C2064 A Roadblock

At the edge of an immense mountain, a black goat emerged from a dusky brown celestial body. This world, teeming with innumerable vicious souls and malevolent spirits, was strewn with bones, many of which hailed from the Origin Realm.

The black goat, steadfast in its loyalty to Yuen Bu, fixed its icy gaze on the darkness that loomed behind Tan Xiaotian.

"Futile efforts."

With a whoosh, the black goat transformed into an elegant and dignified woman clad in a black gown, embellished with an array of intricate ornaments. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that each delicate piece was crafted from various bones, gleaming and fashioned into arm rings, necklaces, or earrings, lending her an air of regal opulence.

"I shall follow your command and adapt to local customs," she said, turning to bow respectfully to Yuen Bu. Facing Tan Xiaotian once more, she declared, "Do not presume that by embracing the Darkness Origin Spirit and ascending to the Eleventh Level, you are entitled to challenge our king."

She shook her head, her voice icy as she continued, "You are not worthy yet!"

The celestial bodies encircling the mountain revealed the true forms of the Tenth Level Beast Gods amidst the swirling mists of blood and energy. The mountain trembled, stars blazed forth, and the formidable presence of the Beast Gods was earth-shattering.

The fiery lion, Rat God Nors, Ice Phoenix Alex, the Old Ape from the Desolate Swamp, and numerous colossal Beast Gods all emerged among the stars. Some of these Beast Gods exuded an aura rivaling that of the Starry Behemoth.

Nearly a hundred Beast Gods turned their attention to Tan Xiaotian, their collective roars resounding in unison.

Behind Tan Xiaotian, the realm shaped by the "Heaven of Darkness," which had just begun to solidify its Divine Kingdom, was populated by dark deities born from his convictions and laws. Amidst the cataclysmic howls, the dark realms shattered, and the dark gods he had painstakingly refined were obliterated by the sonic onslaught.

The "Heaven of Darkness," once a simple meditation mat, bore the brunt of the roar's power, rivaling the intense luminosity of the Tree of God's falling leaves.

Tan Xiaotian, who had deliberately altered his course to stand in the way, witnessed his Artifact suffer another grievous blow. With a thunderous boom, the expanding force of the dark clouds was abruptly halted by the ferocious bellows of the beasts.

Tan Xiaotian's soul was penetrated by a sinister force. Momentarily disoriented, he witnessed a black goat sauntering through his sea of consciousness with a leisurely gait. With each step, the goat's hooves conjured a Soul Lake into existence. As soon as a Soul Lake materialized, Tan Xiaotian's will, intellect, and the dark laws he had mastered flowed into it, seemingly harvested by the black goat for its power. Tan Xiaotian was instantly on high alert.

This black goat from the Desolate Realm was unlike any other Beast God. She possessed masterful soul sorcery and understood the mysteries of the Origin Soul. Her prowess in the realm of the soul could even surpass that of Cao Jiaze, a newly ascended Beast God, marking her as an anomaly among her kind.

"Darkness Origin Energy!" Tan Xiaotian grunted. His Eleventh Level supreme soul morphed into a sphere of inky light. This mysterious orb, woven from dense dark laws, transformed into a mountain of equal stature, encircled by stars. Both the mountain and the stars were shrouded in darkness.

As this mountain materialized, and Tan Xiaotian envisioned this spectacle, his formidable power as a supreme being of darkness began to influence the actual world. The mountain where Yuen Bu stood, once as crimson as the Origin Blood Continent, turned black. The once vibrant stars nearby also darkened.

The Beast Gods and Yuen Bu, the King of the Desolate Realm, found themselves engulfed by Tan Xiaotian's Darkness World in an instant. They lost sight of one another, and their thoughts and consciousnesses stalled. Even the true black goat became disoriented within its own Stars World.

Yuen Bu, with a wry smile, turned to the Old Ape in the Great Swamp and remarked, "The Great Swamp truly is wondrous, capable of forging a formidable figure like Tan Xiaotian."

"Tan Xiaotian is indeed formidable," agreed the Old Ape, born of the Great Swamp. His colossal form, that of a titanic ape, emerged as he wielded the Skyshatter Hammer and brought it down upon the void with a resounding clang.

This blow unleashed a torrent of blood-red light, shattering Tan Xiaotian's constructed Laws of Darkness and restoring light to the world.

The black goat and all the Beast Gods who had been momentarily startled now saw that everything had reverted to its original state.

The Old Ape, held in high esteem by his king, possessed the Life Keychain within his body. Due to Yuen Bu's possession, his heart now contained numerous mystical bloodlines.

His Skyshatter Hammer had shattered Tan Xiaotian's Curtain of Darkness, causing a heavy sense of dread to settle in Tan Xiaotian's heart.

Tan Xiaotian had never anticipated that after his ascension to the Eleventh Level and becoming the Darkness Supreme, the Old Ape could still cause him such trouble.

"Tan Xiaotian, we go way back. Our actions have nothing to do with you, so please, step aside."

The Old Ape's menacing presence stirred the heavens and the earth, his massive eyes crackling with electric light, and a torrent of blood energy roiling at the crown of his head.

Upon reaching this mountain, the Old Ape seemed to undergo another transformation, growing even more powerful.

Now, he was confident enough to challenge the Demon Phoenix, and he was not intimidated by Tan Xiaotian in the slightest.

With a tear in the sky, Yu Yuan's Eleventh Level Yang God arrived from the Gray Domain.

"Yu Yuan!"

Tan Xiaotian's face fell, not with surprise but with displeasure at his arrival.

"Evil God of the Abyss, you are known as the Abyss Lord. You granted me the full secrets of darkness and demanded my loyalty. Yu Yuan, why does everyone believe that I, Tan Xiaotian, am less than you?!"

"We'll address our issues later," Yu Yuan said with a frown, casting a glance at Tan Xiaotian, immediately recognizing that he was in a precarious position.

After being expelled from the Dark Domain by the Tree of God, Tan Xiaotian had already expended a significant amount of energy. Engaging in battle with numerous Beast Gods of the Desolate Realm on his own, he had sustained injuries even before Yuen Bu had a chance to strike.

The Darkness Origin Spirit, capable of empowering him, was still in the abyss, and out of fear of the Origin Soul, it refrained from offering Tan Xiaotian any assistance.

Yet, Tan Xiaotian had the audacity to confront this mountain and halt the advance of the Beast Gods, earning Yu Yuan's admiration.

"At last, you've arrived," said Yuen Bu, standing at the summit, as if he had been awaiting the Eleventh Level Yang God Yu all along.

He had wreaked havoc in the Origin Realm with that mountain, eagerly anticipating Yu Yuan's arrival. He and Yu Yuan, both at the Eleventh Level but achieved through different Origin Blood, were destined adversaries.

"The exceedingly wise one, ever loyal to you, arranged for the Bright Clan's patriarch to come to our world to collect the Light Origin Spirit. Hehe, it seems he doesn't take me, Yuen Bu, seriously! In the world I rule, they seek the Light Origin Spirit right under my nose. Do they truly think they can circumvent me?" Yuen Bu chuckled.

With a casual clap of his hands, Cadorath emerged from the Beast Temple behind him. Wrapped in a crimson glow, Cadorath, resembling a frail little girl, was emaciated to the point of being skin and bones. She floated down before Yuen Bu.

With one hand, Yuen Bu grasped her swan-like, snow-white neck, forcing her to kneel. Inside Cadorath's body, her own vital essence was gone, replaced by energy that swarmed like countless blood-sucking parasites, draining her strength. Moreover, her heart was missing, as if it had been brutally extracted and placed elsewhere.

Yuen Bu gripped Cadorath's neck, compelling her to lift her head for Yu Yuan and Tan Xiaotian to see. "You're the one who failed to recognize a favor," he said, his voice mild, a smile still playing on his lips. "I had a dose of Life Stoste sent to you, which could have granted you immortality or allowed you to come to the Desolate Realm to assimilate the Light Origin Spirit. Yet you spurned my generosity, choosing to trust Yu Yuan and relinquishing my offer."

"If you're determined to court death, you can't blame me." Yuen Bu's grip tightened.

Crack!

Cadorath's delicate neck snapped under his grasp, yet not a drop of blood was shed. One of the mightiest of the alien races in the Origin Realm, second only to Beilstein and favored by the Light Origin Spirit, Cadorath was on the cusp of ascending to the Eleventh Level. And just like that, she was gone.

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