Chapter 1686: Chapter 867: Corruption The Xiao Family Ancestor was torn with grief and anger. Threads of black mist were seeping into his Divine Thought through the seven orifices of his avatar, invading his Divine Soul, bit by bit eroding, polluting, and corrupting him. The Xiao Family Ancestor couldn’t understand. How on earth had his precious descendant provoked such a terrifying entity? This monstrous presence was akin to the legendary "Evil God" or "Heavenly Demon," a "taboo" even he, the Heaven Void Ancestor, feared immensely. When did such an existence begin spreading within the Qian Learning State Boundary... The Xiao Family Ancestor couldn’t fathom it. But in the face of such a life-threatening crisis, there was no time for deep contemplation. The Xiao Family Ancestor utilized all his Heavenly Secret knowledge, activating a Divine Thought Skill. His Divine Thought avatar started to crack like shedding skin, discarding a whole layer of polluted Divine Thought in a bid to rid himself of the corruption and ensure the purity of his own Divine Soul. Divine Shedding Skill! This was the final and most difficult Divine Secret Skill in the Heavenly Mechanism Skill he had acquired through great fortune. Through this secret technique, one could shed the Divine Body like a snake shedding its skin, preserving the Divine Soul. Although greatly damaging the Divine Sense, it purged the polluted Divine Thought, retaining the purest origin. This was a "cutting off the arm to survive" Divine Thought Skill, created to counter various unknown entities and strange corruptions within the Divine Thought. It was the most challenging secret technique in his inherited knowledge. The Xiao Family Ancestor originally thought he wouldn’t need it in his lifetime. But unexpectedly, his beloved descendant brought him this shocking "big surprise," forcing him to confront this "great horror" with almost no warning. The Xiao Family Ancestor’s Divine Thought began shedding. The skin cracked inch by inch, shedding most of the Divine Thought along with the polluted black mist. A "miniature version" of the pure Xiao Family Ancestor broke out from the abdomen of the shed form, not looking back at the little demon nor at the root of the "horror," fleeing directly beyond the Cause and Effect. The situation was extremely urgent. Time was also of the essence. One needed the determination to "cut off an arm," and grasp this rare opportunity without missing a second. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢 Hesitate slightly, and there would be no place to die or be buried. The Xiao Family Ancestor’s shedded form desperately fled beyond the Cause and Effect. The little demon no longer looked at him, seemingly captivated by the discarded grand Divine Thought of the Heaven Void Realm. The "horrible" existence continued to spread the polluted black mist. It seemed to be on the verge of awakening, missing a certain ritual or a medium to house itself; it was about to awaken but seemed not yet awakened. If it were, just a glance could pollute a Heaven Void. The Xiao Family Ancestor felt a sense of fortune. His luck was bad, yet also extremely good. Otherwise, it would have nearly meant a total disaster. This encounter finally showed him what the "great terror" in the Heavenly Secret truly was. This would greatly benefit his future cultivation in the Way of Cause and Effect. "First, escape out..." The Xiao Family Ancestor fled outward relentlessly, fleeing farther and farther, almost able to leap beyond Cause and Effect, escaping this nightmare. Yet at this moment, suddenly a distortion surged, and the Xiao Family Ancestor seemed to run into something head-on. A stench of rot wafted over. It seemed like a corpse. After the Divine Shedding, the Xiao Family Ancestor raised his head to see a "Copper Corpse," eyes like a sea of blood, body like ancient bronze, towering and fierce. The Xiao Family Ancestor tensed up. The Copper Corpse wasn’t terrifying. In his eyes as a Heaven Void Ancestor, a mere Copper Corpse was just a low-level Zombie in the Foundation Establishment Realm. However, this was within the Cause and Effect, within the Heavenly Secret deduction... Where did the Copper Corpse come from? The Xiao Family Ancestor scrutinized slightly, seeing the Copper Corpse’s eyes, its condescending majesty, the overwhelming Blood Qi, and behind it, the faint image of Corpse Mountain and a sea of blood, sending chills to his core until his organs trembled. "This isn’t an ordinary Copper Corpse, this is... commanding the corpses, born with the sea of blood... Corpse King?" "This damn thing is... Taoist Demon?!" Like the chill of winter, a basin of cold water was dumped overhead. The Xiao Family Ancestor felt icy cold all over, face ashen. He never thought he would encounter such a scene in his lifetime. A bizarre Evil Embryo demon, a slumbering Ancient Evil God, a road-blocking Corpse King Taoist Demon... The Xiao Family Ancestor didn’t know how he ultimately escaped such a scenario. When his Divine Thought struggled back to his own Sea of Consciousness, there wasn’t a hint of relief from surviving the disaster, only endless unease and terror. His Divine Soul bore the wounds of the Taoist Demon, the pollution of the Evil God, and the bite marks of the Evil Embryo. His forehead was darkened, eyes empty, face white as paper, with blood threads at the corners of his eyes. Clearly alive, he appeared like a "living corpse." His Divine Thought, already shed like a cocoon through the Divine Shedding Skill, was thus greatly weakened. Yet despite the extreme weakness of his Divine Thought, his desires were abundant. His heart seemed filled with countless cravings and desires. The Xiao Family Ancestor sat numb, as if bereaved of father and mother, before Xiao Tianquan’s bloodied corpse, muttering to himself: "It’s over..." "The Xiao family is finished, everything, all is finished..." "I... am no longer me, what exactly am I..." The door of the cave mansion remained tightly shut, with no answer. ... Several days later. Aboard the Xia family’s Spirit Boat.