C1965 Rare Raw Materials!
"Open!"
The Ape clasped one hand over his chest and pressed the other to his forehead, linking the beast soul and beast heart through his palms.
Shh!
Brilliant tendrils of blood light coursed through his arms like a dazzling river of stars, each one carrying the innate abilities and divine powers of other Beast Gods from the Wasteland. These powers intermingled with the Ape's own blood, furiously amplifying his strength.
The Life Keychain, woven within his beast heart, glowed with an otherworldly light from the Lord of Ruin's vital energy, sharpening his perception even further.
His acute awareness of vital energy and soul soared to heights beyond the reach of his lineage, surpassed only by the Lord of Ruin himself.
Suddenly, the Ape's head radiated a deep crimson glow. Within his chest, the beast heart shone like a burning lantern, unleashing a formidable power that commanded awe and reverence from all the Beast Gods present.
"The aura of the king!"
"Our king!"
The Beast Gods, still in their primal forms, gazed upon the Ape with a newfound mixture of fear and envy.
It was then that they realized the Ape was among the rare few to have won the Lord of Ruin's favor, granted the gift of immortality.
Out of the hundreds of Beast Gods in the Wasteland, only a handful could claim eternal life. The Ape was now one of this elite group.
Born in the Everlands, the Ape shared a kinship with their king, allowing him to resonate more profoundly with the king's power.
"Even in the Wasteland, his power now ranks among the top ten."
The white boa, standing beside the Ape, addressed the reverent Beast Gods, "Remember, though he hails from the Everlands, the blood that courses through his veins shares the same source as our king's!"
"It's Yu Yuan!"
A hair-thin, crystalline thread of blood light emerged on the Untamed's newly regenerated leg, intertwining indistinguishably with the blood vessels in the Ape's own leg.
"Heaven-Shattering Hammer!"
A gleaming silver hammer burst forth from beneath the Ape's tongue, expanding as it settled into his palm.
With a mighty swing, he struck the shimmering blood light on his leg.
The hammer, now teeming with countless blood-colored crystals and reduced to a fraction of its original size, hammered down on the blood light with the force of striking iron.
With a resounding boom, the blood light shattered into fragments, and the blood energy vanished into thin air. Yet, the Ape's leg was broken once more. Clenching his teeth, he rose to his feet, using one leg and the Heaven-Shattering Hammer to steady himself, and called out to the white boa, "We need to split up and leave immediately!" Having witnessed Yu Yuan's formidable power, the white boa wasted no time in activating the Dark Tower's secrets.
"Let the three Dark Towers move separately! As the first wave of explorers, we must keep our mission in mind, not engage in a futile battle with the supreme beings of this world!" the white boa solemnly cautioned the gathered Beast Gods. Affected by the Ape and the white boa's urgency, the Beast Gods each entered a different Dark Tower and vanished from the Dead Star using the teleportation abilities of the towers.
Yu Yuan, the Solar Spirit atop the Abyssal Gate, snapped out of his contemplation. He shook his head, finding the situation almost beyond belief. He had a clear view of the Beast Gods' arrival, their discussions, and their frantic departure. The Ape, who had detected something amiss, had not relied on his own strength but rather on the hidden power within the Life Keychain nestled in his beast soul—this was the power of the Lord of Ruin.
The tenth-level Stormwraith God had ventured to the Starry Sky Forbidden Zone, perpetually obscured by Bertain, in search of the Primal Anima forged from thunder and lightning, only to return empty-handed. Meanwhile, Untamed bore a mission to shatter the Abyssal Gate and to amalgamate the vital energy of the cosmic giant beast from a bygone era. It was likely another of his kind, the King of the Monsters, who had set him on this path. The King sought not only the destruction of the Abyssal Gate but also the secrets of the giant beasts, remnants of the Spinosaurus legacy.
"What's the situation?" Zhong Chichen eagerly inquired, hands rubbing together in anticipation. He was ready to connect to that other world as soon as Yu Yuan provided the exact coordinates, leading the charge for the powerful to converge and strike. Once Yu Yuan from the Stellar Oblivion gave the word, a host of formidable beings would descend. The Beast Gods were bound to suffer a devastating blow.
Zhong Chichen and Yu Yuan exchanged a few words.
Upon learning that so many Beast Gods were converging in that secret area, and that Green Willow had reclaimed his tenth-level Dark Deity status after losing his origin, Zhong Chichen was taken aback. "Is everyone now bold enough to strip away their origin?"
"Green Willow has merely had his bloodline return to the tenth level; he doesn't possess eternal life," Yu Yuan clarified.
"Why can the Untamed live forever, but not Green Willow?" Zhong Chichen inquired, puzzled.
He, Loong Jie, and the Dire Bear had all achieved immortality after their bloodlines reached the tenth level. He had assumed that the Untamed, Green Willow, and they were all in the same situation.
"Green Willow's bloodline has always been at the tenth level. It was the loss of the Everlands' origin that caused his fall. The issue with Green Willow is just a partial seal on his bloodline. For someone like the Lord of Ruin, lifting such a seal is relatively straightforward. But to grant Green Willow a Life Keychain for eternal life, one would need to assimilate a measure of life dew," Yu Yuan explained.
He paused before continuing, "And life dew is extraordinarily valuable, not something that can be refined easily."
When his real body, along with Loong Jie, Zhong Chichen, and the snow bear, forged the Life Keychain, it was actually done using the life dew from the Solar Spirit. Using three portions of life dew to form the Life Keychain within their hearts left the Solar Spirit feeling exhausted, with a significant depletion of its vital energy reserves.
To this day, it has not fully recuperated.
Even after refining the Root of the Solar Meridian and maintaining a connection with the Primal Blood, the process of condensing the three portions of life dew had taken a toll on his vitality.
It was then that he realized the similarities between the Life Keychain and the transcendent soul essence Kaiya had spoken of. The transcendent soul essence allows the mighty of the Everlands to transform their dominant soul into a primordial spirit without depending on their origin. In contrast, his Life Keychain grants beings like Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie the gift of eternal life.
The Life Keychain he had crafted drew upon the life dew within his own Solar Spirit Body. Yet, the reserves of his life dew were finite.
Feeling somewhat weakened, he sought to connect with the Primal Blood in the Dark Star, hoping to replenish his depleted energy.
Whoosh!
Two streams of pure life dew, defying the vastness of space, surged from the depths of the Dark Star and infused his Solar Spirit Body in an instant.
The life dew he had expended was swiftly restored, leaving him feeling more vital and powerful, though still not at his peak.
At that moment, he received a message from the Primal Blood, a communication only he could perceive.
The message was straightforward and clear.
The Life Seeds of various races from the Wasteland, which he had acquired through Panot's belt and subsequently refined, had left their mark on the Primal Blood.
Pleased with his actions, the Primal Blood had acquiesced to his request and sent two streams of life dew.
But it had sent only two, for even the Primal Blood experienced depletion when refining such a substance.
The Primal Blood further informed him that the essence needed to forge the Life Keychain could also be extracted from the flesh of tenth level Beast Gods.
However, he would need the flesh of at least five Wasteland Beast Gods to distill a single essence capable of forming a Life Keychain.
Naturally, if he could defeat more intelligent species from the Wasteland and harvest their Life Seeds, the Primal Blood would autonomously determine the proper quantity of life dew to award him.
This arrangement was a mutual exchange.
Thus, he could not endlessly bestow the gift of eternal life upon all tenth level alien beasts, nor upon beings like Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie.
The creation of life dew was a complex process. This wondrous substance was akin to the lifeblood of his Solar Spirit.
For the Solar Spirit to produce a single stream of life dew, capable of creating a Life Keychain, it required a tremendous expenditure of vital energy.
The total cost was astronomical.
Each time he generated a stream of life dew, he would experience weakness, and his combat abilities would be diminished.
He quickly grasped the underlying mechanics.
If he wished to grant others eternal life and craft a Life Keychain within them, he would need to slay more Beast Gods from the Wasteland and harness their boundless vital energy for refinement.
To bestow eternal life upon another, he would either need to slay more Beast Gods from the Wasteland, using the vast vital energy from their blood for the ritual, or he could gather blood seeds from the belts of collectors like Panot, who came from the Wasteland. These blood seeds contained wisdom from intelligent life forms not found in the Origin Realm. With these unique Life Seeds, he could then directly trade for life dew.
