Otherworldly Desert Dust

The azure mist particles hovered in the air, cold as frost, their biting chill seeping into Wu Hen's very marrow.

"What's wrong?" Gao Yu Yan noticed the change in Wu Hen's expression, her smile gradually fading.

Wu Hen himself didn't know how to explain it to Gao Yu Yan.

At that moment, a streak of green brilliance appeared on the horizon, causing the undulating mist particles to ripple and form a floating painting of green mountains upon the earth. Within this painting, an azure jade fox appeared, as if it had come from the mythical Kunlun—a being both noble and coldly beautiful, an immortal entity whose icy indifference extended to most life forms in this otherworldly realm.

It walked closer, casting its "gaze of death" upon Wu Hen, while simultaneously drifting into Gao Yu Yan's body.

Gao Yu Yan hadn't yet realized that her battle armor was, in fact, a living entity with its own consciousness. Its docility and intelligence in the past had merely been it slumbering. Now, fully awakened, this proud god viewed human Douyi only as mortal vessels to ride within the Mortal World.

"Wu Hen, this is my Dou—" Gao Yu Yan was just about to smile, but her smile froze on her face.

The moment the Green Fox Battle Clothes attached to her body, what she felt was a soul-piercing chill, a chill that robbed her of sensation in an instant and froze her consciousness with its domineering power.

There was no familiar surge of energy nor the protective embrace of advanced battle armor. Instead, it felt like her body had been forcibly commandeered by a higher-dimensional lifeform, her soul entirely possessed.

Her eyes began to change, like an enigmatic kaleidoscope. Gao Yu Yan felt an intense suffocation, and then her entire body erupted with a frigid energy she had never experienced before. This icy power easily shattered every genetic chain within her body. Levels she had struggled to surpass were instantly elevated to unimaginable heights.

The azure glow of this mist burst forth entirely, rippling waves of Holy Light baptizing the surrounding thousand miles, transforming it into a towering divine mountain range. Gao Yu Yan wasn't so much wearing a piece of battle armor as she was summoning an ancient Immortal Saint, a being exuding an unrivaled aura of divine majesty as it stood imperiously between heaven and earth.

Yet Gao Yu Yan's pupils were eerily cold. When her gaze fixed upon Wu Hen, there was not a trace of tenderness—only the chilling killing intent of someone whose body had been completely overtaken.

She had fully transformed into a Fox Bodhisattva, with jade claws, a celestial tail, azure fur, and sinister eyes—divinity and monstrosity fused perfectly, transcending humanity entirely.

In comparison, even Wu Hen's Fire God Body paled into insignificance.

The blazing Fire Buds on his body were suppressed by the azure mist, each breath he took feeling like swallowing ice-cold needles.

"Death would be the lightest punishment for you," the possessed Gao Yu Yan uttered, her tone a lofty proclamation. Though her voice carried no perceptible change, her words brimmed with disdain.

Wu Hen had never anticipated that the battle armor developed by the Douyi Star Palace could harbor such a terrifying, immortalized transformation.

Was it that Gao Yu Yan's battle armor had undergone this fearsome Immortal Transformation, or was the Douyi Star Palace no different from Cangling's imitators, using humans as mere vessels!

Gao Yu Yan had completely lost all autonomy. At this moment, she wasn't just controlled by the Immortal Transformation Battle Robe—she was utterly consumed by it. Forget fighting against it; even her breathing was dictated by the higher-order rhythm of this Fox Bodhisattva.

Gao Yu Yan's soul still remained, and her thoughts were still intact.

But she was like a baby locked in a dark room, able to sense everything around her but incapable of taking any action.

She had become nothing more than a spectator, watching "herself" speak to Wu Hen, watching "herself" direct an overwhelming killing intent at him.

In the days since her awakening, she had tirelessly pushed herself, barely managing to break through the four-layered genetic shackles. But with the advent of this Green Fox Battle Clothes, the twelve-layered genetic shackles shattered effortlessly. With each additional layer broken, her strength grew exponentially. Even her true body back in the Nuwa God End had only surpassed the ninth-layer genetic shackles…

This realization left Gao Yu Yan both shocked and sorrowful. So this was the truth of her so-called potential bursts and breakthroughs. It had only been the battle armor deeming her worthy of greater strength. From beginning to end, she was merely a human container. To every human mind, the battle armor they wore was a subordinate object, never once considering that this subordinate might actually be the true master.

Gao Yu Yan suffered silently, wanting to scream but unable to make any sound.

Helplessly, she watched as her own frosty jade claws struck the earth, her fox-like celestial appendages rending the ground with a force a hundredfold beyond her own. Five terrifying chasms tore across the thousand-mile landscape, so deep they exposed the molten rock beneath…

The next moment, her Fox Immortal Jade Claws swept horizontally, slicing through the land's crust. The Plant Kings that had previously roamed nearby instantly lost the soil enveloping them, scattering like panicked centipedes and insects fleeing from torn moss.

Gao Yu Yan dared not look, terrified that she might witness Wu Hen dismembered into a bloody pulp before her eyes. Yet she could not even muster the strength to close her eyes. Her pupils were veined with desperate resistance, but all she could manage was a faint reddening in her sinister gaze, a reflection of her helpless despair.

Meanwhile, the surrounding Divine Breath from the mist began to surge. Magnificent outlines of blue mountains emerged, crashing toward Wu Hen like tidal waves. His Holy Orchid Fire Domain rapidly dissolved. His frail body trembled violently—merely surviving such an elevated confrontation with the Fox Bodhisattva was an incredible feat.

Wu Hen's chest heaved violently. Though he clenched his lips, black-red blood still seeped from the corners of his mouth.

The terrifying divine pressure from the Bodhisattva had injured his internal organs, possibly even shattered them. Despite not intentionally gathering flame particles, the fiery particles rallied around him instinctively, condensing anew to defend their Flame Dominator. The Holy Orchid Fire Domain formed a protective array resembling an eight-cornered shield, reasserting Wu Hen's Fire God majesty.

The loyalty of the flame particles in such desperate circumstances moved Wu Hen deeply. It seemed his earlier efforts to bond with them had been pivotal—they fully acknowledged him, embraced him as the true Flame Dominator, and unleashed all their spiritual energy in unwavering support.

"Do your best," Wu Hen muttered.

Confronted by an adversary incomprehensibly stronger, Wu Hen refused to give up.

The true nature of the Star Palace Battle Armor had been exposed, and it confirmed Li Feng's earlier suspicions about the Douyi Star Palace—they were outsiders wielding powers alien to this world.

In the past, they had played the dual roles of savior and destroyer, deceiving humanity, whose evolutionary journey had been fraught with their manipulations.

Wu Hen struggled back to his feet, using the back of his hand to wipe the blood from his lips.

"Having fun, are you?" Wu Hen addressed the Fox Bodhisattva.

"We granted you this earth, and you were meant to live upon it. Why seek the heavens? Why delve into the secrets of our existence? What we allow you to see is all you ever need to see," the Fox Bodhisattva said coldly through Gao Yu Yan's lips.

"So you're the Divine End Captors, farming humanity," Wu Hen accused.

"We do not care what we farm within the Divine Realm—be it humans or otherwise. No species may go out of control. And you, you are out of control," the Fox Bodhisattva replied with aloof detachment.

"And the fate of the outliers? Is it the same as those previous dominant species that vanished into fossils deep beneath the earth? I've always wondered—were the dinosaurs' extinction also your doing? Can you tell me the truth before I die?" Wu Hen grinned, his white teeth now stained crimson.

"Since you already understand the ending, I'll grant you the 'honor' of becoming one of the legends. Humanity will remember you, just as they remember the myths you grew up hearing: Suirenshi, Dayu, Hou Yi, Kua Fu…" The Fox Bodhisattva calmly spoke several names.

The mention of those names sent shockwaves through Wu Hen's soul.

They intended to kill him and craft his story into that of a legendary figure who contributed something monumental to human history!

To know that mythical figures symbolizing humanity's triumph over nature and adversity—emblems of human resilience and ingenuity—had, in truth, been manipulated constructs for a prisoned species humbled Wu Hen. These supposed triumphs over "heavens" were contrivances woven by their captors all along.

Rage stirred fiercely in Wu Hen's heart!

They toyed with the living, bestowed suffering, then alleviated it, treating humanity like lab mice!

In their eyes, it seemed, he was nothing more than a rat baring its teeth at them.

"The people you know, every soul within the Divine Realm—they will continue living reverently under our order. But you—you are unfit," the Fox Bodhisattva declared.

"So desperate, are you?" Wu Hen had already processed his earlier despair and now grinned once more.

"If you reject becoming a human legend, then we will erase all traces of you from this world," the Fox Bodhisattva stated coldly.

"You may be able to eliminate rogue humans like me, but can you erase the memories of all humanity? You can annihilate dominant species once farmed before us, but can you erase them entirely from the stream of history? You aren't as omnipotent as you claim—stop pretending to be creators!" Wu Hen's eyes gleamed with resolute defiance, his expression tinged with disdain.

If they were truly all-powerful creators, they would face his fullest form directly—

Not resort to such deceit, seeking to annihilate him at his moment of awakening!