Streams of refined Great Laws, each one a different power profound, poured down like meteorites onto Huang’s head. The attributes of power emanating from him swiftly converged, and his fragmented divine body began to recondense.
Yet, he dared not move rashly, maintaining a cautious distance from Shi Yan, his expression grave.
Shi Yan, though positioned extremely close to the Primordial Soul Pool, was not plunging into the clear waters to greedily gather the pure soul energy; instead, he was recoiling in alarm, retreating steadily. This scene was utterly bizarre.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Solon, piloting the Wheel of Destiny, charged headlong with Yuan Heng in tow, searching frantically. Suddenly, figures materialized in another corner of the clear Soul Pool.
In the heavens above, streaks of multi-hued rainbow light tore through the void. Zi Yao, manifesting as serpentine forms of heavenly serpents, graceful and exquisite, descended one by one.
Everyone had detached from the Profound Law layer and now stood within the Sea of Consciousness layer below. Among them—be it Solon, Zi Yao, Mei Ji, or even Huang and Shi Yan—all were true integrators of the fundamental essence of the Great Laws.
It seemed that integrating the essence of a single Great Law was the primary prerequisite for ascending to the Sea of Consciousness layer!
The Primordial Soul Pool was crystal clear, utterly undisturbed. Centered around the Soul Pool, vortices of ashen spiritual mist churned and billowed, stretching endlessly without boundary.
Positioned in different corners of the Soul Pool, upon arriving here, everyone felt a resonant soul magnetic field emanating from the vicinity of the Primordial Soul Pool—a mysterious and unsettling field that made them inwardly wary.
Almost simultaneously, they experienced a horrifying sensation: their soul thoughts being drawn, an instinctual urge to enter the Soul Pool and merge with it.
Everyone had come with the goal of integrating the Soul Pool, yet now that they were truly gathered here, fear gripped them all.
No one dared to advance a single step.
"Shi Yan, what is happening?"
Zi Yao retracted the divine lights surrounding her. Her beautiful figure was enveloped by the rosy, rainbow light, lending her an elegant, inviolable, and divine aura. She nodded toward Mei Ji, who, like a goddess of ice, wisely moved closer to her, deliberately taking refuge behind her.
Huang observed the subtle maneuvers between Mei Ji and Zi Yao with cold indifference, making no move to intervene.
Solon held the Book of Destiny with both hands, sweat beads inexplicably forming on his brow. These droplets contained fear, unease, terror, and apprehension. The Yuan Heng beside him, manifested in the divine body of a human progenitor, also wore an expression of impending doom.
Shi Yan, who was slowly retreating, subtly observed everyone. He suddenly noticed the abnormality of Solon and Yuan Heng. He paused, then roared, "You two, move further away from the Primordial Soul Pool! Further still!"
Solon and Yuan Heng started, looking at him with some confusion. Gray filaments gradually began to gather in the depths of their pupils...
An extremely bad feeling suddenly struck Shi Yan’s heart. He roared, "This Primordial Sea of Consciousness, as more collected memories are gathered, the fragmented memories of the Primordial One will slowly assemble like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Once too many broken memories converge, his consciousness might truly recover! He will awaken!"
At these words, everyone was utterly terrified, even Huang’s expression shifted dramatically.
Solon froze, about to reply, when he suddenly clutched his head and cried out in pain. The Book of Destiny slipped from his grasp, and drops of blood began to seep from two of his fingers—the scene was bizarre and terrifying.
"Something is trying to seize my soul! A consciousness, vast and irresistible—he is right!"
Solon was gripped by inexplicable dread. He sharply bit his tongue; the intense pain instantly cleared his spiritual awareness. His left little finger, ring finger, and middle finger simultaneously exploded, and a terrifying power resisting fate surged from within his body. His figure, along with the Wheel of Destiny, seemed to be struck by an invisible force, and blood rapidly receded from his entire body.
The Book of Destiny, stained by the blood and flesh of his severed fingers, transformed into a streak of blood-light and crashed heavily back into his palm.
Almost simultaneously!
A soul will, too vast to imagine, surged forth like a deluge, submerging and impacting the Sea of Consciousness of every heart, bombarding the Soul Altar within each of them!
Shi Yan, Zi Yao, Mei Ji, Huang, and Yuan Heng all displayed startling divine light, their faces ashen, frantically channeling the power of all their Great Laws!
They resisted this invasion of spiritual will with every fiber of their being!
In that moment, they were acutely clear: Shi Yan’s speculation was entirely correct!
To reach the Gate of Primordial Origin, Solon had instigated a cosmic war of races, causing all living beings to boil over. This resulted in the extinction of countless races in battle, the collapse and explosion of countless Realms, and the reduction of innumerable life-bearing stars to ash...
The powerful Black Demon Race, Ancient Demon Race, Soul Race, and Devourer Race were nearly wiped out, and countless experts perished. The souls, memories, and consciousness of those dead converged upon the Primordial Sea of Consciousness, allowing the Primordial One’s divine sense to slowly recover, piece by piece, growing ever closer to completeness.
In the Profound Law layer, following the destruction of titans like Heaven Shaker, Nether Prison, Rupert, Zhen Ru, and Vandler, the recovery of the Primordial Sea of Consciousness accelerated even more rapidly. The demise of these experts formed more massive vortices of gray mist—all crucial components in the puzzle pieces of the Primordial Consciousness...
When the spiritual memories had been pieced together to a certain extent, the Primordial One's overwhelming consciousness finally broke the critical point, showing the first signs of a lucid awakening!
The influx of that colossal soul consciousness was merely a fraction of his thought that swept across the heaven and earth, causing Shi Yan, Huang, Zi Yao, Mei Ji, Solon, and Yuan Heng to deeply feel its terrifying power. Within that will was a very clear directive—for them to enter the Primordial Soul Pool!
The struggle in Mei Ji's eyes gradually dissolved. Being the weakest in cultivation, she was the first to succumb to the pull of that overwhelming consciousness, moving dazedly toward the clear Soul Pool.
A serene smile surfaced on her face that once captivated all beings, and her heart filled with a wondrous sensation of returning home, entering a mother’s embrace...
Among the group, Huang, Zi Yao, and Yuan Heng were experts from the Primordial Era, possessing unyielding willpower. Solon, the foremost figure of the new era, also possessed a tenacious spirit. Although invaded by the colossal will of the soul, they gritted their teeth and resisted fiercely, standing as immovable as mountains.
Shi Yan, who had risen meteorically in the last millennium, possessed an origin transcending all other beings, mysterious and supreme. His main soul did not belong here; he could break free from the restraints of this universe's established order. When the overwhelming soul will invaded, he was the only one not only unaffected but capable of fighting back with all his might!
"Above and below, across the Ten Directions of the cosmos, no one will dictate my spirit or will!"
Shi Yan roared madly, roaring into the void. While everyone else remained motionless, he finally moved!
He darted toward Mei Ji with extreme speed, grasping her body, and began to retreat step by step with her.
With every step back, his entire body convulsed violently. Billions of divine shouts and roars echoed from his Soul Altar. His body, nearly comparable to Huang’s, began to crack, displaying shocking, gruesome wounds!
"Hurry up and come here!" His main body roared, as if challenging Heaven and Earth.
In the Profound Law layer above his head, his evil clone was also screaming furiously, carrying an endless, dark demonic aura. A terrifying, blood-soaked stench spread out, as if intending to destroy every realm in existence, charging downward without regard for consequence.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
His main body's bones snapped, splattering blood. His wounds felt as if constantly slashed by sharp blades. While resisting the Primordial mental will, he struggled slowly backward while carrying Mei Ji's lifeless body.
Previously, keeping his main body distant from the Primordial Soul Pool had already been incredibly difficult, consuming enormous power.
Now, not only was he carrying the puppet-like Mei Ji, but his clone was also countering the Primordial mental will, all while he needed to use inner energy to counteract the influence of the soul magnetic field. Thus, he was forced to pay the price of self-injury, exhausting his vital potential just to move inch by painful inch away from the Primordial Soul Pool.
Aside from him, even mighty figures like Huang, Zi Yao, Solon, and Yuan Heng were unable to move. Born within this universe, they were fundamentally condensed from fragments of the Primordial Soul and flesh. When the Primordial consciousness stirred slightly, the power of the established order he possessed was fatal to Huang and Zi Yao.
The fact that they could resist the rules and maintain their sanity without actively walking toward the Primordial Soul Pool already proved their immense strength.
"I am coming!"
Endless dark demonic energy swept in. The evil clone descended from the sky, suddenly grinning menacingly. A black light emerged from the center of its brow, instantly coalescing into a Black Hole of Devourment.
The Black Hole of Devourment roared like a monstrous demon’s maw, emitting piercing shrieks as it lunged toward Solon and Yuan Heng.
Solon and Yuan Heng were instantly struck with mortal terror. At this moment, invaded by the Primordial spiritual will, merely holding their minds from collapsing was difficult; being attacked by Shi Yan’s evil clone pushed them to utter despair.
"If we die, he will truly awaken! No!" Yuan Heng suddenly shrieked hysterically.
"In this cosmos, no matter who you die by, it will only amplify his power. Only if you die by my hand, swallowed by me, will you not augment his strength. Because within this universe, my soul is equal to his. Once you are devoured and assimilated by me, you will become energy that nourishes my Realm, and you will never reappear in this universe!"
Shi Yan’s main body and his evil clone shouted in unison, both turning their gaze upon the two.
At this instant, a mystery that had plagued him for years suddenly resolved itself.
Why was his Realm unlike anyone else's?
He had seen countless experts, and the Realms formed by Domain Ancestors cultivating different Great Laws varied widely—some filled only with the power of Water, others a world of Flame, some a desert, or an ice domain. Even Huang’s Domain was merely a wondrous place comparable to a natural realm.
No Domain could be as mysterious and vast as his—like a true universe!
A completely independent cosmos!
His Realm contained countless stars, and on those stars were mountains and lakes, the alternation of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, icy peaks, desolate wastelands, and expansive territories. It possessed the mystic power to generate life and birth spirits, capable of all manner of natural wonders...
His Realm was virtually indistinguishable from the real universe, unlike everyone else’s!
This was because every powerful being born in this universe was influenced by the Primordial Imprint. From birth, they were subjected to a constraint. That constraint meant that no matter how powerful they became, their Domains were merely 'worlds within worlds' of the universe created by the Primordial One, always dependent on this universe for existence, unable to separate independently.
If this universe were destroyed, the Domains of the powerful, like Huang, Zi Yao, and Yuan Heng, would instantly collapse and vanish.
Because, strictly speaking, their Realms were all a part of this universe and could not exist separately from it.
Only he was different. Even if his soul was initially weak, his soul was completely equal to the Primordial Soul, free from the Primordial One's restraint. Therefore, his Realm was also independent, possessing not a single connection to the universe he occupied. This allowed it to be mysterious and vast, like an entirely new heaven and earth—a new cosmos condensed by him...
His difference was predetermined by his soul, destined to give him a higher starting point than anyone else!