Passing through the array covering the lake and into the separate space beneath it felt different from any spatial movement Yao Jun had done before. It was like sinking into and becoming one with the water, to the point where his senses temporarily extended outwards against his will, assimilating with the lake.

And thanks to the fact that his senses extended in this manner, he was able to see that Zhuan Yi did her part perfectly. Her Qi shot out the moment the sinking sensation washed over Yao Jun, accurately striking the three water drops that could open, and thus close, the array. The light of the sun that shone down from above was blocked out as the array closed above them, sealing them inside and the others outside.

There was a chance that some of the stronger people outside may have seen how the array was opened earlier, but the odds that they got the time to memorize the energy signature of the specific three drops of water was low. It wasn't guaranteed, but they should have bought themselves plenty of time with this, hopefully, it would be enough.

The odd and unfamiliar sensation didn't persist for too long, Yao Jun's senses were quickly retracted as the strange sensation receded. But it happened in a manner that could only be called fitting for such a strange sensation, it felt as if he separated from the surrounding water by becoming a drop that fell down like rain.

But luckily, that odd sensation only lasted for a split second before it vanished and returned full control of his body to him. He was actually falling at the moment so he corrected his position, his feet quickly touching soft earth as he landed. His broken hands were already starting to repair themselves thanks to the abundant life force in his body, he luckily had Sirius' help, otherwise, his current state would be much worse.

A few soft thuds accompanied his landing, Sirius and the others touching down not far from him. The thread tethering them had come undone at some point, probably due to the strange sensation that came with passing through the array.

Yao Jun turned his head a few times to take in the surroundings, and he felt like he was starting to understand the style of the Thousand Arms Master a little as he saw the land. It was a near-perfect match to the second trial they faced in his tomb, a brightly lit plain with ankle-high grass.

"I'd say that I wasn't expecting this, but I don't even know what I was expecting to begin with. We might face more of the slime-like enemies we faced in the tomb, don't lower your guard."

Ba-Shei and Sirius immediately tensed up as Yao Jun spoke, the peaceful air here had been so intrusive that it had even seeped into their minds for the short second they had been taking in their surroundings. Compared to them, Zhuan Yi was much more at ease, her gaze slowly roaming across the surroundings.

"No, there won't be any enemies here. The ancestor said so, didn't he? That he'd give you the reward hidden in the lake? The array itself is the trial, what's in here is only the reward, nothing more. The way we used to enter can't be considered correct, but you performed your part of the deal so it's only appropriate that the ancestor upholds his own part. Look, you can already see it."

Zhuan Yi stretched out her arm and pointed skyward, Yao Jun tracing her finger until his gaze landed on the bright sun that lit up everything around them. The sun was slowly descending as he looked at it, growing a bit dimmer with each second so that it wasn't completely blinding. Naturally, as the source of light was growing dim, the surroundings also slowly darkened.

The sun moved quite slowly, but the slowly ramping up pressure bearing down on Yao Jun's shoulder made it extremely clear that it was getting closer with each passing second. He could sense extremely pure and powerful energy gathered within the sun, but the attribute of the energy was different from what he had expected so he came to the conclusion that his original guess about the reward's identity was wrong.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the orb finished descending, landing quietly on the earth in front of Yao Jun. It had grown so dim that it was no longer emitting any light, only a few faint stars casting a glimmer of light on the surroundings so that it wasn't pitch black. Now that it had finally landed and shown its true appearance, Yao Jun took the chance to properly inspect what used to be a small sun.

Since the Thousand Arms Master said it would be useful to him, he originally thought that it would be a bit of blood from his body. But the item resting quietly in front of him was a transparent orb, a strange scene continuously playing out within the confines of the orb.

As he looked on, a spark of fire turned into water, which then froze to ice before splitting open into earth, which then bloomed with a large tree. The tree bore fruits that fell down, splitting open and forming animals that rose up to feast on the trees leaves. The animals released excrement that morphed into animals, lion-like predators that lunged at and killed the previous animals. The lions ate their prey and released more excrement, which in turn became new animals that preyed upon the lions, some of the excrement even turned into new plants.

The scenery changed time and time again, every second showing a whole new world the preyed upon the old one. Yao Jun couldn't think of any scenery he had seen that came close to this one in peculiarity, it was as if the orb housed a self-contained cycle of life. It was a strange sight, but he luckily had someone more knowledgable with him.

"The great ancestor's Evolution Heart... Finally, it is time for it to leave this damp tomb."

Zhuan Yi's voice was heavy with emotion as she looked at the orb, her eyes had even turned red and moist. Her kin had spent countless years in this area, the number of times they had failed to open the array to free this item was so large that they had long since lost count. But now it was free, and while it may not land in their hands, it would at least land in the hands of someone who had helped them and could be considered their benefactor.

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"An Evolution Heart, what is it?"

This was the second time Yao Jun had heard Zhuan Yi mention this particular phrase, the first time had been when she finally got to meet her ancestor. A single look was enough to tell him that it was extraordinary, but as to its true nature, he could only call himself ignorant.

"The Evolution Heart is the core of my species, in human terms, it would be the dantian, and in Demonic beast terms, it would be the demon crystal. But that's just a simplified version, very few other races actually have something akin to our Evolution Heart. That is because our race is something truly special, a concept given life. According to the records left behind by our ancestor, our race was a by-product that came about because of a battle between two powerhouses. One was the embodiment of evolution, the other was the arbiter of life and death. And by a strange coincidence, the arbiter managed to give life to the concept of evolution contained within his opponent's attacks."

Yao Jun had formed some guessed about Zhuan Yi's race, but the truth was definitely quite far removed from any of his guesses. He of course knew about elementals, the elements themselves had gained sentience and shape thanks to a great influx of Qi. But this was something else entirely, a concept had no physical form or the like so how could it ever hope to gain a body and sentience?

"And that was how our ancestor was born, the very concept of evolution given form and life. And at the core of all that, rests this Evolution Heart. The energy within it is ever-changing and malleable, it can take in all types of energy and twists in tune with them, neutralizing and eventually countering them. As long as the Evolution Heart remains, our kin can adapt to any environment, any attack, any law, and any element. If the difference in power is great enough then we can be killed before we can adapt, but as long as we have the chance to experience an attack three or four times then we can completely neutralize it. In a way, we have no natural predators, because we ourselves are the natural predators of all creation."

Zhuan Yi spoke about it very grandly, and it was definitely well deserved, adapting to any law was an advantage that was so absurd it was basically unfair. But if things really were that perfect and they really were the apex race, then how come they were caught by the people from Basilik's Tail? Clearly, having all the advantages in the world was worth nothing if you weren't able to properly utilize them when it mattered.

"The ancestor wasn't lying to you, this Evolution Heart will be extremely extremely extremely useful to you. It can take in and attune to all energy so just about everyone can absorb the energy it holds, it can give your soul and body cultivation an extraordinary boost. Once you've fully taken it in then you will also acquire a fragment of its special property, you'll find yourself taking less and less damage from successive attacks using the same laws."

Yao Jun could only nod his head at Zhuan Yi's assessment, just the special property this Evolution Heart would give you was enough to make it an item countless people would kill for. And it couldn't be forgotten that she was most likely speaking about normal Evolution Hearts when she made this assessment. This was the Evolution Heart of her race's ancestor, the first of the line, there was no telling how great the effects of it would be.

But the question was, would Yao Jun actually use this grand treasure in the way that it was intended? In the end, the answer to that question would be one that was bound to disappoint anyone that had ties to Zhuan Yi's race and thus had knowledge about the Evolution Hearts.

Yao Jun slowly let out a long breath, mentally preparing himself to take this already risky move to the next level. He removed his shirt and his pants, even sliding off the ring that Guo Luo had given him and the bracelet that Yao Xuelian had bought for him. He stored everything carefully into his interspatial ring and then took out the jug of wine he had been given by Chang Yun in the past.

Wearing nothing but a brown cloth to cover his nether region, he sat down with crossed legs. He slid off his interspatial ring and tossed it to Ba-Shei, whose expression was somewhat overcast since he was guessing at what Yao Jun was about to try. But unlike Ba-Shei and Sirius, Zhuan Yi was completely lost. Yao Jun had just suddenly stripped down without a word and then sat down, it was pretty close to the strangest thing she had seen him do so far.

But if that strangeness caught her off-guard, then his next move completely floored her. Or perhaps it was better to say that the thing he revealed completely floored her. He raised his arm to his chest and then plunged his hand into his own flesh, his fingers digging around for a bit before he pulled back his hand. And when his fingers left his chest, they were clutching onto a small black fragment. The fragment seemed completely lifeless, but it caught Zhuan Yi's full attention the moment she saw it.

"Is...Is that a piece of an Origin Heart?! How can you house that in a human body?"

It may not radiate an ounce of energy since it was broken by Lang Kong, but Zhuan Yi was from an extremely ancient race so she was exceedingly familiar with this extraordinary item. And it was because she was familiar with it that she was shocked by the fact that Yao Jun so casually tore it out of his chest.

"Is it that strange? From what I've heard, there are at least a few Authority users in this universe."

Yao Jun found her reaction somewhat hard to understand, was there such a commotion ever time an Authority user showed himself? But as he quickly learned, that confusion was only born because of the fact that he had jumped to conclusions in the past.

"You thought that all Authority users carried pieces of an Origin Heart with them? Well, you're wrong, an Authority user is called that because he has been granted the Authority to use a special law or ability by the Origin Heart of the universe, birthing a small centre of newfound energy in their bodies. At best they get to control a core part of that Authority, giving them a great edge over other Authority holders. Tell me, which one do you think will be stronger, the Origin Heart itself or the Authority it gives out?"

It was a rather simple truth for most people, but it was one that Yao Jun hadn't actually considered. He simply knew that he had been called an Authority user in the past when he used his God Gate so he assumed that all other Authority users had something similar to a God Gate. But now that he learned the truth, he had to admit that it made sense.

The Origin Heart was the very core of the universe, the source of everything. If it was going to split itself up and hand out pieces to others then it was inevitable that it would weaken itself, Yao Jun's own universe's Origin Heart was only like that because of some special circumstances.

He gained a bit more understanding, but he still didn't truly know how extraordinary it was to carry a piece of an Origin Heart. At the same time, whether or not he would actually care if he knew was something only he knew. At least for the moment, he decided to not think too much about it, pushing the small fragment closer to the transparent orb.

"You... What are you planning?"

Zhuan Yi's voice couldn't help but falter slightly as she saw Yao Jun's actions, she had no idea what he was hoping to achieve, or what might happen. But Yao Jun's expression didn't waver in the slightest.

"Breaking it wide open."

The fragment was germinating something, growing something by absorbing energy. Now he was going to give it so much energy that it could gorge until it burst, now he was going to place his bet on whatever was germinating in the fragment.