The once-dim cave was now completely flooded with light, and the surrounding stone walls were rapidly dissolving.

The flesh surrounding Elder Life Crane was the first to melt away into nothingness, leaving not even a trace behind.

The He Tou was suddenly interrupted, instantly thrown into a state of weakness and frenzy.

The moment Elder Life Crane sensed the eruption of power, he tried to flee the cave and escape the light's reach.

But by the time he moved, it was already too late.

For what engulfed them was not just the power of the Light Magic, but also an unknown and terrifying sealing force!

Almost at the same instant the light erupted, innumerable silver tentacles surged forth from the void at the center of the blast.

In a mere instant, the mass of silver tentacles filled the entire cave, engulfing Elder Life Crane.

Wherever the silver tentacles touched Elder Life Crane's body, his flesh immediately merged with them, rapidly twisting and being assimilated.

More and more tentacles swarmed toward him as if drawn to him, coming in a mad rush.

Elder Life Crane struggled desperately to escape, but his entire body had already been assimilated by the tentacles, as if glued to them.

He forcefully tore at his own flesh, which stretched like an elastic band before snapping apart piece by piece.

Copious amounts of blood poured from his body, only to be vaporized by the light.

The silver tentacles, however, were also within the light but remained completely unaffected, as if the two forces had merged into one.

The He Tou shrieked incessantly, its cries growing weaker and weaker.

Its previous frenzy to kill Yang An was gone. It now hung limply from Elder Life Crane's shoulder, uncontrollably spewing large amounts of black ash from its beak.

Seeing this, Elder Life Crane—his body being torn apart and dissolved—gritted his teeth. He ripped the flesh from his own hand, grabbed the He Tou, and forcibly shoved it into his neck.

The moment the He Tou's head touched his neck, Elder Life Crane's flesh began to rapidly fuse with it.

His body began to contort. A scarlet flame suddenly erupted around him as dense red feathers sprouted all over his body, intertwining with the fire.

At that moment, his head transformed into a monstrous crane's head. The crest on top sank into his flesh, and in its place, the original human face of Life Crane emerged, its features twisted into a hideous grin.

The scarlet flames flared, trying to resist the corrosion of the light and tentacles.

This was a Power of Rules he had mastered from a Xianyuan Forbidden Artifact, but its might was greatly diminished under the suppression of this world's own Power of Rules.

'It's not enough!'

His face a mask of ferocity, Elder Life Crane reached up and plunged a hand into the human face atop his head, gouging an eyeball from its socket.

The eyeball was smooth and perfectly round, unstained by a single drop of blood.

Elder Life Crane then clenched his fist, crushing the eyeball.

When he opened his hand again, his palm was covered in eyeballs.

Elder Life Crane held his hand out in front of him, and suddenly, a series of crisscrossing prisms materialized around his body.

The prisms formed layers of barriers that began to slowly hold back both the light and the tentacles.

But Elder Life Crane was clearly under immense pressure, and he began to roar with exertion.

Having finally forced a gap between the light and the tentacles, he immediately tried to escape through it.

But the next moment,

CRACK CRACK CRACK—

Countless fissures suddenly spiderwebbed across the prisms before they shattered violently.

The innumerable prisms exploded into shards that pierced Elder Life Crane's body, causing the flames around him to flicker and dim.

The eyeballs on his palm popped like bubbles, gushing streams of black blood.

'This is... a Forbidden Artifact?!!'

As he watched the tentacles surge toward him once more, Elder Life Crane's heart plummeted, and despair washed over him.

'A sealing ability! This is the Power of Rules of a Seal!'

'But he could never have imagined how Yang An could possess a Forbidden Artifact, let alone wield its power so perfectly!'

'That's a power only those of the Insect Dao are supposed to master!'

A Forbidden Artifact meant its Power of Rules was complete, without any imperfections.

A complete Power of Rules held an absolutely crushing advantage over a fragmented one.

If he weren't on the Outer Continent, if he weren't suppressed by its Power of Rules...

...he could have easily contended with a Forbidden Artifact by relying on the power of his Xianyuan Forbidden Artifact Fragment.

But now, all he could do was watch helplessly as the tentacles swarmed him again, burrowing into his body, ravenously corroding and assimilating his flesh, sealing away his very being.

HUM!

Elder Life Crane was not resigned to this fate. How could he be!

Monstrous flames erupted from his body as he mounted a final, desperate resistance.

The red feathers covering his body bristled, standing straight on end without a wind to stir them.

The cave was now completely gone. The light had dissolved everything around it, leaving only a massive crater in the mountainside.

And all this had happened in the span of just two breaths since the light first erupted.

He had schemed for so many years to get to this point, to gain his current strength. He was getting closer and closer to the Insect Dao.

If he could just enter the Insect Dao Realm, he could ascend to the heavens in a single step!

'I absolutely cannot be sealed!'

'Absolutely not!!'

One by one, the bristling red feathers suddenly stabbed back into Elder Life Crane's body, drilling deep into his flesh.