C1973 You Are Looking for Me!

The jade box was icy to the touch, crafted from a type of jade that seemed to emanate an extreme chill. Its surface was intricately engraved with beastly patterns and mysterious symbols.

Inside the translucent box lay a drop of blood, glistening like a blood-red crystal. This solidified drop was likely refined by the Lord of Ruin, a departure from its expected liquid state.

Before the box was opened, the radiant drop of blood betrayed no peculiarities. The light it emitted was soft, lacking any sense of awe or terror.

"I admire your decision," Yu Yuan said, resting his hand on the box's lid without any rush to lift it. He gazed at Cardo with genuine respect.

Cardo, having relinquished her role as leader of the Dawnbringers and passed the jade box to Yu Yuan, seemed visibly more at ease. Her long lashes fluttering, she cautioned, "Don't try to unravel the secrets of this drop of blood with your mortal form. It wouldn't be wise."

Yu Yuan smiled, nodding in understanding. "I'm well aware."

A drop of blood from the Lord of Ruin, an entity of eleventh level renown, capable of forming a Life Keychain in Cardo's heart, was no ordinary substance.

Yu Yuan had no immediate intention of opening the box. His plan was to take it to the Abyssal Gate, where the Solar Spirit could perform the refinement.

"In the future..." Cardo began, a hopeful expression crossing her impeccable features after a light cough, "will I be able to receive the Key of Eternity from you?"

Before Yu Yuan could respond, she continued, "Consider this box holding the Lord of Ruin's lifeblood. I've entrusted it to you, perhaps you'll uncover something."

Yu Yuan, who had pursued this very box and its precious drop of blood, chuckled at her words. "Are you certain about this?"

"To gain eternal life through me, you'll be subject to my influence, just as Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie are. Are you truly ready for that? For someone of your stature to suddenly bear such constraints?"

Cardo pondered deeply before replying, "If my only choices for eternal life are between you and the Lord of Ruin, then naturally, I choose you."

"Alright, once I'm able to refine the next Life Keychain, I'll reach out to you," Yu Yuan stated.

"Oh, right," Cardo said, as if something had just occurred to her. She glanced toward the Boulderdawn's extraterrestrial base camp and inquired with undiminished hope, "Can we from the Origin Realm travel to the Wasteland?"

"Still fixated on the Light Spirit?" Yu Yuan chuckled.

"How could I not be?" Cardo responded, her lips twisting wryly. "You've won the favor of the Primal Blood and found your way to the eleventh level. I've spent years scouring the world for the Light Spirit, and now that I finally have a lead, how could I simply let it go?"

"I've considered that. If they can come here, then naturally, we should be able to go there," Yu Yuan offered encouragingly. "Once my Solar Spirit ascends to the eleventh level, perhaps I can unravel the mysteries of the barrier between our worlds, much like the Lord of Ruin."

"Don't rush things. Many of the Beast Gods from the Wasteland will perish here."

"By the time we reach the Wasteland, we can interrogate the surviving Beast Gods to locate the Light Spirit," Yu Yuan declared confidently.

"I'm of the same mind," Cardo said, her demeanor suddenly radiant with renewed vigor. "I refuse to believe Bertain is in trouble! I know all too well the might of the big devil. With Bertain and you here, we might just seize this chance to subdue the Wasteland!"

Her refusal of the black goat was rooted in that belief.

She later realized that with the resources and strength of the Origin Realm, invading the Wasteland might not be out of the question.

If she could just set foot in the Wasteland, she might not even need the Beast Gods to detect the presence of the Light Spirit. After all, it would likely seek her out on its own.

Once that connection is made, everything else falls into place!

The gloom that had clouded Cardo's heart was suddenly cleared away. "I won't head to the extraterrestrial base camp just yet, but I'll stay active around the Stellar Oblivion."

"Should the Beast Gods from the Otherworld have a precise location, have Ballo get in touch with me," she concluded.

Ballo knows how to find me."

Swish!

Cardo vanished without a trace.

...

Amidst a blazing extraterrestrial sky, Mo Baichuan stood on a land ablaze, gazing upon the peculiar Otherworld unenclosed by any walls.

The uneven terrain was dotted with fiery lakes. From his aerial view, he had seen countless lakes filled with molten lava scattered across the surface.

Not a single plant or tree was in sight throughout this world, nor was there any trace of living essence.

It was a land utterly forbidden to all life forms.

He had come a great distance, guided by the faint connection between the Cosmic Crucible he wielded and the Earthfire from the Everlands.

As the Most High, with the Cosmic Crucible in his possession, he could sense the will of the blazing fire across the vast expanse of stars.

The Earthfire had drawn him here in pursuit of an extraordinary flame energy that had piqued its interest.

His task was to collect this flame energy.

Mo Baichuan surveyed the intensely burning world but found no trace of the flame energy that intrigued the Blazing Fire.

Moreover, his tenuous connection to the Blazing Fire was fading.

Before long, no matter how much effort he exerted, he could no longer sense the presence of the Blazing Fire from the Everlands.

It was at this moment that a voice rang out.

"I heard you've been seeking me?"

A haughty and icy voice emerged from a lake engulfed in flames.

From the churning depths, a figure with a regal stance materialized—a woman of stunning beauty in an intricately patterned purple robe, her presence slowly rising above the ground.

Her lips curled in mockery. "During my battle with Tan Xiaotian, Jihui, and the secular bird in Darkpinion, I heard you wanted to join the fray with the aid of the Seven-Colored Dragon. Was it the Earthfire from the Everlands that emboldened you?"

She sneered with contempt.

Mo Baichuan's expression turned grim.

Realizing he had been deceived upon her sudden appearance, he quickly scanned his surroundings for the Astral Tiger and Yu Zhu.

"Sister, I appreciate your planning."

Beside her, the fire phoenix lounged in a fiery pool, her slender fingers like red crystals flicking through the water, sending sparks flying. She bathed in the bubbling pool, surrounded by rising steam.

"Shall I take care of this clueless fellow?"

The fire phoenix sought confirmation.

Mo Baichuan was taken aback. This enigmatic woman radiated a demonic aura, with flames flickering in her chest, the very being that had intrigued the Blazing Fire.

It was her presence that the Blazing Fire of the Everlands had sensed!

"Step aside."

The Dark Phoenix gestured dismissively and then gracefully approached Mo Baichuan.

"I'm offering you a fair chance to challenge me. In this scorching world brimming with magma pools, you can fully harness the Earthfire you've mastered. I'll be right here, waiting to see how you, Mo Baichuan, intend to exact revenge for Yuwen Hao."

"I'm curious to see what skills you possess, Mo Baichuan, to have the audacity to track me down in the extraterrestrial!"

Boom!

Her overwhelming demon energy formed a purple barrier that instantly shrouded this fiery world, cutting off Mo Baichuan's escape route.

Her demon energy barrier couldn't be easily shattered unless by an eleventh-level being or an anomaly like Yu Yuan.

"Fine."

Mo Baichuan summoned the Cosmic Crucible, and the entire world's magma pools, along with hundreds of bubbling flame lakes, were drawn into the massive furnace's influence.

"You, Mo Baichuan, will perish, and your essence won't return to the Everlands."

The Dark Phoenix scoffed.

...

Wraithlands.

Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel sat under an ancient tree, lost in time.

He was assimilating the disordered memories from the Root of the Lunar Meridian, unraveling the rules governed by the First Undead Dominator, and tracing the intricate patterns of the Path of Undead.

He was also pondering the potential connections between Primal Soul, Primal Vitality, and Primal Blood.

That day, a Path of Undead, long devoid of residual souls, suddenly stirred to life with the arrival of a newly departed spirit.

This Path of Undead stretched across the Astral Domain once inhabited by the Fire Lizard. But with the Fire Lizard's decline and the harshness of the environment, the region had long been deserted.

The sudden death of a soul that managed to alarm him was certainly out of the ordinary.

He instinctively divided his focus to probe into the matter.

"Baibai."

The deceased spirit turned out to be Mo Baichuan, who had ascended to the Most High and had become one with the Earthfire.

…