silently departed from the Meteor Abyss. To be on the safe side, Qingyang detoured through three spatial turbulence zones and transited through two divine kingdoms before finally returning to the Human Holy City. This route was circuitous and took twice as long as the journey there, but it was enough to shake off any potential pursuers.

Qingyang sat cross-legged on the futon and reviewed all the details of his trip to the Meteor Abyss.

"The Forging Star Pavilion's archived report, the intercepted signal from Chris's legion, the intelligence provided by Jiuyu and Bingfeng... every piece of information appeared before me at just the right time, every piece of information pointed in the same direction, yet none of them could directly prove that this was a trap."

Qingyang muttered to himself, a cold glint in his eyes, "It's not a coincidence, it's a carefully woven web. And the one who wove the web knows the intelligence transmission mechanism within the human race inside and out."

A figure flashed through Qingyang's mind. The C-level weapon refiner who had worked in the Star Forging Pavilion's mission hall for countless epochs, the steward who had once learned the "Time-Space Freeze Engraving Method" from him, the person who rejected the Meteor Abyss report in the system, yet perfectly archived the data in the ordinary database.

"Marquis Tie Fang..."

Qingyang repeated the name in a low voice, without drawing a conclusion, but simply memorizing it in his heart.

Without concrete evidence, mere speculation is insufficient to harm a Rank C weapon refiner who has served the Star Forging Pavilion for countless eons. Moreover, if Tie Fanghou is indeed an inside man, his entanglement within the human race extends far beyond this single incident. Hastily alerting him would only make the enemy lurking in the shadows more vigilant.

"I'll remember this debt."

The original divine body of the human race has been annihilated, but it only takes some time and energy to conceive a new original human race.

Yuanhua's avatar sat cross-legged before the Zhuochen Cauldron, beginning to peruse the sections of "The Thirteen Chapters of Zhuokong: The Treasure Chapter" that he hadn't had time to read in detail before. Meanwhile, the true form of the Shiying Beast sank into the Divine Kingdom, joining the Youtian Kunpeng avatar to begin a new round of comprehension of the laws.

Kanai's ambush made Qingyang realize that his current combat strength was already among the top in the King-level Invincible Realm, and he could even contend with a low-level Universe Venerable. However, he was still powerless against a high-level Universe Venerable.

"High-level Cosmic Venerables... are beings who have fully comprehended a superior law and have deduced the genetic level, secret techniques, divine body amplitude, soul amplitude, and so on to an extremely high and profound level."

Qingyang mentally calculated, "Kanai excels at soul attacks, and his physical attacks are not weak either. He is considered a strong figure among the high-level universe venerables. With my current strength, a direct confrontation would be suicide."

The territory of the Godslayer Clan, the void area of ​​the palace of the three elders of the Godslayer Clan.

Kanai stepped out of the spatial rift and landed before the ancient hall surrounded by countless black holes. His aura was slightly weaker than when he left, a trace left by the burning of divine power, but not serious.

"Third Elder, your subordinate Kanai requests an audience."

From deep within the main hall came a booming, thunderous voice: "Come in."

Kanai stepped into the hall and knelt on one knee before the enormous black figure. The Third Elder's body was more than a hundred times larger than Kanai's, covered entirely in jet-black scales, and his pair of scarlet vertical pupils shone like two blood moons in the darkness.

"Reporting to the Third Elder, the cleanup mission is complete." Kanai bowed his head, his voice hoarse.

"Oh?" The Third Elder's vertical pupils narrowed slightly. "Then, King Liefeng, has completely perished?"

"The material world has been completely annihilated." Kanai paused, "But..."

"But what? Speak quickly!"

Kanai raised his head, a barely perceptible hint of embarrassment flashing in his vertical pupils. "I attempted to control him using soul enslavement techniques, but I failed. The soul will of that King of Riftbeams far surpasses that of an ordinary King-level Immortal."

The Third Elder remained silent for a moment, then leaned forward slightly, his massive body exuding an oppressive aura like a collapsing mountain. "Tell me more."

"I laid a trap in the Meteor Abyss, and King Riftbeard indeed came alone. I first used the Soul Enslavement Technique, directly burning my divine power to activate it, intending to control him in one fell swoop," Kanai recalled the scene. "But when I used my ethereal divine power to invade his soul, I encountered extremely strong resistance. It seemed that there was some kind of soul defense treasure protecting him deep within his soul. My soul invasion was weakened by more than half, and the remaining part could not shake his will at all."

"A treasure for soul defense?" The Third Elder's voice carried a hint of interest. "A mere Immortal King possesses a treasure for soul defense? It seems the human race truly values ​​him."

"Exactly," Kanai nodded. "After the soul enslavement failed, I switched to physical attacks and completely annihilated his divine body within a few moves. I have brought back all his personal belongings."

Kanai flipped his hand and took out several items: a top-grade treasured battle sword, a damaged ordinary treasured armor, a world ring, and several scattered storage devices.

The Third Elder's gaze swept over the items, lingering briefly on the battle sword and armor: "These treasures are nothing special. What's inside that world ring?"

"I have investigated," Kanai said, presenting the world ring. "It contains only some ordinary cultivation resources, a small amount of Chaos Source Crystals, and a few G-grade weapons. Nothing of value was found."

"Hmph." The Third Elder snorted coldly, "It seems that King Liefeng is cautious in his actions, and he didn't take all his belongings with him when he went out to investigate. His palace treasure, which he crafted, is probably still in the human race's holy city."

Kanai lowered his head: "It was my oversight."

"Bring out that soul defense treasure," the Third Elder said, his vertical pupils narrowing as he looked at Kanai.

"Your subordinate has not found any soul defense treasures, Third Elder, please be aware," Kanai said in a terrified voice, bowing his head.

"Raise your head and look into my eyes," the Third Elder's booming voice was filled with unquestionable authority.

Kanai looked up and met the Third Elder's scarlet vertical pupils.

"Useless idiot! A dignified high-level universe venerable was actually played for a fool by a mere immortal of the human race. That King Liefeng must have the ability to create clones. You only killed one of his clones," the Third Elder roared, his voice even more furious.

Kanai lowered his head and trembled. "Your subordinate was careless. I never expected that King Liefeng would be so cunning. Please punish me, Third Elder."

"Hmph~" The Third Elder waved his hand, "This matter cannot be entirely blamed on you. Damn Sneker, what was he doing with his intelligence?" The Third Elder wished he could tear Sneker apart with his bare hands.

"This little King Liefeng is such a nuisance. The only way to completely destroy him is to enslave his soul," the Third Elder paused, his crimson vertical pupils looking at Kanai. "You and Sneka continue to monitor him. Report back immediately once King Liefeng leaves the human territory."

Kanai replied respectfully, "Your subordinate obeys."

"Damn Sneker," Kanai cursed inwardly, then respectfully withdrew from the hall, his figure turning into black smoke and dissipating.

Deep within the main hall, the Third Elder sat alone in the darkness, his scarlet vertical pupils gleaming with thoughtful light.

"A treasure for soul defense... its willpower is so strong that even Kanai's soul enslavement cannot shake it..."

The Third Elder muttered to himself, "This King Liefeng is more valuable than the intelligence reports suggest. It's a pity that only one of his avatars died. If we could refine him into a soul servant, we could eliminate a major threat ahead of schedule."

He shook his head, dismissing the thought. In the darkness deep within the hall, the pair of scarlet vertical pupils slowly closed, and the entire hall returned to deathly silence.