The Calamity of an Era Arrives

This trip was not in vain!

He Yu sighed inwardly. Overall, he had gained immense benefits from this matter regarding the Source of Heavenly Dipper. The source damaged by the Primordial Sword's self-detonation would recover in time, and with both the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend now in his possession, his recovery speed had more than doubled.

He gripped the brand-new Primordial Sword. It was entirely different from its predecessor; the former Primordial Sword had been a broadsword, but this was a standard three-foot blade, its color a mixture of gold and black. The Primordial Sword, having fused with two God-Devil Crystals, was undeniably sharp, yet achieving harmony with the Primordial Origin was extremely difficult. He feared it would require a long period of tempering. Although the previous Primordial Sword lacked such power, it had been in perfect harmony, capable of unleashing one hundred percent of its potential. The current sword could not yet exert much of its power; perhaps it could not even compare to the previous one.

Alas! I fear there is not enough time to temper the Primordial Sword into perfect harmony with the Origin. He Yu sighed in his heart. He still needed to recover his Primordial Avatar and fuse and digest the Source of Heavenly Dipper to improve his cultivation!

He Yu was not even sure if his fusion with the God-Devil Crystals was a blessing or a curse. Previously, the Primordial Qi used to forge the sword shared the same origin as the Source, making harmony easy. Now, having fused with the God-Devil Crystals, achieving harmony with the Source was incredibly difficult! The advantage of a shared origin had been reduced by more than half. To reach perfection and unleash the Primordial Sword's full potential would likely take quite some time. This made He Yu think of Donghuang Taiyi. It was said that Donghuang Taiyi was blessed with great destiny, born with the Chaos Bell, an Innate Supreme Treasure, yet even after exhausting his life's efforts, he had never fully refined it—and that was with the advantage of a natural, innate connection.

"Heh, even if the Primordial Sword has fused with two God-Devil Crystals, it is still far from comparable to an Innate Supreme Treasure like the Chaos Bell. It will be fully harmonized after spending some time!" He Yu laughed at himself. While the Primordial Sword had a boundless future based on the Primordial Avatar, reaching the level of an Innate Supreme Treasure?

There was basically no possibility!

Perhaps... perhaps the Taishi Sword and Taixuan Sword might have some hope! As he pondered, he felt he was thinking too far ahead. He had yet to even obtain the Light of Taishi and the Light of Taixuan!

Whoosh!

The Primordial Sword transformed into a streak of gold-black light, submerging into the heart-crystal source of the Primordial Avatar to be nurtured and tempered, increasing their harmony in hopes of unleashing its greatest power before the Great Beast Calamity.

He looked down at the Firmament Gale layer faintly visible below, and a chill gripped his heart. He recalled the agonizing, thousand-fold slicing of the wind blades from not long ago. Back then, even with his cultivation at the early stage of a Loose Immortal, he could not endure that pain. Now, with his source damaged and his cultivation dropped to the late stage of He Xu, what would happen if he entered the Firmament Gale layer?

At this thought, He Yu felt a tremor of fear. He did not want to experience that extreme pain again, but he had to go down; the only way to reduce the pain was to increase his cultivation.

With this in mind, He Yu sat cross-legged in mid-air, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, palms facing the sky, beginning to recover his damaged Source of Earthly Fiend. As for the Source of Heavenly Dipper, he knew clearly that it could only maximize his cultivation if fused and digested while the Primordial Avatar was at its peak; he would not sacrifice the greater for the lesser.

Under the guidance of his cultivation technique, the damaged source recovered rapidly. His entire body shimmered with a faint gold-black radiance, like a god descending into the world. A wheel of deep, pitch-black light slowly emerged behind his head. As time passed, the gold-black radiance around his body and the black light behind his head grew increasingly intense. The golden light was brilliant and dazzling, while the black light was as deep and vast as a black hole.

As the gold and black lights intensified, the Primordial Avatar's cultivation also steadily rose.

Late He Xu stage—Early Loose Immortal stage!

After an unknown amount of time, the Primordial Avatar fully recovered. He Yu did not stop, continuing to circulate his technique to fuse and digest the Source of Heavenly Dipper. Suddenly, He Yu's consciousness surged forth. He had not expected that fusing and digesting the Source of Heavenly Dipper would be so difficult. The Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend clashed, repelling each other, making progress exceptionally slow. The slightest lapse in concentration could cause the two to collide violently.

Although progress was slow, the Primordial Avatar's cultivation continued to rise. At this moment, the gold-black radiance around He Yu had reached a terrifying level. From afar, he looked like a gold-black sun suspended in the sky. Faintly visible within the sun was a gold-black Taiji Diagram—the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Wheel behind his head. However, the Heavenly Dipper light was far inferior to the Earthly Fiend light. The gold-black Taiji had deep, vast black light, while the golden light was faint and blurred. The gold and black lights rotated endlessly like Yin Yang fish; with every rotation, the golden light grew a fraction more dazzling, and its harmony with the black light improved by a sliver.

Early Loose Immortal stage—Mid Loose Immortal stage!

Rumble!

A terrifying pressure erupted, permeating and shrouding the heavens and earth for over a hundred miles.

He Yu, who had been meditating, opened his eyes. Two streaks of gold-black light shot from his pupils, traveling ten feet before dissipating. He clenched his fists, feeling the ocean-like power surging within his body, and the corners of his mouth curled slightly. He threw a punch forward, swift as lightning, bright as light, the fist force condensed and unyielding.

"Boom!"

A massive sonic boom erupted instantly. Sharp, fierce gusts of wind shot out like blades and arrows, engulfing a thousand-mile radius. The power of a single punch had reached such a level.

Even a casual punch possesses such power. The gap between the mid and early stages of a Loose Immortal is indeed vast, He Yu thought to himself. The Source of Heavenly Dipper had been fully fused and digested, raising his cultivation by a realm. Although it was still not enough for the impending Heaven and Earth Calamity, combined with the Primordial Sword, his demon body, and his many divine abilities and techniques, he would have no problem surviving the calamity.

"It is time to go down." He Yu gave a helpless, bitter smile, closed his eyes, and his entire form transformed into a gold-black rainbow, instantly plunging into the Firmament Gale layer.

The defense of the mid-Loose Immortal stage was indeed much stronger than the early stage, yet it only lasted for a few breaths before shattering under the thousands of fierce wind blades. Then, the agonizing, thousand-fold slicing began. The extreme pain he had felt before was significantly reduced under his mid-stage cultivation. Having experienced it once, He Yu gritted his teeth and endured, though as time passed, it was not much better than the last time.

In a state of blurred and chaotic consciousness, he did not know how much time had passed. He Yu suddenly felt his body lighten, the suffering gone. The gold-black energy surrounding him gathered into his body, and as the gold-black radiance flowed, he recovered as if new, though his spirit was somewhat weak. Crossing the Firmament Gale layer twice in succession had been a tremendous trial for his consciousness; it was now more than twice as condensed as it had been before ascending.

The condensation of his consciousness brought great benefits. He Yu could now feel that his control over the Primordial Avatar was much stronger, incomparable to when he had ascended.

Further increasing his cultivation would be difficult; breaking through to the late Loose Immortal stage was not something that could be achieved in a short time. He Yu understood that he no longer had time to break through another realm. He had already faintly sensed the aura of gods and demons while in the Heavenly Dipper layer.

The Great Beast Calamity—it was already imminent!

Alas! I must make some arrangements. I fear the Demon King City must be abandoned. He sighed helplessly in his heart. Once the Era of Giant Beasts began, his cultivation would not be enough to suppress the demons under his command. Even the twenty-five demon kings whose consciousness and sources he controlled might harbor ulterior motives!

Hmph! Even if they have ulterior motives, it does not matter. Once they transform into giant beasts, they will surely be abandoned by the Heavenly Dao. He Yu thought to himself. However, giant beasts could at least dominate an era. To him, they had immense utility value; otherwise, with his demon body at the peak of the late Golden Core stage and his Primordial Avatar at the mid-Loose Immortal stage, he would struggle to take a single step. Encountering any giant beast would be enough to cost him his life.

Whoosh!

Moving at high speed, he transformed into a gold-black rainbow and headed toward the Demon King City, which was faintly visible in the distance.

He entered through the familiar window of the Demon King Palace, submerged into the center of his demon body's brow, and entered the small planar space to suppress it. At this moment, his mid-Loose Immortal cultivation entered the planar space, and a sudden, massive change occurred. Under the influence of the Primordial Avatar, the planar space began to evolve rapidly. The small, square planar space, originally five hundred meters in height, length, and width, began to grow rapidly under the suppression of the Primordial Avatar and the illumination of the gold-black light.

The massive change in the small planar space was within He Yu's expectations. Previously, the Primordial Avatar's advancement by one realm had influenced the planar space, but at most, it had only doubled the speed of evolution. Now, however, both the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend were present—a gathering of the sources of heaven and earth—so it was naturally extraordinary.

Five hundred meters!

Five hundred and fifty meters!

Six hundred meters!

One thousand meters!

The small planar space grew until it reached a thousand meters before stopping, having doubled in size under the influence of the Primordial Avatar and the light of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend.

Time is short, otherwise I could have properly improved the planar space. After all, it is the prototype of a world! He Yu understood the importance of the planar space to him. It had now merged with his sea of consciousness and was completely under his control. Once the planar space developed into a world, he could borrow the power of an entire world for his own use. How sharp a weapon that would be!

Bang!

He waved his hand to withdraw the Lesser Five Elements Formation and threw open the palace doors. His massive crab body slowly emerged, and the figures of the twenty-five demon kings came clearly into view.

"Your subordinates pay respects to the Great King! Congratulations to the Great King for emerging from seclusion!" The twenty-five demon kings felt a shock in their hearts upon seeing He Yu. They sensed that his cultivation was still as unfathomable as before, yet his eyes were now deep and vast to the extreme. Meeting his gaze felt as if their own consciousness was being dragged by He Yu's eyes into a boundless, dark world.

Terrifying!

Regaining their senses, the twenty-five demon kings all lowered their heads, not daring to look again. They knelt and bowed with absolute reverence, their hearts still lingering in fear: The Great King has become even more terrifying; even his gaze is so intimidating to one's consciousness.

"You have all worked hard during this time; this King will not forget your contributions and will surely reward you in the future." He tossed out an empty promise casually; it cost him nothing and did no harm.

As expected, upon hearing these words from He Yu, the twenty-five Demon Kings all beamed with joy, though they claimed they dared not boast of their merits.

"Very well, there is one more matter I need you to attend to: gather all manner of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual essences, spiritual soil, and spiritual water for this King." So-called spiritual soil and spiritual water were substances formed in special locations within the Primordial World, created by the fusion of heaven and earth's spiritual energy with soil and water; they were extremely rare.

A world is divided into the One Origin, Two Poles, Three Talents, Four Symbols, Five Elements, Six Harmonies, Seven Stars, Eight Trigrams, Nine Palaces, and Ten Directions; only when all are complete can it be a Great Thousand World like the Primordial World.

At this moment, He Yu's small planar space was completely devoid of these; the One Origin of chaos and the Two Poles of Yin Yang were entirely absent. The Three Talents could be formed with the help of the Source of Heavenly Gang and Source of Earthly Fiend, but since he could not damage the source of his Primordial Avatar, that was not an option either. He could only start temporarily with the Four Symbols. He could not obtain the true source, but stealing a bit from the Primordial World to incorporate into his own was no great matter. Firstly, the Heavenly Dao had yet to emerge, so it would have no impact; secondly, the Primordial Great Thousand World was wealthy and powerful—stealing a tiny bit would not harm its foundation, not even amounting to a single hair plucked from nine oxen!

Once He Yu issued the order, the twenty-five Demon Kings immediately set out to execute it. The ten-thousand-year-old spiritual essences, spiritual soil, and spiritual water within Demon King City were the first to be collected by He Yu into his planar space. The spiritual soil formed the earth, the spiritual water gathered into lakes, and the spiritual essences were planted everywhere. In an instant, spiritual energy overflowed, filling the entire planar space. Under He Yu's control, the Primordial Avatar suspended in the center of the space continuously utilized this spiritual energy to elevate and improve the planar space.

Time slipped away as countless ten-thousand-year-old spiritual essences, spiritual soil, and spiritual water converged from all directions. With eight thousand lords coming to pay homage and hundreds of millions of minor demons bowing in worship, He Yu seized the time to enjoy his final moment of glory.

While he was plundering the Primordial World, an oppressive atmosphere began to radiate from above the firmament, and the Light of Taichu that illuminated the Primordial World began to grow increasingly dim. This scene stirred terror among all living beings in the Primordial World, yet He Yu understood that the Great Beast Calamity—had arrived!

Is it finally coming? He felt a tremor in his heart; success or failure, honor or disgrace, all rested upon this.