C2202 The Appearance of the Other Side
Yuen Bu held two alien beasts in high regard: one was the Earth Bear, Sekou, and the other was the Old Ape he had brought back from the Origin Realm. Since the Old Ape was his kin, it was considered the second.
With the Earth Bear deceased, his kin, the Old Ape, was now being devoured by the Beast God.
His once loyal Black Sheep, the smilodon, and the bone snake now lay prostrate behind Zhiya, bowing to the leader of the Phoenix Clan.
How could Yuen Bu contain his rage?
"If you, Yuen Bu, cannot sit upon your throne with dignity, perhaps you should cede it to me."
Zhiya, in her human form, narrowed her eyes and let out a cold, mocking laugh.
The Old Ape in the Great Swamp, its animal bones shattered and flesh torn apart by the Beast God, filled her with immense pleasure. "I have been too kind, waiting this long to kill him."
For tens of thousands of years, the Desolate God had been her adversary. She knew that once the Desolate God learned of the Desolate Realm's existence and that its king was his kin, he would unhesitatingly join Yuen Bu.
And indeed, that's exactly what happened.
Not killing the Old Ape was her contingency plan, thinking that should she ever be gravely injured, she would summon the Phoenix Shrine to the Great Swamp, slay the Old Ape, and take its essence to heal.
But now, with the Beast Temple in her possession, the Desolate God had outlived his usefulness!
"Zhiya, you dare to trample over me!"
Boom!
Blood-colored rivers coalesced in the void behind the colossal ape, forming a gate that seemed to bridge the ancient worlds.
Within the Heaven Gate, time and space quaked, and the bloodline laws twisted into chaos. It appeared as though numerous lives from the Alien Realm, imprisoned by Yuen Bu's power, were now unleashed.
"The Hundred Realms Blood Calamity!"
The deep, ancient demonic chant reverberated from the blood-colored Heaven Gate behind Yuen Bu, channeling its power into his beastly form.
The worlds of the powerful beings, whether from the Desolate Realm or other Alien Realms, imprisoned by Yuen Bu, seemed to be under a blood sacrifice.
Their realms were shrouded in a horrific blood-red haze, as beings perished relentlessly.
The peculiar and exotic tribes that had perished were all targets Yuen Bu had been commanded to eradicate. After harvesting the Life Seeds, he dedicated them to the Origin Blood of this realm.
With his power, he sealed off those life-filled worlds, leaving behind only a secret portal that he alone could access.
He let the bloody worlds evolve and occasionally stoked the flames, empowering the creatures within to grow stronger and more adept at the laws of bloodlines.
When in need of power, he would refine his 'blood warehouse' and extract the strength in one fell swoop.
This was his orchard of blood, where the beings of the bloody world were the bountiful fruits he had cultivated.
Now, as Yuen Bu harvested these fruits, the Hundred Realms braced for a monumental blood catastrophe!
Whoosh!
Flecks of bloody light escaped from the blood-colored Heaven Gate behind Yuen Bu, showering over his beastly form.
Yuen Bu, already tens of thousands of feet tall, swelled to nearly double his size.
His colossal beastly form now dwarfed even the summit of Creation Peak, his formidable life force manifesting as mythical beasts and birds that soared and spiraled around him.
The grandeur of the King of Ten Thousand Beasts was unmistakably on display!
"I am one who honors deep bonds."
Yuen Bu's voice, powerful enough to shake the heavens, echoed through the cosmos, his beastly eyes shimmering with nostalgia as he murmured, "Heaven Bearing Life Pillar!"
Whoosh!
The Shrouded Tower appeared in an instant, bearing a dark red stone pillar inscribed with the totem of the Ten Thousand Beasts.
An ancient breath of raw wilderness emanated from the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar, its presence seemingly dragging all beings back to the earliest, most archaic era of the Desolate Realm.
Space and time warped and trembled, the distant stars and earth reverting to a more primitive and dilapidated state.
"My old companion, you have endured much over the years."
Yuen Bu's fluffy palm caressed the expanding Heaven Bearing Life Pillar with tenderness, his beastly eyes brimming with memories and affection.
"Today, you will be stained with blood once more."
The awe-inspiring ape atop Creation Peak suddenly hefted the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar and hurled it down upon Creation Peak.
Mother Earth's countenance subtly shifted.
She observed that the moment the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar reached Yuen Bu's grasp, the formidable ape had already levitated its feet above the ground.
The geomagnetic force of Creation Peak no longer affected Yuen Bu!
As he swung the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar, the scene within it, depicting tens of thousands of beasts vying for dominance, burst into life!
Aoao! Roar! Roar! Roar!
Thousands of Ninth Level Beast Kings, hundreds of Tenth Level Beast Gods, and tens of thousands of alien beasts of varying ranks suddenly materialized in the starry expanse surrounding Creation Peak, locked in fierce combat as they sought to break through to the next level of their bloodline.
It was as if all the alien beasts and tribes that had once flourished in the Desolate Realm had been resurrected by Yuen Bu.
Mother Earth's deep brown eyes remained tranquil as she watched the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar crash down onto the summit of Creation Peak, seemingly upholding the destiny and vital energy of the entire Desolate Realm.
This display of divine might was something only Yuen Bu, the King of Desolate Realm, could manifest.
Clang!
The mountain peak erupted with billions of lightning bolts as the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar struck, shattering millions of massive boulders.
A primal force, reaching deep into the earth, effortlessly shattered every rock layer, grinding the essence of the land to dust and reducing gold-metal-like stones to chaff.
This unstoppable force could obliterate the seven abyssal layers and entire continental stars.
Not even the City of Light in the Origin Realm could withstand Yuen Bu's formidable strike.
"I didn't expect that..."
For the first time, Mother Earth showed a look of astonishment.
She rose into the air, her gaze upon Yuen Bu now far more solemn than when she observed the Demon Phoenix Zhiya nestled in the wings of the Beast Temple and Phoenix Shrine.
Her consciousness, divine power, and essence energy permeated every part of the mountain.
She understood better than anyone the sheer ferocity of Yuen Bu's attack.
It was likely the pinnacle of Eleventh Level power!
"This is beyond my expectations."
She nodded slightly, her hands moving as if conducting the very fabric of the world.
The Heaven Bearing Life Pillar had blasted the earth apart, sending millions of chunks of stone, each spanning dozens of acres, flying. Yet with a mere flick of her fingers, those colossal fragments were sent spiraling toward the starry sea beside Creation Peak, as effortlessly as pebbles rolling in the palm of a deity.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Beast Gods and alien beasts, each with flesh and spirit, materialized one by one. Yet, they were all fatally struck by the "small stones" he flicked with a mere gesture.
With each alien beast's demise, a brilliant burst of bloody light would vanish into the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar.
"Do you wish to join the fray within the mountain's core?"
He gazed at Yuen Bu, who had once again hoisted the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar, his expression a mix of amusement and disdain. "That naive phoenix, do you intend to leave it to me? Yuen Bu, you are not my creation, nor am I your protector. I might dislike Yu Yuan, but I despise you even more!"
As the Old Ape brandished the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar once more, Creation Peak shifted across the void.
Swoosh!
Creation Peak, larger than both the Taiya Main Planet and the Main Planet, moved effortlessly, weightless as if devoid of gravity, and in a blink, it was millions of miles away.
Where Yuen Bu once stood, now furiously spinning the Heaven Bearing Life Pillar, there was nothing but the void beneath him and the infinite darkness of space.
"I made a promise to Yu Yuan not to let anyone interfere with his struggle against the Origin Blood. My refusal to aid him does not mean I will permit your intrusion," Mother Earth stated calmly.
...
Elsewhere, in the true Abyss.
Within the nine splendid layers of the celestial barrier, Yu Yuan's true form navigated the layered seals, seeking the hidden gateway to the Desolate Realm.
The eight-tiered Soul Altar was complete, serenely rotating above him, radiating an infinite divine glow.
The elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, along with the sun, moon, and stars—the mysteries of the Eight Great Origin Spirits—formed a spectacle of Dao. Sensing their inability to disturb the Soul Altar's eight tiers, they instinctively steered clear of him.
Yu Yuan was acutely aware that the Great Demon God Beilstein and Lin Daoke had significantly eased his burden.
His spiritual consciousness and soul thoughts spread like the tide, yet he could not detect even a trace of space-time essence.
He roamed in circles, beginning to doubt whether there was any connection between the Nine Layers of Sealed Barrier and the Creation Pool at all.
With a whoosh, he halted before the vast expanse of Creation Land.
Currently positioned at the first layer of the sealing barrier, just above was the Creation Land. A mere breakthrough would allow him to reach it.
He was confident that this barrier could not hold him back.
Penetrating the boundless darkness above was far simpler than descending into the true abyss.
The sixty-four sunken lands, the Creation Land, and he himself shared a unique resonance, tantalizingly within reach.
"Just by ascending, I can return to that realm of darkness and journey to the Cold Domain. From there, I can make my way to the Origin Realm."
"Yet, the Origin Realm is not my true goal."
He wavered in indecision.
Abruptly, at the base of the Creation Land, a deep brown terrestrial energy began to coalesce.
An entity in a distant world had established a connection with the Creation Land, a bond that defied the constraints of the nine-layered seal!
"The Creation Pool!"
Yu Yuan's face lit up with realization.
He watched as the deep brown terrestrial energy, nearest to the Creation Land, morphed into an Earth Dao Image.
A mountain peak!
An impossibly towering peak, seemingly cradled by the cosmos, where the grandeur of the Beast Temple should have stood.
This Dao Image was Creation Peak, and the "Creation Pool" was situated right there, resonating with the Creation Land.
A vibration rippled through the void, emanating from the Dao Image of Creation Peak, crafted from the earth energy. Yu Yuan captured it precisely, feeling a call resonate within his soul.
"Come!"
In the abyss, the Dragon Slash Platform suddenly upended Barol and Brie, sending Yu Yiyi scrambling to evade.
The residual force of the Dragon Slash Platform transformed into a beam of rainbow-hued divine light, piercing through the nine layers of resplendent seals in the heavens, reaching directly into Yu Yuan's hand.
Barol and Brie watched as Yu Yuan, standing atop the Dragon Slash Platform, charged into a towering mountain.
In an instant, both the mountain and the Dragon Slash Platform vanished from sight.
The Great Demon God Beilstein and Sword Sect Lord Lin Daoke remained ensnared within the seal, desperately enduring.
"Has he returned?" Barol asked, his voice tinged with astonishment, as he scratched his head in bewilderment. "Did he venture into that dark expanse, to the Origin Realm?"
"I can't see through him," Brie said, shaking his head.
"No! That's not it. He's entered that mountain! That mountain is supposed to be in the Desolate Realm!" Yu Yiyi exclaimed in shock.
"That's impossible. The mountain is an illusion, a refined manifestation of the earth's laws and power!" Qi Yunhong also shook his head, unable to discern the truth. "He must have returned to the Origin Realm."
...
"Desolate Realm!"
"Creation Peak!"
Hearty, open-hearted laughter echoed from the Creation Pool atop the mountain.
Yu Yuan and the Dragon Slash Platform appeared abruptly. He stood at the edge of the pool, just as his previous incarnation as the Yang God had.
"Yu Yuan, have you won? How could it have happened so fast?"
The Light Origin Spirit, which had been silent for a long while, couldn't contain its exclamation upon his arrival.
The exclamation abruptly ceased. The Light Origin Spirit scrutinized Yu Yuan with a doubtful gaze, its small white face slowly overtaken by astonishment. "Your true form! Is this your true form?"
"The platform possesses the power to traverse the void."
Mother Earth's attention settled on the Dragon Slash Platform, assuming that Yu Yuan had crossed the barrier between the Origin Realm and the Desolate Realm using the platform. She did not consider the Creation Pool.
