The ice-blue planet hurtled past like a massive meteor, trailing a long ribbon of rainbow light, absorbing the surrounding cosmic energy as it swept by.
This was the Barren—the ancient continent that was perpetually in motion.
It wandered through star systems, never settling in one place, possessing a spiritual dexterity that allowed it to weave through the crevices of the universe, making it extremely difficult to track.
The ten-thousand-year trial had concluded, and the powerful figures from various star domains who had been flung off its surface were now returning to their respective regions through their own means.
Those individuals had often gained significant rewards, acquiring numerous rare materials and esoteric treasures within the Barren, tempering their state of mind and enhancing their strength.
Most importantly, they brought back a single piece of news: a member of the Undead Demon race named Shi Yan had obtained the Primordial Fruit nurtured within the Barren.
The news of the Undead Demon race's impending resurgence spread across the major star domains like a wildfire, shaking all the established powers.
The oppressive pressure exerted by the God Race on many factions seemed to suddenly ease with this tidings, sparking new aspirations in numerous hearts.
In an instant, the name Shi Yan became the most sought-after symbol among the leading families and powers of every star domain; everyone was scrambling to uncover everything related to this name, wishing they could investigate his lineage back eighteen generations.
Even the various factions of the God Race were highly mobilized, inspecting the movements of the Undead Demon clans everywhere, intent on crushing them before the Undead Demons could consolidate their power.
All realms fell into chaos.
Regrettably, few people knew Shi Yan’s true identity, his origins, much less that the speculation surrounding the Undead Demon race was merely a misunderstanding.
They all believed Shi Yan was a member of the Undead Demon race, and that the ancient continent he fused with was naturally the Ancient Demon Continent, the birthplace of the Undead Demons, which would naturally benefit his own kind.
Unfortunately, they were all wrong; the ones truly benefiting were... the Celestial Demon race.
Every person carrying the bloodline of the Celestial Demon race could keenly sense the changes within themselves!
As if guided by destiny or favored by the gods, their cultivation speed drastically accelerated, and their refinement of the forces of heaven and earth became increasingly effortless. Even those with only a trace of the Celestial Demon bloodline, those impure descendants, remained oblivious.
Only the purest ancestors of the Celestial Demon race knew that the opportunity to revitalize their entire species had arrived; they were already secretly mobilizing in every corner of the universe.
Yet, they strictly guarded this secret, revealing nothing, using the time to diligently cultivate and accumulate strength.
Several major families of the God Race knew that Shi Yan originated from the Maya Star Domain and understood his connection to its forces.
Mia, being a clanswoman of the Fernandez family, and Philp, a core disciple of the Askott family, immediately participated in actions targeting the Maya Star Domain upon their return to the Ancient God Star Domain, leaking the connection between Shi Yan and Maya.
The God Race forces that were currently engaged in a massive invasion of the Maya Star Domain immediately amassed stronger reinforcements, with armies streaming toward the region.
The catastrophic defeat suffered by Fuwei, Feng Han, and the others half a year prior was, in essence, linked to Shi Yan. It was unfortunate they were unaware that the sudden surge in the God Race's power was entirely due to Shi Yan’s origin in the Maya Star Domain, and they did not realize the haste to conquer Maya was driven by the threat he posed.
For too long, communication between the Maya Star Domain and the major star domains of the universe had been obstructed.
This stagnant domain had sealed the passages connecting to the greater cosmos, living in isolation for years with minimal external exchange.
Had they maintained connectivity, they would know how resonant the name Shi Yan had become! Attracting the attention of so many star domains and power families.
They were unaware that the factions and families across the star domains were all searching for this individual, searching for the star domain to which he belonged.
They remained immersed in their own world, desperately resisting the potentially devastating blows from the God Race, ignorant of the shifts occurring outside.
The Barren churned through the crevices of the cosmos like a meteor, sweeping through the dark, profound river of stars, a fleeting shadow none could capture.
At the center of the ancient continent, the world was sealed, inaccessible to anyone further.
However, deep within the core of the Barren lay a miraculous realm, a mysterious place called the Origin of Profundity. This place, in truth, had always resided within the Barren; it was the spiritual core of the Barren, akin to the Soul Altar of the great races.
Only souls could enter, and only those strong enough to have fused with a Heavenly Fire could use that fire as a conduit for arrival, allowing them to cultivate diligently and perceive the subtle intricacies of profound truth.
Throughout the vast river of time, the four ancient continents—Ancient Demon, Ancient God, Divine Grace, and Divine Favor—would give rise to Heavenly Fires at every epoch. Only by completely integrating all the Heavenly Fires from a single epoch could one be deemed to have grasped the essence of an ancient continent, forming a secondary soul.
One hundred thousand years ago, starting every ten thousand years, various Heavenly Fires would manifest across the four ancient continents. Many of these fires were absorbed individually by different people. In some eras, the Heavenly Fires were never fully assembled, thus failing to integrate the origin like Shi Yan, Heige, Audrey, or Cang Yun had done.
In a given era, perhaps only one person might fuse the foundational Heavenly Fires of a single ancient continent, while the foundational fires of the other three might be acquired separately by dozens of individuals. Upon their death, the Heavenly Fires remained undying, continuing to drift until claimed by a new master.
In ages long past, numerous Heavenly Fires imbued with the power of origin were born, and those who possessed them could enter the interior of the Barren—the Origin of Profundity.
Yet, they were all merely souls!
But today, a physical body floated silently within the Origin of Profundity, surrounded by myriad arcs of electrical light; flashes of fire, rivers, and starlight disappeared in an instant, each containing the true essence of a profound truth.
His arm, once burned, had long since regenerated, showing no trace of injury.
He appeared to be in a deep slumber, motionless as if adrift on an ocean, yet vigorous life force pulsed from his divine body, accompanied by an intense wave of soul energy in his mind.
It had been a long time...
On this day, his secondary soul emerged from the altar in his mind, clusters of Heavenly Fires flickering within it like tiny flames. A fruit nestled within his secondary soul pulsed with terrifying energy fluctuations, like the seed of life, conveying a feeling of boundless vitality.
As soon as the secondary soul appeared, a spatial rift, shimmering with multicolored light, suddenly tore open within the Origin of Profundity.
The secondary soul flashed and instantly vanished into it, traversing an immeasurable void distance, plummeting directly toward a continent.
Night fell—a blackness so profound that fingers could not be seen—on the Divine Favor Continent.
A multicolored meteor, trailing long starlight, descended, crashing into the Celestial Demon mountain range within the Endless Sea, sinking into the planet's core, and finally landing within a crimson, rhombic crystal.
It was precisely Shi Yan’s secondary soul.
His secondary soul, manifesting with the appearance of his own face, resembling a fiercely burning flame, settled into the crimson rhombic crystal. This crystal was immensely vast, situated at the very center of the earth’s core, connecting to countless mountains, lakes, and streams of magma, emitting extremely violent and fearsome energy fluctuations, possessing a powerful attractive force.
Invisible energies from across the universe were drawn to this crimson crystal, gathering from all directions to fill the continent’s sky, oceans, and land, subtly reshaping the entire realm.
It was absorbing cosmic energy.
Inside the crimson rhombic crystal, a liquid of five-colored essence flowed smoothly, giving the impression of possessing life.
Shi Yan's secondary soul floated within, enveloped by this essence like a consuming flame. The fruit, like a great heart, extended countless fine threads resembling the branches of the World Tree, distributing themselves throughout the essence, permeating every section of the rhombic crystal, secretly channeling a kind of mysterious energy into this place.
Shi Yan seemed suspended in a magnificent dreamscape.
The multicolored dream was filled with dazzling, piercing light, which spawned countless miraculous transformations—like mountains, like seas, like the changes of all living things—utterly marvelous.
Streaks of meteors streaked through this dreamscape, formed from rivers of silver, condensed from beams of fiery light, and punctuated by flashing lightning and shooting electrical currents, each imbued with the profound truths of heaven and earth.
There was also a vast sea of blood, concealing the truth of death; countless overlapping spaces, holding the subtle art of binding all things; the gestation and evolution of life; the illusory birth and demise of stars...
In the dreamscape, he was like an indifferent spectator watching countless changes, experiencing fleeting inspirations welling up within his mind, vaguely grasping a certain fundamental principle of the cosmos, perceiving everything.
When the secondary soul separated from the altar in his mind, he felt an emptiness. However, once the secondary soul settled into the crimson crystal deep within the Divine Favor Continent, he felt an intense sense of fulfillment, as if his soul had finally found a true home, one exclusively his own.
The void realm within his main soul, dazzling like a sea of stars, was the world slowly manifested by his steadfast belief—the home of the main soul.
The crimson rhombic crystal now occupied by his secondary soul was like the home of the secondary soul, a novel world belonging only to it. That soul had seemingly become the deity of that world, able to sense the joys and sorrows of all beings above, able to influence the weather with a mere thought, able to summon the wind and rain...
But to him, it remained just a dream, an unreal vision.
His body floated silently in the Origin of Profundity, wandering through the bizarre, illusory dreamscapes, experiencing numerous scenes, gradually calming his spirit as he searched for his true self, striving to break free from it all.
An ice-blue bubble manifested in the Origin of Profundity, quietly enveloping his body and depositing him into a split fissure opening.
The harsh light suddenly became blindingly brilliant.
His body abruptly vanished from the Origin of Profundity; the next moment, he was in the Shadow Ghost Prison, landing at the mouth of a void passage which immediately solidified the instant he appeared.
He lay still at the entrance of the void passage, surrounded by countless light-hole-like conduits connecting to major star domains, though most remained sealed.
This was a characteristic of the Maya Star Domain.
As if waking from a deep, deep sleep, he first regained consciousness, his fingers able to move slightly. Then, he reined in the scattered, dreamlike mental impressions, finally realizing who he was, truly awakening.
He opened his eyes; their depths were ancient and profound, giving the impression of having witnessed countless shifts in the heavens and the earth.
Scanning his surroundings, he quickly understood where he was.
This was the Maya Star Domain, specifically the chaotic turbulence area of the Shadow Ghost Prison, a peculiar place crisscrossed by numerous void passages.