Cultivation Online

“I just know,” Yuan calmly shrugged.

“Fine, keep it to yourself,” Duk said with a snort. “But I’ll definitely learn it one day! Just you wait!”

He assumed Yuan was simply keeping the power to himself, which was hardly unusual. After all, only fools would share their powers so easily.

Unbeknownst to Duk, however, it was a power that only Eternals could wield. Even if he spent his entire life chasing after it, he would never be able to learn it.

Shortly after defeating the Forsaken, Yuan resumed his journey toward the Ninth Valley.

The closer they drew to the Ninth Valley, the more Forsaken appeared to confront them.

Now that Yuan knew his Eternal Essence was attracting them, he refrained from revealing it unless he intended to kill his opponent.

Over the next three years, Yuan slew more than a dozen Forsaken, each one at the True God realm. This meant he had effectively killed over a dozen beings equivalent to Cultivation Gods.

Even with his Demon Sealing Aura giving him an advantage against demons, such an achievement was nothing short of astonishing. If news of this spread throughout the Nine Heavens, it would shock the entire world—especially since Yuan had only just stepped into the God Ascension Realm.

‘If he’s already this powerful as a False God, I cannot imagine how terrifying he’d be once he steps into the True God Realm…’ Lev swallowed nervously as he watched Yuan kill True Gods after True Gods.

Meanwhile, Duk devoted all of his attention to Yuan’s Eternal Essence, carefully observing it whenever Yuan used it. However, the moment the Eternal Essence faded, the memory of it would also slip from his mind, as though he was fundamentally incapable of grasping it.

‘If only I could grasp that power!’ Duk gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, Yuan began to slow down when something on the distant horizon caught his attention.

At first glance, it looked as though the crimson grass of the Fourth Valley had returned. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out to be something else entirely.

“What is that…? A crimson sea?” Lev asked aloud as he stared into the distance. “No… it looks like… hair?”

Upon closer inspection, the crimson “grass” turned out to be a vast sea of countless crimson threads that resembled strands of hair.

“Goodness… We should still be in the Eighth Valley,” Duk muttered, his body trembling as he stared at the crimson hair with clear unease. “To think it has spread this far already…”

Yuan narrowed his eyes at the crimson sea and asked, “What exactly are we looking at?”

“Supreme Ruler Dena,” Duk responded.

“Excuse me?” Yuan raised an eyebrow, convinced he had misheard.

“You heard me right,” Duk said grimly. “That… is Supreme Ruler Dena. Not long after she arrived in the Final Valley, she began devouring everything within it and anything that entered her territory. Countless demons have already been consumed by her.”

“Wait here for a moment,” Duk said before suddenly flying off somewhere.

Several minutes later, Duk returned with a magical beast in his grasp.

“Watch this.”

Duk threw the magical beast high into the air above the crimson sea.

As if they possessed a will of their own, the crimson hair shot upward, snatching the beast from the sky like a toad’s tongue striking a fly, piercing the prey the instant it was captured.

Once the prey was caught, the crimson hair pulled the magical beast inward, embracing it like the sea swallowing a ship, until it disappeared entirely.

After witnessing such a horrifying scene, Lev felt every hair on his body stand on end, his body trembling uncontrollably with fear.

“As you can see, anything that tries to get close will be devoured,” Duk sighed. “Forget about meeting Supreme Ruler Dena. You’ll be consumed by her long before you even reach her in the Final Valley. Hell, even Absolute Gods would rather move to the Eighth Valley than deal with Supreme Ruler Dena.”

Lev then said, “He’s right, Yuan. This is beyond fighting True Gods. Let’s just turn around and give up on meeting Supreme Ruler Dena.”

Yuan turned to face them and said with a calm smile, “Sorry, but that is not an option for me.”

“Why are you so intent on meeting her, anyway? Now that she’s turned Forsaken, I doubt you’ll even be able to have a proper conversation.”

“I have my reasons.”

Yuan looked at Lev and continued, “Thanks for accompanying me all this way. It’ll be too dangerous for you to continue following me, so just wait here for my return.”

“Wait for your return…?” Lev repeated in a daze.

In his heart, he was convinced that Yuan would never return if he entered Supreme Ruler Dena’s territory. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“Trust me. I’ll come back.”

Yuan said it as if he had read Lev’s thoughts.

Without waiting for their response, Yuan immediately flew into Supreme Ruler Dena’s territory.

“My god! He’s actually doing it!” Lev exclaimed in shock as he watched Yuan soar into the crimson sea.

The crimson hair attacked Yuan the moment he stepped into its territory, even though he was still hiding his presence with Shadow Veil.

“So hiding my presence doesn’t matter…” Yuan muttered.

Abandoning the attempt to conceal himself, he focused entirely on evasion as the crimson strands lunged at him without pause. When a single strike failed, the crimson hair adapted, attacking from every direction as its strands lashed toward him like countless grasping hands.

Before long, the attacks became too numerous for Yuan to dodge alone, forcing him to fight back.

Wielding the Demon Devouring Sword, he cut down every strand that approached him. But even with his Supreme Sword Aura, he found it surprisingly difficult to slice through the crimson hair, almost as if every strand of hair was a Celestial-grade treasure.

Meanwhile, Duk and Lev continued to watch from afar.

“That lunatic is… smiling?” Duk muttered in disbelief when he saw a smile forming on Yuan’s face amidst the relentless attacks.