Crimson barriers unfolded in succession, as if completely separating the mortal realm from the heavens.
Yet, a spear of glazed light, condensed to its absolute limit, transformed into a stream of radiance, ascending against the firmament!
The defilement of the path ahead had already been thoroughly incinerated by the pervasive flames.
Now, with the emergence of the crimson barriers, all the corrupting power of the malevolent invasion had virtually solidified into tangible shields.
The collision occurred in an instant!
*Dong!!!*
The piercing spear of flame emitted the sound of a bell being struck by a hammer.
Vast swathes of space twisted and shattered under this tremor, revealing only the void beyond the broken expanse.
And that bizarre crimson barrier, remarkably, remained steady within the void, firmly blocking the spear formed from the supreme fire.
The coldness in the blood-red eyes intensified, growing ever more chilling. The world had not yet fully broken through, and the power it could wield was severely limited.
But!
"Even if I bear the weight of the entire world upon me now! And endure the pressure of half the void!"
"The majesty of a Great Lord is not something you, a mere low-level domain wielder, can presume to offend!!!"
"Lowly creature!!"
"I am the Void Great Lord—Dark Demon! I am the master of blood and shadow!"
"You shall revere me, as you revere a god!!!"
The furious roar within its mind manifested as tangible pressure, unleashing even more terrifying invasive power, causing the rifts in the sky to become increasingly dreadful.
Vast quantities of black liquid flowed from beyond the rifts, beside the blood-red eyes, wantonly streaming towards Chen Luo's world.
The moment the pitch-black liquid entered the world, it turned into wisps of smoke, but wherever the smoke passed, the rifts continuously expanded.
And the small blood-red eyeballs that Chen Luo had just annihilated began to regrow.
The tangible, malevolent invasive force once again assaulted Chen Luo.
At the forefront of the confrontation, the tip of the glazed spear, pressing against the blood-red barrier, seemed to faintly flicker with an ominous crimson hue.
Under the impact of the pressure, the Dragon Maiden's form plummeted sharply. This was the suppression of a higher existence; even a domain-level Dragon Maiden found it somewhat unbearable.
But amidst the monster's enraged roar,
A laugh echoed through heaven and earth. The glazed flames burned ever more fiercely in Chen Luo's pupils.
Accompanied by his unrestrained laughter, Chen Luo, without evasion, stared directly at the bizarre blood-red eye in the sky, and forcefully extended his right hand, pointing directly at the blood-red eye above:
"Gods?!"
"I, Chen Luo, owe allegiance to neither heaven nor gods!"
"In all my actions, I only heed my own heart!"
"If you are a god! Then I shall slay gods!!!"
The youth, with glazed flames flickering in his eyes, stood between heaven and earth, forcefully swinging down his raised right hand!
"This strike!"
Tangible, surging mental power and domain power suddenly surged from Chen Luo's body, transforming into a river of energy that poured madly into the flame spear currently confronting the blood-red barrier in the sky.
The flame spear, originally condensed to its absolute limit, visibly grew brighter with the infusion of new power!
At the spear's tip, the trace of ominous crimson that had been stained upon it was instantly burned away.
The Dark Demon Great Lord in the sky sensed a hint of unease.
The power being wielded by this anomaly was, even among domain-level entities, undoubtedly formidable.
It had not yet fully broken through the blockade, and could no longer mobilize stronger forces!
The Dark Demon Great Lord's sinister and venomous gaze fixed intently on Chen Luo:
"Human!! Stop!!!"
"If you continue to resist! Once I capture you, I will extract your soul!"
"And torment it for ten thousand years!!!"
Chen Luo paid no heed to the blood-red eye's threat, his spirit, energy, and mind all condensed to a certain apex.
All his power was focused into the flame spear in the sky.
Seeing Chen Luo's lack of reaction, the Dark Demon, while issuing threats, secretly accelerated its process of breaking through the world.
But the battlefield changed in an instant.
The next moment,
*Crack...*
A minuscule sound of cracking reached Chen Luo's ears.
His eyes suddenly lit up, and his power output reached its absolute peak at this very moment!
The flame spear, which had been pressing against the crimson barrier, began to spin violently!
"Break through the heavens for me!!!"
In an instant, the spear had rotated hundreds of millions of times!
The mental and domain powers attached to it, through this rotation, transformed into an incomparably sharp intent to break through!
"Human!!!"
The Dark Demon, sensing that something was amiss, was already too late!
*Hum!*
One rotation!
The crimson barrier shattered!
Second rotation!!
The glazed drill pierced directly through the blood-red eye in the sky!
Third rotation!!!
The terrifying piercing intent turned the rift in the sky into a furiously spinning, multicolored vortex.
The blood-red eye and the distorted rift vanished completely!
Chen Luo gasped for breath. After his wings blurred, he plummeted downwards, his head bowed.
The Dragon Maiden's expression changed, and she immediately transformed into her adult form and flew up.
Chen Luo's vision went black, and a soft, yielding sensation accompanied by a startled cry:
"Master!!"
Chen Luo casually placed his hands on the Dragon Maiden's shoulders, pulling his head out of the undeniably real, milky fragrance.
That last strike had, for the first time, completely depleted Chen Luo's bottomless mental power.
Mental power could be converted into mana through the system's mechanisms, or recovered through skills.
But in that fleeting moment, with the enhancement of his domain power, Chen Luo's output had nearly exceeded his limit.
Thus, after the strike, Chen Luo experienced a long-absent feeling of being drained.
Of course, even if Chen Luo had fallen directly from the height of ten thousand meters, he would have been fine, as he was quite durable.
However, his newly acquired mount, Miss Dragon Maiden, proved to be quite helpful. Seeing Chen Luo in danger, she directly "attacked" him with her chest.
Chen Luo expressed his deep gratitude, but the moment he thought of the Dragon Maiden's true form, which resembled a child, his interest instantly waned.
Unacceptable! Although she was tens of thousands of years old, and a mount, she was still a child!
Shaking his head, his internal, depleted mental power had already recovered by more than half:
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Chen Luo's dual wings of light and darkness unfurled again behind him, and he tilted his head to look up at the sky.
The massive multicolored vortex, drilled out by the spinning flame spear earlier, had shrunk considerably in mere moments.
The opening torn by the Dark Demon was an anomaly of the world.
Chen Luo's attack, in that instant, had completely dissolved the anomaly, seemingly transforming into a larger vortex.
But Chen Luo's power possessed no malevolent contamination of the world.
After Chen Luo's power dissolved the malevolent energy, the world was better able to repair the rifts caused by the foreign invasion.
The massive rift that had torn the sky apart had shrunk to the size of a continental plate.
Judging by its progress, it would be completely repaired soon.
But,
"Ahhhhhh!! How dare you!!!! Human!!!!"
*Boom!!!*
A massive, crimson arm suddenly pierced through the still-shrinking multicolored vortex.
Countless immense rifts mercilessly tore at the Great Lord's arm.
The Great Lord's pained and enraged roar sounded simultaneously with the world's lament!
It would no longer consider the cost!!
This was the true invasion!!!
[Warning!!! Void Great Lord class creature detected, attempting to breach the first act game world!!]