Jiang Yan’s tyranny was truly beyond expectation, an aura of invincibility clung to him.

Under the suppression of the Tongtian Palace, and while besieged by Jiang Wang and the Heart Demon, he had, with a single palm strike, snuffed out the Heart Demon’s existence.

This implied that the suppression exerted by the Tongtian Palace was never the fundamental obstacle for him.

It also explained why Jiang Wang’s cultivation had advanced with such speed, while Jiang Yan, hidden within the Luminous Pearl, could consistently maintain a degree of divine soul suppression. Fundamentally, he needed only to ride Jiang Wang’s growing power, gradually releasing his own strength.

His true divine soul power far surpassed Jiang Wang’s.

So what had he been wary of?

Why had he waited until this very moment to reveal his hand?

Why had he gone to the superfluous trouble of birthing a Heart Demon?

With the strength he now displayed, he had absolutely no need for a Heart Demon’s assistance!

For the first time, these questions arose in Jiang Wang’s mind, yet he found no answers.

He was missing too many pieces of the puzzle.

He had never truly understood Jiang Yan.

When the Swallow Heart Demon Bear Wen was slain, the Luminous Pearl had first entered the Tongtian Palace.

Outside the Maple Forest City Domain, Miao Yu had believed the Luminous Pearl was drawn by the White Bone Seed and thus fell into Jiang Wang’s Tongtian Palace. Jiang Wang had also accepted this judgment.

But thinking back now, the truth was likely far more complex.

When saving Miao Yu, the Luminous Pearl had first displayed its ability by teaching him the Flesh Birth Soul Return Technique. Following that, it had preserved Jiang Wang’s memories from being sealed and transmitted the White Bone Escape Method.

According to Jiang Yan’s consistent narrative, using White Bone Dao secret techniques would inevitably lead to being tainted by the White Bone Honored God. It was precisely Jiang Wang’s use of these methods that caused his divine soul to become tainted, giving birth to Jiang Yan. And because of the Luminous Pearl’s existence, Jiang Yan could reside within him without immediately contending for dominance over the physical body.

All of this seemed perfectly seamless, logically sound. Yet, every single piece of information originated from Jiang Yan’s own words.

Everything Jiang Wang knew was what Jiang Yan had chosen to reveal.

In the real world, this was tantamount to knowing nothing at all.

Therefore, even now, Jiang Wang had no fundamental grasp of Jiang Yan’s true strength, his current state, or the reason that allowed him to linger for so long, only making his true move after Dong A’s death.

But regardless of Jiang Yan’s motives, regardless of his state, regardless of his power.

To do one’s utmost, to strive with all one’s might. To push everything one could do to the absolute limit.

To exhaust every ounce of courage, wisdom, strength, and will to fight – this was the only choice Jiang Wang would make.

He would not concede until he reached a dead end, and even at a dead end, he would not concede!

When thrown into desperation, fight with desperation. At the precipice of death, forge a path from death.

Analyzing the known situation, it was clear that some crucial point in time had arrived, or some event had transpired, causing Jiang Yan to believe he could no longer afford to wait.

The sentence Jiang Yan had uttered – “Indeed my decision is right, I cannot let you grow anymore” – suggested that Jiang Wang’s growth had, to a certain extent, become a threat to Jiang Yan.

Reviewing his recent gains, Jiang Wang believed the most promising, the one with the deepest origins, was undoubtedly the Cloud Top Immortal Palace.

Reasoning backwards from this, could the Cloud Top Immortal Palace pose a threat to Jiang Yan?

With a thought, as the master of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace, Jiang Wang’s voice resounded through the ruins of the palace.

“White Cloud Child, assist me!”

Hovering in the Five Mansions Sea’s half-empty expanse, the Cloud Top Immortal Palace ruins had, until now, only one completely restored building: the Ling Kong Hall.

A white and plump little child was currently snoring soundly within the hall. Hearing the voice, he rolled over and scrambled to his feet. Though still groggy and half-asleep, he instinctively obeyed the command, his small hands forming a seal.

The Cloud Top Immortal Palace, far from being fully restored, what could it possibly do now?

The answer soon manifested.

At this very moment, Jiang Yan, having just palm-struck the black-clothed Heart Demon into oblivion, controlled the Luminous Pearl to turn and charge towards Jiang Wang.

A surge of majestic vital energy instantly coursed through the Ling Kong Hall, descending upon the Heaven and Earth Isolated Island and enveloping the Tongtian Palace, which had externalized as a Dao Vein True Dragon.

Under such an abundant supply of vital energy, within the Tongtian Palace, the nine great star river Dao vortices instantly operated at their limit, a full and abundant Dao Yuan raining down like a storm of pearls!

The Tongtian Palace was the primary domain of divine soul power, while Dao Yuan was generally applied in the material world.

However, Dao Yuan itself was the foundation of cultivation. It was the perfect fusion of intent and force, the genuine feedback from all living beings to the origin of heaven and earth.

Dao Yuan itself also possessed the ability to nourish the divine soul.

As the Ling Kong Hall poured all the vital energy supporting the Cloud Top Immortal Palace’s restoration into the Tongtian Palace, a massive amount of Dao Yuan was generated.

With the support of the massive Dao Yuan, the Heaven and Earth Isolated Island became increasingly stable. The Dao Vein Soaring Dragon also grew more vigorous. Correspondingly, the Tongtian Palace provided stronger support to Jiang Wang and exerted greater suppression upon Jiang Yan.

Jiang Wang’s divine soul also received robust sustenance.

He felt his divine soul’s state to be unprecedentedly powerful. Thus invigorated, he surged forward, directly confronting Jiang Yan!

Just at this critical juncture, within the dim candlelight of the Luminous Pearl, a cacophony of sounds suddenly erupted.

From nothingness to existence, from weak to strong.

Peddlers’ cries, bustling noise, children weeping, the clinking of cups, the rhythmic clang of military drills… the myriad sounds of the human condition.

A vast, spectral image of a great seal manifested within the candlelight, instantly suppressing the vital energy surging continuously into the Tongtian Palace and interrupting the Ling Kong Hall’s transmission.

It was the power of the Zhuang Country Prime Minister Seal!

At that time, Jiang Yan’s feigned unconsciousness had one major loophole, one that Jiang Wang, engrossed in the fierce battle with Dong A, had not noticed. That is – if Jiang Yan had truly fainted, how could the Luminous Pearl still return to the Tongtian Palace?

On that night in New An City.

To ensure the safety of his physical body, Jiang Yan had controlled the Luminous Pearl to strike Dong A, and indeed created an opportunity for Jiang Wang’s victory.

But in his collision with the Prime Minister Seal, he had suffered no fundamental injury.

Instead, he had used a secret method to absorb the power of the Prime Minister Seal – that was the reason for the seal’s dimming.

On one hand, he ensured the physical body’s safety and helped Jiang Wang kill Dong A, completing the final link in the Heart Demon’s birth. On the other hand, by dimming the Prime Minister Seal, he made Jiang Wang believe in his “injury” more readily, thereby lowering his guard. And finally, on this hand, he was now using this very power to deal with Jiang Wang!

The harvest and use of the Ling Kong Hall had all been foreseen by Jiang Yan. And he had long since prepared, borrowing external force, to easily sever the connection.

So the situation now was:

Jiang Wang, relying on abundant power, charged headlong towards Jiang Yan, only to have his power source cut off mid-charge!

The hope that had just ignited was instantly extinguished, plunging him back into despair.

Except for the accidental outcome caused by the sword strike that forced the Heart Demon into being and revealed Jiang Yan’s true strength, in almost every other aspect of their confrontation, Jiang Wang had been calculated to death.

This was an all-encompassing crushing defeat – in information, power, and strategy.

And at this moment, the two sides converged.

With his power source severed, Jiang Wang’s divine soul Dao technique, condensed halfway, dissipated. Jiang Yan’s verdant smoke hand was already descending.

The scene of the black-clothed Heart Demon being crushed with a single palm was almost certain to be replayed.

It seemed that no matter what method Jiang Wang employed, no matter how he struggled, he could not glimpse a shred of hope.

This was a despair-inducing opponent, a collapsing situation.

But Jiang Wang met him head-on.

He still gripped his sword, he still unleashed a single strike.

The most distant, the most weak, the most powerless, the most strong.

Life, like a perilous candle, still cast its lingering glow.

The body, like a floating duckweed, would not forget to struggle!