Chapter Four: The Gears Begin to Turn...

"Enough talk. I am risking my life to crawl out here just to become your spirit ring—the first ever intelligent spirit ring in the history of the continent!"

"Although your martial soul doesn't quite meet my expectations, I have no way back now."

Tian Meng squirmed across the ground, inching closer. Despite having a face with only two beady golden eyes, he managed to contort it into a lecherous expression. "Are you ready to accept my power? Hehehe..."

"Wait."

Huo Yuhao, his expression guarded, retreated two or three meters to put some distance between them. "What exactly are you trying to do? What do you mean by an 'intelligent spirit ring'?"

Throughout the entire history of the continent, what spirit beast would ever willingly sacrifice itself for a total stranger? It defied all common sense!

"Hehe... don't be afraid."

Tian Meng’s eyes squeezed into slits. "With your meager strength, you think you can resist? You’d better just submit to your big brother here~"

What was all this nonsense?

Huo Yuhao’s face darkened, and then his entire field of vision was submerged in a blinding white light.

The sacrifice had begun.

"Let me first see how well your body has developed~" As his body gradually dissolved into white light, Tian Meng’s consciousness attached itself to Huo Yuhao.

He probed inward to take a look.

"Could I have been wrong?"

Tian Meng emerged, dazed, and peered at Huo Yuhao’s eyes again. "That’s not right... He is definitely a spirit-attribute spirit master."

But why was this kid’s physical body so strong? It was almost on par with a three-ringed spirit master. Could it be that all the attributes he cultivated had been poured into his bones and muscles?

"...Checking the composition."

Unable to fathom the reason, Tian Meng impulsively rushed into the spirit sea that Huo Yuhao had just opened, extending his spiritual power into his soul to try and retrieve his memories.

But in the next second, a searing golden light suddenly ignited, illuminating the entire spirit sea with terrifying energy fluctuations.

Under that dazzling beam, Tian Meng’s rampant spiritual tentacles were ignited out of thin air with a shrill scream. The golden flames were relentless, even trailing along the tentacles to burn at the very essence of Tian Meng’s soul.

"What is this thing!"

Tian Meng was horrified. He abruptly severed his spiritual power and retreated to a corner of the spirit sea, not daring to act recklessly again. "A god... this is the aura of a god!"

In the center of the sea of consciousness, a cluster of golden light broke through the surface and rose slowly into the high air. Encased within it was something resembling a fragment of a statue, and all the terrifying pressure originated from it.

*Rumble...*

Outside, a peal of thunder struck the sky at the perfect moment, and a gray current emerged from the darkness that shrouded the firmament.

"Holding the sun and moon—hm?"

The ancient phantom had just appeared when it was drawn to the light shining from Huo Yuhao’s brow. It decisively cut off its own half-played cinematic and plunged straight into his spirit sea.

A godhead!

Even though it was only a tiny fragment, that was indeed a godhead!

In the Holy Demon Continent, where becoming a god meant certain death, he had never seen anything like it, only theorizing about such higher realms that were supposed to exist.

"Sigh~"

The figure of Elder Yi appeared above the spirit sea, standing opposite the golden, scorching sun. The gray aura and deep energy swirling around his body surged restlessly, triggered by instinct, turning into a night sky that swallowed half the world to confront the light.

Seeing this, Tian Meng, huddled in the corner, curled up even tighter.

The sacrifice was still ongoing, and he was supposed to be the protagonist of this scene, yet now he could only squat in the corner, unable to even show his face.

"Alas... to think that the thing I pursued for a lifetime is so easily obtained in another plane..."

After staring at the godhead fragment for a long time, Elder Yi could only let out a sigh, his phantom appearing even more aged.

If only this had been in his lifetime.

Now, he was nothing more than a broken remnant of divine consciousness. Even if he could see the path ahead clearly, he had no chance to walk it.

"There is no one like me in this world..."

Accompanied by a desolate sigh, Elder Yi transformed into a gray sphere. Together with the golden godhead, he retracted his aura and hung silently above the spirit sea.

"Is it over?"

Only then did Tian Meng dare to leave his corner and channel the spiritual power contained in his main body from the outside. He had originally intended to hang these ten packets of spiritual power in the sky, but after sneaking a glance at the two "big brothers" above, he resigned himself to piling the light orbs along the perimeter of the spiritual space.

"Ready to go, time to expand!"

Tian Meng raised the front half of his silkworm body, striking a pose as if praising the sun.

The massive light orbs placed at the edges all lit up with a circle of gold, and immense spiritual power surged out like a tide, expanding the entire space higher and further, making it as deep and vast as the void itself.

"Where is this..."

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual form emerged from the water, staring in a daze at this infinitely magnificent space.

Above him, the golden light and the dark gloom each occupied half, rotating opposite each other with a small gap in between.

In the distance, ten enormous, glowing white orbs were suspended, with golden rings circling them like planetary rings. As for the sky at the very edge of his vision, it was tinted with the clear, bright color shed by the white orbs.

"Yo? You woke up so soon?"

Tian Meng squirmed over to his side, explaining with a hint of excitement: "This is your spirit sea, a spiritual world that belongs solely to you. Thanks to your solid foundation and my expansion, I’m afraid there aren't many people in this world with a sea of consciousness as luxurious as yours!"

"Belongs solely to me?"

Huo Yuhao glanced at Tian Meng. "Then how did you get in?"

"Hmph hmph~"

Tian Meng twisted his body and began to quietly complain: "I am your intelligent spirit ring now. We share honor and disgrace, so naturally, I can stay in your sea of consciousness... On the contrary, those two things look malicious to me. Cooperate with me, and I’ll figure out a way to drive them out."

To Tian Meng’s surprise, Huo Yuhao did not follow his lead. Instead, with a look that was a mix of surprise and grief, he stared quietly at the golden light cluster for a long time, causing the spirit sea to stir with wind and crashing waves.

"Hey, are you ready to act?"

Tian Meng interrupted his thoughts.

"Act?"

Huo Yuhao let out an inexplicable, cold laugh. Then, he suddenly surged forward like a mad dog, pouncing on Tian Meng’s back and strangling his non-existent neck with all his might, roaring aloud: "That is my sister! That is my sister, you living maggot!! Go to hell!"

"Gag... let go! What sister? That’s clearly just a broken statue!"

"Broken your head! That is the god I believe in! I’ll kill you!"

Man and silkworm grappled within the spirit sea.

One had no strength to break through defenses, and the other was short-limbed and round-waisted, serving only as a qualified punching bag with no ability to resist.

The result was obvious: Tian Meng the Ice Silkworm, who could only squirm, was chased with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.