C2001 Shatter
Yuan Le was on the hunt for creatures within the Abyss.
With the Evil Gods amassing their power on the Genesis Continent to jointly suppress the formidable Demon God Bertain, they were too preoccupied to monitor the outside world, presenting Yuan Le with an excellent opportunity.
The demise of the Abyssal beings would bolster Yuan Le's power, benefiting the Primal Blood that had given rise to his existence.
Yet, his most pressing concern should have been to make haste to the Everlands to uncover the deep truths hidden within its core. Lingering in the Abyss for an extended period was unwise.
But...
He felt an inexplicable sense of homecoming on the Genesis Continent. The dark magic that had endowed Tan Xiaotian with its secrets seemed to envelop him with a sense of yearning and reluctance to leave. In the Holy Temple, all the Evil Gods, regardless of their past animosity, now regarded him with a mix of reverence and fear.
He was well-acquainted with such looks that blended respect with trepidation. Back in the Everlands, during Boulderdawn's heyday, the cultivators from other sects viewed him with the same mixture of awe and apprehension.
They revered him as the stalwart pillar and leader of the Everlands' human race, despite their underlying fear.
Jihui, ever respectful, continued to address him as 'lord' even after his descent into the Abyss, treating him as their leader.
The Holy Temple's guardian claimed he was enshrouded by the Abyssal Treasure, predestined to be its spokesperson, proclaiming him as the Lord of the Abyss.
He even asserted that Tan Xiaotian, regardless of the power he might gain from the dark inheritance, would be bound by ironclad laws to follow Yuan Le's lead.
The Evil God, Jihui, and the guardian all saw him in this light.
"Could it be that I truly belong to the Abyss?" Yu Yuan pondered, unable to suppress the thought.
Standing on the sixth level of the Abyss, he remained still, yet the tumultuous and ferocious energy of the Abyss continued to flood into his body relentlessly.
With a mere thought, he activated the Evil Body Refining technique, and immediately noticed a significant increase in the efficiency with which his physical form absorbed the power of the Abyss.
The shimmering energy of the Abyss coursed through his veins like electricity, invigorating every bone, muscle, and sinew with its mighty force.
This gave him the sensation that he had somehow refined a portion of Yuan Le's life dew.
In his mind, he couldn't help but recall the body refining techniques of the Forgeroses, as well as those of the Terror Claws and Devil Palace.
In the vast Everlands, cultivators who dedicated themselves to body refining were often considered fringe practitioners.
Individuals like Zhongli Dapan, Yu Ying, and Shen Feiqing, despite their formidable physical strength, still fell short when compared to the Monster Lords of Shadow's Keep and struggled to ascend to higher realms through body refining alone.
Cultivators from sects such as the Sword Sect, Sunlit Order, and Ebon Star remained frail in body even after achieving breakthroughs to the Solar Spirit, Unbound, and Primordial Spirit stages.
Humans, in comparison to the evilkind of the Everlands and the extraterrestrial Otherkin, inherently possessed weaker flesh and blood.
This has always been an innate shortcoming of the human race.
Yu Yuan's perspective had shifted.
He came to an epiphany that the original humans of the Abyss were born with the ability to assimilate the wild and chaotic energies of the Abyss. Once these energies were refined within their bones and viscera, the humans of the Abyss could, with their sheer physical might, shatter the heavens and earth and establish themselves at any level within the Abyss.
In the Abyss, the robustness and ferocity of the human physique were once considered an advantage for the race!
Any human from the Everlands bearing the mark of the Abyssal Treasure could, upon arriving in the Abyss, reinforce their skeletal structure and enhance their physique with the Abyss's power, overturning the grim reality of their inherent physical deficiencies.
The original cultivation arts of the Abyss were precisely those that emphasized physical fortitude, such as the techniques of the Forgeroses, Terror Claws, and Devil Palace!
"Yuan Le!"
As his gaze settled on the first Dark Tower and the blood shadow within, a single thought from Yu Yuan locked onto the structure.
In that instant of focus, the existence of another Dark Tower surfaced in his dominant soul.
It was situated on one of the sixty-four continents of the seventh layer.
With the emergence of the second Dark Tower, Yuan Le, who had descended into the Abyss alongside the blood shadow, had nowhere to hide.
It seemed that no matter where Yuan Le might be in the Abyss, as long as he was within its bounds, he could not escape Yu Yuan's perception.
The absence of a third Dark Tower signified one clear fact.
Yuan Le, who had possessed the Ape's body, had not descended into the Abyss; he remained active within the Origin Realm.
"Yuan Le!"
As he called out once more, an urgent thought surfaced in his mind—he needed to go there immediately.
The moment this idea took hold, his dominant soul within his sea of consciousness echoed with the Dragon Slaying Stage, as if he had suddenly bridged the Void Rules at the very depths of the Abyss.
It was his soul that had connected to the Abyssal Rules, with the Dragon Slaying Stage serving merely as a minor tool, supplying the necessary space magic.
No sooner had his voice faded than he, along with the Dragon Slaying Stage, materialized before the Dark Tower.
On the sixth level of the Abyss, amidst one of the thirty-six dimly lit lands, he had slain a group of Abyssal creatures known as Shadow Demons and refined a drop of a gray-green Life Seed. The blood shadow, which sought to dissolve the Life Seed, watched the Dragon Slaying Stage with astonishment.
And there stood Yu Yuan, gripping the Dragon Slaying Stage.
"Without your eleventh-level Solar Spirit, what can you possibly do to me with just your physical form?"
The blood shadow was merely a manifestation of Yuan Le's vital energy. Not yet merged with the Dark Tower and before transforming into a Bone Aberration, the blood shadow lacked a distinct form.
He shook his head slightly, seemingly puzzled by Yu Yuan's strategy. "What's the point of challenging me in the Abyss? Shouldn't you be in the Everlands, resolving your conflicts with those human Supreme Beings as soon as possible?"
"Just as you can teleport with the Dragon Slaying Stage, I can do the same with my Dark Tower. I can stay if I wish, or leave if I..."
Yuan Le's statement was cut short.
As the blood shadow form of Yuan Le stood atop the Onyx Altar, he gazed in surprise at the void beside the altar, now sealed by some mysterious force.
The time travel power of the Dark Tower had failed!
He had been speaking to himself, aware that Yu Yuan's Solar Spirit could descend at any moment to provide backup, so he had no intention of engaging in a fight to the death with Yu Yuan before him.
His plan was to use the interconnected power of the two Dark Towers to reach the Dark Tower on the seventh level and then scatter from there.
When it was time to regroup, he would conceal his vital energy to ensure the two Dark Towers remained vigilant, avoiding Yu Yuan's scrutiny and relentless pursuit. Unexpectedly, his plan to leave at will was thwarted.
Yuan Le sensed something amiss.
Yu Yuan felt it too.
The force freezing the space with the rules of the Abyss wasn't emanating from his Dragon Slaying Stage, but from a power hidden deep within his soul!
The Dragon Slaying Stage was merely a conduit for space magic. The true influence on space, allowing him to appear instantly before Yuan Le, stemmed from his very thoughts.
He simply wished to be before Yuan Le, and so he was.
It was as straightforward as that.
He envisioned the blood shadow atop Yuan Le's Dark Tower possessing the power to traverse the void. Wishing to impose limitations, he rendered Yuan Le immobile.
He attuned himself to the sensation and gradually discovered that he had assimilated a portion of the Soul Power gleaned from the boundless darkness of the Genesis Continent.
This power had merged with his dominant soul, becoming an integral part of his spirit, granting him the leverage to manipulate the rules of the Abyss!
Every rule of the Abyss was within his grasp!
Whether it was within the body of an Evil God, Jihui, or the foundational rules of the Abyss itself, he could move them all!
This surpassed the sensations experienced by his Solar Spirit in the Ashlands and the Dark Star Region!
The Ashlands were carved out by the Titan Spinosaurus, and his Solar Spirit shared the same Primal Blood lineage, which provided a sense of belonging, akin to a Dao Integration Stage cultivator amplifying their power.
In the Dark Star Region, where Primal Blood lay dormant, he acted as its herald and received its empowering blessings.
But here, in the Abyss, he felt as if he were within the inner world of the Dragon Slaying Stage, the creator and pioneer!
He gazed at the Dark Tower housing the blood shadow, pausing briefly before commanding, "Shatter!"
Yuan Le's blood shadow froze.
Then, a blade embodying the order of the Abyss materialized as a Rift Cutter, as if an unseen deity wielded the luminous edge. It cleaved through the air, aimed at Yuan Le and the Dark Tower.
Yuan Le was paralyzed, his consciousness and thoughts shattered into innumerable fragments by Yu Yuan's utterance of the word "Shatter," unable to coalesce once more. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as the Rift Cutter sliced through the air towards him.
His Dark Tower, forged from the bones of beasts, didn't have the chance to morph into the Bone Aberration and was unable to mount any effective defense. It was mercilessly severed by the Rift Cutter.
With a hiss, the blood shadow too disintegrated into numerous blood cloud fragments in the blink of an eye, his spiritual sense ruthlessly erased.
As the blood shadow and Dark Tower vanished, a sliver of Yuan Le's remaining spiritual sense made a terrifying discovery: the Dark Tower on the seventh floor, in the land devoid of light, had met the same end.
Yu Yuan, relying on the power intrinsic to the Abyss and the fundamental rule of its deepest layer, had crushed his two Dark Towers with a single word: "Shatter." This included both of his reserves of vital energy.
Boom! Boom! The sounds echoed deep within Yu Yuan's soul as he spoke the word "Shatter," and the Soul Power he had drawn from the Abyss was completely depleted, leaving him overwhelmed with exhaustion.
All because he had spoken the word "Shatter," desiring Yuan Le and the two Dark Towers to be obliterated, to cease stirring chaos in the Abyss, and so his words became reality.
It was as though the highest deity of this world would tolerate no one who dared defy his will.
Anyone who fell into the Abyss, anyone who appeared in this world, unless they wielded a cosmic order equal to his, he could extinguish their existence with his power, as effortlessly as one might crush an ant underfoot.
What magnitude of power was this?
His dominant soul, not yet ascended to a primordial spirit, not yet having taken the final step, how did it wield such dreadfully absolute power within this enigmatic Abyss?
Jihui's profound respect, the fear in the eyes of the Evil Gods when they beheld him, the Lord of the Abyss's benevolent guardianship—all pointed towards a plausible explanation.
He could extinguish Yuan Le's blood shadow, shatter the Dark Towers, and with the same ease, obliterate the Evil Gods of this realm.
He even believed that slaying the Evil Gods born of the Abyss would be all the more effortless.
Jihui had indeed grown stronger in the Abyss, and so had Tan Xiaotian. In time, all those who possessed the origin would find their strength magnified within the Abyss.
Moreover, with the imprint of the Abyssal Treasure, mortals born in the Everlands could fortify their bodies within the Abyss, effortlessly drawing upon its energy to rapidly mature.
Yet, it was he who had garnered the mightiest power from the Abyss.
Within its depths, he might well be unbeatable.
If the Solar Spirit, as the Primal Blood's spokesperson in the Dark Star and Ashlands, could amplify its power and act with impunity,
then his real body's arrival in the Abyss was akin to the homecoming of the Primal Blood itself.
After the Old Titan Spinosaurus absconded with the Abyssal Treasure, it sank into the Heart of the Everlands, corrupting the Primal Soul and the Root of the Lunar Meridian, giving rise to all that is supreme.
That entity had imprinted itself most profoundly upon his dominant soul, as if it had long since merged with his very spirit.
"Sir, why... have you not entered the Holy Temple?"
Jihui, stationed at the pinnacle of the Abyss, materialized and watched as Yuan Le and the two Dark Towers were shattered. He spoke with a tinge of regret, "If only you had entered, if only you had reclaimed your true self, wouldn't all be resolved? What are you resisting? It's you, after all!"
"Don't you see? You can command everything within the Abyss!"
"By entering the Holy Temple, Demon God Bertain would perish. The Abyss, the Origin Realm, and the Wasteland would all fall under human dominion because of you."
