At this moment, all of Xu Hei's consciousness was being drawn into the Demon Seed, like a black hole devouring everything, trying to swallow him whole.
"You old dog, you set me up!" Xu Hei cursed angrily.
His soul could no longer bear it and was torn apart, turning into countless soul fragments that were absorbed into the Demon Seed.
The pain of a soul being torn apart was incomparable to any form of torture.
It was the ultimate pain in the world, a pain that pierced the soul!
Originally just a black seed, the Demon Seed had now taken root and sprouted a small branch. As it devoured Xu Hei's soul, the branch grew rapidly.
Gradually, it transformed into a dark flower bud.
As the flower bud grew larger, Xu Hei's consciousness became more and more blurred. He was absorbed into the Demon Seed, becoming its nourishment.
"Is this... the end?"
When the soul dies, it's true death!
Xu Hei's eyes fell into chaos; new consciousness vanished, and the old consciousness did not revive.
The light in Xu Hei's eyes had completely disappeared. At this moment, he was like a machine without any emotion, staring blankly at the sky and earth, eyes vacant, like a walking corpse.
Only his physical body remained alive, but his soul had vanished.
"Xu Hei, what's wrong with you, Xu Hei?"
A worried voice came from the Star-Moon Sword nearby.
For some reason, since Xu Hei woke up from Liefeng City, September had stopped calling him husband, and their communication was minimal, limited to battles.
In September's view, Xu Hei was no longer Xu Hei; he had become someone else.
September simply fulfilled her duty as a sword, ignoring everything else.
But now, September suddenly felt that the Divine Sense imprint Xu Hei had left on her was almost gone.
There was only one reason for this phenomenon: the master was dead, and only then would the Divine Sense imprint disappear!
This realization left September in shock. Xu Hei, dead?
However, she quickly discovered that the Divine Sense imprint hadn't completely vanished; a small part remained, almost imperceptible.
"Xu Hei, what's wrong with you! Don't scare me!"
September flew up, circling around Xu Hei, poking him a few times, but he remained motionless.
Meanwhile, inside Xu Hei's storage ring.
Holding a pot of spiritual liquid, Jiang Nine Phoenix, who was watering the medicine garden, suddenly looked up at the white sky.
She could sense that the seal of the storage ring seemed to be weakening.
But that wasn't the main point; more importantly, the seal on her own body also seemed to be weakening.
Originally, walking was extremely difficult for her, but now she could run quickly and even hover for a short time without any problem.
Her physical mobility had recovered by thirty percent.
Jiang Nine Phoenix showed a puzzled expression. Her Divine Sense had also partially recovered, but she still couldn't probe outside the storage ring.
She didn't act rashly, simply taking out a spiritual herb and nibbling on it.
As the spiritual herb entered her body, Jiang Nine Phoenix extracted a wisp of Spiritual Qi and stored it in her wrist. This was something she would do every day from now on.
Once enough Spiritual Qi was stored, she would attempt to break through the seal.
But before that, she would continue to carry out the tasks Xu Hei had assigned, to lull the opponent into a false sense of security.
Inside the Spirit Beast Ring.
The Insect Emperor Bai Zhi suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling with disbelief.
Ji Ying also flew out, sharing the same emotion in her eyes.
"What happened? Did that kid die?" Bai Zhi wondered. The Divine Sense imprint Xu Hei had left on her was over ninety percent gone, and she knew exactly what that meant.
"It seems something really happened!"
Ji Ying leaped up, easily flying out of the Spirit Beast Ring. She glanced at Xu Hei, whose eyes were vacant, and immediately returned to the spirit beasts, reporting, "Xu Hei is really gone, it seems like his Divine Sense was annihilated!"
Bai Zhi was initially stunned, then burst into excited laughter.
"Xu Hei, oh Xu Hei, you finally met your end. I, the emperor, am finally free and can leave this cursed place, hahaha!"
Bai Zhi laughed wildly, but her laughter soon stopped.
She glanced at the Spirit Beast Ring, at the mountain of Spirit Stones Xu Hei had recently plundered.
Her insect army had been wiped out, and although she could create more with these Spirit Stones, it would take time, wouldn't it?
"Forget it, I won't go anywhere now. I'll stay here until my insect army exceeds five thousand, then I'll smash this cursed place!"
Bai Zhi might have been worried about being captured if she ventured out alone, so she decided to stay and build an army first, to ensure her safety.
Time flew by, and a year passed.
Since Xu Hei destroyed Tianhen City and appeared once in Ghost City, he had completely disappeared.
Despite this, no one dared to relax. All the cities and strongholds of the five major sects, except for the Divine Puppet Sect and Yan Dao Sect, which were fearless, were disbanded, fearing Xu Hei would come and massacre them.
Until the next passage opened and a new order was established, Xu Hei was someone no one dared to provoke.
In the Northern Desert, within a hidden underground palace.
This place was the headquarters of the most mysterious assassin organization on the outer battlefield, Skynet.
Skynet possessed the most comprehensive intelligence on the outer battlefield. As long as you had money, any information could be bought from them. They were also involved in planning the five-sect alliance's siege of Liefeng City.
In the palace hall, three figures sat, the high-ranking members of Skynet: Qilin, Rosefinch, and White Tiger.
Their strength was always a mystery, as those who had seen them in action were mostly dead.
"Xu Hei has been silent for a whole year, as if he's lost his Divine Sense. Should we make a move?" White Tiger asked.
Skynet had been secretly monitoring Xu Hei's movements, as he was currently the highest bounty target, worth a billion.
Of course, this was the price before the outer battlefield's passage opened. Once it opened, it wouldn't be their turn to act. The Divine Transformation cultivators of the Tianhen Sword Sect would personally take action to kill Xu Hei, without spending that billion.
"Has he really lost his Divine Sense? Are you sure?" Qilin frowned.
"We've already tested it; he indeed has no Divine Sense. Currently, only a quasi-fifth-tier sword spirit is guarding him. In theory, I alone would be enough to take action, but to be safe, I suggest we join forces. We can't afford any mistakes!"
White Tiger, a woman with smooth skin, had the cold, detached demeanor of an assassin.
The atmosphere was silent for a moment, and then Qilin raised his hand.
"Let's not rush. I have a plan!"
Qilin's eyes gleamed with a cold smile, "Isn't the Nine-Headed Snake organization quite prominent now? Why not leak the information to them and let them make the first move, to test Xu Hei's strength?"