Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

After the voice sounded, Ezekiel directly lost consciousness. It was as if he was forced into slumber, unable to resist the will of this voice. Yan Zaizen remained motionless, his eyes a sea of black. No longer was his black holes rotating.

Only Dracula moved like normal, despite his current mortal state. His barrier, however, rippled intensely. If one were to take a step back, they would realize that all living existences within the three realms seemed as if their souls had stopped. If one looked even closer, if they could, they would see that no spiritual lifeforms hidden by the myriad layers were present.

For a trillion li, no lifeform that possessed a soul was moving. The beautiful Ariel, who was even locked within a well-hidden sub-realm nearby, was also frozen. Her guards were frozen too. They stood protectively around her, their eyes blank yet their expressions were filled with nervousness. One could see that the threat of Ezekiel left them all restless.

"To interfere, who has such gall I wonder…" the voice that was ambiguous yet carried an odd reverb sounded once more. However, its tone was somewhat identifiable; it was amused with no hint of anger.

The chains collapsed, turning into discarnate souls that held no intelligence. These souls flowed endlessly, constantly flying about and vanishing. Then, when one disappeared, another seemed to be constructed from nothing. One could see that these souls had no features, no gender, and only the purest of soulforce.

It continued until they started to converge a meter away from Yan Zaizen's stilled body. The souls amalgamated into a shape. Firstly, it was a strand of hair. This single strand of hair must've contained a million souls flowing within. Then, more strands were constructed until a head of silky, long hair formed.

This hair was beautiful and sky-blue, cascading waves of light shimmered downwards from its base like it was a waterfall. It truly left one feeling as if the things one considered beautiful before was thoroughly ugly!

After the hair formed, a silhouette of a dark-white figure took shape. This shape was incredibly difficult to determine if it was male or female, it wasn't androgynous like Yan Zaizen's Herculean before, but more like the concept of gender was lost on this figure.

When it formed, it had no eyes and no nose. It had ears that were pointy up and down, a mouth that was thick and soft, oddly feminine, but its eyebrows were bushy like a male.

The figure had a smile that wasn't a smile. Up above, the surrounding space roiled about in anger, as if anxious, yet only did so and nothing more. This space was the heavens.

Far away, a female looked towards the Crimson Devil Realm. She was beautiful, her figure voluptuous, her white clothing light yet revealed little, and her eyes seemed to contain sharpness that seemed able to sunder all. However, as she looked forward, her eyes flickered with disbelief.

"...Please don't come here." As those words were said, she clenched her palms into fists and noticed they were sweaty. If anyone had seen or heard those words from this woman, they would be shocked!

She was the Heavenly God of the 17th Heaven!

The Paradise Sword Heavenly God!

The figure seemed to feel the gaze of another on it, its head turning in that direction with a smile of amusement.

"No!" Yan Zaizen abruptly roared, his soul freed as he mustered all his power. A surging wind erupted from his body. Drenched in cold sweat, Yan Zaizen was heaving as if he had fought a ferocious battle with a god. Even his expression was ashen like death and his eyes dimmer than ever before!

"Oh?" The figure released its odd voice once more, clearly somewhat shocked by Yan Zaizen's sudden roar. "To think…" The voice didn't continue. Instead, it waited.

Yan Zaizen had felt a force that was even more frightful than the ancient force before. It was as if his soul was seized and enclosed by a giant hand. This hand contained an unfathomable spirituality and control over his soul, as if its fate could be determined with a clench of this hand.

He felt scared, truly scared. However, at the last moment, his False Grand Dao surged outwards. A faint crown emerged in his soul, and he felt an unyielding desire surge. With all he had, he ripped open this giant hand and wrestled away his fate from its clutches. It was slightly surreal but horrifying.

Regaining his vision, Yan Zaizen's pupils fiercely constricted. An odd figure was no more than a meter away from him. It had no eyes, no nose, strange ears, lips, and brows…

Eyebrows without eyes!

He had seen the myriad spiritual creatures beyond the layer in the Border Expanse, but this creature was heart-shaking and soul-confusing. It was as if it couldn't decide on its state, or it was every state possible yet none of it.

He wanted to speak, but realized he couldn't…

"You've comprehended a portion of my...interesting…Were you..." The figure spoke, but it was as if it couldn't finish a single sentence. For some reason, its disturbing reverb aside, this irritated Yan Zaizen to the limit. He had a deep desire to smack its head and tell it to speak properly. This sensation left him feeling odd, a strange sense of familiarity emerging, as if that thought was a common one.

The figure continued to ponder, his sentences still incomplete and made no sense.

"Since you wish to interfere, you'll pay the appropriate price. Your soul, for his." The figure seemed to have made a decision, its hand that had four fingers and a thumb yet the shadow of a thousand gently waved.

From its hand, a soul chain emerged. This soul chain was the exact one that wrapped around Ezekiel.

"No! No! No!" Dracula felt his mind about to collapse. If Ezekiel wasn't sealed, then it would all be for naught! His soul would be trapped eternally while Ezekiel would survive and his daughter would be at his mercy. He could not let that happen!

"You can't! I want him, not that boy!" Disregarding the status of the entity before him, he roared fiercely. His eyes were bloodshot. The madness within was beyond the madness in Ze'Ya's eyes before.

"Oh?" Being roared at and told what to do, the figure's beautiful hair moved, and its head turned to 'look' at Dracula. Despite having no eyes, one could tell it wasn't too pleased. "A heavenly reject wish to command me? Laughable." He waved his hand towards Dracula. However, this hand didn't create a chain but a vortex.

In this vortex was a sea. This sea was sky-blue and seemed peaceful and undisturbed, yet that was only at first glance. If one looked closely, the color seemed to change into a yellow and then sometimes black...it was odd beyond belief.

With a push of unknown force, Dracula was sent into the vortex. As he entered, he screamed madly in rage and regret. He hated Ezekiel to the bone, but more so that meddling boy! Why would anyone in their right mind risk their life trying to stop the ritual?!

As he entered the vortex, he couldn't help but look about as he dropped. He discovered something mind-boggling.

The sea wasn't a sea...but a river…

The vortex closed.

Yan Zaizen saw all this and felt horrified. Others may not be able to see the river, or rather, what's inside it, but he did!

It was a river of souls!

Each soul was screeching and screaming as if in the most horrible of pain. They had varied shapes, some were humanoid, and others were animalistic, but they had that one aspect in common. There were even a few souls trying to devour the others. In that brief glance, Yan Zaizen felt as if he saw a glimpse of true Hell.

The soul chains were still tied to his body, starting to carry away his soul energy. He felt his soul become restrained, unable to evoke heavenly law or soul arts. He tried to struggle, but it felt useless. He wanted to use the black hole, but it wouldn't emerge!

"Shit!" Even his physical body was useless.

"Why struggle...you accomplished your goal." The figure voice sounded, but the amusement in its voice was slowly lessening.

"Activate! Activate! Activate!" Yan Zaizen tried to urge the protective seal on his existence to activate, the swirling black hole. However, his heart went cold when an instinctual feeling emerged. Regardless of his desire, the seal won't activate unless his existence was threatened.

Unfortunately, it was not.

This reminded him of the Asura Phantom Realm when his body was dead and his soul was dissipating. At that time, his swirling black hole remained stagnant.

The only time the swirling black hole activated by his demand was during the sub-realm collapse, and only at the last second. It's likely because he was at the center of the explosion and it could've destroyed him in body, soul, and existence. Therefore, his swirling black hole emerged.

He felt helpless. Even his dao went quiet. Everything that was urged by his soul couldn't be accessed. His eyes were unwilling; his entire being was unwilling!

"Zai…" A soft voice echoed out. This belonged to Pinaka. Since the moment Pinaka met him, she had been in his soul being a companion of his. His strength had risen so rapidly that she was never used as a weapon, even more, Yan Zaizen was unwilling to use her as such. To him, she was more than that.

"Pin…aka!" He struggled to speak, his soul teetering on the verge of exhaustion. If it weren't for his recent soul cultivation breakthrough to the Perfect Astral Soul Realm, he would've already been drained dry.

"Zai...I'm sorry I'm so useless." Pinaka felt horrible. Outside of a single moment in Yan Zaizen's life, she had been unable to help. Even now, she was useless in his struggle for survival.

When the sub-realm collapse, she was useless.

When heavenly cultivators besieged him in the Sirius Titan Realm, she was useless.

When he had fallen into an existential slumber, she was useless.

Throughout his adventures since, she could only watch him go through his decisions and life.

"Yo-YOU! A..ar...are...no...t," he tried to communicate, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. His astral star had already gone from the Perfect Astral Soul to the Initial Astral Soul. It wasn't only carrying away his soul energy, but its essence, weakening it considerably.

Yan Zaizen felt urgent; his eyes were the picture of hatred as he stared the figure in front of him. He wished nothing more than to kill it!

In another second, his soul dropped from the Astral Soul Realm to the Initial Aurora Soul Realm, then fell to the Perfect Nascent Soul Realm the next!

A surge of light suddenly emitted from his soul. This light of sky-blue was brilliant beyond description erupted from Yan Zaizen's body. Suddenly, it seemed to take on the aura and characteristics of Yan Zaizen's soul.

Boom!

Yan Zaizen's physical body slipped through the chains and floated downwards. However, a soul form was still bound. This soul form was not in the shape of Yan Zaizen, but it had a womanly figure of beauty and pride. In her eyes was lava-like amber gold that emitted rays of imperious light, and her flowing black hair danced without wind.

Those eyes were fierce, containing no regret.

"If you want his soul, then you can have it!" As she thought this, the aura she released truly was perfectly identical to Yan Zaizen's. After soul-linking and dao-linking, they truly had very little difference concerning the soul.

Also!

Yan Zaizen soul had characteristics of an artificial soul!!!

"Oh?" The figure felt slightly shocked once more but didn't feel too concerned. His 'gaze' looked at Yan Zaizen's floating body, "I'll let this go…" As he decided this, he 'looked' away. A vortex formed behind Pinaka. This vortex led to the river of souls!