Shi Yan, Audrey, and the Divine Lord floated upon the river, their breaths deep and robust, their life fluctuations surging, yet none of the three had awakened.
Xuan He, Ming Hao, and the others gathered near the trio, frowning in deep contemplation of a countermeasure.
“The Divine Lord remains unconscious; this is an excellent opportunity. We have warred against the God Race for ten millennia. If we strike him down now, the God Race will never recover,” Fielite suggested, his eyes flashing with deadly intent, murderous aura billowing around him. “The time has come to avenge the Master’s grudge. What do you all say?”
He looked toward Xuan He and Ming Hao, the leaders of the Bloodlust lineage.
Xuan He shrugged elegantly. “I think Ming Hao seems to be getting along well with the Divine Lord. Perhaps he has no desire to avenge the Master.”
Adela and the others turned their gaze to Ming Hao.
Ming Hao’s pupils were dark and profound. After a moment of thought, he spoke coldly, “I truly do not support killing Brian right now, because we do not know the current situation in the Desolate Domain. If the Desolate Domain has completely fallen into the grasp of Hui and Tian Xie, we still need the Divine Lord alive to keep the God Race in check!”
“You think so?” Xuan He’s expression shifted.
“I suspect that after all of us disappear from the Desolate Domain, the clansmen of the God Race… might have already defected to Hui. The Four Heavenly Kings did not appear here; they did not leave with us. Given the cultivation of the Four Heavenly Kings, they stood no chance against Hui and Tian Xie. Their only options were submission or death—they probably chose submission,” Ming Hao elaborated.
Upon hearing his explanation, everyone fell silent.
Time flowed swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, several more months passed. Everyone remained guarding the spot, waiting for Shi Yan to awaken.
The first to stir was not Shi Yan, but Audrey.
Audrey felt as if she had experienced a profound dream. In the dream, she was immensely powerful, conquering all directions and obliterating countless formidable experts. In the dream, she possessed everything…
Opening her eyes, her gaze was hazy. She suddenly noticed something new residing within her mind.
Gathering her divine sense and soul, she was astonished to find a small jade cauldron within her consciousness—a cauldron that unmistakably belonged to Napton.
“The Soul Refining Cauldron! A Primeval Divine Artifact!”
Audrey was beside herself with ecstatic joy. The aura emanating from the jade cauldron subtly resonated with her breath, consciousness, and thoughts, feeling intrinsically linked to her very bloodline.
The cauldron seemed to be an extension of her heart, her limbs—a clear sign of complete fusion!
With a shift in her thoughts, a sliver of her soul instantly entered the interior of the cauldron. It was a marvelous world: a gray, murky sky covered in countless intricate and fine threads of soul-energy, resembling a vast net enveloping the inner world. Countless souls cultivated and refined themselves within this space…
The Soul Refining Cauldron could nurture souls, refine them, strengthen them, and even allow the souls within to cultivate and advance autonomously!
A flush of excited delight surfaced on Audrey’s cool features. She clenched her fist, nearly crying out in excitement.
“Ahem… ahem…”
Ming Hao coughed lightly, a subtle reminder to pull Audrey back from the world within her own mind.
Audrey’s consciousness returned. She suddenly saw her mother, Adela, and then Xuan He, Fielite, and the others. She couldn't help but gasp, “Why are you all here?”
“Do you… know what happened to you?” Ming Hao inquired.
Audrey paused, finally recalling the preceding moments. She found her mind utterly blank. “I’m not entirely sure. My soul felt as if it was drawn out, like I had a dream, and when I woke up, it was like this…”
“Hoo!”
Ming Hong coalesced slowly from her shoulder, resembling a small bat. He glanced at Audrey and stated, “You have broken through to the Immortal Realm…”
“Ah!”
Audrey and Adela cried out simultaneously. Xuan He and the others were also utterly astonished, somewhat at a loss.
“You… you are…?” Adela pointed at Ming Hong.
Ming Hong nodded. “Yes, I am Ming Hong of the Netherworld Royal Clan. In that era twenty thousand years ago, your grandfather and I were comrades; we fought side-by-side for many years. However, I was gravely wounded by the Bloodlust lineage, which caused the end of the Netherworld Royal Clan’s era and allowed the Bloodlust lineage to seize dominance.”
“You have been within her all this time; you should know the details. What exactly happened?” Ming Hao pressed further.
Everyone showed expressions of deep curiosity.
Ming Hong mused, speaking deeply, “When Shi Yan’s life was threatened by Napton’s dark energy assault, the vague consciousness of the Desolation instinctively sensed the potential demise of its host and launched a spontaneous counterattack. Coincidentally, Audrey and Brian were also manifestations, parts of the Desolation. Their origins possessed inherent consciousness. Sensing that the situation could lead to their successive destruction, they proactively merged into Shi Yan’s Desolation manifestation…”
“You mean… it was the fusion between the origins of the Divine Grace Continent, the Divine Marsh Continent, and the Ancient God Continent—the three manifestations of the Desolation? That the three Desolation manifestations simultaneously realized the danger and temporarily merged to possess a fraction of the Desolation’s divine abilities?” Ming Hao was stunned. “Was it not the true Desolation that appeared and integrated the three manifestations?”
“The real Desolation is still within the Desolate Domain, and its situation might be dire. How could it spare the effort to interfere with its manifestations?” Ming Hong shook his head. “The three manifestations of the Desolation possess independent consciousness. Even though they merged with Shi Yan, Audrey, and the Divine Lord, their individual consciousness might be dormant or sleeping, but their intellectual awareness remains intact. They originated from the Desolation, yet they are independent of it. Of course, if they were all to merge completely, they would become the Desolation again…”
Ming Hong’s words were somewhat vague, but everyone present was intelligent enough to grasp the meaning he was conveying.
“The three manifestations simultaneously sensed the threat and merged temporarily, gaining a portion of the Desolation’s divine abilities, instantly turning the tide. The portion of consciousness belonging to Audrey secured the Soul Refining Cauldron for her, while the consciousness belonging to the Divine Lord Brian secured him the qualification to advance to the Domain Ancestor realm. Dark energy is already condensing within the Divine Lord,” Ming Hong explained.
The crowd gasped in horror and instinctively looked towards the Divine Lord. They noticed that at that very moment, the Divine Lord was already sitting up in the seawater. He opened his eyes, cast a calm glance over everyone, nodded, and stated, “Senior Ming Hong’s conjecture is correct. During the dream fusion, I experienced certain things and comprehended something, successfully sensing the aura of dark energy…”
“What about Shi Yan?” Xuan He and Fielite demanded in unison.
What had Shi Yan gained?
This was what everyone desperately wanted to know.
Ming Hong forced a wry smile and shook his head. “Logically speaking, after the three Desolation manifestations coalesced, Shi Yan’s consciousness was the strongest, as Audrey’s and Brian’s manifestations actively merged into Shi Yan’s origin. Audrey gained the Soul Refining Cauldron and the Immortal Realm. The Divine Lord gained the dark energy comprehension he had long yearned for. As for him… I truly do not know. Perhaps only when he awakens will we know what he gained.”
At this declaration, everyone fell silent, helpless, yet their curiosity and anticipation for Shi Yan’s awakening grew even stronger.
“When did I ingest the Immortal Pill?” Audrey’s expression was deeply shaken as she felt the changes in her divine body and the marvelous transformation of her Profound Truths, causing immense waves in her heart lake.
“During your delirium, it… did everything it could,” Ming Hong said, his eyes filled with ineffable reverence. “After it appeared, I remained concealed within your Primordial Realm and could only vaguely observe it using that Immortal Pill to facilitate your rapid breakthrough, directly reaching the Immortal Realm.”
“Don’t think about anything else; rest well and carefully feel the changes in your divine body and soul,” Adela said, her face beaming with delight as she pulled Audrey to the side, taking her hand. “Good child, it seems this trip to the Void Sea has benefited you the most. Very good, very good. With you, my Netherworld Royal Clan has hope for future prosperity.”
“I obtained everything concerning the soul from Singh of the Soul Race, and I know many Soul Race secret arts. Those arts happen to align with the Profound Truths of our Netherworld Royal Clan,” Audrey’s eyes lit up. “I believe what I have obtained can elevate the strength of our Netherworld Royal Clan to an entirely new level!”
“Excellent!” Adela cried out joyfully.
“Brian, can you sense the situation on the Ancient God Continent?” Ming Hao asked.
The Divine Lord looked up, a trace of darkness flashing in his eyes. “You guessed correctly. My race… should have allied with Hui. The situation on the Ancient God Continent is currently dire; my perception is very vague. The auras of the Four Heavenly Kings have become exceptionally powerful, as if they too have perceived the profound mysteries of dark energy.”
Xuan He, Fielite, Reidi, and the others changed color upon hearing this.
Xiao Yao and Guang Ming, both at the Second Heaven of the Immortal Realm, possessed terrifying strength. If they grasped the true meaning of dark energy, their power would surge, making them the most formidable opponents.
“Hui and Tian Xie must have struck a deal with them, luring them to pledge allegiance using dark energy. Otherwise, given their own innate aptitude and comprehension, they could not have grasped the profound mysteries of dark energy so quickly,” the Divine Lord stated solemnly.
“Do you have any way to use your clansmen’s divine bodies to pierce the barrier and return directly?” Ming Hao inquired.
The Divine Lord shook his head. “I am not skilled in the Profound Truths of Space. Otherwise, perhaps I could try. The Desolate Domain is sealed now. Among us, only Shi Yan has the chance to lead us out of this place, because he has merged with the origin of the Divine Grace Continent, and he is inherently skilled in the Profound Truths of Space—an advantage none of us possess.”
“So, we still have to wait for him to wake up?” Reidi grimaced. “You two are awake, yet he remains in a coma. How long must we wait? Is there any way to wake him?”
“No,” Ming Hao snorted coldly. “His current state is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; he must be undergoing some form of comprehension. Waking him might invite disaster. We should continue to wait.”
“Then we wait,” Xuan He conceded helplessly.
The others continued to wait.
Time rushed past relentlessly. In a flash, several more years slipped by on the outer layers of the Desolate Domain.
Xuan He, Ming Hao, and the others gradually grew numb.
They dispersed across various corners of the river, some exchanging cultivation insights, others remaining silently alone, waiting with growing helplessness for Shi Yan to awaken.
Until Shi Yan began to tremble violently, and an incredibly terrifying fluctuation gradually emerged from his brow. The blood-colored marks on the foreheads of Xuan He, Ming Hao, and Fielite all lit up in tandem.
“Shi Yan is finally purifying the power he devoured at the bottom of the Demise Sea! That power is too terrifying and immense; he cannot bear it alone, which is why it is causing our marks to react!” Ming Hao exclaimed, his eyes blazing with ecstatic joy.
Xuan He and Fielite also became spirited. They proactively seated themselves beside Shi Yan, preparing to share the massive torrent of energy that Shi Yan could not withstand alone… Sorry, only one chapter today; I will make up for it tomorrow~~ (To be continued) RQ