Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 322 - 189: Soul Consciousness Roaming Heaven and Earth

Chapter 322: Chapter 189: Soul Consciousness Roaming Heaven and Earth

Zhou Yan paid no mind to these distractions, nor could he afford to divert his attention to sense everything outside. Instead, he harnessed the Thunderflame Aura from within his soul, deriving the Nine Sword Spirits and the Three Sword Souls.

Upon their appearance, the Nine Sword Spirits and Three Sword Souls merged into a single entity, assuming the shape of a circle—a pattern.

It resembled a planet.

Subsequently, using this circular form, Zhou Yan recreated the scene where Master transformed into the Purple Flame Void after his body’s destruction.

The recreation was as if Zhou Yan himself had derived this world.

The space within the Purple Flame Void enveloped Zhou Yan, allowing him to synchronize the Purple Flame Void with this world. At the same time, with the god-like control he possessed within the Purple Flame Void, he merely had to employ his Soul Consciousness to bring about a scene akin to ’Heaven and Earth Creation’.

If this were the realm known as ’Soul Sea’, such a derivation would represent the highest form of ’Tao’ here.

Were it so, this Dao would provoke the vast will of this realm and manifest something entirely different.

Were it so, an endless, great terror might descend upon him.

But Zhou Yan did not hesitate to act as he felt that either he or White Fox Bai Ying had already been affected by the Power of Time to an irreversible extent.

Zhou Yan did not know what the consequences of his actions might be.

However, he knew that if he did not proceed, he would regret it, losing the chance to uncover the profound secrets deep within this Secret Land.

He would also suffer excruciatingly under the torment of the Power of Time or even face actual death.

If everything White Fox said was true, then perhaps it was Zhou Yan himself who was subjected to the Power of Time, and all that White Fox had said was indeed true.

This was evidenced by Yanyan’s appearance within the Purple Flame Void and Yanyan’s subsequent reduction in size.

If time reversed upon a person, many things manifested on them might follow that past trajectory.

Yanyan’s behavior proved that perhaps Yanyan was indeed from the past.

Yet all these were mere derivations of the Power of Time’s energy and not reality. Therefore, the best way to break this curse was to master the ’Supreme Dao’ of this place.

Much like mastering the ’Sovereign Dao’ of the Despair Abyss.

In every land of terror, if one mastered a force of the same level as the Heavenly Dao, then at the very least, one could ensure their own survival.

For many Cultivators, the City of No Tears and the Despair Abyss remained deadly and desolate lands, but Zhou Yan, upon reentering these places, would almost certainly survive, so long as he did not encounter a catastrophic blow.

This time, Zhou Yan was not only validating the Power of Time and striving for greater strength but also seeking to understand his current state.

Nevertheless, these were things that White Fox would never comprehend.

Even if everything were laid bare, White Fox would neither understand nor grasp what the Purple Flame Void represented.

...

"This is..."

White Fox silently observed, its expressions mutable, marked by uncertainty, confusion, and astonishment.

Only when Zhou Yan derived a scene reminiscent of the ’Creation of Heaven and Earth’, using the perfection of the Sword Spirits and combining them with Soul Consciousness, did White Fox truly become startled.

As it reeled, it seemed to suddenly recall distant memories of its master, ’he’ from long ago.

For a moment, it stood rooted to the spot in shock.

Before long, the Heavens and Earth suddenly boomed with a violent explosion, and the entire Thunder broke apart.

A beam of purple light, trailing a spectrum of halos, shot forth from the sky, enveloping both White Fox and Zhou Yan in an instant.

"Whoosh—"

Space shifted, and in a blink, they left that Void, appearing above a boundless ocean.

The ocean was serene and profoundly deep.

As they materialized above the sea, their bodies were not submerged.

It was due to the tremendous buoyancy of the water that they stood atop it, as if stepping on the soft flesh of jello, unable to penetrate the surface.

Despite this abrupt change, neither showed any sign of unease.

Zhou Yan came to his senses; the Twelve Sword Spirits had disappeared, returning to his body.

He felt a sense of weariness, an overwhelming exhaustion.

Even with his invincible soul, he experienced a sense of weakness, indicating the vast toll that the derivation of the scene had taken.

However, the completion of the derivation and the subsequent changes in the world proved that all his conjectures were correct.

"Do you feel as if we’re being watched by an inexplicable pair of eyes?"

Zhou Yan took a deep breath, scanned his surroundings, and asked White Fox Bai Ying.

"Yes, I have the same feeling. This must be the real ’Soul Sea’, the Soul Sea Land derived from the ancient Great Power that is the Sword Burial Ancestor Star," responded White Fox, inhaling sharply with a hint of worry in its voice.

Even White Fox felt inconceivably tiny, like an ant.

While the external environment did not seem terrifying—indeed, what lay outside was a thousand times more so—it was the aura here that truly frightened.

A single strand of this aura could shatter the Void and decay everything in its path.

This colorless, formless aura sporadically took effect throughout the Heavens and Earth.

Bubbles emerged intermittently from within the water.

Within each bubble, it seemed, was a secret realm.

But in the blink of an eye, that secret realm burst into nothingness.

Within the secret realm, time was not fixed, and no one knew how it was calculated here.

For this was the world of great powers, where, once one’s realm transcended time, one could create a world of their own and impose the rules of fate within.

This was much like the Purple Flame Void; if Zhou Yan wished, he could alter time within it.

However, such a feat could only be applied to lives governed by the world’s rules and could not change oneself.

Zhou Yan and White Fox Bai Ying stood here, already feeling the terror of this place.

Yet, Zhou Yan was not as worried as White Fox. He simply looked serenely around and said, "Don’t worry. The Tao Light that brought us here clearly isn’t trying to kill us, otherwise it could have easily destroyed me during the Thunderflame assault, while I was unleashing the ’Creation of Heaven and Earth’ secret technique of the Twelve Sword Spirits."

As Zhou Yan spoke, he saw a bubble of life and death float up from the water.

Zhou Yan concentrated his power into his legs, and his right foot stomped down viciously.

"Pfft—"

The bubble directly collided with Zhou Yan’s right leg.

"Ah—Stop! Dangerous!"

White Fox Bai Ying was startled, her cry betraying her pallor.

But the bubble, horrifying as it was, ’crackled’ upon contact with Zhou Yan’s foot and shattered.

There was no splash, nor any harm done.

"Now, do you understand?"

Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"This..."

White Fox was somewhat incredulous. At the moment the bubble touched Zhou Yan’s right leg, a Thunder Seal briefly flickered at Zhou Yan’s brow.

White Fox saw it, and she felt deeply uncertain, recognizing the mark as something achingly familiar, yet she couldn’t remember.

However, having witnessed this scene, White Fox stopped dwelling on her inability to remember, and instead, her respect for Zhou Yan inexplicably grew.

"It’s nothing."

Zhou Yan brushed it off, his words laced with profound confidence.

White Fox watched Zhou Yan, her brows furrowing occasionally, a vague sense of familiarity arising in her heart.

"’He’ has been missing for a long time and hasn’t reappeared, leaving me foolishly waiting here. Could it be, Zhou Yan, that you are the one ’he’ sent to rescue me? Otherwise, why would Zhou Yan resemble ’him’ so closely and carry the ’Heavenly Dao Soul Stone’ that only he possessed? However, ’he’ said his surname was ’Li’, while it’s clear that Zhou Yan’s surname is ’Zhou’."

White Fox pondered with some confusion.

But for some reason, the more she observed Zhou Yan, the more she sensed Zhou Yan’s bearing resembled ’his’.

"Perhaps, powerful humans all share this sort of ’bearing’, maybe it’s what they call ’pride’ and ’conviction’."

White Fox internally dismissed these thoughts.

Because when ’he’ left, he was of the Nine Refinement Sword Tribulation Realm, whereas Zhou Yan was merely at the Sword Soul First Layer Heaven.

Moreover, ’he’ was a naturally-born Enlightenment Physic, i.e., Heavenly Dao Constitution, while Zhou Yan possessed the Emperor Qi Sword Body, clearly two different individuals.

The more she compared, the more White Fox realized there were many differences between the two, and a long time ago, she had clearly seen that ’his’ Life Soul Token had completely shattered, not leaving a trace.

If it were not so, the inheritance ’he’ left wouldn’t have appeared in the secret land within her cave dwelling.

Only upon ’his’ death would the secret land within the cave dwelling open to initiate the inheritance state.

White Fox gradually calmed down.

Then, she chuckled bitterly to herself, perhaps she was just overly nostalgic about ’him’, which led to these muddled thoughts.

While White Fox was immersed in her thoughts, Zhou Yan had already begun to extend his Soul Consciousness, sensing the surroundings of this heaven and earth.

"Don’t..."

White Fox wanted to stop him, for fear of what might happen if his Soul Consciousness encountered an unknown energy from those void-breaking bubbles. What then?

But even as White Fox’s words began, they abruptly ceased, realizing that Zhou Yan had already done something similar before, and his actions had directly refuted her experiences.

So, at this moment, White Fox Bai Ying simply watched in silence as Zhou Yan’s Soul Consciousness reached out toward the four corners of the world.

Zhou Yan’s Soul Consciousness had a luster here, unlike the intangible and colorless nature of other humans.

Zhou Yan’s Soul Consciousness, like thunderflame, bore an inexplicably mysterious and regal purple aura, noble and refined with an indescribable air of superiority.

This was merely White Fox’s sensing, and owing to this perception, White Fox believed that Zhou Yan’s future must be remarkable—of course, assuming he did not fall.

White Fox Bai Ying sighed inexplicably again, finding that the short time spent with Zhou Yan felt so prolonged, far more thrilling and dangerous than the thousands of years she spent cultivating here.

In her heart, an uncontrollable sense of fantasy and unreality surfaced.

Is all this... an illusion? Or is it reality?

White Fox Bai Ying just watched as Zhou Yan boldly roamed with his Soul Consciousness through this perilous land, feeling envious, impressed, and somewhat speechlessly emotional.

...

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PS: The book is currently about one-fourth completed, and more exciting content is to follow. I’ve linked my Weibo account to this book, so the latest information will automatically sync to Weibo, allowing everyone to get updates in real time. Tencent Weibo: Can Jian, account snow9742. Future updates will be declared directly on Weibo~~