C191 The Passageway Was Sealed!!

At the bottom of the Soulforge Pool, the mayor of Asvetaesi remained steadfastly by Yu Yuan's side, poised as if bracing for a formidable adversary. Her gaze was vigilant, carefully watching Ann Jieshan.

Yu Yuan's strand of consciousness drifted from his corporeal form to the depths of the Soulforge Pool, a sensation Yuan Lianyao perceived with clarity. Yu Yuan, not being a Lunar Spirit Realm adept, retained the ability to move freely even when his spirit had left his body.

By practicing Soul Forging through Enlightenment and refining his heaven soul, Yu Yuan could project a thread of his consciousness into the enigmatic space at the pool's bottom. This space was deeply connected to the individual who had inscribed the words 'To Know All is to Suffer All.'

Thus, despite being in the Soul Awakening Realm, Yu Yuan was able to glimpse the profound mysteries of the subterranean dimension. Yet, after his consciousness departed, Yu Yuan's real body remained in a state of chaos, as if bereft of its soul.

Yuan Lianyao harbored concerns that an elder of the Colddeath, who had taken on a corporeal vessel, might detect the irregularity and strike at Yu Yuan from the shadows. But Ann Jieshan showed no sign of disturbance.

Ann Jieshan, now with a fleshly form, had eyes of a deep, dark red, with what appeared to be blood-colored lightning flickering within his pupils. His gaze was fixed intently on the pool's depths, seeing far beyond what Yuan Lianyao could perceive.

In his view, the sword scars etched into the Soulforge Pool's walls were silently linked to Yu Yuan, specifically to his arms. The concealed sword's will, emanating from the pool's sword scars, acted like unseen threads tugging at Yu Yuan's limbs. It seemed that if the sword's will desired, it could manipulate Yu Yuan's body like a marionette, transforming his arms into blades to vanquish all alien entities.

Moreover, numerous sword's wills, visible to the spiritual sense and Soul Power, flitted and hovered in the air. Countless alien souls and Aberrant Souls, transformed into wisps of smoke, were being reintegrated into the pool's depths.

"Sha! Sha! Sha!"

Suddenly, a strange sound pierced the air. Ann Jieshan's crimson eyes flashed brightly before quickly dimming. Hovering above, the tree monster, brought from an unknown corner of the cosmos by the Golden Elephant God, was entwined by rivers of sword's will.

"Boom!" The withered branches erupted in a blinding, crystalline brilliance. The tree monster writhed as its leaves, imprinted with glyphs revealing the true essence of flora, became fully tangible. Each leaf, in that moment, grew to the size of a field.

Yuan Lianyao's face was a picture of astonishment as she watched the massive leaves drift toward the Soulforge Pool. A trembling aura emanated from the vast, fearsome leaves, hinting at a bizarre, colossal tree swaying somewhere deep within the Star River, an image that briefly flickered through her mind.

Then, in the next instant, the sky's sword's will coalesced into a dazzling river of light, weaving around the tree monster. The descending leaves shattered one by one, like enormous stars exploding.

The tree monster's branches, too, scattered specks of light in a moment, showering the Soulforge Pool with a rain of luminescence that vanished before it could even touch the bottom. Dark Soul Power surged toward the pool, swiftly penetrating its depths.

"The tree monster has been slain," Zhao Yafu murmured, her face awash with shock and apprehension. She scanned her surroundings for the elder with a human head and dragon body, but he was nowhere to be found. In Zhao Yafu's view, this elder was an ancient being of the same caliber as the tree monster and the Wraith Ape. The tree monster's demise seemed to foretell that the sword's will could persist in its hunt within the Moonfall Sanctuary.

It might not be long before the Wraith Ape and the elder would meet the same fate as the tree monster. Time trickled away.

A thunderous roar shook the heavens, echoing from the distant sky. Zhao Yafu and Ann Jieshan gazed into the distance, where they could see the towering Wraith Ape, nearly a hundred meters tall, contorting and quivering aloft.

Streams of sword's will, like luminous white light, wove through his body. The Wraith Ape's silver-white blood spilled into the earth's crevices. Its demon soul, shredded by the sword's will, sank into the depths and was drawn into the Soulforge Pool by a mysterious force.

At that moment, the relentless sword's wills pursuing alien souls and the Silvermoon Empire's cultivators abruptly ceased their chase. Numerous sword's wills retreated. Yuan Lianyao suddenly noticed that the dark Soul Power stopped seeping into the pool's depths, and the subterranean space ceased its rippling. She was inwardly astonished.

The next instant, Yu Yuan, emerging from his Spirit Walk, snapped to awareness. His once-clouded eyes sparkled with clarity. "Some things should indeed be mine," he declared. A soft whistle emanated from a peculiar Yin-Yang Acolyte, who, in soul form, emerged from the pool's depths and bowed to Yu Yuan. He nodded in acknowledgment, "As they should be."

The Yin-Yang Acolyte, with a grateful smile, swiftly ascended from the Soulforge Pool. Shortly thereafter, the artifact soul of the Soul Splitting Staff began to consume the Wraith Ape's remnant soul, fortifying itself.

"Yu Yuan!" Yuan Lianyao called out, "The tree monster has been slain by the sword's will, and the Wraith Ape too! What exactly is happening underground?"

"Yu Yuan!" Zhao Yafu's voice pierced the air with a sharp cry, "Please, do not harm that elder!" At that moment, the figure with a human head and dragon body was ensnared by strands of sword's will, suspended above the Soulforge Pool. The once-glorious dragon man, his body no longer shimmering with golden brilliance, had sword's wills emerging from his back and the back of his head, each emitting fierce sword light.

The man with the human head and dragon body, still smiling through his ordeal, reassured her, "My dear, there's no need for concern. I am already dead; my dragon body has been destroyed, leaving only the Dragon Soul. My dragon blood was refined by Dragon Lake, and there's no coming back from death. This residual soul clings to life in this forbidden area, holding onto a faint glimmer of hope."

"Looking at it now, that hope seems to be nonexistent."

The man with the body of a dragon and a human head had long since made peace with life and death. Having passed on his legacy and divulged some secrets, he had grown increasingly serene.

"If one day, you reach a sufficient level, I want you to wipe out all the riffraff at Dragon Lake!"

His voice was thick with undisguised loathing as he spoke of Dragon Lake and its inhabitants.

"Dragon Lake!"

Yuan Lianyao gasped in surprise. "Dragon Lake is home to the Dragon Attendants, human cultivators who serve the Nagas. Shouldn't they be venerating you as their master? How could the cultivators of Dragon Lake dare to cross you?"

"You're not dead yet. There's still a way to reforge your dragon form," Zhao Yafu urged anxiously.

The man with the human head and dragon body shook his head, "It's as hard as reaching the heavens."

"Yu Yuan?" Yuan Lianyao furrowed her brow, glancing at Yu Yuan beside her. A sudden realization struck her, and her expression darkened, "This is bad! Su Xiangtian and the other survivors of the Empire have returned now that the sword's will has dissipated."

Zhao Yafu of Asvetaesi stood atop the pond, also looking back.

Ann Jieshan's crimson eyes glinted with a bloody light, as if he too was on alert.

And rightly so.

As the bulk of the sword's will receded and the essence of "To Know All is to Suffer All" from the bottom of the pond returned, the restless spatial tunnel was quelled.

The purpose of the sword's will lining the pond's walls was to prevent any disturbances in the spatial tunnel.

With no further anomalies below, the sword's will naturally began to withdraw.

Noticing the retreat of the sword's will, Su Xiangtian and the others, who had been lying low in the Silvermoon Empire, stealthily made their way back.

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