Chapter 1536: Dark Eternal Calamity
The Bei Shen Domain, the smallest among the four divine domains of the God Realm, is roughly only half the size of the Dong Shen Domain, and one-fifth of the Xi Shen Domain.
If the God Realm were divided into ten parts, the Bei Shen Domain would occupy only one part.
The number of Star Realms is naturally also the smallest. Even so, due to the continuous dissipation of the Chaos Yin Energy, the territory of the Bei Shen Domain has been shrinking.
Yun Che's understanding of the Bei Shen Domain was basically limited to concepts like 'Land of Demons' and 'Demon Domain'; he knew almost nothing else. But this completely unfamiliar world had become his only refuge now, because the Bei Shen Domain was shrouded in Chaos Yin Energy—also known in the perception of the world as dark demonic energy—and the other three divine domains absolutely refused to approach or set foot in it.
It was not just that they did not want their lifespans and profound force eroded by the dark demonic energy; it was also because while they hated the 'Demons', they were also hated by the 'Demons' in return. And this was the Demons' home ground; amidst the Chaos Yin Energy, their Dark Profound Force would exhibit its greatest power, while Xuan Adepts from the other three divine domains would be greatly suppressed upon entry. Once discovered, their fate would undoubtedly be the same as that of a Demon found by Xuan Adepts from the other three divine domains outside the Bei Shen Domain.
Entering the Bei Shen Domain, the dark demonic energy here brought Yun Che no discomfort whatsoever, neither to his body, profound veins, nor spirit. Walking amidst the ubiquitous darkness and silence, he even felt a strange sense of comfort, and his heart was unprecedentedly cold and clear.
A foreign world, without an inch of familiar land, and without a single person he knew—truly alone.
After entering the Bei Shen Domain, Yun Che did not stop but continued deeper. The three divine domains' search for him was undeniably frenzied. After long searching without results, those from the King Realms might possibly step into the Bei Shen Domain to search... but even if they were from the King Realms, they would at most enter the borders of the Bei Shen Domain, almost certainly not venturing deep. Therefore, he was going as deep into the Northern Domain as possible.
He had to preserve his life... for him now, there was nothing more important than this!
He passed through one Star Realm after another, crossed one star region after another, and scenes of the Bei Shen Domain entered his somber eyes one after another.
The ecology of the Bei Shen Domain was completely different from that of the Dong Shen Domain. Here, death and gloom abounded, with sun and moon rarely seen. The most common sight was always slaughter—slaughter between dark profound beasts, slaughter between Xuan Adepts... In the Dong Shen Domain, conflicts often arose from interests or grudges, but here, conflict was only for survival.
Yes, survival.
In this dark and cruel world, only the strong could survive. They would spare no effort to become stronger, risking their lives to compete for extremely limited resources, leaving fields strewn with corpses.
Yun Che viewed all of this with complete indifference.
As he went deeper, the dark demonic energy became noticeably more concentrated and pure, and the level of the Star Realms also increased. Finally, another month passed, and Yun Che set foot in his first mid-level Star Realm of the Bei Shen Domain.
He did not know which direction he was in within the Bei Shen Domain, nor the name of the Star Realm he was in.
Although this was a mid-level Star Realm, the presence of life was still extremely sparse. Even walking through a dark forest, he could feel no vitality.
Unconsciously, Yun Che arrived in a barren mountain range. Here, dark profound beasts were more numerous. In the darkness, pairs of bloodthirsty eyes fixed on him... but upon encountering Yun Che's indifferent gaze, all those ferocious eyes trembled. Then, they slowly retreated and fled in panic, running far, far away.
Crack! A terrifying tearing sound rang out—the sound of claws rending the air. A hundred-zhang-long dark giant eagle swooped over Yun Che, its dark claws gleaming with soul-piercing cold light, grasping a fleeing dark profound beast ahead, then flying toward the distant north.
Yun Che stopped at this moment. He walked toward a dead tree ahead, sat down on the ground, and closed his eyes, without setting up any barrier. Soon, his breathing became completely calm... On his chest, the dark profound formation left by Jie Yuan before her departure glowed with a dim light.
As the dim light was released, a figure of Jie Yuan appeared in Yun Che's soul.
She looked at Yun Che, as if standing right before him.
"Heh," she let out a low, emotionless laugh, seemingly mocking, seemingly sorrowful for him: "You have finally triggered the demon mark I left. It seems you have indeed been driven to a desperate corner."
However, she could never have imagined that only moments after she left the chaos, this demon mark had already been triggered by Yun Che's extreme fury and rage.
Although the triggering of this demon mark had exposed his dark profound force to everyone, giving the three divine domains a legitimate reason to kill him, given the attitude of the three First Divine Emperors toward Yun Che, they would have found other legitimate reasons even without this. The triggering of the demon mark merely brought everything forward.
"Sealed within this demon mark is the dark profound art [Dark Eternal Calamity]. It is not a core art of my Jie Tian Demon Clan, but unique to me alone; my own kin cannot cultivate it. Even Ni Xuan, whose affinity and mastery of dark profound force surpasses mine, could not cultivate it."
"But if it's you, there is certainly a possibility of mastering it."
As for the reason, she did not say.
"You possess Ni Xuan's profound veins, with ultimate affinity and mastery of dark profound force. Therefore, Dark Eternal Calamity might elevate others to new heights in one step, but it will be extremely limited in increasing your strength. Its power is far inferior to the Divine Demon Codex co-created by Ni Xuan and me... which you know as the Evil God Art, which is that powerful."
"But if you can perfectly master Dark Eternal Calamity, you will absolutely be able... to master all the demons of this world!"
"Become the true... and only... Demon Emperor among demons!"
This was the memory left by Jie Yuan, every word spoken by her, indisputable.
"Besides Dark Eternal Calamity, all the demon arts I cultivated in my life are also within. You may choose and cultivate them!"
All the demon arts cultivated by a Demon Emperor in her lifetime—how powerful, how vast. For others, even mastering one would be a lifelong impossibility, but she left them all... because, even more than Yun Che himself, she knew what kind of freak he was.
A freak who surpassed even the Evil God Ni Xuan!
"Within the demon mark are three drops of my origin demon blood. They can strengthen your demon body and demon soul. If you urgently wish to increase your cultivation in a short time, you can refine them to greatly enhance your profound path cultivation, but you had better not do so."
"Refinement may let you ascend to heaven in one step, but if you slowly and perfectly fuse them with your body, the benefits you will obtain in the future will be a hundred times greater than the former. The lower your profound path cultivation, the greater the sublimation of your body and profound veins from fusing with the origin blood. Therefore, in the coming period, you should instead suppress your cultivation as much as possible. I believe you understand every word I say."
The soul sound left by Jie Yuan was very detailed and specific. Although she was always exceptionally cold toward Yun Che, in truth, she always had a special concern for him, perhaps because of the Evil God Ni Xuan, or perhaps because of Hong'er and You'er.
"The origin of dark profound force is the Chaos Yin Energy. [Dark Eternal Calamity] is also an extreme yin profound art. My origin demon blood is also extreme yin blood. Both are more suitable for women. Therefore, to cultivate Dark Eternal Calamity as quickly as possible, you need to find an excellent woman as a cultivation cauldron. These three drops of extreme yin origin blood—two drops are already the limit you can bear; the third drop is for the cauldron!"
"This woman must still have her virgin essence, have high profound path comprehension and profound energy control, and most importantly, she must have the most refined and pure profound energy! If you can find such a woman, it is best to directly abolish her cultivation, or have her voluntarily disperse all her profound arts, leaving only the purest original profound energy. Her future gains will be countless times greater than her losses!"
With eyes closed, Yun Che slowly raised his palm. Above his palm floated three pitch-black blood beads. They glowed with a dark light, not strong, yet the entire sky suddenly darkened.
His eyes opened, his pupils reflecting three deep, extreme dark lights. Without any hesitation, he sharply pointed two of the blood beads toward his own chest.
The moment they touched his body, the two dark blood beads, like mercury spilled on the ground, merged into his body without any obstruction.
Weng! An indescribable dull sound. A thick and chaotic dark mist suddenly erupted from Yun Che's body, and his eyes emitted two extremely dark rays of light... as if they had turned into two dark abysses that could devour everything.
This was not ordinary blood, but the origin blood of a Demon Emperor!
If taken directly into another's body, even a current King Realm Divine Emperor would be instantly devoured into residue by the terrifying and unmatched power of the Demon Emperor.
But he was Yun Che. His profound veins had the ultimate affinity for dark force... regardless of the level of dark force, he had the most extreme affinity in the world. Moreover, the origin blood was not only core essence blood, but also had its own soul... Its spiritual nature also had affinity for Yun Che, stemming from Jie Yuan.
Yun Che's body convulsed violently in pain, but his face was terrifyingly calm... He had experienced the most extreme pain and despair in the world; what was this mere physical pain?
After just a few breaths, the restless black mist began to slowly dissipate, along with the black light released from his pupils, gradually fading away. The two drops of Demon Emperor origin blood from Jie Yuan had thus... so simply and easily existed within Yun Che's body, with no rejection whatsoever.
Unpredictable... Even Jie Yuan herself could not have predicted what kind of mutation would occur in Yun Che after the complete fusion of her Demon Emperor origin blood with his Evil God profound veins.
Nor could she have predicted how long the 'perfect fusion' she hoped for would take—ten thousand years? a thousand years? a hundred years? Or...
After the Demon Emperor origin blood entered his body, though it had not yet truly begun to slowly fuse, Yun Che suddenly felt a tremendous change in his perception of the world. His spiritual sense penetrated more darkness, reaching a world twice as vast as before. In particular, his perception of dark energy became extremely clear, almost able to capture the flow of every dark element.
That was the origin blood of a Demon Emperor... even a tiny interference would have a considerable impact on a living being of this world.
Yun Che's body completely calmed down. In his soul, Jie Yuan's voice continued to resonate.
"Although I cannot witness with my own eyes how you were forced to trigger the demon mark, you must remember one thing: if it were not for the fact that you carry his power and will, and your rescue and care of Hong'er and You'er, I would never have made the decision to leave the chaos and betray my kin. Therefore, for your chaotic world, you are undisputedly the savior. Especially the God Realm—everyone there owes you a life. Everyone there has no right to betray you."
"Therefore, if you want revenge, set aside all hesitation, kindness, and mercy! Even if you slaughter all the myriad beings of this world, you need not feel any guilt! This is what they owe you!"
"Finally, there are two things you might need to know."
"The current chaotic world harbors a great secret and a great hidden danger."
When Jie Tian Mo Di said 'great', it was absolutely beyond the comprehension and imagination of mortals.
"This great secret, I cannot speak of, nor am I qualified to speak of. But if it ever 'appears' in the world, you will surely be the first to know. At the same time, this is also another reason for my departure from the chaos and cutting off my clan's return."
"As for that great hidden danger..."
In the world of his soul, Jie Yuan's shadow slowly raised its hand, and on its fingertip flickered a starlike black light: "This memory fragment has a seal I placed. When one day you perfectly fuse my Demon Emperor origin blood and can perfectly control Dark Eternal Calamity, you will naturally be able to easily remove its seal!"
This sealed memory fragment was the 'great hidden danger' Jie Yuan spoke of.
"Yun Che," the dark star in her hand floated into the deepest part of Yun Che's soul, and Jie Yuan's voice slowed down: "In the past, Ni Xuan, because of extreme disappointment and disillusionment, abandoned the name of Creation God and went into seclusion. And you... if you experience similar circumstances, I do not wish you to be like him, still clinging to light even while bearing darkness. I hope you can reclaim what you have lost... a thousandfold."
"At the very least, you must never let Hong'er and You'er end up like before—one forever abandoning her own identity, the other forever existing only in solitude and darkness."
"This world does not deserve to let down my daughters and you. Therefore, after seeing this world more clearly, I want you to firmly remember seven words..."
"Better to betray the heavens than to betray yourself!"
Jie Yuan's figure disappeared from his soul world. Yun Che opened his eyes, and his pupils, as indifferent as dead water, seemed to become even darker.