In the pitch-black darkness where one cannot see their fingers, a disheveled figure staggered out from the door!

Gu Taitian’s emaciated hand clutched the door frame, anxiously looking up to the sky. With just one glance, he was filled with terror, his body trembling, muttering in dismay, "My son! My daughter! It was I, your father, who brought such suffering upon you! It was I, your father, who brought such suffering upon you..."

The compass in his hand suddenly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Gu Taitian, who was once exceptionally graceful, now only bore the look of absolute despair on his face...

"For you, I secluded myself for many days to calculate your fate across several reincarnations, only to receive such an answer! Only to receive such an answer! My child, it was me and Ruoshui, too selfish, only wishing for you to escape the fate of an early death and be reborn in Another World, without thinking it would lead you to this dire situation..."

"If we stayed in that era, your soul would perhaps still have the chance of reincarnation. But now, trapped in this space and time, everything... everything will be obliterated... The timeless river flows on, father sees nothing but desolation, endless darkness, like now... Time is barren, the sun and moon no longer rise, endless darkness! My child..."

"For me to prophesy the ancient and foresee the present, only to come to this conclusion. How am I to face you? It was I, your father, who brought harm upon you! Your father is guilty! Your father is guilty..."

Saying this, Gu Taitian swung his arms wildly, beating his chest, his once elegant face now a mask of desperate madness...

"My child! My child! I have felt the dissipating presence of your soul..."

"My child! It was your father who made you endure this pain! It was your father’s mistake!"

"Is this the Soul Refinement Heavenly Punishment of the Conquest Realm? Is it that heaven wishes to block my child’s path to life?"

Looking skyward, Gu Taitian’s disheveled hair scattered across his face, an obstinate hue flashing in his old eyes. He raised a finger in rage, "Heaven and earth are ruthless! Why drive one to such extremes? Time is barren, all things perish! You even want to deprive my child of the chance to live in this world! As Gu Taitian, I refuse!"

Saying this, a trace of panic appeared on Gu Taitian’s old face, anxiously pacing on the spot...

"As Gu Taitian, I refuse! Refuse! No one shall harm my child! My child, for whom Ruoshui and I have guarded across two lifetimes! Refuse! Refuse..."

"Bang!"

In his frantic spinning, Gu Taitian suddenly turned, crashing his head into the door frame beside him...

In an instant...

Blood flowed profusely...

"Insect God Manman!"

"Bang!"

"Insect God Manman!"

"Bang!"

"Insect God Manman!"

"..."

With each collision, a shower of blood bloomed atop Gu Taitian’s head...

Blood, dripping profusely...

Stained Gu Taitian’s clothes...

And he, so stubbornly, collided again and again, never ceasing his shout...

"Insect God Manman!"

At this moment, outside the City Lord’s Mansion, upon the Nirvana Martial Arts Platform...

Manman, enduring the Nine-Layer Heavens Thunder Punishment, suddenly stopped its insect body’s struggle, its insect face filled with disbelief, turning in shock to gaze in the direction of the City Lord’s Mansion from afar...

"Insect Body Manman!"

Again, a voice from the void echoed in Manman Bug’s ears, making Manman Bug’s insect features momentarily perplexed.

"Who? Who is calling me?"

"Manman, it’s me! It’s me, Gu Taitian!" The old voice, as if crossing the river of time, suddenly rang in Manman Bug’s ears, "Manman, it was I who forcibly seized your Divine Soul and brought you here—my deepest regrets! More than just regretting for you, I cannot apologize enough to my child..."

"You, vile human! What are you babbling about?" If there is anyone in the world Manman Bug holds the greatest grudge against, it is undoubtedly Gu Taitian!

It was Gu Taitian and his wife who forcefully summoned its Divine Soul back to this place in the Witch Priest Ancestral Temple in Miaojiang!

For a Divine Breath entity to be imprisoned by a mere mortal was undeniably a grave humiliation for Manman!

"Manman, for past events, I, Gu Taitian, offer my life in repayment! I, through a soul that traverses the crevices of time, grant you Void Breaking Force! Help me, help my child survive this calamity, and allow her a peaceful life in this world, is that possible?"

Gu Taitian’s voice, tinged with urgency and frailty, seeped into Manman Bug’s ears.

Upon hearing this, Manman Bug’s insect face immediately scrunched up, "What nonsense are you babbling? I am now in dire straits, dragged down by your daughter, unsure if I can even escape this trial, let alone aid your daughter!"

"You can do it! Even if you cannot now, I, Gu Taitian, will make it possible! As Gu Taitian, I will not allow anyone in the world to harm my child unless heaven and earth vanish! Time is barren! Even the Heavenly Punishment now, I, Gu Taitian, refuse to let it harm my child even a little!"

Upon the platform, Manman Bug, its appearance twisted by the Nine-Layer Heavens Thunderous Light Fire, snickered at those audacious words, "Ha! Gu Taitian, what outrageous claims do you make! You only managed to seize my Divine Soul through luck, catching me while I slept, and now you believe you possess omnipotent powers?"

"Without such powers, how else could I, Gu Taitian, cross the crevices of time and forcibly achieve reincarnation in this space? Manman, I, Gu Taitian, am capable! The reason I could seize your Divine Soul was no mere accident!" At a room’s threshold in the City Lord’s Mansion, a figure covered in blood sat slumped in a pool of blood, hollow eyes staring into the void, insisting in a firm voice from his aged face, "Manman, I am capable! For my child, I will do anything, regardless of the cost!"

"Gu Taitian?" Amid the raging thunderous light fire, Manman Bug turned back, insect face mixed with bewilderment.

At this moment, Gu Taitian, who was slumped at the guest room door, unable to conceal his past elegance, appeared notably desolate. Yet, a trace of smile suddenly emerged on his face—decisive and with a sense of relief...

"Manman, watch over my child for me, keep her safe in this world! At the very least, as long as you exist, let her live freely..."

"Gu Taitian! What are you planning on doing?"

On the platform, the Manman Bug suddenly let out a loud roar.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mu immediately raised his pale face, full of doubt and uncertainty, and looked at Manman...

"Insect God Manman, with my ability to foresee and traverse the heavens and the earth, using my soul passing through the cracks of time as guidance, burning my body, igniting my bloodline, to temporarily awaken your divine body, granting you the ability of Void Breaking... Manman, help my child guide this Heavenly Punishment Thunder into the crack of time, to keep her safe and sound..."

With the echo of this voice, that slender figure drowning in a pool of blood at the City Lord’s Mansion quickly withered away...

The bloodstains on the ground gradually turned into fleeting points of nothingness...

Under the tattered clothes, the flesh rapidly shriveled away...

Threads of vitality slowly gathered in the void, transforming into a crimson longsword. One end of the longsword carried an Eight Trigrams compass and a red palace tassel...

"Go! My Void Breaking Force, born with me, go! Go and replace me, to protect my child..."

With dry lips, he murmured feebly, and as Gu Taitian finished these words, he quickly dimmed away...

"The Lord!"

"The Lord!"

Tasked by Gu Changsheng, Han Qiu and Xiao Cui, serving at Gu Taitian’s door, came with meal boxes, witnessing a scene that left them pale-faced...

"Clang!"

"The Lord!"

"The Lord, what happened to you?"

The meal box fell to the ground, and both Han Qiu and Xiao Cui were shocked, rushing towards the shadow leaning against the doorframe...

...

Meanwhile, at the square in front of the City Lord’s Mansion, on the Nirvana Martial Contest platform, the extracted souls of Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu, their spirit bodies, were about to be completely dissipated...

Yet, for some reason, the blood-red figure of the Manman Bug stood motionless, maintaining a gaze fixed towards the direction of the City Lord’s Mansion...

"Manman..." Bloodstained lips, mottled and unsightly, Zhou Mu called softly to the stunned Manman...

Why...

Why just now, did it call Gu Taitian’s name?

Wasn’t his father-in-law in seclusion, not leaving his room for several days?

At this time, Manman’s previously vacant insect eyes, the small round pupils, were rapidly constricting...

Ignoring Zhou Mu’s call, Manman’s entire focus was on the streak of red light shooting from the City Lord’s Mansion...

From afar to close...

In the blink of an eye!

However, Manman clearly saw, that crimson streak carried all a person’s aura, soul, bloodline, physical body...

Everything, everything!

Gu Taitian!

Manman’s pupils involuntarily dilated!

The Nine-Layer Heavens Thunder Punishment’s lightning fire raged, and the eyes of everyone, both on and off the platform, were focused on the two individuals and one bug amidst the thunder and fire!

They knew, with the Nine-Layer Heavens Punishment, it seemed that... all three caught within were doomed to not escape this calamity!

Is this divine will?

Does the heaven insist on ending the reign of worldly kings, creating chaos and catastrophe in the world?

A mournful atmosphere quickly enveloped the entire square...

They cowered, initially out of fear of the thunderous power of the heavens!

Now, they wept for the two worldly kings about to fall...

Such heaven-blessed talents, falling with one strike, is nothing short of a calamity for this vast world!

However, just when everyone’s faces were grim, lost in the uncertainty of the future, a streak of red light shot from afar to the platform in a blink, forcibly smashing into the circle formed by the Nine-Layer Thunder Lightning Fire...