C357 Great Soul Devouring

A faint blush of dawn appeared in the night sky, heralding the approach of daybreak.

In the depths of the Lost Lands, amidst the ruins of a once-mighty city, the mighty stood unyielded.

A crater, neither large nor small, was awash with blood. Broken limbs and shattered black armor littered its edges.

A sword sheath, thrust into the skull of a Shura, radiated light. The sword's will within it was powerful, piercing directly into the mind of the Shura in the Dark Realm.

This new sword's will seemed to emerge from the ether, endlessly infusing the sheath with its energy.

Yu Yuan's finger rested upon his brown eyeball in the Dark Realm, as if he were submerged in a profound dream, his breathing steady and calm.

Yet upon closer inspection, one could see the red crystal light coursing through his arm like swift lightning.

This light was the pure sword light, flowing like countless rivers into the sea, following the veins in his arm to merge with the brown eyeball.

Above Yu Yuan, suspended in mid-air, was a solitary figure.

She was the real body of Lee Yupan, Empress of the Silvermoon Empire.

The Empress, her features indistinct, was clad in silver garments, wielding the Soul Chart. As her Lunar Spirit detached, she continued to manipulate the Soul Chart with her heaven soul and dominant soul.

A human's three souls, with one residing within, each possess spiritual wisdom.

For a cultivator of her caliber, whose Lunar Spirit was fully formed, her real body remained largely unaffected during her external endeavors.

At this moment, the scroll before her, teeming with innumerable vengeful spirits and residual souls, seemed to bridge the gap to the Nine Hells Purgatory, a realm akin to a cemetery of death.

A mere glance at the Soul Chart was enough to send shivers down anyone's spine.

Within the Soul Chart, the restless spirits and residual souls surged tumultuously, appearing and vanishing in an instant. Though they seemed to vanish without a trace, they had actually transcended to another plane of existence.

The Empress, even while projecting her presence elsewhere, would occasionally cast her gaze towards Qi Hongyi and the Jade Tower as she operated the Soul Chart.

Qi Hongyi, cradling her lute, remained preoccupied with quelling the rebellious soul spirits that had breached her Mindscape.

Meanwhile, within the Jade Tower, Tong Laoqian and Yan Qiling refrained from pursuing Shen Feiqing as she took flight.

Under Yan Qiling's guidance, Tong Laoqian ceased his actions and kept a vigilant eye on the pit. Yan Qiling informed him that the true battlefield had shifted—it was no longer outside, but within the Dark Realm, where the brown eye of the Shura encompassed a little world. Within this realm, the empress, the Shura, and the sword spirit were locked in combat with Yu Yuan. It was nearly impossible for anyone else to intervene.

Yu Yuan, in fact, required no special protection from them. The sheath embedded in the skull, brimming with potent sword's will, would shield him from external threats when necessary. The tragic demise of the Blackfang Legion soldiers had already attested to this.

"We just have to wait; the outcome will reveal itself," said Liu Ying, who had been observing through her Fallen Star Eyes from high above. She echoed the sentiment, "Nobody knows what's transpiring within that brown eye at this moment, and nobody can influence or disrupt the battle therein."

A crescent moon plummeted from the heavens. As it descended, moonlight solidified into luminous blades, showering down like a downpour of keen edges. The entire world was suffused with dense, pure spiritual energy, which streamed into the moonlight blades.

Yu Yuan's heaven soul shadow gazed skyward, sensing that even before the moon's fall, his soul might be scattered to the winds, ceasing to exist. Yet, he harbored no fear or unease. With a mere thought, streams of crimson sword light soared around him like fiery meteors, creating a spectacle of dazzling fireworks above his head.

The blades, forged from the crystallized spiritual energy, flared brilliantly for an instant before disintegrating into ash. Yu Yuan attuned himself to the subtleties of this phenomenon. He acutely perceived the sword's will, emerging thread by thread from the boundary walls at the periphery of this domain. It seemed to originate from the Soulforge Pool within the Moonfall Sanctuary.

Simultaneously, a deep, oceanic wave of Soul Power infused his heaven soul. Having practiced Soul Forging through Enlightenment for some time, Yu Yuan suddenly found himself in a trance... His heaven soul's consciousness experienced what seemed like an illusion, where he faintly perceived an immensely powerful soul spirit stirring from its slumber. It was as if a consciousness, sealed for eons, had been roused by the sheer magnitude of the Soul Power!

With a thunderous boom, Yu Yuan's clear figure, transformed into a heaven soul, dramatically expanded within the little world of the Dark Realm.

Golden Fiend was struck with terror as he gazed at Yu Yuan, feeling an inexplicable urge to kneel and worship him.

In a brief moment, Yu Yuan's heaven soul swelled into a mountain of terror, constructed from billions of soul spirits, towering so high it seemed to touch the very dome of the sky.

Golden Fiend, using his spiritual sense, perceived Yu Yuan's heaven soul expanding with Soul Power, forming a mountain of souls as if built from innumerable stones.

It was supposed to be just a soul.

Yet the now colossal Yu Yuan managed to knock aside a falling crescent moon.

This crescent moon, fashioned by the Silvermoon Queen, was a conduit between the heavens and earth, a manifestation of spiritual energy and moonlight, combined with the forces of distant mystical lands and soulstone mountains.

It was a tangible crescent moon, assembled with immense power.

This very moon was struck askew by Yu Yuan and plummeted to the distant earth, causing mountains to crumble, rivers to sever, and the land to sink.

Golden Fiend, with a mere perception, realized the true vastness of the crescent moon.

In that moment, Yu Yuan's heaven soul, having expanded dramatically, dwarfed the crescent moon by an immeasurable magnitude.

Yu Yuan's immense spectral form, newly formed within the Dark Realm's little world, eclipsed the sky, inspiring awe and fear, and his presence alone made even Golden Fiend feel the compulsion to kneel.

"Phew!"

Yu Yuan, now unrecognizable, extended his palms like abyssal black holes that could swallow all souls.

From the sky, his palms reached down to the earth.

Golden Fiend looked up to see his palms resembling two massive black suns, emitting a mysterious and profound energy that drew in souls and tugged at every thought and consciousness.

The wraiths and residual souls, released by the Soul Orb, uncontrollably spiraled into the cavernous maw of his palms, vanishing in an instant.

Meanwhile, Yu Yuan's formidable shadow, as if to burst through the heavens, seemed to be sated, its belly bulging, its form growing ever more grand and expansive.

The Silvermoon Queen, clutching the Soul Orb, was overcome with a profound sense of unease as the crescent moon crashed to the ground and Yu Yuan's heaven soul underwent its dramatic transformation.

Before she could react, Shen Feiqing realized that the situation had spiraled out of her control. Years of meticulous planning were suddenly engulfed by the terrifying presence of Yu Yuan, which devoured the vengeful spirits and residual souls she had so painstakingly gathered. It dawned on her that her scheme was likely to crumble to pieces.

"What, what is that?" Golden Fiend stammered, pointing at the massive soul shadow that nearly filled the space. Feeling the aura it emitted, he was suddenly overcome with an urge to flee. As a pure soul himself, he was prey in this realm.

He had the sinking feeling that if Yu Yuan's soul shadow fixed its gaze on him, he would be powerless to resist being drawn into the black hole in its palm, becoming part of the spirited body.

"I don't know either," the Silvermoon Queen admitted, clutching the Soul Orb tightly and forcing herself to remain composed. "The vanished fourth sect was indeed the true source of evil in the Everlands. It's no wonder it was annihilated by a coalition of forces! This entity is certainly not a manifestation of Yu Yuan's soul spirit. It must be the residual soul of the Boulderdawn Sect using Yu Yuan to materialize in this world!"

"Only here would it dare to emerge without fear of detection by the three upper sects or Shadow's Keep."

A profound sense of remorse surged within the Queen's heart.

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