Like a door to salvation being closed before their eyes, the millions of cultivators felt their last hope vanish as the Yang-Sovereign stepped into the Yang Lotus. Many had the tiny glimmer of hope that the Yang-Sovereign would change his mind, realizing the madness of his plan, but his entry into the Lotus sealed their fate.

“We’re doomed!”

“The Yang-Sovereign has betrayed us all!”

“I can’t believe my death is going to be at the hands of a Sovereign! He should be protecting us, not destroying us!”

Millions of cries of anguish and despair rang out within the stadium, mixed with the cries of horror from those sucked up into the lotus, their bodies incinerated to nothingness. It was like a cacophony of anguish, composed by the vilest of creatures.

“Everyone, link arms! The strong should help the weak, stopping them from being absorbed into the lotus! Link arms and brace yourself against something solid. If we can prevent this process, we may be able to stop the Yang-Sovereign from absorbing the lotus!” A tier two subsect leader said, trying to find a path to salvation.

“The Yang-Sovereign would rather destroy everything than allow himself to fail! Your plan is doomed before it even begins,” another sect leader replied.

“So what? I’d rather him die with us than live on, using our lives as steppingstones!” the first leader exclaimed with furious anger.

“Is that truly better? If the Yang-Sovereign destroys everything, himself included, the power of humanity will drop to a level that can no longer withstand the Beasts and Devils. If that happens, the human continent will be swept upon like a plague, its destruction guaranteed. Perhaps it’s better for him to succeed, otherwise humanity itself is doomed!” another cried out.

“What about the Sword-Sovereign!” someone cried.

“What about him? The Sword-Sovereign is the strongest of us humans, but can he alone stem the onslaught of both Beast and Devil?”

While the Sword-Sovereign was not caught up in this situation, he alone was not powerful enough to withstand the powers of the Devils and Beasts. With the Yang-Sovereign, Prime Shadow, Sword- Saint and Mage-Sovereign dead, humanity would meet a swift demise at the hands of the enemy powers.

This realization was like a cold bucket of water dousing the hopes of those who still clung to it. Even if they succeeded somehow in destroying the Yang-Sovereign’s plan, that would only ensure the destruction of humanity. While they hated the Yang-Sovereign more than anything, ruining his plans and destroying humanity was even more unspeakable than what the Yang-Sovereign was doing.

Back and forth arguments continued within the stadium for a short while before a loud, commanding voice boomed out, drowning the voices and silencing everyone. All eyes turned to the Mage- Sovereign, their hopes slightly reignited. If anyone could get them out of this mess, it was the Mage-Sovereign, the Sword-Saint, and the mysterious Prime Shadow.

“Cool heads must prevail if we are to get out of this situation alive,” she said, her tone firm and commanding.

“Do you have a plan?” a nearby subsect leader asked, a small glimmer of hope on his face.

The Mage-Sovereign grimaced slightly, biting her thumbnail as her face scrunched up with thoughtful contemplation. Her mind and soul raced for solutions, although her increasingly hopeless expression doused the reignited hope everyone felt.

“I may have a way,” the Sword-Saint said, drawing ten million eyes to him, hope appearing once more within the despair.

“How?” the Mage-Sovereign asked hastily.

“I have a secret domain art, a domain art taught to me by the Sword-Sovereign himself, the Sacred Sword Domain. It is a domain where the Sword Dao is king, forcing aside all other forms of energy. While I won’t be able to fully negate the effects of the Yang-Sphere, I should be able to return some of my strength, at which point I can destroy part of the Yang-Sphere formation, restoring everyone’s power. Perhaps with that, we can-”

“That wont work,” the Mage-Sovereign said, shaking her head. “I’ve been studying the Yang-Sphere formations since they appeared, and now understand some of it. From what I can tell, the Yang-Sovereign was completely ruthless in its creation. Any tampering with any portion of the Yang-Sphere will result in its destruction, killing everyone here before their powers would return. The only hope we have is to defeat the Yang-Sovereign directly,” the Mage- Sovereign said, her narrowed gaze locking onto the Yang Lotus.

“From what I can tell, there is an internal pocket realm within the Yang Lotus, in which the Yang-Sovereign currently sits,” she continued. “He won’t be able to leave it while the absorption process is taking place, so if we can enter it and battle him there, we may be able to destroy him without him activating the destruction formation of the Yang-Sphere. Can your sword domain negate the formation’s influence on others as well? Perhaps if we could join you, the odds would be greatly in our favor.”

The Sword-Saint grimmaced upon hearing this, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “No, only my cultivation will become unbound by the restriction, no one else’s. It is a domain focused on the self and the sword, nothing else. Besides, even if I restore my power through the Sacred Sword Domain, I would at best be at the Half-Step Holy Manifestation Realm, as my domain alone would not be enough to completely erase these formation effects. I will not have the strength to defeat the Yang-Sovereign, not alone.”

The Sword-Saint’s words created another wave of despair, all hope smothered out once again. A thick silence hung in the air, only filled by the screams of those sucked into the Yang-Lotus above.

“Then all hope is lost!” a sect leader sighed, his voice echoing the thoughts of everyone else in the arena. There was no hope. No one had any power remaining other than the Sword-Saint, who could not handle this burden alone.

Down below in the arena, John glanced up at the Yang-Sovereign, who was fully enclosed within the lotus. With the Yang-Sovereign fully focused on absorbing the Yang Lotus, it was now safe to move through the Yang-Sphere without being targeted.

He glanced at Lilian who stood nearby, who felt his gaze fall upon her and looked at him. Her expression was calm, or as calm as one could be given the situation. There was an underlying tinge of anxiousness, an expression never seen on her face before, giving more weight to the gravity of the situation. That calm expression changed slightly as she saw John’s expression, an expression she had seen on his face many times before.

It was the same look when he destroyed the Bloodfiend Sect. The same look when he had dominated Asuros in the Divine Realm trials. The same look when he faced off against the Asura while they fled for the portal. It was a look of resolve, confidence, determination. It was a look of battle lust, of one who wanted to burst with power and slay their foe. It was not the look of someone who had accepted their death.

“Can you defeat him?” Lilian asked softly, reading John’s thoughts through his expression alone. .

John glanced up at the Sovereign for a second, then back to Lilian. Then he smirked.

“I guess we’ll find out soon, won’t we?” John smirked as he sat down and closed his eyes, his focused moving within towards his two Dantians.

Boom! 𝑖𝘦.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A soft, muffled boom sounded out from within his body, its noise drowned out by the thousand cries of terror all around. His body dantian surged to life within, its power unrestrained by the Yang- Sphere repression formation. While the Yang-Sphere was a pinnacle creation of the Yang-Sphere, the Dantian Artifact was a pinnacle creation of the martial universe, unbound by a lesser creation.

Like a desert soaking up rain, his body greedily drew in every ounce of power. His body Qi expanded outwards around his Dantian, pressing against the formation energy, forming a barrier around his essence Dantian. The formation energy pressed down on his body Qi, making it strain against the weight and power of the formation energy.

John struggled back, quickly forming a stalemate between the two energies, both vying for supremacy. He tried to press outwards even further against the energy, but was not able to do so, only able to keep it at bay near his Dantian, but not at a distance.

A frown appeared on his face as he was hoping to be able to use his Qi to restore the cultivations of others in a similar manner, but the difficulty of keeping his own Dantian protected was already straining, making it impossible to do so for others, as he would need to keep his power activated all times, and at a much further range than compared to his own Dantian.

‘Good enough!’ he clicked his tongue, frustrated but not surprised. Having to shield his essence dantian would reduce the amount of Qi he could use for his battle arts, but it was better than nothing.

His essence dantian, now protected from the formation by his cocoon of body Qi, flared to life as the repression effects were blasted away, returning his full strength to his body. John bathed in the wave of power coursing through him, then he focused on what he had to do next.

Up above, the three powerhouses continued to discuss amongst themselves, searching for any solution to this issue. All their solutions were centered around the Sword-Saint, who was the only one who would be able to fight to any measurable degree. Every plan was cast aside after brief consideration, their despair growing as second by second hundreds of cultivators were being drawn into the Yang Lotus, consumed by its terrifying flames.

Minutes passed by, the number of deaths and the hopeless despair growing by the second.

Boom!

The stadium suddenly trembled once more, startling everyone. Many braced for another catastrophe, wondering what next the Yang-Sovereign had in store for them. They looked towards the source of the sound, their wide eyes locking onto a blazing aura surging into the sky, and the source of the aura itself.

They watched as John rose into the sky, his power somehow unrestricted by the repression formations. John bathed in the feeling of breaking through to the Late Dao Transformation Realm, his body and soul surging with newfound strength.

Then, with millions of eyes glued to him, eyes filled with hopelessness, awe, confusion and despair, he glanced at the Sword- Saint, who was looking at him as if he were truly an incomprehensible monster. The words he said next were even more incomprehensible, but for some reason, despite its impossibility, his words ignited the tiniest glimmer of hope within the ocean of despair everyone felt.

“I’m going to kill the Yang-Sovereign. Will you join me?”

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