From the legacies he had received from the origin of life, Nie Tian had learned that the Tree of Life had defeated the Blood Father of the Spirit World back in the day by surprising him.
One could even say that it had snuck up on him and stolen the victory.
If it had attacked the Blood Father of the Spirit World when he had been at his best, instead of launching a full-force attack when the Blood Father of the Spirit World had been in a weak moment, it probably wouldn’t have been able to win.
After all, the Blood Father of the Spirit World had not only obtained the secrets of the creation and thriving of fleshly beings when it had been separated from the origin of life, but he had also dipped into the profound mysteries of the other origins in the chaos thanks to the trades between them and the origin of life.
For instance, he now refined Grand Monarch Nether Spirit’s residual soul power and soul awareness with the mysterious secret magics that were engraved in the depths of the River of Souls.
By doing this, he cleansed his soul, strengthened his awareness, and even regained his lost memories bit by bit.
The lightning bolts that hovered around him were branded with the profound truths of lightning and thunder.
The golden heart-protecting plate on his chest was a gift from the origin of metal.
The frosty gem at his Adam’s apple was a treasure that the origin of ice had had the Void Spirit of Ice condense for him back in the day in order to keep his body from rotting and preserve his ability to contend against the Tree of Life.
Now, as he gradually regained his awareness, many lost memories of the profound mysteries of the other origins gradually came back to him.
He was none other than the transcendent creature the origin of life had created with every resource at its disposal, whose purpose was to suppress all the lives in the three worlds that had been created by the other origins.
He was the one that the origin of life truly relied on.
This was why it had such high hopes for him and believed that he was his best chance at defeating the rebellious Tree of Life, not Nie Tian.
Nie Tian’s shadows in the Heavenly Stars Flower took a deep look at Ji Cang.
Staring at him, Ji Cang asked, “D-did it really choose you?”
“The Dao you pursue has deviated from its intention,” Nie Tian said in a soul voice. “Over the years, you’ve gradually grown apart, so much so that you can’t even communicate with it or draw star power from it anymore. The reason is because it no longer trusts you. As a matter of fact, you went against your origin’s will as the Star Behemoths did.”
“Bulls.h.i.+t! I’m doing everything for its benefit!” Ji Cang retorted, flushed with indignation.
“For the origin of stars, only after the star cores of the stars in the three worlds develop vague awareness and become star souls can they sense its existence, correspond to it, and repay it with star power,” Nie Tian explained. “Star cores can be viewed as seeds that it spread when the grand explosion happened and created this universe.
“Only if the seeds grow and turn into star souls will this be meaningful, and can the stars absorb all kinds of energy from the boundless starry river to nurture themselves.
“Otherwise, the stars will be lifeless and unable to establish any sort of connection with it.”
With an icy expression, Ji Cang let out a snort and said, “Do I need you to tell me this?”
“Okay, but do you know that certain conditions have to be met for star cores to turn into star souls with faint awareness?” Nie Tian asked.
“What conditions?”
“Only if peak experts perish, and their souls dissipate in the starry river, can star cores be activated,” Nie Tian said with a stern tone. “Then, after absorbing and collecting the soul strands for a long time, the star cores will transform into star souls that possess primal consciousness.
“Before the Starspirits went extinct, they had made tremendous efforts to stop the peak experts of different species from fighting within the realms.
“Their hope was for them to take their battles to the boundless, open starry river. If they did that, the disembodied souls of the peak experts that died in battle would turn into soul strands that wandered through the starry river as the most special of the various kinds of energy in the universe, as long as the souls of the dead weren’t captured by Netherspirits.
“Those soul strands of peak experts were the nourishment the star cores needed to transform into star souls.
“However, what you’ve been trying to do is to have all of the peak experts from the three worlds fight and die in the dark land or some other place. If you succeed, then no more stars will be destroyed in battles that break out between peak experts. The stars will exist eternally.
“But do you think this is best for the origin of stars? Do you think this will allow it to preserve its power to the greatest extent?
“You have to know that stars also have lifespans.
“After their star cores turn into star souls and develop faint awareness, they’ll also experience infancy, maturity, and senility, before they eventually die. All realms, except super-large-scale realms like the floating continent and the Shatter Battlefield, will live and die.
“If all of the grand patriarchs, grand monarchs, and Saint domain and G.o.d domain cultivators die because of your scheme, and no more peak experts appear for a long time, then it means no more star cores will awaken and transform into star souls.
“This is definitely something the origin of stars doesn’t want to see.”
Nie Tian’s shadows stared at Ji Cang as he conveyed all that he wanted to say with subtle soul fluctuations.
Many Qi warriors from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace felt greatly enlightened after hearing his words, as if they had learned about the deepest secrets of the stars and renewed their understanding of the magical laws of this starry river.
His words also plunged Ji Cang into silence.
He didn’t speak for a long time.
At this moment, with the fire of wisdom burning in his eyes, the Blood Father of the Spirit World, who had slain Grand Monarch Nether Spirit just now, suddenly grabbed the golden piece of armor on his chest and ripped it off.
Huang Jinnan stared unblinkingly at it, and sensed metal power stronger than he had ever sensed before.
Quickly, under his gaze, the golden plate morphed into a gigantic axe that shone with golden light.
In the hand of the Blood Father of the Spirit World, the axe seemed to be even larger than Nie Tian’s Life-origin Form and mighty enough to sever heaven and earth.
The Blood Father of the Spirit World’s face split into a nasty grin. The cruelty and ruthlessness in his eyes made every living being that looked at him tremble with fear.
A wide river of golden light flew out as he slashed the golden axe towards the Tree of Life.
In the golden river of light, countless golden crystals and blood-colored sparks simultaneously burst forth with power violent enough to shatter the entire dark land.
CRACK! CRACK!
Branches that looked like emerald dragons exploded one after another under the devastating might of the golden axe.
Immediately afterwards, the river of golden light crashed into the chaotic currents that hovered around the Tree of Life’s main body, sending billions of blindingly bright green, emerald, crimson, and golden sparks flying in every direction.
The Blood Father of the Spirit World let out a derisive chuckle.
The green, emerald, crimson, and golden sparks that filled up the entire sky seemed to be under his command, as they suddenly rained down towards Nie Tian and the others.
“Watch out!” Qin Yao and Wu Ji cried out at the same time.
FIZZ!
However, some golden sparks had already pierced into the domains, bodies, and even souls of some Saint and G.o.d domain cultivators like the sharpest blades!
In the distance, the multicolored sparks rained down on the outsiders as well, giving rise to explosions that sounded like rolling thunder.
The intense flesh aura seas of some Devil and Netherspirit grand patriarchs were even detonated by the brilliant ‘raindrops,’ and exploded, their scattered flesh power naturally swirling up into the sky.
The Blood Father of the Spirit World, who was level with the heavens, opened his giant mouth, and gulped down the rich flesh power like sweet dew and fine wine.
The experts from across the three worlds wailed in agony.