The rift in the sky continued to expand.
More and more figures emerged from the dimensional fissure, standing behind Mist Lord, their gazes coldly overlooking the battlefield below.
Besides the Mist Tribe warriors, several other supreme beings had also arrived.
Their mere presence in the air prevented even the golden radiance from the floating palace above from spreading an inch further.
"Come on, try touching me now."
Feng Qi stared at the golden figure, who was still sitting cross-legged before him, his face frozen in fear, and provoked him once again.
But the golden figure ignored his taunt. He lifted his head, looking at Mist Lord hovering in the air. His lips moved slightly as if he wanted to say something, but he seemed at a loss for words.
Under Mist Lord's cold, piercing gaze, the golden figure finally forced out a response:
"I didn't know he was connected to you."
"And now?"
Mist Lord's voice was calm yet absolute, its weight crushing down upon the battlefield, leaving no room for doubt or resistance.
Hearing these words, the golden figure's body visibly trembled. Perhaps feeling the immense pressure from Mist Lord, the spiritual oppression he had been exerting on Feng Qi began to gradually fade.
[Looks like Old Mist is doing pretty damn well for himself now. This Lie Tian Divine Clan must know just how powerful he's become. If they were truly on equal footing, why would this guy be so terrified of him?]
The narrator's thoughts mirrored Feng Qi's own.
He could see it clearly—the fear in the golden figure's eyes as he looked at Mist Lord.
And it was that very fear that kept him from killing Feng Qi outright.
A moment later, the golden figure suddenly withdrew his mental suppression on Feng Qi.
He then looked toward Mist Lord, floating above, and spoke:
"One hundred thousand Divine Essence Crystals and a Fragment of Law—this is the Lie Tian Divine Clan's compensation for our offense."
As he spoke, the golden figure waved his hand, sending a golden light shooting into the sky.
The golden light paused before Mist Lord, revealing a small spatial crystal, about the size of a fingernail.
Mist Lord reached out and grasped the crystal. He then glanced at the golden figure, his voice still as indifferent as before:
"Leave."
Upon hearing these words, the golden figure's expression finally relaxed.
He turned and glanced at Feng Qi. Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he retrieved the golden runes that had been sealing Suction Cup, pulling them back into his palm, where they condensed into a string of golden symbols.
The golden figure then pressed the symbols against his forehead, allowing them to spread across his skin and reintegrate into the golden imprints covering his body.
After giving Feng Qi one final, deep look, he transformed into a streak of golden light and shot toward the floating palace above.
With the mental suppression gone, Feng Qi suddenly felt a strong suction force from his physical body, pulling his consciousness back.
But his condition was extremely dire.
His body had been ravaged by the golden figure's brutal search, leaving him on the verge of death.
Just then, a red-skinned creature with three heads appeared beside him.
It grinned at him, then grabbed his shoulder.
A wave of dizziness overtook Feng Qi.
When his vision cleared, he realized he was now standing behind Mist Lord.
At the same time, not far from Mist Lord, Dark God took a step forward, the gem on his forehead gleaming.
With a roar that shook the heavens, Dark God raised his hand and struck toward the floating palace.
The skies darkened, and in an instant, thousands of formations activated, encircling the palace.
Countless shadow-formed arms, imbued with Dark God's terrifying power, rained down upon the floating fortress.
The palace's defensive systems activated, conjuring a pale blue energy barrier that spread out in all directions.
The sky turned blindingly bright.
As Dark God's devastating attack collided with the barrier, ripples of blue energy waves surged outward, distorting space itself.
At that moment, a golden light burst forth from the floating palace, piercing through the blue shield and tearing open a rapidly expanding dimensional rift—a desperate attempt to create an escape route.
Seeing this, the three-headed creature that had brought Feng Qi to Mist Lord finally made its move.
In a blink, it vanished, instantly reappearing in front of the dimensional rift.
A moment later, pink bubbles began to emerge from its body, rapidly expanding outward as they surged toward the rift.
The moment the dimensional rift and the pink bubbles collided, the rift's expansion suddenly halted.
Then, before their eyes, the rift began repairing itself at a visible rate.
In the span of a few heartbeats, the floating palace's escape route was completely sealed off.
[Holy shit. Is this thing a space-affinity lifeform? It can teleport short distances without any prep and even repair space-time fractures! Damn, Old Mist is surrounded by absolute monsters!]
Witnessing the three-headed creature's abilities firsthand, Feng Qi couldn't help but be shocked.
Lifeforms with spatial manipulation abilities were extremely rare—that was a fact.
From Lin Ran's teachings, he had learned that Yin Ling and her brother Yin Xiao were exceptional even within the Silver Moon Clan for their rare mastery of spatial abilities.
They were considered the most talented prodigies of their generation.
Even so, their mastery of spatial abilities still had limitations.
Feng Qi had fought Yin Ling before, and he knew that her spatial techniques followed clear patterns. Before teleporting, a glow would appear on her body, signaling the activation of the ability.
But the three-headed creature was different.
Its teleportation was instantaneous, without the slightest indication. It seemed that all it took was a single thought to shift itself elsewhere.
It was the same when it brought Feng Qi to Mist Lord, and again when it cut off the floating palace's escape route.
Feng Qi could already imagine how much of a nightmare it would be to fight an opponent like this.
Especially for someone like him, whose primary combat style relied on close-quarters combat—just touching such an opponent would be a challenge in itself.
"I have already paid for my offense, why won't you let me go?"
A deep, suppressed voice rang out from within the floating palace.
Mist Lord took a step forward, his tone indifferent as he replied, "I took your compensation, but did I ever say I would let you leave?"
"What will it take for you to release me?" the golden figure asked again.
"How about handing over the Miracle Artifact on you?"
"You really think that's possible? And how can I trust that after I hand over the Miracle Artifact, you won't go back on your word?"
Hearing this, Mist Lord suddenly chuckled, his voice relaxed.
"Ah, so you saw through me. I was just trying to trick you into giving me another Miracle Artifact. That way, I can deal with you properly afterward."
[Hahaha! Old Mist is still as sly as ever. Damn, he's shameless, but he never abandons his own. You mess with his people, and he'll dig up your ancestors' graves and smash every last offering on the altar!]
As Mist Lord spoke, he raised his palm and struck toward the floating palace.
The sea of mist above him churned, forming a gray tidal wave that swept toward the palace. The sheer force of it twisted and tore through space, conjuring thunder and gales from the void.
It seemed like a simple attack, but it carried world-ending power.
As the gray tidal wave neared the floating palace, it coalesced into a massive gray hand and smashed down on the palace's outer shield.
Crack!
The world trembled, and a shockwave of terrifying force exploded outward.
The three-headed creature reappeared at Feng Qi's side. It raised a hand, summoning a pink barrier to shield them from the oncoming impact.
Under the violent strike of Mist Lord, the floating palace's blue defensive shield shattered instantly, breaking apart into countless shimmering fragments, raining down from the sky.
A voice rang out from within the palace, filled with urgency:
"Mist Lord, do we really have to fight to the death? A war with my clan will cost you as well. Can we not negotiate?"
Mist Lord's voice remained calm: "Sure. Hand over the Miracle Artifact."
Hearing this, Feng Qi was speechless.
This wasn't negotiation—this was straight-up robbery.
The narrator's laughter rang out.
[Hah! Old Mist is as shameless as ever. That's basically telling them to surrender their weapons for mercy—except once they hand over the weapon, their life or death is no longer in their hands. If they refuse, they might at least put up a fight, but if they submit, they'll be at his complete mercy.]
Just as the narrator finished, a furious voice came from the palace:
"Never!"
"Then there's nothing left to discuss. If you won't hand it over, I'll take it myself."
The massive gray hand struck downward once more.
The sky fractured, the force of the descending hand creating waves of space distortions.
A golden light suddenly shot out from the floating palace, transforming into a massive golden palm, colliding with the misty hand.
But contrary to expectations, there was no stalemate.
The golden palm shattered instantly, and the misty hand's descent accelerated.
Even before it made contact, its sheer energy had already torn apart the floating city. The palace's towering buildings collapsed one after another, their golden brilliance fading into dust.
With a thunderous roar, the entire floating city was obliterated.
"Ahhh!"
A furious roar echoed through the sky as a golden rune shot upward, colliding with the descending misty hand.
The misty hand halted in midair, unable to move further.
A golden seal rapidly spread across its surface, cutting it off from Mist Lord's control.
It was the same sealing technique that had been used on Suction Cup.
With its connection to Mist Lord severed, the misty hand began to disintegrate, dissolving back into the gray mist.
The falling mist crashed onto the cloud layers, causing them to collapse further, sending even more ruins tumbling down.
Despite witnessing the destruction of the floating city, Mist Lord showed no surprise.
Instead, he took another step forward.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared right before the floating palace's ruins.
His body suddenly disintegrated, dissolving into a vast expanse of gray mist.
In the blink of an eye, the mist coalesced into a titanic figure, standing over a thousand meters tall, as if it could split the heavens and shatter the earth.
This was different from the Fog Giant form in Feng Qi's memories.
The Mist Lord's current form was not just an ethereal mist, but a dense, highly concentrated manifestation of gray mist energy. Lightning flashed and crackled within the swirling mist, radiating an aura of limitless power.
Even without making a single move, his very presence caused spatial distortions, forming whirlpools of space-time reversal around him. The entire realm trembled, as if fearful of the power he now displayed.
A pair of scarlet eyes emerged within the sea of mist.
Raising his right arm, the Mist Lord extended his massive hand, grasping forward.
The floating city below was like a piece of a puzzle, suddenly cut away from the world itself. Behind it, the deep void of space was exposed.
Just as the Mist Lord prepared to launch another attack, countless golden lights shot out from the floating palace, scattering in all directions in a desperate attempt to escape.
But the next phase of the Mist Lord's assault had already begun.
His outstretched hand clenched into a fist, and in an instant, the entire floating city began to collapse inward.
In just a fraction of a second, the city shrank down to the size of a marble, now suspended in the Mist Lord's palm, spinning rapidly.
With a casual flick, he sent the miniature world hurtling into the void, where it vanished completely. Meanwhile, the gap left behind in reality was slowly being restored as the laws of the world mended the torn fabric of space.
The Fog Giant form suddenly compressed, and in an instant, the Mist Lord—his purple hair and eyes glowing with an eerie light—reappeared.
He turned, his gaze cold as ice, locking onto the golden figures fleeing in all directions.
At that moment, the figures standing beside Feng Qi moved, including the Dark God.
As they attacked, the fleeing golden lights were struck down one after another, exploding into golden mist midair.
In mere moments, more than half of the escaping figures had been annihilated.
The Mist Lord's eyes locked onto the retreating figure of the Divine Lord.
His body blurred, and in an instant, he teleported directly behind the Divine Lord. His right arm, now transformed into gray mist, lunged forward, aiming to crush the Divine Lord's skull.
But at that moment, the golden imprint on the Divine Lord's body suddenly detached, flying toward the Mist Lord.
Without hesitation, the Mist Lord's left arm also turned into gray mist, extending outward to block the incoming golden imprint.
However, the golden imprint simply phased through the mist, attaching itself onto the Mist Lord's body.
The golden markings rapidly expanded, spreading across the Mist Lord's form in an instant.
His scarlet eyes turned vacant, and his body plummeted from the sky, crashing toward the earth.
Seizing the opportunity, the Divine Lord took a step forward, tearing open a rift in space, attempting to escape through it.
But before he could step through, a gray-robed elder of the Mist Clan and the three-headed creature suddenly appeared in front of the rift, blocking his path.
"Get out of my way!"
The Divine Lord roared, unleashing a golden blast aimed at the Mist Elder.
The Mist Elder's body erupted with dense gray mist, enduring the attack head-on. Though he was pushed back slightly, he remained unharmed.
The three-headed creature took advantage of the opening, swiftly sealing the spatial rift, cutting off the Divine Lord's escape route.
By the time the Divine Lord realized what had happened, he was already surrounded by a group of Mist Clan elders, all clad in gray ceremonial robes.
A massive formation of mist suddenly formed—a soul-refining array.
The Divine Lord screamed in agony, his body writhing as the gray mist enveloped him.
The golden light radiating from his body began to dissolve, quickly burned away by the Mist Clan's collective attack.
As the Soul Refining Array dispersed, only a shower of golden dust remained, scattering in the wind—the Divine Lord had been completely erased from existence.
[Holy crap, this formation is insane… they didn't just kill him, they turned him into dust!]
Hearing the narrator's stunned reaction, Feng Qi turned his attention toward the sealed Mist Lord.
At that moment, the Mist Lord's body began to glow faintly with blue light—the power of his Miracle Will had been activated, waging an intense battle against the golden seal.
The three-headed creature suddenly appeared beside Feng Qi.
A wave of dizziness hit him, and in the next moment, he found himself standing directly beside the Mist Lord.
"You weakling… why does your body have the aura of my missing power?"
A voice filled with killing intent rang out beside him.
Feng Qi turned his head, only to see the Dark God glaring at him with murderous eyes.
Just as Feng Qi was about to answer, his gaze was drawn to the brilliant blue glow erupting from the Mist Lord's body.
Turning his head, he watched as the Miracle Will's blue radiance intensified, gradually forcing the golden imprint off his body.
Finally, the golden seal detached.
The Mist Lord's eyes snapped open.
The confusion in his gaze quickly faded, replaced by an indifferent expression. Slowly, he rose to his feet.
His cold, piercing stare locked onto Feng Qi.
After a brief moment of eye contact, the Mist Lord's lips curled into a sinister grin.
"Feng Qi, I've waited 1500 years for you… Are you ready to experience a fate worse than death?"
"Can we… take a moment to talk first?" Feng Qi asked weakly.
"No."
The Mist Lord's fist rushed toward Feng Qi's face, growing larger in his vision in an instant—