Chapter 1967: Abnormal Abyss

Forcing himself to activate the Life God Miracle to stabilize his injuries, Yun Che sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, taking a long time to calm his mind and soul.

In his current state, he absolutely should not have used his soul power, but he could no longer wait.

His consciousness quickly moved through his soul sea, and finally, in a remote corner, he found the dark shadow he had long forgotten.

When he first received the Devil Emperor's blood back then, he was filled with hatred. All his will was focused on seeking power for revenge, so he paid almost no attention or curiosity to the "great secret" and "great hidden danger" spoken of by the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor.

At that time, he wished all worlds would be destroyed. What did secrets or hidden dangers have to do with him?

Consequently, they left no deep impression in his mind.

After leaving the Northern Region, up until he killed Long Bai, his Eternal Calamity of Darkness had still not reached its peak. After that, he did not deliberately cultivate the Eternal Calamity of Darkness again, because once it reached the great accomplishment stage, further cultivation was difficult to improve. He could only rely on the natural harmony between the Eternal Calamity of Darkness and his body and soul.

He had originally thought this would be an extremely long process, perhaps thousands, or even tens of thousands of years.

After all, it was the core power of an ancient Devil Emperor.

However, after he cultivated the last part of the World-Defying Heaven Manual, in just half a year, the Eternal Calamity of Darkness achieved perfect harmony with him.

From then on, wielding the Eternal Calamity of Darkness was as natural as moving his own limbs.

But by that time, he was already the Cloud Emperor, and nothing in the world could threaten him. Moreover, his will, which was filled with hatred back then, had paid no attention to the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's words left in the devil blood, so he had never recalled them over the years.

Now, the sudden crisis and the immense soul pressure finally made him recall Jie Yuan's voice imprinted in the Devil Emperor's blood.

The "great hidden danger"... Yun Che had an incredibly profound feeling that the hidden danger Jie Yuan referred to back then was very likely the Abyss!

Did she foresee this day, all those years ago!?

How incredibly profound was the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's soul level. That dark soul light clearly existed in Yun Che's soul sea, yet it had not a single trace of soul aura, and Yun Che had never even sensed its existence over the years.

Focusing his mind, Yun Che channeled the power of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness to touch it.

Instantly, the dark soul light dispersed, and the figure of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor appeared within Yun Che's soul sea.

Seeing Jie Yuan again, though merely a soul shadow that would soon dissipate, made Yun Che's heart and soul tremble with emotion.

Devil eyes darker than the Abyss, a terrifying face covered in horrific scars, a pressure heavier than ten thousand layers of heavens... Anyone facing her would feel fear and tremble. But Yun Che knew better than anyone that beneath her terrifying appearance and the Devil Emperor's "infamy" lay a warm, soft, and even sacred devil heart.

After being forced into the Northern Region back then, he gradually came to know that before Jie Yuan's departure, she had secretly left him numerous escape routes and aids, and he truly understood some of the profound words she had once spoken.

However, he could no longer express his gratitude to her.

The shadow of Jie Yuan in the soul sea opened her devil eyes and spoke slowly: "Yun Che, our ability to meet again means you have successfully cultivated the Eternal Calamity of Darkness to perfection, and thus, you have naturally reached the pinnacle of this current era. Therefore, you should also bear some grave truths."

"The current world's aura is extremely thin, and its laws are extremely fragile. Compared to the Age of Gods, it is like two entirely different worlds."

"The war between gods and devils might have caused chaos in order and the collapse of laws, but the primordial qi should not have decayed to this extent. The spiritual energy of a world should inherently maintain eternal balance to circulate through generations."

In short, according to Jie Yuan's words, the total spiritual energy of a world should be eternally constant. As a Devil Emperor, this was the most basic common knowledge to her.

But the truth was that this world, which once had countless True Gods and Devil Gods, had decayed to a state where not even demigods could be born.

Space and order were also so fragile that they would tremble and collapse under the power of a demigod.

Yet, only a mere few million years had passed since she left the Primal Chaos.

Jie Yuan continued: "The primordial qi does not vanish without reason; it can only have flowed elsewhere. Initially, I thought that under the influence of the war between gods and devils, imperceptible tiny cracks appeared in the Chaos Wall, causing the primordial qi to continuously leak out."

"This was the only explanation, the only possibility I could think of."

"However, when I set foot in the current Northern Divine Region, I suddenly perceived an abnormal flow of dark aura."

Among the four Devil Emperors, Jie Yuan's overall strength was not the greatest.

But what she possessed was the most primal and purest dark power. Her affinity and mastery over dark power were unparalleled since ancient times.

Therefore, her perception of dark aura was undoubtedly extremely acute.

"You once told me that the territory of the Northern Divine Region has continuously shrunk. Clearly, these silently dissipating dark auras are the root cause."

"Following the direction of the dark aura's dispersion, I found that they all eventually overflowed into the Primordial Divine Realm."

"And after entering the Primordial Divine Realm, they all flowed into..."

"...The Abyss!"

During the war between gods and devils, the order and laws of Primal Chaos completely collapsed, and all the primordial qi flowed into the Abyss, where the laws had fractured... The will of the Ancestral God had clearly informed him of all this.

And Jie Yuan, with her extreme sensitivity to dark aura, also discovered this truth in the current era.

At this moment, Jie Yuan's shadow suddenly released a peculiar devil light, which then unfolded a gray-white scene within Yun Che's soul sea.

In the scene, Jie Yuan floated in the air, gazing down... Above her was the gray-white firmament of the Primordial Divine Realm, and beneath her feet was the boundless, immeasurable Abyss, like a monstrous, wide-open devil's maw ready to devour everything.

"The Abyss has clearly undergone some kind of mutation."

Jie Yuan's voice resumed: "The primordial qi of the current world has mostly stopped dissipating, and should have reached a new balance. Only the dark devil aura is still continuously leaking out. The reason for this should be that most living beings with dark profound energy in the current world were forced to gather in one place, leading to an excessively high concentration of dark devil aura in the Northern Divine Region, and thus, under the influence of the Abyss's mutation, it continues to overflow into the Abyss."

"Since you have already reached the pinnacle of this era, dark profound practitioners naturally no longer need to be imprisoned in the Northern Region, and the dissipation of dark aura should have gradually ceased."

"As for the Abyss, which continuously devours primordial qi, what terrifying mutation has truly occurred..."

At this point, Yun Che's surging emotions quickly cooled down.

The "great hidden danger" Jie Yuan spoke of indeed concerned the Abyss. However, it was no different from what the Ancestral God's will had told him previously.

Towards the end of the war between gods and devils, when the Ancestral God's will discovered the Abyss's mutation, the collapsing Abyss had already deviated from the laws she had originally established, thus escaping her control.

Furthermore, at that time, she only had a will and lacked physical power or a concrete existence, and therefore could not determine what exactly had happened to the mutated Abyss, or what consequences it would lead to.

It was this enormous, unpredictable hidden danger that led her to choose rebirth through a thousand cycles of reincarnation.

At that time, her will could not discern that beneath the mutated Abyss, in what was originally a world of destruction, a world of life had actually appeared.

Even the Ancestral God was like this. Although Jie Yuan discovered the Abyss's mutation millions of years later, she also could not discern the exact nature of the mutation.

Naturally, she could not tell him how to respond.

Just as Yun Che's hopes were completely dashed, the Jie Yuan in the scene lowered her gaze, and her voice grew deeper and more solemn:

"The Abyss will turn everything that falls into it into nothingness. It is a power of destruction that even I and Ni Xuan could not comprehend."

"Ni Xuan and I approached the Abyss countless times in our lives. As the Devil Emperor and a Creation God, every time we faced the Abyss, we would feel a profound sense of dread piercing our souls. That dread warned us that if we were to fall into it, even as the Devil Emperor and a Creation God, we would be utterly destroyed into nothingness."

"But at this moment, facing the Abyss, that sense of dread has become so faint. What assails my soul instead is a disturbing sense of unease."

"Could it be..." she murmured, "that the Abyss's originally extremely pure power of destruction has changed in some way due to the influx of primordial qi? Or perhaps, the root of the Abyss's mutation is the change in these destructive powers?"

Her voice echoed above the Abyss. Jie Yuan fell into a long silence. Then, she suddenly made a move that shook Yun Che's soul.

Her devil body suddenly plunged downwards, actually falling towards the Abyss.

Yun Che: "…!!"

The light suddenly dimmed. Jie Yuan's body had already entered the forbidden zone of the Abyss, which was known to be absolutely untouchable.

Jie Yuan's perception, through the soul imprint she left, clearly entered Yun Che's soul.

An extremely peculiar devouring power, whose laws were unfathomable, instantly assailed her from all sides. Accompanying it was a powerful tearing force... as if an invisible hand had reached out from the darkness, intending to drag her to the endless, unreturning depths of the Abyss.

Jie Yuan frowned deeply. What rippled through her soul was not fear, but... deep confusion and surprise.

Because neither the devouring power nor the tearing force posed... any threat to her at all!

Yet, in her understanding, if a True God fell into the Abyss, they would be utterly annihilated into nothingness, without any chance of survival.

But the power assailing her was so weak that it was utterly insufficient to pose even the slightest threat to a True God.

The perception transmitted to Yun Che... He was almost instantly certain that this level of devouring power couldn't even pose a substantial threat to him.

However, that tearing force was immensely powerful for him, almost irresistibly so.

As Jie Yuan descended, both the devouring power and the tearing force rapidly intensified. In just a few breaths, that tearing force had become so terrifying that even if Yun Che used all his strength, there would be no possibility of breaking free.

Jie Yuan's devil body continued to sink at an extreme speed...

Ten breaths... a hundred breaths... half an hour... an hour... three hours...

With every bit of descent, the devouring power assailing her grew stronger, though its increase was quite slow. In contrast, the already extremely terrifying tearing force continuously surged, and very soon, it became so dreadful that Yun Che's perception simply could not withstand or comprehend it.

Finally, at a certain point, Jie Yuan's descent gradually slowed, eventually coming to a halt.

There was no light, no sound, no matter.

There was no complete space anywhere, only scattered spatial fragments and vortexes.

The clearest perception was the destructive power assailing her from everywhere, and the tearing force, which was already so formidable that it defied any description.

Jie Yuan's body continuously developed subtle indentations... but that was all. Even having fallen so deep, the power here could not inflict even a single substantial wound on her.

However, that tearing force had become so immense that even she couldn't help but feel apprehension.

She didn't know how much longer it would take to reach the end of the Abyss, or if... it even had an end.

But if she were to continue deeper, as the tearing force intensified further, once it became so powerful that even she could not resist it, then she would forever fall into the Abyss.

There were still too many important unfinished matters in the world. She dared not gamble.

Devil light burst from her body. Jie Yuan's devil body shot upwards, soaring against the Abyss's utterly terrifying tearing force.

Her speed was no less than her earlier descent.

The Abyss, filled with the sounds of devouring, instantly resounded with devilish thunder across the nine heavens.

The scene then vanished. When it unfolded again, Jie Yuan had returned to the skies above the Abyss.

The Abyss, which once turned everything into nothingness... the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had returned safely after descending for three hours.

Yun Che perceived clearly that in the current Abyss, the devouring power was no longer as terrifying. Even at the deepest point Jie Yuan had reached, it would not pose a life threat to him in a short period.

What was truly terrifying was the tearing force!

The Abyss had already mutated. This meant that throughout the Divine Realm's millions of years of history, those living beings and inanimate objects that had fallen into the Abyss, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, their disappearance was not due to immediate annihilation into nothingness. Instead, they were torn by an irresistible force towards deeper and deeper parts of the Abyss, never to return.