I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

Consciousness sank into an endless abyss of blood, cold, viscous, and filled with the wails and tearing of countless vengeful spirits. His body was a shattered vessel, repeatedly washed and torn apart by the raging bloodlust and resentment, yet instinctively repaired and resisted by the faint but tenacious power of annihilation and the dragon-shaped mark within him. Each struggle brought excruciating pain that penetrated to his very bones and soul. Lu Zhao felt himself about to completely dissipate, becoming part of this blood pool, this resentment, this chaotic energy.

However, just as he was about to give up and let the darkness devour the last glimmer of his spiritual light, an even colder, more evil, more greedy, and terrifying aura, with a condescending quality that seemed capable of freezing the soul, suddenly pierced through the chaotic energy currents like a demonic claw reaching out from the depths of hell, locking onto him firmly! Especially the dim dragon-shaped mark between his brows, and the faint wisp of annihilating dragon energy emanating from the Nether Dragon's Reverse Scale deep within his body, like a beacon in the night, attracted the entire, frantic attention of this terrifying being!

It's a demonic soul! The soul fragment of the "Soul Devouring Demon Lord"! It actually abandoned its fight against Elder Yun and rushed towards him recklessly!

"Nine Netherworlds... Dragon Qi... Devour... Evolve..." A hoarse, demonic voice filled with endless greed and desire exploded directly in Lu Zhao's collapsing sea of ​​consciousness, like billions of poisonous insects burrowing into his brain, bringing even more intense pain and a chilling sensation on the soul level.

Lu Zhao "saw" a terrifying stream of jet-black light, seemingly capable of devouring all light and life, ignoring the surrounding turbulent energy currents. Like the scythe of death, it instantly pierced through the void and crashed into the core of the energy currents surrounding him, aiming straight for his brow!

It's over! This time, it's really over! Faced with this demonic soul devouring technique, which far surpasses the late stage of Foundation Establishment, is of extremely high quality, and specifically targets the soul and its own energy source, given his current state of exhaustion and blurred consciousness, there is absolutely no chance of survival!

However, just as that dark, demonic light was about to touch Lu Zhao's brow, and he could even "feel" that cold, lifeless, and endlessly devouring evil power, the anomaly suddenly erupted in a way that no one could have predicted!

First, the gray dragon-shaped mark between Lu Zhao's eyebrows, which had dimmed and was on the verge of disintegration due to overexertion, seemed to be touched by some forbidden defensive and counter-attack instinct ** from the deepest part of life, engraved in his blood and soul, under the extreme stimulation and threat of this evil power of the same level (or even higher) that originated from the ancient demon lord and was full of malice and devouring desire!

"Buzz—!"

The dragon-shaped mark suddenly erupted with a final, reckless, blinding gray light! Within the light, a gray dragon shadow, though blurry and incomplete, still majestic and filled with endless desolation and rage, could be vaguely seen. It roared to the sky, a silent roar filled with defiance, anger, and deep-seated hatred for the "Soul Devouring Demon Lord"!

This roar was not a sound, but a shock of will and resonance of Daoist principles originating from the soul level and pointing directly to the origin of the Great Dao! It did not attack the demonic soul itself, but rather, in the deepest part of Lu Zhao's sea of ​​consciousness and body, it forcibly triggered a deeper connection and resonance with the "Demon Lord's Mark" that had been dormant and in a delicate balance with the dragon-shaped mark—a connection that even Lu Zhao himself was unaware of!

The "Demon Lord's Mark" is the mark of the "Soul Devouring Demon Lord," containing a wisp of his divided soul's aura. The demonic soul rushing towards us now is also a divided soul of the "Soul Devouring Demon Lord," but even more powerful, sharing the same origin!

When the dragon-shaped mark's extinguished dragon might and indomitable will stimulated and triggered the "Demon Lord's Mark," and the "Demon Lord's Mark" sensed the same, but more powerful, demonic soul aura, an extremely strange, dangerous situation, yet containing a glimmer of hope, was strangely formed!

The "Demon Lord's Mark" trembled slightly, but instead of helping the dragon-shaped mark resist the demonic soul, it emitted a faint yet extremely pure fluctuation filled with a cold, eerie, and seductive aura, actively meeting the oncoming demonic soul! This fluctuation was like the most devout believer welcoming their "master," or like the most cunning venomous snake attempting to connect, resonate, or even... merge and devour a stronger kind?

This bizarre change caused the approaching dark demonic soul to hesitate and become confused for a moment! It seemed that it had not expected that this ant-like Qi Refining cultivator would simultaneously possess a "mark" of the same origin as itself, as well as "annihilation dragon energy" of the same origin as the "Nine Netherworld Evil Dragon"! Moreover, these two had even formed a delicate balance that it could hardly understand!

But this hesitation was fleeting. Greed and the desire for the "Nine Netherworld" aura overwhelmed everything. The demonic soul paused only briefly before lunging forward even more violently, the jet-black light slamming into Lu Zhao's brow! It wanted to forcibly devour this ant's soul, seize the "Nine Netherworld" dragon energy it coveted, and incidentally merge with and devour that weak "Same Origin" mark to strengthen itself!

However, the moment it truly invaded Lu Zhao's sea of ​​consciousness, it realized that it seemed to have made a fatal mistake!

Lu Zhao's sea of ​​consciousness was not as fragile and empty as he had imagined a Qi Refining stage cultivator to be. Forged through the tempering of the Lv7 Refining Divine Art, and honed by previous inheritances and battles, his sea of ​​consciousness had long since become exceptionally resilient and vast. At this moment, although on the verge of collapse due to severe injuries, deep within it, the core Daoist thought of "My fate is in my own hands," forged through countless life-and-death trials, and the resonating "vitality" of new life awakened in dire straits, stood stubbornly like a reef in a storm!

More importantly, the moment the demonic soul invaded, its power, along with the raging bloodthirsty resentment energy within Lu Zhao's body, the annihilating power that was on the verge of collapse but still operating instinctively, and the two opposing, balanced marks that underwent unknown changes due to its invasion—all these chaotic, conflicting, yet subtly interconnected forces were forcibly squeezed and mixed together within Lu Zhao's dying "container"!

Sensing an intruder of the same origin but stronger, the "Demon Lord's Mark" instinctively attempted to "attach" and "merge," but this triggered an even fiercer resistance from the dragon-shaped mark and an eruption of annihilating dragon energy. The bloodthirsty resentment energy was instinctively refined and resisted by the power of annihilation and the dragon's might. Lu Zhao's own will, amidst the tearing and conflict of countless forces, was like a candle flickering in the wind, yet also like a stabilizing pillar, tenaciously guarding the last bit of "my" existence.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. From the outside, all that could be seen was that after the dark demonic light entered Lu Zhao's brow, his body convulsed violently. It was as if countless tiny snakes were writhing wildly beneath his skin. His face alternated between deathly ashen and an unnatural dark gold hue. The blood flowing from his seven orifices also took on a strange, inexplicable color. An extremely chaotic, violent, and destructive aura erupted from him, slightly dispersing the surrounding turbulent energy currents!

"Lu Zhao!!" Elder Yun's eyes widened in horror. Seeing the demonic soul lunge at Lu Zhao, her heart sank. Lu Zhao's current state was bizarre, his aura chaotic to the extreme, clearly enduring unimaginable pain and danger. Without regard for anything else, she forcefully withdrew the remaining power of "Moonlight Overturning Heaven" that had been suppressing the demonic soul. Her figure transformed into a streak of silver light, ignoring the remaining bloody tentacles and turbulent energy around her, and madly rushed towards Lu Zhao! She would rescue Lu Zhao from the demonic soul's devouring power, even if it meant injuring herself!

"Old ghost, your opponent is me!" Elder Tie Xing roared, enduring a blow from Ghost Bone Venerable's bone staff and black energy, holding him tightly to prevent him from interfering with Elder Yun.

However, just as Elder Yun was about to rush to Lu Zhao's side, her jade hand already reaching out, ready to use her own pure Golden Core spiritual power to forcibly suppress and expel the demonic soul from Lu Zhao's body, the unexpected happened again!

"roar--!!"

A non-human roar, seemingly emanating from the deepest recesses of his soul and imbued with endless pain, madness, defiance, and an indescribable desire to devour and evolve, suddenly burst forth from Lu Zhao's throat! This roar was unlike a human voice; instead, it carried a faint yet clearly discernible dragon's roar, mixed with a cold, eerie demonic aura!

Then, to everyone's utter astonishment, Lu Zhao's body, which had been convulsing violently and on the verge of collapse, slowly and stiffly stood up! His eyes slowly opened.

What eyes they were! In the depths of the left pupil, a tiny gray flame flickered, cold, lifeless, and filled with indifference and majesty, as if it could see through life and death and cause all things to wither. The right eye was a deep, dark void, as if it could devour all light and soul, within which a twisted, greedy face struggled and roared.

Two completely different lights, both filled with a terrifying aura, intertwined, clashed, and coexisted eerily in his eyes.

His aura underwent a dramatic transformation at that moment. The fluctuations of his cultivation at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining vanished. In its place was an extremely chaotic, violent, yet subtly chilling aura of oppressive power. This aura was neither pure annihilation, nor pure demonic energy, nor bloodlust and resentment, but rather a temporary, highly unstable, and bizarre state of equilibrium formed by the forced "fusion" of these three (and perhaps others) under certain extreme conditions.

"Lu Zhao...?" Elder Yun's hand froze in mid-air, her beautiful eyes filled with shock, worry, and a hint of disbelief. She could sense that the Lu Zhao before her was still Lu Zhao, but something seemed to have changed. His soul fluctuations had become extremely weak and chaotic, yet stubbornly persisted.

"Did he devour the demonic soul, or did the demonic soul devour him?" Elder Tie Xing's expression changed drastically, and an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.

"No...impossible!" Upon witnessing this scene, the Ghost Bone Venerable screamed in terror, "How could the Holy Lord's divided soul be possessed by an ant in the Qi Refining stage...this is blasphemy! Blasphemy!"

However, "Lu Zhao" seemed to ignore their shock and shouts. He merely stiffly turned his neck, his eerie eyes first examining his own hands, as if confirming something. Then, his gaze slowly rose, passing over Elder Yun, past the chaotic battlefield, and finally landing on the altar. There, on the altar, was the dim, teetering ball of demonic soul light (now just an empty shell), its light dimmed by the destruction of the bone pillars, the disruption of the formation, and the separation of the demonic soul from its body. And...below the altar, on the massive pool of blood, still boiling, but its energy now in a chaotic state!

In his eyes, the gray flames and the pitch-black abyss flickered violently at the same time.

Then, under everyone's horrified gaze, he slowly and stiffly raised his right hand, facing the altar and the blood pool, and slowly clenched his five fingers together.

A terrifying suction force, even more violent and chaotic, yet carrying an indescribable will to devour and plunder, erupted from his center!

"Devour..."

A dry, hoarse, and strangely mixed voice slowly emerged from his mouth.