C569 The Shocked Sword Spirit!

The Godsblight Marsh was a vast expanse dotted with numerous lakes and rivers, yet it boasted few and modest mountains. Straddling the heartland between the Empire of Dawn and the Sunblessed Empire, its boundless terrain was a sanctuary for innumerable Fellbeasts. Enriched with an abundance of spiritual energy, it nurtured a plethora of rare and exotic herbs.

Presiding over this domain was the Untamed, a formidable tenth-level Dark Deity whose presence commanded the entire Everlands. Yu Yuan, in his previous life, had recognized that the most ideal location for cultivating medicinal herbs on the Aetherius Continent was not the Serpent Spine Mountains, but rather the Godsblight Marsh. Regrettably, with the Untamed overseeing the marsh, the Order of Healing could scarcely hope to lay a finger on it.

Back then, Yu Yuan had little to no interaction with either the Order of Healing or the Godsblight Marsh. He had ventured into the marsh only once or twice, accompanied by a cultivator. However, when he attempted to delve further, the Untamed issued a stern warning, forbidding entry due to the high realm of his companion. With no choice but to depart, Yu Yuan left with a sense of frustration.

The Untamed was enigmatic and notably isolationist, showing little regard for the three upper sects, Shadow's Keep, and the Devil Palace. He kept to himself, rarely venturing out of the marsh. In his former life, Yu Yuan, not having embarked on the path of cultivation, had never heard of the Untamed leaving his domain.

For generations, the leaders of the Order of Healing had longed to claim the marsh or forge an alliance with the Untamed to cultivate its scarce herbs. Yet, their overtures were met with indifference from the Untamed.

Three hundred years later, Yu Yuan found himself reborn and on the path of cultivation. This time, not as an herbalist but as a cultivator, he set foot in the marsh once more. With a rush of air, he entered the Godsblight Marsh, barely touching down before a jolt coursed through him. A look of astonishment swept across his face as the sword spirit, long dormant within his arm bones, abruptly stirred to life upon his arrival in the Godsblight Marsh.

Ever since he wielded the arm bone sword spirit at the Forgotten Ruins and merged it with the residual sword light in the scabbard, the remaining spiritual wisdom of the Shura in the Dark Realm had been utterly extinguished. Consequently, the sword spirit had been left in a prolonged state of dormancy, devoid of any aura.

It was only during his tranquil meditations, while practicing Soul Forging through Enlightenment to refine his heaven soul, that he could faintly perceive the sword spirit.

Even at the depths of the Embers Sea, when he intimidated the Abyssal Leviathan, he merely brandished the scabbard, harnessing a mere trace of the sword spirit's aura to deter the leviathan from making any reckless moves.

Subsequently, whenever he tapped into the scabbard's power, the sword spirit exerted only a minimal effort. In most cases, he relied on the aura of the sword spirit to unleash the sword light within the scabbard, extricating himself from peril.

Now, the icy flow at the base of the scabbard had vanished, and the stored sword light was nearly depleted. The sword spirit remained largely concealed.

Suddenly, as if startled from a deep sleep, the sword spirit stirred. What could have caused this?

Yu Yuan, taken aback, quickly composed himself and concentrated, seeking to discern the source of the disturbance. It was as if an invisible thread had connected him to the sword spirit within his arm bone.

In a certain corner of the Godsblight Marsh, something had disturbed the sword spirit, rousing it from its long-hidden slumber for just a fleeting moment.

And then, in the very next instant, the sword spirit within his arm bone retreated further into the shadows, deeper than Yu Yuan had ever experienced. It was hidden so profoundly that even he could no longer detect the faintest trace of it within his arm bone.

Upon introspection, he encountered an even more astonishing phenomenon: the intricate sword scars etched upon his arm bone had significantly faded!

Simultaneously, the cauldron spirit concealed within his Zigong acupoint also severed its connection with Yu Yuan, concealing itself as deeply as the sword spirit had.

As he grappled with uncertainty, he abruptly looked up at the sky. The sky over the Godsblight Marsh, once a mesmerizing shade of blue, had abruptly shifted to a leaden gray.

The infinite blue sky transformed in an instant, as if obscured by a gray veil!

Suddenly, a pervasive, fluttering consciousness emerged everywhere—above in the heavens, deep within the earth, and in every nook of Godsblight Marsh.

Yu Yuan's mouth fell open as he was struck by an inescapable feeling of exposure, as if he had been stripped bare for all to scrutinize.

The sensation was incredibly vivid and bizarre.

After a brief shock, a bitter smile crept onto his lips as realization dawned on him.

—The probing consciousness of the Untamed!

The Untamed, a tenth-level Dark Deity of the Merge, could blanket the entire world with his consciousness in a mere thought!

Any creature venturing into the marsh—be it human cultivators, evilkind, or extraterrestrial Otherkin—would be scrutinized if they possessed a soul and flesh.

The Untamed's consciousness, with its myriad remnant souls, could be boundless.

Simultaneously, the Untamed could adapt his thoughts and extend a fragment of his consciousness to meticulously investigate each being that entered the marsh, no matter how numerous.

The profoundly unsettling sensation lasted but a brief moment.

Yet to Yu Yuan, it felt like an eternity spent plummeting into an abyss of darkness.

Abruptly, the sky before his eyes shifted from leaden gray back to vibrant blue.

The heavens remained clear, cloudless, as if nothing had ever changed.

A wave of relief washed over him, signaling that the Untamed's intrusive gaze had retreated.

"Is it the sky that's changing, or is it my own perception that's been deceived? Perhaps, at this very moment, many others like me sense a dramatic shift in the heavens, when in reality, it's our innermost feelings and perceptions that are being stirred," Yu Yuan mused, furrowing his brow.

In that instant, the faded sword scar on his arm restored itself to its original state.

The familiar presence of the sword spirit and the cauldron spirit, nestled within the Zigong acupoint, quietly resurfaced.

Yu Yuan quickly grasped that both the sword spirit and the cauldron spirit had acutely detected the convergence of the Untamed's consciousness. To avoid detection, they had concealed themselves even more deeply.

"Surely, nothing was revealed?" he murmured to himself, refraining from actively reaching out to the sword spirit and the cauldron spirit. He resolved to avoid using the Crucible of Evil, invoking the Bracelet of Holding, or summoning the sword spirit within his arm bone unless absolutely necessary.

Hmm?

Yu Yuan's eyebrows twitched as he sensed a faint, intermittent connection between the sword spirit in his arm bone and a certain point deep within the marsh. The sword spirit seemed to deliberately make him aware of its presence, maintaining the connection just long enough for him to approximate its location. Once he had a rough idea, the link was severed, and the sword spirit concealed itself once more.

"What could it be?" he mused, gazing intently in that direction. "I hope it's not another evil entity suppressed by a Moon Slayer cultivator. If it's anything like the platinum skull from the Dark Realm, we're in for some serious trouble."

With this concern in mind, he made his way deeper into the Godsblight Marsh, heading straight for the source of the connection.

Roar! Roar!

Soon, he heard the roars of Fellbeasts and felt the earth tremble beneath him. As he ventured on, he encountered fourth and fifth level Fellbeasts forming a frenzied tide, rushing out of the marsh.

"The Fellbeasts are fleeing en masse. Something significant must be happening within the Godsblight Marsh," he thought.

Yu Yuan steered clear of the departing creatures, masking the surge of his own vitality, and continued to traverse the edge of the marsh, all the while investigating his surroundings.

Passing a pond, he paused, surprised at the sight of the shimmering water and the lifeless water jade lotuses.

An hour later, by a meandering stream, he discovered several withered blue sakura trees and an abundance of green grass. The Godsblight Marsh, with its numerous lakes and swamps, was rich in spiritual energy, making it an ideal habitat for exotic flora. In his past life, he could find a variety of medicinal herbs throughout the area.

Water jade lotuses, blue sakura, and green grass were merely common and Spirit Level herbs found on the outskirts of the marsh. These herbs required only a modest amount of divine force to thrive and were beneficial for lower-level Fellbeasts to consume for fortification.

Yet now, these lower-level herbs were inexplicably withering and dying.

"Why has the spiritual energy at the edge of the Godsblight Marsh become depleted?" Yu Yuan wondered, eyes closed as he activated the Golden Sanctum within his little world, attempting to draw in the spiritual energy.

His Primal Body was naturally capable of absorbing small amounts of spiritual energy through his pores at any given moment. However, since his arrival at Godsblight Marsh, this ability had been compromised; unlike other places, his Primal Body couldn't draw in spiritual energy as before, nor could it channel it into the Golden Sanctum, his personal little world.

Upon halting his journey to employ the Nine Glories Wheel technique, Yu Yuan's face took on an odd expression. "I'm not mistaken—the spiritual energy at the edge of Godsblight Marsh is scant, even less than what's found in some imperial villages," he observed, peering into the depths. "It's no surprise the Fellbeasts have fled the marsh. The scarcity of spiritual energy impedes their advancement and affects the tempering of their bodies."

The more advanced the Fellbeast, the greater its need for spiritual energy. As the Python Queen had indicated, the ninth, eighth, and seventh-level archdemons were all commanded by the Untamed to depart and were forbidden from returning, at least for the time being. This directive likely stemmed from the fluctuations in spiritual energy.

Lower-grade spirit animals might not require as much spiritual energy as the archdemons, which possessed spiritual wisdom and the ability to shift into human form. Nevertheless, they still had their needs. If the spiritual energy within the marsh continued to dwindle, fourth and fifth-level Fellbeasts would be forced to seek new paths, leaving the marsh to roam elsewhere.

A faint and sporadic thought emanated from the artifact soul within the Zigong acupoint. "The spiritual energy of the marsh hasn't vanished; it's simply converging towards the depths. It appears all the spiritual energy is being drawn to where the Untamed resides. The Untamed is coalescing the dispersed, omnipresent spiritual energy into a singular point."

After imparting this insight, as if fearful of detection, the cauldron spirit withdrew and severed its connection with Yu Yuan, who was left in a state of shock.

The spiritual energy that once pervaded the vast marsh was being hoarded by the Untamed, concentrated at his very location. What was his intent? To monopolize the marsh's spiritual energy, leaving none for the other archdemons, was to force them away. But for how long would this upheaval persist, and what was the Untamed's ultimate goal?

With no further answers from the cauldron spirit, Yu Yuan, burdened with uncertainty, wandered the marsh alone. He witnessed the demise of herbs that thrived on spiritual energy and the exodus of numerous low-level Fellbeasts.

The Godsblight Marsh, renowned as the finest treasure trove across the Aetherius Continent, appeared to be in a state of decline.

Yu Yuan understood that this was likely a temporary situation, caused by a significant action taken by the Untamed.

Several days later, he was startled by the sounds of intense combat. In the distance, the sky was ablaze with spiritual energy, and the air was filled with the howling of Fellbeasts.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he masked his presence and stealthily moved closer.

Soon, he observed a group from the Empire of Dawn encircling and slaying numerous Fellbeasts attempting to flee the marsh. They then hauled the creatures' carcasses towards a hovering carriage.

The recently slain Fellbeast was not particularly powerful, being around the fourth or fifth level.

Its body was taken inside through the lifted curtain of the carriage.

Before long, blood-stained bones were tossed out from beneath the carriage.

"Someone is coming," a melodious female voice suddenly announced from within the carriage.

Yu Yuan was about to withdraw when he realized he had been precisely located by the other party.

​