Chapter 498 – Taming the Power of the Territory, the Cracked Red Sky

On the second day after Deadbone stepped into the Soul Realm and completed his transformation, Dolai also breezed through the breakthrough of this major realm barrier.

Mu Yuan wasn’t surprised.

While cautiousness must always be maintained, he didn’t lack confidence in Deadbone and Dolai either.

Rather, if even Deadbone and Dolai struggled to break through, he couldn’t imagine how other Legendary Realm beings would manage it.

Perhaps top-tier empires like the Eternal Star Empire and Holy Griffin Empire possessed Miracle Buildings within their borders that could assist in breaking through to the Soul Realm and significantly increase the success rate.

But Taixuan didn’t have these.

Nor could it be ruled out that some lords privately possessed top-tier assistance methods.

Mu Yuan didn’t need these for now.

The breakthroughs of Deadbone and Dolai indeed had little reference value.

Not just them—himself, Isloria, and Lu Liu, who would step into the Soul Realm in the near future—none of them served as useful references either.

After all, they were Legendary beings.

Epic beings couldn’t necessarily reach the Legendary Heaven-Earth Realm with 100% certainty; Epics had to expend great effort to break through the Legendary barrier too.

But through research, he speculated that Legendary beings might face no obstacles at all when breaking through to the Soul Realm or Law Realm.

Just like how Epics broke through to Commander-class and General-class levels.

(Major Realms: How could I possibly dare to obstruct the great Legendary existences?)

However, the quality of the same breakthrough should vary between superior and inferior.

If Legendary beings failed to obtain sufficient resources, he estimated it would be difficult for them to forge a perfect Domain either.

“Using the perfect Domain as their foundation, both Deadbone and Dolai have forged ‘Perfect Divine Foundations.'”

‘Perfect Divine Foundation’—this was a term completely unfamiliar to Mu Yuan, one he’d never heard before.

He even specifically asked ‘Encyclopedia Princess’ Isloria to verify—Isloria could record all materials she’d seen (including just glancing at them) into her own crystal ball database.

Yet even Isloria’s database contained no records of Perfect Divine Foundations.

“Based on Deadbone and Dolai’s (scratched out) experiences, aside from being relatively sturdy, providing strong protection for the Divine Soul, and offering greater improvements to willpower and Mental Energy after being forged, the Perfect Divine Foundation doesn’t seem to have any other functions.”

But when the World’s notification sounded, it specifically emphasized ‘forging a Perfect Divine Foundation.’

He believed the Perfect Divine Foundation’s functions extended beyond this.

“Additionally, after stepping into the Soul Realm, Deadbone and Dolai gained the ability to ‘split their Divine Souls,’ which is also a hallmark of the Soul Realm.”

In terms of combat power improvement, even after breaking through to the Soul Realm, their short-term gains were still less than the improvements brought by forging their perfect Domains earlier.

But even with perfect Domains, beings couldn’t possess the special might exclusive to the Soul Realm no matter how hard they tried.

“Divine Soul, Divine Descent.”

“Azure Mountain Lord descended in the form of a divine thought using a powerful Epic lifeform as a vessel. This not only allows controlling an Incarnation for battle but also enables simultaneous presence in two locations.”

“As long as suitable vessels are available, Soul Realm beings can achieve cross-spatial descent and exert certain power, almost like divine methods.”

After all, demigods are still gods.However, for powerful individuals following the ‘New Era cultivation system,’ due to the lack of faith anchors, their descent range, the number of descents, and the power they can exert after descending are far inferior to those of ‘Old Method’ practitioners.

Mu Yuan pondered, “In other words, the Fallen God’s attendants are at least at the Soul Realm, and they are ‘Old Method’ system experts. Only then can they directly descend from the Land of Red Mist to various monster Tribes scattered across the Wilderness.”

In his earliest days, Mu Yuan had thought the Fallen God’s attendants were merely ordinary legends, possibly even at the Fourth-Order limit.

This was a limitation of his perspective.

After all, in the past, the descent incarnations of the Fallen God’s attendants he encountered weren’t even at the Fourth-Order Commander Tier.

The so-called ‘perfect descent incarnations’ capable of bearing the true power of the Fallen God’s attendants were only about a hundred times stronger than the Fourth-Order limit.

Later, he gradually realized that the Fallen God’s attendants were not simple—they were roughly on the same level as the Hunting Grand Duke of Dragon’s Slumber Valley, both being ‘notorious great enemies.’

Now, with a deeper understanding of the power of the Soul Realm, he understood even more clearly that the Fallen God’s attendants were extraordinary.

“Normal Soul Realm practitioners can hardly even descend across domains with their divine sense.”

“Yet the Fallen God’s attendants can not only descend across domains, spanning dozens or even hundreds of domains, but they also possess countless descent anchors.”

This was likely beyond the Fallen God’s attendants themselves.

It probably had something to do with the Fallen God.

Sophia, who had recently stepped into the realm of legendary life, also possessed the ability to cross domains easily and descend anywhere at any time. This was her area of advantage.

Perhaps, after Sophia reached the Soul Realm, this advantage could be further enhanced.

“For a Soul Realm practitioner to descend with divine sense, they must split off at least a strand of divine sense. To grant the descent incarnation greater power or to descend to more distant locations, they need to split off more divine sense or even parts of their Divine Soul.”

However, if the descent incarnation perishes, the divine sense will vanish along with it.

The practitioner themselves will suffer injuries.

This is the drawback of descent.

The more power invested in the descent, the greater the injury suffered if an accident occurs.

Therefore, most Soul Realm practitioners use this signature great power very cautiously.

In this regard, the Fallen God’s attendants who practice the ‘Old Method’ hold a significant advantage. The cost required for their descent is minimal, and the Divine Soul injury caused by the destruction of their descent incarnations is correspondingly much lighter.

But Sophia’s advantage is even greater.

Her incarnation descent does not rely on ‘divine sense’—she only needs to extract a strand of ‘consciousness.’

Losing a strand of consciousness is inconsequential.

“Another signature great power of the Soul Realm is the ability to create a unique ‘phylactery’ based on the split Divine Soul. If they die unexpectedly, Soul Realm practitioners can be reborn through the phylactery.”

“However, compared to divine descent, creating a phylactery requires a much larger ‘quantity’ of Divine Soul consumption.”

“Ordinary Soul Realm practitioners often have to sever half of their Divine Soul and must also seek rare Treasures that are highly compatible with themselves—epic Materials are best, while the minimum requirement is very, very compatible quasi-epic level Treasures.”

Thus, Soul Realm practitioners cannot be reborn casually either.

Dying once doesn’t just mean significant losses—at the very least, they must go through a not-so-short recovery period and consume a large amount of Treasures to restore their Divine Soul.

Both cultivation and recovery in the Soul Realm require such Treasures.

This is the main expense at this Realm.After Deadbone and Dolai broke through their realms, Deadbone continued his cultivation in the Great Domain of the Dead—after all, there was still an unknown Law Realm undead of extraordinary combat prowess in the Shattered Isle Region.

Dolai, on the other hand, headed to the Shattered Isle Region to participate in battles, occasionally slaying a few minor legendary monsters.

As for Lord Mu himself…

He mostly stayed within Tianyuan City.

He had left an Advanced Incarnation in the Shattered Isle Warzone, but it remained largely in standby mode, rarely activated.

This meant he was not permanently stationed in the warzone.

Typically, a commander-in-chief must often hold the fort in the warzone, especially during intense conflicts. After all, the commander is usually the primary combat force of the entire warzone and is responsible for a multitude of affairs.

Mu Yuan faced no such issue.

Currently, the combat pillar and spiritual backbone of the warzone was Lu Liu, the Divine General.

Representing him in liaising with various lords and pioneering groups was Isloria.

With peerless generals and capable civil officials, he had no worries.

He was currently in seclusion, cultivating.

Mu Yuan did not seek out a Treasure Land for cultivation but simply sat in a quiet pavilion within the City Lord’s Mansion.

He entered the Lord’s Perspective mode, observing his territory in its entirety while allowing his mind to diffuse outward.

The vast expanse of his territory and several even larger semi-Secret Realms all fell within his view.

“The power of Miracle Evolution remains elusive, but the power of the territory seems to share the same origin as Miracle Power, and it is a more superficial force.”

The former was like a leviathan in the depths of the ocean—he could only vaguely glimpse its outline, unable to see, touch, or grasp it clearly.

The latter, however, was like fish swimming in the ocean, occasionally leaping out of the water.

Though catching such fish was still challenging, it offered opportunities to try and the possibility of success.

“Warzone Power is essentially Territory Power, only on a much larger scale.”

“Most Great Lords employ Territory Power in crude and straightforward ways, either for suppression or amplification. It’s not that they don’t want to utilize this power more precisely—they simply can’t.”

One reason is that Territory Power is scarce, and once consumed, it can only recover naturally, leaving lords with few opportunities to practice.

Another, more critical reason, is that Territory Power is overwhelmingly vast.

For a Great Lord to wield this power is akin to a child brandishing a heavy saber.

With insufficient strength and lack of skill, how could a lord perfectly harness Territory Power? Moreover, even crude and straightforward applications are enough to suppress and slay powerful enemies, making it a significant asset of the territory.

This is sufficient for most purposes.

Mu Yuan had previously employed it in the same manner.

The territorial area of LV5 Tianyuan City was no smaller than that of LV7 or LV8 great territories.

However, it paled in comparison to the scope covered by the Shattered Isle Warzone.

Warzone Power, in particular, offered only two chances for use, leaving no room for practice.

Mu Yuan’s current seclusion to cultivate Territory Power was aimed at increasing his proficiency in this area. Having mastered the power of evolution, he now had a commanding view, which might make his study of Territory Power twice as effective.

“Then let’s begin, slowly consuming Territory Power for small-scale practice.”

“I must not be impatient or rush for results. Many Great Lords spend years or even decades studying Territory Power and still employ it crudely. There’s no use in my haste.”

He believed that this brief period of study was unlikely to yield significant improvement.In the future great war of the Shattered Isle Region, it might not play much of a role.

But does that mean one shouldn’t strive just because there’s no significant improvement?

In doing anything, it’s always through accumulation again and again until breaking through the limits that noticeable progress is made.

Well, except for those with cheats.

But he, Lord Mu, was a lord who had relied on his own talent and hard work to get where he was now.

Only by studying and accumulating now would he not be powerless when truly needed someday.

Mu Yuan continuously contemplated, practiced, and studied the power of the territory.

Day after day.

Without eating, drinking, or resting.

This was nothing to boast about—it was merely the effort that should be made.

He saw the efforts of Deadbone, Isloria, Sophia, and others; what reason did he have to slack off? Only when Tianyuan City could safely survive the Filth Cataclysm would he live the dream life of a leisurely lord.

To live as a carefree lord now—he had the conditions for it, but he wouldn’t feel at ease doing so.

He would be restless, worrying that someday a great enemy might come knocking.

Mu Yuan had originally intended to continue this study until the territory’s power was depleted by more than one-third.

Afterward, he would wait for the territory’s power to fully recover before going into seclusion for cultivation, repeating the cycle.

But today…

Mu Yuan had already caught that ‘mischievous fish.’ Though this power was thrashing in his hands, like a young man gripping a vibrating club, he was still far from wielding it with ease.

That was how it had been.

But…

But this mischievous fish suddenly quieted down, becoming incredibly docile. Even when Mu Yuan let go, the fish still swam around him, a world of difference from before.

It was as if a wandering soul without a home had found its anchor.

That was the miraculous power emanating from Mu Yuan’s palm—profound and divine, transcending the Nine Heavens yet descending thread by thread to the mortal realm.

…

Shattered Isle Region.

“Boom—”

A dazzling miniature sun slowly rose over the plains.

Within the orange-red blazing sun, two monstrous, massive bodies rapidly incinerated.

The blazing sun quickly dissipated.

The remaining dragon bones fell from mid-air, crashing onto the scorched earth below, half-buried in the soil with a thud.

A girl with sky-blue hair and clear, large eyes gently blew out the flame at her fingertip, which she had held up to her delicate lips.

She shook her hand, and the smoke drifted away, as if she had done something trivial.

“As expected of Lord Dolai! Lord Dolai is the greatest under the heavens!”

A young girl at the peak of the Fourth Order waved a flag bearing a cartoon image of Dolai.

Dolai’s fan club membership +1 +1.

Although in the eyes of most, General Lu was the undisputed strongest in the warzone—especially after the Overturning Tide Lord went to support the Giant Amber Mountain Warzone, cementing his top position.

But many who had witnessed General Dolai incinerating monstrous legends with a violent force didn’t think so.

General Dolai was the strongest in the warzone, the greatest under the heavens!

Moreover, compared to General Lu, Lord Dolai was more approachable and adorable, especially when eating—utterly adorable.

So want to feed Lord Dolai!

Blazing Flame Lord was the leader of this operation team. She appropriately expressed her gratitude but secretly marveled at Dolai’s formidable power.

“Rumor has it that this General Dolai is a super powerhouse with a Domain spanning over ten thousand meters.””But ten thousand and one meters is still the ten-thousand-meter class, just like thirteen thousand, sixteen thousand, or nineteen thousand—they all belong to the ten-thousand-meter class. General Dolai’s Domain level is likely the latter.”

“Moreover, having reached this level in the Domain, the Soul Realm is no longer an obstacle. Could she already be a Divine Soul powerhouse?”

“Speaking of absolute combat strength, to be honest, I also believe General Dolai is the strongest in the Warzone.”

Blazing Flame Lord thought to herself.

Suddenly—

“BOOM—”

A deafening roar, as if heaven and earth were shattering, exploded beside her ears.

At first, she thought a fierce battle had broken out somewhere nearby and glanced around. But the next moment, her pupils contracted sharply, staring fixedly and dumbfoundedly at the distant sky.

There, the firmament had cracked open.

A massive fissure stretched across the heavens, spanning over ten thousand miles like a crimson river.

(End of Chapter)