Lieyan Yuan shook his head and chuckled to himself. He looked a bit dejected.

Ever since he learned the so-called truth from Tian Qi, a hint of anger had been welling inside his heart.

The reason he spent so much effort to create the Perfect Blood was for himself.

Naturally, he couldn’t be happy knowing that everything he did benefitted the Imperial Soul Monarch only.

This meant that the Imperial Soul Monarch had tricked him from the start to the end. He had used him to take control over the Perfect Blood.

Even now, he still couldn’t free himself from the Imperial Soul Monarch’s shadow. He thought that the Imperial Soul Monarch was dead after his battle against the Saint God, but Qin Lie, the reborn Imperial Soul Monarch with a perfect body, had shown up right as he was about to enter the ultimate realm to stop him.

The irony was that he was the reason Qin Lie was able to come this far.

How could he possibly accept this?

“So what if he is the Imperial Soul Monarch! He didn’t even recognize himself, did he? He hasn’t returned to his peak strength or reached the ultimate realm!” Lieyan Yuan shouted savagely. “I still have a chance!”

Tian Qi shook his head with a bitter smile. “No you don’t. He’s here now, so it’s already too late for you.”

“What?” Lieyan Yuan shouted.

“He can stop you without having to enter the ultimate realm.” Tian Qi let out a sigh. “Lieyan Yuan, just admit defeat already and give up entering the ultimate realm while you still can. I’m pretty sure he’s only aiming to master the perfect body, and he isn’t targeting me or you.”

Tian Qi looked toward an unknown corner of space. “The Saint God of the shadow beings is his true enemy.”

“When he regains his memory and steps into the ultimate realm, the final battle between him and the Saint God will take place.”

“All you and I can do is wait for that battle to be over.”

“If he wins, you and I will live as long as we don't even think of replacing him as the strongest expert of the universe.”

“If he loses, this universe will need another expert who can fight against the shadow beings.”

“Only then will our chance to enter the ultimate realm arrive. Only then will he not interfere with our breakthrough.”

“So Lieyan Yuan, give up, while you still can.”

Tian Qi tried to change Lieyan Yuan’s mind.

“No! I will not!” Lieyan Yuan roared. “I’m one step away from entering the ultimate realm, and he… he hasn’t fully awakened yet! I will become the strongest expert of the universe before him! I will be the one to slay the Saint God after I enter the ultimate realm!”

“Whoosh whoosh!”

As if in response to his fury, boundless ocean of flames spread further toward the distant space.

Even more dead stars were devoured by the flames and turned into dim, dark dots.

At the heart of the fire, Lieyan Yuan continuously unleashed the laws of fire with eyes that burned like the brightest suns of the universe.

“This could’ve been avoided,” Tian Qi muttered to himself while sighing.

He hummed for a second before looking at Qin Lie. “I won’t do anything for as long as you exist in the universe. I will wait patiently until your second battle against the Saint God is over. If you win, I’ll never aim to surpass my current realm and power. But if you lose, I will follow in your footsteps and fight against the shadow beings in your stead.”

After that, Tian Qi’s wizened figure slowly disappeared from the burning space.

Several seconds later, Qin Lie couldn’t even sense his aura anymore. He knew that Tian Qi had left the area.

Tian Qi’s departure meant that he wouldn’t take part in his battle against Lieyan Yuan. It meant that he was leaving everything to him.

His departure also meant that he knew he was no match for Qin Lie.

“I don’t even know if what you say is the truth,” Qin Lie commented with a frown.

Qin Lie himself was wondering about Tian Qi’s speculation.

Even now, he still couldn’t be sure if he was the Imperial Soul Monarch.

However, Tian Qi’s speculation was definitely not baseless.

After some careful thinking, he had a feeling that Tian Qi’s guess… might really be the truth.

His feeling was supported by the fact that a portion of his soul seemed to be hidden inside the Soul Suppressing Orb.

“I don’t care who you are, but you won’t be able to stop me without putting up a good fight!” Lieyan Yuan said with a cold snort.

“Sizzle!”

The rivers of fire he conjured were at least dozens of kilometers long.

They joined together to form what looked like the most profound of the universal laws of fire.

A fiery aura that could burn realms to ash exploded from an angry Lieyan Yuan.

Qin Lie’s pupils shrank slightly. He could see that Lieyan Yuan’s fury and the infinite well of flames were stretching toward all nearby star regions.

It meant that Lieyan Yuan had succumbed to anger, and that he was willing to do everything in his power to enter the ultimate realm to kill him, no matter the cost.

“Shred! Sizzle!”

The fire was so terrible that it even caused this cold and desolate corner of the universe to collapse.

Countless out realm light leaked in from the chaotic streams of space and filled up the place.

Lieyan Yuan was also well-versed in spatial energy, and he seemed to be using it to fuel his fiery energy further.

Gripping the Galaxy Mirror tightly, Qin Lie examined the crumbling space carefully through narrowed eyes.

When Lieyan Yuan unleashed his full power, It was as if he had become the heart of fire of the entire universe.

There were countless realms and strange places in the universe that burned with fire.

They all seemed to be attracted to Lieyan Yuan after he unleashed his power completely.

The light flowing in from the chaotic streams of space contained the power of fire. They seemed to come from different corners of the universe.

He even sensed the volcanoes of Boluo Realm where the Flame Race lived were gushing like mad.

Spatial rifts suddenly appeared without warning at every fire-related area within the Celestial Artifact Sect’s territory.

“Swhoosh swhoosh!”

The fiery energy buried deep at the core of the earth and boiling lava entered the spatial rift like they were drawn to it.

The rivers of flame instantly became one with the lights of the outer realm.

The swimming rays of light were then drawn to Lieyan Yuan’s side.

The fiery energy of Boluo Realm, the Land of Chaos, and countless known or unknown realms were boiling up due to Lieyan Yuan’s power.

An unimaginable amount of terrifying firepower was pouring across the chaotic streams of space and into this corner of the universe, enhancing Lieyan Yuan’s power by the second.

Even the fiery energy existing the upper one hundred levels of the Abyss had gone out of control, Qin Lie noticed.

Flaming Sun Purgatory and Molten Rock Purgatory were unaffected by Lieyan Yuan’s power though.

But that didn't matter, as every other world, realm, or Abyss level had had their fire energy drawn toward Lieyan Yuan.