The red light at the mountain peak was like a thick, viscous mist of blood, binding Jiang Li and Cang Yaochen tightly to the stone dais.
Cang Yaochen's palms were broad and calloused. As his Nirvana power surged into Jiang Li's withered meridians, it forcibly stemmed the leakage of her soul. He looked up, his double pupils piercing through the dark purple sky of the Forbidden Zone, locking onto the gargantuan, cold golden eyes of the Cloud-Ascension Throne hovering in the void.
"He wants to refine this land of death into a divine pill," Cang Yaochen's voice was bone-chillingly cold, the War God's spine behind him emitting an excited, resonant hum.
Outside the Forbidden Zone, the Cloud-Ascension Throne was relentlessly pouring divine fire into the black well. Golden flames snaked through the void fissures, making the edges of the Forbidden Zone creak and groan as they burned. This refinement was utterly ruthless, intended to incinerate Jiang Li and Cang Yaochen alive along with the very essence of Oblivion within the zone.
"Old man, since you're so willing to part with your divine power, I'll take the lot," Jiang Li wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her gaze ruthless. With a swift flick of her right hand, she slammed the Mirror of Profound Inquiry face-down onto the bronze wick of the Soul-Stabilizing Lamp.
"By Karma as the medium, reverse the Heavens and Earth!" she shrieked, a cluster of ghostly fire igniting in the cinnabar mark on her brow.
The Soul-Stabilizing Lamp, which had been draining their souls, suddenly generated a terrifying suction under the enhancement of the mirror. That suction surged through the void channel, following the path of the golden fire poured in by the Cloud-Ascension Throne, and bit back at him directly.
BOOM—!
In the void outside the Forbidden Zone, the Cloud-Ascension Throne's triumphant expression contorted instantly. He felt the Throne Origin within him rushing out like water from a burst dam, sucked frantically by the black hole deep within the Forbidden Zone through the very refinement channel he had opened.
"What?! Karmic Backlash?"
Shocked and enraged, the Cloud-Ascension Throne tried to withdraw his hands and sever the connection, only to find that the Mirror of Profound Inquiry had already locked onto his aura. The debts he had incurred three thousand years ago now manifested as countless invisible red threads, dragging him ruthlessly toward the abyss.
"Priest, DO IT!" Jiang Li roared.
Cang Yaochen had been waiting for this exact heartbeat. He released Jiang Li's hand and leaped into the air, his demonic blade erupting with the dark-gold malevolence of the War God.
Using the Throne Origin drawn back by the Soul-Stabilizing Lamp, he pushed his War God demonic body to its absolute limit. In that moment, he was no longer a hunted demon, but an executioner of gods who had returned to his peak.
"BREAK!"
Cang Yaochen swung his blade mid-air. The blade-glow sliced through the purple firmament, traveling along the golden channel to strike directly at the Cloud-Ascension Throne's face.
Squelch—!
The sound of divine blood spraying echoed through the void. A section of the Cloud-Ascension Throne's divine robes, along with a portion of his shoulder, was hacked clean off by the strike.
Inside the Forbidden Zone, the previously withered divine statues began to emit eerie whispers, nourished by the influx of Throne Origin. The old man at the foot of the mountain watched the celestial light flowing backward in shock, dropping his iron rod.
"Insane... two lunatics... they are actually refining a Divine Throne!"
Jiang Li pressed the mirror down with all her might, her entire skeleton creaking under the strain. She could feel the Cloud-Ascension Throne's frantic struggle—the desperate counterattack of a Divine Throne.
"Cang Yaochen, I can't hold on for much longer!"
Cang Yaochen landed back on the stone dais, the dark-gold light in his double pupils exploding. He grabbed the pillar of the Soul-Stabilizing Lamp, forcibly driving the pure, stolen Throne power into his own spine.
He was using Cloud-Ascension's life to mend his own bones.
"AAAAAGH—!"
The Cloud-Ascension Throne let out a heaven-shaking roar in the void. His true form began to blur—a sign of excessive origin loss. He knew that if this continued, he would be drained dry by these two ants.
"Rebels! I would rather self-destruct this divine body than let you live!"
The Cloud-Ascension Throne's eyes turned lethal as he joined his fingers and tapped his own brow. He intended to detonate his Throne Avatar and blow the entire void fissure to smithereens.