The entire world had transformed into darkness as the Dream Realm and reality intertwined.

The ancient castle.

The City of Lights.

Everything had disappeared into the void.

In the shadowy realm, followers of the Abyss Cult began to appear, their grotesque transformations laid bare. Some bore decaying flesh, others were covered in scales, and a few had skeletal features protruding from their bodies.

Xin Jisi wielded a power that felt entirely unnatural, a power that should never have been his.

Oran hovered effortlessly in the air, seated as though gravity held no sway over him.

Below, the terrifying monster stood before the open pathway to the Abyss, raising its head to look up at him.

“You’ve never encountered this before, have you?” Xin Jisi sneered, his voice dripping with malice.

“This is the power of the Mythical Door, the power of the Door of Original Sin,” he continued, his tone filled with dark triumph. “It bridges two worlds, binding them together. There is no escape for you now.”

“Your only choices are to kill me or fall before me while I take everything you hold dear.”

Xin Jisi was boasting, flaunting everything he possessed.

Though the power was borrowed, not his own, he treated it as if it were.

Oran extended his hand, and a silver metal lamp appeared in it.

A flame tornado burst forth, revealing a massive shadow behind it. The firelight illuminated the darkness, and the Lamp Spirit’s gaze looked down upon the fallen people on the ground.

Oran reached out and pointed toward the ground.

The Lamp Spirit spewed a pillar of flame directly at Xin Jisi and the Abyss Cult followers on the dark ground below.

Whoosh!

The sound of spewing flames accompanied the howling, piercing wind.

The twisted creature on the ground raised its six arms, creating a crystalline umbrella above its head that completely shielded it from the Lamp Spirit’s fiery assault.

The followers of the Abyss Cult also cast various Divine Techniques.

They surrounded Xin Jisi, resisting the erosion of the Lamp Spirit’s power.

Oran continued to channel his power into the flames, and the fire spewed by the Lamp Spirit grew deeper and deeper in color.

The jeweled crystal umbrella could no longer withstand the assault and began to melt, bit by bit.

But at this moment, Xin Jisi suddenly dropped his protection and opened his mouth.

With a single deep breath, he drew in the raging flames unleashed by the Lamp Spirit, swallowing them effortlessly. A moment later, he exhaled with a contented burp, as if savoring a hearty meal.

Xin Jisi looked smugly at Oran. “Enough with these little tricks. Come on!”

“Let me see your true power!”

“The power that once transcended mortal limits. The power of an ancient apostle.”

Xin Jisi moved forward on his four legs like a strange lizard.

Stones rose from the darkness beneath his feet, a power likely stolen from some powerful Ability User.

His speed increased as he climbed higher and higher.

Soon, he drew near to where Oran hovered.

“Come on!”

“Use your power. Let me see the power of Elena’s Heart.”

As Xin Jisi spoke, his eyes gleamed with desire.

He had begun to yearn for that power a long time ago.

His yearning began long before he was abandoned by the God of Alchemy.

When he was young, watching Oran wield that power beyond mortal limits, the longing for such strength had already taken deep root within his heart.

The fifteen-meter-tall monster surged forward, a blazing mountain of flesh. Flames roared across its body, leaving fiery trails that stretched for hundreds of meters in its wake.

He had not summoned a Lamp Spirit.

He himself was like a Lamp Spirit.

Yet he was more solid than a Lamp Spirit and possessed more transformations.

Oran looked at the world wrapped in darkness and finally made up his mind.

He reached out and pressed his hand to his heart.

Colorful light burst forth as Oran’s form continuously expanded. He transformed from a human-sized puppet into a hundred-meter metal giant.

Boom!

Oran threw a punch, striking Xin Jisi.

The monster that had seemed so enormous just moments before now appeared incredibly small before the metal giant.

With a single punch, Xin Jisi was sent hurtling through the air and crashed to the ground below. His body collapsed into a grotesque heap of decaying flesh.

He had charged for so long, only to be returned to his starting point in an instant.

He had shouted for so long, yet he could not withstand a single punch from his opponent.

But from the pile of rotten flesh, Xin Jisi’s head emerged, shouting at Oran.

“You can’t kill me! You just can’t!”

“I have the Greed Seed of the Abyss. It is impossible for me to die!”

He was extremely frustrated, but the more he felt this way, the more he craved Oran’s power.

His desire for Elena’s Heart grew stronger with each passing moment.

As Xin Jisi spoke, his grotesque body of decaying flesh began to regenerate, slowly reshaping itself into its original form.

The decaying flesh spread outward, engulfing several followers of the Abyss Cult who were nearby.

“High Priest?”

“What are you doing?”

“He’s lost his mind, completely lost it!”

“I am a follower of the Abyss! Let me go!”

The Abyss followers who had just opened the Door of the Abyss for Xin Jisi now fled from him in terror.

Xin Jisi declared with a twisted grin, “I am the Abyss’s agent. I am the High Priest.”

“Everything you have is mine. All your powers are mine.”

“It was I who gathered you, I who gave shelter to you homeless dogs.”

“Now, it is time you contributed to me.”

In an instant, he swallowed twenty or thirty Ability Users in succession.

Xin Jisi’s already frightening appearance became even more hideous and terrifying.

He transformed into a horrifying mountain of flesh.

On the flesh mountain grew many terrifying human faces, the faces of the very people he had just swallowed.

Xin Jisi’s power grew even stronger, but he felt no pleasure whatsoever.

His eyes remained fixed on the rapidly approaching metal giant, and he let out a great roar.

“In the name of the agent of the God of Original Sin!”

“I summon the demons of the Abyss.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the dark entrance to the Abyss beneath his feet opened completely.

In the terrible darkness, thousands upon thousands of Abyss monsters could be seen crawling out from below, heading toward the human world above.

Black mud surged, and decaying monsters rushed out in overwhelming numbers.

Terrifying Heart-Burning Demons, Swamp Demons, and decaying Wing Demons floated up, recklessly pouncing toward the metal giant.

As the metal giant prepared to stomp down on Xin Jisi, aiming to crush him into a heap of flesh once more, a decaying Wing Demon suddenly darted toward its face. Reacting swiftly, the giant reached out, seized the demon in mid-air, and crushed it in its grasp.

Flames burst forth from the ground as skeletal monsters, their skulls engulfed in fire, emerged one by one, rallying their legions to assault the towering metal giant.

Many among them were Third-Rank monsters.

Oran had no choice but to activate another signature power of a Fourth-Rank apostle.

“Mental Domain!”

Behind him, metal puppets rose one after another, forming an entire legion.

Despite summoning a legion of metal puppets, Oran’s attempt to extend his mental power outward failed to form the expected Mental Domain.

Oran was stunned for a moment. “Why?”

Xin Jisi laughed loudly, as if this was precisely the effect he had wanted to see.

It was the scene he had long anticipated.

“This is the land of Original Sin.”

“It is a domain formed by the invasion of the Door of Original Sin into reality.”

“Even if you are an apostle, your Mental Domain is completely ineffective here.”

“No matter how many puppets you summon, can they outnumber the demons of the Abyss?”

Xin Jisi stood at the center, surrounded by countless Abyss monsters. Though he had not fully descended into the Abyss, he could already feel the overwhelming power and authority of an Abyss King.

“The God of Alchemy is stingy with His rewards to His followers. I worshipped Him devoutly, yet He did not give me the opportunity to become His apostle.”

“But see for yourself,” Xin Jisi sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. “The God of Original Sin is far more generous.”

Several bone demons over thirty meters tall, wielding weapons and shields, engaged the metal giant in battle, while dense swarms of Wing Demons drove wind blades that cut into its body.

Thousands of small monsters gathered like mountains, climbing toward the metal giant.

However, even without access to his Mental Domain and with many large-scale Divine Techniques restricted, Oran pressed on.

Among the various Divine Grace Puppets, Elena’s Magic Gold was foremost in both defense and direct assault.

The metal giant, as if never tiring, continuously slaughtered numerous monsters, then charged toward Xin Jisi.

Xin Jisi fought with it for no more than three rounds before being stepped on and reduced to a pile of flesh.

Thud!

Black light converged and the pile of flesh began to heal again, only for the metal giant to stomp down on it once more.

Thud!

Thud!

One foot fell after another, as if wanting to trample Xin Jisi into dust.

To keep stomping him into that endless darkness, to merge him with it.

Meanwhile, the metal giant kept moving. Its massive hands swept through the air, smashing, crushing, and obliterating the monsters that swarmed toward it like moths to a flame.

Thud, thud, thud!

The stomping continued without pause, making the entire dark space seem to tremble.

Yet, every time Xin Jisi fell, he would rise again.

Within his body, a seed was visible. It was a black shadow radiating a faint light, preserving his essence.

It was the Greed Seed, a fragment of power from the Original Sin Evil God.

Even with his current exploration of power, Oran had no method to destroy such a thing.

As Xin Jisi’s body collapsed, his scattered flesh and blood began to writhe and spread. The remnants hungrily absorbed the surrounding Abyss monsters, slowly converging into a grotesque mass once more.

Over time, his grotesque form grew and twisted until he had become a towering mountain of flesh that rivaled the height of the metal giant.

Meanwhile, the flesh splattered onto the metal giant began to writhe and multiply, spreading uncontrollably.

Before Oran could fully react, the flesh mountain had already coiled around him, trapping him in its grasp.

The metal giant immediately began to retreat, trying to tear away the flesh that was entangling his body and continuously multiplying.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he could not fully tear it away.

At that moment, Xin Jisi, now a grotesque mountain of flesh, surged forward and wrapped itself around the metal giant, ensnaring it completely.

No matter how the metal giant struck, sending flesh and blood flying, Xin Jisi refused to release his grip.

A grotesque head pushed its way out from the writhing flesh mountain, its eyes gleaming with greed as it fixated on the trapped metal giant.

“Now, it’s my turn.”

“Elena’s Heart,” Xin Jisi growled, his voice filled with greed. “It belongs to me now!”

The other metal puppets caught in the Abyss legion’s attack also rushed over, trying to rescue Oran.

But those monsters threw themselves into the fray, sacrificing their lives without hesitation.

Meanwhile, more and more creatures emerged from the Abyss, an endless tide of horrors spilling forth as if the Abyss itself had no bottom.

After being crushed into a mangled heap by Oran countless times, enduring relentless pain and struggling to reform, Xin Jisi finally managed to gain the upper hand. His grotesque head emerged, hovering ominously beside the metal giant’s ear.

With a fierce glare, he declared, “I will take everything from you. I am Greed incarnate, the future Abyss King.”

Although the threshold for becoming an Abyss King is the Fourth-Rank, by merging part of itself with the Abyss and wielding some authority over its mythical artifact, its power has grown far beyond that of a typical Fourth-Rank.

However, their true forms cannot leave the Abyss, as they are bound by the Abyss Oath.

At this point, Oran grew anxious, unable to understand.

“What exactly is this thing?”

“How can it be unkillable?”

Puppet Oran was a well-informed Ability User, but he had never seen such a bizarre power.

He did not know that an Abyss King was precisely this unkillable.

Although Xin Jisi was still far from being an Abyss King, in this dark land, he temporarily possessed part of that enhancement and its attributes.

One of Oran’s hands struggled free, striking toward the “lump” that had squeezed out from the flesh mountain.

Xin Jisi’s head darted away just in time, narrowly avoiding the strike.

Flesh and blood splattered across the battlefield, but his head reappeared moments later, emerging from a different part of the grotesque mass.

Seeing that Oran had become anxious, Xin Jisi immediately let out a wild laugh.

“Useless! It’s useless!”

“Oran!” Xin Jisi bellowed, his voice echoing through the darkness. “This is the power granted to me by the God of Original Sin. You cannot stand against it!”

“I told you. You cannot kill me.”

Hahahahaha!

The flesh mountain gradually entangled the metal giant.

At last, the flesh mountain consumed it entirely, drawing it deep within its grotesque mass.

The metal giant struggled desperately, continuously tearing at the flesh, but ultimately failed to escape.

Although Oran had Fourth-Rank power through Elena’s Heart, he was not a true Fourth-Rank.

He lacked both the systematic knowledge and the Divine Grace-level techniques required to fully harness it.

The dark power covered the metal giant, continuously eroding its interior.

Xin Jisi’s Greed Seed was seizing and eroding its power.

As their spirits clashed, Oran finally glimpsed the true nature of the power hidden within Xin Jisi.

Images flowed past, one after another.

He saw the shattered remnants of a massive black eggshell, which appeared to be the Abyss itself.

The Abyss was divided into seven layers, each corresponding to the power of an Original Sin.

Xin Jisi’s power corresponded to the third layer, and he was able to draw power almost infinitely from it in this dark land.

“Greed Seed.”

“Abyss King candidate.”

Oran finally saw through the Grand Elder’s essence. Xin Jisi was a seed of the Abyss King, chosen by the Original Sin Evil God.

The Greed Seed’s power seeped relentlessly into Oran, driven by Xin Jisi’s insatiable desire to claim Elena’s Heart for himself.

In the process of being devoured, the outer shell of the metal giant dissolved, layer by layer.

Puppet Oran’s metal body dissolved along with it, his two legs vanishing completely.

Layer upon layer of black threads entangled upward, wrapping around Oran’s heart.

Under the influence of Greed, one of the seven great Original Sins of the Abyss, Elena’s Heart began to shift. It had always been inseparable from Oran and deeply connected to him.

It was actually being torn away.

Bang!

A gap formed in Oran’s chest as the heart slowly detached from within.

The black threads moved cautiously, almost reverently, as if fearing they might harm the heart.

At that moment, Xin Jisi’s grotesque head emerged from the writhing flesh mountain, glaring menacingly at puppet Oran.

He looked greedily at Elena’s Heart, his voice a desperate, impatient rasp.

“Mine!”

“Mine!”

“Fourth-Rank Divine Grace! I finally have it!”

To Xin Jisi, this stone represented the power of the Fourth-Rank and the key to longevity. It was also the starting point for taking everything he desired.

Xin Jisi opened his mouth wide, his jaws snapping shut around the stone. With a single gulp, he swallowed it whole.

Xin Jisi’s thoughts were completely focused on Elena’s Heart, and he failed to notice that the puppet was being digested and dissolved.

Unbeknownst to him, as Elena’s Heart parted from Oran’s body, the puppet began to undergo a remarkable transformation.

Within the hollow of his chest, a fractured barrier glimmered faintly as something within began to shift and transform.

As his consciousness teetered on the brink of fading into the void, Oran thought he glimpsed a shadowy figure emerging behind him.

A young girl wearing a flower crown leaned close to his ear, whispering to him.

“Oran!”

“My power will protect you.”

Oran suddenly remembered something that had happened long ago.

The golden beach stretched endlessly, and the white tower stood tall against the horizon.

Amid it all, colorful flower trees swayed gently in the breeze.

The beautiful Wood Nymph pushed a wheelchair and happily said to him.

“Since it’s eroding you, why not replace the heart?”

Puppet Oran, lying in the wheelchair, said, “If you dig it out, I will die.”

Saint Raphael corrected him. “You are a puppet, so you would be broken.”

The puppet did not respond.

Seeing the puppet like this, the Wood Nymph deliberately joked.

“Let’s try it. How about replacing it with a wooden heart? I think that would be nice.”

“Because,” she said with a gentle smile, “we spirits are born from the trees.”

Light condensed, and a wooden heart formed in the puppet’s chest.

Thump!

Beating!

In the blink of an eye, it transformed from wood into a living, flesh-and-blood heart.

This was a Miracle Technique.

Colorful light burst forth from puppet Oran’s body.

Catching the flesh mountain off guard, this power tore it apart and allowed Oran to escape.

Oran flew into the air, looking down at his chest.

His heart began to beat, emitting rhythmic thumping sounds.

From the heart, flesh and blood spread, reorganizing his entire body.

Blood vessels, muscles, and skin continuously constructed themselves as the corroded metal fell away.

Oran extended his hand, and the metal-framed hand gradually became a palm of flesh and blood.

It had translucent skin with layered palm lines.

Oran immediately understood what had happened.

“Not just a barrier. You left something in my heart.”

Puppet Oran, enhanced by the Miracle Technique, broke free from the metal transformation and recovered his original appearance.

He had changed from a puppet back into a human.

Puppet Oran raised his head, never having imagined that one day he would recover his former self.

“Thank you.”

“Saint Raphael.”

Meanwhile, Xin Jisi stared at Oran, his expression filled with disbelief. “What…?”

He was completely stunned, having never anticipated such a change.

The puppet had somehow escaped, relying on some unknown power.

What was even more astonishing was that the puppet had turned into a living, breathing human.

Xin Jisi’s head rose from the flesh mountain as the massive mass sprang like a ball, soaring over a thousand meters in another attempt to seize Oran.

“Stay here!”

Oran, however, avoided it easily. After suffering such a great disadvantage, he now knew this thing could not be killed head-on.

He could only seek other methods.

The flesh mountain fell from above, crashing onto the bone-covered ground.

Bang!

Bones splashed everywhere, and a large number of monsters were also crushed to dust.

Xin Jisi still wanted to continue the pursuit.

In this dark, sealed region, where could Oran escape?

But then, a sudden unease washed over him.

A powerful sensation of being overfull radiated from his body.

Ugh!

The flesh mountain shook violently, and he opened his mouth to vomit.

He wanted to vomit something out, but nothing came.

And Elena’s Heart, which he had just swallowed, now fully activated after sensing danger.

Thud!

A steel hand extended from within the flesh mountain, its five long fingers appearing full of power.

Suddenly, countless sharp blades erupted from within the flesh mountain, spinning outward in a deadly spiral. The blades sliced through the grotesque mass, shredding it into countless pieces.

Xin Jisi let out a painful scream.

Ah!

A metal giant split open Xin Jisi’s body and walked out from inside.

This time, the being that emerged was completely different from the metal giant Oran had become.

Oran’s metal giant had resembled a massive puppet.

However, the one standing before him now appeared different. It looked as though it were clad in a suit of armor, holding a metal spear firmly in its grasp.

It resembled a knight, a martial god radiating pure, unrelenting killing intent.

The pieces of flesh reassembled, and Xin Jisi stared blankly at the figure. “Who are you?”

The metal giant before him was brimming with killing intent, emanating an aura of ancient heroes and warriors, something Alchemists lacked.

But Xin Jisi immediately reacted, realizing that the stone he had intended to use to become the King of Greed had escaped.

He was furious, and he shouted.

“No!”

“I will devour you! You are mine!”

“My power!”

But before he could attack, the metal giant moved.

It stepped forward, swinging the spear.

The long spear swept across, turning all monsters within hundreds of meters into dust.

The air instantly fell silent. Even the layers upon layers of Abyss monsters were frightened. This was not a slaughter of individuals, but a direct vaporization.

After that, its form became indistinct and vanished completely.

“Not good!”

“Where did it go?”

Xin Jisi immediately turned his head, searching in all directions for the giant.

Then he looked up.

He saw the giant descending from the sky, its spear catching the light of a falling star.

The metal giant, like a martial god, spoke in a language Xin Jisi had never heard. “Pressure Spear!”

Boom!

Under intense pressure, Xin Jisi and everything within hundreds of meters around him were reduced to dust.

Every one of the giant’s movements carried the grace of a dance, combined with an undeniable sense of power.

Despite everything, Xin Jisi remained alive.

The shadow of the Greed Seed twisted, drawing power from the darkness as it tried to restore him.

Xin Jisi was extremely frightened, not understanding how the stone could transform like this.

Why was this being so terrifying? It was on a completely different level from the previous Oran.

He could only comfort himself with the power of greed bestowed by the God of Original Sin.

“You cannot kill me!” he shouted.

“I am immortal in this place.”

“You cannot defeat me either.”

However, the magic gold construct, a titan-like giant, was not confused by his recovery ability as Oran had been.

The metal giant raised the spear in its hand high, silver light flowing around the spear tip.

“Divine Grace!”

“Destruction Spear!”

A true Fourth-Rank Divine Technique appeared in the world, a secret technique of the ancient Temple of Truth.

The spear light extended for thousands of meters and tore a massive hole through the flesh mountain with devastating force.

It struck directly at the Greed Seed itself.

The metal giant lifted its spear and drove it straight into the black shadow within Xin Jisi’s body.

The agony that followed was unlike anything Xin Jisi had ever endured, a pain that tore through his very essence and pierced his soul.

However, Xin Jisi felt fear even more deeply than pain.

Fear to the extreme.

Xin Jisi felt a sudden jolt, as if his scalp had burst open.

“How can this be possible?”

The Greed Seed embedded deep within his essence was pierced through. The black shadow writhed like a long snake caught on a spear, on the verge of being forcibly extracted from Xin Jisi’s body.

Without the power given to him by the Original Sin Evil God, Xin Jisi would truly die.

At the same time, Xin Jisi had suffered a fatal wound at his very core. As a result, the dark land, which had been temporarily formed by the intrusion of the Door of Original Sin pivoted on Xin Jisi, began to collapse.

Cracks spread across the surface, forming countless fissures.

Moonlight streamed in from outside, accompanied by the distant echoes of battle from the City of Lights.

Just when Xin Jisi and Oran believed everything was coming to a close, a voice suddenly echoed through the endless darkness, resonating throughout the entire space.

“Lady Elena!”

“They cannot help you. Why not let me fulfill your wish!”

A massive, terrifying hand emerged from the darkness, stretching out toward Elena’s Heart.

The boundary between reality and illusion was broken, and the order of the Dream Realm and the human world fell into chaos. Oran, who had been flying high to avoid Xin Jisi and observe the situation, was caught in the turbulent flow.

Oran’s eyes widened in shock as the massive hand descended. It passed him by without a second glance, treating him as insignificant as a speck of dust, and reached directly for the metal giant.

In the presence of the giant hand, he was insignificant, not even comparable to an insect.

The massive metal giant, when faced with this hand, seemed like nothing more than a mere toy.

The tide of monsters surging in the darkness also stopped in an instant. They prostrated themselves uniformly on the ground, and none dared to move.

Even Xin Jisi, transformed into a flesh mountain, dared not move.

However, when confronted with such a terrifying scene, the knight-like metal giant stood its ground without hesitation.

The long spear in its hand transformed into a metal longsword, and behind it surged hundreds and then thousands of weapons, each one carrying a Divine Technique.

This was its complete form.

Hundreds, then thousands, of weapons carrying Divine Techniques converged on the hand, turning into streams of light.

But that hand did not avoid them at all.

It acted decisively, snuffing out all the streams of light in an instant.

As the hand descended upon it, even the metal giant was instantly crushed, turning back into a stone.

At that moment, Oran instantly realized the nature of the entity that had appeared.

“God!” he exclaimed, then paused. “No… it must be the master of the Abyss.”

“The Original Sin Evil God,” he concluded, his voice trembling.

His mood instantly plunged into an icy abyss. It was not his first time facing a divine being, but in previous instances, he had merely followed behind the messengers of the gods.

When looking face to face, the divine beings had seemed only mysterious and ancient.

But now, he was seeing for the first time what the power of a divine being truly was.

Irresistible.

It rose above all else, showcasing the vast divide between the brilliance of stars and the insignificance of dust.

As the Original Sin Evil God reached out to claim Elena’s Heart, the darkness was suddenly pierced by countless lights. Thousands of crystal cups appeared, merging to form an endless silver sea.

The Mythological Door rose from the silver flower sea, climbing to endless heights, so tall that its top could not be seen.

A distorted, unclear, yet majestic figure stood at the end of the void, raising a lamp.

Light annihilated the entire world, forcing back the hand that had extended from the darkness.

Oran exclaimed in surprise, “God of Alchemy?”

Xin Jisi was struck with terror and stammered, “God of Alchemy?”

As they called out the name, a chilling sense of death swept over them.

This was a clash between divine beings.

It was a force beyond mortal comprehension, something they could neither approach nor interfere with. To witness the divine battle alone would bring death.

Both were now terrified and fled in a frenzy, scrambling toward the torn exit in the darkness where the moonlight poured in.

Now, Xin Jisi was like a homeless dog. The appearance of the God of Alchemy had completely shattered his petty thoughts.

“So the God of Alchemy and Desire knew all along.”

“So He has been watching me all along.”

“So He knew everything!”

He was roaring in his heart, howling in fear.

He thought he had been doing things without gods or ghosts knowing, not realizing a divine being’s eye was on him the whole time.

Everything he wanted to do was permitted by the divine being.

He was not just a pawn of the Original Sin Evil God executing plans in the human world, but also a double pawn used by the God of Alchemy and Desire to bring about change in the Land of Sunrise.

Xin Jisi shuddered uncontrollably at the thought.

Behind them, the two divine beings appeared to clash once more. Their power erupted, piercing through the darkness and creating violent ripples across the Dream Realm, a level far beyond mortal reach.

The dark land temporarily formed by the Door of Original Sin, with Xin Jisi as its pivot, shattered completely.

Neither Xin Jisi nor Oran could even see clearly how they fought, like mortals in a natural disaster who cannot see how the disaster is born.

Oran, flying high, was caught in the turbulent flow above.

Xin Jisi, however, fell like a mountain through the darkness, falling directly into the human world.

In the Dream Realm

The God of Alchemy and Desire, holding a lamp and standing before the Mythical Door, looked toward the other end.

“You have crossed the line.”

In the darkness, the Original Sin Evil God slowly emerged, revealing his true form.

The Door of Original Sin rumbled open.

On the Flesh and Blood Star, a man sat behind a bone table.

He had his fingers interlaced before him, sitting in a very relaxed posture on a high-backed chair.

He did not look like someone who had just been in a conflict.

He looked more like someone inviting the other to sit for another game of chess.

“Don’t you want to use my hand to clear these people away?”

“If the fallen return to the Abyss, the human world will be clean, will it not?”

“Without me, how would you bring about change in the human world? Without darkness, how can the light and greatness of a God stand out?”

Xiao answered, his tone teasing.

This was his first contact with the God of Alchemy and Desire, as if he were testing him, wanting to know what kind of person the other truly was.

Iva said, “That is not what I am talking about. You should not reach for things you have no right to touch.”

Xiao replied, “And what are the things I have no right to touch?”

“Hmm?” Xiao added with a smirk. “Great God of Alchemy and Desire.”

Iva did not engage with Xiao’s words. After blocking the hand reaching into the human world, he simply left.

The silver flower sea and the Mythical Door disappeared together into the void.

In front of the bone table, Xiao held a small ceramic puppet delicately between his fingers and placed it on the table.

The puppet, which had been motionless, immediately came to life.

“It ended so quickly?”

“I thought there would be a fight.”

Xiao looked down at the tiny figure with amusement. “Of course it ended quickly. He is a God, while you are nothing but a puppet. The difference between us is beyond your comprehension.”

The conflict between the two myths thus ended.

Neither mentioned the name of the chess piece called Xin Jisi, as if this person had never existed.

City of Lights

The battle for the city, which had begun at dusk and continued until nightfall, finally entered its concluding phase.

The City of Lights had been breached, with key positions throughout the city occupied by the legions of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance.

Large numbers of members and soldiers from the Alchemy families began to flee westward.

At that moment, a massive flesh mountain descended from the sky and crashed into the city.

The ongoing war in the city momentarily halted as many Snake People looked in that direction.

The people from the City of Lights and the White Tower Alchemy Alliance found themselves asking the same question.

What was that thing?

Xin Jisi’s thoughts were no longer focused on the City of Lights. The fall of the city seemed insignificant compared to the weight of his own troubles.

“It’s over!”

“The God of Alchemy knows about me. God Iva knows I betrayed Him.”

“What will He do to me?”

“How will He punish me?”

Xin Jisi had been exposed, and he was terrified.

Xin Jisi twisted his head, squeezing his entire upper body out from the flesh mountain. He wanted to retract his power, changing from the monstrous flesh mountain back to the form of an ordinary Snake Person.

He had transformed like this many times before and was very familiar with the process.

No matter what, he needed to find a way to escape from the Land of Sunrise, to flee from the kingdom of the God of Alchemy.

With such enormous power, where could he not go?

However, this time he suddenly realized he was unable to change back.

“What’s happening?”

“Why can’t I retract my power?”

Xin Jisi completely panicked.

Ugh!

Having used the devouring power of the Greed Seed several times, Xin Jisi had his own understanding of it. “Could it be that I died too many times? That I swallowed too much power in the dark land?”

The devouring had felt exhilarating at the time. The feeling of being unkillable under the Abyss’s power was addictive.

But now the backlash had come.

Xin Jisi wanted to vomit out some of the devoured power, to clear out the force continuously eroding his origin, but no matter how he tried, he could not vomit it out.

He felt his body becoming increasingly rigid, his power growing more uncontrollable.

“What should I do?”

“What is happening?”

He could only pray to the Original Sin Evil God.

The flesh mountain twisted and turned, collapsing a wall as it moved. It crushed the ancient castle building in its path.

Then, Xin Jisi discovered a stone tablet bearing the name of the God of Original Sin amidst the ruins of the ancient castle.

He began to pray with feigned devotion, pleading for a response.

“Great Darkness of All Spirits, master of the seven layers of the Abyss, the Flesh and Blood Star, God of Devouring Original Sin.”

“Your most faithful servant makes a request…”

“Great…”

Xin Jisi called upon the divine being again and again.

He wanted to communicate with the power of the Abyss, to communicate with the will of the Abyss.

But as the spokesperson of the Abyss, he now received no response.

Xin Jisi was dumbfounded.

This situation had only two possibilities: either something had happened to the Abyss and the God of Original Sin, or he had been abandoned.

It was clear the Abyss itself had not changed. Instead, he had been abandoned by the Original Sin Evil God.

“Impossible!”

“This is impossible!”

“I am the agent of the Original Sin Evil God! How could the Abyss not respond to my call?”

Xin Jisi simply could not believe this, nor could he accept it.

“I must try again.”

“I must try again…”

Xin Jisi’s heart was in complete chaos.

“Great…”

However, no matter how much he called out, there was nothing but silence in return.

After a long time, Xin Jisi put down the stone tablet. The “lump” of his protruding upper body displayed a dazed expression.

He looked at the stone tablet again, then raised his head.

Then, an inexplicable anger welled up within him, a source-less fury that burned fiercely.

The Original Sin Evil God had once told him he was abandoned by the God of Alchemy, and that was why he chose to fall into the Abyss.

And now, was the Original Sin Evil God also abandoning him?

Xin Jisi frantically cried out, shouting loudly.

“No!”

“God of Original Sin!”

“You promised me! You promised me!”

Xin Jisi finally understood.

Whether with the Original Sin Evil God or the God of Alchemy, he was merely a pawn, a clown.

The God of Alchemy did not choose him, and neither did the Original Sin Evil God.

He felt his body becoming increasingly rigid, the power of his flesh beginning to wither and shrink. The mythical blood he had devoured began instinctively gathering and excluding the impurities in his body.

His consciousness grew weaker and more confused.

“You promised me.”

“I am…”

“Abyss King!”

“I am… the destined King of Greed.”

The roar shocked the entire City of Lights, audible in all directions.

More and more people rushed over, but when they saw the flesh mountain, they were struck speechless with fright.

They heard the flesh mountain’s desperate cries, its painful screams.

“You heartless ones.”

“Damned divine beings.”

In fear, hatred, and despair, he suddenly saw the distant statue.

A giant statue over a hundred meters tall.

The famous giant statue of God Iva in the City of Lights.

“You used me! You all used me!”

“I just wanted what I deserved! What did I do wrong?”

“I gave so much, so why couldn’t I get what I wanted? It was what I deserved! What I deserved!”

“Why did you abandon me!”

“Why did you abandon me!”

In his rage, the flesh mountain charged toward the giant statue of God Iva.

The flesh mountain moved across the streets as thousands upon thousands of people fled. Some tried to block it like mantises stopping a chariot, attacking the flesh mountain, but were immediately devoured by it.

Transformed into a flesh mountain, Xin Jisi looked large and clumsy but moved quickly.

He passed through the streets, steadfastly heading toward the statue of God Iva.

At last, he arrived at the end of the street.

The flesh mountain leaped up, pouncing toward the statue that had stood for hundreds of years.

This was built by the Golden Family for their god and once symbolized their faith.

The flesh mountain crashed into the statue, flesh and blood flying, staining the statue red.

Rumble!

The giant statue cracked, layer by layer.

Then, it collapsed with a resounding crash that echoed through the city.

Xin Jisi was completely devoured by the Greed Seed.

His form continuously contracted from the massive flesh mountain as mythical blood condensed into a mass, expelling large amounts of impurities.

He became smaller and smaller.

His outer shell became increasingly rigid, turning the color of metal.

At last, he was reduced to a Bronze Oil Lamp.

Thump, thump, thump!

Plop!

Huge stones fell in a cascade, and the Bronze Oil Lamp also fell into the river flowing past the foot of the God Iva statue.

The river carried away the debris of the God Iva statue, flowing steadily into the distance.

The soldiers and Alchemists fighting in the city were all stunned by this scene, and thousands upon thousands of people knelt on the ground.

They stared in disbelief at the fallen statue, unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

This was especially true for all those of the Golden Family lineage. The collapse of the giant statue they had built for their god symbolized the downfall of the Golden Family itself.

“No!” At the Miracle Temple, several Golden Family Alchemists who were still stubbornly resisting finally collapsed.

“God!” They stood at a height, watching the flesh mountain from afar with tears streaming down their faces.

“Who is desecrating the divine?” They cursed and reviled the monstrous flesh mountain, not knowing it was once Grand Elder Xin Jisi.

The people of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance, gripped by fear, exchanged uneasy glances and spoke in hushed tones.

“What exactly was that thing?”

In the city, others were also moving swiftly through the chaos.

A large number of Abyss Cult members, gathered and organized by Xin Jisi, quickly retreated from the city and went into hiding.