C2177 The Second Spring of Death
Yu Yuan, as the Solar Spirit of the Wasteland, reached into the Wellspring of Creation with one hand, yet his arm materialized in the Abyss.
It was unmistakably his own arm.
The disturbance caused by the emergence of the colossal limb alarmed Brie and Ballo, who feared an extraterrestrial visitor might be bursting through from another realm.
"Your hand?"
Ballo was dumbfounded after Yu Yuan's explanation.
"Without a doubt, this is my hand."
The hand paused after breaching two layers of seals, refraining from any further rash advance. It waited in silence for the divine radiance to converge, attuned to the flow of enigmatic glyphs.
Yu Yuan, present in the Abyss, was aware that his Solar Spirit was in the Wasteland. However, the Solar Spirit in the Wasteland was oblivious to the real body that had vanished into the Ashlands, now beneath the shroud of darkness in the Abyss.
He was also unaware of the profound connection between the Wellspring of Creation, which the Solar Spirit harnessed, and the nine layers of seals obscuring the Abyss.
The massive arm and hand delicately manipulated the scene, disrupting the prismatic light and altering the myriad intricate patterns.
"Your hand has reached from the Wasteland to this place?" Brie exclaimed, astounded.
Whoosh!
The nine layers of seals, now visible in the pitch-black firmament above, unleashed an immense oppressive force.
The mystic rune, soaring toward Yu Yuan's vast hand, burst forth with a dazzling splendor.
Suns emerged, moons were sculpted by the runes, and a galaxy of starshards materialized within the two walls, revealing a spectacle of divine wonders.
The sun, moon, and stars filled the two walls, casting their glow upon the gloomy Abyss.
This brilliance outshone even that of the Light Spirit, piercing through the dome's darkness.
The plant spirit within the Tree of Life erupted in bizarre cries.
"The fundamental truth of plants, which I grasped at birth!"
The withered branches of the Tree of Life shot forth emerald beams, propelled by a sheath of ghostly blue lightning toward the resplendent canopy above.
The plant spirit was roused by the glyphs converging upon Yu Yuan's immense hand.
Unconcerned with the celestial bodies or the blinding divine light, it focused solely on the force intimately connected to itself, and thus was suddenly stirred to excitement.
Sizzle sizzle!
The glimmering light, rich with the essence of plant magic, shone in the eyes of Brie from the Shadowkin, revealing infinite secrets of flora. It seemed as though Brie's bloodline was on the verge of transcendence.
The chieftain of the Shadowkin was well aware that the Tree of Life, the progenitor of their race, originated from this very Tree of Life.
Gazing upon the emerald luminescence within the crystal, he felt as though he had glimpsed the ultimate profound meaning of plant life in the cosmos. He yearned to etch this vision into his memory and integrate it deep within his lineage.
Boom!
The verdant crystal light, along with the azure lightning entwined within it, was shattered by an immense force before it could even graze the heavens of the Abyss.
The leaves of the towering Tree of Life turned even more yellow, and those that were already golden burst into dust from the strenuous effort.
The Tree of Life wilted instantly.
Qi Yunhong, perched upon a tree trunk, cried out, "If you can't break it, stop trying over and over. It's causing so much harm!"
"Those patterns! Those plant patterns! They must belong to another Primal Anima, one just like me!"
The plant spirit's shriek echoed from the Soul Altar within Yu Yuan's brow, conveying the reason for its excitement.
It, along with the Thunder Spirit, had struck the nine-layered wall multiple times without breaching even the first layer, never inducing such an extraordinary transformation.
In contrast, Yu Yuan from the Wasteland, with his extraterrestrial reach, had triggered a miraculous phenomenon, causing the wall to manifest repeatedly.
Thus, he discovered that the nine-layered wall concealed the essence of plant magic!
As a plant spirit of this universe, if there was plant magic unknown to him, it surely stemmed from another plant spirit with an affinity to his own.
The Primal Anima was not singular.
Above, the seven-layered faux Abyss housed Mother Earth, the Wasteland had its Earth Spirit, and neither Primal Blood nor Primal Soul were unique entities.
He certainly didn't consider himself the sole or supreme being.
"Yu Yuan! If I can acquire those plant patterns and assimilate them, my rank could advance. The simplest and most direct path for a Primal Spirit's breakthrough is to amalgamate with similar Primal Animas!"
The plant spirit made no effort to conceal its longing as it exclaimed, "If I can break through and ascend to a higher-level Primal Anima, perhaps I'll be able to escape that fellow and achieve true freedom!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The resplendent divine light from within the nine layers of seals would sometimes morph into the sun, moon, and stars. At other times, it would take the form of a golden mountain, a vast blue ocean, a solid expanse of earth, or a cloud of blazing flames.
The divine light converged toward the hand, alive and pulsating, revealing enigmatic and profound symbols.
"Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, the sun, moon, and stars, along with the Soul Power that governs them!"
Yu Yuan, in the Abyss of Truth, witnessed many marvels from the world below. The clamor of the plant spirit's power merged with his contemplation of this extraordinary spectacle, triggering a flood of memories.
He could almost discern, in the earliest days of the Abyss of Truth, the presence of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and the sun, moon, and stars—eight Primal Animas that collaborated to forge the Abyss.
The now desolate and silent Abyss had given birth to these eight Primal Animas, bringing forth all things in creation.
They were the essential foundation of a world.
Yet, they had been absorbed by the Primal Soul of the Abyss, all perishing within, their will and essence extinguished, leaving only their residual energy to form the eight seals.
Their power was evenly distributed across the eight seals, all under the dominion of the Primal Soul.
These eight Primal Animas, along with the true Primal Soul of the Abyss, constituted the nine seals of the void.
Whenever a seal was activated, the lingering power would manifest, and profound truths would emerge.
"It's unbreakable."
Yu Yuan had an epiphany.
He realized that only by receiving the complete profound meanings from the eight Primal Animas could he hope to unlock the nine layers of seals and make his way out of the Abyss.
His "Soul Altar" comprised seven levels: plant, thunder, ice, light, Primal Vitality, Primal Blood, and Primal Soul.
Yet, the ultimate mysteries that intertwined with the plant spirit and the Primal Soul were only partially grasped by him. Elements such as water, fire, earth, metal, sun, moon, and stars—he had only touched upon a fraction of their profundities, none of which were complete or bestowed by the corresponding Primal Anima. At present, he stood no chance of breaking through the nine layers of seals. Only by finding a Primal Anima of the same attribute to fill the missing parts and receiving the ultimate, complete secret they offered, could he hope to unlock the seals.
...
In the Wasteland, Yu Yuan's hand reached into the Wellspring of Creation, witnessing the convergence of iridescent light and the transformation of enigmatic glyphs into representations of the sun, moon, stars, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. "The eight extreme Ways of Heaven, the complete cosmic order of the Primal Animas!" Yu Yuan realized with clarity. He shook his head, knowing that breaking the nine-layered seal of the Wellspring of Creation was beyond him—even his real body would be incapable.
"Metal, wood, water, fire, earth—the plant spirit is already mine. For fire, I could perhaps harness the Earthfire of the Everlands. As for earth, I've imprinted it before and could seek Mother Earth's blessing once more. Yet, the gold and water Primal Animas might not even exist in the Origin Realm or the Wasteland. And then there are the sun, moon, and stars—three more Primal Animas," he mused in silence.
...
Days later, in a star-studded domain shrouded by the aura of death, the arrival of the Wellspring of Creation drew a ferocious glare. "Yu Yuan!" "Astral Tiger!" The Ape, wielding the Heaven-Shattering Hammer, manifested as a Dark Deity, his eyes ablaze with towering rage. Beneath him, a lake of blood bubbled, and as the bubbles burst, they transformed into a dense, blood-red mist that he absorbed into his form, sifting through the memories within. "Cough! Cough!"
The Ape coughed up a mouthful of tainted blood.
The sanguine mist that had merged with his demonic form, laced with the death force left by the Secular Bird Queen, was unimaginably potent, ravaging his internal organs relentlessly.
Unable to purge it, he had no choice but to expel the mixture of death force and corrupted blood.
In the fresh blood of the alien beasts, not yet coagulated, he witnessed the Secular Bird Queen's apocalyptic vision, where all the alien beasts perished in mere moments.
"You've unleashed the madness of the secular bird!"
The Ape, blood spewing from his mouth, charged at the Astral Tiger in a rage, "Snow, I once held you in high regard! I don't fault you for aligning with the Dark Phoenix, but you too are a Beast God, sharing the same pure blood of the beasts as I do! By bringing that heartless secular bird into the Wasteland, you've crossed a line I cannot ignore!"
The giant ape's anger thundered like a storm. The Heaven-Shattering Hammer, akin to a colossal celestial body, rent the fabric of space as it descended with crushing force.
"Lord Untamed, please hear me out!"
The Astral Tiger, his expression one of deep remorse, watched the Heaven-Shattering Hammer shatter the void, plummeting through the intricate web of space rifts, and pleaded, "Though we stand as adversaries, my reverence for you has never waned. It's not as you perceive."
In this silent Astral Domain, there were many apes akin to the Untamed, still evolving, on the cusp of taking on human form.
This place was a testing ground for Yuan Le and the Untamed, seeking to cultivate a superior breed of apes.
A portion of the Untamed's progeny had been resurrected by his lifeblood, their vitality rekindled within the stars, poised to make their return to the cosmos at a destined moment.
But with the Secular Bird Queen's arrival, this star was met with death, extinguishing all life.
"Cough, cough!"
The Ape, having hurled the Heaven-Shattering Hammer, succumbed to even more violent coughs. A thick essence of death surged and burst forth from his heart.
With a thunderous crash, the Heaven-Shattering Hammer struck the earth before the Wellspring of Creation, vanishing into the subterranean depths.
His strength to wield the Heaven-Shattering Hammer had left him.
With a sickening tear, the Ape's chest burst open. His Life Keychain, in the shape of a Demon Heart Tree, shattered, giving rise to a diminutive vortex of death.
The vortex spun gently, and the Ape's Demon Heart, brimming with majestic vital energy, was suddenly engulfed by a death aura.
His robust life force began to transform into the very essence of death!
Yu Yuan's face contorted with shock.
This tiny maelstrom of death bore a striking resemblance to the Spring of Death in the Ashlands. The Ape had inadvertently inhaled blood mist mixed with death energy, and it appeared he had caught the attention of some unknown entity from the Otherworld.
The Ape was sufficiently powerful, and his Demon Heart possessed the Life Keychain, granting him immortality.
Thus, he had become the catalyst for the creation of a new Spring of Death.
