Wrapped in the viscous, corrosive ichor, Solon shrieked miserably as his divine body gradually dissolved; even his face began to putrefy.

Solon and Yuan had received an infusion of energy from the Primal Source, but unfortunately, both were severely wounded from the preceding battle. Yuan had repeatedly been used by Solon as a shield, and his flesh and blood had been gnawed upon by Shi Yan's true form, reaching a critical state—even the Primal Source's energy could not restore him to his peak.

In his struggle to control the fate of the Desolate One, Solon had shattered and burst more than half of his ten fingers. Each of those digits was a core of the power of Destiny; every one that broke injured his vital organs and drained his divine strength.

Conversely, Shi Yan's Evil Avatar had not only consumed and refined the Devourer but had also fused with the source of consumption and absorbed the Heart of Evil, placing it in its absolute zenith. The Devourer alone, at its full strength, would have been enough to obliterate Yuan, even at his peak. Coupled with Shi Yan's power, dispatching the crippled Solon and Yuan required little effort.

Slowly, Solon completely melted away. The Evil Avatar reached out, grasping him, and Solon transformed into a pure stream of light that flowed into an acupoint.

Yuan's colossal Primal Source body was also engulfed by the black hole, rapidly refined to extract the Primal Blood, which was then integrated into the Avatar.

As the blood merged, many fragmented memories within this Evil Avatar began to piece themselves together. His comprehension of the world's secrets grew deeper and more thorough.

Gradually, he glimpsed the true past…

The true form howled, clutching its head, soaring into the sky, disregarding the crushing pressure of the Primal Spirit's will, desperate to catch up to the Desolate One and rescue Ziyao from the Desolate One’s engulfment.

"Merge!"

The Evil Avatar pondered for a moment, then transformed into a dense, surging demonic flame that shot skyward. The black flames spread torrentially, enveloping half of Yuan’s body along with the consuming black hole.

Both the true form and the avatar temporarily disengaged from this Sea of Consciousness layer to pursue the Desolate One above.

The Desolate One’s colossal dragon body swayed, rapidly refining the essence blood of Ziyao’s true form. Within its abdominal viscera, Ziyao's twelve Heavenly Serpent bodies were bombarded by countless forces of every attribute, shrouded by the Primal Runes formed by the "Desolate Ancient Ultimate Annihilation Art." Section by section, the Heavenly Serpent bodies shattered, weeping thick, crimson blood!

"Break for me!"

Shi Yan's true form roared, condensing a razor-sharp giant blade of the void. A section across the center of the Desolate Dragon body, as if sliced by a mirror of the void, suddenly exhibited a long, extremely deep wound.

"Come out!"

The Evil Avatar finally arrived and forcefully sucked at the deep gash. A surge of potent blood mixed with shredded flesh and torn sinews erupted, pouring down from the heavens like a violent stream.

And within that torrent was Ziyao’s Human form!

"There’s no time left…" Ziyao’s Human form looked back at the massive body of the Desolate One with horror and dread, suspended in the flow of blood. "He has refined the essence blood of my true form; I can feel his surging power. My Primal Essence Blood could make his body even more perfect, perhaps allowing him to ascend to the absolute limit."

"As long as your soul is immortal, it’s fine. Even if your soul scatters and becomes mere memory imagery in the Primal Sea of Consciousness, I can still bring you back from the dead!"

Shi Yan reached out, enveloping Ziyao’s Human form from a distance, opening his boundless Domain to usher her inside.

He then looked at Mei Ji, situated within the frigid mountains and rivers, and acted in the same manner, grasping the entirety of the glacier and pressing it against his own Domain realm atop his head.

He finally understood.

As long as they were within this universe, this Heaven and Earth realm, Ziyao and Mei Ji would be subject to the spiritual will of the Primal Source. Being beings native to this realm, with souls imprinted by the Primal Source, it would be difficult for Ziyao and Mei Ji to resist, and they would gradually lose themselves.

Furthermore, Ziyao's true form was already refined into the Desolate One's flesh and blood, meaning this Human form could offer him little aid. Likewise, Mei Ji, only at the second heaven of Domain Ancestor, was frail even after fusing with the source of ice. If he didn't find them a safe haven, they would become a burden in his battle against the Desolate One.

Above and below, across the vast stellar sea, the only truly safe place was his Domain!

A brand new, completely independent new universe!

A Heaven and Earth realm that the Primal Source could not defile, whose spiritual will could not penetrate. There, he was the arbiter of rules, the progenitor of all things!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Having secured Ziyao’s Human form and Mei Ji’s glacial mountains, Shi Yan’s expression hardened. The Evil Avatar grinned sinisterly, melting like a blood shadow back into his true form.

"Crack! Crack! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

World-shattering explosive waves emanated from his unified body. The spiritual memories of this Primal Source body merged with the Evil Avatar’s bloodline, allowing him to capture more fragmented memories, piecing together the truth…

They were the memories of the Primal Era, a repaired soul imprint!

"I was not wrong. That rumor from the Primal Era was a seed he left behind—a seed for his own resurrection…"

As fragments of memory assembled and thoughts solidified, he felt as if he were traversing time, peering into scenes from eons past, witnessing the secrets of the Primal Era…

"Power! Endless, inexhaustible power! A bloodline and body tending towards perfection!"

Almost simultaneously, the Desolate One's mind was also violently shaken. By absorbing and integrating the Primal Essence Blood from the Serpent's body, his own energy surged. He, too, began to piece together new, fractured memories, learning many ancient secrets.

"So that's how it is… so that's how it is…"

A trace of desolate sorrow suddenly appeared in the Dragon Eyes of the Desolate One as he sighed helplessly.

"You see clearly now?"

The newly unified Shi Yan roared. After merging with the Evil Avatar, his body doubled in size once more. That overwhelming, terrifying aura of malevolence was truly terrifying, as if a single thought could erase a Domain realm and annihilate eons of beings. That domineering, insane, invincible aura shook the very heavens!

Amidst the furious roar, Shi Yan grinned hideously. Dark clouds gathered above his head, condensing into mysterious, deep black holes. These black holes were impossibly vast, as if capable of swallowing heaven and earth, emitting violent, turbulent suction forces.

In the Sea of Consciousness below, clusters of gray mist vortices—the Primal Divine Sense coalesced from the memories and wills of all living beings—transformed into masses of gray cloud, drawn in by the black holes he condensed. These holes acted like giant whales sucking in water, swallowing the gray clouds, intending to convert that power.

Surprisingly, the Desolate One’s dragon body stood tall in the distant void, watching him devour the Primal Sea of Consciousness, yet it did not immediately intervene. Instead, confusion flickered in its eyes, and its heart seemed to be struggling violently…

After incorporating the Serpent’s Primal Essence Blood, it had, like Shi Yan, deciphered the whole sequence of events, understood the mystery of all living beings, and seen the unavoidable reality.

The rumor from the Primal Era—that fusing the essence blood of all Primal beings could break through the Domain Ancestor realm into the ultimate state—originated from the Primal Source itself, from a wisp of his dispersed, undying will, a thought clinging to one of the Primal beings…

That was also one of his contingency plans, a method prepared for his own awakening. Inducing the Primal beings to slaughter one another and frantically fuse their Primal Essence Blood had been his true intention.

In the Primal Era, as the Primal beings perished one by one, the memories and divine thoughts of the dead would gradually return to the source and enter the Primal Source’s Sea of Consciousness. When enough Primal beings were destroyed, as the scattered remnants of the Primal Source’s spiritual soul slowly reassembled, the awakening grand formation within that Sea of Consciousness would activate.

For every Primal being that died, the Primal Source would reclaim a fragment of its soul. Upon reaching a certain threshold, it would awaken.

This awakening was merely the awakening of its soul…

And the mutual slaughter among the Primal beings, along with the gradual fusion of their Primal Essence Blood, would slowly refine the bloodlines of the survivors, making them purer and more perfect, making those who lived ever stronger!

If the Desolate One, the Devourer, and the Serpent in the Primal Era had not ended up equally injured and fallen into a long slumber, but had instead seen a true victor emerge from their fight, then whether it was the Desolate One, the Devourer, or the Serpent, they would have fused all the Primal Essence Blood, restoring the body of the Primal Source to its original state.

This would have been the awakening of its body…

Whether soul or body, once truly converged, the Primal Source would be reborn and awaken, once again ruling Heaven and Earth—which would spell the doomsday for all powerful beings!

Unfortunately, despite all his calculations, the Primal Source never accounted for the Desolate One, the Devourer, and the Serpent being so mutually destructive, failing to establish a definitive victor. Nor did it account for Yuan’s extreme timidity, none daring to join that battle. Ultimately, no final victor was crowned in the Primal Era, and its body could not be made whole.

The survivors—the Desolate One, the Devourer, the Serpent, Yuan, and the Lizard—were all powerful residual fragments of its own soul that it had cast out. Their continued existence prevented the convergence of its soul fragments from meeting the conditions required to open the Sea of Consciousness and initiate the awakening formation…

It was forced to remain dormant.

In its slumber, the consciousness and memory fragments within its Sea of Consciousness merged with the pure soul power of the Soul Pond, nurturing new life across the various Domain realms and stars of the universe, placing hope in a new era, hoping new beings could complete its grand plan for awakening.

Eons flashed by.

When the powerful beings entered the Gate of the Primal Source, due to the universe-wide war, living beings perished in droves. Its Sea of Consciousness reassembled its fragmented soul. Because the strongest entities of the Heaven Shaker, Rupert, and Nether Prison all died, the fragments of its soul in the Sea of Consciousness slowly gathered. Since the "Lizard" of that year was also ambushed and killed by Yuan, its Sea of Consciousness already held many fragments from before…

The Devourer Clan originated from the Devourer. With the extinction of the Devourer Clan, and the Devourer itself being consumed and refined by Shi Yan, the Devourer's layer in the Sea of Consciousness received more returning soul fragments, finally meeting the conditions for awakening.

It began to have a sliver of conscious awareness.

Thus came that overwhelming invasion of spiritual will…

Having integrated the Serpent's Primal Essence Blood and pieced together the memory fragments, the Desolate One had now seen through the Primal Source’s scheme. That was why it was bewildered and filled with deep sorrow.

It saw everything clearly…

The moment it finally killed Shi Yan, fused all the Primal Essence Blood, and stepped into the ultimate realm it had pursued its entire life, would also be the moment it lost its own self-awareness, completely replaced by the awakened Primal Source!

This seemed to be its fate, a fate it could not break free from or alter—and it was the fate that all beings in this universe could not escape!

It could not, the Serpent could not, the Devourer could not, Yuan could not—none could escape this destiny!

Only Shi Yan could…

What use was seeing through destiny?

It was powerless to resist; it had no way to fight back. This was a despair-inducing tragedy.

It fought Shi Yan with all its might and lost; it would be killed, consumed, and refined by Shi Yan, fulfilling Shi Yan’s ambition. If it won, and stepped into the ultimate state by fusing all the essence blood, it would lose itself and fulfill the Primal Source’s ambition.

Regardless of victory or defeat, death lay ahead.

That was why it was lost.