Chapter Twenty-Four: The Whole Story

As evening fell, Peng Lei staggered to the door of Yao Ye's room. "Senior brother, Brother Lei! Why aren't you lying down to rest? What are you doing here?" Xiao Xiao and Liu Xin exclaimed in unison.

"It's all because of my little junior brother that I was so badly injured! I was the one who brought this upon him..." Peng Lei lowered his head, full of self-reproach.

"Senior brother, you can't blame yourself for this. I doubt even Yao Ye knows what really happened. Stop blaming yourself. What you should do now is focus on recovering." Zhao Mu stepped forward and spoke gently to Peng Lei.

"It's fine. My internal injuries have mostly healed; these are just flesh wounds now. As long as my little junior remains unconscious, my conscience will not let me rest. Don't try to dissuade me. I've made up my mind. I will watch over him until he wakes," Peng Lei declared. Seeing that they could not persuade him, the others could only let him be.

The energy within Yao Ye's body had almost entirely dissipated, and his body had reached the Realm of Carefree Earth. "Old Ding, do you remember the technique I used when I sparred with my senior brother? What exactly happened? How did I unleash such a powerful move? That surge of energy could have easily annihilated anyone at the Spirit-communing level. After it, I found my demon core had lost its brilliance and was powerless to fight again!" Yao Ye gazed at his demon core, which glowed like a star, utterly bewildered.

Old Ding bowed his head in thought, then shook it and replied, "I’m not entirely sure myself. All I know is that a destructive energy radiated from your demon core. Though it was still weak, its destructive force was astounding! If you want to know what happened, I think you'll need to activate the Creation Cauldron again. Perhaps you can use it to deduce the cause."

Yao Ye exhaled softly. "Fortunately, the cauldron's deduction only requires spiritual power, not vital energy, or else I’d have to wait much longer to find out the truth!"

He looked at the emptiness within his body, helpless. "Old Ding, activate the deduction. I won’t be at peace until I understand what happened."

"Very well! I’m curious too." After Old Ding replied, he formed a seal and activated the deduction function of the Creation Cauldron. Yao Ye’s consciousness was soon immersed within the cauldron.

Again and again, Yao Ye replayed the scene of the sparring match, but still found nothing. He decided to focus on understanding his demon core. As he examined it, he recalled the moment he comprehended his cultivation technique. He noticed that the universe had its own central star, pulsating with boundless vitality and light, like the heart of the cosmos.

He discovered that his demon core emitted a radiance akin to that of the central star of the universe. Through repeated observation and deduction, Yao Ye became certain that the energy and brilliance of his demon core were identical to that of the star.

"Could it be that the path I’m destined to walk is to evolve a universe? How could that be possible?" Yao Ye wondered, bewildered by it all.

"Yao Ye, you see it now, don’t you? Your demon core has mutated; it is now like the primordial star at the center of the universe. As for your future, that’s something only you can comprehend. You carry a great responsibility, and until you have grown strong enough, you must not tell anyone about this. If the demon clan learns of it, they will stop at nothing to kill you!" Old Ding warned Yao Ye, his face full of delight. For Yao Ye’s current situation was in perfect accord with the ideals of Qin Haotian, the creator of the Creation Cauldron: to transform one's body into a universe and evolve myriad worlds.

"Don’t worry, Old Ding! I’ll protect myself and grow stronger as quickly as I can!" Yao Ye replied, full of pride.

Old Ding, seeing Yao Ye so happy, hesitated, then said, "Yao Ye, I’d like to ask you a favor. When you’re strong enough, could you help me search for the reincarnation of Qin Haotian?"

Yao Ye nodded without hesitation. "Rest assured, Old Ding. Even if you hadn’t asked, I would do it. Without Senior Qin, I’d have died long ago!" Old Ding smiled in relief at these words.

Through countless experiments and observations, Yao Ye discovered that the energy unleashed in his recent attack was the same as the energy within a star—the very force that sustained its existence. Once expended, it could only be slowly restored.

"I’d better not use that move unless absolutely necessary. One mistake, and I’d be gone for good. This time, my survival was pure luck. This will be my ultimate killing move, but I still need to figure out how I managed to release it; even now, I don’t fully understand," Yao Ye thought, both relieved and apprehensive.

Having grasped the truth, Yao Ye withdrew his spiritual power and returned to his body. His eyes slowly opened...