Chapter 154: Piercing Through

“Since it cannot bear it now, then let this body transform until it can.”

Zhai Guangyi let Xiao Ai handle the arrangements on her own, while his mind held the evolution paths of various races. He had just forcibly digested forty thousand souls of varying intensities, consuming a considerable amount of energy. Unlike other Deities with accumulated reserves, he lacked such deep foundations. Even though the ‘World’ had reached the rank of a Deity, consumption was still necessary.

Apart from the Faith Power from the outside world, he had to utilize his own Soul Power. Evolving his True Body was essential, and these matters could be left to Xiao Ai to manage independently.

His True Body also needed to enter a period of slumber to complete the evolution. Now, he should seize the time to deal with the Elven Divine Tree, Sylph.

Zhai Guangyi’s Primordial Spirit Body emitted a blue light from its eyes. The evolution process appeared lengthy, but under the influence of the ‘World,’ it was completed in the blink of an idea.

Now, even this Primordial Spirit Body was struggling to bear his soul. Under the current circumstances, the use of the ‘World’ was very limited. Fortunately, the lake water here provided a boost to this body, continuously maintaining its stability.

A massive red hand extended a jade-like finger to grab the diminutive Zhai Guangyi.

But in the next instant, this enormous Demon Avatar began to be tinged with white, gradually spreading across its entire form. Zhai Guangyi directly imagined that this Demon Avatar was still his Skill, and this time, the ‘World’ took effect even against a Deity.

This Demon Avatar not only absorbed the energy of the ‘Abyss’ but also carried the energy of Zhai Guangyi, whose soul had reached the rank of a Deity. Its terrifying size directly slammed toward the Divine Tree Sylph.

It was like a child throwing a tantrum and playing recklessly indoors—the size of the lake now seemed cramped before this Demon Avatar.

The terrifying force left Sylph with no choice. Along with this power, the immense impact sent the Divine Tree Sylph flying backward. However, more than half of the entire Demon Avatar vanished. With just a moment of contact, this colossal Demon Avatar was devoured by half, unable to maintain its massive form, and instantly disappeared.

Lvqi watched the scene unfolding on the lake surface, his expression turning extremely grave.

“Is this the power of a Deity?”

Whether it was the red Demon Avatar or the white one, neither was something he could contend with. This exaggerated power must have already broken through 300,000. Lvqi dared not use Appraisal on a Deity, but his intuition told him that without Demon King Mephistopheles’s Domain and this special Magic Circle, just the Divine Pressure and the shockwave from this power alone would be enough to threaten his life.

At this moment, a Demigod was like an ant before a Deity. The Demon Race had no Demon God. If any Deity willed it, the Demon Race could vanish from this world in an instant.

At that moment, Demon King Mephistopheles, suspended in mid-air, uttered two words.

“Retrograde Light.”

Except for Lilith, all Demon Race Powerhouses in the circle who had reached the Transcendent Demigod Rank, including Lvqi, lost consciousness. Lvqi’s body continued to channel Magic Power into the Magic Circle, but his eyes were vacant. All Demigod Powerhouses were in the same state.

The Divine Tree Sylph, who had been sent flying, showed an even more pronounced madness on her face. Her facial features began to distort, and her slender figure started to swell. Countless branches began to spread from her body, and the moment these branches touched the lake water, terrifying energy fluctuations erupted.

Repulsion, separation, fusion, distortion—both the branches and the lake water were undergoing changes. Zhai Guangyi’s half-formed Demon Avatar was instantly twisted and shattered upon contact. Without any warning, a branch pierced through Zhai Guangyi’s Elven Body.

“Why don’t you have a ‘World’? Where is my ‘World’?”

The swollen and distorted Divine Tree Sylph now had only half of her face attached to a massive, grotesque trunk. The moment the branch pierced Zhai Guangyi, her expression was one of immense excitement. However, the ‘World’ within this body was merely being mobilized—it did not truly exist.

The half of her delicate face on the monstrous trunk twisted even more grotesquely. A frantic, hoarse scream caused Zhai Guangyi’s Elven Body to lose its form completely. A terrifying devouring force directly consumed and tore apart the remnants of Zhai Guangyi’s soul.

In truth, Zhai Guangyi had considered fighting back during this process. But the moment he was pierced by the branch, the connection between his True Body’s ‘World’ and his Elven Body was severed. It was as if a self-protection mechanism had been triggered. Without the support of the soul power from the ‘World,’ this body was merely a Demigod’s shell, with a Soul Strength equivalent to that of a Demigod—utterly insufficient to contend with the terrifying Elven Divine Tree Sylph.

In an instant, Zhai Guangyi’s Primordial Spirit body was twisted and torn apart, transforming into a stream of energy that flowed into the branch.

Demon King Mephistopheles felt not a hint of sorrow over the death of Zhai Guangyi’s Elven Body. He raised his hand and aimed it at the Divine Tree Sylph.

At this moment, Demon King Mephistopheles activated his Skill. The distance was already very close.

He hadn’t expected Zhai Guangyi to hold out against the Divine Tree Sylph for so long. Judging by the intensity of the battle, Zhai Guangyi must have been a newly ascended, incomplete Deity—his Soul Power had reached the required level, but he lacked a body capable of bearing it in this world. What a pity.

Still, being able to achieve this much was already a stroke of luck in Demon King Mephistopheles’ eyes.

The Divine Tree Sylph felt furious. It seemed she had been tricked again, toyed with once more by the ‘World.’ Terrifying Soul Power erupted continuously around her, causing the lake water to grow increasingly thin.

At this moment, the Divine Tree Sylph sensed something strange. The scene before her eyes shifted back to a familiar sight.

Branches indiscriminately devoured her Followers, her Believers, absorbing and digesting their souls without distinction. Their expressions of fear, their tears of pain—these were the very sources of her excitement. This was a scene from thousands of years ago.

The Divine Tree Sylph suddenly felt immense agony. An overwhelming emotion she could no longer suppress burst forth, and a long-forgotten wave of sorrow spread through her heart. Yet, the scene before her continued to repeat: a branch piercing through the chest of a young man from the Demon Race.

The young man’s appearance transformed into that of Demon King Mephistopheles. He remained suspended in mid-air, while the surroundings shifted to the sea of flames from thousands of years ago. The trunk of the Divine Tree pierced through his chest.

“Teleport!”

No blood flowed from the gaping hole in his chest, yet Demon King Mephistopheles had indeed been pierced through. A terrifying distortion and devouring force continuously eroded his Soul, while tens of thousands of Magic Crystals within the Magic Circle were being consumed at an alarming rate.

Mephistopheles’ appearance underwent constant transformation as the Retrograde Light Skill was repeatedly cast. This Skill began to cycle through variations—decomposed from an Ultimate Skill down to a Special Skill, only for the Demon King to immediately elevate it back to the level of an Ultimate Skill before casting it once more.

The strength of the Demon King race lay in their qualification to defy the Deities, possessing strong resistance against divine power and the ability to Awaken Skills capable of opposing them.

Demon King Mephistopheles’ lifespan was rapidly draining away. In just a single encounter, millennia of accumulated power—his foundation for resisting the Deities—was instantly depleted by more than half.