C176 The Origin of the Strange Object!
The Terra Fiend, Fides, had struggled to break free from the Moonfall Sanctuary's constraints multiple times, devouring living beings to regain his strength.
This Terra Fiend, born on the continent of Euwrea, had once been a thorn in the side of both the Sunlit Order and the Ebon Star. Even after his imprisonment by Boulderdawn, he remained restless.
He later sought out the Stormcrowned Emperor, hoping to use his power to escape the sanctuary's suppression once and for all.
However, the wily Stormcrowned Emperor turned the tables and refined a part of Fides' soul.
Following this setback, Fides lay low, unable to recover his full strength for a long time.
Years later, trial-takers from the outside world would occasionally break the seal, allowing Fides to secretly escape the sanctuary. But the Fides who fled was only a fragment of his soul and spiritual sense.
The rest of him, which should have remained sealed, took advantage of the broken seal to merge with his escaped self upon returning.
Yu Yuan pieced together these fragmented thoughts, clarifying the sequence of events.
"Lord Fides, the part of you that escaped long ago was very weak," Yu Yuan said, smiling at the azure-robed lad. "A powerful consciousness would be detected by the Soulforge Matrix, so you could only separate a fragment. The one outside has grown stronger over the years, but ultimately, it seeks to reunite with the original self."
"You must have merged with your other part on your way here, which is why you're so confident, unafraid of the Silvermoon Empire's pursuers."
"Is that so?" Yu Yuan asked.
Fides nodded with a beaming smile, "Exactly, you truly have a keen insight. It's not just me; others have also regained most of their strength on their journey here."
He glanced back at the Wraith Ape. As it neared the Soulforge Pool and vitality surged into it, its combat prowess skyrocketed. Wasn't it the same when it clashed with Duan Tianhong?
Regardless of the circumstances or who was responsible, those who fortuitously led them out of the sanctuary would inevitably face consequences.
They could only partially leave the area.
Otherwise, they would trigger the Soulforge Matrix, facing suppression and execution.
"That one must be the tree monster that originated from Shadow's Keep in the northern reaches of the Land of Quiescence," Yu Yuan mused, his gaze fixed on the barren tree devoid of leaves. Sensing the will of the sword spirit, he continued, "The seed of this tree did not originate from the Everlands, but was instead brought back by a Dark Deity from the extraterrestrial Star River."
"The seed remained quiet after being planted within Shadow's Keep."
"However, during a purge of traitors by Shadow's Keep, a massacre of numerous archdemons took place, and their blood seeped into the land where the seed lay, miraculously stimulating it to sprout and take root."
"For many years thereafter, Shadow's Keep would return to that site to execute traitors."
"Incredibly, the tree monster grew bit by bit, evolving into a rare hybrid between a living creature and a plant."
"The Dark Deity who brought it from the extraterrestrial, as far as I know, was the Golden Elephant God."
"After the fall of the Golden Elephant God, the tree monster slipped from the control of Shadow's Keep and began to roam the Land of Quiescence, causing the demise of many dark adepts and members of the Devil Palace."
"Pursued by Shadow's Keep, the tree monster fled to the continent of Aetherius, where it was eventually discovered by the Ebon Star and brought here for containment."
Yu Yuan recounted the history of the tree monster with familiarity.
The tree hovered in mid-air, its demonic aura surging skyward.
It was unmistakably a tree, yet within its roots and trunk coursed an abundance of fierce demon energy and vitality.
To Yu Yuan, the tree monster, brought from the extraterrestrial by the Golden Elephant God, had become a formidable archdemon.
"And this one," he said, shifting his gaze to a sphere of blood-red light. "Greetings to the elder of the Colddeath Sect, I offer you my respect!"
The sphere was the bloodthirsty elder from the founding days of the Colddeath Sect.
Rumored to be the brother of the sect's founder, this elder possessed extraordinary power and had infiltrated Euwrea in secret, using the mud pellet of a Ebon Star prodigy to covertly master their most profound spells.
The Ebon Star's prodigy was in the midst of condensing his Lunar Spirit when he was overtaken and consumed by another.
However, the act of devouring the Lunar Spirit caused such a disturbance that it alerted the Ebon Star's experts.
Enraged, the Ebon Star dispatched several Solar Spirits, led by a cultivator in the Unbound Stage, to track down and locate his true form.
Ultimately, the Ebon Star's cultivator, who had reached the pinnacle of the Solar Spirit, was shattered to his very soul.
Yet, his blood was so potent that not even the Ebon Star could refine it. After the destruction of his Lunar and Solar Spirits, a portion of his spiritual wisdom mysteriously fused with his blood.
It seemed that this peculiar state was achieved through the combination of mystiques from both the Colddeath and the Ebon Star.
A cultivator of the Primordial Spirit within the Ebon Star had witnessed this blood and declared that refining it would harm his own primordial spirit. Thus, he sealed it with a magical artifact and sent it to this realm, entrusting the Boulderdawn with its containment and suppression.
The elder of the Colddeath had perished, but his blood remained.
The blood light, an enigmatic fusion of the Ebon Star and Colddeath's arcanes, contained only a fragment of the deceased's spiritual wisdom.
After the Boulderdawn's suppression and further refinement, it failed to grow or gain strength.
This meant that, although nearly impossible to completely eradicate, he could not fully awaken his spiritual wisdom and thus did not rank among the top ten alien souls in the Moonfall Sanctuary.
Had he gathered all the remnant soul and spiritual wisdom of both the Lunar and Solar Spirits when forming the blood light, he would have already been among the top ten of the forbidden area.
He might have even surpassed the likes of the Sky Fiend, Indigo Wraith, and the Stormcrowned Emperor in strength.
"You seem to know quite a bit," Terra Fiend Fides remarked with a smile. "Since you're aware of our origins, you must have some idea about the one who departed."
Yu Yuan nodded slightly. As he was about to disclose the identity and origins of the figure with a human head and dragon body, he sensed something and turned his gaze in a particular direction, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
A cluster of vibrant, familiar red lotuses suddenly caught his eye.
"Sister Mayor!"
Even from within the Soulforge Pool, Yu Yuan could distinctly feel the presence of Yuan Lianyao.
Sure enough.
Yuan Lianyao, standing atop a red lotus, emerged alongside a group of Silvermoon Empire cultivators, each clad in varying attire.
Among them, Yuan Lianyao stood out with her striking beauty, though her cultivation level and status were not particularly high.
As she neared the Soulforge Pool and heard Yu Yuan's call, her eyes sparkled with recognition. "Yu Yuan, the very Yu Yuan of the Yu family, is alive!"
The cultivators from the Silvermoon Empire who accompanied her cast their gazes upon the throng of alien souls, the Terra Fiend Fides, the tree monster, and the orb of blood, their faces etched with gravity.
In the face of these three alien souls, whose origins they could only surmise, Yu Yuan's fate seemed inconsequential.
Whether it was Fides, the tree monster, or the blood light, each had previously made their presence known within the Silvermoon Empire.
"Now I understand, I finally understand!"
In that moment, Yu Yuan was struck with a revelation, turning his attention to the blood light, a creation of a Colddeath Sect elder's blood. "If I'm not mistaken, you must be in Asvetaesi! You might even be somewhere within the Yu family's domain!"
