Gazing through layers of barriers into the void beyond, the Shadow City Lord trembled as he beheld the pitch-black figure approaching.
This figure strode through the void effortlessly, without even releasing any protective energy around its body. There were no energy fluctuations emanating from it at all.
What shook the Shadow City Lord even more was that his Eye of Truth was unable to analyze this black figure. He couldn't even see its historical trajectory—as if this entity had erased all traces of its existence.
This immediately reminded him of the Pillar Gods—beings who could erase all marks of their existence, standing above all living things in absolute transcendence.
Lowering his gaze to the grinning Feng Qi, the Shadow City Lord finally realized something.
At first, he had thought Feng Qi was just bluffing in his final moments—merely putting up a futile struggle before death.
But he had been wrong.
This insignificant man truly had an unfathomably powerful entity backing him.
Thinking carefully, it made perfect sense.
With such a weak physique and strength, how could Feng Qi possibly protect the miracle artifacts on his body without a formidable backer?
"You must have spent centuries accumulating all this wealth, right?" Feng Qi sneered. "I bet it felt amazing gathering all these treasures… Tsk, tsk. What a pity… it's all about to be taken away."
The Shadow City Lord's expression flickered.
Seeing this, Feng Qi felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him.
From the moment he had encountered the Shadow City Lord, he had found him utterly repulsive—a twisted collector, obsessed with hoarding rare treasures.
And that ever-present smile on his face, that overconfidence in controlling everything, was downright disgusting.
But now, Little Black was coming.
Feng Qi could finally turn the tables and redirect the heat toward someone else.
After being hunted down by Little Black across countless future dreamlines, Feng Qi was thrilled to see Little Black finally terrorizing someone else for a change.
"Sharing pain really does make it easier to bear."
[Hah! You're not just borrowing a tiger's power… you're flat-out using a mad dog as your weapon! Still, this guy won't be able to see through your bluff. The moment you described Little Black's appearance, he must've assumed that Little Black was your patron. This is about to get very interesting.]
Hearing Feng Qi's taunt, the Shadow City Lord's lips twitched.
The calm confidence that had once graced his face vanished completely.
Especially when Feng Qi mentioned his priceless collection being plundered—his anger and fear exploded in his chest.
For wealth, men will fight to the death. For food, birds will risk their lives.
That saying applied perfectly to the Shadow City Lord.
This vault of treasures was his life's work.
He had been unwilling to risk his life for his people, but he would gladly die for his collection.
Staring into the void, the Shadow City Lord's expression contorted with rage.
Abruptly, he rose to his feet.
"No one takes my wealth!"
"Oh yeah? My big bro is gonna take it all. What are you gonna do about it? If you're so mad, go outside and fight him!" Feng Qi continued fanning the flames, his face filled with schadenfreude.
[Pffft—Hahahaha! Where did you learn this? You're such a little sh*t!]
"From you, obviously! But I've only scratched the surface—I still have a long way to go."
The Shadow City Lord ignored Feng Qi.
The black figure in the void was already nearing Shadow City, but the battle would clearly take place inside the city's domain.
Shadow City was also part of his wealth.
If the fight happened here, countless buildings would be destroyed—a loss he couldn't accept.
Without hesitation, the Shadow City Lord waved his hand, slashing through space.
A pitch-black spatial rift opened before him.
He took one last glance at Feng Qi, then stepped inside.
After traversing a certain distance through the dimensional tear, the Shadow City Lord emerged into the void.
His long robe fluttered despite the lack of wind, revealing the ornate blue-and-white armor beneath.
The armor was inlaid with precious spiritual stones, arranged into formation patterns. The hollow sections of the armor were filled with flowing blue energy, forming a protective light barrier.
Now fully activated, the armor shielded him from the crushing pressure of the void.
He turned back toward Shadow City, now suspended within the void, encased in a transparent blue barrier.
He knew that if he fled, his mastery of spatial abilities would guarantee his escape.
But behind him lay everything he had built—his life's work.
He refused to abandon it.
His eyes hardened with resolve.
Gazing at Little Black, who was rushing toward him at alarming speed, the Shadow City Lord steeled himself for a fight to the death.
With a flick of his wrist, the ten gemstones adorning his fingers flashed with light.
Streams of radiant energy shot forth from the rings, materializing into massive, ferocious beasts that hovered beside him.
Each of the ten rings on his fingers contained the soul of a Void Beast—ancient, terrifying entities.
Creating these rings had cost him dearly.
Beyond the astronomical cost of acquiring Void Beast souls, he had been forced to part with a beloved heavenly spiritual plant to bribe the Ancient Refinement Clan into forging the spatial containment artifacts—the very rings he now wielded.
And that was only the beginning.
Later, he had risked his life crossing the Heavenly Domain to beg the Spirit Energy Clan to forge new bodies for the Void Beast souls.
Even then, the process wasn't over.
The Demonic Clan later inscribed Soul Imprint Formations onto the rings, binding the beasts to his will.
The Tactical Clan then refined the rings a second time, reinforcing their durability.
Finally, the Crimson Rainbow Clan engraved a fragment of his consciousness into both the rings and the beasts, making them completely bound to him.
Many different races had contributed to the creation of these rings—and each had extracted an exorbitant price in return.
These ten rings were among the Shadow City Lord's most prized possessions.
Just looking at the subtle glow of the beasts gave him a deep sense of satisfaction. He rarely used them, hoarding them like the precious treasures they were.
But this time, facing an unknown and terrifying enemy, he had no choice but to use them.
To him, this battle could not be lost.
Because behind him was something far more valuable than his own life.
As Little Black closed in at blistering speed, the green ring on the Shadow City Lord's middle finger began to glow…
At that moment, the Void Beast floating to the Shadow City Lord's right responded.
It resembled a lantern jellyfish, its entire body semi-transparent, composed entirely of pure energy. Deep within its body, a radiant orange energy core pulsed with brilliance.
As its transparent tentacles swayed, countless orange light particles emerged, spreading outward into the void.
In mere moments, an ocean of orange energy formed, and within its depths, countless lantern jellyfish clones were faintly visible, birthed from the radiant sea.
The energy ocean surged into towering waves, each over 100 meters tall, crashing forward with immense pressure, sweeping toward Little Black, who was rapidly approaching.
The terrifying energy erupted into the void.
In the blink of an eye, the orange tsunami engulfed Little Black, its immense suction force attempting to drain the energy from his body.
Seeing this, a hint of satisfaction flashed across the Shadow City Lord's eyes.
He had expected the mysterious figure to dodge, but to his surprise, it made no attempt to evade, allowing itself to be completely submerged in the Sealing Wave.
A smirk crept onto his face.
The Sealing Wave was named after the Void Beast he had just summoned—Sealing Tide. The orange waves it produced were not ordinary energy, but rather, an energy-devouring force.
Any enemy caught within its grasp would have their energy rapidly drained until nothing remained.
But within seconds, the Shadow City Lord's smirk froze.
Through the Eye of Truth, he could see that the Sealing Wave's energy had not increased at all.
In other words, it hadn't absorbed even a trace of energy from the mysterious enemy.
This was the first time he had ever encountered such a phenomenon.
Just as confusion set in, an even more terrifying scene unfolded before his eyes.
The Sealing Wave's energy levels—visible through his Eye of Truth—began to plummet uncontrollably.
It was as if some mysterious force was devouring it whole.
—Far in the distance—
Within the Sealing Wave, Little Black's body began to dissolve into mist.
From within his form, countless spirit-energy nanobots surged outward, swarming over the energy wave, devouring it hungrily.
Just as the Sealing Wave was meant to drain energy, Little Black's energy absorption ability was even more dominant and tyrannical—far beyond anything the Void Beast could achieve.
Within seconds, a third of the Sealing Wave had been devoured, and the depletion continued to accelerate.
The Shadow City Lord reacted instantly, attempting to recall the energy through his connection to Sealing Tide.
But no matter how desperately the Void Beast flailed its transparent tentacles, its energy had already been firmly seized by Little Black and could not be retrieved.
As the Shadow City Lord's expression darkened, Little Black completely absorbed the Sealing Wave's energy.
His shadowy form condensed once more, and he continued his approach toward Shadow City, his pace steady and unhurried.
"Can we talk?" The Shadow City Lord attempted to negotiate. "I recognize my mistake. I'm willing to compensate for my actions."
His consciousness projected his plea toward Little Black—yet no response came.
Little Black didn't even acknowledge him.
He simply continued advancing, utterly indifferent.
Staring at the mist-shrouded figure, the Shadow City Lord's expression contorted with fury. The ten rings on his fingers ignited simultaneously with radiant light.
Eight of the Void Beasts he controlled lunged at Little Black, while Sealing Tide and another magic-oriented beast remained behind, unleashing long-range energy attacks.
The Shadow City Lord himself didn't remain idle.
With a flick of his hand, a massive spatial formation unfolded beneath his feet.
This formation was immensely intricate, composed of 1,680 energy nodes, each containing a distinct weapon.
As he activated the formation, ancient relics emerged from the nodes—
A rust-covered primal sword, a bloodstained hammer, an illusory shadow blade formed purely of energy, a long-handled death scythe, a fragmented spear, a void-shattering halberd, a purple-clear battle axe, a soul-reaping hook—
Weapons of various bizarre shapes hovered within the formation's structure.
A total of 1,680 legendary weapons, each connected to the formation's energy network, creating an unprecedented battlefield of destruction.
From afar, the formation resembled an entire miniaturized domain field.
Suspended above it, the Shadow City Lord radiated a domineering presence, shrouded in the glow of the countless weapons surrounding him.
As he gazed down upon his creation, his expression turned solemn.
This was his Dao Soldier Formation.
To construct it, he had emptied his clan's sacred armory, scoured the world for legendary divine weapons, and personally slain countless enemies to steal their prized arms.
Every one of these 1,680 weapons held a history drenched in blood.
Among his priceless collections, this was one of the top three treasures—his most formidable line of defense.
Now, against this unfathomable enemy, he could no longer afford to hold back.
With a single motion—
The 1,680 divine weapons trembled violently, their echoes reverberating across the void.
Breaking free from the formation, they hovered mid-air, encircling the Shadow City Lord.
Each weapon was linked by a thread of blue energy, connecting them back to the Dao Soldier Formation.
A fierce killing aura erupted forth, so powerful that it tore through space itself, leaving behind fractured rifts in the void.
Even before being unleashed, the Dao Soldier Formation had already demonstrated its terrifying destructive force.
Glaring at Little Black, now surrounded by ferocious Void Beasts, the Shadow City Lord's gaze filled with murderous intent.
In the central tower of Shadow City, the battle in the void continued.
Despite the ferocious attacks of the Void Beasts, Little Black's mist-like body remained intact and unyielding.
One particularly reckless Void Beast attempted to swallow the black mist, only to find that its body lacked the resilience of Suction Cup's physique. Within seconds, it burst apart, its remains scattering through the void—a gruesome, tragic end.
The Shadow City Lord waved his hand, and thousands of divine weapons rose into the air, orbiting around him in an endless dance.
[Damn, this guy is loaded. His entire body is covered in treasures. Any one of these artifacts would have been worshiped as a holy relic in human society 1,500 years ago. When we get stronger, we absolutely have to rob him blind.]
Hearing the narrator's running commentary, which was filled with pointless remarks and side commentary, Feng Qi's forehead veins twitched violently.
"Can you at least give a professional explanation? Stop adding your own nonsense!"
Since he couldn't directly see the battle, Feng Qi had to rely on the narrator's descriptions to follow what was happening.
But the narrator's explanations were awful—completely lacking in professionalism.
[Do you still want to listen?]
"Yes!"
[Then deal with it. I'm giving you a free play-by-play, and you're still complaining? You capitalist bastard, not paying a dime and still being picky. Tui!]
Hearing this, Feng Qi was at a loss for words.
Right now, he was still restrained, unable to break free no matter how much he struggled.
At this point, all he could do was listen to the narrator's battle commentary—he had no other options.
"Fine, keep going."
[Alright, then! Now, let's continue our professional battle coverage of the clash in the void… The Shadow City Lord lets out an evil smirk, clearly thinking victory is already his…]
"What the hell is an evil smirk? Try smirking yourself, let me see."
[Shut up, you stupid undead, and keep listening!]
...
Meanwhile, in the void, the battle continued.
The Shadow City Lord had fully activated the Dao Soldier Formation, the sharp killing aura around him tearing open space, leaving behind gaping rifts in the void.
His heart bled as he gazed at Little Black.
Of the eight Void Beasts that had been besieging Little Black, only two remained.
Controlling the Ten Rings Void Beasts in battle was nothing new to the Shadow City Lord. He had long since perfected the art of multitasking, commanding the beasts effortlessly in combat.
But against an unfathomable entity like Little Black, his control was useless.
Little Black's mist-like form had no weaknesses.
Ever since obtaining the Eye of Truth, the Shadow City Lord had always held an advantage over any opponent.
His analytical abilities allowed him to see through any enemy's capabilities, pinpointing their flaws and weaknesses.
Even hidden trump cards that hadn't been used yet couldn't escape his gaze.
But this time was different.
Against this mysterious black figure, his Eye of Truth was completely useless.
Every attempt to analyze it only returned a string of question marks.
No matter how many times he shattered Little Black's body, it simply reassembled itself effortlessly.
In desperation, he commanded the Void Devouring Beast to swallow the black mist whole.
The result?
The Void Devouring Beast managed to hold on for a moment before its body suddenly ruptured—exploding into a thousand pieces.
Meanwhile, the black figure simply reformed, completely unharmed.
His mind raced, but two more Void Beasts were swiftly engulfed by the black mist.
Within moments, they were devoured entirely, leaving behind nothing but empty space.
Clenching his fist, the Shadow City Lord waved his hand, retrieving the two remaining spell-type beasts back into his rings—they had exhausted their energy.
His treasures were far more important to him than his clan's lives.
Among all his prized collections, the Ten Rings Void Beasts were his most beloved possessions.
And now?
They were ruined.
The core of the Ten Rings had always been the Void Beasts sealed within them.
Now, eight of the ten were gone, and the remaining two had lost their original energy, rendering them practically worthless.
Even when his father died, the Shadow City Lord hadn't felt this kind of pain.
Staring at Little Black, murderous rage boiled in his chest.
Slowly, he raised his right hand.
Immediately, the 1,680 weapons surrounding him trembled violently.
The Dao Soldier Formation lit up, its glowing runes pulsing with power.
From afar, the 1,680 weapons resembled a cluster of stars, each radiating dazzling brilliance.
The sharp killing aura created distortions in space, as countless fractured void rifts opened and closed around him.
His eyes turned a deep blue.
Pointing at Little Black, the 1,680 divine weapons instantly aligned, all aiming at the approaching black mist.
In that split second, the divine weapons shot forward.
The void trembled violently, as spatial currents surged in all directions.
The Shadow City Lord's long hair whipped wildly in the storm of killing intent.
At this moment, he resembled a god descending upon the world, his entire being engulfed in lethal aura.
The weapons, each dragging a blue energy tether, pierced through the shattered space, emerging directly in front of Little Black.
A storm of relentless attacks rained down like a hurricane, each strike carrying immeasurable destructive power.
From a distance, the unleashing of the formation looked like a blooming lotus in the void.
A luminous crescent moon rising in the darkness, as a river of radiant blades surged forward.
Little Black, standing at the center of the blade storm, was instantly torn apart into black mist.
Yet, the Shadow City Lord's expression remained stoic.
He knew that this mysterious black figure had the ability to reassemble itself.
A simple destruction wouldn't be enough.
His goal was to keep breaking it apart—over and over—until nothing remained.
As the 1,680 divine weapons continued their assault, the energy of the Dao Soldier Formation surged.
The blades moved like petals, unfolding into layer upon layer of deadly sword energy, slicing through space itself.
Within this endless barrage, the Shadow City Lord was determined to erase Little Black from existence.
The core of the Dao Soldier Formation arranged its weapons in a perfectly aligned formation, encircling the black mist. As the formation rotated, it acted like a millstone of the Great Dao, continuously grinding against the surging mist, attempting to completely erase it from existence.
The unleashed force of the Dao Soldier Formation was so powerful that it caused Shadow City itself to tremble.
At this moment, many of the residents within the city began to realize that something was terribly wrong.
They could feel the entire city shaking, and the tremors were growing stronger by the second.
But when they looked up toward the sky, all they could see was a thick, ink-like blackness, preventing them from seeing what was happening beyond the city walls.
The Dao Soldier Formation continued to accelerate its rotation.
The overflowing sharp aura bloomed like lotus flowers in the void, resembling a cascade of fireworks exploding in space.
The Shadow City Lord observed the black mist carefully, his expression remaining calm, but his heart sinking deeper.
Activating his Eye of Truth, he peered into the microscopic world within the storm—there, countless psionic nanobots were swarming through the chaos.
With a flick of his wrist, he reached forward.
A spatial fissure appeared in midair, and as his right hand extended into it, he wrapped his energy around one of the psionic nanobots, extracting it back through the rift.
As he pulled his hand back, the psionic nanobot, sealed within a barrier of spatial energy, was now trapped between his fingers.
Lowering his gaze to examine the tiny captured nanobot, a look of confusion flickered across the Shadow City Lord's face.
He couldn't understand how something so microscopic could possess such overwhelming power.
To the naked eye, the psionic nanobot was invisible, but under the Eye of Truth, it was crystal clear.
His finger was like an ocean in comparison to this tiny entity.
Yet, he could sense the terrifying energy pulsating from its minuscule body.
He attempted to slice it apart using spatial energy, but every bit of force he applied was instantly devoured by the nanobot.
Not only did this fail to destroy it, but the psionic nanobot actually became stronger, growing increasingly unstable as it began to corrode the spatial barrier he had placed around it.
If he continued feeding it energy, it would only grow stronger, eventually breaking free from his control.
Just as the Shadow City Lord was about to experiment with a different method to eliminate the nanobot, his expression suddenly changed.
His head snapped toward the distance, eyes widening in shock.
Inside the Dao Soldier Formation, the black mist was actually regathering itself, despite being battered by countless shards of cutting aura.
At the same time, the nanobot trapped in his fingers began to pulse with an even more erratic instability.
Within the storm of blades, Little Black slowly reformed, stepping forward from the churning black mist like a demonic god emerging from the chaos.
Its three crimson eyes gleamed faintly within the swirling black fog, and on its forehead, a twisting, ever-changing rune crystal flickered in and out of existence.
As the mystic script flowed across Little Black's body, countless ancient characters flashed across its form in a fleeting instant.
At this moment, no matter how fiercely the blade storm slashed through its body, it remained completely unharmed.
Then, Little Black raised its right hand, extending a single finger toward the formation.
Crack!
A fissure suddenly split across the Dao Soldier Formation.
Simultaneously, every weapon linked to the formation began to fracture.
Little Black's finger pushed forward slightly, as if piercing through the fabric of reality itself.
The fracture spread rapidly, and within seconds, the entire Dao Soldier Formation and its connected divine weapons shattered into countless fragments.
It was as if they had been struck by a force beyond dimensions, a higher-order destruction that rendered them completely obsolete.
The moment Little Black's finger pierced through the formation, space itself warped—and in the next instant, both the formation and all its weapons collapsed into a swirling black hole.
The Shadow City Lord, whose consciousness was directly linked to the formation, immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Dao Soldier Formation… it's… destroyed…"
He muttered in disbelief, his eyes filled with pure terror.
Gazing at Little Black, who now hovered before the twisted black hole, a wave of profound helplessness surged within him.
For the first time, he realized that his opponent had never once taken this battle seriously.
This entire time, it had been a game.
He had believed that, by pushing his Dao Soldier Formation to the absolute limit, he could crush the black mist entirely.
At first, it seemed like the formation's suppression had indeed prevented Little Black from fully reforming itself.
He had thought he held the upper hand.
But in truth, his enemy had never even considered him a threat.
From start to finish, his attacks had been nothing more than a spectacle, an elaborate performance—one that Little Black had completely ignored.
The moment it decided to show its true power, his proudest and most treasured formation was instantly erased from existence.
Faced with such a horrifying opponent, the Shadow City Lord felt an overwhelming sense of despair.
His mind spun chaotically, and in the next moment, he coughed up more blood.
...
Back in Shadow City, inside the central tower.
[And just like that, Little Black reveals its true form, casually lifting a finger to shatter the Dao Soldier Formation, reducing the weapons and formation into nothingness… Meanwhile, the Shadow City Lord is coughing up blood like a dying fish. If you listen closely, you can almost hear funeral horns playing in the void. Let's all take a moment of silence for him—exactly 0.001 seconds.]
Listening to the narrator's commentary, Feng Qi felt an overwhelming sense of resignation.
Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly realized that the invisible restraints binding his body had vanished completely.
As his feet touched the ground, Feng Qi momentarily froze in place, caught off guard by the sudden freedom.
[Oh? Looks like Little Black did so much damage to the Shadow City Lord that his control over you has completely collapsed. Congratulations, you're free.]
Hearing this explanation, Feng Qi immediately understood what had happened.
After a brief moment of dazed realization, his gaze slowly swept across the room—his eyes landing on the mountains of rare treasures piled throughout the chamber.