CHAPTER 925: CHAPTER 93: BLOOD-STAINED STAR RIVER SOUL LOCK

Soul-devouring Black Abyss.

Endless darkness with soul-devouring aura of Tai Chu Yin Qi occasionally surged into massive waves in the void, and even mere ripples could devour the Divine Soul of a Cultivator.

Zhou Yan completed the collection of Emperor Fire Yin Qi, then put away the Jade Tripod, and walked out from the Protective Array.

In the dark abyss, the Tai Chu Yin Qi became more restless after the Emperor Fire Yin Qi weakened and the disappearance of the Protective Array, making it difficult for Zhou Yan to cope.

But he had to move forward, as behind him was the endless sea of Emperor Fire Yin Qi, leaving no retreat.

Zhou Yan cautiously moved forward, each step taken with great care.

After traveling for nearly an hour in such an environment, Zhou Yan saw the desolate graveyard, the ruins of broken walls, the destruction of a prosperous civilization, and the Dao traces of the struggle between Heaven and Earth.

The scent of decay weighed heavily on the heart, and the sight of skeletal remains marred by dark green fur sent chills down the spine.

This was truly a land of total despair.

The desolation and annihilation of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb could not compare at all to a fraction of this place.

Here, a Cultivator with a weak mind would be overcome with all hope lost, their heart and spirit annihilated at just a glance.

Even Zhou Yan, upon seeing this scene through the endless Tai Chu Yin Qi, found himself unexpectedly overwhelmed, his eyes suddenly wet.

Zhou Yan, who had bled but never shed tears, found himself unable to control his emotions when drawn into this environment.

Evidently, this place was truly mind-shaking and overwhelmingly impactful.

"The power of an environment can indeed deeply affect one’s mind, like being forcibly imbued upon a person, leaving them defenseless—Should I learn this aura of desolation to perfect my ’Ruoshui Scripture’?"

Zhou Yan murmured to himself, but ultimately abandoned the idea, fearing the risks of comprehending the ’Ruoshui Scripture’ here would be too great even while resisting the atmospheric impact.

Zhou Yan gradually adapted to the desolate and heavy aura. Seeing the broken, cold world before him, he realized that within the Black Abyss, another world existed.

"Here, there is actually an Ancient Array. Only by activating this array can one enter that desolate land."

Zhou Yan traveled, steadily nearing the Silent Annihilation Battlefield, yet found himself never closing the distance to that desolate place.

This led Zhou Yan to realize there was an unknown Ancient Array at work.

Despite his caution, he inadvertently stepped into some Ancient Array, surprising even someone of Zhou Yan’s temperament and understanding of Array Dao.

"This Ancient Array... seems to primarily utilize Emperor Fire Yin Qi, reaching an extreme reversal phenomenon, where extreme Yin gives rise to Yang—this is quite formidable."

Zhou Yan carefully analyzed and gradually grasped some rules, and with his understanding of Array Dao, he began inscribing Array Patterns with the manageable Tai Chu Yin Qi, embedding them into the Ancient Array.

"Hiss—Hiss—"

"Hiss—Hiss—"

The Ancient Array gradually transformed, and the outside world became blurred, while the Tai Chu Yin Qi in Zhou Yan’s space grew denser. In this scenario, inexplicable Divine Energy began to seep from the ancient Array Patterns.

This Divine Energy appeared as pure Divine Energy emerging after the Tai Chu Yin Qi was refined.

Zhou Yan was startled, but then his eyes lit up, immediately sacrificing the golden leaf to absorb the spilled Divine Energy.

The Divine Energy coated the golden leaf, and this time, instead of revealing further text of the Controlling Thunder God Chapter, the entire leaf radiated intense golden light. Wherever this golden light shone, the Tai Chu Yin Qi transformed into pure Tai Chu Yang Qi.

This yang-like force provided unimaginable benefits to Zhou Yan’s Thirteen Souls.

It felt as if the dark energy of the Dark God Domain suddenly turned into light energy of the Light Divine Domain, giving Zhou Yan an eerie sensation of all shackles dissipating.

Zhou Yan was greatly surprised, for this transformation was profound and immensely beneficial to himself.

He promptly calmed his mind, ignored everything else, and wholeheartedly focused on strengthening his Divine Soul.

The strength of the Divine Soul was fundamental, and Zhou Yan remembered this well. He also knew as long as he could grow stronger, any cost was worth it, while other matters could wait.

Zhou Yan continuously used this method to strengthen his Divine Soul, and unknowingly felt the Divine Spirit Second Transition’s realm, corresponding to the Thunderhawk Soul Slash Dark God Domain reaching Perfection, prompting him to begin understanding the Tiger Form Soul Slash Dark God Domain.

With the First Layer’s Divine Soul’s understanding of the rules, realizing the other War Beast Sword Souls was naturally easy, without significant difficulty, and Zhou Yan further possessed such pure light energy for soul refining. Within this energy, enlightenment was incredibly swift.

In just a moment, Zhou Yan completed the realization of seven War Beast Sword Soul Soul-cutting Domains, and the Tai Chu Yin Qi within the array gradually dried up.

Zhou Yan initially wanted to retreat but recalled his Master’s brother Lee Ran’s notion of becoming stronger by any means necessary, which led him to gritting his teeth and continuing.

"Huff—Huff—"

Very quickly, Zhou Yan’s Divine Spirit Second Transition’s Twelve Battle Beasts Soul-cutting Dark God Domain fully coalesced, equating to a peak state of the Divine Spirit Second Transition within this brief time.

Zhou Yan felt a rush of joy, but the good times didn’t last long. At this moment, just as he was about to continue breaking into the Divine Spirit Third Transition, the ancient formation suddenly trembled and began cracking.

The previously complete cultivation process was abruptly interrupted, the golden leaf dimmed, and Zhou Yan immediately responded by drawing the golden leaf into his Soul Sea. Simultaneously, he charged directly out of the broken ancient array and entered the desolate dark space world.

This world was cold and dead, as if devoid of any living person, filled everywhere with decayed bones overgrown with green moss, and a lingering phosphorescent atmosphere and stench of decay.

However, upon entering here, Zhou Yan’s Divine Soul began to shiver suddenly, experiencing a very unique Divine Soul sensing, detecting the presence of a woman whose Divine Soul could remedy his Divine Soul’s various deficiencies.

"Heavenly Destiny Soul Girl?"

Zhou Yan was shocked!

He never expected to sense the aura of the Heavenly Destiny Soul Girl here, but he was sure this place was definitely not a Heavenly Soul Plane!

"This should be purely the Burial Immortal Land, the true core of it. The decayed bones here must have been left by mighty individuals from ages past, but here...just a glance at the Qi Fortune is enough to accurately judge this as an ancient desolate land, a land of death."

"The Heavenly Destiny Soul Girl is actually here? Seems she’s at the center of that dense death aura area? Can I go to that place?"

Zhou Yan’s emotions were complex, his expression extremely grave.

Yet, Zhou Yan suddenly felt a greater peril and horror descending, so terrifying that it made him instantly lose his connection to the Heavenly Destiny Soul Girl’s sensing.

"Hiss—"

The concealed ancient formation, because of Zhou Yan devouring a large amount of light-attribute Tai Chu energy, suddenly collapsed.

This collapse triggered a terrifying chain reaction.

"Puchi—Puchi—"

Zhou Yan clearly heard the sound of vast spaces shattering, as if endless Tai Chu Yin Spirits broke free from some confinement, shattering the imprisoned void to enter this space world.

Not only that, the entire dark heaven and earth suddenly turned blood red, with terrifying blood-red cracks appearing in the void, immense as star rivers crisscrossing the sky, manifesting a dreadful cross shape.

It looked like a blinding cross-shaped chain, locking a massive blood river at the center. The blood river descended towards the world below with a rumbling boom.

"Boom—"

Heaven and earth shattered, void chaotic, space-time seemed to be reversed, Zhou Yan, shaken by this atmosphere, instantly summoned the Jade Tripod for defense, yet he was still heavily impacted, nearly shattering his Divine Body and reducing his Divine Soul to ashes.

This impact truly terrified Zhou Yan.

At this moment, the entire space shattered, and Zhou Yan sensed that an ancient monstrous creature was locked at the intersection of endless blood rivers in the center, with intricate array patterns forming chains of order.

These chains locked a Divine Soul, an ancient, terrifying, peerless evil demon embodying ten thousand soul energies.

Seeing this evil demon as large as a giant mountain, Zhou Yan felt suffocated, barely believing such a powerful existence in this world.

Yet such a powerful being was still soul-chained, imprisoned in this heaven and earth.

The peerless evil demon’s body flickered with ten thousand fiendish soul auras, each carrying a crimson blood light, incredibly terrifying.

And this demon, when Zhou Yan focused on it, suddenly raised its head.

"Not good, going to die!"

Zhou Yan’s heart sank, feeling such an unexpected foreboding, he immediately sensed the danger of death descending.

At this time, Zhou Yan, frozen in this near-death instant, nonetheless remained silent. His powerful Divine Soul sensing immediately locked onto a fragmented void, and without thinking, he activated the Jade Tripod, which enveloped him as he slipped into the fractured void.

"Weng—"

In the place where Zhou Yan was, the void shattered, countless terrifying Tai Chu Yin Spirits appeared, yet it wasn’t the evil demon who struck to kill Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan fled into the fracture void, the destructive array patterns finally completely disintegrated, turning into nothingness, and the shattered void immediately fully restored.

The evil demon’s body continuously gathered the ten thousand soul qi, ultimately forming ten thousand ghostly qi, the whole figure was eerie and dreadful, yet emaciated and old.

His gaze was calm, indifferent yet complex, watching the broken space diminish, before suddenly withdrawing the unknown ghost qi power.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yan, surprisingly found that upon escaping from that space, he returned to the area outside the Burial Immortal Land’s Void Sword Mountain.

This place was not far from where Zhao Yi had once led Zhou Yan, capturing him.