Deep in the misty sea of the Cloud Mist Territory, Shi Yan was in his Absolute Beginning body, hovering imposingly in the middle of the starry sky. His aura was earth-shaking and overbearing, able to make the entire world tremble.
He felt so wonderful!
The Grace Mainland was melting in his body, giving him torrential currents of energy that reached every corner of his frame, organs, and blood. However, more importantly, it filled his God power Ancient Tree!
His blood was boiling when so many images of memory, conceptions, and knowledge of power Upanishads flooded him from the strange energy that he had absorbed into his blood. They all glided into his head, disappearing in his soul and power Upanishads.
It was the memory from Desolate's blood inside the Grace Mainland!
In the Absolute Beginning Era, Desolate—the God of War—had hunted down many of his own kind to take the Absolute Beginning blood in the others' body to transform and evolve his own!
During that time, Desolate was the nightmare of every Absolute Beginning creature. He had killed so many, including the master of the Skyfall River Star, an expert cultivating the Star power Upanishad. Also, he had killed a lot of creatures cultivating the Space and Life power Upanishads.
The understanding of power Upanishads, power, and a lifetime of experiences of those experts were carved deep in the Absolute Beginning blood that Desolate kept in his body. This part of Desolate's body had the memory of those power Upanishads' understanding and comprehension.
Images and pieces of memory arose from the Absolute Beginning blood, entering Shi Yan's head and staying with his soul and power Upanishads.
It was a complete harvest!
As his body was taking in the Grace Mainland, his soul altar was filtering the useful memory, knowledge, and images as if he was peeling off a cocoon. At this moment, Shi Yan had become a precise machine that digested all the nutrition to make him grow faster and stronger.
The space barriers of the Cloud Mist Territory were fixed. Zi Yao hid her true body and sat on the purple crystal throne, hovering by Shi Yan. Han Tian, Hiro, and Montecie didn't leave either, gathered by Shi Yan and ready for any incident.
They didn't know whether Desolate would come again or not. Thus, they had to prepare well; no one wanted to see another disaster.
And it was a long wait after which Shi Yan's Absolute Beginning body slowly shrank. As he was digesting the energy, he transfigured back to his human form.
Everybody was stunned during all this time, waiting for him in silence.
"He could seize this chance to reach the Third Sky of Territory Ancestor Realm," Zi Yao said quietly, her eyes brightening. "That year, Desolate had killed so many experts and merged their knowledge of power Upanishads into the Absolute Beginning blood. We can say that the Absolute Beginning blood is the essence of both body and memory. Since Desolate didn't cultivate the Devouring power Upanishad, he had condensed the knowledge and memory of the others into Absolute Beginning blood. That's how he had strengthened himself."
Seeing people being curious, Zi Yao beamed faintly, "Shi Yan got his body part, so he will have a chance to comprehend the memory and understandings of power Upanishads of the Absolute Beginning creatures that Desolate had killed, and have his own experiences. The energy from Desolate's body is enormous and pure, and can help him reach the upper limit of his God power accumulation."
Everybody was watching Shi Yan, who wasn't different from a normal human at this moment. He sat still in the void, his eyes closed.
Just like that, ten years went by quickly.
Anyhow, the experts had never left the Cloud Mist Territory even once. They just used the Sound Stone to contact their clans and give their commands or receive the intelligence.
Wars happened in every territory. Although the seven clans had finished their great war, the wars between the smaller clans had become more intense day by day. They fought in the Sea Domain of Nihility, in the great territories, and in many areas for their face, for seizing lands, and cultivating materials…
The wars never ceased…
The members of the Black Demon Clan, Ancient Monster Clan, and the Soul Clan had disappeared mysteriously. They hadn't shown up in the sea of stars yet, and no one knew where they were hiding.
The Devouring Clan had defended their territory well, and they didn't join the great war. Because of Edgar and Devour, the other races didn't dare to offend the Devouring Clan, trying to stay as far away from them as possible.
At the same time, Yuan Zu had gone missing. He didn't raise any winds, just staying quiet.
The fierce battle between Sauron, Devour, and Desolate couldn't solve anything. Desolate hadn't come to Cloud Mist Territory another time, and no one knew if he was chasing after Sauron or Devour in his wrath.
As a result, the Cloud Mist Territory stayed silent for a long time.
The Heavenly Rock Continent created by Shi Yan's power now had so many experts on it. Xuan He and Frederick had witnessed the great war between Desolate and Hui, as well as Han Tian and Hiro's power; they had learned from the others' experiences. Within ten years, their realms had advanced fast, almost reaching the Territory Ancestor Realm.
The Heavenly Rock Continent had gathered many experts from the Desolate Territory. Through the properties they had plundered from the Soul Clan, Black Demon Clan, and Ancient Monster Clan, those warriors who cultivated here had advanced quickly. Gradually, they became a powerful force that could compete with the Seven Great Clans.
Montecie often visited the Cloud Mist Territory to teach Xia Xin Yan the Time power Upanishad. She had given her a lot of precious and rare materials, including the fantasy mirrors she had refined, to cultivate with. As a result, Xia Xin Yan had her realm leaped up fast. She was at the Immortal Realm, but still a distance away from the Territory Ancestor Realm.
Emperor Sea Shark had the Water Original Symbol, and he had also received many treasures with water attributes to advance his power. After ten years, because of rich accumulation, he had entered the Second Sky of Territory Ancestor Realm.
On the other side, Audrey had the Soul Refining Cauldron, and she had reached the Territory Ancestor Realm in a bizarre fashion. As a result, she had become the Matriarch of the Imperial Dark Tribe. She had taught them the mysterious techniques and power Upanishads, causing her fellows to have their realms skyrocket quickly…
"Sauron has invited us several times to go to the Absolute Beginning Gateway. Days ago, he came to me…" Montecie told Zi Yao the latest news.
"We've got Sauron's invitation, too," said Han Tian and Hiro.
Before the entire sea of stars was shaken, Sauron had contacted Hiro, Han Tian, and Montecie, asking them to go to the Absolute Beginning Gateway. Because of Shi Yan's mad slaughter in the Soul Clan, Devouring Clan, Black Demon Clan, and Ancient Monster Clan that had stirred up the entire universe, many clans had had their riots. As a result, they had to put the Absolute Beginning Gateway thing aside.
Currently, the seven clans had ceased to fight, and the Territory Ancestors hid away or cultivated in peace. Hence, Sauron invited them again.
"Seems like he has escaped Desolate's hunt," Zi Yao laughed oddly when she heard that. "Ten years ago, if he and Devour hadn't taken action timely, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to resist Desolate, and Shi Yan couldn't have gotten the Grace Mainland. I guess Desolate had counterattacked Sauron and Devour in his wrath after he had retrieved the wisp of soul he sent here. During the recent ten years, Sauron and Devour haven't made any moves. Surely, Desolate has been troubling them greatly. But, if Sauron has sent his invitation again, I think he has ditched Desolate…"
Zi Yao put on a surprised face, smiling, "I'm curious as to what Sauron did to calm down Desolate. How much do you know about this person?" She turned to Han Tian's team.
Han Tian, Hiro, and Montecie exchanged looks and then shook their heads. Afterward, Montecie said, "He has existed for a long, long time ago. No one knows how old he is. Rumors say that after the Absolute Beginning Era ended, he has always been there. He's the oldest creature of this era…"
"How about you? What do you know about him?" Zi Yao asked Dracula.
Dracula was the expert from the previous generation of the White Bone Clan. He had lived longer than Han Tian and the others, and he had befriended Sauron for a long time. That's why Zi Yao asked him.
"When I was born, Sauron was already famous. He's the great sage, the planner of many great things. For example, in my time, the Empty Land and the Sea of Annihilation didn't exist. At that time, the two said areas were the places forbidden to creatures. Sauron had invited many experts to explore and exploit the Empty Land and the Sea of Annihilation. Yeah, saying like this, Sauron has explored many magical places in the Sea Domain of Nihility. That's how we got many places to go to now…"
Dracula frowned while continuing, "At that time, people were guessing that Sauron wanted to find something or achieve something through his exploration of the Sea of Annihilation and Empty Land. But, we were just skeptical, and didn't have any proof. Anyway, I think he has something he wants to achieve. Otherwise, he wouldn't take many experts to explore everywhere and open up the new world like that."
Hearing him, the listeners looked stunned. Han Tian didn't know that the wonderful places like the Empty Land and the Sea of Annihilation used to be hidden, and were open to the world now because of Sauron.
"So, could that Absolute Beginning Gateway be another Sea of Annihilation? Is that a place Sauron wants to explore?" asked Han Tian skeptically.
"Everything he has ever done is just for one purpose: he wants to open the Absolute Beginning Gateway!" Zi Yao looked at the crowd, her face glowing beautifully. "Including the chaos of the sea of stars, the fall of territories, and the racial genocide, he has plotted them all. Everything is because of the Absolute Beginning Gateway!"
People didn't get it immediately, "Why is that?" Dracula was astounded, asking for everybody else.
"Ten years ago, when Shi Yan hadn't refined Desolate's body part, I had entered the Endless Abyss to check the Absolute Beginning Gateway." Magnificent lights radiated from Zi Yao's eyes. "The Absolute Beginning Gateway was strange at that time. During our era, it had never changed a bit. But now, the changes are obvious. It should be because of the changes of the universe, and because of Sauron's plans…"
But even after hearing that, the people still didn't get it.
Zi Yao didn't want to share more details, so she spoke indifferently, "When you get to the Endless Abyss, you will see yourself. As for Sauron's invitation… you can just ignore it. As Shi Yan and I are here, we can get to the Endless Abyss anytime to see that Absolute Beginning Gateway. We don't need to go with the others."
Then, she snorted, "If Shi Yan doesn't go, even if they've guarded the Absolute Beginning Gateway for billions of years, it's just in vain. Sauron has invited you guys several times, but actually, he doesn't want to invite you guys. He needs Shi Yan!"