Aberration Phenomena in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin

The tentacles swayed. The creature's eyes blazed with sickly green light — and with a thunderous roar, it vanished from where it stood.

In Youming Palace, the assembled Cat-kin watched the Feral Beasts in the glowing screens descend into frenzy, their expressions shifting uneasily. One by one, their eyes moved to the Tianming Sage.

They assumed he had raised the trial's difficulty again.

But the Tianming Sage stood completely rigid, eyes wide, his face etched with raw disbelief.

His brow furrowed sharply. He spoke in a low voice: "This is impossible... how could this happen?"

At those words, Yemu and the others froze.

Yemu looked at him. "Ancestor, what's wrong?"

The Tianming Sage gave a faint shake of his head, his expression grave. "This trial is cancelled."

"What?!"

Yemu and the others stood in stunned silence, shock written plainly across their faces.

The Tianming Sage offered no explanation. His expression turned cold. He raised a hand and drew it through the air — darkness roiled, and a pitch-black spatial gate materialized before him.

He stepped through it.

The others stared at the space where the gate had been, exchanging uncertain glances.

Then someone cried out: "The screens — look at the screens!"

Faces shifted. All eyes snapped toward the glowing panels.

On one screen, Ye Jing and his elf companion were locked in combat with the Night Demon Wolf. The creature was formidable — two Battle King-rank prodigies, working in tandem, barely managing to hold it at bay.

Then the Night Demon Wolf threw back its head and let out a thunderous roar. Across its body, lumps began to form — as if something were forcing its way through from inside.

The next instant, the creature's hide erupted. Bloody tentacles burst free from the flesh, each one studded with unblinking dark-green eyes that spun and twitched.

Enormous power poured outward from the transformed Night Demon Wolf.

Ye Jing and the elf stood frozen.

A lethal threat crashed over them like a wave of ice. Their bodies went cold, the hair rising along the backs of their necks.

"This is... an Aberration Beast?"

Ye Jing's voice was barely a whisper.

The elf stared in disbelief. "Impossible! There has never been an Aberration Beast in the Land of Origin!"

Not just them — Yemu and the others had gone pale.

Now they understood why their Ancestor had cancelled the trial.

But how could an Aberration phenomenon have occurred in the lower layer of the Land of Origin?!

The assembled Cat-kin were left with nothing but questions.

Before anyone could process it, the transformed Night Demon Wolf — tentacles writhing, green eyes blazing — let out another roar. Dark-green beams of light erupted from its eyes and screamed toward Ye Jing and the elf.

The force behind those beams was staggering. The speed was terrifying. Both fighters threw themselves aside — and realized, with a jolt of horror, that they couldn't move fast enough to dodge.

Then the Tianming Sage appeared between them and the attack.

Darkness surged of its own accord, forming a curtain of black light in front of him. The green beams struck it and stopped dead.

The Night Demon Wolf snarled and spun to flee.

The Tianming Sage glanced at it. Darkness flooded the space around the creature in an instant, wrapping tight — then crushed inward.

**Crack. Crack. Crack.**

The Night Demon Wolf's shriek cut short. It was reduced to a fine red mist.

Only then did Ye Jing and the elf come back to themselves. Shadows of lingering fear clung to their eyes, their foreheads slick with cold sweat.

The Tianming Sage looked at the two, then traced a finger through the air. A pitch-black spatial gate opened.

"Leave," he said mildly. "Both of you."

Ye Jing straightened at once. "Yes, Ancestor!"

He and the elf stepped through. An instant later, they emerged on the plaza — and the sight of Yemu and the others allowed the last coil of dread in their chests to slowly ease.

In another section of the Valley, Ye Heng and Yan Liang had deployed a Combat Technique to conceal their auras — and had been found regardless.

A massive black-armored rock turtle blocked their path.

The creature's eyes burned with deep, unsettling green light. Its head — easily the size of a small vehicle — was covered in grotesque tumors, each one bearing its own eye. At this moment, every last one of those eyes was locked on Ye Heng and Yan Liang.

Something cold settled between the two warriors' shoulders.

This was only a King Grade creature. And yet it radiated the exact same lethal menace as the Emperor Grade python they had encountered moments earlier.

"An Aberration Feral Beast?" Yan Liang's brow furrowed tight, his voice flat and tense. "What is happening? How are there Aberration Feral Beasts in the Land of Origin?"

Ye Heng looked no less grave. "I don't know. But nothing good comes of this."

"**ROAR!!**"

The black-armored rock turtle answered their conversation with a bellow. Torrents of green light erupted from its eyes, aimed straight at the two of them.

The raw power behind the attack was extraordinary — not a step below the Emperor Grade python's offensive force.

Both warriors scattered. Yan Liang's body wreathed itself in black mist; four pairs of wings snapped open, launching him to the creature's flank in an instant. He drove his longsword forward in a flashing arc aimed at the turtle's skull.

A tentacle exploded from beneath the creature's shell.

It came with sudden, crushing force and slammed toward Yan Liang.

He had barely a heartbeat. He yanked his sword back and brought it across his body to block.

**Boom.**

The impact threw him backward. Green beams immediately converged on where he had been.

Yan Liang narrowed his eyes. His wings beat — he vanished before the beams could connect.

They struck the stone wall in silence. No crack, no echo. Only rows of deep, clean pits bored into the rock.

Yan Liang stared at those holes, frowning. He was already lining up another approach when the Tianming Sage materialized between him and Ye Heng.

Both warriors startled.

"Ancestor." Ye Heng inclined his head.

The Tianming Sage nodded, a faint chuckle escaping him.

"The Valley of Night has encountered an anomaly. The trial ends here — the two of you should go."

As he spoke, darkness unspooled from him and swallowed the thrashing creature whole. Cracking sounds rang out through the cavern.

The black-armored rock turtle let out a shrill, ragged cry — then was ground into gore.

Ye Heng and Yan Liang watched in silence, something close to reverence passing through their eyes.

"Yes, Ancestor," Ye Heng said.

The Tianming Sage opened another gate. Both stepped through and were gone.

Then the Tianming Sage vanished as well.

Elsewhere in the Valley, the distant roar of Feral Beasts had reached Lu Yuan — puzzling at first, until his body answered before his mind could.

Inside him, the Evolution Cube began to vibrate.

He went very still. *What?!*

The Evolution Cube had been completely silent this entire time. So why was it suddenly trembling??

While he stood there, suspended between confusion and unease, a rumble rolled through the darkness. Two auras came closing in fast.

Two Night Giant Wolves, black-furred and massive.

Their bodies were wrong. Writhing tentacles had erupted along their hides, and dark-green eyes dotted the tendrils — blinking, turning, unmistakably alive.

Lu Yuan's eyes went wide. "Aberration Feral Beasts?!"

Beside him, Yeye went rigid. The shock on her face was raw.

In the Land of Origin, there should be no Aberration. In all the years anyone could remember — all the long history of this place — nothing like this had ever appeared here.

And yet.

While both of them were still reeling, the Night Giant Wolves roared and charged.

Lu Yuan exhaled slowly. The Great Solar Spirit Body ignited — solar brilliance kindled behind his eyes, golden inscriptions blazed across his forehead, his hair shone with brilliant gold.

Immense power surged through him.

He pulled Yeye behind him. "Stay back," he said, voice calm. "These beasts are strange."

Yeye blinked at his back, then gave a small nod. "Mm."

Lu Yuan disappeared.

The greatsword blazed gold.

Great Solar Spirit Body. Black Steel Force. Heaven-Sundering Slash — all deployed.

Full combat burst, standard state.

Like a sunbeam given an edge, a hundred-meter arc of golden light tore through the darkness and swept toward the Night Demon Wolves.

The creatures snarled. Strange green energy roiled — every eye on every tentacle fired a beam of green light to intercept.

It wasn't enough.

The golden sword beam shredded through the green rays with overwhelming force and swept through one Night Demon Wolf's skull without slowing.

**Shhk!**

Blood fountained — tainted green, and where it splashed on the ground, the stone hissed and corroded.

The Night Demon Wolf's body crashed down. The tentacles coiled and shrieked, then disintegrated to ash.

The second Night Demon Wolf took one look and bolted.

Lu Yuan's expression didn't change. He blinked into position beside it. Another golden arc swept through the dark and cleaved the wolf in two.

He stood over the corpses and watched the tentacles crumble to cinders.

*There it is.*

Two streams of unknown energy seeped into his body.

Not much — less than what a B-rank Aberration Entity would have yielded. Closer to a C-rank.

Still, a quiet satisfaction settled in his chest. *Any unknown energy is worthwhile. Even a little moves the Evolution Cube's metamorphosis forward.*

But the satisfaction didn't last.

He scanned his surroundings. The battle had drawn attention.

Auras were converging — several of them. And among those several, a handful carried a weight that posed a genuine, lethal threat even to him.

Those were originally Sovereign Grade Feral Beasts — and after aberration, each had surged further upward. Still perhaps short of a fully matured Sovereign Grade creature's ceiling, but deeply, genuinely dangerous.

*Unless I throw everything I have at them with no regard for consequences,* he thought, *I might manage a few. But if I limit myself to the Great Solar Spirit Body, Starfield Roaming — even Sacred Brilliance — one of these things might be enough to finish me.*

Too powerful.

His frown deepened.

Then a figure appeared in front of him and Yeye.

Lu Yuan blinked in surprise — and the surprise dissolved almost immediately. *Of course.*

The Tianming Sage.

The trial was being held in the Valley of Night; naturally he had some means of observation. With Aberration phenomena appearing inside, it would have been strange if he hadn't come.

This was no ordinary situation. This might be, in all of the Land of Origin's history, the very first time anything like this had ever happened.

The Tianming Sage glanced at the corpses on the ground. One eyebrow rose slightly. He looked at Lu Yuan.

"You did this?"

"Yes, my lord Saint."

A small smile. "Not bad. Yeye has found herself quite a fine *friend*."

He let the word linger, watching Yeye with a glint of amusement in his ancient eyes.

Yeye looked away. She did not meet his gaze.

*...*

*Every single one of these ancient types is the same,* Lu Yuan thought. *Does living forever just wear the dignity right off?*

He could feel the warmth creeping up the back of his neck.

But the Tianming Sage's smile didn't last either. His expression composed itself as he surveyed the enclosing auras.

"The situation here has taken a strange turn," he said. "You two go. I'll handle this."

Yeye nodded.

Lu Yuan hesitated a beat, then said, "My lord Saint — may I stay and help?"

Yeye's head snapped toward him. She stared, then reached out and caught his hand.

"It's dangerous," she said quietly.

Lu Yuan glanced at the worry on her face and smiled. "Don't worry. I have Spatial Type Combat Techniques — if it comes to it, I can always run."

He knew full well there was risk. But with spatial techniques at his disposal, he had room to maneuver. He could pick his battles — limit himself to King Grade Aberration Feral Beasts, gather unknown energy, stay well clear of anything beyond his threshold.

There were so many Aberration Feral Beasts here. For Lu Yuan, this was a windfall — and he had no intention of letting it pass.

Yeye fell quiet. She thought it through — felt the weight of the powerful auras pressing in from every direction, and understood clearly how wide the gap between her strength and Lu Yuan's truly was. Staying would only pull his attention.

She gave a small nod. Said nothing about staying herself.

Beside them, the Tianming Sage appeared genuinely surprised.

He studied Lu Yuan for a moment, then chuckled. "Human boy... mm. Your name is Lu Yuan, yes? What if I called you A-Yuan?"

"It would be my honor, my lord Saint."

Lu Yuan smiled.

The Tianming Sage's amusement settled into something measured. "A-Yuan — I won't pretend your strength isn't real. But the Emperor Grade Feral Beasts after aberration are no small matter. Some may have developed unpredictable abilities." A brief pause. "There's also something I should warn you about: in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin, Aberration Feral Beasts and Aberration phenomena are far from uncommon. If you are killed by an Aberration Feral Beast here... that is a permanent death. You will not revive in the real world. Knowing that — do you still want to stay?"

Ice flooded through Lu Yuan's chest.

*Killed by an Aberration Feral Beast in the Land of Origin... permanent death? No revival?*

*And the Upper Layer — Aberration Feral Beasts and Aberration phenomena, far from uncommon?*

He hadn't known that. He'd asked Li Qinghe about the Upper Layer once, and she had given him very little.

He hadn't imagined the Upper Layer would harbor Aberration phenomena. Aberration Feral Beasts.

*But why? This area has always been clean. How could Aberration have appeared here now — suddenly, without warning?*

His mind churned with questions he had no answers to.