C1859 Paladin of Radiance

"What's happening?" Taishi, amidst the cavernous depths of the Eiwrone, watched the Ape's departure with confusion. Turning to Yu Yuan, he inquired, "Kaiya, a deity from the Everlands, can't enter the Ashlands?"

"Youqian gasped in disbelief, "Is that even possible?"

"For the time being, she can't make it here," Yu Yuan responded, his Blood Red Phantom observing the warriors from various races arriving from the Annihilation Nebula. Not wanting to reveal too much to Taishi, he deflected, "Once I find the time, I need to make a trip to the Wraithlands."

The Otherkin were taken aback by this, curious about Yu Yuan's intentions.

Reid, Rebecca, and Jessica of the Silverscale Tribe, having witnessed Yu Yuan's actions in the Dark Star and Annihilation Nebula, harbored many questions but refrained from asking directly.

Those less acquainted with Yu Yuan quietly speculated, puzzled by the God-King Taishi's apparent concern for Yu Yuan's stance.

"Are you considering severing ties with the Everlands?" Cardo of the Dawnbringers asked, her sweet smile gracing her delicately sculpted face, which radiated joy. "If so, that might not be such a bad development."

Tianqi and Taixu, aware of Yu Yuan's true identity, exchanged frequent glances in his direction.

Supreme beings like Mo Baichuan, Zu Ann, and Ji Ningshuang were also perplexed by Yu Yuan's refusal to let them into the Ashlands.

Suddenly, a blinding light burst forth from one of the deep pits.

The light was pure and sanctified, prompting Cardo, the Dawnbringers' leader, to furrow her brow in astonishment. "Norant is on his way too? How peculiar, how did he find this path?"

"He came through the previously shattered Origin Gate!" Zhou You declared emphatically.

"The Origin Gate?"

Cardo had an epiphany and nodded in understanding. Before Norant's arrival, she briefed Yu Yuan and Taishi, "Recently, Jihui and Demon Lord Tan Xiaotian have been reopening the Origin Gates in some secret extraterrestrial locations, enticing beings like the Shadowkin to enter the Origin Realm."

Taishi gave a wry smile, "I've heard about it as well."

Rebecca's gaze deepened with concern, "It appears that a number of Otherkin have been swayed. At least three enchantresses I've banished are covertly probing the Origin Realm with their souls. My worry is that if this continues, even more of our kind will be drawn into the Origin Realm."

"Norant must have discovered a way to reach Eiwrone while clearing an Origin Gate," Zhou You said.

"Here he comes! The Paladin of Radiance, Norant!"

"Is he the commander of the Sunward Legion?"

Amidst the crowd's astonishment, a tall and muscular man from the Dawnbringers, clad in shining silver armor, emerged with several eighth-level Dawnbringers warriors in tow.

Behind the heavily armored man was a damaged Earth-Tethered Cage, imprisoning three Shura warriors.

Elena was among them!

She appeared to have just come out of a battle; her armor was cracked and smeared with dried blood, her energy waning, her eyes dull and lifeless.

However, upon arriving at Eiwrone and catching sight of Yu Yuan's Blood Red Phantom, she seemed to revive with newfound vigor.

"Yu..."

She began to speak but stopped after a single syllable.

Yu Yuan, merely a blood shadow, was encircled by esteemed individuals like Cardo, Ballo, and Reid, his presence emitting a mysterious aura that made her feel unworthy and sorrowful.

She didn't wish to trouble Yu Yuan or disturb him, and she instinctively lowered her head, as if she didn't want Yu Yuan to see her.

"Patriarch! Oh, Ballo is here too?"

Norant, a tenth-level bloodline warrior of the Dawnbringers, known as the Paladin of Radiance, stepped onto Eiwrone with such force that the ground seemed to tremble. He approached Cardo and Ballo and, with a casual salute, turned his attention to the others.

"Enchantress Rebecca, Lord Reid, Youqian, and the three God-Kings of the Everlands..."

His gaze swept across the gathered powerhouses, finally settling on Taishi's face. "Excuse me for asking, but which one of you is Yu Yuan?"

Taishi looked on with a calm demeanor at the Blood Red Phantom beside him.

Yu Yuan's expression was somber. "That would be me."

"A blood clone?"

Norant sniffed the air and chuckled deeply. "Why do I detect the scent of Blood Fiends? Weren't Grec and Munch dealt a harsh blow by the Dark Phoenix? And you two... you also carry the scent of the Blood Fiend. Has Boulderdawn finally been taken under Lord Bertain's wing?"

His gaze fell upon Taixu and Ann Ziqing, who were further in the distance. He deliberately raised his voice to mock them.

As he spoke, other Otherkin experts turned their curious eyes toward Taixu and Ann Ziqing, using their bloodline talents to confirm the truth of his words.

"Norant, watch your language!"

Cardo's expression cooled as she gracefully moved through the void to stand before the Paladin of Radiance. She offered an apologetic look to Taishi, "He's the polar opposite of Alonso; this man is inherently crass. Please don't stoop to his level."

"Paladin of Radiance? I've never heard of him before."

Yu Yuan, through his blood clone, gave Norant a sidelong glance and spoke with a mocking tone, "Before Alonso died, he was among the top ten powerhouses in the extraterrestrial realms. If I'm not mistaken, there was no one named Norant in that list, right? Paladin of Radiance does have a ring to it, though."

"The Sunward Legion of the Dawnbringers and Alonso's Shura were once neck and neck," Taishi explained nonchalantly, a smile playing on his lips. "Of course, the Shura's legions and warriors are known to be somewhat more ferocious."

"Indeed, there's no Norant among the extraterrestrial top ten," Taixu, the handsome youth, chimed in.

Having been ridiculed by Norant, he was clearly not pleased and didn't hesitate to respond.

"Rovi is dead, Alonso is dead, and even the Blood King Sabonis is dead. If the rankings were updated, Norant might just make it into the top ten," Reid answered earnestly.

He was aware that Norant had managed to offend Yu Yuan upon his arrival, especially since the Shura woman, now a captive in the shattered Earth-Tethered Cage, had cast an extraordinary gaze upon Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan returned the look with a mix of guilt and embarrassment.

Whoosh!

"Earth-Tethered Cage."

Yu Yuan's clone approached the familiar Quasi-sacred Weapon of the Shura, observing the cage woven from gold and silver threads and the figure of Elena within. "How did you come to this end?"

Drawing nearer, he instantly realized that the Earth-Tethered Cage before him must have been reassembled.

It wasn't the one he had destroyed in the Glimmerdrift Nebula.

Elena's armor was mostly shattered, with only the vital area around her waist and abdomen still clinging on in tatters. She pursed her lips, remaining silent.

"If you don't speak up, we're all going to die—the Shura and the Dark Realm are doomed," an elderly Shura elder, also confined by the Earth-Tethered Cage, spoke from the corner, her face ashen. Her wrists and knees were threaded with gold and silver wires.

Lifting her head, her eyes brimming with despair and helplessness, she whispered, "Elena, you are our race's beacon of hope. You must do something for our people."

"What... what can I even do?" Elena's voice was heavy with doubt.

"Allow me to speak for her."

Norant, after drawing all eyes to him with a loud, mocking laugh, proclaimed, "The Blood King Sabonis chose to oppose Lord Bertain, leading to his own death and that of Alonso, turning the Dark Realm into a playground for Demon Lord Tan Xiaotian, the golden dragon god, and Ji Ningshuang."

"As for me, the commander of the Sunward Legion, I intend to bring the light to the Dark Realm!"

"Yet, I couldn't find a way to get there. I scoured the Astral Domain of the Shura, searching for a Frost Well, until I found this girl, Elena."

"Her bloodline has ascended to the ninth level, and she has harnessed a Frost Well. I commanded her to open the Frost Well to let me and my warriors pass, but she refused!"

"I aimed to free the Dark Realm, to fill it with the brilliance of our Dawnbringers—a truly noble gesture, and yet she fails to appreciate it!"

"Hmph!" Norant said coldly, "If she hadn't claimed to know you, Yu Yuan, and called herself your friend, she and these two Shuras would be dead already!"

With the death of the Blood King Sabonis, the once-formidable Shura that reigned over the Star River faced their decline.

The zealous Norant sought to bathe the Dark Realm in light, marking the Dawnbringers' invasion of the Dark Realm.

Should the Dark Realm be overwhelmed by light, the sacred land the Shura consider their ancestral home would lose all purpose, and the Shura would be forever stripped of their homeland.

Years ago, Norant and Alonso were locked in a covert rivalry, with Norant consistently overshadowed by Alonso in every respect.

The Paladin of Radiance had engaged in numerous overt and covert struggles, yet he never managed to outshine Alonso. His dissatisfaction with Alonso had been brewing for quite some time.

Now, the Shura were facing expulsion from the first level of the extraterrestrial intelligent life. Under the guise of saving the Dark Realm, he aimed to transform it into a dominion for the Dawnbringers.

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