C1673 I Didn't Raise You for Nothing!
"Rovi?!"
God-King Taixu and Xuanli were jolted into awareness by the alarmed cries of Yu Yuan and the Voidweaver. It dawned on them that the figure which had briefly emerged within the soul stone on Youyu's forehead was none other than Rovi.
They had come to learn that the missing Clan Leader of the Voidweaver Clan, who had been in hiding at the Seven-Colored Lake, harbored grand ambitions for the Dragon Slaying Stage, hoping to leverage the Terra Fiend's Huangyin and Xuanying to achieve his ends.
Rovi met his end when Yu Yuan, Youyu, and Zhong Chichen joined forces, with the sharp golden Dragon Slaying Stage piercing his heart.
Zhong Chichen enacted the Chronospatial Lock, Yu Yuan thrust the Dragon Slaying Stage through his heart, and Youyu assailed his soul.
Rovi's lifeblood in his heart aided in the healing of the Dragon Slaying Stage, while his remaining flesh was gathered by Zhong Chichen and taken out of the Everlands.
His soul, meanwhile, was confined by Youyu to the Land of Terror, stripping him of his explorations of the Otherworld and the Mysterious Realm.
Youyu also sought through Rovi for information related to the Maw of Oblivion, but to little avail.
Rovi's image suddenly manifested on the soul stone on Youyu's forehead, uttering the term "Voidweaver," which caused the butterfly to glance at him in astonishment.
Subsequently, a fragment of his soul was drawn inside.
At that moment, Taixu, Xuanli, and the Abyssal Leviathan could not ascertain whether the fleeting phantom of Rovi was genuine or a fabrication.
Youyu, who had refined the soul stone, indeed had the power to create illusions and bewilder others with false images.
"Furthermore."
Youyu called out once more. Behind the Abyssal Greater Basilisk, two ninth-level Silverscale Tribe warriors experienced a sudden shift in their psyche.
Out of curiosity, they had sent forth a tendril of remnant soul to probe, which Youyu swiftly detected.
Similar to the ninth-level Voidweaver elders, any covert observer daring enough to spy, if perceived by Youyu, could have their soul traced and partially extracted through the soul stone.
In a mere moment, Youyu, revealing his "third eye," had reaped a rich bounty of spoils.
The Voidweaver, three tribal elders, and two ninth-level warriors of the Silverscale Tribe had their souls partially extracted and bound to the Hex Stone.
Once their souls were trapped within the Hex Stone, escape was impossible.
Youyu could still manipulate fragments of their souls, launching attacks and exerting pressure to weaken them in battle, ensuring they could never unleash their full potential and constantly subjecting them to soul-shattering assaults.
"I know you're trying to draw him out. Since he's reluctant to show himself, let's turn up the heat."
After Youyu opened his "third eye," he hovered high above Eiwrone, gazing down with an icy stare at the ominous pit below. "He's down there, or at least part of him is."
The 'he' Youyu referred to was, of course, the Origin Deity, not some other entity.
"Using something that isn't yours will never feel right."
Yu Yuan's smile shone brightly as he suddenly stood shoulder to shoulder with the young Taixu, reappearing atop the Dragon Slaying Stage.
"The Book of Time isn't yours, nor is the World-Sundering Stone. Your butterfly, however, is quite amusing."
Yu Yuan shook his head while speaking, "It's no wonder your kind skulks in the crevices of space year-round. Claiming others' possessions and infusing them with your lifeblood, you convince yourselves they're yours. Alas, when you rely on them at a crucial moment, you'll realize that what belongs to others will always remain theirs!"
Whoosh!
The Dragon Slaying Stage shifted across the sky to hover above Eiwrone.
This time, Yu Yuan, bolstered by newfound confidence, no longer feared the world below nor the seemingly endless horrors lurking within the hive-like deep caverns.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A succession of murky, pearlescent beams of light cascaded down from the Dragon Slaying Stage—descending into the caverns below.
The pearlescent light, native to the Dragon Slaying Stage, contrasted with the prismatic glow emanating from the Chronowyrm. It was clear that using the Eiwrone-born radiance to probe the caverns below was the most fitting approach.
Sure enough!
As the pearlescent light touched the caverns, it illuminated various domains, casting their reflections onto the Dragon Slaying Stage and seeping into the very depths of Yu Yuan's soul.
A coven of enchantresses from the evilkind assembled in a grim cave, engaging in a malevolent ritual. The bones of hundreds of fallen warriors from various races were stacked high like a small mountain.
These enchantresses, their hair wildly dancing like serpents, chanted in honor of the Origin Deity. From their eyes, clusters of phantoms emerged, seemingly sending fragments of their souls to the Origin Realm as offerings for the Origin Deity's pleasure...
In a separate cave, a little world lay shrouded in absolute darkness.
The biting cold and darkness cloaked this realm. Yu Yuan, relying solely on his eyes, could not discern its true form. Yet, through the intuition of his soul, he recognized this place: the Dark Realm.
He had once experienced this absolute darkness in Ionodios, reaching out to it with his soul.
The deep cave linked to the Eiwrone astonishingly connected to a location within the Dark Realm. Yu Yuan's soul consciousness detected the distinct presence of Loong Jie.
Loong Jie resided somewhere within the Dark Realm, his powerful dragon's breath swirling like a vast sea, carrying the essences of gold, silver, copper, and iron.
These essences carried a different scent from President Lyi's – they bore the aroma of the golden dragon's lifeblood. Loong Jie had transmuted the metals with his golden dragon blood, blending the power and blood to circulate through his veins and organs.
Yet, to Yu Yuan's senses, Loong Jie's bones and flesh seemed even more metallic than President Lyi's.
With a roar that seemed to detect his presence, Loong Jie let out an exuberant howl from a secluded area in the Dark Realm. The sound triggered a surge of piercing coldness in Yu Yuan, and he caught a glimpse of a twinkling starlight.
"Shuangshuang!" Yu Yuan called out softly. The connection to the Dark Realm through the Eiwrone vanished from his soul's awareness.
Subsequently, a cascade of images and landscapes began to emerge in his mind, one after the other. Most of these worlds were uncharted by him, often disappearing as suddenly as they appeared.
Nevertheless, Yu Yuan was aware that numerous domains had fallen under the sway of the Origin Deity, even without the formation of an Origin Gate. Many intelligent life forms had been seduced into secret worship, revering him as a deity.
The hidden power of the Origin Deity within the Star River was far more formidable than he had anticipated, touching upon intelligent life that included no shortage of ninth-level Blood Warriors.
These warriors gave Yu Yuan the impression that they were on the cusp of ascending to the peak of the tenth level, each aspiring to become the leader of their race. Should their patriarch meet an untimely end, they stood a good chance of succeeding him and achieving a breakthrough to the tenth level, thereby becoming the leader of their people.
The arrival of the Origin Deity had kindled a flame of hope within them, igniting a deep yearning for advancement. "Impressive! You're not after the destruction of the entire world, but rather to conquer and rule it completely, much like Bertain," Yu Yuan mused to himself.
Suddenly, an image of a land awash with vibrant colors sprang to mind, jolting him to attention. "I've found it!" he exclaimed. On this multicolored terrain, a nascent Uxthar Tree was thriving robustly.
The Chaos Serpent, entwined around the tree's roots and forming a ring with its head and tail, surveyed its surroundings with vigilant eyes. The stars above had become strikingly clear, their presence more pronounced.
It was still the Ashlands. This revelation indicated that the shadowy caverns of Eiwrone could connect not only to the external Star River but also to other regions within the Ashlands. Any celestial land, internal or external, with peculiar spatial connections, could link to Eiwrone.
A crisp, melodious chirp echoed from afar across the five-colored land. The secular bird! Yu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, his spirit momentarily stunned, seemingly alerting the Chaos Serpent.
"Who's there?" The Chaos Serpent's twin heads reared up, its four eyes emitting a sinister, icy blood-red glow that instantly scrambled the spatial magnetism.
With a thunderous pop, the vision that had just materialized vanished. Yu Yuan realized at once that the Chaos Serpent had detected his prying eyes. With her might, she had warped the world within the Ashlands, obscuring his view.
"The Ashlands..." With the understanding that the battlefield lay hidden within this secret realm rather than the outer stellar sea, Yu Yuan's anxiety subsided.
In that moment, he drew a deep breath and transmitted a thought through the bond between the Solar Spirit and the juvenile creature. He tasked the young Titan Spinosaurus with pinpointing the secular bird's battlefield and, if possible, ensuring the safety of the Secular Bird Queen.
The young creature in the Ashlands was akin to a nascent deity, privy to the wars unfolding across the lands.
Whether it was the secular bird, the Origin Deity, the Chaos Serpent, the Abyssal Leviathan, or Grec, the young beast could pinpoint the whereabouts of any formidable being within the Ashlands if it so desired.
This capability bore no relation to the creature's own power; rather, it was a natural gift, a legacy and ability bestowed by the ancient Titan Spinosaurus.
*Wu!*
Eventually, the young beast responded, albeit with a hint of reluctance and unwillingness.
Yet, it agreed to keep an eye on the secular bird's condition and, when the moment was right and without jeopardizing its own safety, to lend some support.
"You've been worth the effort!" Yu Yuan said with a smile, a sense of calm washing over him.
"Come forth!"
He summoned the Baneblade Bloodhell, and with a flick of his wrist, a broad swath of blood-red light cascaded toward a distant, shadowy cave.
Boom!
The cave, now deluged in the blood-red light, suddenly erupted with infinite crimson radiance and numerous sword beams.
Techniques like the Skyward Swordplay, Soulsever, and Dread Spawn burst forth from the river of light, exuding a chilling, soul-obliterating aura of death that tore the cave entrance asunder.
A diminutive Seven-Colored Dragon, a remnant soul sent by the Chronowyrm Zhong Chichen, darted away just before the explosion of sword light, mockingly saying, "Sly visitor from the extraterrestrial, it's been ages. After tens of thousands of years, you still prefer skulking in shadows and dwelling in hidden caverns."
It was this remnant soul that had revealed the hiding place of the Origin Deity to Yu Yuan.
"It has indeed been a long time," the voice of the Origin Deity finally echoed.
