Within the negative spiritual domain, flames of negativity blazed fiercely, burning everything to ash.
The beast's consciousness, dragged into this realm, was ignited.
Under the searing erosion of negativity, its mind trembled violently, letting out a piercing wail.
It began experiencing an endless loop of suffering.
Each time it thought its consciousness was about to collapse and die, it would suddenly open its eyes—only to find itself still trapped in the illusion. All its wounds would be gone… and the torment would begin again.
No escape in death. No salvation in life.
The beast's mind began to numb under the unending torment, slipping into a dazed and confused state.
Feng Qi's negative persona hovered like a god above it, a twisted grin on his face as he watched the beast writhing and howling in agony. His raspy, deranged laughter pierced through the beast's ears like nails.
There was no concept of time inside the negative spiritual domain.
No one knew how long had passed.
Just as Feng Qi's negative persona was about to resume the torment, his laughter suddenly stopped. His figure faded and disappeared from the domain.
The high-intensity battle had pushed Feng Qi's body to the edge of collapse.
When his main body lost consciousness, the negative domain crumbled as well.
His rampaging persona fell into slumber, and the negative consciousness receded, retreating from Feng Qi's body.
Outside—
Feng Qi's unconscious body released its grip on the Ghost Blade, which dispersed. Only the Demon Blade remained hovering over him, radiating black light.
At that moment, his body crackled like a string of firecrackers igniting.
Blood, bones, organs—every part of him, having endured the trials of the God Ascension Challenge, finally surpassed its limit and began to transform and evolve.
The Demon Blade, fused with his body, continued releasing energy until it enveloped Feng Qi in a cocoon of darkness. Inside it, his curled-up form resembled a fetus in a womb, brimming with new life.
With every breath, his strength grew a little stronger.
This was the terrifying essence of the God Ascension Challenge—rebirth through breaking limits.
The faint beat of his heart grew stronger as his Nirvana state deepened.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Each beat injected vital energy into his blood, which flowed throughout his body, nourishing every cell.
As Feng Qi underwent Nirvana rebirth, the massive blue formation that had once covered several kilometers faded from the ground, and the floating blue bell in the air drifted down to the nearly-dead beast's neck, attaching itself with a strap that wrapped around it like a collar.
Compared to its former terrifying form, the beast had taken a double blow—physically and spiritually—from Feng Qi.
Its body, driven by instinct, began devouring its own flesh and blood energy to sustain life.
It resembled what had once happened to Lei Ting when he was gravely injured.
Without any external energy sources, Lei Ting's body consumed his energy core and flesh to survive, causing his physical strength and power to regress to their lowest point.
By "eating itself," the body gained just enough energy to barely cling to life and slowly recover.
The beast's body shrank as it devoured itself. The bell hanging from its neck shrank along with it—creating a stark contrast to Feng Qi, who was becoming stronger with every passing second.
Feng Qi was rising.
The beast was fading.
With the beast's control lost, those whose minds had been altered—including Xiao You and the others—gradually awakened. When they opened their eyes, the scene before them left them stunned.
The city was filled with the rubble of collapsed buildings. The once-flat ground was cracked and ruined.
It felt like they had only blinked—and the world had completely changed.
Lei Ting was the first to react. His eyes locked on the center of the city, and he said in a low voice:
"There… let's check it out!"
As soon as he spoke, Lei Ting's figure leapt into the air, turning into a bolt of purple lightning and shooting toward the city center.
Xiao You and Po Jia also sensed something was wrong. They activated their flight masks and followed Lei Ting at full speed.
When they arrived at the center of the city, they saw a massive crater.
Inside it pulsed a black cocoon, like a beating heart. Not far from it lay the unconscious beast.
Lei Ting's eyes passed over the cocoon where Feng Qi was undergoing rebirth and focused on the beast.
Without hesitation, he spoke coldly:
"Don't let it wake up!"
The moment the words left his mouth, before Xiao You or Po Jia could respond, Lei Ting had already made his move.
Knowing Lei Ting's intent was to eliminate any future threat, Po Jia's figure flickered like a ghost, instantly catching up. Together, they launched a joint assault on the beast.
But before they could get close, the bell hanging from the beast's neck rang.
In an instant, the killing intent in Lei Ting and Po Jia's eyes vanished. Their gazes went vacant, and their bodies lost control, crashing into the ground and sliding several meters from inertia.
However, the bell's influence only lasted a few seconds before it lost its effect.
Coming to their senses, Lei Ting and Po Jia quickly retreated without daring to approach again.
"Looks like our perception was blocked just now," Lei Ting muttered.
Po Jia didn't answer. He only nodded with a cold, blank expression.
Gazing at the beast, whose body was still shrinking, Po Jia produced a hidden weapon in his hand and suddenly launched it.
The projectile vanished mid-flight—then reappeared right before the beast.
Boom!
The hidden weapon exploded, sending the beast's body flying.
Seeing that long-range attacks were effective, Lei Ting raised his hand as well.
Arcs of lightning danced in his palm. With a wave, the energy surged out, zigzagging through the air before landing squarely on the beast's body.
The unconscious creature twitched violently.
Then, Lei Ting and Po Jia launched a continuous barrage of spells and hidden weapons, trying to kill the beast before it could wake up.
They had to make sure it never posed a threat again.
But after only a short while… their assault stopped.
Though reborn, Lei Ting had lost his former strength. The newly cultivated core of lightning energy within him barely stored any power. He could no longer summon countless lightning bolts with a wave like he once did when commanding the White Silver Legion. After just a few strikes, the energy in his body was drained dry.
Po Jia's situation was quite similar.
Po Jia's hidden weapons were all crafted by Xiao You, but Xiao You was known for slacking off. She only worked on them begrudgingly when Po Jia pestered her enough.
After several waves of attacks, Po Jia's hidden weapons had been completely depleted.
Their long-range offensive came to an end.
Still, their attacks hadn't been in vain. The rate at which the beast's body shrank clearly accelerated.
To heal its injuries, the beast devoured more of its own flesh and blood energy.
Unable to continue attacking, Lei Ting and the others turned their eyes toward Feng Qi.
From within the black cocoon, they sensed a powerful surge of life.
They understood what Feng Qi had undergone—he had clearly completed his breakthrough and was now in the midst of Nirvana rebirth.
Inside the black cocoon—
Feng Qi's body was being reforged. His muscles became tighter and stronger, both in elasticity and durability—everything had significantly improved.
But he was still unconscious, unable to sense the outside world.
No one knew how much time had passed before Feng Qi slowly opened his eyes, brilliant light radiating from them.
Essence, energy, and spirit unified. The black cocoon shattered with a boom, dispersing into a thick wave of black mist that spread outward.
With a wave of his hand, Feng Qi gathered the mist into his right hand, and the Demon Blade reformed.
Before, the Demon Blade in its triple-unsealed form had been so heavy he could barely hold it. Swinging it would easily dislocate his arm and drain massive stamina just to control it.
But now, that burden was gone.
Having completed his Nirvana and the reforging of his flesh, Feng Qi could now fully wield the Demon Blade in its triple-unsealed state. His physical condition had improved drastically—skipping what would've taken years, even more than a decade of hard cultivation.
He took a deep breath, a brilliant smile blooming on his face.
As expected, what didn't kill him… made him stronger.
Just then, the negative consciousness form appeared beside him, looking weakened.
"Boss, I'm low on energy. I need to retreat to your consciousness sea and rest for a while."
Feng Qi looked at the form identical to himself and nodded.
"Go ahead."
As he spoke, he relaxed his mind.
Without hesitation, the negative consciousness dove into his brow and sank into slumber within his spiritual sea.
Feeling its presence fade, Feng Qi glanced down at his left hand.
The memories from his semi-lost control state were still fresh. He clearly remembered everything he had gone through.
After the negative consciousness lent him its power, a new persona was born inside him—a negative personality that could fully control the power of negative emotions. It had even recreated the Demon Blade, forging a Ghost Blade that could strike at spiritual awareness.
Left hand for the soul. Right hand for the body.
The power of negative emotion, fused with the Demon Blade's force—he had truly become a god of slaughter.
The Ghost Blade's strikes were strange and unpredictable. Combined with the Demon Blade's ferocity, it made for a perfect combo.
But the only reason he had been able to enter that miraculous state was the mysterious bell.
If not for the bell blocking his main personality's consciousness, the negative consciousness never could've suppressed the dominant mind and shared perception of the external world.
Most likely, his main persona would've continued suppressing the negative one, leaving it no room to unleash its true strength.
After all, the dominant personality was far stronger than the negative one.
But when it came to resisting the bell's mysterious power, the negative consciousness had clearly shown more resilience.
So that perfect balance… was born entirely by accident.
This experience planted a thought in his mind—
Maybe mastering the power of negative emotions was a viable path forward.
If he could make that power his own, his strength would surely soar.
What he had wielded earlier was just the power of the negative consciousness. If it were his own negative emotional force, the strength would rise several levels higher—his combat ability would skyrocket.
Thinking this way, maybe solving the problem of negative emotion didn't mean eliminating it.
Just like what Zai Lin had written in the very first line of his mental cultivation technique Negative Descent:
"The demon suppressed deep within your heart… can also be your strongest weapon."
The power of negative emotion was terrifying. But if he could turn this hidden danger into a blade, he'd never have to worry about emotional buildup again.
Each buildup would instead make him stronger.
But Feng Qi also understood—controlling that power wasn't going to be easy.
Just relying on Zai Lin's half-baked technique Negative Descent wasn't enough. That method hadn't even resolved Zai Lin's own inner demons—let alone Feng Qi's, which ran as deep as a hellish abyss.
So refining a true negative emotion cultivation method would be a long and difficult road.
He'd leave that part to the negative consciousness to handle. Once back in Star City, he could also seek help from the Crimson Research Institute or allies like Lin Ran.
Though humanity's development in spiritual cultivation was still in its infancy, they might still offer something useful.
Besides the cultivation method problem, there was another issue—
How to fuse the main and negative personas.
Only by doing so could he fully enter the semi-demonic, semi-spectral Shura form.
When the dominant persona was too strong, the negative one would always be suppressed.
To activate both at once, the main personality had to be shielded—only then would it borrow the negative consciousness' perception and choose to merge with it.
The only reason it had worked perfectly this time… was because of the bell's influence.
At that thought, Feng Qi looked off into the distance toward the beast—and his eyes froze.
The once seven or eight meters tall behemoth had shrunk to just one meter in length. And it was still shrinking.
"Boss!"
Right as Feng Qi was still puzzled, Xiao You's shout exploded in his ear.
Looking up, he saw Xiao You floating nearby, her face streaked with tears, yet lit up by a bright smile.
"Boss, I just dreamed you died," she said.
"It was just a dream. Not real."
"Mm! Boss!" Xiao You threw her hands in the air, cheering with joy.
His gaze shifted to Lei Ting standing next to her, wearing a look of disdain, while Po Jia's face was cold as ever, his emotions unreadable.
Finally, Feng Qi turned his attention back to the beast.
He stepped up to it and crouched down to examine its condition.
Seeing that Feng Qi wasn't affected by the bell while approaching the beast, Lei Ting and Po Jia followed him over.
Looking at the still-shrinking beast, Lei Ting spoke up.
"It's using its own flesh and blood to heal, kind of like my clan's Thunder Body Transformation technique—devouring itself to rebuild its body."
Feng Qi nodded and then yanked the blue bell from the beast's neck.
Whether the beast lived or died didn't matter to him, but this mysterious bell—he really wanted it.
Cognition alteration, perception blocking, even fabricating illusionary realms—the functions were insane.
If he was right, this had to be a Miracle item.
At that moment, the voice of the Demon Blade rang out in his mind.
"It's not a true Miracle. It's a weapon forged to imitate one, a divine tool—same level as me."
"Imitation?" Feng Qi was stunned.
"Yeah. If it were a real Miracle item, the altered cognition wouldn't revert."
"What do you mean?" Feng Qi frowned slightly.
"For example, Xiao You and the others had their minds altered. But once the beast passed out, the altered parts vanished and they returned to normal. That's very different from true Miracle artifacts that rewrite rules."
"Besides, I checked the bell's structure with my awareness. It's not even close to Miracle level. I could cut it in half."
Hearing that, Feng Qi suddenly recalled the Mist Lord once said something similar.
He'd said, "Only a Miracle can suppress a Miracle."
That meant the power of a Miracle item couldn't be resisted by any living being—unless that being had a Miracle of their own.
Take the God Lord of the Cloud Temple, for example. He possessed the Miracle Seal.
That item could seal one's mind, forcing instant sensory blockage.
No creature could resist the Miracle Seal—unless they too had a Miracle.
Just like the Mist Lord, who had the Miracle Will inside his body.
Back then, when the Mist Lord was sealed by the Miracle Seal, it was only thanks to the Miracle Will that he escaped the mental imprisonment.
On his own, there was no chance.
He'd been sealed before.
When the sealing mark was branded on his body, he instantly lost all sense and couldn't even form the thought to resist.
So, to counter a Miracle item… you needed a Miracle of your own.
Unless you reached power on par with a Pillar God, there was no chance of resisting one without another Miracle.
Even if the Miracle Seal was used on someone a hundred times stronger than the Rift Heaven Divine Lord—if that person didn't possess a Miracle, they'd still be instantly sealed. No way to fight back.
That's the nature of power that rewrites rules.
Since the cognition-altering effects of this bell faded on their own when not interfered with by another Miracle, it proved the bell's effect was temporary.
In other words, it was a fake Miracle—not the real thing.
Once he figured that out, Feng Qi looked at the blue bell in his hand and couldn't help but sigh.
He'd thought he'd gotten his hands on another rule-altering trump card… but it turned out to be just an imitation.
Still, this battle had brought him a huge power boost.
And the bell wasn't useless. If he used it right, it could help him trigger the fusion between his dominant and negative personalities—unlocking the Shura state.
But how to actually use the bell… he had no idea.
So he started trying to figure it out.
No matter what he did, though, the bell wouldn't produce that soul-shaking chime again.
Could it be that the bell required a specific activation method?
"Of course," the Demon Blade said. "This bell was clearly crafted by some race imitating a Miracle item. The materials used must be insanely rare, and it likely has strict activation requirements… like me. Could you use me without my permission?"
Hearing that, Feng Qi realized the severity of the issue.
If he wanted the key to unlock his Shura state, he had to figure out how to use the bell.
And the only one who might know… was the beast lying on the ground.
The beast had now shrunk to the size of a small puppy.
Feng Qi reached out and placed his hand on its head, probing its condition.
His consciousness slipped into the beast's body, and what he found was a mess.
Its self-cannibalization hadn't stopped, even though only half its body was healed—the wounds still hadn't fully recovered.
If it kept devouring itself, it would literally eat itself to death.
His first instinct had been to kill it. Now, he was having second thoughts.
The bell's activation method was still a mystery, and the only one who might know was this beast.
He couldn't let it die.
With that thought, Feng Qi gripped the Demon Blade tightly.
The blade absorbed his blood and transformed it into pure blood energy, which flowed into the beast through Feng Qi's left hand.
With this refined energy infusion, the unconscious beast finally stopped devouring itself. Its shrinking halted.
Time passed, and the beast started showing signs of waking up.
Even without Feng Qi continuing the energy transfer, the self-devouring had already stopped.
When the beast slowly opened its eyes, the first thing it saw was Feng Qi's smiling face.
There was a brief pause.
Then the beast suddenly panicked, scrambling backward and letting out a high-pitched yelp.
Its eyes were full of fear as it looked at Feng Qi.
The nightmare of the Negative Spiritual Domain returned like a haunting vision, bringing back memories of endless torment, of wishing for death but never finding release.
Feng Qi hadn't done a thing—but in the beast's mind, that crazed, cold laugh echoed again.
And it couldn't stop hearing it.