"Hahaha, this Daoist has finally emerged. I knew you could do it, kid. I owe you a big one this time."
The altar cracked open, and Tian Suanzi flew out directly through the fissure.
However, the moment he finished speaking, he saw Wan Lei's appearance, his body filled with demonic energy and his eyes blood-red in a frenzied state.
"Tian Suanzi, hurry! Wan Lei has gone mad!"
Wan Liuchuan, enduring immense pain, pushed himself up and shouted to his friend.
At this moment, Wan Lei also looked up at Tian Suanzi above him.
"Holy crap!"
Seeing Wan Lei's ravenous gaze, Tian Suanzi was so scared he peed his pants and immediately tried to fly away.
However, he had already been targeted by the deranged Wan Lei.
Wan Lei leaped up and hurled a punch towards Tian Suanzi.
Suddenly, a figure became a blur, appearing beside Wan Lei and grabbing his legs, pulling him down.
"Get off!"
Wan Lei, thrown to the ground by Fang Xiaoyu's embrace, was furious.
Wan Lei stood up, raised his fist, and glared at Fang Xiaoyu.
That punch, capable of shattering the universe, was about to fall.
Fang Xiaoyu looked calmly at Wan Lei, neither dodging nor flinching.
"Come on, hit me. I refuse to believe that no matter how crazy or brutal you are, you wouldn't even recognize me, that you could hit me!"
Looking at the familiar face before him, a sliver of clarity seemed to return to Wan Lei's mind.
Countless voices told him to strike, to kill her, to destroy everything. Everything in this world was a sin. He possessed the power to destroy all, and he alone should exist.
Only one faint voice told him not to, warning him that he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Wan Lei suppressed the urge to punch, clinging to that sliver of clarity in his spiritual platform. He gathered all his strength to remove the ring from his hand.
Even though countless voices roared in his mind...
No!!!
Those voices tempted him, urging him to retain this supreme power.
Yet, Wan Lei persisted and removed the ring.
My matters are my own to decide. What right do you have to control me?!
With the ring removed, Wan Lei instantly regained full consciousness. He was drenched in sweat, collapsing onto the ground as if he had just endured a life-or-death battle.
What followed was unbearable agony.
His flesh, his tendons, his bones, even his sea of consciousness, all throbbed with such intense pain that Wan Lei wished he were dead.
It was a suffering worse than death.
Wan Lei writhed on the ground, howling in pain. Hearing his agonizing cries, Fang Xiaoyu's heart ached, and tears streamed down her face.
Seeing that Wan Lei had returned to normal, everyone cautiously approached, exchanging glances.
Fang Xiaoyu fumbled to retrieve her pills from her storage bag, wanting to feed them to Wan Lei. However, Wan Lei was in so much pain, his teeth clenched so tightly, that he couldn't open his mouth to swallow the pills.
"What... what should we do?"
Fang Xiaoyu was flustered and looked to everyone for help.
"Let Bao Bao try."
Bao Bao picked up his Jian Mu Celestial Staff. A green energy flowed into Wan Lei's body, and his pained expression eased considerably.
After a long while, Wan Lei finally quieted down. He opened his eyes, his gaze still showing signs of fatigue and weakness.
"I'm sorry."
Wan Lei looked at everyone and apologized.
He had lost control, but not his memory. He remembered everything he had done.
Only, the frenzied, bloodthirsty emotion was gone.
"It's good that you're alright. You really scared us just now."
Han Xiaoyun said with a worried frown.
Qian Niao sighed.
"This Demonic Ring is truly formidable, enhancing so much power. When you punched the ground earlier, the residual shockwave alone was something none of us could withstand. However, the side effects of this Demonic Ring are too great, causing a loss of reason, indiscriminability between friend and foe, and such intense pain afterward. I feel that if you hadn't removed the ring in time, you might truly have turned into a great demon who only knew how to kill and destroy."
"Heh, the function of this ring is far more than just enhancing power."
Wan Lei smiled. He clearly remembered that bronze door, and its aura was immensely more majestic than that of the Immortal Venerable or the Demonic Venerable.
He had a premonition that if he ever gained the strength to open or break down that door, he would truly be the strongest being in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
Even the Immortal Venerable and the Demonic Venerable would not be his match.
"It... has other functions?"
Fang Xiaoyu asked.
Wan Lei smiled but didn't reply. The others didn't press further, knowing that there must be a great secret within it that Wan Lei didn't wish to share.
"Throw that ring away. It's a menace to keep."
Qi Manya complained with a pout.
Wan Lei shook his head without hesitation.
"No. I went through so much trouble to get it, and it's so powerful. How can I just throw it away? This thing must have a great purpose, I just don't understand it yet. If all else fails, I'll take it back to the Immortal Venerable to see how it's used, whether there's a way to prevent me from losing control, and ask the Immortal Venerable to improve it."
Saying this, Wan Lei put the Supreme Demonic Ring, which he had been tightly clenching in his palm, into his storage bag, not showing it to anyone else.
He hadn't let go of the ring even when he was in so much pain that he wished for death.
"Since we're done here, let's leave quickly. If we don't, the water from the Sea of Suffering will drown us."
Wan Liuchuan said with a frown and a proud demeanor.
Upon hearing this, everyone finally noticed the several terrifying fissures in the sky, from which endless water of the Sea of Suffering was cascading down like a waterfall.
Not only the sky had cracked, but the ground had too.
The intense earthquake had caused countless fissures to appear on the surface, mountains to collapse, and the people on the ground could barely stand.
It was fortunate that this was merely a broken world, devoid of any volcanic magma. The entire world was lifeless. Otherwise, countless volcanoes would have erupted by now.
"It seems this world truly is beneath the Sea of Suffering. We should swim up through those cracks."
Wan Lei pointed at the sky.
"Let's hurry, I'm afraid this world will collapse further and then explode."
Xia Yubing said.
"Give it a rest. This world has no energy at all; it's a completely dead realm. How could it explode? That doesn't adhere to the law of conservation of energy."
The studious Wan Qianxin lectured the less scholarly Xia Yubing as they flew.
The group flew rapidly towards the fissures. Following the surging seawater, they finally reached the seabed.
"In such deep water, won't we be crushed into meat paste by the water pressure?"
Hearing Xia Yubing, Wan Qianxin chuckled.
"You know about water pressure even during a hail storm? People are not always what they seem. But do you understand your own strength and physical resilience?"
"Stop arguing. Everyone stay close and be wary of the memes."