Chapter 101 – The Hunt of the Void and the Divine Schism
The Agila tore through the sky, leaving a trail of prismatic stardust that contrasted sharply with the emerald depths of the Star Dou Great Forest below. The silver dreadnought had transitioned from the absolute zero of the Extreme North to the humid, life-teeming center of the continent in a matter of hours.
Lakan Diwa stood on the bridge, his new 9th Soul Ring: The Sovereign's Prismatic Singularity pulsing with a rhythmic, obsidian-gold light. His presence was no longer that of a man, but an event—a localized disturbance in the laws of physics. Beside him, Zhu Zhuqing was a silhouette of focused intent, her violet eyes reflecting the Umbral Sight she had stolen from the God of Darkness.
As the Agila breached the atmosphere of the Star Dou's core, the territorial 100,000-year soul beasts—creatures that usually reigned supreme—erupted in a frenzy of primal fear. The Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python had already retreated into the Lake of Life under Gu Yuena's command, but other ancient entities, hidden in the dense foliage, rose to challenge the intruder.
Lakan stepped onto the prow. He didn't summon his martial soul, he simply opened his mouth.
"Skill 1: The Seven-Tone Genesis Chant (Pitong-Tinig ng Pinagmulan)."
The sound that followed was not a scream, but a harmonic vibration that resonated with the source Code of the world. A physical wave of prismatic fire expanded from Lakan, sweeping across the forest canopy. It is the ultimate evolution of the Adarna's song, Powered by Chaos Qi.
It's effect allows Lakan to release a physical sound wave of prismatic fire. It's not just any normal attack, it's a Law Rewriting vibration. Anyone caught in the sound will have their Soul Power De-tuned, where they might lose their attributes for 10 seconds.
It also has a healing ability called Nirvana Heal. For Lakan and his allies, the song act as a Divine Restoration. It instantly Heals any injury below the level of God, and restores 50% of their soul power.
There are more, such as the Sovereign's Mirror: Absolute Simulation, where lakan can utilize the Chaos Qi and simulate the Origin of any attack, create a perfect Replica of the attack and Fire it back at 150% power.
Now returning to the matter at hand. As lakan used the first skill, the effect was instantaneous.
A 50,000-year-old Blood-Eyed Vulture, mid-dive, suddenly found its soul power De-tuned. Its crimson feathers turned grey, its spiritual attribute vanished, and it tumbled from the sky as a mere common bird. For ten seconds, the Laws of every beast within five miles were erased. The forest fell into a deathly, respectful silence.
"The path is open, Zhuqing," Lakan said, his voice carrying the weight of his Sovereign Douluo rank. "The Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger is waiting. It thinks it is the master of the void, but it hasn't met the Night itself."
They found the beast in a clearing that felt wrong. The air was cold and smelled of ozone and rot. The Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger was a nightmare given form: a black tiger with grey and violet lightning crackling between its fur, and a scorpion-like stinger tail that twitched with malicious intent.
As Lakan and Zhuqing landed, the tiger let out a roar that vibrated through space-time. Its instinctual reaction to Lakan's 9th ring was one of profound, cellular confusion. It didn't recognize Chaos, but its blood—sourced from the ancient Evil God—trembled. It felt as though it was standing before the very womb of the universe, a power that was neither light nor dark, but the father of both.
Feeling the existential threat, the tiger didn't hesitate. It activated its ultimate trump card: The Life and Death Arena.
A grey sphere of warped space expanded, pulling Zhuqing and the tiger into a separate dimension. Lakan remained outside, his All-Seeing Eye of Chaos tracking the interaction across the veil of reality.
Inside the arena, time began to flow backward. The tiger's plan was simple: revert the human to a child, where her soul power would be non-existent, and devour her.
"You are a creature of space and time," Zhuqing whispered, her voice echoing in the grey void. "But I have hunted a God in the Shadow Realm. Your time is just a medium for my shadow."
She activated the Shadow-Essence stolen from the God of Darkness. Instead of resisting the regression, she Slipped between the seconds. Using the Scissor of Time-Space, she literally cut the threads of the arena's chronal flow.
To the tiger's horror, it was the one who began to shrink. Its grey lightning was counter-devoured by Zhuqing's violet shadows. She moved with a speed that bypassed the "frames" of the arena, her claws—infused with Abyssal Shadow—shredding the tiger's physical form while it was still trapped in its own temporal loop.
The arena shattered. The Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger fell to the forest floor, its life-force fading. As it died, its soul and its unique "Evil God Bead" attempted to detonate, a final spiteful act to take the forest with it.
"Sovereign's Mirror: Absolute Simulation!"
Lakan raised his hand. He caught the frequency of the tiger's self-destruction. In a flash of prismatic light, he created a perfect replica of the explosion and turned it inward, neutralizing the blast before it could even expand a centimeter. The forest was spared by a perfect mathematical cancellation of energy.
Zhuqing stepped forward. Following Lakan's instructions, she didn't just absorb a ring. She used her God-Seed of Shadow to pull the tiger's core into her heart.
"Ang Paglamon ng Nakaraan (The Devouring of the Past)," she murmured.
With Lakan's Chaos Qi acting as a stabilizing crucible, the tiger's attributes—Evil, Space, and Time—were fused into the God-Seed. The result was the Demonic Nyx Core, a swirling singularity of violet and obsidian energy that settled behind her sternum.
"The Nine Trials of Nyx has officially begun," Lakan noted, his eyes scanning the new law-patterns forming around Zhuqing. She was no longer just a Spirit Douluo; she was a God-Candidate whose gk
Engine" was powered by the most malicious beast in history, refined by the most ancient light.
While the Sovereigns consolidated their power in the Star Dou, a different kind of storm was brewing in the Heaven Dou Empire.
The continental snowstorm had broken the spirit of the Five Shield Alliance. Ning Fengzhi sat in his study, the fire in the hearth unable to keep out the Divine Cold that seeped through the walls. His sect was in ruins, his influence frozen.
Suddenly, the room was filled with a blinding blue light. The temperature stabilized, and the scent of salt air replaced the smell of frost. A projection of a majestic man in golden armor, carrying a trident, appeared before him.
"Ning Fengzhi," the Sea God Poseidon spoke, his voice booming with a desperate authority. "The world is falling to a demon who calls himself a Sovereign. He has stolen the North, corrupted the Star Dou, and seeks to extinguish the light of the Gods."
Ning Fengzhi fell to his knees. "Lord Sea God... what can we do? We are but mortals against his Divine Power."
"The Demon Lakan is breaking the laws of the universe," Poseidon lied, his voice tinged with the hypocrisy of a god who had just cheated for his own successor. "I am opening a Divine Path to Sea God Island. Take the remnants of your Alliance. Take the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragons a. Join Tang San. I shall bestow upon you Divine Armor and the protection of the Vast Sea. We will forge an army that even a Phpwnix Sovereign cannot de-tune it"
Ning Fengzhi's eyes widened. A "Divine Invitation." It was the hope he had been praying for. He didn't see that Poseidon was using him as a meat shield—a way to distract Lakan while Tang San's brittle, forced cultivation was stabilized.
"We accept, My Lord," Ning Fengzhi vowed.
••••••••••
Back in the Star Dou, Lakan looked toward the distant horizon. His All-Seeing Eye of Chaos twitched.
"The Sea God is getting relentless," Lakan said, a cold smile playing on his lips. "He's opening a door. He's gathering the Old Guard to the island."
Shui Bing'er, now radiating a calm, absolute-zero aura, walked up to him. "Should we stop them? I can freeze the entire ocean route before they even reach the shore."
"No," Lakan replied, his 9th Ring glowing with an obsidian intensity. "Let them go. Let them gather all their hope in one place. It saves us the trouble of hunting them down individually. When they think they are strongest—when Tang San thinks he has reached the peak—that is when we will perform the Final Judgment on them."
Lakan turned to Zhuqing, who was testing the Scissor of Time-Space by cutting through the shadows of the trees.
"We have work to do, my Queens," Lakan said. "Bing'er needs to master the Glacial Origin and succeed in her Trials, and Zhuqing has eight more trials to devour. By the time Ning Fengzhi reaches that island, he will realize that a Divine Armor is just another layer of skin for us to peel away."
The Agila's engines hummed, a low, bass-heavy vibration that signaled the end of the mortal era. The Sovereign was now Rank 93, his Queens were ascending, and the stage for the God-King War was finally set.