C1585 The Moving Blood Bank
In the frigid expanse of the starry sky, a colossal azure fish, its body clad in shimmering silver scales, surged forward with great speed. As it passed, the moisture within the energy of the stars seemed to be drawn by its bloodline, spontaneously gathering together. In the wake of its departure, slender streams of water would quietly emerge in the cosmos. Yet, after some time, these watercourses, born of its passage, would gradually vanish. These occurrences were the unintended consequences of its mere presence.
It seemed that wherever the Chaos Roc traveled through the Outer Star River, amidst the murky and tumultuous stellar energies, any presence of water energy would be transformed and coalesce due to its influence. This was the manifestation of its innate divine power, the very essence of its bloodline.
"The core of the Chaos Roc's lineage is indeed the water of the cosmos. The Law of Water, the Heavenly Dao, is intrinsic to its being, an intricacy etched into the heart of the beast from the beginning. The lesser portion of life's true essence was only acquired when it ventured to the Origin Blood Continent and received a measure of favor," Yu Yuan mused.
He extracted the Dragon Slash Platform from his dantian, cradling it gently in his hands, his perceptive abilities immensely amplified. Gazing across billions of miles of interstellar distance, he could discern the Chaos Roc and understood that its primal bloodline was the water from innumerable stars and worlds. It was no surprise, then, that the Chaos Roc bore the form of a vast azure fish.
At that moment, he pondered whether Lvliu, as the supreme embodiment of the Law of Water in the Boundless Great World, possessed the strength to contend with the Chaos Roc.
"Eh?" Yu Yuan exclaimed softly.
Within his microcosm of Qi and blood, the Yang God, resembling a crystalline stalactite, sported a deep green prismatic crystal, within which tiny bolts of lightning flickered and crackled. This prismatic crystal appeared to have formed within the Yang God after it had assimilated the Qilin Heart.
During his time in the Great Swamp, as he smelted the Qilin Heart, he discovered that the thunderous Dao Law the Qilin had mastered had been wiped clean by the Demon Phoenix. Beyond the rich vitality it exuded, the Qilin Heart held no more secrets.
Yet, after receiving the boon of the enigmatic relic deep within the Origin Blood Continent, the Yang God had been tempered into this new form. Remarkably, a segment of dark green prismatic crystal, corresponding to the Qilin, had emerged, and within this crystal, he could sense a hint of profound mystery.
"So that's how it is," Yu Yuan said with a sneer.
He suddenly realized why, upon viewing the image of the Chaos Roc through the Dragon Slash Platform, the dark green prismatic crystal corresponding to the Qilin evoked in him a sense of familiarity. Inside that very crystal lurked a faint aura of the Chaos Roc.
The Qilin was not a Starry Behemoth and was quite ancient, grappling with the imminent end of its lifespan.
The Qilin had managed to survive until now by consuming copious amounts of the Chaos Roc's blood!
In its early years, the Chaos Roc had captured a fragment of life's essence on the Origin Blood Continent, infusing it into its heart to create a series of Bloodline Crystal Chains imbued with life's profound truths.
The Giant Beast Soul Amber that Yu Yuan had once acquired was the essence of the Chaos Roc's blood, drawn directly from the core of its heart and thus containing a segment of life's true essence.
While the Chaos Roc's blood lacked the mystical depth of the Soul Amber and was devoid of life's true essence, it possessed life-extending properties.
The Qilin, nearing the end of its natural life, had extended its existence by feasting on the blood of the Chaos Roc.
"It's truly a sad state of affairs," Yu Yuan remarked with a wry smile.
Without much contemplation, he surmised that the Demon Phoenix, who had confined the Chaos Roc within the Ember Waters, must occasionally visit to forcibly extract its blood.
The Demon Phoenix used the Chaos Roc's blood as a reward, bestowing it upon members of the Demon Race who had made significant contributions.
The Qilin, ever faithful and diligent in her service, had received an abundance of the Chaos Roc's blood from her, thus repeatedly delaying its demise.
She had refrained from disturbing the Chaos Roc's heart or the Giant Beast Soul Amber, likely intending to unravel the mysteries of life they held.
She was also aware that if the Chaos Roc were stripped of its Giant Beast Soul Amber, the pressured Starry Behemoth might choose death over desperation.
Recently, in the Firefly Starfield, Cadorath of the Bright Clan and the mightiest of the Dark Elfkind had once again emerged during a time when the Chaos Roc was grievously wounded.
Cadorath sought to prolong her life, and Brie, gravely wounded, also required the blood of the Chaos Roc for healing.
It appeared that they all understood the miraculous properties contained within the Chaos Roc's flesh.
Yu Yuan genuinely felt a twinge of pity for the unfortunate Chaos Roc, besieged and butchered by Cadorath and other formidable beings from the Outer Star River.
Like the Chaos Roc, the Spinosaurus was a Starry Behemoth that had discovered the full essence of life deep within the Origin Blood Continent.
Once its dragon heart was consecrated, the Spinosaurus ascended to the apex of the behemoths, an unstoppable force.
The Chaos Roc, too, was a Starry Behemoth. By the time it uncovered the marvels of the Origin Blood Continent, the Yang meridians had already settled there.
Unlike the Titan and the Spinosaurus, it failed to grasp the full essence of life. Besieged by the Yang meridians and a horde of blood demons, it was forced to flee, severely injured.
Yet it managed to capture a fragment of life's essence, enough to make its flesh life-extending.
Regrettably, numerous Peak warriors from various races, including the vast Demon Race, were all constrained by limited lifespans, lacking eternal life.
Who first discovered the life-extending properties of the Chaos Roc's flesh remained a mystery...
Yu Yuan nearly burst into laughter.
He could envision the lengths to which those formidable Peak warriors, Qilins, and other ancient Demons would go upon learning of a Chaos Roc in the cosmos whose flesh could extend life.
He surmised that when facing the end of their lifespans, beings like the Asura King before Sabonis, the leaders of the Bright Clan and the Star Race, along with other powerful figures from different races, would inevitably turn their gaze to the Chaos Roc.
They would scour the world for the Chaos Roc, intent on harvesting its flesh.
The incident in the Firefly Starfield might have been just one of countless similar occurrences throughout the ages.
Those individuals were only after its flesh, sparing the Chaos Roc's life even if they had the power to end it, allowing it to heal and perhaps, in time, to be harvested once more.
Until the domineering Demon Phoenix appeared, capturing the Chaos Roc alive and confining it within the Ember Waters.
She monopolized the Chaos Roc, and in the years that followed, she was the only one who could carve its flesh.
...
After a considerable time had passed.
The Chaos Roc, now in human form, appeared gaunt and withered. Scales covered its neck, and its parched hands sprouted fish spines.
The eye that had been gouged out had been reformed into a new crescent, now a luminescent white pupil.
The Chaos Roc's countenance was dark, its eyes filled with violence and cruelty, much like when Yu Yuan first encountered him at the bottom of the Ember Waters.
Clad in a grey vest, his presence radiated hostility, as if he loathed all living beings.
"Haha!"
After many years, Yu Yuan couldn't contain his laughter upon seeing the Chaos Roc once again.
He fully understood the tragic fate that had befallen this Starry Behemoth—a mere fraction of the true essence of life from the depths of the Origin Blood Continent had been its undoing. The more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed.
"What's so funny?" the Chaos Roc demanded, barely containing its rage.
"Both Starry Behemoths, yet the Titan spinosaurus ascended to the pinnacle of the boundless starry river, becoming the ultimate sovereign. All must give way before them. But you? You've been reduced to a mobile blood bank. When others see their end nearing, they rally a hunt, casting an intricate net across the stars to capture you."
Yu Yuan was doubled over with laughter.
The Chaos Roc had traversed the vast starry river, only to realize upon arrival that it was too late.
The wondrous object deep within the Origin Blood Continent had once again slipped into slumber, and Yu Yuan, who had arrived earlier, had already garnered favor and reaped all the benefits.
Now, confronted with the harsh truth laid bare by Yu Yuan, the years of misery it had endured were exposed for all to see...
The pent-up frustration and fury of tens of thousands of years suddenly erupted from within the emaciated elder.
With eyes—one crimson, the other pearlescent—he glared at Yu Yuan and bellowed, "To hell with you!"
"Haha! Ahahaha!"
Yu Yuan's laughter grew even louder.
At that moment, he recognized that among all the beings on the Origin Blood Continent, only he and the Chaos Roc had caught the attention of the entity that had been reawakened by Ann Ziqing's actions.
Only he and the Chaos Roc were deemed worthy of its blessings and gifts.
Unfortunately, the Chaos Roc had been lost, wandering to some forsaken place. Despite rushing over, it had arrived too late.
That entity might take tens or even hundreds of thousands of years to gather enough energy to cleanse a being and imprint upon them the true essence of life.
Having expended its energy to create itself, it had nothing left to bestow upon the Chaos Roc.
The next opportunity might not arise for another tens or hundreds of thousands of years.
The poor Chaos Roc had previously captured a fragment of life's true essence, which made its blood and flesh wondrous and renowned, ultimately leading to its tragic plight.
After such a long wait, it finally saw the entity awaken once more, only to discover that it had inadvertently benefited me, the one who had used the Giant Beast Amber to forge the Life Altar.
"I'm speaking to you respectfully; why resort to insults?"
Yu Yuan, wielding the Dragon Slash Platform, had transcended to the Freedom Realm following the evolution of his Yang God. Facing this pitiful green fish once more, he harbored not a trace of fear.
He felt that even against Tenth Level beings like Diggs, Ji Tianyu, Gu Xingkui, and the likes of Zhu Zhen, he now possessed the power to contend.
Of course, he still couldn't match the likes of extraordinary individuals such as Lin Daoke and Tan Xiaotian.
As for the Chaos Roc before him, it hadn't fully recovered since being mutilated in the Firefly Starfield.
Moreover, his peculiar Yang God seemed to have the potential to suppress the Chaos Roc.
"It's truly tragic. If I were in your place, knowing that the life mysteries I'd seized could prolong the lives of countless races, I'd have preferred to forgo them," Yu Yuan remarked with a tsk-tsk of mock sympathy. "A once-majestic Starry Behemoth reduced to a mobile blood bank for the mightiest, constantly under the thumb of the Demon Phoenix in the Ember Waters, ready to be harvested at a whim."
"Alas, your survival to this day is solely because they still have use for you."
Yu Yuan shook his head resolutely.
"I'm going all out against you!"
Humiliated by the revelation, the Chaos Roc, overwhelmed with shame, charged forward in a frenzy.
"..."
