C569 The Shocked Sword Soul!

The Desolate Swamp, a realm of numerous lakes and sparse, low-lying mountains, lay at the heart of the Divine Might Empire and the Kingdom of Driliwyr, its expanse seemingly limitless. Concealed within were innumerable Demonic Beasts, and the rich Spiritual Qi fostered a plethora of rare and curious medicinal herbs. Overseeing this domain was the Desolate God, a formidable Tenth Level Demon God whose power resonated throughout the Boundless Land.

Yu Yuan, in his past life, had recognized that the most ideal place for cultivating medicinal herbs on the Profound Sky Continent wasn't Jade Peak, but rather the Desolate Swamp. Alas, the presence of the Desolate God meant that the Medicine God Sect could only long for it from afar. His former self had little to do with the Desolate Swamp or the Medicine God Sect, having ventured into the swamp only a handful of times under the guidance of a Great Cultivator.

Yet, when he sought to delve deeper, the high realm of his companion drew the Desolate God's warning, forbidding entry and forcing a reluctant departure. The Desolate God, an enigma with a strong aversion to outsiders, held no affection for the upper sects, the Demon Palace, or the Devil Palace, choosing isolation over alliance and rarely venturing beyond the swamp's borders.

Yu Yuan, who had not embarked on the path of cultivation in his previous life, had never heard tales of the Desolate God straying from his sanctuary. Generations of Medicine God Sect leaders had lusted after the swamp, yearning to claim it or form a bond with the Desolate God to cultivate exotic herbs. Their overtures, however, were met with indifference.

Now, reborn and three centuries wiser, Yu Yuan had embraced the way of the cultivator. As a seeker of enlightenment rather than an alchemist, he found himself once again within the Desolate Swamp's embrace.

Whoosh!

No sooner had his feet touched the swamp's soil than Yu Yuan's spirit jolted with a start. A look of sheer astonishment swept across his face as the sword soul, dormant within his arm bones for ages, suddenly stirred to life at his entrance into the Desolate Swamp.

Since employing the sword soul within the Absence Relic and merging it with the residual sword light of the Asura, the sword soul had been left severely depleted, languishing in a prolonged state of dormancy without any aura.

It was only during quiet cultivation, while immersed in the Soul Forging Technique, that Yu Yuan could faintly perceive the sword soul.

Even when he intimidated the Chaos Roc at the ocean floor of the Ember Waters, he merely drew upon a sliver of the sword soul's aura from the sheath, enough to deter the creature from any reckless action.

Subsequently, his reliance on the sword sheath's power meant the sword soul exerted minimal effort.

In most situations, he harnessed the aura of the sword soul to unleash the sword light contained within the sheath, extricating himself from peril.

Now, the icy flow at the base of the sheath had vanished, and the stored sword light was nearly depleted.

The sword soul remained largely concealed.

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

In his astonishment, Yu Yuan quickly reined in his thoughts and held his breath to sense more keenly.

It was as though an invisible thread had formed a connection with the sword soul in his arm bone...

Somewhere within the Desolate Swamp, an entity had disturbed the sword soul, rousing it briefly from its long-hidden state.

But it was only for an instant.

In the following moment, the sword soul within his arm bone retreated further, hiding more profoundly than Yu Yuan had ever experienced.

So deeply concealed, that not even Yu Yuan could detect the faintest trace of the sword soul within his own arm bone.

Upon introspection, he encountered an even more astonishing phenomenon: the intricate sword marks and imprints etched upon his arm bone had significantly faded.

Almost simultaneously, the cauldron soul within the Evil Cauldron, nestled deep in the purple palace acupoint, also severed its connection with Yu Yuan temporarily, its concealment mirroring that of the sword soul.

As he grappled with confusion, he abruptly looked up to the sky.

The sky over the Desolate Swamp, once a mesmerizing blue, shifted in an instant to a leaden gray.

The vast expanse of blue was transformed in a blink, as if obscured by a curtain of gray!

Soon after, an elusive consciousness emerged, omnipresent in the heavens, deep within the earth, and in every nook of the Desolate Swamp, making its presence known.

Yu Yuan's mouth hung open as he was suddenly overcome with the sensation of being utterly exposed, as if someone had peeled away his clothes, leaving him bare from head to toe.

The feeling was so vivid, so bizarre.

He paused, a momentary daze giving way to a bitter smile of realization.

He was under the scrutiny of the Desolate God's consciousness!

The Desolate God, sovereign of the Great Swamp, was a Tenth Level Demon God whose mere thought could envelop the Boundless Land.

Any creature that dared to traverse the Great Swamp—be they human cultivators, Demons, or beings from alien races—would be subject to detection if their soul or flesh so much as stirred.

The Desolate God's consciousness was vast, potentially harboring countless souls.

Simultaneously, the Desolate God could adapt his thoughts to the presence of multiple beings within the swamp, dividing his attention to meticulously investigate each one.

The intense discomfort that Yu Yuan experienced was fleeting.

Yet to him, it felt like an eternity spent plummeting into an abyss of darkness, enduring an agonizing wait.

Abruptly, the sky in his vision shifted from a leaden gray back to a brilliant azure.

The heavens remained cloudless, serene as if untouched by any disturbance.

A sense of relief washed over him, signaling that the Desolate God's probing had ceased.

"Has the sky changed, or have my eyes been deceived? Or perhaps, are there many like me who perceive a dramatic shift in the heavens, when in truth, it is our hearts and perceptions that have been thrown into chaos?" Yu Yuan pondered with a furrowed brow.

In that moment, the once-faded sword mark on his arm restored itself to clarity.

The sword soul and the cauldron soul within the purple palace began to emit a familiar presence once more.

Yu Yuan quickly grasped that both the sword soul and the cauldron soul had keenly detected the Desolate God's gathering consciousness and, to avoid detection, had retreated further into hiding.

"He mustn't have seen through them, right?"

He murmured to himself, refraining from reaching out to the sword soul and the cauldron soul. Resolutely, he decided that unless absolutely necessary, he would avoid using the Evil Cauldron, invoking the sheath from the Mustard Seed Bracelet, or calling upon the sword soul within his arm bone.

Hmm?

Yu Yuan's eyebrows quivered as he sensed a subtle, intermittent connection between the sword soul within his arm bone and a certain point deep within the Great Swamp. It seemed as if the sword soul intended for him to notice this link, maintaining it just long enough for him to approximate its origin. But as soon as he had a rough idea of the direction, the connection severed, and the sword soul retreated into obscurity.

"What could it be?" he mused, his brow furrowing as he gazed toward the area in question. "I hope it's not another malevolent entity subdued by the Chopping Moon cultivator. If it's anything like the white-gold skull of the Asura from the Dark Domain, we're in for quite a predicament."

With this concern in mind, he set off toward the mysterious location.

Roar! Roar!

Moments later, the roars of Demonic Beasts filled the air, and the ground beneath him vibrated with their movements.

As he ventured further, Yu Yuan encountered Fourth and Fifth Level Demonic Beasts forming a stampede, frantically fleeing the Great Swamp.

"All these Demonic Beasts escaping... There must be a significant disturbance within the Desolate Swamp," he deduced, skillfully avoiding the departing hordes and masking the surge of his own Qi and blood. He continued his journey through the swamp, remaining vigilant and observant.

Passing by a shimmering pond, he was taken aback by the sight of dead Water Jade Lotuses floating on the surface.

Half an hour later, by the meandering banks of a stream, he discovered withered blue sakura trees and abundant green grass. The Desolate Swamp, with its plentiful lakes and rich spiritual energy, was a haven for exotic flora. In his previous life, he had seen a myriad of medicinal herbs scattered throughout the area.

The Water Jade Lotus, blue sakura, and green grass were merely Common and Spirit Level herbs found on the periphery of the Great Swamp. These plants thrived on minimal spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth and, when consumed by lower-level Demonic Beasts, contributed to their physical fortification.

Yet now, these lesser herbs lay wilted and lifeless.

"Why has the spiritual energy at the edge of the Desolate God's Great Swamp become so depleted?" Yu Yuan pondered, eyes closed as he activated the Yellow Court Little World technique, attempting to draw in the surrounding Spiritual Qi.

His Yuan Tai Body, naturally adept at siphoning traces of Spiritual Qi through his pores, now struggled to find sustenance in the waning energy.

Upon entering the Desolate God's Great Swamp, Yu Yuan discovered that his Yuan Tai Body could no longer draw in Spiritual Qi as it did elsewhere, nor could it incorporate the Spiritual Qi into the Yellow Court Little World within him.

Pausing to employ the "Glorious Heavenly Wheel" technique, Yu Yuan's face took on an odd expression. "I'm not mistaken—the Spiritual Qi at the fringe of the Desolate God's Great Swamp is sparser than in some villages of the Empire," he observed, peering into the depths. "It's no surprise the Demonic Beasts are fleeing the swamp. The scarcity of Spiritual Qi impedes their advancement and the tempering of their bodies."

The higher the Demonic Beast's level, the more Spiritual Qi it craves.

The Python Queen had mentioned that the Desolate God had commanded the Ninth, Eighth, and Seventh Level Demonic Beasts to leave, forbidding their return for the time being—a decree likely tied to the fluctuations in Spiritual Qi.

While the lower-tiered Demonic Beasts might not require as much Spiritual Qi as their more advanced counterparts, who had gained sentience and could take human form, they still had their needs.

Should the Spiritual Qi in the Great Swamp continue to dwindle, even Fourth and Fifth Level Demonic Beasts would be forced to seek new habitats, migrating from the swamp in search of sustenance.

A faint and intermittent thought transmitted from the Artifact Soul within the Purple Palace acupoint suggested, "The Spiritual Qi of the Great Swamp hasn't vanished; it's merely converging towards the depths. It appears all the Spiritual Qi is being drawn to where the Desolate God resides, condensing the once omnipresent energy into a singular point."

After imparting this insight, as if fearing detection, the Artifact Soul retreated and severed its connection with Yu Yuan, leaving him in a state of bewilderment.

Yu Yuan pondered the implications of the Desolate God hoarding the swamp's Spiritual Qi for himself, depriving the other great demons of its benefits and forcing them to depart.

How long would this upheaval persist, and what was the Desolate God's ultimate intention?

With no further guidance from the cauldron soul, Yu Yuan wandered the vast swamp alone, witnessing the demise of herbs starved of Spiritual Qi and the exodus of numerous low-level Demonic Beasts.

The Desolate Swamp, once hailed as the most coveted sanctuary in the Profound Sky Continent, now bore the hallmarks of decay.

Yu Yuan understood that this decline was likely temporary, a consequence of some grand scheme orchestrated by the Desolate God.

Days later, he was jolted by the sounds of fierce combat. In the distance, the sky was ablaze with spiritual light, and the air was filled with the howls and roars of Demonic Beasts.

He hesitated briefly before masking his presence and stealthily drawing closer.

Soon, he observed a contingent from the Kingdom of Driliwyr encircling and slaying numerous Demonic Beasts attempting to flee the Great Swamp. They then hauled the slain creatures' carcasses toward a suspended carriage.

The recently slain Demonic Beast was not of a particularly high level—merely at the Fifth Level.

Its body was transported into the carriage through the parted curtains.

Before long, blood-stained animal bones were discarded from beneath the carriage.

"Someone is coming," a melodious female voice unexpectedly emanated from within the carriage.

Yu Yuan intended to withdraw discreetly, but it was too late—he had been pinpointed by the occupants.

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