C968 The Formation Is Broken!

Inside the palace within the forbidden area, Cao Jiaze watched the Grey Wolf King with a somber and wary expression. He silently observed the pure moon energy coursing through the Grey Wolf King's limbs, sensing its corrosive infiltration into the palace.

"The Mark of the Celestials is primarily composed of Moon Soul, yet it's blended with a myriad of fine gold and jade quintessence. The glyphs etched upon it serve a concealing purpose. Yu Yuan, how were you still able to recognize it?" He pondered with a furrowed brow.

As the future Sect Master, Jiaze was well aware of the nine Marks of the Celestials, each forged from treasures like the extraterrestrial Moon Soul, the crystal of the burning sun, ores from the base of a Holy Mountain in the Star River, magma from a pool on the Mountain of Flames, a seven-colored gemstone, among others.

The primary materials of each Mark of the Celestials varied, all coated with an assortment of fine gold and jade essence. Every Mark bore the sophisticated spell of one of the Ebon Star's nine branches. Some pertained to the Blazing Way of Heaven, others to the Soul Refining Mystique, some to the fortification of the body, and some to the refinement of the moon's essence.

The Ebon Star was unlike the Sword Sect or Sunlit Order; from its inception, it was a sect encompassing an array of techniques. The Ebon Star's founding principle was to integrate the strengths of various sects, enhancing and transcending the original foundations. Many spells and mystiques from sects lost to the Everlands were assimilated and refined by the Ebon Star, resulting in spells even more perfect and intricate than before.

This diversity meant that the disciples within the nine palaces of the Ebon Star practiced entirely different spells. Thus, while the secondary materials of the nine Marks of the Celestials were quite similar, their primary materials were uniquely distinct.

After the Grey Wolf King's "Moon Swallowing" episode, controlled by the Evil Statue, he unleashed formidable power that severely damaged the palace housing the Moon Soul. At that moment, a fragment of Jiaze's soul had slipped inside, revealing more than a dozen arcane circles now fractured.

"This is unacceptable!" As the master of the rune circle, he was unable to intervene directly. With no other option, he cast a desperate glance at Cao Yi, silently pleading for assistance.

Cao Yi let out a sigh, "What a hassle."

With a reluctant shake of his head, he plummeted beneath the palace.

In an instant, his form shattered into thousands of blood-red shadows, gathering the blood and crushed bones of the Silverscale and Nightscale Tribes.

Then, the blood-red lights outside coalesced into a taller, more menacing Quero.

The crimson glow in Quero's eyes and the aura emanating from him were unmistakably Cao Yi's.

"Mo Baichuan, Van Heqing, and many cultivators from the Sword Sect and Sunlit Order aren't blind to the crux of the matter; they know who should be the primary target. Yet, they chose to overlook Yu Yuan upon discovering he was Hong Qi, the God of Medicine from three hundred years ago," Cao Yi's thoughts echoed in Jiaze's Heart Lake.

"The linchpin of the Soulforge Matrix is the Soulforge Pool, and that is Yu Yuan. If Yu Yuan suffers a grave injury and perishes in the forbidden area, both the Soulforge Matrix and the Evil Statue that invaded the Grey Wolf King will be quelled."

In the guise of Quero, Cao Yi stepped forward and materialized a hundred meters in front of the Soulforge Pool.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The space before Yu Yuan's eyes shimmered as a green-black wall, like glass, halted hundreds of blood-colored light spots.

Before the wall, the blood-colored light spots rained down like a torrential downpour.

"So, you dare to show yourself because you can summon a wall to shield yourself at any moment."

Undeterred by his unsuccessful strike, Cao Yi's fighting spirit flared. "Yu Yuan, in our fight against the extraterrestrial Otherkin, you should be standing with us. If you choose to persist in your delusion, you only have yourself to blame."

As Ann Jieshan, he had persistently encouraged Ann Ziqing and Xueyin of Acora Island to recruit Yu Yuan into the sect.

He truly valued Yu Yuan's talent.

His initial plan was for Yu Yuan to practice the mystiques of the Colddeath and to covertly impart the spells of the Ebon Star, enabling Yu Yuan to cultivate both righteous and dark arts.

He even contemplated in secret whether Yu Yuan's character and ambition might allow him to succeed Ann Wen as the future leader of the Colddeath.

He genuinely felt a sense of regret for Yu Yuan.

During his time on Acora Island, Yu Yuan resisted the urge to succumb to bloodlust and refrained from plunging into the Blood Pool. Even after repeatedly declining Ann Ziqing's invitations, he still harbored hope.

It was upon entering the forbidden area and sensing the Soulforge Pool, no longer restrained by Nie Qingtian's Skyward Swordplay, that he finally abandoned his aspirations.

At that moment, he realized that Yu Yuan had unwittingly earned the favor of the Boulderdawn Sect.

Given that the Boulderdawn had intervened, and considering his own prolonged confinement in the forbidden area, he understood the sect's ways well enough to know that persuading Yu Yuan and indoctrinating him would be a near-impossible task.

"If I can't recruit him or use him to my advantage, then I have no choice but to destroy him."

Cao Yi's eyes glowed with a sinister red hue, his eerie pupils seeming to pierce through flesh and blood, reaching into the very essence of Yu Yuan's vitality and his miraculous Altar of Rebirth. "Your body shall be the first morsel for me, the Abyssal Leviathan, to savor."

Boom!

Quero's form burst apart, and strands of crimson light shot towards Yu Yuan from every direction.

Neither the murky Soul Power of the Soulforge Pool nor the dark barrier of the Crucible of Evil could halt their advance.

The blood light, imbued with an air of righteousness, unexpectedly surged straight for the acupoints of Yu Yuan's Profound Gate.

In Yu Yuan's spiritual awareness, at that instant, it was as if hundreds of Cao Yi were invading his mind, slipping into each acupoint, or burrowing into his Golden Sanctum.

Some even concealed themselves within his vitality and internal organs.

"I too have been confined in the forbidden area for many years. I'm well-acquainted with the Soulforge Pool and the force of the Soulforge Matrix. After freeing myself from this realm, through the Colddeath Sect and the current master of the Ebon Star, I combined my own cultivation insights and discovered a weakness in the great formation. Now, I'm merely testing it through you."

Cao Yi's waves of self-assured thoughts came crashing down, overwhelming Yu Yuan.

To onlookers, Cao Yi, following his self-destruction, transformed into innumerable beams of blood light that astonishingly breached the green-black barrier, disregarding the magical shield of the Crucible of Evil, and clung to Yu Yuan's form.

Hovering above the Soulforge Pool and beneath the Crucible of Evil, Yu Yuan was suddenly enveloped in a massive blood cocoon. The viscous blood solidified around his form, exuding a rich, sweet scent that obscured him from view, leaving everyone clueless about his current state.

As the onlookers stood in astonishment, the blood cocoon swelled, engulfing both the Crucible of Evil and the Soulforge Pool. The void that had contained Yu Yuan now housed an enormous blood cocoon, with Cao Yi, Yu Yuan, and the two mystical objects shrouded within.

No one, relying on their Soul Power or blood intuition, could penetrate the cocoon's exterior to glimpse the wonders inside.

"Yu Yuan!"

"Is that Cao Yi from the Ebon Star really that fearsome?"

"He's the one who could eliminate the elder brother of Colddeath's founding patriarch. He's certainly not ordinary!"

"Cao Yi!"

The disturbance within the forbidden area drew the attention of those across the Land of Quiescence, who watched with a mix of awe and alarm.

"This Cao Yi, assuming the identity of Ann Jieshan, brought two Marks of the Celestials into the forbidden area. Consequently, Cao Jiaze used the remaining seven Marks to transport the mightiest warriors of Euwrea. And now, Cao Yi has consumed Yu Yuan with an unheard-of thaumaturgy not even recorded by Colddeath!" exclaimed Yun Hao of the Skyblight Cult, stepping forward from among his disciples with a surge of excitement.

"Prepare yourselves. It won't be long before the Soulforge Matrix shatters," declared Zhang Guanyu of the Ruby Hand, turning to Faang Yao and Zhou Cangmin. "Whether it's Yu Yuan or Hong Qi, if he's alive, he must be eliminated."

The bald Faang Yao inhaled sharply, nodding in understanding, "Got it!"

With a resounding boom, the green and black wall sealing the forbidden area shattered like brittle glass. Green and black light scattered across the sky, showering the earth like shards in a torrential downpour.

"It's broken!"

The malevolent cultivators of the Land of Quiescence watched with clarity as remnant souls and Spirit Magic, once barred, now flowed freely without obstruction.

The Abyssal Winged Lizard, bearing the Devil Palace's experts on its back, was the first to charge into the forbidden area.

"..."