C1993 Collapse
Yuan Le floated in the void, three Dark Towers trailing behind his head as he gazed thoughtfully at the Dragon Slaying Stage.
Emblazoned on his chest, the Holy Mountain, encircled by stars, stood out like a totem, emitting an infinite crimson glow.
Having taken over the Ape's form, he gripped the Heaven-Shattering Hammer, his formidable presence sending shivers through everyone around him.
Yet, oddly enough, he showed no urgency to strike.
"Dawnbringers, Cardo," Yuan Le said with a light chuckle.
As he laughed, Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow and suddenly remarked, "You are indeed keeping a close watch on the Abyssal Gate."
"Indeed, I am," Yuan Le acknowledged openly. Watching Zhong Chichen lift the Book of Time and pull the battered body of Loong Jie from below, he flashed a wide grin and taunted, "Continue to linger down there."
The Heaven-Shattering Hammer in his hand shimmered like a bright moon.
Boom!
A bloody tempest erupted in the starry sky around Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie, filled with ice blades and cold knives that hissed as they sliced through their flesh.
Zhong Chichen, with a muffled groan, quickly dove into the Book of Time as blood sprayed across the cosmos.
Loong Jie, dragged along by him, transformed into a broad golden rainbow and vanished into a page of the Book of Time.
Where the two Dragon Gods had been, only the book remained, floating, their draconic forms gone.
Yuan Le was indifferent to their fate and showed no deference to Taishi and Reid, the celestial powerhouses. He abruptly suggested, "Let's take this battle elsewhere."
The Dark Towers swiftly dispersed, forming a triangle that enclosed him, Yu Yuan, Reid, and Taishi.
Simultaneously, each Dark Tower surged with space magic, casting them in a veil of enigmatic black light.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Dark Towers yanked them from their previous spot in the void, whisking them away to a different location.
All that remained in the original space were the Rat God Panot, the ice phoenix, and the floating Book of Time.
Nothing else remained.
Panot, momentarily dazed, watched as the space, like a shattered mirror, was sliced away. He urgently said to Alex, "We need to get out of here now!"
Without the Dark Tower at their disposal, he and Alex had no choice but to resort to their crude method of retreat.
Alex remained silent, aware that Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie were still alive and would inevitably emerge from the Book of Time at any moment, prompting him to act without delay. Thus, the two fortunate Beast Gods made a swift departure.
Elsewhere, at the location of the Abyssal Gate, a fragmented realm wrapped by the Dark Tower materialized out of nowhere. Reid, the High Priest of the Sky Fiend, was momentarily taken aback before he cried out in alarm, "Cardo, what are you doing?"
The Light Scepter, which had been supporting them and had transported him and Taishi to the Secret Realm of Time to fend off Yuan Le's strike, was now piercing the Abyssal Gate like a spear of light.
At the spear's tip, the purest light continued to infiltrate the Abyssal Gate.
Cardo, with her delicate figure, stood above the scepter's handle, disregarding the stern look on Yu Yuan's face. She offered apologies while persistently exerting force.
The brilliance intensified, relentlessly bombarding the Abyssal Gate, aiming to penetrate it completely.
It was clear that she intended to shatter the Abyssal Gate.
Cardo, despite being the leader of the Dawnbringers and a being second only to the great Demon God Bertain in this world, originally lacked the strength for such a feat.
She should have never been able to breach the Abyssal Gate.
Yet, beneath the translucent Abyssal Gate lay a vast light source as large as a landmass, echoing her Light Scepter and synergizing with her efforts from within.
Her Light Bloodline had thus received a significant enhancement, and the might of the scepter surged.
"Today, this gate shall also shatter," proclaimed Yuan Le, grinning as he addressed Cardo, who looked up at him with a face full of anger. "I didn't deceive you. There truly is a Light Spirit in the Wasteland, but... it might just be a fragment. It's akin to the Root of the Solar Meridian in this world, having separated from the Primal Blood of our Wasteland."
"Impossible!" Cardo exclaimed sharply. "The Abyss lies below! It has always been within the Abyss. How could it possibly split off a conscious energy and cast it into your Wasteland?"
This defies all logic!
In the heart of the Dawnbringers' chieftain, the Origin Realm lay between the Abyss and the Wasteland.
How then could the Light Spirit, dwelling in the Abyss, circumvent the Origin Realm and implant its energy and will in the Wasteland, where the Beast God prowls?
"Is there a chance... that it and that luminous continent are inherently part of the Origin Realm? Could it have been dragged down into the Abyss by the darkness, never to return to its original domain?" Yuan Le suddenly proposed.
"What?" Cardo was taken aback.
Then, it dawned on her—the Light Spirit had spoken of returning home.
Could it be?
The revelation stirred something in both Yu Yuans.
Yu Yuan, who wielded authority over the Dragon Slaying Stage and whose real body had also arrived, descended noiselessly.
Standing atop the Abyssal Gate, his corporeal form remained unaffected by the psionic pull of the gate.
This Yu Yuan, much like the Solar Spirit, gazed upon the resplendent continent.
A wave of familiarity began to swell within him.
It was as though he had encountered this radiant land long ago, and had been an integral part of it.
Yet, no memory spark ignited.
His sealed memories were mostly tied to the Will of the Deep. The current sense of familiarity, without the resurgence of memories, suggested that his recollections of the land below were entwined with the Will of the Deep from the Everlands.
Was it the Primal Soul or perhaps the Abyssal Treasure?
Yu Yuan mulled over this.
"Cardo, if you're keen on unraveling this enigma, join me in the effort," he suggested.
Yuan Le's eyes twinkled.
In the heart of the three Dark Towers, his immense vital energy began to surge wildly.
Upon reaching the Abyssal Gate, it was as if a latent force within him was drawing power from all around.
The Holy Mountain within his chest, seemingly forged from the essence of the Dark Deity's flesh and blood, revealed its might alongside thunderous heartbeats.
The clusters of clouds, symbols of the giant beast's bloodline mysteries, were drawn to the Holy Mountain in his chest.
They surged directly toward his chest cavity.
"The time has come for it to shatter," Yuan Le declared.
"Even in its shattered state, the bloodline mysteries of the giant beast imprinted on this gate will not be yours to command, Yuan Le."
Yu Yuan let out a cold snort and finally ceased his hesitation.
The clusters of the giant beast's bloodline, which had been soaring towards Yuan Le's chest in an attempt to merge with the mountain amidst the stars, suddenly descended and infused into Yu Yuan's Solar Spirit.
Numerous bloodline mysteries transformed into strands of fine crimson lightning, coursing through the meridians of his Solar Spirit.
In a mere moment, Yu Yuan had acquired nearly a hundred bloodline mysteries from the deceased cosmic giant beasts.
Some of these bloodline talents overlapped with the cosmic order of the Everlands, while others were entirely unfamiliar to him.
His Solar Spirit immediately set to work, integrating and weaving them together. He sorted them with his soul, aiming to amalgamate them as quickly as possible.
Crack! Crack!
Large swaths of colorful halos burst forth from the Abyssal Gate, flying towards Yu Yuan's Solar Spirit like shards. They became the purest form of vital energy.
This vital energy, the very foundation of the Abyssal Gate, was the legacy of the Old Titan Spinosaurus.
It served as a catalyst, accelerating Yu Yuan's fusion with the bloodline mysteries of the giant beasts and aiding his rapid ascension to the so-called eleventh level.
"It's shattered."
Yuan Le bellowed with excitement, setting aside the Heaven-Shattering Hammer and wildly grasping at the void.
He managed to seize a portion of the fragments from the Abyssal Gate, integrating them into the Ape's heart, where they vanished into the Life Keychain.
"Has it really shattered just like that?"
Cardo, clutching the Light Scepter, peered through the fragmented colorful expanse and caught sight of Jihui standing on the illuminated land.
The land was as vast as Tyria of the Ashlands, crowned with a radiant natural barrier above.
Beneath the thin barrier lay a myriad of bizarre castles and palaces, as well as mountains, lakes, and remnants of human kingdoms ravaged by war.
This world was not spherical like the Everlands, but rather a more stable expanse of land.
"This place..."
Taishi, stroking his chin, gazed in wonder at the world that had broken free from the abyss. He observed the central region where Jihui stood on the land and mused, "Why do I feel it bears a striking resemblance to the human nations of the Everlands?"
