The black hole was a quintessential part of Yan Zaizen's soul, and its strength was derived from such. With his current soul cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm, utilizing it would've been too extraneous on his soul, and if he wished to devour an existence such as a Yaoguai, then the power required would be too immense to withstand. His soul could even shatter.
Yet, Yan Zaizen was attempting this very action. The reason was because his soul was no longer the same, and its foundation was no longer just the soul, but his dao! Essentially, it can withstand more as the pressure would be shared mutually by his dao.
He may not be able to exhibit the highest degree of strength possible, but to him, that was fine.
"Even if I do it little by little, I want see how long you can last!" Yan Zaizen was intent on devouring this Yaoguai, especially when he felt its strength and body composition. The Yaoguai were like embodiments of the heavens. The physical forms of heavens!
It was like the inverse of the Border Expanse's odd creatures. They both had strange and unfathomable appearances, sometimes human, sometimes beast, sometimes even objects, sometimes all three, and they existed solely as one thing or another.
The creatures in the Border Expanse was sealed away from the thirty-three heavens, only a few capable of breaking free to a certain extent, such as the mouth-balls.
However, the creatures in the Heavenly Origin Grounds were not. Instead, they freely roamed and was widely accepted and used as cultivation resources by the cultivators here or for tempering.
If the Border Expanse creatures were embodiments of spirituality, then Heavenly Origin Grounds were embodiments of essence. When Yan Zaizen awakened the abilities of the black hole, he had learned its intent to devour the earth, the sky, and heaven. This had thoroughly shaken him to the core, but as he learned more about the multiverse, it started to make sense.
Somehow, his soul bloodline wanted to exceed the heavens. When he pondered on this, he wondered the effectiveness it had on the heavens, and his attempt now was to see its effects!
He had the feeling that he could devour and consume Yaoguai, the embodiments of the heavens, and comprehend their mysteries just like in the Non-Verse!
The black hole spiraled rapidly. There was no sound being emitted, but every rotation drew in faint wisps of black and purple smoke from the Yaoguai's insides. In the Yaoguai, there was no organs, no blood, or cells. They were almost entirely composed of essence of the heavens.
The majority of this was located in one spot, their hearts. This heart wasn't always in the same location for each Yaoguai and this one's heart was located in its head. Yan Zaizen rested firmly in its torso, so he couldn't reach the heaven heart through normal means. Despite where he was located, the Yaogaui couldn't sense him. Yan Zaizen had used the laws of mimicry to make his signature the same as the Yaoguai, not even a Heavenly Creation expert would be able to sense him.
"Slowly, slowly." Reminding himself to be patient and cautious, he slowly devoured these wisps of essence. As he did, he felt a warmth surge within his soul. This warmth was a first, having never experienced it before.
With furrowed brows, he entered introspection. His soul was a mixture of dao energy and his soul bloodline existing in unison. His dao heart was being surrounded by avatars of laws. It was as if his dao heart was the sun and the law avatars were planets in unique orbits.
Yan Zaizen couldn't help but be shocked as he looked at the law avatars. There were thousands of them, ranging from Mortal, World, and Imperials. The Mortal Laws were the most common. One could see that the laws were grouped together in a particular way.
Yan Zaizen looked at the area that housed the many concepts of Fire Laws that he comprehended. He could see a blazing sun, an icy-blue flame, a whirlpool of emerald fire, and more. However, they hovered together peacefully as if they were a close-knit family.
The warmth didn't originate from these concepts of fire. Well, not all of them. There was a fire of violet. This was different than a flame, as this was more chaotic and disorderly than an actual flame. It was as if it was in chaos and intent on incinerating all in its path into nothing, not even ash.
This chaotic fire was glowing brighter than the others around it. It seemed to gain power with each passing second. Originally, it was at the initial-Manifestation level, but now, Yan Zaizen could see it was at the minor-Manifestation level. He couldn't help but be shocked as he felt new found insights within his soul flame. These insights were birthed into being as if they were always there, they were always his.
This wasn't the only avatar being influenced. Yan Zaizen could see a violet bow and arrow glow brighter than ever before, which was also a Mortal Law. This was one of Yan Zaizen's first laws he had learned - Archery of Pure Destruction.
It has been a while since he utilized this law, but because of its significance, he had never forgotten it during his cultivation. It was originally at the initial-Domain. Now, it seemed to be approaching the minor-Domain level.
"I'm devouring the Yaogaui's insights into destruction?!" Yan Zaizen was elated! In the Non-Verse, he had done something very similar, and devised the law of purity. Suddenly, he felt his path of cultivation of the heavens to clearly reveal itself!
This also confirmed one matter that was only a theory!
The thirty-three heavens were not real! At least, they were most definitely not the Heavenly Universe, or even a universe. No wonder Ezekiel said top-tier experts would say such things!
If it was a universe, then Yan Zaizen should've been able to devour its essence just like the Non-Universe, just like the Yaoguai! But, he couldn't.
With eyes more brilliant than ever, he started to devour more carefully to ensure not a single ounce of essence was wasted. He even got into a meditative stance and started to ponder on the insights he gained.
The Yaoguai of death and destruction was traveling leisurely, roaring here and there, traveling freely unbeknownst of the parasite within its body. It was even unaware of the fact it was being followed, observed, and in danger!
The old captain on the skyship that resembled Esi's had narrowed eyes as he looked at the Yaoguai frolicking about.
"Is he really dead?" It had already been an hour, but there was no response from the young man who recklessly entered the belly of the beast. He was even speculating if there was a trick used, but with his cultivation base, not many tricks from a fifth-floor Heavenly Genesis junior could escape his eyes.
"Captain, should we subdue?" The first mate, the man who had addressed the old man several times before, spoke referring to the Yaoguai. If he was alone, perhaps the first mate's first instincts would've been to run, but with the old man here, what was a royal Yaoguai that equaled the ninth-floor? Therefore, he was worry-free.
The old captain didn't respond, but furrowed his brows. Soon after, a helpless sigh could be heard. "Do it."
Woosh!
Just as he said that, a grey-robed figure appeared out of thin air, as if it had been out of time. The old man's eyes turned to see the figure, and the figure looked towards the old man immediately in response. This caused the old man to feel his heart tremble slightly.
They were currently in a concealed state, but this figure could perfectly deduce his location and even notice his gaze. What's worse, he couldn't discern the figure's cultivation. At least, not its exact details.
However, he wasn't an old monster for nothing. "A celestial?" As he said those words, the eyes masked behind a hood's shadow glowed brilliantly.
A Celestial wasn't some god or higher form of Heavenly Cultivation, but instead, another form of cultivation path relating towards essence. In much the same way that Phantasm, Soul Source, and Soul Faith Paths all stems from spirituality. Or, the Herculean and Fiendgod Path focuses on physicality.
It was the Celestial Path, but the only issue was that one needed the blood of a Celestial to cultivate it. There was even several regions ruled by these so-called Celestials.
This was why Celestials weren't as mystical in the Heavenly Origin Grounds as they were in the thirty-three heavens. However this was easily explained as Celestials were forbidden from entering the thirty-three heavens, so they were only found in the Heavenly Origin Grounds.
The grey-robed figure turned its gaze away, looking at the Yaoguai. The figure's bright eyes showed some confusion, and even some anxiety.
While this was happening, the Oneuli Empire's Skyship had reached the area where the grey-robed figure split into thousands of other figures. They had been there for a few minutes trying to figure out the direction.
"The person we were tracking split off into thousands of time signatures, trying to throw us off our path. We were careless when locking on," Park Ji-Hu apologetically said. However, Yi Seo-Jun merely shrugged.
"We've already blocked the Non-Universe's connection to the Heavenly Origin Grounds within the Dusk Zone, so whoever they are wouldn't be able to sense any danger from our approach. This makes our job easier, as they will believe to have lost us and lower their guard further." As Yi Seo-Jun said this, he pulled out a black stone that seemed to swirl with the essence of impurity. It was small, as small as a pebble, but it seemed capable of affecting all in the world!
If Yan Zaizen were to see this, his entire body would feel as if it had met its natural enemy.
The pebble shined with an inky, impure light. This light was all encompassing but it pointed towards a direction! South!
When the others saw this, even Park Ji-Hu, they took a step back on instinct alone. Only Yi Seo-Jun would dare to directly touch such a thing, but to anyone else, they'd likely die right then and there.
"We go south," Yi Seo-Jun ordered. Beneath his calm gaze was a light filled with intense ambition and anticipation.