[You feel slightly surprised, not expecting Sea Snake Island to still have a role to play]

[You frown and ask: "If we go to Sea Snake Island, will you be able to remember everything?"]

["Yes! Definitely yes!!" Ye Youyun desperately wants to recover his memories, his tone impatient yet firm]

[You glance at the gray-robed man on the ground, thinking that if Ye Youyun can remember everything, you probably won't need to wake the gray-robed man]

[But you still wrap him in your Source Power and bring him along]

[You pick up the Mysterious Night Sword and head toward Sea Snake Island]

[Soon, you arrive at Sea Snake Island]

[Sea Snake Island still has waves crashing against its shores, with beautiful scenery]

[The moment you land on Sea Snake Island, the Mysterious Night Sword begins vibrating rapidly, Ye Youyun's emotions extremely unstable]

["Brother Ye, is it coming?"]

[Ye Youyun doesn't respond]

[But at this moment, a tremendous roar echoes from the sky]

[BOOM——!!]

[Sea Snake Island suddenly becomes covered in thick clouds, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring]

[The low, dense dark clouds give you an extremely oppressive feeling]

[The daylight is instantly blocked out, the world turns dim, as if doomsday has arrived]

[Waves around Sea Snake Island surge hundreds of meters high, with fierce winds and massive waves that almost submerge the small island]

[The energy between heaven and earth surges wildly]

[Your expression changes drastically as you immediately fly away from Sea Snake Island]

["Ye Youyun, are you fucking trying to get me killed?!"]

[But Ye Youyun continues muttering to himself, beginning to shout madly: "Brother Shangguan! I'll remember everything soon!!"]

["Remember?! This spectacle is like fucking tribulation crossing! You're going to think my life away!"]

[Gripping the Mysterious Night Sword and carrying the unconscious gray-robed man, you blast toward the east at extreme speed]

[Currently only the area around Sea Snake Island has this dramatic scene, other sea regions remain unaffected]

[You rush wildly until you finally fly out of that sea area that seems to have incurred heaven's wrath]

[You stand above the sea surface, looking back toward Sea Snake Island]

[Centered on Sea Snake Island, the surrounding several thousand meters have completely become an ocean of thunderstorms, with thick lightning constantly striking the sea surface as if trying to destroy heaven and earth]

["Brother Shangguan! I remember! I remember everything——!!" Ye Youyun is extremely excited]

["Don't just howl! Speak!!"]

[Ye Youyun says excitedly: "Sea Snake Island is a realm marker! Both me and this gray-robed man are Living Piles!"]

["I think you're pretty good at pretending yourself! Start from the beginning!"]

[Ye Youyun remains excited: "Brother Shangguan, actually the world I come from isn't the immortal cultivation world at all - your world is the true immortal cultivation world!"]

[You frown: "Continue!"]

["Your world is called Yuan Yang Realm, a major world. The Li Huo Realm I come from is just a minor world. Many years ago..."]

[As Ye Youyun narrates, you gradually understand the truth of this world]

[Turns out the Yuan Yang Realm you're in is extremely vast, beyond what you could explore in your entire lifetime]

[During Yuan Yang Realm's cultivation era, spiritual energy was abundant, and the path of immortality flourished]

[The cultivation stages during the cultivation era, from low to high, were: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Void Refining, Unity, and Great Ascension]

[After who knows how many era cycles]

[Eleven Great Ascension cultivators each established eleven great paths: Qian Metal, Dui Metal, Zhen Wood, Xun Wood, Kan Water, Li Fire, Kun Earth, Gen Earth, Wind Thunder, True Yin, and True Yang]

[These eleven Great Ascension cultivators thus gained heaven and earth's favor, becoming the sole Dao Source Great Ascension at the end of each path]

[Dao Source Great Ascension's magical techniques and supernatural powers surpass those of ordinary Great Ascension cultivators and all other practitioners]

[But with era cycles, after the cultivation era comes the end of law era, and even the great destruction era, where spiritual energy depletes and all things wither]

[The spiritual energy within cultivators would be continuously absorbed by Yuan Yang Realm until cultivators exhaust their spiritual energy and become ordinary people]

[Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators are no exception - even the great paths originally converged upon them would be absorbed and assimilated by Yuan Yang Realm, becoming nutrients for its evolution]

[Thus, whenever the cultivation era is about to end and spiritual energy is about to deplete]

[The eleven Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators would cut off parts of Yuan Yang Realm, forming their respective remnant realms of Qian Metal, Li Fire, Wind Thunder, True Yin, True Yang, etc. - what Ye Youyun calls minor worlds]

This allows themselves and the cultivators attached to them to barely survive in the remnant realms, waiting for Spiritual Energy Revival to return to Yuan Yang Realm

[The current realm marker is at Sea Snake Island's location]

[But realm markers are like tying a rope around Yuan Yang Realm - the realm's own power constantly weakens the markers, so they need reinforcement every thousand years]

[The reinforcement method is deploying a Living Pile every thousand years - a cultivator containing the dao essence of all eleven Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators]

[Living Piles only need to be deployed to Yuan Yang Realm;

alive or dead, the dao essence aura within them automatically strengthens the realm markers]

[Ye Youyun and this gray-robed man are both Living Piles. Based on timing, the gray-robed man is Ye Youyun's successor Living Pile]

[Both contain the dao essence of the eleven Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators, which is why Ye Youyun vaguely felt a connection between them]

[As for Earth Source and Earth Spirit, it's because the eleven Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators retreated into the remnant realms, completely severing connection with Yuan Yang Realm]

[So now there are no Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators to converge the eleven great paths of Yuan Yang Realm]

[Thus, in the early stages of each new era, Yuan Yang Realm naturally forms Earth Sources, and even Earth Spirits, belonging to the eleven great paths]

[Earth Sources are manifestations of the great paths, so their attributes correspond one-to-one with the eleven great paths]

[Earth Sources can continuously evolve and grow stronger when nourished by spiritual energy]

[Theoretically, the most powerful Earth Spirit would eventually achieve Dao Source Great Ascension, thus converging the corresponding great path]

[But now there's no spiritual energy, so Earth Sources cannot grow into Earth Spirits]

[Even with spiritual energy, if Earth Sources grow into Earth Spirits but haven't grown strong enough yet, they would be devoured by immortal cultivators for breakthrough]

[Most importantly, if Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators return to Yuan Yang Realm, these Earth Sources and Earth Spirits, as manifestations of the great paths, would automatically converge to them]

[Those cultivators who fused with Earth Sources or Earth Spirits would be directly converged and absorbed by the Dao Source Great Ascension cultivators]

[This is why Ye Youyun said not to fuse with Earth Sources - even after losing his memories, he instinctively resisted fusing with Earth Sources]

[But finally, seeing his lifespan running out, he went against his instinctual fear and fused with two Earth Sources to extend his life]

[You guess the gray-robed man started seizing Earth Sources for the same reason]

[You calculate the timing - if the gray-robed man came a thousand years after Ye Youyun, he's been in Yuan Yang Realm for over a hundred years and should indeed be worried about his lifespan]

[After listening to Ye Youyun's account, you think for a moment and ask: "How do those eleven remnant realms know if Yuan Yang Realm has spiritual energy revival? Do they sense it every thousand years when deploying Living Piles?"]

[Ye Youyun remains silent for a moment before saying gravely: "No."]

["No?"]

["They sense it every hundred years!"]

[You startle: "A hundred years? That short?"]

[BOOM——!!]

[The moment you finish speaking, a world-shaking roar suddenly comes from above Sea Snake Island in the distance]

[Like the roar of an ancient giant beast, directly reaching the soul]

[Eleven pitch-black voids several kilometers in diameter slowly appear in the sky, like cold divine eyes gazing down upon the world]