Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"I wonder if this is why I have something akin to prophetic intuition...it originates from the Non-Verse protecting me?" Yan Zaizen seriously considered this point. If so, then perhaps the reason why Non-Entities lack souls is because they are products of a Universe...or perhaps...

"Yri didn’t seem shocked with a conscious person being a Non-Entity. She also referred to me as a Non, instead of a person who stole a Non’s body. If that’s the case then...is there something in the thirty-three heavens preventing children of a universe from having souls?!" Yan Zaizen nearly blurted this out in incredible shock.

If Non-Entities originally had souls, perhaps even souls reminiscent to the universe, then...

A pure soul.

Yan Zaizen couldn’t help but deeply sigh. He didn’t feel his soul was particularly pure, especially with all the additions now. However, even at birth, that was unlikely.

"I need to refocus my priorities, cultivation." Deciding to place this to the side, Yan Zaizen reminded himself of his mission and that was to find the lost piece of the compass. Afterward, hell would have to wait for him with bated breath. As for that figure from before...

Yan Zaizen’s eyes flashed murderously.

"Pinaka..."

Yan Zaizen was somewhat disappointed that he wasted sixteen years but there was no treasure trove. He didn’t feel cheated, however. The Divine Art: Dao Heart, Grand Soul was worth a thousand treasure troves.

"This art is extraordinary, but it is truly a little too demonic." Yan Zaizen recalled the contents of the theorized art and its stages of progression. Unlike Soul Source Path of cultivation, there was no need for interpersonal reflection. Instead, the art focused on cultivation of the dao. To do that, it needed energy of the dao.

The reason why Yan Zaizen likened this art to a demonic art was that, to cultivate the dao, it needed the dao, and the only way to obtain that is to subjugate and refine the dao of others into one’s Dao Heart. The greater, the better.

Yan Zaizen wasn’t even sure if his black hole soul bloodline could devour dao energy, but this art used the Dao Heart to do so, and that was already tested to be possible. His Dao Egg was the perfect example of that.

The first stage was called the Nascent Dao Heart. This was the stage he was currently at. At this level, one’s dao would be incorporated seamlessly with one’s soul and, when integrated into the body or essence energy, can give soul and dao-affecting abilities. Simply put, every strike Yan Zaizen makes would be a two-prong strike. His attack will directly impact the opponent’s soul and dao weakening them as a result.

The second stage was called the Enlightened Dao Heart. Supposedly, it is likened to the Astral Soul Realm. Theoretically, it can create Dao Avatars. If Astral Remnants can be used as protectors and exist as long as it has energy, then Dao Avatars were truly independent and were immortal as long as the Dao Heart existed.

According to theory, one could refine any and all things into Dao Treasures with remarkable speeds. Unlike the norm of taking tens of thousands of years, it could be done in a fraction of the time. Dao Treasures were marvelous, even greater than spirit-ranked armaments, rivaling world-ranked armaments, capable of enhancing one’s overall combat prowess!

The third and final stage was called the Boundless Dao Heart. However, besides the theory of reaching it, the abilities were uncertain.

"I still need to devour an indeterminate amount of other daos...." Yan Zaizen silently mused. Cultivating this art was truly too devilish. To even begin, the practitioner of this art had to take a person’s dao, ripping it from their souls while they were living! Disregarding the viciousness of this act, it certainly lived up to its goal. By doing this, it enabled one to cultivate their dao energy. This energy is what enhances one’s cultivation speed, talent, strength, and foundation.

Mortal Daos were normally divided into lower, middle, and upper. The classification wasn’t just separating the strength of their dao’s characteristics or composition but the dao energy levels as well. Even Yan Zaizen didn’t know what would happen to his cultivation if his dao energy were to exceed its current peak upper-limits!

As for the Soul Source Path, the art did not restrict it! The Dao Heart, Grand Soul was as its name suggests: an ’art,’ not a path. Yan Zaizen still had the ability to cultivate his soul, and by doing so, increasing the soul aspects of his newly established Dao Soul.

Inspecting his resources, he furrowed his brows quite heavily. The resources in his Meteor Ring was obtained by Eshe, Iceborn, and their allies. It included various items, objects, soul jades filled with all sorts of information, and heaven hearts. The most valuable had to be the complete information list of the Dusk Zone. In those soul jades detailed even the oddity of laws and their shifting hierarchy in the Heavenly Origin Grounds.

"Let’s see how far I can go."

-----

In the Dusk Zone, a skyship soared imperiously through the dark sky. This skyship was completely black with a silver human skull on the sides of its hull. This skull had fangs that were like a sabertooth and three sharp horns atop its head. The horns formed a perfect triangle with their locations.

The mouth of this skull was closed, and its empty eye sockets were menacing as an emerald flame flickered within. This emerald flame seemed to contain an essence of decay and time. Any mortal who would be so unlucky to glance upon the flame would feel the decay of their mind and lifeforce. In seconds, they would discover that their life had ended.

Atop this black skyship were a group of people dressed in black outfits. These groups of people had three horns atop their head, silver skin, and emerald eyes. They were all remarkably devilish-looking. A young man who seemed to have a high position on the skyship stood at the railings with his calm gaze looking at the dark sky.

Besides this young man was a beautiful woman with similar features, long black hair, but her entire aura seemed much colder. Her eyes were like sharp knives and she seemed to have a dense bloody aura around her. However, the young man didn’t seem bothered by this aura.

"We’ve been searching for sixteen years, you sure?" The young man asked the young woman, his voice was soft and warm. It was completely different than his devilish appearance, almost similar to a scholar in autumn questioning the world.

"Yes. It should be here." The young woman’s words were incredibly cold, like a blizzard in the arctic. The young man only sighed. How many times has he heard this? They had searched this area before, but discovered nothing.

A bulky man later walked towards the duo, stopping a short distance away.. He was middle-aged in appearance, had a beard of black hair, muscles that seemed like they were sculpted by an expert, and shockingly handsome despite his horns. When he walked up, he threw a brief glance of disdain and contempt at the woman before directing his gaze towards the young man. That disdain and contempt vanished, replaced thorough by reverence and admiration.

"Yi Seo-Jun, we’ve located its signature." The middle-aged man, Pak Ji-Hu, relayed. Yi Seo-Jun’s eyes flashed with a bright emerald light.

"It’s at the location it was at before. It’s possible a darkness or time anomaly had occurred which is why we missed it the first time." In the Dusk Zone where time laws were particularly strong, even rivaling an Imperial Law, it was quite often to see spots surge erratically and experience odd situations.

The most drastic would be entering a time warp or entering stasis for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years. If that happened, you’ll be at the mercy of passing Yaoguai or cultivators. Because of these events, traveling in the Dusk Zone was quite perilous without sufficient preparations and luck.

"Told you." The young woman, Hahm Eun-Jung, pouted and spoke. It was as if this cold woman had transformed to a girl who had suffered a grievance. If it wasn’t for her frosty as the arctic voice and her devilishly beautiful appearance, she would be cute.

"Good. Take us there immediately," Yi Seo-Jun ordered. T

Pak Ji-Hu nodded and left to relay those orders. Yi Seo-Jun’s eyes never left the skies of the Dusk Zone. His eyes contained a deep calm, but if anyone looked deep within his heart, they would see a wild ambition!