C1651 Battle of the Spirits

"You've finally shown your true face."

Youyu spoke with an icy tone. Through the soul shadow of the Chaos Roc within the Sea of Hearts, he witnessed the heart clam beast launching an attack on Yu Yuan in the true world.

"I've been waiting for this very moment."

The gray-white realm that Youyu had taken over was suddenly filled with the wailing of countless ghosts and Devil Souls.

The billions of light rays he had sent out to seek the followers of the Origin Realm God transformed into billions of streams, some crystal clear and others murky.

Ghosts seemed to float within these streams, and the mysteries tied to the soul solidified into beams of light and laws.

The Yin God beside Yu Yuan appeared to witness the source of the hidden Yin Vein deep underground, turning into billions of rivers, unveiling both their pristine and turbid aspects.

These rivers, carrying the essence of the Yin Vein, flowed through the Sea of Hearts. Utilizing the secret arts he had mastered, Youyu was penetrating and claiming this peculiar world.

The domain Youyu occupied was but a mere fraction of the expansive Sea of Hearts.

Yet now, this small world was swiftly expanding, becoming ever more vast.

Initially, Youyu had not committed his full strength, still uncertain and testing the waters.

He was curious to see if this enigmatic heart clam beast shared any close connection with the Great Yin.

Once he saw the heart clam beast make its move on Yu Yuan in the tangible world, his hesitation vanished.

He made his decision—to conquer the Sea of Hearts!

Elsewhere.

Whoosh!

A towering figure, his face obscured by a multicolored mask with eyes ablaze with fury, materialized within Yu Yuan's spiritual consciousness.

He was a formidable human male, dressed in immaculate white garments.

In his hands, he wielded a radiant, diamond-shaped shield and a spear of the same substance.

He was the heart clam beast, unmistakably masculine in form.

"You are his successor. I had no desire for conflict with you, but you chose to align yourself with the Chaos Roc against me."

The heart clam beast, now in male form, had a voice that was no longer soothing but rather gruff and raspy in Yu Yuan's consciousness.

With a swift motion, the spear lunged at the projection of Yu Yuan's Yang God, and a deep green bolt of lightning struck forth.

Since Yu Yuan's Yang God had been tempered by the Origin Blood, his soul had fused with this extraordinary body, making it challenging to channel additional soul power into his own consciousness.

Therefore, the projection of Yu Yuan's Yang God within his sea of consciousness was nothing more than a phantom.

It lacked any substantial attacking power and did not possess an actual soul presence.

When the deep azure lightning struck, it merely hit the ephemeral bubble, failing to stir even the slightest disturbance.

The Yin God resided within the Sea of Hearts of the heart stone, with Youyu by its side. At present, in his own realm of consciousness, Yu Yuan could only utilize his main soul.

His main soul had not yet evolved into a Primordial Spirit and had not experienced any radical transformation.

The main soul maintained the same appearance as his physical form, existing as an ethereal entity with delicate meridians running through it, refined by his soul's thoughts. The brain region of this ethereal body housed his memories and soul imprints.

The heart clam beast, also a spiritual entity, was momentarily baffled to see that its lightning strike had no effect on the illusory projection.

"With the Yin God outside and the Yang God powerless to penetrate the depths of your soul, you're left with only your main soul. Yet, your main soul has not fundamentally transformed," he murmured, attempting to discern any deep-seated secrets within Yu Yuan's main soul.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Numerous invisible, hair-thin soul tendrils stealthily approached Yu Yuan's main soul like a cap, attempting to settle upon it and infiltrate.

But in an instant, they vanished into nothingness.

Yu Yuan watched with an enigmatic smile as the heart clam beast forcefully intruded upon the Sea of Hearts. Observing the enigmatic beast, he shifted from addressing it as 'she' to 'he,' "You're preoccupied with both tending to Youyu and claiming dominion over the Sea of Hearts, while also guarding against the Chaos Roc outside. Yet you still seek to probe my secrets and obliterate my main soul. Haven't you heard the saying, 'Bite off more than you can chew?'"

"Youyu is a formidable adversary, and the Chaos Roc is not to be underestimated, but you..."

Beneath the mask of the heart clam beast, the visible eyes conveyed a hint of scorn.

"You're merely a Human cultivator at the Unrestrained Stage. In my years within the Gray Domain, I've slain dozens of Human cultivators at your level. Without having achieved the Primordial Spirit, what makes you think the Yin God, Yang God, and main soul of a Human can withstand the might of my heart?"

He lifted the prism-shaped shield.

Under the watchful gaze of Yu Yuan's primary soul, the starlight on the shield's surface sprang to life, transforming into a dazzling sea of stars as if countless fireflies were buzzing through it.

The power to disrupt memories emanated from the radiant "sea of stars" on the shield, affecting Yu Yuan's deep-seated memories, soul imprints, and the meridians refined by his soul thoughts.

A typical Unrestrained Stage human cultivator would have gone mad in an instant under the influence of the heart clam beast's natural gift.

If the Yin God, Yang God, and primary soul were all present, the heart clam beast's talent would unleash even more fearsome power.

An Unrestrained Stage human cultivator would internally battle to the death due to mental chaos, succumbing without the heart clam beast having to lift a finger again.

But Yu Yuan? He only felt slightly affected. Just slightly...

In reality, he wasn't affected in the slightest!

With a casual glance, his primary soul saw the prism-shaped shield raised by the heart clam beast, the brilliant sea of stars upon it, and the myriad of darting lights, which were actually... the ongoing battle within the Sea of Hearts!

Youyu had already deployed his abilities, summoning the might of spirits to reveal countless streams of clear and murky Yin Meridians, which filled the peculiar sea, engaging in plunder.

Beneath the Sea of Hearts, the heart clam beast's massive soul shadow, shaped like a giant clam, was using its secret arts to lure the souls and consciousnesses it had trapped.

These souls and consciousnesses assaulted the small realm where Youyu and Yin God Yu resided, while the heart clam beast's own soul stealthily evaded the countless streams below.

"He's at the very bottom of the Sea of Hearts," Yin God Yu noted, pointing out the location next to Youyu.

"It appears the Sea of Hearts is indeed linked to the sea. We're suspended above it, with an unseen ocean below. And he's even further down. That explains it. The Sea of Hearts shares many similarities with the actual world."

Youyu nodded in realization and added, "Your true form, along with the Chaos Roc's realm, resides on a star that he has fully refined. On that star, he can manifest vast expanses or create the world of the Star Race. Yet, that world relies on a real star, which he has the power to transform."

The Sea of Hearts is a purely illusory ocean of consciousness. This illusory sea also contains a shadow of the real world he knows so well, much like the body of a colossal beast hidden at the ocean's bottom. Similarly, his spiritual form in the Sea of Hearts lies beneath the waves.

As he spoke, countless clear and murky streams abruptly plunged downwards, like a volley of arrows targeting the unseen and unfelt seabed.

"You!" The heart clam beast, wielding a prism-shaped shield within Yu Yuan's soul consciousness, let out a muffled grunt.

The shield, acting as a mirror, indeed reflected the Sea of Hearts. Yet it was shrouded in fog, which should have obscured the truth from view. Yu Yuan's primary soul merely glanced at it, not looking too closely, yet he was able to see past the fog to the hidden reality.

Seeing the starry sea on the shield was one thing—it was merely a reflection of the Sea of Hearts—but Yu Yuan also saw the soul body hidden within, invisible even to Youyu.

"How can this be? It's impossible..." The heart clam beast, holding both a shield and a spear, murmured in confusion.

He sensed something amiss, something not quite right. The secret arts that had always been effective for Unrestrained Stage cultivators of the Human Race had failed against Yu Yuan, leaving him feeling unsettled.

Yu Yuan, with his main soul firmly in place, had not yet revealed any extraordinary Soul Arts. Yet the aura he exuded became increasingly ominous, making him more and more inscrutable.

"In my sea of consciousness, in my world of awareness, you dare to display secret techniques and talents related to the soul and heart?" Yu Yuan chuckled in disbelief.

So far, no one who had dared to meddle with his sea of consciousness had ever come out ahead.

The Chaos Roc's frenzy in the Firefly Starfield wasn't due to the Sky Opening Array, but because it glimpsed the traces of the Origin Soul deep within his primary soul. Subsequently, the Chaos Roc lost its mind and fled in a state of wild panic.

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