C2040 Unwilling to Wake up
The Everlands had descended upon the Ashlands!
This magical extraterrestrial realm, enveloped in towering flames and dazzling light, seemed to leap from the farthest reaches of the cosmos straight into the heart of the Origin Realm.
Boom! The myriad stars of the Ashlands began to quiver inexplicably.
Even Tyria, the massive pale-golden planet, shuddered violently.
If stars possessed consciousness, then the Everlands' abrupt visit would be akin to a supreme Titan Spinosaurus entering a realm of cosmic giant beasts.
For the other celestial worlds, the arrival of the Everlands spelled disaster.
Whoosh! The radiant halo that once encircled the Everlands quietly converged and vanished into the Dragon Slaying Stage.
As onlookers stood in stunned silence, the once fierce flames, driven by the Everlands' approach, surged through the earth's fissures toward its core.
The blazing fire, once the driving force behind the Everlands' roar, was no longer needed upon its entry into the Ashlands.
The Blazing Fire concealed within the Everlands, having feasted, was now vividly alert and infinitely powerful.
Before long, the previously desolate Everlands re-emerged before everyone's eyes, clear and distinct.
Seas, mountains, sects, and human realms had vanished, leaving behind a barren landscape reminiscent of Eiwrone.
Yet, the Everlands shimmered with an enigmatic sheen, its ripples of twisted rules beginning to draw in the dense cosmic energy of the Ashlands.
From the ground's fissures, a wild and chaotic force akin to that of the Abyss began to emanate.
In this moment, the Everlands appeared to breathe, inhaling the Ashlands' cosmic energy and exhaling the power of the Abyss.
With each breath, the Everlands seemed to pulsate with vibrant life, teeming with an astonishing vitality.
The cosmic energy converging upon the Everlands, the richest in the Origin Realm, seemed to replenish the parched depths of oceans and rivers as if infusing them with fresh mist.
Somehow, witnessing the transformation of the Everlands, everyone felt an uncanny sense of awe.
It was as if the Everlands, once a lifeless skeleton, was now through its "breathing" reconstituting flesh, sinew, and growing anew with organs and tissues.
Mountains and rivers, forests and oceans, soulstone veins, and empires of sects were poised to emerge once more.
This wondrous celestial body was being reborn, revitalized by the boundless energy of the Ashlands!
It's about to get even more wondrous!
"Yu Yuan!"
The Secular Bird Queen's sudden exclamation broke the silence, her stunning visage betraying a hint of surprise.
In the Everlands, the Dragon Slaying Stage stood where it once served to suppress the fortunes of the Nagas, now capturing the attention of all present.
Yu Yuan's real body sat in quiet contemplation, head bowed as if pondering some deep question, oblivious to the calls of the crowd.
Cao Jiaze, who had been safeguarding the Domain Channel in the Moonfall Sanctuary, remained by his side, accompanied by Han Qi, now ascended to the status of God of Ghosts.
With the blazing fire extinguished, the vast expanse of the Everlands was left to just the three of them.
Han Qi, tense and uneasy, lingered behind Cao Jiaze, too intimidated to meet either Cao Jiaze's or Yu Yuan's gaze on the Dragon Slaying Stage.
This newly minted supreme God of Ghosts seemed oddly constrained, adding to the air of discomfort.
It wasn't until the Everlands came to a rest that Han Qi managed to collect his thoughts and turn to Han Miaoyuan.
With a look of trepidation, Han Qi was at a loss for words.
Provoked by Jihui, Han Miaoyuan was the first to snap out of his stupor and set foot back onto the Everlands' soil.
"Han Qi, what's happened? And..."
He began to inquire further upon landing.
But when Han Miaoyuan's eyes met Cao Jiaze's, he was struck with a jolt, his body freezing in place.
He then cautiously positioned himself behind Cao Jiaze, much like Han Qi, swallowing the questions that nearly escaped his lips.
Too wary to confront this enigmatic Cao Jiaze, he instead gestured towards Yu Yuan, who remained head bowed on the Dragon Slaying Stage, and sought answers from Han Qi with a questioning look.
"What's the matter?"
Han Qi, his face etched with terror, could only shake his head in silence, equally at a loss for words.
Han Miaoyuan was left utterly bewildered.
"Hmm!"
Zu Ann, Qin Luo, Jihui, and even Han Miaoyuan themselves began to feel a growing affinity with the Ashlands as the Everlands descended upon them.
Their spirits were instantly steadied.
With the arrival of the Everlands, the cosmic order deeply etched at the heart of the earth began to resonate with the Ashlands.
The laws of the Everlands and the foundational rules of the Ashlands had already begun to intertwine.
Thus, those from the Everlands who bore its essence within themselves immediately had an intuitive sense of it.
Whoosh!
With the advent of the Everlands, the massive space rift that had previously torn open was now rapidly healing back to its original state.
The deep caves riddled with Eiwrone continued to burn with unrelenting flames.
The Ashlands remained in a state of strict confinement.
All those invited by the Boulderdawn sect, including extraterrestrial warriors from other races like the Thunder Beast, the Three-legged Golden Crow, the Secular Bird Queen, the Abyssal Leviathan, and the cosmic giant beasts, as well as human cultivators from the Skyreach Consortium, the Starmoon Sect, and the Forgeroses, found themselves trapped within the Everlands.
Escape was no simple feat.
"We're done for; we've been duped."
"The deceitful human race of the Abyss!"
"The Origin Realm is likely to fall, becoming a world dominated by humans."
The stranded Otherkin Blood Warriors, upon realizing that Taishi, Tianqi, Taixu, and Xuanli were merging with the Origin and that Yu Yuan's behavior was laden with oddities, were convinced that this was a meticulously orchestrated invasion by the humans.
They feared that the Star Rivers of the Origin Realm were already in dire straits.
The fearsome Evil Gods of the Abyss, beings on par with Samantha, were leading legions of Abyssal warriors in a relentless conquest of world after world.
There was no need to wait for the Beast God of the Wasteland; the Origin Realm would fall and become a territory of the Abyss.
Humans were the masterminds and the instigators.
Whoosh!
The flame, a manifestation of Yuan Lianyao's spiritual sense, flew to the Cosmic Crucible that enveloped her. After encasing the crucible, it soared back to the Everlands.
Upon reaching the Fireheart Mountains, the crucible settled at the crater of a volcano.
The next moment, a wildly ferocious torrent of flames erupted from the volcano's crater, along with "Solar Nuclei" that merged into the Cosmic Crucible.
The transformation of Yuan Lianyao and the emergence of the Fire Demon Ancestor required a tremendous amount of flame energy.
The energy within the Cosmic Crucible alone seemed insufficient, so the Blazing Fire from deep within the earth bestowed an additional surge of flame energy, enabling Yuan Lianyao to emerge in her new Fire Demon form.
It appeared that the arrival of the Everlands was eagerly anticipated.
The awakening of the world's most potent blazing fire had mustered all the energy it needed. This not only set the Everlands in motion but also gathered strength for the nascent Fire Demon Ancestor.
Whoosh!
Jihui, clutching the Wraithbanner, traveled from the extraterrestrial tribe and alighted before the Dragon Slaying Stage in the Everlands.
He knelt before Yu Yuan, who sat motionless, his head bowed.
"My lord, do you still refuse to awaken?"
After paying his respects, Jihui noticed Yu Yuan remained unresponsive. Tilting his head slightly, he looked up at Yu Yuan's face and asked with a smile, "Do you truly not wish to awaken?"
Yu Yuan showed no sign of life.
Cao Jiaze stood in silence, gazing at the eleventh-level Solar Spirit of Yu Yuan suspended high above.
A peculiar Soul Voice, as if lifting the ban on Yu Yuan's Solar Spirit, roused Yu Yuan, who had been defying its call and was reluctant to venture into the heart of the Everlands.
Like a crimson meteor, the eleventh-level Yu Yuan plummeted toward the Everlands.
Whoosh!
Yu Yuan, at the eleventh level, dove into a fissure that split the Fireheart Mountains.
