As He Ao’s thoughts drifted, the thin man in front of him once again raised his hand.

A shimmering brilliance lit up in the void, and the translucent orb that had just shattered in He Ao’s hand now glowed like a flame in the thin man’s palm.

"The Soul Peeping Pearl cannot be destroyed," the thin man lifted his gaze, looking at He Ao with a cold smile on the corner of his mouth.

He stared into He Ao’s eyes, observing the grey-purple glow swirling around the edges, and chuckled lightly, "As expected, you’ve taken refuge under a Divine Being, receiving His grace. Otherwise, with your normal power, you wouldn’t have been able to dodge my attack just now, let alone counterattack."

As he spoke, he paused slightly, pondering, "Let me guess, which Divine Being have you taken refuge with,"

He watched He Ao’s expression, as if trying to discern something from He Ao’s face, "Is it ’K’? Your son is a believer of ’K’, let me guess, did you deliberately sacrifice your ’son’ to gain the favor of the Divine Being?"

As he spoke, Medala, sitting amidst the flames, instinctively lifted her head, taking a glance at He Ao.

Then she withdrew her gaze, looking at the thin man, and sneered, "As the saying goes, a wild boar sees everyone as a wild boar, a piece of shit sees everyone as a piece of shit. I think you piece of shit, you’re the one sacrificing family members, and you think others do the same."

He Ao hadn’t expected Medala to speak up for him; he turned his head slightly and glanced at Medala.

Medala took the opportunity to wink at him.

"Since Hawke is dead, you are of no use to me anymore," the thin man said coldly, glancing at Medala, "Once I’m done with Hawke, I’ll send you off."

"Oh, then your attack on Hawke must have been very successful." Medala said with a laugh.

This made the thin man’s expression completely cold.

He no longer looked at Medala but turned to He Ao, his voice hoarse, "The God’s Chosen possess strength and favor far beyond ordinary people, but even among them there are ranks. Do you know what the God’s Chosen compete for?"

He raised his hand, gripping the orb tightly, and then with great force.

Bang—

The orb burst apart, scattering into a sky full of purple brilliance, "It’s the Divine Being’s favor!"

"Why did he suddenly go mad?" Medala, now much recovered, stood up and looked at He Ao, questioning with some confusion.

"He can no longer defeat me." He Ao casually remarked, watching the brilliance scatter across the sky.

And as he spoke, He Ao’s entire body was enveloped in blazing flames.

His body had already broken free, charging directly toward the thin man shrouded in purple brilliance.

"You won’t stop the Divine Being’s grace!" the thin man exclaimed excitedly, looking at He Ao, laughing loudly as he started to inflate like a giant balloon.

Seeing this, He Ao’s body froze abruptly, then vanished from the spot in an instant.

The skeletal figure draped in a white robe, standing nearby, also charged out at that moment.

Bang—

He Ao’s body reached the thin man.

And at that moment, the white-robed skeleton almost simultaneously arrived.

The flame-covered hand slapped down on the white-robed skeleton, and in an instant, the blazing fire enveloped the skeleton.

The entire white-robed skeleton shattered, scattering into countless pieces engulfed by flames.

"No—" the thin man, seeing this scene, widened his eyes in rage and pain, screaming hoarsely.

He Ao: ?

Wasn’t that white-robed skeleton being controlled by him to charge up?

That white-robed skeleton didn’t have a self-possessed soul, but the thin man’s soul was within it.

"You killed my wife, I’ll kill you!!!" But at this moment, the thin man seemed to go mad, staring at He Ao and shouting in a frenzy and rage.

Whoosh—

It seemed as if the breathing of the wind sounded on the earth, and the enclosed giant factory seemed to ’come alive’ at that moment.

The old machinery enveloped in the blazing fire started to ’sway’ gently.

But the swaying was not a mechanical vibration, but a subtle tremor like the squirming of flesh, as if these machines all gained life at that moment, trembling and swaying gently like grotesque pieces of flesh.

The darkened sky pressed down at this moment, and the surrounding space contracted, breathing, roaring, like an angry heart beating violently.

And the thin man, with this intense rage, his whole body expanded to its maximum, like a balloon blown to its limit but tightly bound and wrapped by purple brilliance.

Then, with a light ’bang’ sound.

The thin yet gigantic body of the man, like the translucent orb under pressure, burst like a balloon blown apart.

In that instant, the world fell into utter silence.

Medala lifted her head, bewildered as she looked at the surrounding blazing flames and the empty sky, hesitantly asking, "Did he just play himself to death?"

"No," He Ao swiftly glanced over the writhing darkness and the breathing-like space, shaking his head slightly, "He has completely turned himself into a monster."

Medala paused for a moment, not quite understanding what that meant. Behind her, the flames that had been burning fiercely suddenly dimmed as if directly extinguished, and were completely snuffed out.

Subsequently, the flames beside her were also extinguished in an instant.

Then the flames surrounding He Ao also went out.

All the flames within the factory, at that moment, were completely extinguished, leaving only the faint glow of firelight entwined around He Ao.

The dim darkness surged out like a storm, enveloping He Ao’s now fiery skeletal form, even suppressing the flames around He Ao to mere bare bones.

And the sparks burning on the edges of the bones.

The fierce darkness surged, attempting to snuff out that single spark as well.

Some form of invisible force began to spread along the darkness onto the bones, forming faint, dark black spots upon them.

But in the next instant, with a flash of grey-purple brilliance, the blazing fire ignited like arms supporting a massive mountain, burning brilliantly on the bones, pushing back the surrounding darkness and enveloping He Ao’s body once more.

He lifted his head, looking toward the breathing-like surging darkness surrounding him.

The scattered purple power had now completely merged into the surrounding space.

This was yet another operation that He Ao hadn’t seen before.

Normal Divine Grace typically involves Divine Grace merging into the Prayer’s body.

But this time, Des integrated his ’self’ into the Divine Grace.

The Divine Grace imprint within his soul did not transform into his own power, but rather, he entered the imprint himself, becoming part of it.

Then, using his own consciousness, he drove a part of the imprint.

In a certain sense, he turned himself into the self-consciousness of the Extraordinary Items, thereby maximizing the potential to wield the power of the Extraordinary Items.

He Ao didn’t know who designed this imprint, but undeniably, this designer’s research and mastery of souls has reached a terrifying level.

Of course, this imprint also comes at a cost, which is that if the owner of the imprint’s power is still present, accessing the power of the imprint requires the owner’s consent, and the owner can at any time assimilate this soul, ’devouring’ it.

"Has this whole factory turned into a monster?" Medala’s gaze swept through the engulfing darkness around them, quickly saying, "This thing appeared in Ains, why didn’t the stationed angels in Ains react? Even if Mr. Boris’s perception was shrouded, what about the other angels?"

"The angels stationed in Ains, most of them have likely left." He Ao stood in the center of this darkness, his body ablaze with flame, gazing at the darkness in the sky.

As soon as he entered the city, He Ao clearly sensed the weakening of the alert network, faintly feeling some changes had occurred among the angels of Ains.

The alert network itself is sustained by a group of angels and a cluster of high positional grade transcendent items in Ains. Even if angels were aiding the Church of the Grim Reaper, from He Ao’s mystical understanding perspective, it’s difficult to deceive all angels.

After all, the abilities of angels are strange and varied, all possessing a high positional grade, and the points of surveillance are completely different.

Unless the traitor is the creator of this alert network or someone who thoroughly understands all the angels’ abilities and traits, and has substantial interference authority over the alert network.

He Ao guessed this is unlikely; with such a cooperative, the Church of the Grim Reaper wouldn’t need to act so furtively.

Given the current situation, most angels in Ains have likely departed, leaving maybe one or two behind.

Even the angel aiding the Church of the Grim Reaper has left; the Church only used his leftover backdoor to briefly interfere with the alert network, blinding the remaining angels’ perception.

"Hawke, you are indeed very clever, and also very ruthless," the writhing darkness slowly descended, outlining a humanoid figure, gazing at He Ao below, a smirk at his lips, "You were so mercilessly ruthless towards such a beautiful beauty."

······

He Ao glanced at the incomplete skeletal remains on the ground nearby, silent for a moment.

"I can see you will become a significant obstacle to the Church," a low and raspy voice, seemingly squeezed out through some sort of inhaling and exhaling compression, surged from the dark visage, "So, I must eliminate you, for the eternal death that is to come."

"Wait a moment," He Ao raised his hand, looking at the dark face in the sky, suddenly saying, "Do you know Elijah?"

"Elijah?" the dark face paused for a moment, then rasped, "A unfamiliar name, but I don’t recall it."

He looked at He Ao, the darkness throughout the space surged again like a breath, "It doesn’t matter what you say now, only death awaits you."

"Wait!" He Ao raised his hand again, continuing to ask, "Then does your Church have any heretics?"

"Of course," the black visage answered without hesitation, a slight, uncontrollable rage in its tone, "All heretics shall be subject to the most severe punishment of death! No exceptions!"

"No exceptions?" He Ao continued to ask.

"No exceptions!!!" the black face shouted angrily again, gazing at He Ao, "No matter what you want to say! Death shall ultimately come!"

He Ao gazed at the black visage, his eyes pausing slightly, lowering his head to ponder.

A terrifying storm of darkness instantly surged around, rushing towards He Ao’s body.

"Be careful!" Medala instinctively opened her mouth.

But He Ao seemed to be still in thought, and just as the dark power was about to hit his body, his foot moved slightly to the left.

As if he was strolling leisurely, the black storm passed right by him, almost brushing against his body.

Yet He Ao continued lowering his head, contemplating the earlier conversation.

The knowledge and abilities Elijah possessed did not seem to belong to a character with no background from a small place.

After all, a book recording the history of divine wars was just placed there without any care.

During the Rock City dungeon, when He Ao first entered the dungeon world, he did not understand much about the world, nor was his expertise in mysticism advanced.

But looking back now, the books involving the divine being’s secrets are indeed forbidden and terrifying knowledge, and even if one is unaware, simply being in long-term contact with such knowledge carriers could attract the divine being’s gaze.

He Ao stepped forward, dodging the dark forces rushing from behind.

Elijah preserved such forbidden knowledge, had she not borne any cost?

That’s not right, as a B-level individual, she was blind and disabled, was that her cost?

Then, from where did she acquire such forbidden knowledge?

She was a believer of the Grim Reaper; from current circumstances, the Federation’s Church of the Grim Reaper seems quite favored by the Grim Reaper, yet she appeared not to have received such favor.

And as a powerful B-level individual, even disabled, she could obtain plentiful resources in the Federation’s center.

Yet she secretly fled to the small city of Rock City in the Northern Borders, plotting for years, aiming to sacrifice the city to please the Grim Reaper.

These actions reveal a peculiar abnormality.

During He Ao’s recent probing inquiry, Des seemed not to recognize Elijah.

A strong B-level entity who worships the Grim Reaper, the Church of the Grim Reaper has no information about her?

Of course, it is possible that Des simply didn’t recognize her.

It seems that the Church of the Grim Reaper itself might be concealing some sort of secret.

While pondering, He Ao continued to sidestep, avoiding the attack of dark energy.

In this leisurely stride, he had actually dodged numerous attacks.

It seemed as if he was merely walking forward, and the attacks naturally avoided him.

"Impressive." Medala instinctively commented from a distance.

In that instant, twisted dark power suddenly surged, instantly enveloping Medala’s body.

Almost simultaneously, the enormous dark visage suspended within the darkness coldly said, "Always chattering."

At this moment, He Ao also raised his head, glanced at the darkness in the sky, slightly raised his hand, "Found it."