The shadows within this hall were far more numerous than the ones that had just attacked Goya, densely packed like a surging tide. The pervasive thunder and howling winds continuously met the incoming shadows, the thunder cloaking the bodies of the shadows and causing them to stiffen before tearing them apart to create gaps, which the shadows from behind quickly filled. He Ao looked upward, his field of vision obstructed by the swarming shadows, unable to see the individual at the core of the thunder. But he and Goya both knew clearly, it was Li Cheng. "Are these shadows angels?" Goya gazed blankly at the undulating shadows. The strength displayed by these shadows seemed to far exceed that of B-level. It was evident that Li Cheng had already summoned a small part of Andaville’s Spear’s power, but he still couldn’t completely annihilate these shadows. The shadows emerging from the darkness seemed endlessly born anew. "No, they’re B-level," He Ao shook his head as he watched the shadows surge like a tide. At this moment, some shadows had noticed them and were surging towards them; He Ao casually sliced through the nearest shadow, his gaze sweeping over the shadows undulating in the dark. The life signs of these shadows did not leave the realm of humanity and did not possess the Positional Grade strength of an Angelic Tier; their own strength was merely at the weakest B-level, even their defensive power far inferior to B-level. The terrifying aspect of these shadows was reflected in their seemingly undead, continuously regenerating nature. Based on what the middle-aged man outside had said, even though ’Phantom Shadow’ had no clear vulnerable spots, big-scale damage to his shadows could also harm him. Yet, at the moment, Li Cheng had killed many shadows, but apparently didn’t cause any damage to the Phantom Shadow. The individual weakness of these shadows was insignificant, but the total sum killed by Li Cheng in an instant had already surpassed a normal B-level’s combined strength, not to mention that Li Cheng had probably been fighting these shadows for a while here. The accumulated ’Life Force’ displayed by these shadows had already far exceeded the normal life standard of B-level. Even if a replicated B-level Evil Spirit underwent twisted metamorphosis, would it possess such a strong amplification? The surrounding shadows had begun to gradually diverge, madly surging towards the area where He Ao and Goya stood. He Ao raised his Shadowless Sword, the sword light flashing like thunder, quickly slicing through the approaching shadows. Goya lifted her Magic Wand, numerous green vines rising from the ground, entwining the incoming shadows, then the Shadowless Sword beside easily cleaved through the shadows. For Goya, her Withering Move was very draining, but merely manipulating the vines to ’control’ the enemy didn’t consume as much. Simultaneously, a hazy radiance spilled from the pure white orb at the center of the Magic Wand, flowing into He Ao’s body. The scattered thunder in the sky also seemed to detect the battle here, splitting some lightning to smash the gradually accumulating shadows in front of He Ao and Goya. He Ao, escorting Goya, decimated the shadows as they headed towards the core of the thunder, all while looking down at the shattering fragments of the shadows around them. Under the influence of the Eye of Truth, these fragments quickly disappeared at a visible rate, swallowed by the darkness, seeming to vanish completely. After pondering for a moment, He Ao shifted his gaze from the shattered fragments and looked at the surrounding space. The ’lines’ making up the entire hall were now trembling violently, seemingly shaken by Li Cheng’s thunder. And as He Ao looked closely, within those lines in the deepest layers, some lines were orderly ’flickering’ on and off, their lengths seemingly increasing and decreasing, changing constantly. He Ao recalled the ’lines’ he had seen in other corridors, which also flickered in the deep layers, though without such obvious changes. The biggest difference between this hall and the previous corridors was, He Ao’s gaze swept across the pervasive thunder in the hall and the shadows within it. In this very short time, too many shadows had died. At this moment, He Ao remembered the middle-aged man’s speculation that Chaos Space might ’fuse’ with the Regicide. Since Chaos Space could fuse with angels, then by a different perspective, could Phantom Shadow also ’fuse’ with this Chaos Space? He Ao’s gaze swept across the surrounding shadows again; by now, they had reached the middle of the hall and could vaguely see the figure radiating thunder in the center of the hall. So, did the relentless power of these shadows actually stem from this Chaos Space? After these shadows were destroyed, could part of their power be recycled by the space to create new shadows? So, these Black Shadows can move freely within the Chaos Space, and even to some extent control the Chaos Space? Once again clearing and shattering the surrounding Black Shadows, He Ao retracted the Shadowless Sword and looked up at the hall that was constantly vibrating under the flashing thunder. As long as this Chaos Space isn’t destroyed, is it impossible to truly kill this Black Shadow? But even as a replica, this Chaos Space itself is of a high level, presumably only power of the Angelic Tier could thoroughly destroy it. If Li Cheng used Andaville’s Spear, indeed, he could destroy this Chaos Space. However, Li Cheng using Andaville’s Spear didn’t seem to come without a cost—if he expended too much power here, he might be hard-pressed later when facing the Regicide Evil Spirit. He Ao watched the pervasive Black Shadows around him. At this moment, he seemed to understand the ’arrangement’ laid out by the mastermind here. This layer of Chaos Space and Phantom Shadows were meant as a ’barrier’ for the ’Regicide Evil Spirit’ in the rear. Although this barrier wasn’t truly of Angelic Tier power, to destroy it, Angelic Tier strength would be required. The attackers, if lacking Angelic Tier power, would be worn to death by the endless Black Shadows here. If they possessed Angelic Tier power, after destroying this Chaos Space and Black Shadows, their power would be depleted, and the odds of defeating the Regicide Evil Spirit would be even lower. This was almost an overt scheme; whoever wanted to attack the Regicide or destroy the Relic of the Bygone Days would inevitably have to exert strength, to break this Chaos Space. And originally, the design of this Chaos Space was meant to be very comprehensive; even if what was created by the mastermind was a replica, it was quite complete. As He Ao had come all this way, he hadn’t clearly perceived any weakness in the Chaos Space. It seemed that only by forcefully breaking through could he advance. But on the other hand, by integrating Chaos Space with ’Phantom Shadow’, although it allowed the Phantom Shadows to be ’undying’ and ’unceasing’ on some level, it was also equivalent to forcibly inserting an incompatible plugin into the integral structure of the Chaos Space? If he killed the Phantom Shadows, using the insertion point of the Phantom Shadow into the Chaos Space, could it trigger a natural collapse of the Chaos Space? That would allow him to resolve the Chaos Space with minimal effort. The problem seemed to have become a loop. To kill the Phantom Shadows, the Chaos Space had to be destroyed, but to destroy the Chaos Space without a high cost, the Phantom Shadows had to be killed. He Ao’s originally relaxed brows furrowed slightly, and the speed of the swordplay of Shadowless Sword somewhat slowed. A white-haired girl carefully glanced at ’Hao Yi’, lifted her magic wand and gripped it tighter, more vines constantly emerged from the ground, forming a green barrier continuously collaborating with the Shadowless Sword to cut through the Black Shadows, easing the pressure on the Shadowless Sword. At that moment, as He Ao watched the Shadowless Sword swirling and shattering Black Shadows, it seemed he thought of something; his true soul descended, activating ’Super Memory’, and swept a glance at the ceaseless Black Shadows. These Black Shadows still bore pieces of ’Shadow’—however, these shadows weren’t completely attached to each individual Black Shadow, but rather, spread over the entire group of Black Shadows and part of the darkened space. Whenever a Black Shadow was shattered, these partial Shadows would retract their ’tentacles’ attached to the Black Shadows, then extend new tentacles to new Black Shadows just born from the darkness. These Black Shadows shared the same incomplete ’Soul’, and this Soul was attached to the Chaos Space. Simple mental attacks likely wouldn’t work. He Ao’s gaze swept over the electric lights scattering around; whenever an electric light moved over a Black Shadow, the ’Soul Tentacles’ attached to the Black Shadow seemed to momentarily pause. Ultimately, He Ao’s gaze settled at the center of the hall. By then, he and Goya had gotten very close to the center of the hall, close enough that they could see Li Cheng, covered with electric lights, opening the wooden case he carried and taking out Andaville’s Spear from inside. He seemed to have tried all methods and was preparing to employ the ultimate Angelic Tier power. And at that moment, the invisible blade of the sword suddenly shattered the Black Shadow beside him, and ’Hao Yi’ and Goya rushed in through the shattered gap in an instant. Li Cheng, holding Andaville’s Spear, looked toward ’Hao Yi’, but before he could speak, he heard ’Hao Yi’ speak, "Can you stun all the Black Shadows in this hall without killing them?" The swirling Shadowless Sword and flowing vines momentarily reduced the pressure on Li Cheng at the central position. He looked at ’Hao Yi’, then glanced at Andaville’s Spear in his hand, and finally, he slightly lowered his longspear and nodded gently, "It’s hard to control the intensity, but I’ll try." The pervasive electric lights suddenly reduced, focusing on a Black Shadow further back, whose body shivered then quickly shattered. Following that, the electric lights weakened considerably, shocking another Black Shadow nearby; that Black Shadow’s body stiffened briefly before quickly recovering and continuing its charge forward. Thus, the next time, the electric light intensified a bit. After several attempts, Li Cheng finally mastered the strength. He looked at ’Hao Yi,’ "If I need to release it all at once, I will need a brief preparation of about two seconds, during which I cannot release energy." Goya immediately said. "I’ll count one, two, three." He Ao raised his head, looked toward the shadow in the sky, and slightly nodded to Li Cheng and Goya. Endless vines suddenly burst from the ground, forming a massive emerald barrier outside the trio, hindering the steps of the Black Shadows beyond the barrier. In that instant, the thunder sprawled across the void suddenly contracted, forming an intense thunder orb, which gathered in the palm of Li Cheng. He Ao raised his hand as the Shadowless Swords outside, defending against the Black Shadows, swiftly returned to his palm, revealing a cold glint under the brilliance of the thunder. Losing Shadowless Swords’ weakening, the entire emerald barrier was quickly torn apart by the Black Shadows. Goya’s face visibly paled rapidly. He Ao grasped the Shadowless Sword, raising the blade upward. The moment the young man’s voice fell. The green barrier was torn by the tide-like Black Shadows, creating a huge gap from which countless Black Shadows surged out, wielding various weapons as they pounced toward the trio standing in the middle. Goya, holding her Magic Wand, looked up at the sky as emerald vines surged from the ground. Scattered lightning passed through her slightly floating pure white hair. Li Cheng held the thunder high, its brilliant glow suddenly flashing like a storm, illuminating the entire pitch-black hall, covering every Black Shadow. Time seemed to stop at that moment, as the bodies of countless Black Shadows stiffened. The youth clad in black, wielding a Longsword, suddenly leaped, his slender figure passing through the gaps of the dazzling thunder, raising the blade in his hand, slashing forward. A twisted and horrifying polluted aura spread through the entire space in that instant. The invisible blade in his hand shattered instantly, turning into a twisted crescent-like shadow, a shadow more warped than darkness itself, quickly sweeping over the Black Shadows. In that moment, He Ao seemed to see scattered, bizarre glimmers, saw a distorted state of the Relic Planet. Then, everything twisted was cut open by the Blade of Shadow. It was as if some invisible object was ripped apart, and as if some distortion was swallowing. That quiet darkness swallowed all the light in that moment. Ferocious yet seductive ravings echoed in the darkness. The sharp sword cry rang out in the darkness, the Shadowless Sword burst from the darkness, returning to He Ao’s hand. At this moment, most of the sword blade was still in an invisible but tangible state, but the edge of the sword blade was still in a disturbed ’shadow’ state. Feeling the intense pollution that surged with the Shadowless Sword in his mind, He Ao sighed softly. This was the ability the Shadowless Sword gained after merging with the power of the Mysterious Shadow. The simple explanation was that the sword could enter an enemy’s dreams, kill them there, and then devour their soul. However, the prerequisite was that the enemy had to be dreaming or in a dazed state; it was useless against conscious enemies. But as a law-abiding good person, enemies who were asleep generally didn’t clash with He Ao. Even if He Ao managed to daze an enemy during battle, he preferred to end the fight with a more brutal and straightforward method, after all, a dazed enemy had no capacity to resist. Thus far, He Ao had hardly used this ability. Of course, up until now, the number of real enemies ’Hao Yi’ had encountered was limited. He Ao himself had never anticipated that the sword’s ability would be useful here. However, after absorbing the Phantom Shadow’s fragmented soul, the contamination from the Mysterious Shadow seemed to have intensified. And with He Ao’s sigh after sheathing his sword, those Black Shadows that seemed unafraid of death, continuously surging forward, rapidly decayed and dissipated amid the distorted ravings. It was as if a crucial block had been removed from a castle, causing it to collapse thunderously, the entire hall shaking violently at an unprecedented speed. "This space is collapsing." He Ao turned around, quickly spoke to the two beside him who had still not recovered from their astonishment at having slain the Black Shadows. Then he pointed with the tip of his sword, creating a round hole in the darkness. At this moment, the entire structure of the Chaos Space had become unstable, and there were more ’nodes’ he could use. Seeing the illusion within the round hole, Li Cheng and Goya didn’t have time to think much, quickly following He Ao as they jumped in. This time they did not emerge elsewhere, but arrived instead in a violently shaking corridor. He Ao immediately opened another round hole and led his two teammates to jump through. After several jumps, the three finally appeared on a broad mountaintop. The brilliance of the stars fell from the sky, the earth trembled beneath their feet, and countless boulders beside them shattered. The three quickly leaped toward the edge. At this moment, standing at the back, He Ao saw a thin figure also sprinting with them in the distance, dodging collapsing mountains—it was that middle-aged man. He watched as the middle-aged man opened his mouth, seemingly asking something. From his lip movements, he seemed to be saying, "What the fuck did you do?" He Ao raised his hand and pinched his fingers into a small gap, silently mouthing in return, "Just a tiny contribution." In fact, even after the Black Shadows were killed, the Chaos Space hadn’t completely collapsed; it was merely teetering. So, when He Ao opened the round hole, he simultaneously ’stirred’ some key points of the entire Chaos Space, accelerating its collapse. However, the two didn’t continue their conversation, as the ground beneath them was collapsing too quickly; they had to speed up considerably, widening the distance between them. Accompanied by collapsing mountains and severe earthquakes, after a frantic run, He Ao and his companions finally reached a natural stone platform that seemed relatively safe. At that moment, behind them, the entire northern side of the volcano they had been standing on was rapidly crumbling and collapsing. Goya quickly caught her breath, staring dumbfounded at everything before finally taking a deep breath, turning back to He Ao, "How did you do it?" Her astonishment stemmed not just from the collapsing mountains and breaking space, but also from how He Ao had dispatched those Black Shadows with a single move. "It wasn’t very difficult," He Ao briefly explained his connection and hypothesis about the Black Shadows and that Chaos Space, "My sword just happened to be able to cause some damage to those Black Shadows and that space." "Not very difficult? Some damage?" After listening to He Ao’s analysis, Goya opened her mouth, swallowed, then scratched her head with both hands, her pure white hair disheveled, as she seemed to doubt her own mind. Beside her, Li Cheng glanced at the Shadowless Sword in ’Hao Yi’s’ hand. The power of the Mysterious Shadow was fused into the Shadowless Sword by ’Hao Yi’ using Andaville’s Spear, and thus he had long known this sword was extraordinary, but he hadn’t anticipated such an effect. However, he was very aware that what was strong was not the sword, but the person who, even in the face of great danger, could keenly analyze the situation, clearly peek into the loop of weaknesses between the Chaos Space and the Black Shadows, and perfectly use all available chips at hand. If ’Hao Yi’ hadn’t subtly observed that those Black Shadows could be ’stunned’ by his thunder, and hadn’t directed him to stun the Black Shadows on a large scale, the extraordinary effect of the sword might not have been exerted. ’Hao Yi’ had probably even calculated Goya’s defensive strength to time the attack perfectly. Just a bit later, if those Black Shadows had closed in, their plan would not have gone so smoothly. While Li Cheng was reflecting, He Ao had already raised his head, looking forward. The middle-aged man who had also reached a safe area in the distance now looked in the same direction as him. At the end of their line of sight, surging flames poured from the wide mouth of the volcano, the crimson glow with thick volcanic clouds covering the entire starlit sky.