C1628 Kind Senior

Zhang Jinbo's eyes darted suspiciously between Yu Yuan and the Abyssal Leviathan. Trapped in the Ashlands for far too long, he was unaware of the monumental shifts that had taken place in the Everlands. He still believed that, as in the past, all humans from the Everlands would naturally unite against the Otherkin. Little did he know that the return of Boulderdawn had fractured the various sects into distinct factions. Even more unimaginable to him was the fact that the forces led by Boulderdawn were now closely allied with the Sky Fiend, Starborn, Shadowkin, and Dawnbringers, forming an extraterrestrial alliance.

Zhang Jinbo suspected that Yu Yuan had been confined by the Abyssal Leviathan. Recognizing Yu Yuan as a fellow human of the Everlands and someone who knew Zhang Guanyu, he felt an affinity for him and began to assess the Abyssal Leviathan's strength in secret.

"You must be a member of the Blood Fiend! You've transformed into a human form using blood magic, haven't you?" Zhang Jinbo snorted coldly, misinterpreting the faint scent of life essence emanating from the Abyssal Leviathan as a sign of its identity as a Demon God from the Blood Fiend.

"Senior Zhang, I'm not like you; don't be overly sensitive," Yu Yuan replied, shaking his head. He frowned at the Abyssal Leviathan's sinister chuckle and warned, "Keep it together. He's a senior from the Ruby Hand, and we have a history."

"So you're just a woman who practiced the Pyreheart Incantations and got taken in by the Ruby Hand?" The Abyssal Leviathan, clearly disgruntled after Yu Yuan halted its malicious musings, retorted, "From a factional standpoint, the Ruby Hand is still opposed to you. I really don't understand your thinking. First Zhou Cangmin, then Faang Yao? You seem to get along well with all of them."

"You have a woman who also practices the Pyreheart Incantations?" Zhang Jinbo's Divine Visage, which had taken the form of a blazing temple, began to undergo a transformation at the Abyssal Leviathan's words.

Moments later, he reverted to his true form, revealing himself as a peculiar old man with dark reddish skin, unkempt hair matted with grime, and a slightly puffy round face.

The old man's neck and the exposed part of his arm were covered with dark red bumps. Within those bumps lurked a power akin to a raging volcano. His little world of vitality resembled a surging magma pool, and within his Golden Sanctum, fiery meteors streaked across the sky. Deep within his soul, unnamed flames continued to burn.

Yu Yuan recognized many of the dark arts that the man had mastered, some familiar and others not. Yet, despite the variety of fiery powers within him, none were refined enough to propel him to the level of a Supreme God.

"You haven't returned to the Ruby Hand in quite some time," Yu Yuan said with a smile.

Zhang Jinbo's swollen face suddenly widened with shock.

Whoosh!

A fierce blaze, the condensed cosmic energy of this realm, enveloped the area surrounding the Abyssal Leviathan. He let out a scream, "Kid, get out of here quickly! I'll hold him off for a moment!"

"He doesn't seem to be a Blood Fiend, but rather a youngling of a giant beast!"

Zhang Jinbo, who had been silently discerning the Abyssal Leviathan's origins, finally sensed the beast's extraordinary nature and let out a terrified shriek.

Yu Yuan was taken aback.

"Young? I am merely injured, having lost an excessive amount of flesh and vitality. To mistake me for a youngling?" The Abyssal Leviathan was displeased. "Yu Yuan, his mind has been fried by an overabundance of chaotic flame energy. This fool would be better off consumed by me, integrated into one of my eyes."

With that, the Abyssal Leviathan's crimson pupils were plucked out and magnified before Zhang Jinbo.

A colossal sun appeared overhead!

The intense sunfire, mingled with the essence of the sun, bathed the vicinity of the Abyssal Leviathan and Zhang Jinbo in a divine radiance, transforming the area into a sun-drenched Divine Domain.

The corner of the Abyssal Leviathan's mouth twitched, and within the great sun, a tempest of flames was unleashed. The sun in Zhang Jinbo's eyes seemed to expand infinitely, its fearsome divine power oppressing the cosmic order he was attempting to understand.

"He... he is..."

Zhang Jinbo, whose cultivation was only at the middle period of the Unbound Stage and whose talents were modest, was struck with terror.

"Over a thousand years ago, at the bottom of the Embers Sea, your level of cultivation was insignificant..."

"Abyssal Leviathan!"

Zhang Jinbo's scream pierced the air as he finally realized the gaunt elder before him was, in fact, a true cosmic giant beast!

Back in his trial days within the Embers Sea, he was oblivious to the presence of a giant beast lurking beneath. It wasn't until his ascension to the Unbound Realm and his battles across the extraterrestrial Star River in his real body that he came to understand a vicious giant beast had been subdued by the Dark Phoenix and pinned under the Embers Sea with the Starborne Ritual of Primeval Demons.

He lacked Yu Yuan's fortune and couldn't unlock the mysteries of fate, inadvertently releasing the Abyssal Leviathan.

Thus, he missed witnessing the Abyssal Leviathan, in its colossal green fish form, shattering the multilayered seals and breaking free from the Everlands.

"Alright, step forward and let me have a word with him."

Yu Yuan had his own agenda. With a frown and a stern glance at the Abyssal Leviathan, he gestured dismissively and pointed to a spot.

The Abyssal Leviathan, initially intent on chastising Zhang Jinbo, huffed and complied, moving away.

"You can actually command him?"

Even Zhang Jinbo, in his naivety, realized his error. The man before him was also kin from the Everlands, not a captive of the Abyssal Leviathan.

"Besides Zhang Guanyu, who else from the Ruby Hand do you recall? Faang Yao, Zhou Cangmin, Zhan Ruonan—do any of these names ring a bell?" inquired Yu Yuan.

"Zhang Guanyu would be considered my grandson in terms of seniority. As for the others, I'm clueless. Hold on, is Qin Luo still with the Ruby Hand? I'm familiar with him; he and Zhang Guanyu debuted together, and his potential far exceeds the latter. Without the Sunlit Order's interference, Qin Luo might have had a shot at the Divine Throne..."

His voice trailed off, laden with loathing and a touch of resignation, at the mention of the Sunlit Order.

To him, the Sunlit Order was an insurmountable fiery Holy Mountain. As long as the Sunlit Order and Yuwen Hao remained, the Ruby Hand would struggle to rise.

It would be a challenge to see the emergence of a true deity.

Qin Luo, now presiding over the grand sun beyond the Everlands, has succeeded Lee Tianxin of the Sunlit Order to become a genuine Supreme God. Your sect, the Ruby Hand, has also ascended to the ranks of the most powerful sects due to Qin Luo's rise," Yu Yuan said with a smile.

"Ah! Qin Luo, did his dream actually come true?!"

Zhang Jinbo slapped his thigh and surged into the sky with excitement. Flames and streams of light burst forth from his eyes, nostrils, and ears. "I always knew he was the most likely to ascend to godhood! I can't believe that after a millennium, he's actually done it!"

"So, he took Lee Tianxin's place? Is Lee Tianxin dead?" Zhang Jinbo asked, puzzled.

"Not just Lee Tianxin; Yuwen Hao is also dead," Yu Yuan answered.

"Yuwen, Yuwen..."

Upon hearing of Yuwen Hao's fall, Zhang Jinbo began to stutter, his face overtaken by a look of immense shock.

"What has happened in the Everlands? Yuwen was so terrified of death, always holed up in the Sunlit Order, hardly ever engaging in the supreme battles beyond our world. How could he have died? It couldn't be that the Otherkin have conquered the Everlands, could it?"

"Was it the work of the giant beasts? Were they trying to rescue the Abyssal Leviathan, or did the Great Demon God Bertain take action?"

Zhang Jinbo, who hadn't left in ages, was overwhelmed with confusion and fear, thinking that the Everlands had been breached.

"It's not as you imagine."

Yu Yuan briefly explained the new state of affairs in the Everlands, alleviating his shock and dread.

Then, he quietly waited for Zhang Jinbo to process the information.

Anyone who hadn't left for over a thousand years would need time to come to terms with such drastic changes in their homeland, and Zhang Jinbo was certainly no exception.

After a considerable amount of time, Zhang Jinbo inquired, "Based on what you've said, even though Boulderdawn and the Ruby Hand are on opposing sides, we maintain a good personal rapport?"

"Yes, after Qin Luo, Zhou Cangmin, the most gifted individual in the Ruby Hand, became a close friend of mine," Yu Yuan candidly shared. "I'm curious, why were you trapped for so long? And why did you suddenly manage to break free just recently?"

"It's like this," Zhang Jinbo began, pausing momentarily before he shared his own story, the frustrations that had been building up for over a thousand years.

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