Chapter 287: How Can One Heart Love Two?

For countless years, the Holy Peak had been the spiritual pillar of all Atuwa people, a totem that united everyone. Invading the Holy Peak was an infringement upon the sacred sanctuary in every Atuwa heart, breaking their last line of defense.

This had nothing to do with the number of strange trees on the Holy Peak or Anduya and Rex’s covert guidance. The Atuwa people were inherently steadfast, preferring to break rather than bend. Their civilization might be primitive, and their knowledge perhaps limited, even unable to imagine a world beyond their own. Yet, this did not hinder them from constructing a sacred sanctuary and guarding their spiritual totem. What they guarded was not as important as the act of guarding and the faith itself.

The Blackwing King merely capitalized on this, making the process so smooth. It was not that the Blackwing guided the Atuwa; rather, it conformed to the Atuwa nature, leading them to embrace this faith. Anduya’s role was to indirectly tie the fate of humanity to this faith.

Realizing this, Qian Ye understood his current predicament and ceased trying to persuade the Atuwa to abandon their sacred land.

It was too late for words. How to relieve worries? Only through battle. He bid farewell to the elders and, with full effort, used Void Blink to rush to the Holy Peak. In half a day, Qian Ye stood once more among the strange trees where he first met Anduya.

The former Blackwing King, later the Eternal Night Lord, had forever vanished from the heavens and earth. This genius, with unrivaled talents, challenged the entire Holy Mountain at the pinnacle of his power. Even with the title of Eternal Night Lord, this move was no different from suicide. Indeed, it turned out to be so.

Anduya did not act for the sake of all humanity but for Nangong Yuqing alone. One could only say that with enough talent and power, one could be willful.

Qian Ye stood silently for a moment, paying his final respects to Anduya, his mentor and friend whom he had never met.

As he stood, a gray feather suddenly drifted in the sacred land, floating but never descending. The appearance of the gray feather shook the entire sacred land. All the strange trees moved without wind, with invisible forces intertwining and reaching for the feather, attempting to pull it down to the ground.

Feeling the gray feather dip, Qian Ye sensed it, bending his body and nearly kneeling. As he expected, the chaotic primal force and the illusionary misty primal force were naturally opposed at another level. With the complete chaotic primal force appearing, all the strange trees on the Holy Peak that harbored the illusionary misty primal force began to react.

This opposition was at the level of the world’s origins, with no room for evasion or concealment. Even the hidden trees, yet to sprout, exerted their force, striving to assimilate the gray feather formed by the chaotic primal force.

As Qian Ye’s knees were about to touch the ground, he finally stopped. With a deep roar, his blood core and heart unleashed their full power, and the overwhelming primal force surged forth, resisting the entire sacred land’s strange trees.

If he had more time to digest all the tree sap, the balance would shift, and it wouldn’t be so strenuous. But Qian Ye had no time, not even a moment.

With another low roar, his knees creaked, but he gradually stood up.

As Qian Ye rose, all the strange trees responded by lifting slightly.

The gray feather in the air trembled incessantly, its surface cracking. Small gray fragments floated, as if being peeled off by the illusionary misty primal force.

Finally, a piece of gray fell, torn and devoured by the illusionary misty primal force. This triggered a chain reaction, and the gray feather disintegrated into countless fragments, scattering across the ground.

As the gray aura faded, Qian Ye felt a sudden release, as if the constraints on him had lightened. Seizing the opportunity, he unleashed another burst of primal force, the surging chaotic primal force transforming into immense power, instantly uprooting all the strange trees and suspending them in the air, slowly rotating around Qian Ye.

At that moment, Qian Ye seemed to be the center of the universe.

But a sudden change occurred. As the strange trees left the ground, cracks spread across their trunks, and they shattered into countless fragments. Each fragment emitted a brilliant light—points of the illusionary misty primal force, endlessly changing, yet infinitesimally small. The infinite illusionary misty primal force formed a vast net, pressing down on Qian Ye.

“Damn it!” Qian Ye immediately realized something was wrong.

Though the remaining tree sap was not much, even if all of it transformed into the illusionary misty primal force, Qian Ye was not afraid. But he hadn’t anticipated that all the strange trees could instantaneously release their entire store of the illusionary misty primal force. Such efficiency and unimpeded release should not have happened.

The only explanation was that Qian Ye’s actions threatened the foundations of the inner world, triggering a spontaneous counterattack. His use of the chaotic primal force made him a clear target, with no way to escape.

At this point, Qian Ye curled into a ball, emitting a faint glow, desperately resisting the net of the illusionary misty primal force. As the net tightened, Qian Ye’s bones began to crack.

At this moment, whether it was the dawn light or the dark golden blood qi, both crumbled before the illusionary misty primal force, leaving only the chaotic primal force to contest.

Qian Ye continuously channeled the chaotic primal force, gritting his teeth and enduring. He was no match for the entire world, but the inner world could only threaten him with the outer illusionary misty primal force. If he depleted this, he would escape. Now, it was a race to see who would exhaust first.

The illusionary misty primal force was still abundant, and Qian Ye’s chaotic primal force had not run dry. However, his bones started to crackle with fine, dense sounds, forming a web of fractures.

Qian Ye’s heart sank.

His primal force could still support him, but his body was not yet at the level of a great lord, not strong enough to withstand such pressure. In this struggle against the inner world, Qian Ye’s body was about to collapse first.

A sigh came from the void, and Anduya stepped out, shaking his head. “I knew you couldn’t resist. Fortunately, I prepared a contingency.”

He reached out, grabbing the air, and with a gentle lift, a piece of the net of the illusionary misty primal force tore away, captured by Anduya.

In Anduya’s hand, the piece of the net transformed into countless dazzling points of light, reverting to its original form. With a gesture, Anduya directed these forces into Qian Ye’s body. These neutralized illusionary misty primal forces were immediately guided by Qian Ye, transforming into the dawn light, and injected into the heart at the back cover of the Book of Black.

Anduya repeatedly grabbed, tearing pieces of the illusionary misty primal force from the net, erasing the inner world’s will, and sending them to Qian Ye.

A flood of dawn light rushed into Qian Ye’s heart, and the sixth prismatic crystal slowly emerged, gradually taking shape. The appearance of the sixth crystal seemed to disrupt some balance, causing all the crystals to begin converging.

Qian Ye’s face turned pale, and his body trembled slightly.

The process of the crystals converging was one of constant tearing and healing for the heart. Wherever the crystals passed, all life was extinguished, leaving barren wastelands. Only now did Qian Ye understand why reaching the pinnacle of the Sky Emperor realm was so difficult.

Apart from the need for pure primal force, sufficient to sustain six crystals, one’s constitution must also be extremely robust, able to endure the process of the crystals merging. For the naturally frail human race, reaching the pinnacle of the Sky Emperor realm was already the ultimate limit.

Of course, the dangers and difficulties on the side of Eternal Night were no less, even more so. In Eternal Night, becoming a great lord required a thorough transformation of the body through bloodline power, ultimately reaching a state where one could move the world with individual strength. During this process, the bloodline power was both the driving force and the natural constraint. A body strengthened by a specific bloodline had a natural limit, and the resonant primal force also had an upper bound.

Once formed, even with the most extraordinary talent, one could make no further progress. It was like a completed temple; the foundation’s capacity is limited, and to build higher, one must demolish and rebuild the foundation.

Thus, no matter how talented Mithras was, his bloodline limited him to the rank of a Lightless King. Among the blood races, unless there was an alternative path, Lilith, the Queen of the Night, would forever remain the second drop in the river of blood, unbeatable. Anduya, mastering the illusionary misty primal force, transcended his blood race identity, gaining the strength to challenge the entire Holy Mountain.

Regardless, at this moment, Qian Ye’s body, preliminarily transformed by the chaotic primal force, had a carrying capacity that no human could match, and even in Eternal Night, few could claim superiority. Only the inner world’s will, exerting pressure through the illusionary misty primal force, brought Qian Ye to the brink of collapse.

The six prismatic crystals finally merged into one, forming a cluster. After fusion, the heart barely contained the crystal cluster, which, though still in a symbiotic relationship, now dominated.

As the crystal cluster formed, Qian Ye’s vision seemed to open to an invisible eye, perceiving many details he had never noticed before. His consciousness drifted, touching the deeper layers of the world.

Was this the realm of the Sky Emperor?

Before Qian Ye could fully savor it, Anduya appeared before him, waving his hand and saying, “This is my final consciousness, about to dissipate. There is one last thing I need to entrust to you.”

Qian Ye looked at Anduya with some confusion, “You’ve said this is your final consciousness several times…”

“This time, it truly is the last.”

“Really?”

“Of course, it’s true!”

A shadow of melancholy crossed Qian Ye’s face, and he reluctantly said, “I wish you still had some consciousness elsewhere.”

“The last of the illusionary misty primal force has dissipated, and there is no longer a foundation to carry my will. You will understand this in time.”

“Alright, what do you want me to do for you?”

Anduya was silent for a long time before speaking, “In my youth, I was especially impetuous. I once told Lilith I would wait for her at the end of the River of Blood. But then, I met Yuqing, who had only a few decades of time. Later, I gained the illusionary misty primal force, and I could no longer be considered a pure blood race, thus unable to return to the River of Blood.”

“So, if you ever meet Lilith, tell her I cannot wait for her at the end of the River of Blood.”

Qian Ye was taken aback, not knowing how to respond.

Anduya suddenly asked, “Your human hearts are capable of love. Can a heart love two people?”

Qian Ye was even more at a loss for words.

Anduya did not expect an answer, only a sense of loss, followed by a sigh, and then he disappeared.