C2162 Human Nature and Divinity

A roar akin to a tsunami erupted from the three continents of the Everlands, emanating from the deep seas and towering mountains of Tyria. Its echoes resounded through the starry skies of the Ashlands, domains claimed by the Gods.

Startled eyes from across the cosmos converged on the figure that had abruptly materialized.

The Eiwrone, its surface riddled with deep caverns, glowed with a prismatic radiance, now shining more brilliantly than ever.

The Dragon Slaying Stage, crafted from the same essence as the Eiwrone, floated above it. Yu Yuan's real body stood there, seemingly fused with the entirety of the Ashlands.

He had not performed any grand gestures, nor had he grown to the colossal size of a Solar Spirit.

Yet, his sudden reappearance in the Ashlands on the Dragon Slaying Stage, without concealing his presence or energy, sent shockwaves through the ranks of the Gods, Evil Gods, and Sky Fiends.

Not long ago, the Primal Soul of the Heart of the Everlands, inhabiting the form of the Undead Sovereign, ventured into a Spring of Death.

Not long ago, the Demon God Bertain abruptly departed through the Eiwrone.

And now, as a new era quietly unfolded, Yu Yuan had returned to the Everlands. What brought him back?

The mightiest among the Gods and the Unbound cultivators gazed at Yu Yuan above the Eiwrone with complex emotions, uncertain how to approach him now.

"Why has he returned?" Duan Yisheng of the Starmoon Sect murmured, rubbing his eyes. Upon confirming it was indeed Yu Yuan, he sighed, "That individual, his will fully awakened, has been recently bestowing the essence to establish Supreme God seats. The transformation of the Human Race into Gods is now an unchangeable truth, accepted by both those who are aware and those who are not. What can you possibly do now?"

Duan Yisheng observed a crescent moon rising gently from the Everlands' Starmoon Sect.

Atop the crescent, Tan Junshan, elevated to the status of Supreme God through the Origin and the Path of the Moon, showed a deep reverence for their creator.

Zhongli Dapan rode atop a dragon, establishing the original site of the Forgeroses. His vital energy, like a rainbow, enveloped him.

Beneath him, a silver dragon cried out mournfully as it bore his exceptionally heavy form, carrying him beyond the skies of the Everlands.

"Your Project New Everlands has failed; you couldn't keep your promise. And with his abundance of refined Origin, who could resist the allure of the God Throne? Especially after discovering in the Abyss that humanity's very source was him, who could possibly stand against him?"

Duan Yisheng cast a glance at Liu Ying, who stood beside him, bathed in starlight and gazing vacantly towards the extraterrestrial realm.

A flicker of sorrow crossed his eyes.

Liu Ying seemed to no longer remember who Yu Yuan was, staring blankly at the silhouette above the Dragon Slaying Stage, desperately trying to remember, but her bewilderment only deepened.

"Ah, let it be. I know nothing, I saw nothing," Duan Yisheng sighed, dismissing the thoughts within him and choosing silence in his lucidity.

He was like Shi Jing'er and many other cultivators who had not yet ascended to the Unbound state, who had not merged with a source. He chose to feign ignorance rather than be foolish.

Pretending to be oblivious and forgetting was the only way to survive, to avoid entangling his sect and those close to him in any trouble.

...

"Ashlands."

Yu Yuan stood on the Dragon Slaying Stage, squinting as he spotted Ballo and Brie, who were being tortured to the brink of death by two Evil Gods.

Brie could just barely open his eyes to glimpse his savior.

Ballo, of the Starborn, was nearly devoid of life, lacking even the strength to open his eyes—perhaps only able to hear the voices of powerful beings calling his name.

"Divinity, humanity."

Yu Yuan's face remained serene, yet a storm raged within him.

He needed to connect with his Solar Spirit through his real body to awaken compassion for Ballo and Brie, to truly regard these two exalted beings.

As he reflected deeply, he slowly realized that as he built the Soul Altar higher and higher, his innate humanity was gradually diminishing.

The presence of the word "Divine" within the Soul Altar imbued him with a sense of divine indifference towards all living beings, a feeling that grew more profound over time. He had finally come to an understanding.

Communicating with the Solar Spirit through his real body, he could sense the emotions within the Solar Spirit. When he looked upon Ballo and Brie once more, the irritation within him began to simmer.

Simultaneously, he discovered a complex resonance between himself and the Holy Temple standing majestically in the Everlands.

With the power of his will, he attempted to influence it.

Boom! Boom!

The Holy Temple, like an ancient Divine Artifact of his own making, was jolted by his efforts, eager to break free from the Everlands and return to his command.

Yet the land of the Everlands clung to the Holy Temple like the most formidable magnet between heaven and earth, refusing to let go.

The Holy Temple shuddered continuously, unable to escape the Everlands, unable to return to his grasp.

"Master," the Guardian, standing at the breach, bowed deeply, his withered face etched with resignation. "I apologize, but I cannot defy His commands."

The Guardian, once faithful to him and the caretaker of the Holy Temple, had made a new allegiance following his definitive split with the other.

"Great Lord of the Abyss!" The grotesque Soulreaver Grimes worshipped him from the skies above the Everlands, his massive eyes in his spherical body ablaze with fervor.

Only a minority of Evil Gods, like Grimes, were paying their respects at this moment, as they had when they first laid eyes on him.

However, two-thirds of the Evil Gods, following his rift, had chosen a new path, much like the Guardian, and refrained from prostrating before him.

These Evil Gods looked on with cold amusement, waiting to see him embarrass himself, curious to see how he would manage to leave once he returned to the Ashlands.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Tan Junshan, Lu Hongpeng, Qin Luo, Lin Yue, Zu Ann, Van Heqing, and other venerable and emerging primordial spirits, whether in the Everlands or on Tyria, were all bound by that same controlling force.

High Priest Reid, too, cast a deep gaze from the Spring of Death, where symbols of demise emanated.

The majority of the Evil Gods, the exalted of the human race, the Sky Fiend Clan, and the Heart of the Everlands were all under the sway of the Ashlands' unifying power.

The laws of the Ashlands and the mysteries of the Everlands and Tyria were all under his dominion.

"I've come to retrieve Ballo and Brie."

Yu Yuan raised a hand, pointing at the Evil Gods, Gomez and Olliergues, declaring, "Leave the humans to me. In light of your Abyssal heritage, I'll only eliminate you two, sparing your kin from extinction."

Ballo? Brie?

Yu Yuan's statement and his explicit stance alerted many human powerhouses on Tyria and in the Everlands to the dire plight of the two Otherkin leaders.

"Yu Yuan, by defying His command, you've forfeited your title as Lord of the Abyss."

Gomez, in his octopus form, was the first to mock. Emerging from the chaos-infused atmosphere of the Everlands, each of his robust tentacles absorbed energy far more ferocious and concentrated than that of the Abyss he once inhabited.

His tentacles swelled, pulsating with the hum of electricity and the flow of blood, sprouting even more bizarre eyes.

"Oh, right."

Tentacles ensnared the Crucible of Evil, emerging from the breach in the Evil Temple, and suddenly drifted towards his primary limb.

Root-like tentacles branched out and reattached to his body. Yu Yiyi, shrouded by the Crucible of Evil, wore an expression of struggle on her delicate face.

With a hiss and a series of pops, the shadowy magic screen contorted as the mightiest Bane materialized, snarling within the cauldron's glyph-lined walls, tearing at the ocular tentacles in defiance of Gomez's might.

The Bane, frantic, cried out in an attempt to rouse Yu Yiyi from her bewilderment.

Under the corrupting force's sway, Yu Yiyi's memories jumbled, her resolve wavering, unable to muster the strength to resist Gomez.

Thus, the Crucible of Evil encased her securely, shielding her from Gomez's assault, but the sacred cauldron itself was seized by the tentacles, forcibly pulled from the palace.

"This insolent wretch dared to strike my hand with her decrepit cauldron."

Brazenly, Gomez, emboldened by the proximity of the Holy Temple and the Heart of the Everlands, as well as the presence of numerous Evil Gods and the human race's exalted ones, brazenly challenged Yu Yuan: "If you willingly enter the Heart of the Everlands and submit to possession by our Creator, I will spare her."

"You remain our Lord of the Abyss and the venerable patriarch of the Gods."

"Otherwise, she would have perished here, and you would have met your end in the Ashlands."

Gomez's numerous tentacles flailed through the void.

"When did you, such a feeble Evil God, become so bold as to bare your teeth and claws at me?"

Yu Yuan regarded him with an icy demeanor, his brow furrowed. "I have a faint recollection of at least three Evil Gods from your Abyssal kin that I have slain. They were your forebears, each more formidable than you are today."

"I know! I most certainly know! Our teachings and scrolls, handed down through the ages, they recount what you've done to our people!" Gomez shrieked.

His multitude of thick tentacles thrashed wildly as they burst forth from the roiling currents of the Everlands.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yet, the instant he ventured beyond the confines of the Everlands, those serpentine tentacles burst into a mist of blood.

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