"It seems you don’t understand me." Gazing at the raised head, gazing at that towering throne, the towering skeleton, He Ao sighed softly.

He calmly held the light in his hand, his arm slowly applying force, "Do you know why I’ve always avoided the whirlpool before?"

The skeleton sitting high on the throne slightly lowered its gaze, watching him, "Wasn’t it to preserve your own life?"

In an instant, fierce flames erupted from that arm, enveloping the purple light held in his hand.

"What are you doing?!" A thunderous voice suddenly exploded in the sky, and the massive skull giant immediately raised its hand, its forearm naturally falling away, as the massive skeletal palm reached down toward He Ao.

"Yes, it was to preserve my own life," He Ao tightly held onto the dazzling light, letting the purple light overwhelm his entire body, "because at that time, I still had children in this world."

That massive skeletal palm descended like a cliff wall horizontally slamming down, aimed at He Ao’s body.

But just before the palm could fall on He Ao, it was engulfed by the surging purple light.

At this moment, the small and thin flame-wrapped skeleton had disappeared.

Only strands of bright purple light drowned out the small figure, then lifted, then expanded.

Like a towering giant, swiftly elevating and ascending.

The skeletal hand was struck by this towering light giant, instantly knocked away and flew back into the surging dense fog.

The skull giant sitting on the bone throne raised its head, watching the expanding purple giant in the brilliance, its remaining hand tightly gripping the armrest, "You’re insane! Doesn’t it hurt?!"

The hand in the sky descended, connecting with the disjointed arm below, he raised his head, with the purple flames in his eye sockets burning vigorously, seemingly puzzled, somewhat lost.

"I guess," the purple light condensed into a vibrant giant in the dense fog, outlining an elderly figure, the elder lowered his head, gazing at the skull giant below, "You abandoned your flesh and blood long ago."

"When I embarked on the transcendent path, my mentor, the former Pope, told me that on the road to immortality, flesh and emotions are the biggest stumbling blocks," the skull giant gazed at the purple giant, speaking hoarsely, it watched He Ao, "Your actions today further validate this viewpoint."

He Ao calmly stared at the massive skull giant, at this moment his soul was violently and painfully tearing, as if his reason and madness were battling every second, he smiled and said, "It seems I didn’t guess wrong, this is the subsequent Talent Sequences of ’Hell Manager.’"

Since the seal was destroyed and the contents of the Illusory Heart were exposed at that moment, he had been trying to control and ’absorb’ this thing.

He knew very well, this thing, is likely the Angel Tier Talent Sequences corresponding to ’Hell Manager,’ otherwise the skull giant wouldn’t have spent so much effort nurturing so many ’Hell Managers’ to adapt to this thing.

"Among all the people I’ve met, you are the most ’bold,’ the skull giant calmly watched He Ao, "You know, trying to promote to angel without any Secret Medicine preparation or ceremony is a sure way to die."

"If I can take you with me before I die," He Ao smiled watching him, "That would be a good thing."

"Flesh and emotions, truly the poison leading people to destruction," the skull giant shook its head, "You think what you’re doing now is strong, capable of threatening me, you believe your so-called ’grief’ can give you endless amplification, allowing you to defeat powerful foes."

Its body slightly rose, slowly standing up from the heavy bone throne, "But that’s just your wishful thinking."

The terrifying pressure descended from the firmament, the surrounding dense fog at that moment also trembled like boiling.

Strands of thin purple threads tightly connected the skull giant and the massive bone throne, as if adhesive sticking the two together, pulling out long strips.

Bright radiance flickered on those strips, emitting a suffocating aura.

The oppression spreading in the void also entwined He Ao’s body at this moment, piercing into his body, piercing into his soul, gripping his throat.

His newly formed purple giant body momentarily flickered violently, twisted madness began to erode his mind, making his consciousness gradually chaotic.

Under this terrifying pressure alone, his body underwent dramatic changes and tremors.

And in this instant, his purple giant body started to tremble violently, like a flickering light bulb, about to shatter at any moment.

His chaotic consciousness transmitted into his body, causing both his body and power to show signs of collapse.

He Ao raised his gaze, looking at the standing skull giant in front, a stream of gray-purple light surged from within him, like a framework supporting the body, completely supporting his massive purple body.

His flickering body stabilized, the surging and ample power filled his body.

He Ao calmly stared at the skull giant before him, raspily said, "Whether it’s wishful thinking, you have to try to know."

Brilliant light abruptly erupted from within his body, entwining around his body.

He raised his hand, gray-purple light extended from within him, forming a longsword of intertwined gray-purple light.

He grasped the longsword.

Boom—

Accompanied by a roaring sound, intense flames ignited on the longsword.

"It seems the existence behind you," the skull giant raised its head, looking at He Ao holding the radiant longsword, calmly remarked, "Provided you with quite a lot of Grace, but these, in wanting to fight against me, are indeed wishful thinking."

It raised its massive skeletal hand, lightly pressed on the void.

The calm void instantly trembled, then immediately ripped open with dark fissures.

The giant skeletal hand closed inward, grasping these dark fissures.

The numerous scattered narrow fissures seemed to be bound by invisible forces, like chains, pulled by the skeletal hand.

The massive skull giant raised its head, the purple flames burning fiercely in its eye sockets.

It gazed at He Ao, raising the chain of fissures in its hand, calmly said, "The existence behind you is the so-called ’K,’ right?"

He Ao slightly raised his head, looking at it, "What makes you say so?"

"’K’ appears in the Federation every six months and performs a Divine Grace. If we calculate the time, it’s been about six months since he last appeared," the Skull Giant gripped the Crack Chains, his massive jaws rising and falling, "and this time, our actions are strongly related to him, so his response is only natural."

He lowered his head, gazing at He Ao, "It’s expected for him to choose you as a breakthrough point; after all, you’re both entangled in the center of the events and have enough motivation for ’revenge’ against us. Although I’ve made a slight misjudgment about your character and life, there’s no problem with this logic."

"It seems you suspected my connection with ’K’ early on?" He Ao gazed at him calmly and smiled, "Then why didn’t you make a move against me earlier?"

"You are not the core of this plan," the Skull Giant said coldly, "Your arrival here was somewhat unexpected for me, but also quite interesting, don’t you think?"

"You don’t seem to believe your own propaganda that ’K’ is the incarnation of the Grim Reaper?" He Ao asked casually, holding the longsword in his hand.

"Some things can be used to deceive the ignorant believers, but their truth needs to be understood personally. Ignorant people often cannot grasp profound truths. Most of the time, giving them an illusion, a reason they can convince themselves with, is more convenient than telling them the truth."

The Skull Giant quietly looked at He Ao, "The truth of the matter is that the entity behind you is the prey of my master."

His tone paused slightly, "And you, are my prey."

"You have a lot of confidence?" He Ao raised his head, glancing at him, then grasped the sword in his hand and suddenly moved forward.

His towering body, like mountains, cut through like a purple stream of light, stirring the surrounding mist and creating waves of wind.

Yet the Skull Giant seemed utterly unconcerned, he lifted his hand and tossed the Crack Chains forward.

Boom—

Accompanied by a world-shaking sound, He Ao’s body revealed itself in the void.

And the thrown Crack Chains struck precisely against his sword, blocking He Ao’s blade.

But the movements of the Crack Chains did not stop there; instead, they wrapped around He Ao’s body in a coiling motion.

He Ao withdrew immediately, the sword light flickered as quickly as electricity, colliding against the chains, producing clanging sounds.

Each clash with the chains caused a crack to appear on the gray-purple sword.

It was as if the Crack Chains were a set of mouths, rapidly devouring the longsword.

As He Ao retreated, the Crack Chains pursued forward rapidly, biting at his heels.

Ultimately, the longsword in He Ao’s hand was almost completely ’eaten,’ he discarded the sword, leaping backward fiercely, cutting through a thick fog, crashing into a tall building, his foot plunged deep into the ground, almost sinking his entire calf to stabilize himself.

"I must admit," the Skull Giant raised his hand, the Crack Chains swirling in the air suddenly retracted, flying back to his grasp. He gazed at He Ao and said calmly,

"You truly are the most suitable ’bearer,’ even after enduring such intense attacks, without any ritual or Secret Medicine preparation, under forced promotion, you can still control the power of the Talent Sequences."

He raised his hand again, with a slight twitch, the Crack Chains instantly straightened, transforming into a sharp spear. He gazed at He Ao and continued calmly, "I will keep part of your soul."

"Then control me," He Ao stood up straight, gazing at the Skull Giant before him, smiling, "Further controlling the Talent Sequences within me?"

The strength of the Skull Giant slightly exceeded his expectations.

He knew clearly that there were certainly many key points he hadn’t fully grasped yet, he could only probe forward.

This Copy World’s time was too rushed, he simply had no more time for investigation, information gathering, his manpower was also insufficient, nor could he try casting a wide net.

He could only rely on the information he had to piece together the truth behind this.

"I know you’re still fantasizing about defeating me with your so-called ’rage,’" the Skull Giant gazed calmly at He Ao, his eye sockets lacked pupils or eyes, only burning with two cold purple flames.

He seemed like an emotionless machine, gazing at He Ao and raising the spear in his hand, "But the disparity between you and my strength is like the difference between the sky and the earth, like the vast world and the tiny speck of dust."

He looked at He Ao, "Do you feel that after mastering the angel’s Talent Sequences, your strength doesn’t seem to have increased much? Do you know the name of this Talent Sequence you consumed? ’Shepherd Spirit Emperor,’ it has never been a combat-oriented Talent Sequence."

In the next instant, the Crack Spear slashed across the sky, arriving before He Ao.

Puff—

The spear pierced through He Ao’s illusory shadow, diving into the mist.

At this moment, the illusory shadow gradually dissipated, He Ao’s body suddenly appeared in front of the Skull Giant.

The violet-gray longsword had once again condensed in his hand, the terrifying power converged at the tip, aiming at the Skull Giant’s neck.

The surrounding dim space tore open into tiny cracks, the whole world seemed to tremble slightly under the sword light.

"Your combat skills are quite impressive." The Skull Giant gazed calmly at He Ao, and as the sword tip was about to reach his body, he slowly raised his hand.

His action was slow yet appeared like a flash, instantly appearing before He Ao’s sword tip, grasping the violet-gray longsword.

He gazed at He Ao calmly, "But the true Shepherd Spirit Emperor, also carrying Divine Grace, died under my hand. You, under forced promotion and relying on the Grace of a third-rate existence, how could you defeat me, highly blessed by the Divine Grace?"

Boom—

The Skull Giant suddenly clenched his palm, the violet-gray longsword shattered instantly, scattering into dazzling brilliance.

Puff—

The slender Crack Spear emerged from the mist at some unknown time, appearing like a flash, piercing backward through He Ao’s body.

He Ao withdrew a bit, grabbing the spear embedded in his body, suddenly exerting force, pulling it swiftly out.

He raised his head, looking toward the Skull Giant in front of him. His massive body, mingled with violet-gray hues, flickered uncontrollably, and his figure seemed hoarse and weak.

"Your power has already surpassed the angel’s Position?"