At the moment of contact, they were drawn into an unknowable void dimension, and the connection of the rules was forcibly distorted and interrupted.

Seizing this opportunity, Bai Cheng's figure slipped away like a swimming fish. With a flash of silver light, she appeared on the other side of the altar, her gaze sweeping toward the immovable core.

"Trying to destroy the core?" Atum snorted coldly. He didn't pursue Bai Cheng, but instead formed a hand seal and pressed it onto the edge of the altar.

The altar glowed brilliantly, and the immovable core floating above suddenly projected several dark-gold beams of light. They interlaced in the air, instantly condensing into three law avatars that resembled Atum in appearance but were composed entirely of dark-gold energy.

Their auras were slightly weaker than the original body, but they similarly radiated dense, heavy rule fluctuations as they pounced toward Bai Cheng from three directions.

Meanwhile, Atum's original body strode toward Bai Cheng, forming an encirclement with the three avatars.

His steps seemed slow, yet they carried the effect of shrinking the earth to an inch, crossing dozens of meters with every step, exuding an intense sense of oppression.

Bai Cheng fell into a predicament of one against four. Under the suppression of the Thousand-Jun Prison, her speed and spatial manipulation were greatly compromised, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

However, just then, the sound of intense energy explosions and the shattering of sand statues echoed from the entrance of the cave.

Zi Yuan's purple blade light was the first to slash in, shattering a sand statue that tried to block the way. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Immediately after, Qingniao's lightning, Leng Ningxue's ice storm, and Yu Nian's giant vines poured in one after another, instantly clearing the puppets at the entrance.

"Miss!" Zi Yuan took in the situation at a glance and slashed her blade toward one of the law avatars without hesitation.

Qingniao turned into a bolt of lightning and crashed directly into Atum's original body: "Your opponents also include us!"

Leng Ningxue's ice mist spread, attempting to slow down the law avatars' movements, while Yu Nian's vines drilled out from the ground like earth dragons, coiling around Atum's feet.

The arrival of her teammates instantly shared the pressure and broke the suppressed situation Atum had meticulously created.

Facing Qingniao's surprise attack, Atum had to turn and throw a punch. His dark-gold fist energy collided with the Thunder Spear, erupting in a deafening roar. Both sides retreated several steps, surprisingly evenly matched.

"Hmph, so your helpers have arrived?" Atum's golden pupils swept over the crowd. He showed no fear; instead, his battle intent surged. "Fine, I'll catch you all in one net. The laws and energy extracted will be even purer!"

He stomped his foot heavily, and the altar's light intensified. More dark-gold energy surged from the immovable core, injecting into him and the three avatars, causing their auras to climb again. Their bodies became more solid, and the pressure of the rule domain grew stronger.

A fierce melee broke out completely within the cave.

Zi Yuan's blade techniques were sharp as she tangled with one avatar, her blade light constantly clashing with the dark-gold fist shadows.

Qingniao transformed into lightning, engaging in a high-speed offensive against Atum's original body, lightning and dark-gold light interlacing and exploding.

Leng Ningxue and Yu Nian teamed up to deal with the other two avatars, their cooperation seamless with freezing frost and binding vines.

Bai Cheng's pressure was greatly reduced. She no longer tangled with the avatars, her gaze locking tightly onto the altar and the immovable core.

She saw that Atum's power was closely linked to this law core, and the altar was the hub for conversion and control.

"I must cut off his connection with the core, or... destroy the core itself," Bai Cheng thought rapidly.

Directly attacking the core would likely trigger an uncontrollable law riot; the risk was too high.

Therefore, the target was the altar, or the energy connection between Atum and the altar.

Observing Atum's movements, she found that although he was valiant, every time he launched a powerful attack or called upon a large amount of rule power, an imperceptible dark-gold energy flow would connect his feet to the altar.

"Now!" Seeing that Atum's aura stalled slightly after another hard clash with Qingniao, requiring a moment to draw energy from the altar, Bai Cheng moved.

She highly compressed her remaining Power of Space at her fingertips, ignoring the attack from a nearby avatar, though Zi Yuan still forced it back with a timely blade strike.

Her figure appeared next to the briefly visible energy flow between Atum and the altar with a speed akin to spatial flickering.

"Spatial Severance: Line!"

The silver light at her fingertips acted like the sharpest blade, slicing through that dark-gold energy flow.

Without a sound, the energy flow connecting Atum to the altar snapped and dissipated like a rope cut by a sharp blade.

"What?!" Atum's body jolted violently, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» his aura showing obvious disorder and a sharp drop.

He felt his connection with the immovable core being forcibly interfered with, and his power supply instantly became sluggish.

In the instant he was dazed, Qingniao's Thunder Spear, Zi Yuan's blade light, Leng Ningxue's ice spear, and Yu Nian's piercing vines—a combined attack the four had been preparing for a long time—slammed into him from different angles simultaneously!

BOOM—!!!

An earth-shattering explosion rang out inside the cave.

Atum's massive body was submerged by violent energy. Shards of dark-gold armor mixed with blood splattered everywhere. He let out a roar of agony, and his entire person flew backward like a tattered sack, crashing heavily into the edge of the altar and cracking the hard structure.

As the original body was heavily injured, the three law avatars instantly became blurred and unstable, then dissipated into a sky full of light specks with a "pop."

Bai Cheng did not stop. Following closely behind, she appeared in front of the heavily injured Atum in a flash of silver light, her palm pressing lightly against the bull mark on his forehead.

This time, she met no strong resistance. Atum's aura was withered, and his rule domain had long since collapsed.

The silver Power of Space turned into the finest probes, penetrating his chaotic consciousness and heavily damaged soul defenses to reach his core memories.

Fragmented images and information flooded into Bai Cheng's mind:

An endless pink mist core, a palace of black emotional energy... a blurred figure of a leader sitting on a throne... twelve zodiac marks floating, among which Pisces was already dark and Taurus was flashing violently... The leader's voice echoed: "Collect the emotional primers, stabilize the foundation of the ley lines, the next step... requires the Bridge of Stars..." More broken words—"Realm Fusion," "Ascension Ritual"... as well as blurred regional images of other zodiac generals' activities. They were similarly collecting or modifying some special law power in different ways across the Emerald Sea and even broader sea regions.

A moment later, Bai Cheng withdrew her hand, the silver light in her eyes slowly receding, her expression incredibly solemn.

Atum had completely fainted, his aura faint.

"How is it?" Qingniao asked, retracting her spear.

Bai Cheng looked at her companions and spoke the key information she had investigated in a heavy voice:

"It's consistent with our guesses. Taurus Atum, along with the deceased Pisces, both belong to a general system called the 'Twelve Zodiacs,' directly serving that leader at the Mist Source Core."

"Their mission is to be responsible for collecting or transforming specific types of law power in the Emerald Sea and its surrounding areas."