Five cerulean stars hung suspended, amidst which Fendler’s face was ice-cold, his hands shooting forth starlight, condensing power as he awaited Shi Yan’s arrival.
Streams of starlight flowed out from those five celestial bodies, seeping into his chest.
He had arrived long ago, and after integrating the essence of the stars for a time, his divine power surged dramatically. Even his physical body had been tempered by the stellar force, growing resilient and imbued with tremendous energy!
Even his soul perception swiftly escalated; he developed a marvelous sensation of merging completely with this star-drenched expanse.
The very instant Shi Yan entered the stellar sea, Fendler keenly perceived every subtle detail of Shi Yan’s spirit, the energy of his avatar, his Sea of Consciousness, and his Soul Pond, thoroughly grasping every facet of the newcomer.
To his astonishment, the Shi Yan who arrived, whether considering the strength of his divine body or his divine power and soul, was surprisingly not as formidable—not nearly as strong as what he had witnessed at the Phantom Clan territory last time.
Fendler, who had been secretly worried and shocked, suddenly became delighted and excited, assuming Shi Yan had encountered a deviation in his cultivation or suffered a grievous injury in a previous battle.
He was unaware that the visitor was an avatar.
Shi Yan’s exquisite level of power and attainment was first channeled through his initial avatar, where a portion was separated to the Devouring and the Eight Great Evil Power Bodies. The original body’s strength had already been diminished, and this subsequent avatar creation, solidifying the Stellar Body, caused the power and might of that Stellar Avatar to drop further, naturally making it far inferior to the main body.
It was regrettable that his true body could not venture within; he could only observe from the outside.
“Much weaker than I imagined. Excellent, the opportunity has finally arrived…”
Fendler’s body trembled with excitement, shaking as if driven mad, as he emerged from a cluster of stars. Stellar light sparkled around him, showering down like rain, sinking into his skin, making him appear enveloped in a mysterious, shimmering starlight halo.
As a member of the Phantom Clan, he was born handsome and ethereal. His temperament was also detached and outstanding. Under the brilliant starlight, he drifted forward, even displaying a captivating smile.
“The Fallen Star River belongs to me. I have guarded the Yunmeng Domain for many years precisely to obtain it. Now, shouldn’t it be returned to its rightful owner?”
Smiling gently, he reached out and pointed toward the divine artifact above Shi Yan’s head, which had transformed into a stream of stars. The fine lines on his palm suddenly flickered with starlight; these palm lines began to move like stellar trajectories, and an illusory, vast star map materialized from his hand.
This star map transmitted a mysterious and unfathomable primordial power—the essence of the stars. This was what he had condensed through painstaking effort during this period.
The grand and immense star map projected mysteriously, like a phantom overlay, subtly enveloping the star stream that constituted the Fallen Star River.
The Primal Divine Artifact, fused with Shi Yan’s soul, trembled violently. The artifact spirit hidden deeply within actively sought to merge into that star map, becoming a part of the stellar essence.
“You dare contest with me?” Shi Yan looked at Fendler with astonishment, staring deeply, then sighed and spoke coolly, “I once promised Mandis and Meiji that I would not actively seek trouble with you. Because you are a member of the Phantom Clan, they pleaded with me not to utterly destroy you, for the prosperity of their race.”
He paused, his pupils turning cold, “It is truly your and Candice’s misfortune; your fate… was sealed! Candice was devoured and compressed into a devouring black hole, turning to ash. I watched her meet her end. As for you, I never intended to strike fatally, yet you insisted on lingering to cause trouble. I can only offer my apologies to Mandis and Meiji…”
“Halt!”
With a sharp shout, Shi Yan tapped his brow, and a sea of stars materialized above his head. The stars within this sea rolled, coalescing into a magnificent, colossal bear. The giant bear was condensed from starlight, an evolution of constellation power; it beat its chest and roared, scattering starlight everywhere.
The scattered starlight, manifesting as trails of afterimages, carried the fluctuations of Shi Yan’s soul, entering the Primal Divine Artifact Fallen Star River like snowflakes.
Although this Stellar Avatar was merely condensed from a portion of Shi Yan’s divine power, vital essence, profound insights, and soul, its strength might be slightly inferior, yet its foundational realm was still the Triple Heaven of the Domain Ancestor!
Fendler was only at the First Heaven of the Domain Ancestor!
The avatar’s strength might match Fendler’s, but in terms of realm, its profound comprehension of Stellar Profundity, and its acute capture of stellar fluctuations, Fendler was leagues behind!
The star stream formed by the Fallen Star River immediately halted at Shi Yan’s fierce shout!
The roaring Stellar Great Bear surged across the Fallen Star River, charging violently toward Fendler. In Fendler’s eyes, the stellar sea ahead collapsed, and the Milky Way seemed drowned by the sound of the roar. Intense soul vibrations assaulted his Sea of Consciousness and soul altar, instantly shattering his mental defenses.
In a daze, he saw the boundless stellar sea pour down from the heavens, completely engulfing him!
This source essence of Stellar Profundity was dazzling with countless stars, each bearing a vast and surging power. At Fendler’s level of cultivation, merging with this stellar sea would require an immense amount of time.
In fact, he had found this location long ago, but the integration process was proving difficult. He had not managed to refine much stellar energy.
He had only achieved a soul connection with the five central stars.
However, the moment Shi Yan began manipulating Stellar Profundity, constraining the Fallen Star River with his soul and summoning the Great Bear through constellation power, all the twinkling stars seemed to turn into countless eyes, fixing their gaze upon him!
Millions of threads of starlight converged like water!
At this moment, Shi Yan appeared to be the focal point collecting the light of countless stars, using his body as the core, connecting to the vast stellar streams, every line of starlight linking directly to this avatar of his!
Every power essence and profound truth possesses a core principle; they actively choose their merging partners!
Beings with higher-level attainment, whose grinding and understanding of that Profundity are deeper, are more easily recognized by them.
The current situation here was no different from when Desolate entered Xiluo’s Golden Mountain, or when Yuan entered the water bead refined by the Sea Shark Emperor.
Desolate’s realm was higher than Xiluo’s, and over eons, his understanding of the Profundity of Gold was more thorough. Upon entering, he seized the initiative, forcing Xiluo to flee!
Similarly, Yuan, who dedicated his life to the Profundity of Water, was the progenitor of beings rooted in Water Profundity. Upon entering that droplet, the primordial essence of Water Profundity immediately felt kinship and actively sought to fuse into Yuan, thus beginning to repel the Sea Shark Emperor, who had arrived earlier.
For Profundity fusion, there is no concept of first come, first served; there is only the height of attainment and the depth of comprehension regarding that Profundity.
Desolate and Yuan were both later arrivals, but relying on the exquisite level of their attainment and their peak Domain Ancestor cultivation, they could take the initiative, using their connection to the primordial essence of Profundity to make those essences willingly submit to them, actively choosing them.
Here, Fendler was merely at the First Heaven of the Domain Ancestor, and though he had arrived long ago, his path to integration was arduous every step of the way.
The fundamental reason was his low realm.
Although Shi Yan had only condensed a Stellar Avatar, his own inherent realm was the Triple Heaven of the Domain Ancestor, and he brought with him a divine artifact steeped in Stellar Profundity. It was fine when he did not activate the Stellar Profundity, but the moment he condensed power and displayed that Profundity, all the primordial essence of Profundity in this place became active and agitated.
The swift descent of the boundless starlight was the choice of this location’s Stellar Profundity essence—it was their new decision.
…Fendler, undoubtedly, became the tragic outcast.
When he awoke from the mental impact, he discovered that even the five stars he had painstakingly linked had abandoned him, proactively severing their connection.
The Stellar Great Bear roared forward, violently tearing at his domain. The Primal Divine Artifact, the Fallen Star River, branded with a new stellar consciousness, descended suddenly with the fluctuation of a destructive imprint.
Fendler looked up, his face ashen, unable to muster a shred of hope in his heart.
His spirit was already broken; no fighting capability remained. His demise was sealed from the very beginning; it was all due to his low realm.
…
“Ahhhhh!”
A violent, frantic soul hurricane erupted from the tunneling passage of Devouring. She gathered all her evil power, churning and impacting with soul energy, drilling deep into the tunnel.
“Boom!”
An endless surge of negative emotions and evil energy suddenly rolled in like relentless, sweeping tidal waves, scouring his primary soul.
She’s rampage quickly ceased. She immediately realized what happened and was filled with wild ecstasy!
She had finally reached the place in the tunnel where negative power had not been purified! This meant Shi Yan absolutely could not be far!
She abruptly transformed, becoming nine distinct shadows that materialized, each containing the power of Devouring and the eight great evil forces. She released herself, and these nine shadows acted like sponges, frantically absorbing the residual negative energy in the tunnel, along with the evil emotions of rage, terror, resentment, despair, and destruction.
Shi Yan’s avatar also surfaced at this moment, deeper within the tunnel.
When She spotted Shi Yan, the other avatar of Shi Yan, which was concentrating all its spirit, consciousness, and power to absorb the evil energy, abruptly opened its eyes.
This Evil Avatar’s eyes were scarlet like blood, its face contorted with maniacal brutality, and it was wreathed in an endless aura of evil. She’s soul jolted just from a single glance!
“Damn it! Just how much evil energy has he absorbed?”
In She’s eyes, the Shi Yan before her had become even more terrifying than his main body had been previously. This Shi Yan avatar, having entered the very source of worldly evil, had linked its seven hundred and twenty acupoints as if connected to the great domains of the universe, absorbing the residual negative energies and evil fragments from the souls of countless beings across eons.
The greedy, ceaseless absorption filled this Evil Avatar with frenzy, cruelty, bloodlust, and terror. The intensely concentrated malevolent aura was almost like the negative will of the most evil beings encompassing heaven and earth, the aggregate of the most wicked divine spirits, causing She to be secretly shaken.
“I’ve waited for you for a long time…”
This Evil Avatar cruelly licked its lips, and two bloody lines dripped shockingly from its scarlet eyes!
The lines of blood carried a powerful corrosive force, immediately carving two terrifying gashes into his handsome, rugged face, wounds deep enough to expose bone, rendering him unspeakably ferocious and horrifying.
“Awoooo!”
A thunderous roar erupted, and deep within the souls of countless beings across the vast cosmos and myriad domains, it seemed everyone heard this sound of destruction!
All the turbulent negative energy and evil aura within the dark tunnel madly converged, gathering upon this Evil Avatar of Shi Yan.
In that moment, the terrifying might of this Evil Avatar actually overshadowed that of the main body!
It was utterly, breathtakingly terrifying! …RQ