C2127 The Fear of Darkness
Yu Yuan's Solar Spirit Body was in perfect sync with the Primal Blood, attentively monitoring the fluctuations within the Wellspring of Creation.
Like a cloud cradling the Wellspring of Creation, a curtain of thick vital energy whisked it away towards the Frostlands.
Radiant blood light burst forth, generating a formidable propulsive force that continued to amass vital energy.
Thankfully, the journey was remarkably smooth, sparing him any heart-stopping upheavals.
Throughout this time, Yu Yuan acutely perceived the will of the Primal Blood within his limbs and bones gradually stirring with excitement, shedding its initial indifference.
In his recollections, all the Primal Animas he had encountered were detached and unfeeling.
Yet now, the Primal Animas he was reacquainting himself with exhibited increasingly bizarre behaviors.
"Strange..." he mused silently.
The Primal Blood's exhilaration over the Wellspring of Creation's mass of flesh and blood was understandable to him. Each Life Seed that emerged was imbued with the profound essence of blood, a concept grasped by the Primal Blood.
The immense vital energy within the peculiar flesh and blood surpassed the Primal Blood's reserves. If harnessed correctly, both he and the Primal Blood stood to gain significantly.
However, the Primal Blood's fervor, and its frequent interactions with him, suggested an influence akin to that of the Light Spirit, Thunder Spirit, and plant spirit, as if it had acquired the complex emotions of intelligent life.
An unsettling thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Could it be that every Primal Anima that encountered the Primal Soul of the Abyss was subtly altered by its influence?
If the Primal Blood began to exhibit the emotions of living creatures, like the Light, Thunder, and Dark Anima, was this a beneficial transformation or a corruption by its power?
Yu Yuan couldn't help but feel concerned.
In that moment, he abruptly turned to look at the Demon Lord, Tan Xiaotian.
The Dark Anima possessing Tan Xiaotian was bathed in the intense light from the Dragon Slaying Stage, leaving the chariot in shambles.
The gaping holes in the banners were sealing shut under the harsh glare of divine light.
Once the Primal Soul departed the Abyss, the Dark Anima appeared to struggle against the onslaught from its true form.
As Yu Yuan watched the Wellspring of Creation and the eerie living creature on the brink of being seized, he steeled his resolve.
"Come forth!" he commanded.
With a whoosh, the platform he had consecrated into a Darkland emerged from the depths of the Genesis Continent, enveloped by Shadowsky.
Within the dark platform, the beings of darkness shuddered in terror.
The mountain ranges and valleys, born from the Abyss's energy in the World of Darkness, began to crumble as they were torn from the Genesis Continent.
With a hiss, the dark platform blazed with thick demonic flames under the illumination of the Dragon Slaying Stage.
Sacred, dazzling rays of light shattered the seal of Shadowsky, pouring into the inner realm and causing the terrain to erupt in explosions.
The once shadowy earth was now marred with wounds and gaping holes.
The progression of dark life within was abruptly arrested.
In the depths of darkness, monsters newly endowed with spiritual wisdom and corporeal bodies were eradicated by the divine radiance from the Dragon Slaying Stage.
High above, the Soul Altar at the center of Yu Yuan's brow transformed into his third eye, casting a frigid gaze upon the Darkland.
His piercing vision shattered the dark fetters, reaching into the heart of the forbidden zone.
A landscape of dark plains, forests, and black rivers teemed with an uncanny vitality.
Creatures wreathed in darkness crouched in the damp valleys, gazing up at the ominous sky.
The heavens crackled with lightning and thunder, divine light cascading down as if in divine wrath, intent on obliterating all creation.
Then, they beheld a colossal eye unleashing a light of immense intensity, filling the void of their world.
This eye radiated a light of annihilation, its coldness matched only by its immeasurable authority, as if it were the arbiter of their existence, decreeing their fate.
As the dark beings beheld the eye, their not yet fully formed bodies ignited with a silvery blaze.
One by one, the dark species perished.
The Darkland, meant to foster the growth of dark beings for their next evolutionary leap, was devastated the moment it surfaced from beneath the earth.
"Yu Yuan!"
He was seething with rage. As he watched the Hellbreed, still in the throes of creation, obliterated by the luminous "eye" on Yu Yuan's forehead, the severely damaged war chariot screamed towards the Wellspring of Creation.
He was acutely aware that the living flesh within the Wellspring of Creation must not be allowed to be pulled into the Frostlands by Yu Yuan.
His painstakingly cultivated Darkland could shatter, and the nascent dark creature could perish.
But as long as the Wellspring of Creation remained, along with the Genesis Continent beneath his feet and the Primal Soul that mastered the Path of the Soul, he could eventually restore everything he had lost.
What he had forfeited now could be reclaimed later—it would just require a bit more time.
After waiting for millions of years, he wasn't concerned about a little more delay.
That's why he was willing to risk the annihilation of the Darkland, with its fractures and crumbling mountains and rivers, to intercept Yu Yuan and prevent him from taking the Wellspring of Creation.
"Leave the Wellspring of Creation behind!"
His scream echoed from the war chariot as hundreds of dark lightning bolts erupted from the battered vehicle, only to be repelled by walls of radiant armor.
Creak! Creak!
The chariot's wheels groaned under the strain, and the banner that seemed to bridge the Lost Lands developed more and more fissures, further worn by the Dragon Slaying Stage.
"You're courting death."
Yu Yuan, aloft in the heavens, wore an expression as indifferent as a statue carved from ice, his entire being exuding a chilling presence.
The "eye" at the center of his forehead swirled with boundless coldness and lethal intent, materializing into tangible bolts of the rule's lightning.
"For some reason, every time I think of you, I'm filled with utter revulsion."
Yu Yuan clasped the Dragon Slaying Stage with both hands as if cradling the most resplendent jewel in the cosmos, channeling his divine power, spiritual energy, and vital energy into it.
The divine light bursting forth from the Dragon Slaying Stage was so intense it seemed poised to pierce through the World of Darkness and the Otherworld he ruled.
"If it's just you, I truly don't understand what makes you think you can stop me."
Yu Yuan's smile twisted into a cruel sneer, "Who gave you the audacity to engage in a fight to the death with me, without him? Dark Anima, hehe!"
"I've slain more than just Mother Earth among the Primal Anima!"
Boom!
The Dragon Slaying Stage vibrated in his grasp, casting down pillars of radiant light, each infused with the laws of light magic.
In his hands, the power of light surged. With the release of the Dragon Slaying Stage and the blessing of the Soul Altar at his brow, his might had eclipsed that of the true Light Spirit!
Even after possessing Cardo, the Light Spirit had never attained such formidable power!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Beneath the brilliant radiance of the Dragon Slaying Stage and the illumination of the Soul Altar, the obsidian stage that had once again emerged from the Genesis Continent began to fracture extensively.
Oddly enough, Yu Yuan felt a piercing pain as the dark stage crumbled.
He couldn't help but recall the agony of the Soul Altar breaking apart, layer by layer, during his time as the Lord of the Abyss.
The pain was heart-wrenching!
"So, you indeed played a role in my demise!"
The agony awakened his memories, and Yu Yuan suddenly realized that the Dark Anima had also been complicit in his death.
It made sense—given that the Dark Anima was his most faithful ally, why wouldn't it have collaborated with him?
"Excellent!"
With a malevolent chuckle, the Soul Altar, once concealed within Yu Yuan's sea of consciousness, soared from his forehead and suspended itself above his head.
The seven-tiered Soul Altar, resembling a pagoda, radiated a kaleidoscope of brilliant hues—emerald, crimson, pearl, and jade—casting their glow across the entire World of Darkness.
This unassuming Soul Altar exuded an aura of overwhelming power, commanding the Cosmic Order and reigning supreme over the Primal Anima.
It was as though the Soul Altar was crafted with the grand ambition to supplant the Primal Anima right from its inception.
The Soul Altar, like a detached deity perched on high, gazed down upon Tan Xiaotian from the shadows above Yu Yuan's head.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Without any visible exertion from the Soul Altar, the darkness began to recede.
The omnipresent darkness of the void, where Yu Yuan's real body resided, scattered in all directions at the emergence of the Soul Altar.
He, the embodiment of darkness and master of dark magic, could only watch powerlessly as the darkness retreated.
This was an achievement of grandeur that had remained unattainable, even as the blood-red curtain stretched endlessly outward.
As a high-level Primal Anima, Primal Blood could only taint the darkness with its hue; it lacked the ability to disperse the darkness on its own.
Yu Yuan's newly conjured Soul Altar, however, was designed to banish the darkness. Its purpose was to reclaim the corrupted area, transforming it into a domain under its control and reverting it to its pristine condition.
Yet, this was his realm, one he had nurtured for countless millennia.
He had long since become one with this domain of darkness. But now, as the darkness was being driven out, the energy was rapidly fading, and the dark magic he wielded felt fragmented and broken.
Primal Animas, like himself, were not immune to extinction.
The sensation overwhelming him at present was that the Soul Altar, forged by Yu Yuan, was slowly regaining its formidable power, once again capable of extinguishing Primal Animas of his stature.
A profound fear took hold of him.
