C2098 With the Body as the Light
Yu Yuan became a beacon of light, radiating brilliance and sending down dazzling pillars of light into the dark depths.
The darkness that surged upward crackled and popped under his illumination, as if invisible metal threads were snapping apart.
Lin Daoke, floating beside him, understood that what was breaking were the rules concealed within the darkness.
The leader of the Sword Sect watched him with a peculiar look.
Lin Daoke, with his straightforward thinking, couldn't fathom why Yu Yuan had suddenly decided to confront the encroaching darkness after a brief silence. He was clueless about Yu Yuan's intentions.
Following Han Miaoyuan's death, Lin Daoke felt directionless, uncertain about whose guidance to follow.
He had grown accustomed to acting on Han Miaoyuan's commands, preferring not to overthink things.
Now, he sought to leverage Yu Yuan's strength to find a way to erase the marks of external forces from the supreme souls of Van Heqing and Lu Hongpeng.
He had set a lofty goal for himself.
He aspired to liberate the disciples of the Sword Sect from external constraints, enabling them to wield their swords freely across the world.
To him, Yu Yuan, who maintained clarity of mind, was an interim ally.
"Master, Master!"
At the highest tier, Jihui was suddenly struck by an excruciating headache.
While attempting to reach out to Yu Yuan in the Ashlands, he glimpsed Yu Yuan's real body emerging from the shadows, engaging with the Light Spirit to quell the darkness below.
To Jihui, the Yu Yuan he was contacting and the Yu Yuan in the Abyss seemed like two distinct individuals.
Yet, both incarnations of Yu Yuan had left a deep impression on him; both were masters he had once served.
The God-King, celebrated for his intellect, now found his mind clouded, unable to discern any clear direction.
The more insightful and cunning one was, the more susceptible they were to mental disarray, and Jihui had succumbed to this paradox.
Whoosh!
The Light Spirit beneath Jihui's feet ceased its evasive maneuvers. Whether coerced by Yu Yuan or having reached its own resolution was unclear.
It, too, was amplifying its power.
It summoned the most ferocious Abyssal energy of the continent, drawing it deep into the land, where it used light magic to purify it.
The radiance suddenly bursting forth from the highest tier of the continent was a sight unseen by the denizens of the Abyss for centuries.
It had always been overshadowed by an oppressive darkness, perpetually one step behind.
This was particularly true in the Abyss.
The darkness that had descended into the Genesis Continent was bolstered by an Intermediate Primal Anima and the support of a Primal Soul, making its presence overwhelmingly powerful in the Abyss.
Now, the dark energy that had been rising was riddled with holes by the light unleashed by Yu Yuan.
In a world dominated by darkness, it was remarkable that the Abyss could not engulf the lands on the sixth level.
It must be remembered that before Yu Yuan's arrival, the entire Abyss was shrouded in darkness.
To aid the Primal Soul of the Abyss, further the development of humanity, and evolve the Abyssal tribes, the Darkness had consented to Yu Yuan's quest for a light source.
That's why it was discovered by Yu Yuan and taken to the world of the Abyss.
It was well aware that the Darkness harbored no fondness for Yu Yuan, and a rift had always existed between them.
Yu Yuan now seemed to take its place, using his own body to amplify its power, casting thousands of beams of light to thwart the Darkness's schemes.
Unable to stand the success of the light, it lent its strength in secret.
It channeled its accumulated light energy into Yu Yuan, making him shine ever brighter.
Even after obtaining the Star of Light, which had just completed his mastery of light magic, he selflessly bestowed it upon Yu Yuan, revealing even deeper truths of light magic within the Astral Plane.
He fervently hoped that Yu Yuan would deal a crippling blow to the Darkness this time, allowing him to rise triumphantly.
"Ah!"
Yu Yuan, on the fifth level of the Abyss, glanced at the land above and was surprised that the opportunistic entity had willingly offered its power to confront the Darkness.
"How unusual for you to show such bravery."
With a whoosh, more pillars of light, brimming with piercing light magic, tore through the darkness of the sixth level, opening up further chasms.
The land, once submerged in darkness, allowed the obscured Abyssal creatures to witness light once more.
"Light!"
"We have light again!"
Countless Abyssal warriors gazed skyward, their eyes brimming with emotional tears.
They fought desperately to shatter the entrenched hierarchy, striving to ascend to the fifth and fourth levels of the Abyss.
Among them were mighty warriors already endowed with such strength, and those who had descended from the upper tiers to gather rare magic items, now ensnared by the darkness.
They realized that trouble was brewing, so they ascended from the sixth level of the Abyss, through the light, to the fifth and then the fourth level.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The land on the sixth level, once again illuminated, resonated with Mother Earth, trembling as it soared towards the heavens.
This time, however, the continents that ascended only absorbed the energy of the Abyss without claiming any lives.
As long as they weren't engulfed by darkness, these fragments of Mother Earth could feel her call after the Abyssal Gate shattered and ascend.
The lands that had broken away, upon reaching the fifth and fourth levels, suddenly flipped over.
The denizens of the Abyss, eager to ascend, were discarded onto the higher lands like trash.
Their kingdoms and homes departed with the land.
They were left behind, yet also elevated from the lower to the higher lands—a fortunate rise in status.
"See? Only with my presence can your power be fully realized."
Yu Yuan communicated with the Light Spirit through the Soul Altar within his mind, "You've always been weaker than it, but with my assistance and the amplification of my power, you can surpass it."
The Soul Altar on the sixth level, corresponding to the Light Spirit's plane, now magnified boundlessly, as if infused with immense power.
Because of this Soul Altar's presence, Yu Yuan's physical form had become the mightiest Hex Stone of the God of Light in existence.
At this moment, he resembled the Star of Light that Cardo sought in the Wasteland.
Yu Yuan, through the Soul Altar, had mastered the technique of transforming the Light Spirit's absorption of cosmic energy and the Abyss's power into light magic.
As the Lord of the Abyss, his ability to amass dark energy far exceeded that of the Light Spirit.
Thus, the light magic he could convert far surpassed that of the continent where the Light Spirit dwelled, much to the Dark Anima's dismay.
"You alone are not enough. With Tan Xiaotian's arrival, and if he is imbued with your spiritual energy, there might be a chance."
Through the columns of light that shattered the darkness and the messages from the plant spirit, he was aware that the darkness was calling out to Tan Xiaotian.
The darkness beckoned Tan Xiaotian to enter and once again engage in battle with him.
Yu Yuan astutely realized that both the Thunder Spirit and the Plant Spirit yearned for freedom as well.
The Tree of Life had been Mother Earth's eternal ally.
Aware that Mother Earth had been resurrected, the Tree of Life was still haunted by the memory of her downfall, casting a shadow over its heart. Despite knowing of her awakening and gathering strength, the Tree of Life hesitated to make any rash moves.
Yet, it was the Tree of Life that informed him of the strange occurrences in the Abyss and the fragmentation of the continents.
Bound by fear of that individual, the Tree of Life and the Thunder Spirit within the Abyss dared not venture out of the darkness, lest they meet the same fate as Mother Earth.
Nevertheless, they were capable of orchestrating subtle maneuvers in secret.
"If you're capable, then summon Tan Xiaotian quickly," Yu Yuan challenged.
As he spoke, he transformed into a brilliant beacon of light, ascending from the fifth level of the Abyss to the sixth and seventh.
He was acclimating to his power and contemplating ways to coax the Genesis Continent out of the perpetual darkness.
Yu Yuan planned to retrieve the dark mirror, etched with the essence of dark magic from his mind's eye, and integrate it into the Soul Altar.
Without Tan Xiaotian's presence, the Dark Anima could not descend, nor could it unleash its full might.
Should the Genesis Continent remain shrouded in the deepest darkness, Yu Yuan would face formidable challenges in his quest to claim the forsaken dark platform.
