The suspended runes caused Yuan Zijing considerable annoyance. Alas, once he redoubled his efforts to break them apart, he found that a sadder fate awaited him.

He was completely lost.

It was as if he had been dropped into a labyrinth with strange dimensions of space leading in every direction.

As an experienced god, Yuan Zijing knew he was trapped by a formation.

Amid his confusion, he suddenly noticed a golden bell overhead. When the instrument pressed downward, he felt a tremendous pressure. A beam of light enveloping him drained his strength.

A resulting storm of attacks of every kind landed upon him.

Yu Gong was astonished. He hadn’t even warmed up yet, but Yuan Zijing was already splayed like a dead dog upon the immaterial ground of the Nine Labyrinth Formation. Their target could no longer put up any resistance.

The sight of his old acquaintance being dragged out made him rather grateful. He’d been in the first wave of raiders upon the Eternal Sacred Land.

The sallow cultivator who’d come with him had been captured and handed over to Divine Kasyapa.

The two enforcers, on the other hand, had been outright refined into life essence. Their lives had been extinguished in the process.

He was the lone survivor. Rather than dying, he’d barely suffered at all. The choice to change sides had clearly been a wise one.

Just like the wart-faced cultivator before him, Yuan Zijing was now Jiang Chen’s prisoner.

Old Lightford’s two divine helpers had both been stripped from him. The old man was without anyone to command.

“Lightford, you old dog,” Jiang Chen’s voice echoed from the void. “Your two lackeys are already in my hands. When do you intend to resist until?”

This statement was more effective than any actual attack. Lightford’s heart sank instantly. Had Yuan Zijing and his comrade failed?

How was that possible? The Eternal Sacred Land’s gods were all fighting him! The only ones left should’ve been demigods at best. Even accounting for the sacred land’s defensive formation, they would’ve capitulated in time. How had his men lost in the end?

Did the Eternal Sacred Land have other powerful fighters in reserve?

It was extremely unlikely that the enemy was lying. Unmasking a lie like this would be instantaneous.

“Can it be...” A terrible premonition washed over Lightford’s consciousness.

His two subordinates should’ve spoken up instantly to refute the claim, but Yuan Zijing and the other god were both still silent.

A lingering sense of malaise unsettled Lightford. How unknowably strong was the Eternal Sacred Land, really?

Did it have more gods beyond the three before him? Or were the ten sacred lands’ forefathers all hidden here, awaiting his arrival perhaps?

Impossible!

A cursory examination revealed the foolishness of his daring supposition.

The fighting would’ve intensified long ago if that was the case. The ten forefathers would’ve rushed him, given their incredible numerical advantage.

The fact that that hadn’t occurred meant that the enemy didn’t have that many forces to spare. The forefathers weren’t here. What that implied though, was more terrifying still.

Old Lightford had naturally investigated the ten sacred lands beforehand in his ambition. He knew what level they were at.

He had always thought that the ten divine forefathers were the sacred lands’ greatest assurance. In his opinion, they weren’t worth much. He believed that he had plenty of methods to strike them all down.

Alas, the battle of Sandplain had proven that the sacred lands weren’t as easy to deal with as he’d first thought. This feeling was growing exponentially stronger with his time here.

Deep down, he wanted very much to ask whether the sacred lands had been hiding their strength all along.

“Haha, are you still brave enough to say you’re not afraid, Lightford?” The grating voice of Kasyapa sounded once more.

Lightford flashed an incensed snarl.

“Very good, very good. I see that I’ve underestimated the Eternal Sacred Land. I’d like to see how much more you’re hiding!” The old man roared. Blue light surged all around him as his voice grew louder, culminating in the appearance of two horns on his head.

The horns were as peculiar as could be and runes flitted about him like fireflies, even more peculiar still.

“What is that?” Jiang Chen was flabbergasted by Lightford’s transformation.

An Jiashe whitened. “I heard a rumor that Old Lightford received a primordial heritage in the Boundless Prison. It seems that the rumor is true.”

“What heritage?” Jiang Chen frowned. Several primordial methods flashed across his mind that resembled the change Lightford was undergoing.

“It’s supposed to be called ‘the Myriad Transformations of Spirits or something like that. A master of it can mimic various kinds of primordial creatures’ form as well as access some of their abilities. Back in the prison, no one ever saw him use anything like it... but it turns out that the rumor wasn’t baseless after all,” remarked An Jiashe soberly.

Evidently, he was quite wary of Lightford in his current state.

‘The Myriad Transformations of Spirits?’

These words lit up Jiang Chen’s mind.

Though it sounded somewhat similar to ‘The Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods’ Jiang Chen had cultivated in the past, they were drastically different methods.

The latter was also called ‘The Nine Variations of Buddha’s Warrior Attendants’, and was intended to temper and protect one’s body. At its upper limit, it granted a certain degree of invincibility to the cultivator.

This ‘Myriad Transformations of Celestials’, on the other hand, simulated the shape of all kinds of primordial creatures. Its ability to resonate with the bygone spirits’ bloodline powers was heaven-defying.

“What is he transforming into? A primordial Skysplitter Ox, is it?” Jiang Chen furrowed his brow thoughtfully, intent on the flickering image of the creature in the distance.

Divine Kasyapa was totally lost. He barely knew anything about the primordial era. But what he did know was that Old Lightford would be much harder to beat now.

He wasn’t quite sure whether their three-god band would hold against their new and improved opponent.