"Little Zeel, I’m going to need you to hide inside the Heavenly Samsara Formation, okay?"

Sol whispered to Little Zeel, but his eyes never left Cian who was floating towards him.

There was a natural suppressive force for outsiders in this world. His Fist Intent created a Domain around him and Little Zeel to alleviate some of its effects, but it was still causing Little Zeel to tremble uncontrollably.

Looking up at Sol, Little Zeel said worriedly.

"You’re hurt Big Brother."

Over Sol’s right brow, a small cut was oozing blood. However, this blood was rather strange as it shimmered with a faint golden light. Perhaps if one didn’t look closely, they wouldn’t be able to notice this weird aspect.

"It’s okay, it’s already healed."

"Okay, be careful Big Brother."

Little Zeel said, accepting being placed into the Formation. His strength wasn’t adequate to help Sol in this current situation.

The blue rune on the back of Sol’s hand appeared and pulled Little Zeel inside.

Sol’s gaze still remained fixed on Cian. He didn’t have time to think about why this was happening to Cian, his only thought was how to get out of here.

’I don’t know how different the concepts of Domains are on the Eastern Continent from those on the Western Continent. But if they’re the same, there are two ways to escape. Either I forcefully tear appart the Domain with my own, or I defeat the owner of the Domain.’

The first option was out of the question for Sol. He had just formed his Domain so there was no way he could use it to tear appart a powerful Domain like this.

As for the latter option... wasn’t this situation too perfect? A wet stone came and presented itself to him.

Sol suddenly grinned.

"Okay, I wasn’t expecting to find such a good grindstone. Bring it on."

Despite the slightly disadvantageous situation he was in, Sol didn’t feel anxious or worried, instead, his battle intent skyrocketed to absurd heights.

Due to Sol grinning, the blood on the side of his face shifted before sliding down his cheek to stop at his chin. However, he paid it no mind.

His gaze was on Cian who was now a few tens of meters floating in the air away from him.

Now that he was closer, Sol was able to see a strange tattoo on his forehead. It was a circle with a single horizontal line running through its middle.

When Sol looked at the strange tattoo, it caused his very soul to tremble, so much so that he had no choice but to look away.

’Is that a bloodline tattoo?’

Sol speculated; however, he got the sense that it wasn’t. Rather, the strange tattoo felt similar to his Holy Crest.

Sol’s eyes couldn’t help but narrow.

’Don’t tell me he’s a God’s Chosen? Is it Keres Holy Crest?’

Sol wasn’t sure, he had never asked Little Abdu what the Holy Crest on Su Jin looked like.

"Child of the Titans..."

Sol was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by Cian’s voice. It sounded grating to the ears and monotone, but when he heard the words Cian used to address him, his pupils couldn’t help but constrict.

Now Sol was slowly coming to the conclusion that this wasn’t Cian.

Thia creature in front of him wore an indifferent expression as he continued.

"Thou soul has broken the Empyrean Law of Chaos; no being shall forsake thy fate. With thy authority, thy will correct what is wrong. You will now be judged."

Those words caused Sol’s heart sunk a little, as he was reminded of the price his mother paid to resurrect him. She had broken an Empyrean Law and was killed by its backlash.

He might have underestimated the current situation. He wasn’t dealing with a cultivator; instaed he was might be dealing with a being from that place.

After passing judgement onto Sol, Cian waved his hand towards him.

Sol wanted to retreat, but a mysterious black energy suddenly entered his feet from the ground. His Fist Intent Domain surrounding him proved utterly useless in blocking it and was instead torn apart like paper.

The moment the strange energy entered his body, Sol felt pain assaulting his senses. His feet turned black and wrinkled, looking like his flesh was rotting.

The smell of decay had even started wafting from his body.

The strange energy was on the move and was quick to spread throughout his entire body, invading his flesh, his blood, and even his meridians and acupoints.

Sol’s heart shook as he felt his cultivation base dissipating under this strange energy’s effects.

There was absolutely nothing he did could stop this thing from spreading, neither his Fist Intent nor Aether Energy could stop it. They could only dissipate under its strange properties.

The unknown energy converged around his Mortal Palace and Spiritual Palace.

The three seals on his Mortal Palace stopped this strange energy briefly, but they were quickly being eroded. In only a matter of moments, the energy would invade his Mortal Palace and destroy the base of his Immortal cultivation, severing his path to Immortality.

As for his Spiritual Palace, the energy had already seeped into his Energy Core/Upper Dantian and was corroding everything as it went for his Innate Dharma inside.

His Innate Dharma swayed frantically as it sent out powerful fluctuations of Wood Aether Energy to force back this strange energy. However, this energy seemed to be of a higher level than the seedling’s Wood Aether Energy, as it was instantly crushed in an overbearing manner.

Only a split second had passed since the strange energy invaded Sol’s body. Now along with his skin rotting, dark red flowers started blooming from his skin.

This scene was simply bizarre and horrifying to witness.

Suddenly, the strange energy started to invade Sol’s mindscape.

Inside, there was a white sea that stretched for eight hundred meters.

Floating above this white sea was a golden translucent version of Sol.

The strange energy seemed to find what it was looking for as it shot towards the golden figure, like a wolf pouncing on prey.

However, at that moment, the sun tattoo Holy Crest appeared on the golden figure’s forehead and erupted with uncontrollable fury that could shake the heavens.

It was as if a wolf had brazenly entered a lioness’s territory to hunt its cub.

The Holy Crest’s reaction was quick and vicious. It sent out a blinding golden light that pierced this black energy and forced this seemingly invincible energy back.

Its golden light then spread throughout Sol’s body and fully expelled this invading energy out of him.

However, this strange energy had managed to come in contact with one of Sol’s soul fingers. The translucent finger turned pitch-black before it started dissipating.

But thankfully, this amount of that strange black energy was negligible, and the dissipation was soon halted by the golden light.

The Holy Crest seemed more enraged by this, and it looked like it wanted to burst out of Sol’s body to find the source of this energy to eradicate it. However, it pulsated on the golden figure’s forehead before disappearing in the end.

After the strange energy was forced out of him, Sol dropped to his knees and panted. Just now, it felt like he was dying all over again! Epecially when that energy touched the finger of his soul, it was like that finger no longer existed.

With that, he understood that his soul was mere moments away from finishing what his mother had stopped.

’Mom.’

Sol thought back on the Holy Crest’s reaction, but he soon snapped out of it since now was not the time.

With a thought, Sol’s once black and rotten flesh started to heal under his Innate Dharma’s ability. At the same time, the strange red flowers on his skin wilted before falling to the ground.

However, he realized two things just now that made this situation even worse for him.

First, this strange energy wasn’t destroyed by his Holy Crest but was instead forced out. Meaning it wasn’t like the Holy Energy those of the church used, it was on a similar level as his own Holy Energy.

And second, there was no Aether Energy in this place, including Wood Aether Energy.

Without Wood Aether Energy, that effectively placed a cap on his Innate Dharma’s regenerative abilities. Once he ran out of Aether Energy, he could no longer heal.

Sol slowly stood up and looked up at Cian.

Cian looked back at him. He seemed unconcern that his actions of enforcing an Empyrean Law had been impeded.

However, if one looked closely, one would realize that his gaze was lingering on the blood on Sol’s face specifically.

Unbeknownst to Sol, when he had dropped to his knees before, the drop of blood hanging under his chin had fallen onto the ground and was then absorbed into the gray soil.

Cian’s gaze had been lingering on his blood ever since.

"Child of the Titans, as thou have denied being judge, thy now have the authority to take action against thee."

Cian extended his hand, his palm facing downward.

"Torch Light."

With those actions, the void behind Cian violently rippled as a massive illusory image of an unlit torch appeared.

It was around two hundred meters large, with its staff taking up a majority of its length.

It was floating horizontally in the air and Sol was able to see carvings on it, of what looked like lost souls burning in hellfire. At the same time, he felt an archaic aura radiating from it.

The torch flickered between corporeal and incorporeal as if it were a projection of an object rather than the real thing.

Sol’s Fist Intent swirled around his body more vigorously as he stared coldly at Cian.

The battle was going to start.

However, at that moment, the torch suddenly turned and became inverted. Illusory black flames then erupted from its mouth causing the ripples around it to become even more violent.

Then, out of nowhere, a broadsword shot out of the ground and aimed for Sol’s throat from below.