C2052 Divine Battlefield

The Titanblade conveyed to Lin Daoke that all of humanity's strongest would achieve immortality upon the formation of their primordial spirit.

This was identical to the fate of the Star-Spawned Terror, a Demon God.

Once a Sky Fiend ascended to become a Great Demon God, it would live forever.

Humans were no different.

Taishi and his contemporaries, having reformed their primordial spirit, possessed infinite life even without the augmentation of the original source.

The abrupt decline of the Most Highs was merely a consequence of the Origin's constraints.

While the Origin empowered the Most Highs, it also exerted strict control over them.

Yu Yuan, through the Titanblade, instructed Lin Daoke on how to safely extract the toxic influence of the Origin while preserving the state of his primordial spirit realm.

"A kind of Soulblight."

Lin Daoke absorbed Yu Yuan's words, reflecting in silence, yet he refrained from following the prescribed method.

His eyes rested on the primordial spirit sword, with an unusual hue emerging in the depths of his pupils, as if he were wrestling with a decision.

Whoosh!

A cold, ethereal Lunar Spirit Sword shot forth from his consciousness and abruptly merged with the primordial spirit sword.

The viscous greenish-black energy, symbolic of the Origin, sought to envelop the Lunar Spirit Sword.

"The end has come."

Lin Daoke whispered to himself.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

A ghostly sword light, drawn by the ethereal Lunar Spirit Sword, extinguished the Origin within the primordial spirit sword.

The phantom sword, transformed into a blade of Spirit Destruction, eroded the greenish-black psionic power under Lin Daoke's mental command.

He was not merely severing or relinquishing it; he was annihilating the Origin!

Indeed, the Origin was rapidly fading within the primordial spirit sword, proving to be effective.

Apart from the Great Demon God Bertain, another wielded the soul sword, intent on dismantling the Origin crafted by the Will of the Deep.

This was a strength not even Yu Yuan or the Solar Spirit possessed!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The soul sea atop the Soul Altar in the Everlands began to churn tumultuously.

Deep within the greenish-black soul sea, a phantom took shape, eerily identical to Yu Yuan, as if it were another version of him.

The phantom emerged as a result of Tan Xiaotian stripping away the essence and Lin Daoke destroying it.

From the depths of the soul sea, it gazed coldly at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan flashed a grin, "It's been a while."

...

"Zu Ann!"

"Qin Luo!"

Yu Yuan's Soul Voice echoed in the minds of Zu Ann and Qin Luo, attempting to impart the mystique that could strip away the essence without harming their cultivation levels.

He hoped Zu Ann and Qin Luo could escape the Primal Soul's confines, just as Tan Xiaotian and Han Miaoyuan had done.

Regrettably, as his Soul Voice and thoughts began to take root in Zu Ann and Qin Luo's minds, their brows furrowed, and the Primal Soul's will twisted their spirits.

Zu Ann and Qin Luo turned a deaf ear to his calls, disregarding his persuasive efforts.

Yu Yuan quickly realized that due to the gap in their cultivation and realms, Zu Ann and Qin Luo stood no chance against the Primal Soul's will. Persuading them was as daunting as reaching the heavens.

He abandoned the effort forthwith.

"Lin, why?!"

Han Miaoyuan stared at Lin Daoke, his voice laden with fury.

"It represents the genesis of our race, our divine creator! Its empowerment and evolution promise benefits for all humanity! Why resist it?"

Han Miaoyuan was at a loss.

Before Lin Daoke, the primordial spirit sword, a symbol of the origin's power, was gradually being extinguished by the sword light.

"Once, I believed you were dedicated to the human race's future, making sacrifices for our strength. I could come to terms with that."

Lin Daoke's demeanor remained icy, seemingly oblivious to Han Miaoyuan's rage. "But I came to see things differently. You were merely executing its commands. And when I obeyed your orders to guard the Everlands, it tried to manipulate my thoughts, to make me act on its impulses."

"I'm not fond of others tampering with my soul."

Lin Daoke shook his head.

"Nie Qingtian was one of our Sword Sect, tasked with overseeing the Moonfall Sanctuary. He perished in the extraterrestrial, having been too closely aligned with Taishi. I'm well aware that you orchestrated his demise. If it were for the greater good of our race, I might understand. But you sacrificed our Sword Sect's own for it, and that, I cannot abide."

Shuangshuang was compelled to shatter her own divine seat in the Ashlands. When I learned of it, rage consumed me. Yet, that anger was gradually wiped away by an unseen force.

I found myself eerily calm and chose forgiveness, continuing to protect the Everlands on your behalf.

Fighting in the Ashlands for you, for the Everlands, always seemed to contradict my true intentions. I could sense the reason, yet I was unable to muster any thoughts of resistance in my heart.

All I wanted was to comply obediently.

Lin Daoke paused, his voice heavy with anger.

"Everything became clear when Yu Yuan's voice suddenly echoed in my mind."

Lin Daoke, a man unaccustomed to verbosity, stared at Cao Jiaze with a furrowed brow. "It was always you, manipulating me from the shadows, disturbing my emotions and consciousness."

After speaking, his gaze shifted to Han Miaoyuan and Jihui.

"The same goes for you. Unknowingly, you were all swayed by it. Because of your inherent leanings, you failed to notice, believing these were your own decisions."

"You couldn't detect it, couldn't break free, because your souls and Heart Lakes are muddied with too many impurities."

"But I can!"

The dark core within his primordial spirit sword finally dissolved completely.

Lin Daoke remained among the living!

With a whoosh, a dazzling sword light pierced through the barrier of Tyria and struck at the Time Gate, guarded by deities.

Before Hamm, the Abyssal Greater Basilisk, and Taishi could react, the sword light penetrated the power that had frozen space and altered the stone door's material.

Lin Daoke emerged on Tyria, his sword light shattering the Time Gate's seal and driving Hamm from within.

The old lizard shrieked, its scales dripping with blood, pierced by Lin Daoke's sword light.

"Taishi, Tianqi, Taixu, Xuanli," Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel addressed the four God-Kings poised to intervene at Lin Daoke's fall. "Stand down!"

A thunderous boom resonated within the minds of the four God-Kings. Shaken to their cores, these deities, merged with the Primal Soul, resisted the warping of their wills for a fleeting moment.

The four God-Kings dispersed.

Brilliant sword light and a spectrum of iridescent rays burst forth from the special Time Gate. Zhong Chichen, Loong Jie, and the mature little spinosaurus were also heeding Lin Daoke's call.

Around the Time Gate, the formidable beings of the Origin Realm suddenly engaged in fierce combat.

"Retreat!"

Yu Yuan's command thundered from his Demonic Vessel.

Zhongli Dapan, Tan Junshan, Jun Chen, and Shi Jing'er, cultivators at the Unbound Stage, realized they were outmatched as the Divine War erupted around the Time Gate. They withdrew at Yu Yuan's stern warning.

Tyria was instantly transformed into a battlefield of the gods.

Zu Ann, Qin Luo, and all the mightiest beings with the Primal Soul in their consciousness traveled from the nearby Everlands, making their presence known on Tyria.

"Cao Jiaze" descended from the heavens, disregarding Lin Daoke's sword light and halting before Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel.

His eyes underwent a startling transformation—one turned jet black, the other deep purple.

The spirit of the Everlands' Primal Soul, affected by Tan Xiaotian's extraction of the origin and Lin Daoke's erasure of a portion of it, seemed to find a brief respite amid the grand Divine War.

"Bertain will assist you."

It declared this intention.

Almost instantly, the deep purple of its eyes was consumed by the black.

With a whoosh, the Marks of the Celestials morphed into black Soul Altars, hovering beside it.

Nine Marks of the Celestials became nine Soul Altars, arranged according to some ancient law into an array that struck awe into all beings.

It gestured towards Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel.

In a flash, Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel was drawn into one of the Soul Altars. The dense, chilling Soul Power within him, the Shadow Moon Essence that constituted the Demonic Vessel, and the intricate pathways of the Path of Undead were all disassembled and absorbed by the Soul Altar, threatening to integrate Yu Yuan's Demonic Vessel into the structure itself.

Yet Yu Yuan was utterly powerless to resist.

The being then directed its attention to Youyu.

Youyu, who had also reached the God of Ghosts realm, found himself atop a Soul Altar, devoid of any capacity to resist, inexorably merging with it.

Ann Ziqing, High Priest Reid of the Sky Fiends, and Youqian, the three formidable beings, were abruptly drawn into three Soul Altars, seamlessly merging with them as if they were about to be re-forged within.

It, the embodiment of the vast Primal Soul of the Everlands, was under siege by corruption.

Ann Ziqing, Youyu, High Priest Reid, Youqian, whether they were humans of the Everlands or the Sky Fiends birthed from its essence, all stood before its might, choked by what seemed to be the hands of destiny.

Trapped within the Soul Altars crafted by the Mark of the Celestials, these exalted entities were suffocating in frustration, despite exhausting every trick at their disposal.

Yet, escape eluded them.

It took residence within Cao Jiaze, wielding his form to manifest the formidable force of an advanced Primal Anima, a spectacle more fearsome than Yuan Lianyao's possession by the Blazing Fire. This was a deity with dominion over all beings.

​