C361 Soul Crystal

The sky was clear and expansive.

A silvery Fallen Star Eyes streaked across the daylight, descending toward the earth below. Just hundreds of meters from the ground, the Lunar Meteorite from beyond paused in its descent.

Liu Ying, previously wounded in her battle with Van Yan, was now fully healed and her spirit shone brightly.

At this moment, her gaze was measured and calm. Without exerting her will to alter the reflective table before her, those around her could already discern the state of affairs.

"Are we really leaving just like this, Your Majesty?"

Zhan Tianxiang stroked his chin with a peculiar look, commenting, "The commander, known as Le Baixiong, seems to have also fled with his Lunar Spirit."

Zhao Yafu and Yuan Lianyao kept their silence.

Qin Yun remarked, "It seems the Silvermoon Empire is on the brink of collapse."

"Even if the Lee family falls, another will rise to take its place," Ning Ji interjected, his loyalty to Yu Yuan unwavering. "The Yan family is likely to succeed the Lee family as the ruling dynasty of the Silvermoon Empire. In my view, even if Lee Yupan is cast out and hunted by the Lee family, they will struggle to restore their past glory within the Empire."

"What of the Yu family and Asvetaesi City? What will their future hold?" pondered Zhan Tianxiang.

"You're all too preoccupied with the future. We should focus on understanding the present situation," Liu Ying chided, rolling her eyes. "Yu Yuan hasn't come to yet. We're still in the dark about the peculiarities of the little world within the Dark Realm's Shura Eye."

"The empress's departure and the captain's escape surely signify their defeat, don't they?" Zhan Tianxiang asserted confidently. "If they've lost, then Yu Yuan must be out of danger."

"That's not a given," Liu Ying countered, shaking her head. "His soul is behaving oddly. It's not merely submerged in consciousness; it's as if a soul has truly entered the Shura Eye. Perhaps his level of cultivation wasn't sufficient to reach the Lunar Spirit Realm, so when one soul departed, the soul remaining in his real body couldn't revive his spiritual wisdom or enable him to speak and interact."

Yuan Lianyao added, "He's not like the empress, whose Lunar Spirit can leave her body and still allow her real body to move freely. With his level of cultivation, the departure of any one of the three souls of heaven, earth, and man would be a serious blow. How could he possibly remain as untroubled as before after losing a soul?"

While they conversed, Ning Ji once again lapsed into silence. Having used the Wraithbanner to summon Yu Yuan's soul at the Yu family's ancestral home, he was aware that Yu Yuan's three souls of heaven, earth, and man had been incomplete for some time. Now, listening to their discussion, Ning Ji pondered the possibility that Yu Yuan's three souls were inherently different from those of ordinary people.

"Golden Fiend?"

Qi Hongyi, cradling her lute, descended gracefully from the Jade Tower and alighted upon the enormous gourd. She gazed intently at the Golden Fiend, whose soul had just returned. "What's happened?"

Yan Qiling and Tong Laoqian focused their attention from different vantage points.

"Well, I'm not entirely clear on the specifics," the Golden Fiend admitted, still somewhat bewildered. With all eyes on him, he continued, "All I can say is that I witnessed something remarkable in that realm! The residual soul and spiritual wisdom of the Shura hidden within the Dark Realm are likely to vanish soon. As for the Empress of the Silvermoon Empire, the Lunar Spirit within her may not be able to escape."

"I'm concerned about Yu Yuan," Yan Qiling interjected.

"Yu Yuan..." The Golden Fiend's soul showed a complex mix of emotions. Recalling the fearsome phantom formed from Yu Yuan's heaven soul, he was genuinely unsettled. "He should be alright. The turmoil within the Dark Realm should settle because of him. As for the details, they're beyond me. You'll have to wait a bit longer."

"What are we waiting for?" Tong Laoqian demanded.

"We wait for Yu Yuan to come to his senses, for his heaven soul to rejoin his body, and for him to be able to speak," the Golden Fiend explained.

"And the Mysterious Realm? What's it like?" Tong Laoqian pressed, his urgency palpable.

His Jade Tower, a sanctum capable of absorbing and engulfing the spiritual energy of an entire world, would only grow more formidable and impressive. Tong Laoqian's yearning for the Mysterious Realm was intense, filled with numerous aspirations.

Golden Fiend looked up, locking eyes with him for a moment. "Let me give you a piece of advice: no matter what unfolds, you'd best not set your sights on the little world within the Shura Eye of the Dark Realm."

"Why?" Tong Laoqian grumbled.

"We mustn't meddle with that object," Golden Fiend sighed heavily.

Having witnessed the phenomena within, he lost all desire for it, abandoning his greed.

If the vision he had seen was indeed reality, and the little world within the eyeball was genuine and not an illusion, then they must refrain from interfering with the mysterious realm inside it at all costs.

With this realization, Golden Fiend couldn't help but feel a deep sense of respect.

Lee Yupan and Shen Feiqing, both women, harbored ambitions vast enough to encompass the universe.

They dared to scheme for the mysterious realm. Weren't they afraid of incurring the wrath of the heavens and the earth, of becoming sinners of the Everlands?

Did they not fear the relentless pursuit of the three great upper sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep?

...

Within the brown eyeball, the landscape was in turmoil.

Mountains crumbled, rivers were severed, and the earth split open with deep chasms during the violent tremors.

From these gorges, beams of radiant light burst forth, reaching for the sky and manifesting visions and anomalies from beyond the stars.

Millions of Ice Shards lay scattered within the lustrous soulstone veins, assaulted by increasingly fine strands of crimson sword light, turning to ash with each strike.

Each shard was a crystallization of the remnant soul and spiritual wisdom of a Dark Realm Shura.

Employing the most ancient arcane of the Shura, he had refined and solidified these remnants, imprinting his remnant soul within the crystals.

The crystal shards, clear and pure, shimmered with internal luminescence, resplendent and mystical, etched with the experiences of his long life, his understanding of Shura power and spells, and his profound knowledge of the extraterrestrial realms from his years wandering the Star River.

Should a descendant of the Dark Realm Shura come upon this place and refine these crystals of residual soul, they would surely ascend to great heights.

These crystals had also become one with the soulstone mountains and rivers of this world, the veins deep beneath the earth's surface.

His spiritual wisdom and remnant soul, crushed by the crimson sword light, led to the collapse of the landscape, the severing of many rivers, and it seemed as though the entire world might burst apart and cease to exist.

The sword spirit, omnipresent and attached to all the crimson sword lights, was intent on annihilating everything.

The cultivator who had once used the sword sheath to suppress him did not seek the death of the Dark Realm Shura, but merely to contain him.

He harbored ulterior motives, desiring to reserve the Mysterious Realm for his Sword Sect brethren to claim later.

Within the sword sheath, the sword's will was everlasting, unmarked by the sword spirit.

Such a choice was laden with profound implications.

The sword spirit merged with Yu Yuan's arm was dangerously aggressive, heedless of any consequences.

Had it been nurtured within the sheath from the beginning, the residual soul and spiritual wisdom of the Shura from the Dark Realm would have long been purified and obliterated.

What future could there be?

The residual soul and spiritual wisdom of the Dark Realm's Shura were already one with his little world.

With the death of the Dark Realm's Shura, this Mysterious Realm, brimming with spiritual energy and rivalling the three great upper sects, would be ruined.

This was not the outcome the Moon Slayer cultivator had envisioned.

Now, with Yu Yuan's arrival, the sword's will within the sheath, under the sword spirit's sway, was poised to complete what he had left undone.

Crimson sword light swept by, shattering Ice Shards, and wisps of remnant soul dissipated into ash.

This Heavenly Realm was on the brink of collapse due to the Dark Realm's Shura's demise, with the Cosmic Order thrown into disarray, threatening to implode and vanish forever.

Yu Yuan's transformed colossal soul roamed amidst it all, with streaks of crimson sword light darting by, converging on the dense clusters of Ice Shards.

The Silvermoon Queen, her Lunar Spirit form battered and unable to escape, ceased her futile resistance.

Her Majesty, embodying the Lunar Spirit, willingly drew close to Yu Yuan's soul.

The crescent on her brow, bearing Yue Fei's thoughts, communicated incessantly with her.

She spoke persuasively, "A Mysterious Realm, as rich and pure as the sacred lands of Euwrea, is to perish alongside the Shura's residual soul and spiritual wisdom?"

"Do you not find it regrettable?"

"This treasure land could sustain many cultivators, and it could secure the Golden Sanctum for the child you cherish, allowing for continuous breakthroughs."

"Please stop, or this world will indeed burst apart."

"Once it bursts, it will be too late for anything."

...