Before Lin Mo went down to take the Celestial Shuttle Hub, he scanned the store’s inventory and picked out peculiar store products that could be instantly used, especially the ones that would boost his survivability. After all, he had no idea if he would be hit by a stray wave of Highland Energy, strong enough to annihilate him, once he transported himself right in the Core Area. He had to be sure he’d survive his first few seconds before he could provide the necessary support to take down the last desperate attempt of the Dreilling to hold onto the Anchor.

Then, while doing so, he kept the feed from Liu Xiaoyu’s vision as he monitored the current state. With the appearance of the Highland Sovereign Avatar, the fight immediately ensued. With her father and grandfather there, they naturally didn’t want her to join them in confronting something with a strength of at least 2 stages higher than hers. In fact, no matter how much of a prodigy she was, her current peak Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation couldn’t cope with that difference. She’d just be suppressed. It’s already quite a feat for her to help the Ancestors in taking down the unsuppressed Flesh-Shaper Xylos.

At the moment, only Liu Tianfeng, Liu Zhongzhu and the Spirit Severing Ancestors were resisting the Half-Step Law Integration Stage Highland Sovereign Avatar.

The Sect Masters and the Nascent Soul Stage experts retreated behind and they took refuge inside the divine artifact’s influence, with their primary task being to protect Liu Xiaoyu.

Lin Mo’s fingers danced across the holographic inventory interface. He needed absolute mitigation, even if it was only for a fraction of a second.

He selected a few highly specialized, single-use items that he usually reserved for the most desperate of customers.

[Item Acquired: Aegis-Weave Emergency Blanket]

[Grade: High Earth-Grade]

[Effect: When draped, it creates a localized vacuum that absorbs and nullifies one direct energy attack up to the Void Refinement Stage. Turns to ash upon use.]

[Item Acquired: Adrenaline-Surge Espresso Shot]

[Grade: Mid Spirit-Grade (Consumable)]

[Effect: Bypasses spiritual exhaustion, forcefully stimulating the nervous system to grant a 300% increase in reaction speed and perception for ten seconds. Severe crash post-consumption.]

He put them away and made his way to the main store’s Celestial Shuttle Hub area.

Around two minutes later, he stepped out of the hub right next to the Sunken Caverns Anchor.

Even at this moment, Decrint Tribe and a few Hybrids and Amalgamations were still pouring out of it. Liu Jingshan and Chieftain Borok were leading the cultivators and barbarians in suppressing them.

When they saw Lin Mo walk down towards the entrance of the Anchor, they all thought they were imagining things.

However, when a Decrint Tribe Skirmisher suddenly jumped at Lin Mo, they only saw his spear drawing an arc and a splash of blood before the bisected body of the foreign creature dropped to the ground.

"Shopkeeper? Where is he going?" One of the sect cultivators couldn’t help but mutter.

"He’s going inside the Anchor? What’s happening inside?"

"Something must’ve happened that required his presence."

As they wondered about that, Lin Mo descended the steps. He pressed the silver cube in his chest and the [Decanus Set] quickly covered his body.

Then, he accessed his inventory from the Store Token and pulled the blanket out, draping it around his body. After that, he downed the espresso shot. The bitter, hyper-concentrated liquid hit his stomach, and instantly, the world seemed to slow down.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

"Alright," Lin Mo exhaled, a visible cloud of energized breath escaping his lips. "Time to deliver some customer service."

—

Back in the Core Area, the Highland Sovereign Avatar, despite its diminutive, child-like form, proved itself a nightmare.

Its Reality Warping ability surpassed the Spatial Manipulation that Liu Tianfeng could unleash.

Patriarch Liu Tianfeng hurled a compressed sphere of violent purple lightning at the entity.

It was an attack that could have leveled Fanling City.

However, the child-like Avatar merely thrust its arm forward as though trying to catch it.

But before it could reach it, its hand turned into a fist. The lightning sphere seemed to be caught in space and got squeezed like a balloon, turning into a shower of harmless, violet flower petals that drifted gently to the cavern floor.

"What in the cursed heavens..." Liu Tianfeng roared, his stormy aura faltering for a microsecond in pure disbelief.

That microsecond was all the Avatar needed. It pointed a finger back at the Patriarch. A beam of concentrated Highland Energy, thick as a pillar, shot forward.

Liu Tianfeng crossed his arms, channeling his spiritual energy into them. But the beam easily pierced it as it appeared to strike directly at his concepts.

He was thrown backward, crashing through the wall, coughing up a terrifying amount of blood.

"Patriarch!" Liu Zhongzhu screamed, abandoning his defensive stance to rush to his father’s side.

"Stay back!" The old man coughed, forcing himself up and returning to his previous position. "Its attacks... they carry the weight of a different world’s laws. As a Void Refinement Stage cultivator, I’ve only started grasping a minor Void Law. I’ve only comprehended the very basics of its concept. But that thing... it could harness a different set of laws."

Nearby, Ancestor Swordpoint was faring marginally better, relying on the absolute speed of his sword intent to avoid confrontation, but he was losing ground. Yu Qingmei’s verdant soundwaves were being swallowed by the Avatar’s [Concept Devourer] trait before they could even reach it.

And like them, the other Spirit Severing Ancestors were suppressed. The only reason they’re still standing was because the Highland Sovereign Avatar is focusing on the greatest threat in the form of Liu Tianfeng.

Kneeling beside the broken cocoon, Vespera, with a pale face, was channeling more of her Highland Energy into the entity, acting as a tether to keep the unstable, premature creation from tearing itself apart.

"You cannot win, natives," Vespera’s telepathic voice sneered, though it lacked its previous haughty resonance. It sounded strained. "Submit to the new order."

She looked down at the countdown timer.

[06:12]

Six minutes until the Highland Realm sent their actual, high-level reinforcements through the stabilized portal. If that timer hit zero, Liu Tianfeng would not only have to face that avatar but also Dreillings, Mind-Weaver or Flesh-Shaper alike, with the strength comparable to his.

They would have to retreat, and the Sunken Caverns Anchor would become a territory of the Dreillings.

"It’s not up to you, witch." Liu Tianfeng replied before he once again charged in. He disappeared from his position, leveraging his Spatial Manipulation to immediately reach the avatar, forcing it to engage him in a melee.

After all, that’s his specialty.

His whole body seemed to turn into purple lightning, each of his punches equipped with the terrifying power akin to a heavenly retribution.

He struck the air a hundred times in a single breath, a barrage of lightning fists that formed an inescapable cage of destruction around the child-like Avatar.

Yet, the Highland Sovereign Avatar merely tilted its head. Its blank, mercury-like eyes didn’t even track the fists.

It activated its [Concept Devourer] trait.

The purple lightning, carrying the absolute destructive intent of a Void Refinement master, didn’t shatter against a barrier or deflect off a shield.

The moment the fists made contact with the air an inch away from the Avatar’s skin, the concept of ’impact’ and ’destruction’ was simply... eaten.

The lightning lost its luminosity and it dispersed harmlessly before it could hurt the avatar.

"What in the nine hells?!" Liu Tianfeng roared, his momentum completely stolen. He was forced to retreat using Spatial Manipulation just as the Avatar swiped a hand at his previous location.

The space there folded inward like a crumpled piece of paper, erasing a chunk of the cavern wall.

Ancestor Swordpoint, seizing the opening created by Liu Tianfeng’s retreat, unleashed his ultimate strike. "Cloud Severance!"

A blade of condensed sword intent, so sharp it sliced through the residual Highland Energy in the air, shot toward the Avatar’s neck.

However, the Avatar simply raised a single finger.

[Reality Warping].

The sword intent, a manifestation of pure lethal will, suddenly blossomed into a flurry of harmless, blue butterflies that fluttered around the Avatar before dissolving into nothingness.

"Our attacks are meaningless!" The White Ember Sect Ancestor gasped, his hands trembling as his most potent white flames were turned into cold, harmless snow the moment they neared the entity. "It is immune to the very laws we wield! It is overwriting the Dao of our attacks with the absurd laws of its own realm!"

Next to him, the Azure Gale Ancestor, Crimson Vale Ancestor and Lightning Amethyst Ancestor were also feeling the sense of helplessness.

Vespera, bleeding profusely from her eyes and nose as she was almost depleted of her own reserves, let out a mocking laugh.

"You cannot fight a Sovereign, natives. It is not a creature of flesh and blood. It is a walking manifestation of the Highland Realm’s absolute authority. You are trying to cut the ocean with a sword!"

The situation was dire. The Ancestors were out of options. They couldn’t even scratch the Avatar, let alone bypass it to destroy the Convergence Engine. And the timer in the corner of their vision was mercilessly ticking down.

[05:48]

It was at this precise moment that a spatial distortion appeared in the middle of the Core Area. A second later, a figure clad in a silver armor suit walked out of it.