"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
Mr. Orange collapsed in front of the icy ground by the immense bronze gate, panting heavily. He could clearly feel his eardrums throbbing and hear the intense beating of his heart caused by excessive nervousness.
Beside him, the White Tiger lay in the same posture on the ground, keeping Mr. Orange company, its little heart thumping wildly, still unable to recover from the shock.
Yue Bai sat on the stone steps, her face pale, still feeling terrified as she watched the once verdant ancient bronze door that had now turned completely into a dead gray, emitting a thick Abyssal Aura.
They had obtained a special mark from the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits to enter the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land, but now it also showed no response, proving that the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land was completely eroded by the Abyss, and even if they were allowed in, they dared not enter.
Feeling finally safe, Yue Bai let out a long sigh of relief and began to focus on recovering to bring herself back to normal as soon as possible.
Just now, Mr. Orange had them drip Essence Blood onto the rune, and Yue Bai, without any regret, forced out a drop of her Origin Essence Blood.
This drop of pure Qingqiu nine-tailed Essence Blood directly restored the summoned Bai Ze's power to its peak, but Yue Bai herself was greatly weakened and needed some time to recover. Even the barrier of the Eighth Realm she had seen briefly moved away from her, and to challenge the Eighth Realm again, she must first readjust her state.
Mr. Orange looked sick, his fur dim and no longer smooth and shiny as before.
Whether it was the light of "Heavenly Dao", the light of "Tai Chu", or the later blood sacrifice to summon the Bai Ze's shadow, although mostly for show, these tricks to deceive the Abyss, each cost a huge price.
He went overboard with a bang, nearly killing himself.
"Are you all okay? What about the Abyss?"
Apart from the weakened trio of Yue Bai, the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits at the edge also looked miserable.
From a well-cared-for house orange to a stray orange, he looked absolutely pitiful.
"We're not in too much trouble, a bit of recovery will do, but what happened to you?"
Mr. Orange barely lifted his eyelids, his gaze falling on the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits who was slumped in the corner.
He had bluffed the Abyss, preventing it from devouring any more Laws. This should have significantly reduced the pressure outside, so why had this old fellow ended up in such a state?
"Oh right, the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land is gone, and that rune broke."
After finishing speaking, Mr. Orange seemed to remember something, and with a cheeky grin, he yelled across the space to the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits.
"It's broken, so it's broken, as long as you're all right."
The Grand Saint of Nine Spirits rolled his eyes, he had been prepared when he initially gave the rune of Bai Ze the Sage to this guy.
The best outcome would naturally be for the Heavenly Dao to intervene, ensuring the safety of both the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land and the younger generations.
But if this perfect result couldn't be achieved, sacrificing the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land to ensure the youths' safety was acceptable too; he wouldn't regard a mere treasure place as more valuable than the lives of the younger generations.
"Hisss... Wasn't this injury incurred while buying you guys time?"
As he spoke, it seemed to hurt his wounds, and the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits grimaced in pain, his sad fur fluffing up quite a bit.
The situation indeed initially improved a lot. Although he didn't understand what method Yue Bai and the others ultimately used, the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits realized the situation inside the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land must have been under control.
But good times didn't last long. The power on the bronze door didn't hold up for long, the gray-white erosive power, like having taken a Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill, instantly suppressed the door's resistance completely.
And for some reason, the power of the door's resistance was fading even faster than at the beginning, and it looked ready to give up soon.
The Grand Saint of Nine Spirits instinctively knew that once the bronze door was eroded by the gray-white Abyss Power, it might affect Yue Bai and the others' way back.
So, in his urgency, the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits could not care about the danger, he had no choice but to personally assist the patterns on the bronze door to resist the Abyss Power.
Only by confronting the abysmal power himself did the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits realize how troublesome this gray Abyss Power really was, not only towards the patterns on the bronze door but also against his demonic power, this gray-white dead power appeared unstoppable.
Facing two adversaries, it overwhelmed both him and the door's power like a bulldozer.
Although completely suppressed, with the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits joining, it still managed to slow down the erosion of the bronze door by the Abyss.
"This is a bit troublesome..."
The Grand Saint of Nine Spirits muttered jokingly, but his gaze caught sight of the Abyss Power that had attached to his paw, turning a patch of his orange fur to gray-white, his heart slightly heavy.
When the power of the bronze door finally disappeared, only the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits was left to support it alone, with the pressure becoming more than a hundredfold.
But fortunately, just when he was about to give in, a streak of light shot out from the last bit of azure-green.
Feeling the aura within the streak, the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits was relieved and completely gave up resistance, allowing the gray-white Abyss Power to corrode the bronze door.
"Has the Abyss suddenly grown a brain? How did it know to block the exit from the outside?"
White Tiger, having regained some strength, scratched his head with a claw, turning around with a puzzled look at the door now turned gray-white.
Secretly sneaking into the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land to devour a batch of Laws is one thing, but it also split off a part of its power wanting to seal the door shut, trapping those outside from entering and those inside from leaving.
The most cunning part was using it as a forward post; the moment Heavenly Dao realized something was amiss here, it would turn tail and run.
If the Abyss of the previous epochs had been this crafty, the Mystic Mechanism World would have perished long ago, unable to sustain till now.
"There's something wrong here..."
Uncle Ju's brows were deeply furrowed.
Speaking of understanding the Abyss, he claimed to be second to none.
Previously, the situation had been urgent, and he had no time to think; but now, upon careful reflection, Uncle Ju realized that, at some unknown point, the will of the Abyss had taken on a semblance of sentience.
The Abyss was born from the Heavenly Dao and could be described as "a corrupted Heavenly Dao." To put it bluntly, describing both the Heavenly Dao and the Abyss as rigid and unyielding couldn't be more fitting.
For the normal development of the world, the Heavenly Dao doesn't need emotions to interfere with itself; it acts entirely based on rules and never makes decisions based on personal preferences.
Uncle Ju himself only experienced emotions after reincarnation; when he was still of the Heavenly Dao, he too prioritized benefits, overseeing the entire world and watching over all beings to ensure the world's sustained development.
However, recalling the last moment before entering the bronze gate, when he had looked back to meet the gaze of the Abyss Will, a chill emerged from the depths of Uncle Ju's heart.
Because he felt that he was not just gazing at the Abyss, but staring into the eyes of a person.
"This is too strange, why has this change occurred?"
Despite racking his brains, Uncle Ju couldn't understand the reason behind this anomaly. How could the normally stable Abyss mutate so suddenly?
Yet considering that the Abyss itself was a mutated product of his own Heavenly Dao, a secondary mutation didn't seem so strange after all?
Although Uncle Ju explained it this way to himself, he still felt it was a bit far-fetched.
Putting aside the reasons for now, just thinking about the consequences made Uncle Ju shudder.
The Abyss becoming intelligent was no small matter; a cunning Abyss capable of thought was far more difficult to deal with than a purely benefit-oriented Abyss.
Moreover, it appeared that only the opposing Abyss had become intelligent, while their own Heavenly Dao remained foolishly inert, showing no reaction even after being deceived. Uncle Ju could already foresee that if the two were to confront each other again, their own Heavenly Dao would undoubtedly lose.
Thinking about it, Uncle Ju felt a surge of anger, wishing he could reclaim control and direct the Heavenly Dao back to the Tenth Realm, which would significantly turn the tide of the battle.
Unfortunately, reincarnation was irreversible; from the moment his reincarnation succeeded, he had lost all connection with the Heavenly Dao, and the idea of reclaiming control over its powers was nothing more than a fantasy.
"Hmm? What about the Laws we brought out earlier?"
Yue Bai, having recovered over time, no longer had a pale complexion. Suddenly remembering something, he curiously looked around.
Previously, when they had left the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land, Uncle Ju had taken with him all the Laws that were not swallowed by the Abyss, preventing the Abyss from weakening the Heavenly Dao through these Laws.
However, the previous impressive array of Law stars was now nowhere to be seen, and Yue Bai even became somewhat anxious, wondering if the Laws might have been unable to leave the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land.
"Don't worry, the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land is just somewhat special, which is why you were able to see the materialization of the Laws there."
Uncle Ju came back to his senses, gesturing to Yue Bai not to worry.
"Now that we have left the Demon Spirit Ancestral Land, the Laws have merged into the Heavenly Dao Origin of the Mystical Mechanism World the moment we emerged, serving as the foundation and stabilizing this world even more."
"That's good..."
Yue Bai felt relieved after hearing Uncle Ju's explanation.
This made him realize why, within the Mystic Mechanism World, they had never seen the Laws manifest; when wielding the Laws, they simply felt as though they were always around, never considering where the Laws actually resided.
Now, having heard Uncle Ju's explanation, a puzzle in Yue Bai's mind was solved.
No wonder cultivators felt that Laws were readily available as if omnipresent; it turns out the Laws had fused into the world's foundation upon their creation.
"What about Azure Dragon and the others?"
White Tiger looked around, recalling that it had asked Azure Dragon to lead the unconscious Demon Clan members out earlier. Why were they nowhere to be seen now?
"I've sent them back to the Demon Clan territories earlier, as they wouldn't be of much use staying here."
Grand Saint of Nine Spirits tucked his claws away and looked up as he spoke.
As for the Abyss Power lingering on his claws, he planned to consult Chen Hua and others later on possible methods to expel this invasive Abyss Power.
Unlike the Abyss Power he had encountered previously, which tried to erode and twist his mind, this seemed to be a new type of power that had never appeared on the battlefield before.
It targeted not the mind, but the Power of Laws.
And it was precisely because it was unprecedented that the Magical Treasure on Grand Saint of Nine Spirits, intended to resist the Abyss Power, failed, resulting in him being inadvertently affected.
"Well, shall we leave this place first?"
White Tiger nodded, feeling that this decision was appropriate under the circumstances. After struggling to stand up, he addressed everyone.
"Alright, you all are not in good condition; it's best to leave and go into closed-door cultivation for a while." Grand Saint of Nine Spirits nodded, acknowledging that this place was currently beyond their capability to handle.
The Abyss probably wouldn't dare extend its reach directly into the Mystical Mechanism Continent; thus, they could prepare and later return to see how to deal with the bronze gate.
Upon hearing this, Yue Bai and Uncle Ju also supported themselves to stand up, preparing to leave together.
But just then, alarm bells rang in everyone's minds, a lethal sense of threat surged from the direction of the bronze gate behind them, the oppression making them nearly suffocate.
Boom—
The bronze gate burst open violently, and darkness spread across the sky from within the gate, contrasting sharply with the dense white fog around it.