C599 The Second Scene!
"Stay calm."
Above the gleaming mountaintop, a white robe fluttered in the air, its wearer calling out to halt the commotion. The voice boomed like divine retribution, summoning hundreds of ethereal bolts of lightning into existence!
The bolts, writhing like anacondas through the void, followed the hidden trajectories of the heavenly order, silently zeroing in on their target.
Loong Yang, piloting her floating sedan, found herself suddenly encircled by the barrage of spectral lightning, trapped with no way to advance or retreat.
Within the lightning surged a power that could stun the spirit, forcing Loong Yang to cautiously draw in the sedan, fearful of being struck.
This sedan was no ordinary artifact; it boasted remarkable defenses and aided in the refinement of her dragon blood.
Most crucially, it served as a beacon for her father, Loong Jie, enabling him, upon his return to the Everlands after centuries, to rely on it for the swift restoration of his strength.
At this juncture, with Loong Jie still within the confines of the Sword Prison, she could ill afford to act rashly and risk both the sedan's destruction and her own demise.
The lord of this realm, capable of drawing the Sword Prison calamity from the extraterrestrial into the Everlands, was undeniably extraordinary.
Even Loong Yang, with all her pride, dared not provoke such a being.
"Zhao Yafu deserved to be consumed by the Nagas. Her death should grant her a chance at rebirth!" Loong Yang lifted her gaze, steadying her spirit as she addressed the master of the domain, "The Zhao family of Asvetaesi once had a pact with us at Dragon Lake. We aided them in the past, but they betrayed the Nagas!"
Any who breached a covenant with the Nagas would face the wrath of Dragon Lake.
The Zhao family, Zhao Yafu included, were enemies of the Nagas, adversaries of Dragon Lake.
Were Zhao Yafu in the outside world, Loong Yang would need to consider the Shadow's Keep and might hesitate to act rashly.
But here, in the Godsblight Marsh, she was in a domain beyond the Shadow's Keep's reach.
"We'll discuss this after your father's return," the master replied, his tone icy.
With a cold huff, Loong Yang bit back any retort, resigning herself to the situation with a sullen air.
Shortly thereafter, Tan Yuan arrived at the location with five juniors from Shadow's Keep and the female general, Lee Yuchan.
Zhao Yafu hung her head, her expression somber, as she was engulfed in a mood of sorrow and resignation.
En route, she witnessed Loong Tianxiao, who had previously imparted to her the arcane secrets of the Nagas and had guarded her for a time at Moonfall Sanctuary, suffering from a toxic assault by an Amethyst Dragon. The dragon had transferred its potent venom to him using a mystical Naga technique.
Tan Yuan, who was at her side, prevented her from any impulsive actions, making it clear that if Zhao Yafu caused any trouble, she would be sent away immediately.
Zhao Yafu pleaded with Tan Yuan to no avail and ultimately resigned herself to the situation.
The image of Loong Tianxiao, bound to the Naga totem-pole and being viciously attacked by the Amethyst Dragon, his dragon blood and Dragon Soul being devoured, haunted her thoughts.
Upon her arrival here, the sight of the hillock that was the Sword Prison and the magnates emerging from it sent tremors through her slight frame.
Her true self resided far in the extraterrestrial realm, with only a demon soul present in the Shadow's Keep. Her master at Shadow's Keep had shared tales of otherworldly events with her.
As she gazed upon the shimmering mound and felt the undulations of moon energy, she instantly surmised that this mound-like structure was indeed the fabled Sword Prison!
This Sword Prison, once confined within the Everlands and now a rebel in the extraterrestrial domain, was not under the control of the three great upper sects, the Devil Palace, or the Shadow's Keep.
"The Sword Prison has been wrenched into this realm to unleash the imprisoned Troll magnates!"
In a flash, Zhao Yafu pieced together many puzzling elements.
She understood why the divine force of the Godsblight Marsh was inexplicably converging towards its central region.
She realized why the Untamed had temporarily relocated the archdemons from the marsh to the extraterrestrial, the Forgotten Ruins, and other suitable habitats for archdemons.
He must have been concerned that the divine force within the marsh would be completely siphoned by the released magnate Trolls. Fearing they would use his own archdemons to replenish their depleted vitality, nourishing their parched and barren Mindscape with the archdemons' demon souls.
Zhao Yafu had an epiphany.
She was convinced that the Untamed had some sort of pact with the mastermind behind the Sword Prison, which was the only reason he would allow the Sword Prison to exist in the Marsh.
The Untamed feared that the freed Evil Demon, the magnate, would wreak havoc in his territory, leading to the desolation of the marsh and the deaths of numerous archdemons, which forced him to issue that command.
"Lin Zhuyun!"
Zhan Tianxiang, upon seeing the figure enveloped in clusters of emerald flames, cried out in alarm.
The men and women from the Shadow's Keep behind him were visibly shaken.
Just then, a green snake silently glided out from a cave in the Sword Prison.
As soon as the snake appeared, Zhao Yafu, Zhan Tianxiang, and the three practitioners of the Shadow's Keep's dark arts felt their vitality and inner worlds thrown into turmoil.
Zhao Yafu, who had been instructed by the Moonfang Tiger through a demon soul, was so startled by the sight of the green snake that she couldn't help but exclaim, "It's you, it's really you! You didn't die; you were imprisoned in the Sword Prison!"
...
In an unknown starry sea.
Stars, dimmed by a shroud of gray mist, twinkled faintly, while a figure brandished a sword in the mist's depths, striking out from time to time.
Each stroke unleashed a dazzling river of sword light, its divine might so potent it seemed capable of altering the cosmos and shattering all the world's established laws!
Deep within the mist, a fierce crimson glow emitted scorching heat, as if it could incinerate entire Astral Domains and billions of beings.
A hazy, colossal figure, stepping on massive stars, was encircled by enormous sigils.
These sigils, like suns and moons, orbited around him.
A dark wraith, resembling the true Maw of Oblivion, crept closer to the heart of the mist with boundless magic power, threatening to engulf everything in its path.
A massive purple phoenix, with wings unfurled, swept up stars in its wake, causing the entire Star River to tremble as it soared through the mist.
Rivers of sword light streamed forth from the mist's depths.
The deep red, the vast shadow wrapped in sigils, the dark abyssal hole, and the soaring purple phoenix were all besieged by the relentless assault of the sword light rivers.
In the distance, a mountain shaped like a towering sword blade loomed, with a solitary figure standing at its pinnacle, gazing down from afar. Yu Yuan, once again immersed in his sword studies, found his spirit whisked away to this Otherworld—a mere observer, akin to a deity high above, with a clear view of the events unfolding below.
No longer could he project his thoughts into the body of the sword bearer, nor could he wield the sword as if he were the person himself. He was relegated to passively watching, observing, and analyzing.
It was merely a fragment of his spirit, yet after the initial bewilderment, he found himself startled by the suspicions rising within him. The thoughts that had seized him left him petrified...
Continuously swinging his sword, creating streams of sword light, the figure emerging from the gray mist was none other than the renowned Moon Slayer cultivator. A deep red, the epitome of scorching heat, surely indicated the presence of the Sunlit Order, whose leader had been in seclusion on Sunlit Mountain for years—the current patriarch of the order.
The individual enveloped by massive sigils and Divine Visages, given his company with the Sunlit Order's leader and his command over the Mark of the Celestials, was unmistakably the helmsman of the Ebon Star.
As for the entity resembling a black hole capable of engulfing all creation, he was the preeminent cultivator of the Everlands—the Demon Lord of the Devil Palace!
The majestic purple phoenix soaring above could only be the Dark Phoenix, the last of the ancient and powerful Dark Deities of evilkind.
In the extreme distance, atop the sword-shaped summit, stood the Grand Sword Immortal, likely the top-ranked among them.
The four titans of the Ebon Star, Sunlit Order, Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep had joined forces to besiege the Moon Slayer cultivator. The Grand Sword Immortal, hailing from the Sword Sect, merely observed from a distance, his intentions unclear—whether he was there to oversee or simply to witness.
This tableau was heart-stopping, leaving Yu Yuan scarcely able to trust his own eyes. On his previous encounter with the sword spell, the Moon Slayer had nearly single-handedly faced down the relentless assault of the Sky Fiends from the extraterrestrial Star River, as though he were guarding something precious.
At that time, the Moon Slayer cultivator stood as the guardian deity of the Everlands, a war god, a god of slaughter, whose presence was so formidable that it could cleave through the cosmic river, instilling fear and trembling in the countless beings of the extraterrestrial realms.
How had things changed so drastically the second time around?
What had the Grand Sword Immortal, protector of the Everlands, gone through? What encounters had he faced, and what actions had he taken?
Why was he singled out by the highest authorities of the three great Upper Sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep?
Yu Yuan was at a loss.
Yet, he suddenly realized that in his past life as Hong Qi, the sect master of the Order of Healing, he had never even heard of this Moon Slayer from the Sword Sect.
As the leader of the Order of Healing, he should have been aware of such a figure.
Unless, of course, the three Upper Sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep had collectively sealed away all information about him!
Even within the Sword Sect, it was strictly prohibited to speak of him or to discuss anything related to him.
Only through such measures could the existence and legacy of the Moon Slayer be wiped from memory, becoming unknown to all.
"Why does this seem familiar, akin to the Boulderdawn?"
With this thought, the overlapping souls of heaven, earth, and man within his Mindscape quaked dramatically.
The heaven soul's tremor was even more intense!
In that moment, he deeply sensed the desolation of the Moon Slayer cultivator and empathized with the tragic heroism and indignation of one facing their end.
This revelation perfectly aligned with the Soul Forging through Enlightenment practiced by the heaven soul, fitting seamlessly with the intricacies of the Boulderdawn's Spirit Magic.
As if in a daze, he felt an enigmatic connection to the Soulforge Pool far below the surface in the Moonfall Sanctuary, and to the four ancient black characters, "To Know All is to Suffer All."
Then, he saw with unparalleled clarity a striking silhouette deep within the Mindscape, where his three souls converged.
This silhouette settled within his dominant soul, revealing itself to be an extraordinary soul mark.
"A single soul mark, embedded in my dominant soul, has transformed my mindset, my soul's thoughts, my judgment, and my emotional perceptions, influencing every aspect of my being!" In a flash, Yu Yuan's mind crystallized with clarity. Through the Soul Forging through Enlightenment, his heaven soul, the embodiment of spiritual wisdom, understood what had transpired.
"Nightbane Sect's current leader, Zhan Yun, is a master of enchantment. She thinks she can use it to enslave me through my spirit?"
Yu Yuan's mind was clear as crystal within his Mindscape. He let out a cold snort.
His heaven soul, as if drawing power from the distant Moonfall Sanctuary, transformed into a hand and gently seized the seductive imprint Zhan Yun had embedded in his dominant soul.
"No need to rush."
Seated in the stillness of Sword Prison, he meditated with his eyes closed, delving into the intricacies of the sword spell. A peculiar smile played upon his lips.
It was as though he was silently ridiculing something.
