Crossing the Cultivation Realm: Two Souls Coexist

Gu Yang followed Hu Qing's frozen and horrified gaze upwards, his pupils suddenly contracting!

That was neither an illusion nor a mirage created by a halo.

At the source of boundless golden holy light, in a place that should symbolize holiness, purity, and supreme guidance.

An enormous eye, composed entirely of the deepest darkness, with its edges strangely flowing with dark gold, floated silently there!

It occupied almost half of the sky, cold and empty, yet it seemed to contain a terrifying power capable of devouring all the stars.

What was most unsettling was the instant Gu Yang's gaze fell upon him.

Those eyelids covering those dark eyes, thin as cicada wings yet seemingly bearing the weight of eternity, actually... blinked slowly!

It's alive! This thing is alive!

A chilling coldness emanating from the deepest part of his soul instantly swept over Gu Yang's entire body, dispelling the last trace of warmth and drowsiness brought by the holy light.

Both he and Hu Qing were filled with immense doubt and unease:

This golden holy light that enveloped heaven and earth, this so-called "breakthrough," this strange ascent...

What exactly is going on? And what is that giant dark eye up there?

Gu Yang stared intently at that eye, and the more he looked, the more... he felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.

The dark texture, the indifferent, overlooking posture, the ancient and majestic aura emanating from its coldness...

It felt as if I had experienced it somewhere before, or even... witnessed it!

As they rose higher, the surrounding spiritual energy became extremely thin, almost non-existent.

If it weren't for the golden holy light continuously and forcefully pouring an extremely pure yet somewhat coercive "spiritual power" into their bodies, they would probably have already fallen due to the depletion of their spiritual power.

However, this infusion is not a blessing.

Hu Qing and Gu Yang had already reached the saturation state of the peak of the Dust-Severing Realm. At this moment, the terrifyingly powerful spiritual energy surged into their meridians, but it did not bring them the pleasure of improvement.

Instead, it was a tearing, excruciating pain that felt like it was about to burst them apart!

They wanted to stop, to resist, but found themselves completely out of control over the holy light, the infusion, and even the process of ascension.

Their bodies continued to rise steadily under the holy light, below them the majestic mountain peak constructed by the old tortoise.

At this moment, it has become an insignificant little black dot at the edge of the field of vision, like a speck of dust that has fallen onto an inkwell.

Unable to determine how far they were from the ground, they only felt that they were getting closer and closer to that giant dark eye!

When the distance was reduced to less than fifty meters, the details of the giant eye became even clearer and more terrifying.

The vague sense of familiarity in Gu Yang's mind was as if it had been struck by lightning, instantly overlapping with a terrifying memory that he had recently experienced!

“Aqing…”

Gu Yang's voice trembled uncontrollably, each syllable filled with extreme horror and disbelief.

He swallowed hard, feeling his throat as dry as if it were being rubbed with sandpaper.

"Something terrible has happened... These eyes... they belong to... the Holy Lord of the Clan of Souls! It's that Demon King!!!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Qing was terrified and nearly lost his composure! The Holy Lord of the Xin Clan?!

That terrifying being whose arm was severed by Senior Zheng Su at the cost of his life, using the "World Moon"?!

This golden holy light that envelops heaven and earth, this seemingly sacred "guidance," could it all be... the work of this Demon King?!

What exactly does he want to do? Kidnap them? Sacrifice them? Or...?

Hu Qing was thrown into a state of panic by the immense fear and uncertainty.

In a moment of extreme panic, he made a decision that was almost instinctive yet extremely risky—

He frantically poured all the holy light spiritual power he could muster into his eyes!

He was about to activate that unstable precognitive ability that had allowed him to glimpse the secrets of the heavens on several occasions!

He needed to know whether this was a blessing or a curse, and what the Demon King truly intended to do!

"Om-!"

Hu Qing's eyes instantly turned a deathly gray-white, and countless fragments of light and shadow seemed to flicker and recombine wildly deep within his pupils.

His gaze forcefully pierced through the dense golden holy light surrounding him, penetrating layer upon layer of invisible spatial and temporal mists and legal barriers.

Strive to "see" beyond that dark giant eye, towards the very essence of this "divine guidance" phenomenon!

A series of blurry, fragmented images, yet imbued with immense terror and despair, surged into his consciousness like the most brutal torrent—

He saw the endless void collapsing, and stars falling and extinguishing like teardrops...

He saw a colossal, dark hand, covering the entire galaxy, slowly tearing open a layer as fragile as an eggshell… the celestial canopy? No, that wasn't the celestial canopy, it was…

"puff--!!"

Just as his "vision" was about to touch the most core, most terrifying truth.

An indescribable, irresistible, terrifying backlash that seemed to originate from the very rules of the universe itself.

Like millions of red-hot steel needles, they pierced his eyes and penetrated even deeper into his soul!

"what--!!"

Hu Qing let out a scream so shrill it was inhuman, and his whole body convulsed violently as if he had been struck head-on by a thunderbolt from the heavens!

Blood and tears gushed from his eyes like a spring, mixed with shattered eyeball tissue, instantly staining his pale cheeks and the front of his shirt red!

His eyes had completely lost all their luster, becoming empty and lifeless, leaving only a heartbreaking darkness.

He collapsed in the holy light that still supported him, as if his spine had been removed.

Unconsciously, haltingly, with the last ounce of strength, he uttered a few broken syllables filled with extreme terror:

"Heaven...it is...heaven..."

Before he could finish speaking, his head lolled to the side, and he lost consciousness completely, with only his body still twitching intermittently due to intense pain.

"Hu Qing!!!"

Gu Yang witnessed this horrific scene and was terrified. He screamed in agony! He wanted to rush over, to support Hu Qing, and to check on his injuries.

However, his body was firmly imprisoned by the holy light, making even turning his head extremely difficult. He could only watch helplessly as his dear friend suffered a severe injury before his eyes.

He was on the verge of death, but he was powerless to help himself. He was so anxious that his eyes turned red and almost bled!

Just when all hope seemed lost, another unexpected event occurred!

Their rising bodies, without warning... came to a stop.

It stopped floating upwards and remained still in the void, only thirty meters away from the giant dark eye.

Gu Yang hadn't yet recovered from the shock of Hu Qing's serious injury and the sudden pause in his mind.

They discovered that the golden holy light surrounding them had suddenly become more dazzling and more "active" than before!

They were no longer evenly distributed, but as if they had received some kind of command, they rushed wildly into the unconscious Hu Qing's body!

The vast and pure holy light energy quickly enveloped Hu Qing's damaged eyes and severely injured body, radiating a powerful healing and restorative aura.

Hu Qing's bleeding eyes quickly stopped, and his pale face regained some color. Although he was still unconscious, his breathing seemed to have stabilized.

Seeing this, Gu Yang's heart, which had been in his throat, finally calmed down a little.

Although he didn't understand why the holy light suddenly "kindly" saved Hu Qing's life, at least... it temporarily saved his life.

However, this brief "good news" lasted for less than a moment.

The sky, without warning... darkened.

It wasn't a solar eclipse, nor was it dark clouds; rather, it seemed as if the "source" that continuously radiated golden holy light was being obscured by something...

A sense of unease surged through Gu Yang's mind, and he abruptly looked up!

The giant, dark eye that had hovered above the Holy Light source, coldly looking down at them... vanished!

Instead, there was a... hole?

No, that's not an ordinary hole.

That was... the tip of a finger, slowly and firmly probing into the void that had been "torn open," where the giant eye had once been!

That was a little finger.

It was pitch black, surrounded by a tangible, overwhelming black aura that seemed capable of polluting everything and devouring light!

Sharp fingernails are like spears that can pierce the world!

Although this little finger appears much smaller compared to the entire arm that was previously acquired from other parts of the body.

But the pure, high-ranking, soul-freezing malice and pressure it exuded was more refined and terrifying than the severed arm!

Otherworldly Lord!

He did not give up!

Seeing that they were motionless, He actually tried to use a single finger to penetrate the "passage" that He had somehow "pried open" or "forged" in order to seize them personally!

Fortunately, the "hole" seemed extremely unstable or restricted in some way, barely allowing the little finger to pass through, and unable to let more of it in.

Even so, it was deadly enough!

"Hiss-"

As the jet-black little finger probed in, thick, ink-like black energy, containing endless negative energy, was released.

Like a poisonous miasma that has found an outlet, it seeps out from the fingertips, from the gaps between the nails, and from every line of the skin.

It gushed out wildly, pouring continuously into the space that was originally filled with golden holy light through that small "hole"!

Having lost its continuous source of light, and with most of it devoted to treating Hu Qing, the remaining golden holy light quickly dimmed and thinned under the onslaught of the surging dark demonic energy, retreating steadily.

But in the blink of an eye, the golden sky was replaced by endless darkness!

Only a few faint rays of holy light remained, like a flickering candle that could be extinguished at any moment in a storm.

It flickered stubbornly, yet futilely, within the almost solidified, towering black mist, a bizarre and despairing sight.

Gu Yang's body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.

The black mist not only obscured vision but also brought a physical chill.

They were like living tentacles, wrapping around his body, penetrating his pores, drilling into his meridians, and even... eroding his mind!

An extreme cold and fear, stemming from the crushing of one's life level and the defilement of one's soul essence, pierced his consciousness like the most poisonous ice pick!

It was clearer and more irresistible than when I faced the Holy Lord's severed arm in the East Sea!

He felt as if he were standing naked before an abyss of eternal ice.

The next instant will be completely frozen and swallowed up, and even thought will cease.

Ahead, the pitch-black little finger, representing supreme terror and destruction, carries the will to crush everything.

Slowly, yet irresistibly... it fell upon him and the unconscious Hu Qing.