C2050

In the Dark Domain, Tan Xiaotian was seething with rage.

He manifested a colossal magical form, enveloped by billowing dark demonic energy. His eyes were like twin black suns, swallowing all the light in the world.

On this icy plain, the blood-hued divine glow of the Demon Phoenix Zhiya, the gleam of the Shrouded Tower, and the demonic energies from the Ice Phoenix and the Old Ape were extinguished with a mere glance from him.

He was the sovereign of darkness, decreeing that his realm should be shrouded in eternal night.

The Dark Cushion he used for meditation drifted up from beneath him into the heavens, drawing upon the hidden forces of darkness within the Dark Domain to construct a Dark Divine Kingdom.

The cushion transformed into a shadowy land, with dense demonic clouds churning overhead. Towering ancient temples rose, shrouded in darkness, as the cushion gave birth to a new world.

Dark deities and demons filled the skies, basking in the adulation of countless souls within his Dark Divine Kingdom.

"Supreme Overlord of Darkness!"

"Sovereign of Darkness!"

These resounding chants reverberated ceaselessly throughout the Divine Kingdom, as beings from the Three Realms who revered the dark called out his name from secret sanctuaries across the Starfield.

The principles of darkness solidified into pitch-black clouds, transformed into shadowy lightning, or flared as black flames, materializing in this realm that was steadily taking shape.

Within the Dark Domain, existing laws of darkness were reinforced, and new ones emerged, colliding with the forces of bitter cold.

Only beings of Zhiya and Yuen Bu's caliber could discern the symphony of laws clashing deep within the Dark Domain, a sound that resonated through the darkness, daunting all who heard it.

In the shadows, stars encased in icy rock shattered, casting forth ghostly cold lightning.

New stars also emerged, brought into being by the presence of the Abyss Wood and the influx of fresh darkness.

The icy laws laid down by the extreme cold, remnants of the Golden Asura's might, were now being unraveled.

Despite his formidable power in the Dark Domain, Demon Lord Tan Xiaotian found no joy.

For on the ice field, riddled with pillars of dark light, the Demon Phoenix Zhiya, who had once overpowered both him and Lin Daoke, showed no sign of defeat, even under the crushing force of the ultimate darkness.

It was clear that the Demon Phoenix Zhiya had not ascended to the Eleventh Level, a realm that was decidedly beyond his own.

"Tan Xiaotian, you're still as arrogant as ever."

Amidst the boundless darkness, Zhiya observed the Darkness Worlds that seemed to emerge from Tan Xiaotian's thoughts and power.

She let out a sneer of contempt.

Her shapely figure remained untouched by even a strand of darkness.

Regardless of how the dark energy, bestowed by Tan Xiaotian, attempted to infiltrate her being, she effortlessly snuffed it out with a mere gesture.

Her purple wings, though not particularly broad, fluttered gently like an extra pair of hands.

The bizarre landscapes and the fabric of Heaven and Earth created by the darkness shattered one by one, as the laws governing them were obliterated.

This left Tan Xiaotian both astonished and bewildered.

Yet, as he was about to summon greater strength, even considering a direct communion with the Darkness Origin Spirit, the visage of Yu Yuan materialized within his mind.

Yu Yuan called his name, his soul's presence manifesting in Tan Xiaotian's divine seat, striking at his core.

And so, his bellows and enraged cries echoed like the eerie laughter of innumerable Demon Gods, reverberating at the farthest reaches of the Dark Domain and the fringes of the Starfield: "I will never submit to you!"

Crack! The sound of fissures forming could be heard.

The immense black prisma, symbolic of Tan Xiaotian's divine seat, began to fracture with his fury.

"I have ascended to the Eleventh Level. Even without the essence of my origin, I am immortal!"

Tan Xiaotian stood defiant against the mental projection of Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan's spectral image, towering above, gazed down with a stern indifference at the anomalies in Tan Xiaotian's divine seat, seemingly unperturbed, as if awaiting an even greater outburst of rage.

Meanwhile, in the fragmented ice plains.

"Zhiya is truly remarkable."

Yuen Bu, merely a blood avatar, had already signaled to the Desolate God, Ice Phoenix, and Rat God, Nors, to refrain from any hasty actions.

A congregation of Beast Gods and Demon Gods assembled around the Shrouded Tower, opting to spectate the clash between Tan Xiaotian and the Demon Phoenix.

Yuen Bu stood relaxed, hands clasped behind his back, speaking with composed assurance, "Without the favor of the origin blood in the Desolate Realm, and before my conquest of it, your Phoenix Tribe remains the strongest." His gaze settled on Alex, who, in the wake of his sister's departure, had come to understand the full truth, as if he were a sculpture wrought from pristine ice.

Alex, who had already learned the truth from his sister Zhiya of the Phoenix Tribe, appeared as stoic as ice. He had no intention or desire to transform into a human. With his head bowed, he asked, "Master, why bring up these matters so suddenly?"

"I'm sharing this with you to make you aware that your Phoenix Tribe is truly favored by the heavens. It's not by chance that I appeared, nor is it due to the shifting of eras. The rightful King of the Desolate Realm should have emerged from your Phoenix Tribe," Yuen Bu said with a warm smile. "Perhaps, through Zhiya, you can come to understand the might and uniqueness of your tribe."

The Ice Phoenix was utterly bewildered.

Just then, the distant sound of a sword's cry pierced the air.

The Ice Phoenix's bloodline stirred in response to the cry. His mind became a whirlwind of chaos, and he abruptly took flight from the Shrouded Tower.

Alex unfurled his wings and took to the skies, his feathers shimmering with a frosty glow, traversing thousands of miles in an instant.

In mere moments, the Ice Phoenix, a visitor from the Desolate Realm, willingly came to rest at the feet of Jee Ningshuang. The Great Sword Immortal of the Sword Sect stood over him, her foot upon his back.

Jee Ningshuang harnessed the Demon Energy within Alex, the chilling power he had amassed in the Dark Domain, and the laws of extreme cold he had refined in the Desolate Realm.

He had become her steed and her blade.

At this moment, he was in the Dark Domain, once known as the Cold Domain, a place that had nurtured the world's most potent cold laws and concealed the strongest laws of extreme cold.

Alex, the Ice Phoenix, with his Demon Energy, bloodline, and Demon Bone, had all been mastered by Jee Ningshuang. This realm harmonized with her Ice Great Dao while also falling under the dominion of the Dark God, Tan Xiaotian.

Because the Ice Phoenix had encountered this world and grasped its laws of extreme cold, integrating the Frost Energy within his form, he had become Jee Ningshuang's sword.

His will stood no chance against such forces.

"Tan Xiaotian."

Yu Yuan's voice echoed once more in the mind of Tan Xiaotian.

Tan Xiaotian was formidable, hailing from the vast expanses of the Vast Ocean, with the essence of the origin within his mind. This allowed Yu Yuan to shatter the constraints of the Dark Domain and manifest within his consciousness.

"I'm at my wit's end!"

Tan Xiaotian bellowed softly.

"Eleventh Level," Yu Yuan said with a sneer. "You've ascended to the Eleventh Level, yet you struggle against Zhiya. Do you understand why?"

Tan Xiaotian, who had been in the midst of a roar, fell abruptly silent at Yu Yuan's words.

Deep within his own sea of consciousness, the Demon Lord gazed at the immense green-black shadow and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"The entity that bestowed upon you the laws of darkness is merely a mid-tier Darkness Origin Spirit. It's sheer fortune that allowed you to rise to the Eleventh Level. But given its lower-tier status, the being it shaped in you pales in comparison to Beilstein, Yuen Bu, and myself."

"Therefore, as an Eleventh Level being with a weaker source, you too appear weaker."

"Tan Xiaotian, your might is inextricably linked to it. You ventured into the Dark Domain to forge your Dark Divine Kingdom, to spawn more dark beings. You aim to use the Dark Domain as a springboard, to consume more of the Origin Realm and Starfield, to cast darkness across a broader expanse of the cosmos—all in aid of its metamorphosis."

"It must evolve first, ascend to a high-level Origin Spirit, for your Eleventh Level powers to correspondingly surge."

"The road is long, and you can't even free yourself from it. How then can you dream of defying the core will of the Vast Ocean?"

"Your Founder must submit to it, so you, Tan Xiaotian, must also heed my words obediently."

Yu Yuan, devilish in his intent, set out to dismantle Tan Xiaotian's pride, laying bare the harsh reality.

He was acutely aware that his words to Tan Xiaotian were also being heard loud and clear by the green-black Origin Soul in the Vast Ocean, which, curiously enough, offered no interference.

"Lin Daoke."

His spectral presence reemerged in the mind of the Sword Sect Lord, before the Primordial Spirit Sword.

"Mr. Lin, with your exceptional talent, are you truly content to be subservient forever? Oh, but I nearly forgot, it cannot even be deemed human."

"You've already begun transforming the Primordial Spirit Sword into the Sword Origin Spirit. Have you considered casting off all your shackles?"

"Shouldn't the pinnacle of the Sword Dao at least grant freedom?"

Yu Yuan's seductive shadow and his voice resonated within the minds of various supreme beings.

Simultaneously.

In the Evil God Temple, a structure of breathtaking magnificence that was ascending from the Abyss, Yu Yuan's soul projection was under the scrutiny of all the Evil Gods.

They observed as the soul shadow of the Abyss Lord shifted and manifested within the minds of different supreme beings.

One by one, he attempted to sway these supreme beings to rebel against the Abyss Origin Soul, urging them to follow in his footsteps and resist the power of the Abyss Origin Soul.

Any being that shattered their Origin Soul would dissolve a portion of the Origin Soul's power.

"I have my bets on Tan Xiaotian."

Within the stone pillar, the Great Demon God Beilstein burst into boisterous laughter, "It's shattered! Hehe, Tan Xiaotian has been persuaded, voluntarily breaking his Divine Throne and separating from that part of his origin!"

"Eh?"

"Could Lin Daoke have done the same?"

...