If you're made a fake emperor, why did you change the country's name?

Nine stars aligned.

In the night sky, the last star returned to its place, and the nine stars, aligned in a straight line, burst forth with an unprecedentedly brilliant light.

hum!

A deep rumble came from the depths of the earth, and the entire altar trembled violently.

The array patterns beneath Zhao Yu's feet instantly changed from a deep blue to a blinding blood red, and an irresistible suction force erupted from the center of the array, pinning him firmly to the spot.

Qian Batian closed his eyes.

The next second, Zhao Yu's mind went blank.

That's not pain.

It's a more eerie, more chilling feeling.

A sense of forced detachment.

It was as if an invisible hand was roughly gripping his soul from the outside, trying to forcibly pull his consciousness out of this body.

His thoughts, his memories, everything about him, were being forcibly rummaged through and torn apart by an external force.

Zhao Yu's first reaction was not to resist.

How to resist?

The Sealing Spirit Pill locked everything around him, while Qian Batian was a monster at the peak of the Celestial Realm.

His consciousness contracted sharply inward the instant he was pulled out.

Deep within his consciousness, that small area protected by the power of the nation's destiny became his only refuge.

Although it's only a small area, it's enough to build a last line of defense.

Almost at the same moment his consciousness retreated, a violent, complex, resentful, and insane thought, like a flood bursting its banks, rushed into his sea of ​​consciousness.

The sheer size of this force was so immense that it was despair-inducing.

Just like his martial arts cultivation, Qian Batian's mental strength was also incredibly powerful.

It has a full half the size of a Foundation Establishment Divine Consciousness, but fortunately, it hasn't undergone any qualitative transformation.

At this moment, Zhao Yu's consciousness was suppressed by the medicine, and only one-tenth of his power remained because of the struggle for national destiny.

Compared to this quarter-sized structure, Zhao Yu seemed like a small boat moored on a lake.

crush.

Pure, irrational crushing.

The old man in black robes stood at the edge of the altar, his cloudy eyes fixed on the two people in the center of the formation.

The moment the nine stars returned to their positions, he could clearly sense a vast and unfathomable will rising from Qian Batian's body and then mercilessly pouring into Zhao Yu's body.

Zhao Yu, who was in the center of the formation, only trembled slightly before falling silent again.

"it's over."

The thought crossed the old man's mind.

Under such a powerful impact on the soul, a young man trapped by the Soul Sealing Pill would have no chance of resisting.

His consciousness was probably overwhelmed and swallowed up in an instant, leaving not even a ripple.

He had witnessed Qian Batian's ruthlessness firsthand; he would never delay or play cat-and-mouse games.

However, the situation within Zhao Yu's sea of ​​consciousness was completely different from what the old man had imagined.

Although Qian Batian's consciousness was terrifying in size, the way he used it was ridiculously crude.

He didn't know any methods of attacking with divine sense; he only knew how to use the most primitive and savage methods to collide and devour.

This gave Zhao Yu a chance to catch his breath.

More importantly, along with that massive consciousness came countless fragments of fragmented, chaotic, and unsystematic memories.

These fragments, like grains of sand in a blizzard, relentlessly assaulted Zhao Yu's mental defenses.

[The host is being possessed by a spirit; the power of the nation's destiny is resisting...]

[Analysis of the Sealing Pill's effects is underway... It is estimated that it will take about an incense stick's time to fully dissipate the effects...]

A stick of incense?

Zhao Yu's heart sank.

I can't wait any longer.

In ten breaths at most, the fragile defense he built with the power of the nation's destiny will be completely overwhelmed by Qian Batian's vast and boundless consciousness.

At that time, he will be utterly destroyed, both in body and soul.

A desperate situation.

A true dead end.

Zhao Yu's consciousness huddled behind the last line of defense, calmly analyzing the situation before him.

A head-on confrontation is certain death.

Delaying is also a form of death.

The only way out...

His gaze pierced through the raging torrent of consciousness and landed on the scattered fragments of memory.

System task...Investigate the reasons for Qian Batian's rebellion...Completion rate 70%...

30% still needed!

A crazy idea popped into his head.

Since we can't prevent it, then we shouldn't try to prevent it.

Since we can't avoid it, let's face it head-on!

Qian Batian wanted to possess him, and he also wanted to get the key to his survival from Qian Batian!

Zhao Yu stopped maintaining his defense and instead deliberately diverted a sliver of his attention to cautiously explore the safe area, like a fisherman casting a net in a stormy sea, 'scooping' up the nearest fragment of memory.

Take a gamble!

Gambling Overlord, this martial arts madman, his spiritual cultivation is really just a facade; he simply cannot accurately detect his little movements amidst the violent invasion.

I'm betting that the remaining 30% of the mission progress is hidden in these memory fragments!

The moment my mind touched that fragment, a tremendous suction force came.

Zhao Yu felt a sudden dizziness.

The raging torrent of consciousness around them vanished instantly, and all the noise around them disappeared.

Instead, a howling, cold wind swept through.

The wind howled fiercely, swirling with snowflakes as it poured in from all directions.

Zhao Yu 'saw' a dilapidated house, and his consciousness began to sink...

.................

Call ~

Snowflakes fluttered down, and a cold wind howled.

Most of the thatch on the roof had been blown away, revealing the simple interior of the house.

The walls were made of mud and were covered with cracks, the largest of which was wide enough to fit a hand.

A young woman was sitting on the ground covered with hay.

She was beautiful. Even though she was wearing patched coarse clothes and her face was pale from hunger and cold, her beauty was not diminished at all.

She was holding a little boy who looked about four or five years old tightly in her arms.

The woman wrapped the little boy completely in her thin clothes, using her own body to shield him from the biting cold wind that seeped in through the cracks in the wall.

"Mom...I'm cold..."

The little boy groggily opened his eyes, and all he could see was the woman's face.

Her face wore a gentle smile that never faded.