C2020 Different Choices
"We share the same roots, so why the rush to conflict?"
Han Miaoyuan clutched the Banner of Duality, his face etched with deep emotion. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he boldly entered the Fireheart Mountains, making his way toward the members of Boulderdawn.
The flames within the Fireheart Mountains had subdued, as if gathering strength.
Yet, the Cosmic Crucible remained suspended, and within its lidless depths, Mo Baichuan's Fire Crystal form was meticulously sculpted into being.
As Han Miaoyuan passed the Cosmic Crucible, he glanced down at its interior and whispered, "A new life form."
He then gracefully approached the Boulderdawn group.
"We should not be fighting amongst ourselves."
With a heavy sigh, Han Miaoyuan spoke with heartfelt distress, "Why do we do this? We hail from the Abyss. Guided by its wisdom, we took root in the Everlands, responding to the call of the Origin Realm. Why then do we turn on each other?"
"It was that accursed Titan Spinosaurus that led our highly civilized human race out of the Abyss into the world!"
"Commanded by the Primal Blood, the Titan Spinosaurus invaded our Abyss, nearly eradicating our entire human race!"
"It survived, sinking into the core of the Everlands, biding its time for countless years until our human race could once again emerge! Shouldn't we honor its will and guidance by striking back at the Origin Realm?"
"And yet, you have repeatedly defied it, seeking to undo its millennia of effort!"
Han Miaoyuan's voice rose in fierce reprimand.
"Our human race, born from... the Abyss?"
"That will, deep within the earth's core, is it the progenitor of our human race, also from the Abyss?"
"My God!"
"Mr. Han would not speak idly! This has to be the truth. A visit to the Abyss will confirm it!"
"I need some time to process this!"
"..."
Cultivators across the Everlands, who had been closely monitoring Han Miaoyuan's every move, were stunned by his revelations.
Before his return, only a handful, like Han Qi, had an inkling of the truth.
The majority of cultivators from various sects were unaware of the human race's origins, viewing the Abyss as a realm of evil and the potential descent of Evil Gods as an imminent threat.
Han Miaoyuan clarified the relationship between the Everlands and the Abyss with such force that it struck everyone like a thunderbolt to the heart. The members of Ethereal Void Sect, Winter's Bite, Abyssal Dawn, Devil Palace, Cloudwater Sect, Sunlit Order, and even the senior cultivators of Ebon Star Sect were visibly bewildered, struggling to come to terms with the staggering revelation.
In contrast, the God-Kings, Reid of the Sky Fiend, Youqian, the Abyssal Leviathan, the Abyssal Greater Basilisk, and other Observers remained composed. Yu Yuan had not concealed the truth, having previously revealed it in the Stellar Oblivion, allowing everyone time to digest the information and make their own choices. As such, those who had returned from beyond the stars were not thrown into disarray by Han Miaoyuan's earth-shattering news; there was no argument or fervent debate.
"I have to admit, every word you've spoken is true, without any exaggeration or falsehood," Yu Yuan acknowledged after listening to Han Miaoyuan's speech, which he had anticipated. "The human race originated from the Abyss, a fact I've witnessed firsthand. Whether in the Abyss or the Everlands, our existence is indeed due to it." He glanced down at the earth beneath his feet as he spoke.
"Knowing all this, why do you continue to resist? Shouldn't you be moved by its guidance, its commands, its care for you, and reciprocate?" Han Miaoyuan questioned with a cold sneer. "Without it, there would be no humans in the Abyss, no glorious civilization in the Everlands!"
"We are sentient beings, capable of emotion. We should embrace it as we would our own mother, always seeking closeness, always in harmony!"
"Taiyin!" Han Miaoyuan's voice escalated sharply.
"In the past, you stubbornly sought to recreate the Everlands among the stars. I cannot fathom why, when it granted you such immense power, made you the foremost among our people, our leader, you would repeatedly defy it?"
The Ebon Star Sect's master addressed Yu Yuan by his true name, Taiyin, his voice filled with righteous indignation. Decades of pent-up frustration and bewilderment poured out with the utterance of "Taiyin" and the subsequent reproach.
His lean and towering frame had been forged in the Abyss, each sinew and muscle now possessed the formidable strength of the Otherkin. Lin Daoke, Qin Luo, and all who had ventured into the Abyss had emerged transformed and elevated.
While he pointed an accusing finger at Yu Yuan, the chaotic power of the Abyss from the Fireheart Mountains and nearby fissures naturally coalesced around him. It was as if the will of the Everlands was acknowledging and supporting him in this way.
Han Miaoyuan's denunciations and bellows echoed the very confusion that had long troubled the depths of the Everlands—a mystery it had always sought to unravel. Now, Han Miaoyuan had become its voice.
"I refuse to end up like Yuan Lianyao or Cao Jiaze. Nor do I wish to be like Grec," he declared.
Yu Yuan's gaze abruptly fixed on Grec of the Blood Fiend, who was visibly taken aback.
With a whoosh, a force as if emanating from the primal source descended upon Grec, the tenth-level Demon God, transforming into a crimson flood that shattered his soul. Then, it possessed Grec's body.
This "Grec" flexed his hands and twisted his neck, speaking on behalf of Yu Yuan. "I am now Yu Yuan. This body of Grec's is fully at my disposal. I can use his body to do anything I desire—it's like having an additional vessel."
"The entity below can treat me just as I have treated Grec," he continued. "And indeed, it has done so before!"
Grec's speech came to an abrupt halt.
After a brief stupor, Grec realized that the power which had flooded his being had vanished as swiftly as the wind. This once ambitious contender for the Sky Fiend Clan's patriarch, who had aspired to ally with the Blood King and annihilate Boulderdawn, spoke with a somber tone, "I am powerless against the Solar Meridian. My every thought and deed are influenced by it."
"Now..." Grec managed a wry smile.
He could empathize with Yu Yuan's current state more than anyone, having been through it multiple times himself. He now grasped why Yu Yuan, in his first life as Taiyin, with a killing force that once rivaled the Blood King, had suddenly embarked on a path of defiance.
Yu Yuan was rebelling against his creator!
His journey of defiance was an attempt to break free from the Primal Anima that could, at any moment, descend upon him and use him as a mere tool. What an arduous challenge that was.
"Han Miaoyuan!" Yu Yuan's voice rose sharply. "You are quite amusing, for you don't even possess the qualifications to be wholly dominated by it. Only I, and Cao Jiaze, who have ascended to the highest level in the manner it desires, can wield the power it expects after its descent."
"You, and you."
Yu Yuan's gaze lingered on Jihui as he spoke.
"You can only listen to its voice and teachings, treating it as a deity. Indeed, it is your creator, the wellspring of your soul. Your philosophies and ideas are rooted in its will, and choosing to follow it as your guide seems right."
"But I choose differently! I refuse to be eternally subservient, to one day lose my consciousness and be a mere spectator in the corner of my own mind as it uses my body, my soul, and my name to carry out its deeds."
"I will not be reduced to a mere instrument!"
Yu Yuan articulated his path of defiance with clarity.
The people of the Everlands, already bewildered by Han Miaoyuan's earth-shattering revelation, found themselves further confounded by Yu Yuan's subsequent words.
Is it wrong to be faithful to the creator and act on the will of the soul's source?
Is it wrong to reject the creator's authority in pursuit of true freedom?
Who is right, and who is wrong?
"If it ceases to exist, if it perishes, then those born of it will also cease to be."
Han Miaoyuan stated a harsh truth without emotion, "Our souls originate from it, making it the root of all humanity. I know this much: the stronger it becomes, the more power it consumes, the greater the benefit to our entire race."
"It all comes down to your selfishness!"
"It created you, enabled you to host its presence, and elevated you to the pinnacle of God-King. So what if it acts through you?"
"You are its chosen spokesperson; this is your obligation! Your sacrifices allow it to gain greater strength, refine more primal essence, and bring forth more exalted beings among our race. This strengthens us all, allowing us to govern all beings within the Origin Realm."
"Every human born of it will attain a higher civilization, standing above the beings of the Origin Realm, the Abyss, and the Wasteland."
"What is wrong with that?"
Han Miaoyuan's words were laced with irony.
"Taiyin, you are as selfish now as you were thousands of years ago! You are a profound disappointment to me, and to it. The Demon God Bertain has surely deceived you. He embodies the Sky Fiend, the very Primal Soul we speak of!"
"You have betrayed your own kind and sided with the Sky Fiend. You are a heretic and an abomination to our people!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Raging flames burst forth from the crevices of the earth and the erupting volcanoes. The solar nuclei that had not departed with Yuan Lianyao transformed into miniature suns.
Suspended in the sky above the Fireheart Mountains, numerous burning suns radiated light and heat, far surpassing their previous intensity.
Deep underground, the Blazing Fire that eternally guarded the Primal Soul seemed to roar in fury.
Flames raged, a sea of fire expanded, and dancing Flame Spirits spread from the mountain range in every direction. The Blazing Fire sought to engulf the entire Everlands with the most fearsome inferno the world had ever known.
The once azure Everlands were rapidly morphing into a colossal, blazing orb.
The cosmic order imposed by Taishi, meant to fracture the earth, was incinerated to ash by the power of the Blazing Fire.
Empires, towns, villages, sects, enchanted lands, the deep sea, and islands were gradually engulfed by the flames, reduced to rubble and ash.
Figures, initially panicked, soared from the Everlands into the sky, then watched the conflagration below with complex emotions.
They were native to the Everlands, architects of human civilization, who had elevated their people to the pinnacle of the Origin Realm. Yet now, amidst the clash of Han Miaoyuan and Yu Yuan, the Everlands began to self-immolate, fueled by the collision of their convictions and ideologies.
