C2156 Soul Fragments!

In the instant the green crystal manifested, even a ninth level Demon God like Mitts regained consciousness for a brief moment.

"Lord Bertain!"

The assembly of ninth level Demon Gods gazed at their revered patriarch, feeling shame for the sinister thoughts that had recently surfaced in their hearts.

They had believed that in the battle between Bertain and Saca, it would have been better for Saca to win.

When Saca accused Bertain, they actually agreed with him, viewing Bertain as the enemy of their soul's origin.

"How did we come to this?"

"How could we dare to doubt Lord Bertain?"

The ninth level Demon Gods and their devil souls were bewildered, murmuring to themselves as they tried to reclaim their authentic selves.

"That object..." Zhong Chichen exclaimed in shock.

"Why does that look just like the top tier of Yu Yuan's Soul Altar?" Loong Jie pondered, scratching his head.

Green Willow remained silent.

"It was always yours; I was merely safeguarding it for some time, and now it has been returned to its rightful owner," Bertain said, his face beaming with a smile. "I've spent many years trying to understand it, yet I never figured out how to refine this item with my soul."

"Now, I too possess a body of soul crystal, and a layer of what you might call a Soul Altar."

Bertain regarded Yu Yuan with open admiration, the look one gives a peer, a fellow traveler on the same path, not that of a mentor to a disciple.

"It's a fragment of the Soul Altar that broke apart when I fell," Yu Yuan realized suddenly.

"Indeed. After they besieged and killed you beyond our world, I attempted to reassemble your soul. Regrettably, I couldn't locate your original soul mark, and there was no trace of you to be found deep within the Root of the Lunar Meridian in the Everlands. I surmised that you would have reincarnated by some means."

"Back then, you had already successfully constructed the first level of the Soul Altar. After your death, I couldn't find your original soul mark, but I did find these two fragments of the Soul Altar."

"These two fragments had been lost in the rifts of the void, and it took me a great deal of time to retrieve them."

A look of melancholy crossed Bertain's face.

Boom!

The meteorite encasing the green crystal finally burst apart under the relentless pounding of the armored demonform.

Bertain, with his armor and demonform, was carefully cradling a fist-sized green crystal in his hands, intent on rushing over to present it to Yu Yuan. But such effort proved unnecessary. With just a glance from Yu Yuan, the modestly sized green crystal soared towards him. "It's mine, a fragment of my soul," he declared.

As a dragon slayer, he had awakened fragments of his past life as the Lord of the Abyss, leading him to reconstruct the Soul Altar, recently completing its first tier. Under the guidance of Han Miaoyuan and the Dark Phoenix, or rather, through their orchestrated demise, his original soul mark and the Dragon Soul from the Chronowyrm at the Dragon Slaying Stage had been concealed, only to resurface years later in his reincarnation as Hong Qi. In that life, he forged a single tier of the Soul Altar, which, once shattered, left behind two fragments. Both had been recovered by Bertain, who now returned them to their rightful owner.

Saca, witnessing the departure of the green crystal, felt a profound sense of loss. His dark-green devil soul emanated a deep longing as he protested, "It's mine!" Overcome with indignation, Saca pursued the crystal, heedless of the icy glare in Bertain's eyes.

"With that object, you can sustain your spiritual wisdom for an extended period. I presume you intended to offer it to him, correct?" Bertain mused. "Regrettably, it will be of no use to him."

Within Bertain's amethyst-like demonform, a perilous flame raged. The murky green-black soul sea above his head swirled like a vast world, forming an immense, shadowy cavern. Saca, in his chase for the green crystal, uncontrollably veered towards the churning soul sea above Bertain's head, and the devil souls scattered across the meteor field were engulfed alongside him.

With a series of hushed whooshes, Saca's dominant soul and the dispersed devil souls were absorbed into the green-black soul sea, vanishing as silently as streams into the ocean. In moments, the ancient Sky Fiend's presence was erased without a trace, and the mountain of corpses and the Ghoul that once stood in the Everlands were obliterated.

The crystal, rightfully belonging to Yu Yuan, clattered onto the emerald table at the pinnacle of the Soul Altar, instantly becoming part of it. Fragments of memories from his dragon slayer days, along with some forgotten mystical techniques, were reawakened by the return of the green crystal and its integration with the Soul Altar. Yu Yuan's mind was a whirlwind of activity as he rapidly integrated these memories.

The arrival of the green crystal, coupled with its fusion with his Soul Altar, had significantly enhanced the power of his Soul Cleansing Brilliance. "My soul is purified!" he exclaimed. "I no longer sense any lingering traces."

In a brief span, both Youqian and Kaiya regained their sense of self. The stubborn remnants of another's soul were completely eradicated by Yu Yuan's Soul Cleansing Brilliance. The radiance then receded, and the Soul Altar, summoned above Yu Yuan's head, retreated back into his forehead.

He moved from beneath the Dragon Slaying Stage to sit atop it, absorbing the fresh memories the crystal had brought. "Just a moment," he said.

Beneath the murky black sea, the devil soul within the amethyst dimmed, seemingly amassing power in another void. "Soon, another fragment of your soul will be delivered," Bertain said, his voice tinged with a smile.

"Father, are you... confronting Sable?" Kaiya asked, astonished.

"He, like Saca, has fallen short of my expectations. He failed to safeguard the items I entrusted to him. They never reached the Evil Temple, nor were they cast into the Everlands," Bertain replied icily.

"Why didn't you keep them yourself, or entrust them to me?" Kaiya inquired, puzzled.

"He was monitoring me too closely, scrutinizing every move I made. Evading his mental surveillance to carry out actions unnoticed is far from easy," Bertain explained. "Moreover, the two items from Yu Yuan are single-use only; after all, they aren't mine."

"I had hoped that Saca and Sable would assist me at a critical moment when I was compromised and unable to break free on my own."

"But they have been a profound disappointment."

"As for you, our devil souls share too many similarities; you're not the right choice."

After Bertain finished, he turned his gaze to Yu Yuan on the Dragon Slaying Stage and smiled. "Get ready to receive the second piece."

Yu Yuan was perched atop the Dragon Slaying Stage, a unique conduit within the Starway. Suddenly, a second crystal, identical in size to the first, materialized from thin air and arrived at the platform.

It manifested right above the Dragon Slaying Stage! No sooner had it appeared than it actively burrowed into Yu Yuan's forehead, making its way to the Soul Altar within his sea of consciousness, and integrated with the first layer of the emerald table.

This second fragment of Yu Yuan's soul, previously under the control of another Sky Fiend named Sable, signified that the ancient Sky Fiend's prospects were likely grim.

"The Zagreus Domain is under my control, and the world where Sable operates, also a Sky Fiend territory, contains a Starway," Bertain said cryptically. Noticing Yu Yuan absorbing the memories and Spirit Magic from the two green crystals, he spoke with gravity, "Secular bird!"

Chen Qinghuang's brow furrowed. The Azure Bird perched atop her head had been roused by the emergence of the two crystals that belonged to Yu Yuan.

Yet, deep within her soul, the longing for death continued to gestate, steadily growing stronger.

"You shouldn't linger in the Origin Realm. You could venture into the Abyss or the Wasteland," Bertain suggested coldly. "The Origin Realm is a world I've carefully nurtured; I don't want it to become a desolate Star River. Take advantage of your current lucidity, your spirit and will, and choose between the Abyss and the Wasteland."

He was compelling the Secular Bird Queen to depart from the Origin Realm.

Having freed himself from the soul contamination, Bertain, now a Demon God with an amethyst body, had swiftly dispatched his fellow Demon Gods, Saca and Sable.

As for the Secular Bird Queen, if not for her significant connection to Yu Yuan, he wouldn't have offered her a choice.

Chen Qinghuang remained silent. She could sense that Bertain, with his amethyst demonform, possessed enough power to extinguish her life within the Zagreus Domain. The ominous waves emanating from the murky soul sea above Bertain's head seemed capable of crushing her soul, reducing the symbols of death to mere dust.

Even though her death force had been amplified by those eerie runes, she knew she wasn't yet strong enough to contend with Bertain. Without ascending to the so-called supreme level, she stood no chance against him.

She harbored a suspicion that her frenzied dissemination of death force, transforming vibrant Astral Domains into desolate wastelands, was a necessary path for her ascension. She sensed that only through an act of world annihilation could she propel the death force to new heights.

This conviction led her to warn Yu Yuan not to obstruct her. In her lucid state, under the overwhelming intimidation of Bertain, she understood the consequences of her actions. If she dared to cause chaos in Zagreus or continue to spread death in the Origin Realm, Bertain's ruthless retribution would be inevitable. It could even lead to her third demise.

With these thoughts, she cast a glance at Yu Yuan and, remembering that he was known as the Lord of the Abyss, she nodded in agreement. "Then I shall head to the Wasteland."

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