Scenes from dreams replayed in his mind: myriad brilliant galaxies, the cycle of life and death, the exquisite intricacies of space, as if reliving them one by one.
At the mouth of the void passage, the stone-like figure remained stationary, like an ancient tree rooted for eons, weathered and ancient, as if it had weathered a hundred calamities and witnessed ten thousand transformations of creation. It was as if returning to the ancient continent, imbued with the unique aura of the Divine Grace, now perfectly integrated with his soul, bringing about an entirely new change in his temperament. Still vibrant and teeming with life energy, yet carrying a different maturity and profound distance...
Remaining motionless, he was absorbing the differences of the Soul Altar, grasping the true meaning of the three profound mysteries: life and death, space, and stars.
The galaxy-bright void realm materialized silently behind his neck, stars blazing, the sun and moon dazzlingly bright. Each star of life seemed to propagate the most exquisite fluctuations and profound mysteries of the universe, allowing him to erect mountains and lakes at will, nurturing all things within them with a mere shift of thought.
His mind abruptly jolted.
The void realm appeared to be transforming towards the Primordial Realm, giving him a sense of stark reality. This was the natural benefit following the advancement of profound mysteries and the purification of his soul’s transformation.
Suddenly, he realized that without notice, his cultivation had advanced another step, leaving him just one step shy of breaking through to the Primordial Realm.
Those scenes of dreams, those insights gained within them, turned out to be an unraveling of profound mysteries, a probing into the true essence, bringing him ineffable wonder.
But... where was the secondary soul?
Doubt echoed in his mind, questions surfacing, causing him to look around blankly.
Abruptly, a thread of connection traversed the span of endless void; his consciousness, thoughts, and memories were instantaneously displaced to an infinitely distant foreign realm...
He experienced a bizarre sensation of his soul being yanked away in an instant.
When the feeling subsided, he found his soul situated within a massive, scarlet, rhombic crystal. Through this marvelous crystal, his soul established a subtle and intricate connection with a world. He could hear the pleading cries emanating from the souls of the beings in this world, as if a pair of heavenly eyes allowed him to see every corner with perfect clarity, knowing the deepest secrets in others' hearts.
This continent—its mountains, lakes, and deserts—was his body, capable of extending his consciousness across billions of miles in an instant.
He was effectively the deity of this world.
Every second, this world changed, filled with surging energy, all within his heart and sight. He could summon wind and rain; he was the pulse of this world...
With a resounding crash, he understood; he realized what had occurred.
The main soul remained anchored in his original body; he was still himself. But his secondary soul had fallen into the core source of the Divine Grace Continent. His secondary soul contained the Origin Fruit, and it had become the spiritual consciousness of the Divine Grace Continent, much like the Desolation was to the Ancient Continent, able to dominate everything on this continent!
A person, split into two parts: the main soul body was him, and the secondary soul and the Divine Grace Continent were also him. However, this latter 'him' was fused with the will source of the Divine Grace Continent, not entirely pure, infused with the original consciousness and thoughts of the Divine Grace Continent.
The secondary soul had become the core of the Divine Grace Continent, presiding over it. This continent was like the secondary soul's Primordial Realm, silently dominated by it.
The secondary soul and the main soul shared an understanding; a thought transmitted would cause both souls to resonate, regardless of the vast distance separating them, entirely unconstrained.
Before the Origin Fruit fully integrated with the Divine Grace Continent, the secondary soul seemed unable to detach itself, needing to anchor the continent to realize transformation, bringing new life to this barren land. Various thoughts flashed through his mind as Shi Yan’s consciousness slowly returned.
He was still at the void passage entrance of the Shadow Ghost Prison. Every second, his two souls communicated; they were aware of the changes occurring in both domains. The main soul and the secondary soul were like his two eyes, with little distinction between them.
The main soul and his spiritual realm had reached the peak of the Void God realm, only one step away from the Primeval God realm. As for his true strength... only he himself understood how formidable it was.
Temporarily setting aside the marvel of the secondary soul and the Divine Grace Continent, he began to seriously ponder the next course of action. This was the Mara Starfield. He recalled Shang Chen’s prophecy: the Mara Starfield would face its greatest challenge within ten years, potentially invaded and even conquered by the God Clan.
He knew what he needed to do.
Wandering around this chaotic region of void passages, he discovered that the passages connecting the Mara Starfield to other starfields were tightly sealed. Even the passage to the Fire Rain Starfield was blocked, making cross-travel difficult.
The only unobstructed route was the passage leading to the Ancient God Starfield, which had once been sealed. That passage barrier had completely shattered, revealing a deep, vast expanse where streams of meteor-like void lines were active. There seemed to be life fluctuations at the deepest part of the passage.
He immediately understood what was happening.
The God Clan had launched a massive invasion. The void passages had been opened, and the God Clan legions were continuously pouring in. Did the powerhouses of the Mara Starfield possess the ability to halt the God Clan's advance?
His brow furrowed deeply.
Thoughts raced through his mind, and Shi Yan suddenly recalled Shang Chen, recalled Yang Qingdi.
The reason he entered the Ancient Continent was that Yang Qingdi’s altar had been invaded by the Corrupt Soul Aphids, and he had been temporarily frozen by Shang Chen. He had an agreement with Shang Chen...
He calmed himself, deciding he must first find Shang Chen, take the Seven-Colored Ghost Demon Flower to free Yang Qingdi from his restraint, restore Yang Qingdi, and only then discuss other matters.
The Soul Altar operated, and a surge of ancient, profound spatial fluctuations flowed from his divine body.
In a trance, he realized that once he activated his profound mysteries to motivate his power, the two souls instantly became one. It felt as if he could directly draw a certain kind of power from the infinitely distant Divine Grace Continent. This discovery startled him, and after careful contemplation, he realized it was merely an illusion.
After a moment of confusion, he gradually understood: his secondary soul’s integration with the Origin Heavenly Fire had not yet reached Heg’s level.
If he could advance further and integrate more Origin Heavenly Fire, he could achieve Heg’s level, drawing boundless energy from the Ancient Continent regardless of his location, never again worrying about energy depletion. And today, with the Origin Fruit residing within the Divine Grace Continent, the energy it could supply him was virtually endless!
He saw a new objective.
Chih! Chih! Chih!
A path of light condensed before his eyes, containing his spiritual will and his breath imprint—this was a Space Bridge.
He stepped into it, continuously using spatial profound mysteries to generate new Space Bridges, traversing billions of miles in an instant, hundreds of times faster than the swiftest warships or chariots!
Only those who cultivated spatial profound mysteries could cross space with such incredible speed!
As a cultivator at the third heaven of the Void God realm, his divine power was incredibly abundant, granting him this capability to continuously refine Space Bridges.
If it were Zadu, who cultivated the same spatial profound mysteries, performing this three or five times consecutively would deplete his divine power, leaving him vulnerable like a lamb to the slaughter.
Because Zadu’s abundance of divine power was nowhere near his own!
Continuously opening new Space Bridges, he darted between stars, wandered through the stellar rivers, swifter than a meteor, more rapid than light.
He was still only at the third heaven of the Void God realm, capable of rapid teleportation within a single starfield. If he could break through to the Primeval God realm and reach a profound height, he could traverse between starfields, using immense power to refine void passages in any region, shuttling back and forth between different starfields.
That would be the state where the vast universe was entirely subject to his will, allowing him to roam the boundless, immense sea of stars.
After continuous spatial teleportation, he felt a slight fatigue. After traversing an unknown number of times, crossing countless stars of life, he finally stopped in a region scattered with dead stars.
His expression became very grim and serious.
On this journey from the Shadow Ghost Prison, each teleportation could span several stars, crossing distances of hundreds of millions of miles. Along the way, he released his divine sense to perceive and found that most of the stars of life he passed had no trace of human activity, with very few life fluctuations.
On the few stars that did harbor life, those beings were hiding deep within the star, deliberately concealing themselves, fearful of discovery.
Only on one star of life did he detect dense life fluctuations. Upon cursory investigation, he discovered the aura of the God Clan races. Several God Clan warships were anchored there, guarded by God Clan powerhouses.
He understood clearly in his heart that the situation for the native forces and races of the Mara Starfield must be very poor, otherwise, such a vast area would not lack a powerful presence guarding it. This suggested the God Clan's invasion of the Mara Starfield had been highly successful.
He calculated silently, refraining from immediately counterattacking the God Clan. Instead, adhering to his agreement with Shang Chen, he arrived at this desolate expanse of floating dead stars.
He stopped on a cold, barren dead star, descending into a deep cavern buried underground. Moving downward, he located the triangular spatial profound array connecting to the outer domains. The array was complex and marvelous, with countless star-like bright spots floating in the air, resembling a star map.
Having broken through to the third heaven of the Void God realm, he possessed an entirely new understanding of spatial profound mysteries; his perspective was incomparable.
He looked at the star map, smiled faintly, and with a movement of his divine sense, gently nudged the map.
Sss sss sss sss!
The spatial altar rotated like a galaxy, emitting streams of exquisite fluctuations that dove directly into the core of the platform, vanishing into other starfields, transmitting the message.
Watching the message transmit, Shi Yan sat down nearby, his expression impassive as he waited quietly.
His eyes remained fixed on the marvelous spatial profound array, tracing the formation diagram of the map material on the platform with his divine sense, sketching it directly in his mind, occasionally letting out a knowing smile.
He realized that with his current cultivation level and his understanding of the profound mysteries of heaven and space, provided he had the necessary materials, he could fully refine and forge void passages connecting to other starfields himself. Of course, opening the sealed void passages within the Shadow Ghost Prison was now also well within his capability.
That would even be simpler.
If he were to forge such a profound array himself, he would need to know the precise location of the target starfield, directly confirming the intersection point analogous to a void passage in that domain, to achieve success.
Looking at the array, he sketched the intricate diagram in his mind, as if creating a celestial map within his memory, branding the formation into his recollection, to be used later when he could independently open voids and roam other starfields. He had long been convinced that the Mara Starfield could not remain isolated.
This time, he would usher in a new page for the Mara Starfield!
PS One more chapter coming~