C2062 Crossing the Mountain
In the Stellar Oblivion, the barrier that separated the Origin Realm from the Wasteland was a void of silence, devoid of any energy.
Suddenly, the barrier burst into an aurora of dazzling colors.
A handful of remaining Boulderdawn sect members and ninth-level Otherkin warriors gazed in shock at the resplendent light.
"The Beast God has reappeared!"
"The Wasteland is invading!"
Their screams echoed as they realized a catastrophe was imminent. They hastily spread the word and fled in disarray.
Boom!
The barrier shattered like glass. A mountain bathed in infinite blood-colored divine light, surrounded by numerous stars, crossed the celestial divide, arriving from the far end of another world.
Its fearsome presence distorted time and space as it drew near.
The lands created by Taishi, in comparison to the vast and towering mountains and rivers, were insignificant, like ants to a colossal deity.
The Blood Warriors, Boulderdawn disciples, and cultivators from the Merchant Guild all looked up at the mountain, but its peak was beyond their sight. The stars nestled in the clouds mid-mountain were at the very edge of their vision. Each star they could see was a tangible reality, not an illusion.
Roars and howls echoed as the Beast Gods of the Wasteland, perched among the stars, unleashed earth-shaking bellows, their sound waves rippling out with the blood light.
The Boulderdawn's main base, crafted from extraterrestrial aerolites, suddenly burst apart.
On the ruptured lands, humans who had neither ventured to the Ashlands nor the Everlands to spectate, along with Otherkin warriors, were obliterated by the sonic assault, transforming into a mist of blood.
This blood mist did not descend into the abyss below but ascended skyward.
The Beast Gods stationed in the stars watched the streams of blood approach, laughing malevolently as they inhaled and exhaled clouds of vapor, consuming the flesh and bones of their victims.
Soon after, more roars emanated from the stars surrounding the mountain, spreading to even more distant worlds.
Deep within the Stellar Oblivion, lifeless stars crumbled into meteorites, and more still were reduced to cosmic dust.
The mountain continued its slow and thunderous advance.
The Star River it had wrought brought the world to the brink of collapse. The residual energy within the stars and the sparse cosmic energy at the edges of the starry sky were consumed as if engulfed by a colossal beast, all converging toward the towering mountain.
It bypassed the domain guarded by the Dark Phoenix, coming instead from the Stellar Oblivion to obliterate the extraterrestrial base camp of the Boulderdawn Sect.
The defenders of this realm perished the instant it descended into the Origin Realm.
Like navigating the vast Star River of the Everlands, this mountain—far more immense and grandiose—shifted among the stars, its speed accelerating with each passing moment.
...
"Yuan Le!"
"The Lord of Ruin has arrived!"
"A gargantuan mountain, cradled by the stars, has suddenly emerged in the Stellar Oblivion!"
"The Boulderdawn headquarters in the Stellar Oblivion, along with the domains forged by various races, have been shattered by the mountain's emergence."
"What in the world is that mountain?!"
Throughout the Origin Realm's Astral Domains, the news spread like wildfire. The catastrophe that befell the Stellar Oblivion and the emergence of the colossal mountain sent waves of dread through the populace.
They began to fear that their world, already rife with disasters, was teetering on the brink of total annihilation.
The towering mountain, having crossed into the Origin Realm, traversed the Astral Domains. Wherever it went, the life within those domains was utterly eradicated.
The once teeming stars were drained of all their energy, and the cosmic energy within each Astral Domain was funneled into the mountain.
It acted as an insatiable abyss, consuming everything in its path with extreme voracity.
While the Everlands, guided by the Blazing Flame, journeyed toward the Ashlands, it only absorbed the power of fire, channeling the singular force of flame to howl through the void.
The mountain, however, knew no bounds; it devoured all forms of energy and life in its wake.
Its very presence and passage rendered the Star River eerily silent.
This silence was more dreadful than the starry sky ravaged by the Secular Bird Queen's poison.
The Secular Bird Queen eliminated only intelligent life, merely bringing death to living beings.
But this force eradicated the stars themselves, along with the psionic power of the Star River, transforming once vibrant domains into realms of absolute nothingness, as desolate as the Brugeth Astral Domain—a world of utter silence and desolation.
The Maw of Oblivion seemed to engulf all in its path, consuming the territories of the Origin Realm.
...
In the Ashlands, deep within Yu Yuan's mind, three Soul Altars were under construction, marking his transformation.
His Demonic Vessel, with the aid of his main form, prevented the Primal Vitality of the Wraithlands from being reclaimed, causing the Levi Rivers and the Path of Undead to encircle him instead.
"Yuan Le!"
A Path of Undead, linked to his meridians, suddenly teemed with souls in the Stellar Oblivion, a place typically abandoned and desolate.
He swiftly absorbed the emerging souls and their fading memories, revealing a mountain encircled by stars and the silhouettes of Beast Gods roaring at the celestial bodies.
A tide of blood and sonic waves spread, annihilating the extraterrestrial base camp of Boulderdawn, leaving no survivors.
He understood that the Lord of Ruin, Yuan Le, had marshaled a multitude of Beast Gods for another massive invasion, intent on replicating their previous conquest of the Stellar Oblivion and returning triumphant.
Boom!
The Evil Temple in the Everlands trembled incessantly as the viscous blood of Evil Gods oozed out, permeating the air with the stench of death. Countless Evil Gods perished with Bertain's intrusion.
The entity that had taken over Cao Jiaze hesitated briefly before descending into the bowels of the earth.
Yu Yuan, who had used the Dragon Slaying Stage to protect his forehead, suddenly witnessed the Secular Bird Queen, the Dark Phoenix, and Zhiya engaged in a fierce battle in the starry expanse beyond the Ashlands.
The entity that had long sought to invade his body and seize his Primal Blood finally relented.
"It has arrived."
The will of the Primal Blood manifested through the red moon.
Yu Yuan felt an immediate relief from his mental strain.
No longer desperately attempting to possess him, the Primal Blood seemed to sense a more pressing threat and had found a new adversary.
Upon reflection, Yu Yuan surmised that the mountain that had emerged from the Wasteland bore not only the Lord of Ruin, Yuan Le, but likely another formidable Primal Anima.
Indeed, they were pulling out all the stops!
This time, the Wasteland wasn't looking to return with a full load but rather to settle down and stretch its reach into the Origin Realm and even the Abyss amidst the chaos.
The Wasteland harbored grand designs!
"Master!"
The "red moon" coalesced back into the Demon God Grec, the chieftain of the Blood Fiend clan. This new generation powerhouse had only just awakened his spiritual wisdom when he uttered a single sentence.
With a "pop," the Great Demon God Grec burst like a blood bubble and vanished before Yu Yuan's eyes.
His body was never the right fit; it bore only a fraction of the Secrets of Life and could not endure the descent of the Primal Blood's will.
Once the consciousness of the Primal Blood departed, his demonform, already unable to bear the strain and internally shattered, naturally met its destruction.
He was merely a sacrificial vessel for the Primal Blood.
...
In the distant Dark Star, the planet known as the Primal Blood Continent was emitting a brilliant blood-red glow.
The surviving members of the Blood Fiend clan suddenly felt an overwhelming oppression, their hearts beating erratically.
"Grec has fallen."
"Our patriarch appears to have perished."
A ninth-level Blood Fiend Elder sensed the demise of the Great Demon God Grec and witnessed the extinguishing of the life flame within the Holy Temple.
Grec was the pride of the Blood Fiend Clan, once aspiring to challenge Bertain and become the chieftain of the Sky Fiend.
He was still young, in the prime of his life, brimming with energy.
His death was shrouded in mystery. The Blood Fiend Warriors left behind in the Dark Star had no knowledge of how or where he met his end.
The realm of the Blood Fiend Clan was filled with sobs as they reminisced about Grec's remarkable deeds and mourned his passing.
Suddenly, the Primal Blood Continent trembled.
The surrounding stars spontaneously emitted blood-red light, creating a gravitational field that drew the dense energy of the Dark Star toward the Primal Blood Continent.
The blood-red radiance of the Primal Blood Continent grew even more intense.
First the Everlands, then the Primal Blood Continent, and even the mountain in the Wasteland—any world that harbored a Primal Anima had the potential to move.
In a world such as this, imbued with spirit by the Primal Anima, the stars themselves were like living bodies.
They were alive!
Yet, each of their movements required an immense amount of energy.
Drawn by the mountain in the Wasteland and sensing a transcendent being of the same essence, the Primal Blood within this realm began to stir.
With its motion, the cosmic energy of the Dark Star Region spontaneously converged upon it.
Every race in the Dark Star Region—the Blood Fiend, Crypt Clan, Fire Lizard, and a few of the Moonlit Wanderers—immediately felt a wave of weakness wash over them.
They grew drowsy, one by one.
When it sought power, all beings in the Dark Star Region were compelled to sacrifice their vital energy to it, and the cosmic energy of the entire world surged to replenish its strength.
This was a natural ability of every Primal Anima from the moment of their awakening.
In comparison, the cosmic giant beasts were but minor players.
Their awakening required such vast amounts of energy that, constrained by the cosmic order, they were forced into prolonged periods of slumber.
For tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of years, they might not stir even once after awakening.
Their movements could herald apocalyptic disasters, rendering the Astral Domain a desolate silence.
Yet now, a spectacle that might not occur even once in millions of years was unfolding with increasing frequency in the Origin Realm.
The Everlands, the Primal Blood Continent, the towering mountain that had traversed realms, and the star continent harboring a high-order Primal Anima—all were revealing their presence...
