The ground had completely opened up, half being sucked up and turned into the Xiao Ye and the monster's strength the rest being used by Hou to power himself.
The world was being exploited and in turn it had become a gaping hole exposing the molten rock below.
Hou was only semi physical and standing in the lava did not affect him; Xiao Ye was using the monster to fly.
But at this very moment, Hou was moving through the air, his body turning incorporeal as all of his power was pulled into a single fist.
The fist's mere aura caused the clouds in the sky to empty and the bright sun become dull in comparison. The light collided with the monster.
Xiao Ye did not have time to do anything, she was still slowed by her own attack being reflected back. The most she could do was hope the power she had built up could handle the attack.
The light collided, the pure strength only amplified by Hou's fully unlocked Celestial Law Amplifying Physique. The strength laws were let loose and dominated the world Dao.
The Dao was always in a balance between any number of laws, but in that moment where Ciao Ye controlled the monster the pure concentration of strength laws dominated the Dao and suppressed all over laws.
Xiao Ye felt the body she controlled start to disintegrate, the earth laws physically transmuting into strength laws.
Thai was partially because of how laws work where they can reinstate and induce those laws but there was more.
Hou had used Flowing Divine Script which did not use intention in the fist attack and when it made contact the Flowing Divine Script did what it did and induced strength laws even further.
Her body was failing and she thought to herself, "This isn't how it's supposed to work! How can he have this amount of power?!"
She rapidly tried to think of a solution before her body turned into strength laws, eventually attack her through the method of controlling the monster.
Her main body squeezed her fist, "Master, it looks like I failed. We need even more strength."
The main body moved and after a few hand sigils she relinquished control over the monster and returned. She stood up and peered far out, "You win this time, but...only partially. Let's see if you can deal with this!"
Her mouth upturned manically and then she simply faded out of existence disappearing. In her stead though she left a present.
Without her at the helm of the monster, it rampaged even further than it was originally as a result of her forced metamorphism.
The strength laws assaulted the monster and it screamed, discordant shouts resounded out. It slightly shook Hou's consciousness but it was spread through the multiple split parts and did not affect the fist.
He was still powering through, but he did not have much time. Inside his mind he spoke to Yue, "How much longer?"
"With strength laws, even being supplemented with the earth...a few breaths now."
"Plan B it is..."
"Take all that you need, I only need the smallest portion to maintain your body subconsciously"
Hou bit his lip and held back his fist. The strength laws which were trapping the monster stopped suddenly.
Hou took a deep breath and pulled back his hand, inside a small dragon lay protected by strength laws. He tired his best and by leaving himself unprotected for a while he used his split consciousness' to inject a certain intention and memory packet into the dragon.
"Celestial Ink, now." He split up the Celestial Ink which his body was formed upon and used all but what was needed to keep form and injected it into the dragon. Then he split the dragon, each half being kept in form with Celestial Ink.
In that moment the rampaging monster flapped it's wings and then a thousand of them copied around Hou. Each one turned into a long servant of sand which trapped Hou within a formation.
Yue was controlling Hou's body but was maintaining control over the strength laws and so could not do anything.
They were at the behest of the monster while they activated 'plan B'. The monster sprouted tens of thousands of arms and each hand had a hand which begun making sigils.
He split up the Blood Dao connection within the Bloodbane Dragon, turning it into Life and Death. Blood wasn't under either entirely, it was in between. In doing so he could weaken the link but split it into these two daos.
While Hou was busy it concocted one final attack purely based on instinct. The sand which it's body was made of after being shattered by it's own laws spun around Hou and made a tornado.
Then a voice could be heard which stopped Hou in his tracks, "Hu Li...help me.."
From within the sandstorm surrounding him discordant voices numbering in the thousands of even hundreds of thousands raved.
At first he could tune them out but then they began drilling deeper and deeper into Hou's mind. He could feel that he was losing control over his own body.
Just as he was losing all ability he spoke out, "Tianmo...did you...lose control?" he begun crying, "I'll keep you company...at least a part of me."
In his final moments before succumbing to the forced sleep of the sandstorm Hou fished his technique. He sealed a part of himself into the dragon, "One life, one death...but each has the possibility to give new life."
The bright light which was spinning within his hand the whole time shot out and broke through the sandstorm as Hou's final movement occurred; a throw.
It shot out at such a speed that one would miss it if they blinked. It shot far north towards the border of the barrier which Hou had sensed.
Hamar and Jin were at the border in the north looking how to break through when Hamar stood up. He touched his head and began wavering but ultimately kept lucid, "Jin."
She looked up, "What is it?"
"Hu Li...has fallen. He's not dead but...he's not awake that's all I can say."
"What happened?! And how do you know, and what do we do now?! Do we fight!?"
Hamar held back his handler and tightened the grip on his sword, "I don't know but I'm sure we'll get the answer in just a few moments."
"What do you mean?!"
Hamar shook his head and looked into he sky, "I don't know, I just...I just know it, he'll give us an answer."
Then before they could see anything the barrier behind them shook, it did not break but a massive forced caused it to shake and even vibrate their souls.
They fell to the ground and winced in pain. Hamar was the first to shame himself off and look at what happened.
However instead of that he saw a light coming towards him at a speed he could barely percept. In that every money in his periphery he saw the same light coming towards Jin.
With little time he let out his mana in an explosion, no control. Hoping it would counter whatever the light was.
However the light did not care and it pierced both Hamar and Jin's chests. Instantly the two fell into a trance as memories flooded into them.
They were not privy to these memories but that could feel emotions. Then they regained control over their bodies and touched their chests.
From within a voice sounded out, "If you're hearing this, plan B has been activated. In that case, I, Hou or Hu Li, have...faced a scenario that I cannot win. In that case, anyone who is hearing my voice has a part of me sealed within Celestial Ink."