# Chapter 335: The Guardian

At this stage, both sides could only settle into a war of attrition, probing for weaknesses.

After all, for both the Mirage Dragon and Lu Yuan, even Spirit Power consumption was meaningless — they each possessed infinite reserves. The only path to victory lay in catching the other in a single fatal mistake.

Otherwise, there was simply no way to determine a winner.

Their battle raged on. Thunderous impacts echoed without end above the Mist Forest as churning white fog clashed against the bronze-tinged Dark Domain that spread outward in rippling waves. The two forces collided again and again.

Space itself tore apart in the aftershocks, and the Mist Forest was reduced to devastation.

The battle between the Mirage Dragon and Lu Yuan radiated fluctuations so immense they spanned the entirety of White Cloud Continent. Scores of Battle Emperors and Saints were roused from their affairs and converged toward the source.

Among them were the Cat-kin's Battle Saint, the Tianming Sage; the Nightshade Race's Battle Saint, Gladys; the Ink-Wing Race's Battle Saint, Yan Xing; and many others.

Battle Emperors were even more numerous — Adams, Si Qi, Li Xinghai, and others had all rushed back from the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin to gather at the Mist Forest's edge.

A massive host of powerhouses assembled along the forest's perimeter, staring at the roiling white fog and the Dark Domain flickering with bronze radiance.

Si Qi, Li Xinghai, Adams, and the Tianming Sage stood together.

Under normal circumstances, given the Tianming Sage's Battle Saint cultivation, Si Qi and the others wouldn't have been qualified to stand beside him. But since all of them were connected to Lu Yuan, such distinctions had long since blurred.

The Tianming Sage studied the bronze-lit Dark Domain, an uncertain expression creeping across his face.

"That Dark Domain..." he began slowly. "Doesn't it look somewhat similar to young Yuan's?"

Si Qi and Li Xinghai exchanged a glance, then nodded.

"I was thinking the same thing," Si Qi said. "But Yuan's Dark Domain shouldn't have that bronze glow. There's still some difference, isn't there?"

"Then who's actually in there? Besides Yuan, who in our White Cloud Star Domain possesses that kind of power? And that white fog — is it the Feral Beast from deep within the Mist Forest?"

At those words, something clicked for Li Xinghai. His eyes widened slightly.

"I just thought of something."

The Tianming Sage and the others turned to him with curiosity.

"Old Li, what is it?" Si Qi asked.

Li Xinghai spoke up. "A few years back, Yuan apparently encountered the Feral Beast at the core of the Mist Forest. It was reportedly a Divine Grade Mirage Dragon. He told Qinghe about it at the time, and she asked me as well. I think the thing inside that white fog might be that very Mirage Dragon."

Eyes went wide all around.

After a moment of silence, the Tianming Sage said carefully, "If that's the case, then the white fog most likely conceals the Mirage Dragon — and the one inside that Dark Domain should be Yuan."

Just as they were talking, Gladys flew over with her retinue of Nightshade Race Battle Emperors. Her elegant features were drawn tight with gravity. She swept her gaze across the group, settled on the Tianming Sage, and asked, "Tianming, where's Yuan? With something this significant, hasn't he come? Or is one of those combatants him?"

Behind Gladys, Anastasia watched the Tianming Sage with quiet anticipation.

She had reaped considerable gains during the last Aberration Beast invasion and had been cultivating intensely ever since. She was on the verge of breaking through to Battle Sovereign.

Today's disturbance had drawn her out, curiosity piqued.

Besides, Anastasia had a feeling she might run into Lu Yuan here. Between her training regimen and their usual Communication Crystal exchanges, it had been quite some time since they'd spoken face to face.

Before the Tianming Sage could respond, Yan Xing — the Ink-Wing Race's Battle Saint and an acquaintance of his — flew over as well.

His expression was grave. "Tianming, you're on good terms with Sir Lu Yuan, aren't you? What's happening here? Should we notify him? If something goes wrong, the loss to our entire White Cloud Star Domain would be catastrophic."

Behind Yan Xing trailed Yan Liang, whose expression was conflicted.

Back during the Prodigy Rankings, he'd believed he and Lu Yuan were roughly equals. In the Valley of Night, he discovered that Lu Yuan's strength had far surpassed his own — but he could still barely make out the silhouette ahead of him. Then came the Aberration invasion, and when news broke that Lu Yuan's power had reached War God level, he'd wondered if he'd heard wrong.

After confirming he hadn't, he wondered if he was dreaming.

Only then did it hit him: they weren't even operating in the same dimension of existence.

Now, hearing his own clan's Battle Saint elder speak of Lu Yuan with such deference, the tangle of emotions only deepened.

He shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

The Tianming Sage relayed their earlier speculation to Gladys and Yan Xing.

The Nightshade and Ink-Wing powerhouses all stared in shock.

Gladys and Yan Xing took it in relative stride — they understood Lu Yuan's strength. But those among the Nightshade and Ink-Wing contingents who didn't were left staring at the vast, rippling shockwaves with chills running down their spines.

Even at this distance, they could feel the lethal threat carried by the aftershocks alone.

If they were at the center of that battle — what kind of terrifying scene would that be?

This Lu Yuan, whose name had recently echoed across the entire Star Domain — his power was truly that monstrous?

The silence stretched for a beat before Gladys spoke, her tone dead serious. "Are you certain? It's really Yuan in there?"

The Tianming Sage considered for a moment, then said, "My Yeye was just with Lu Yuan in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin. Let me have someone contact her — we'll know the situation soon enough."

More than a few onlookers cast envious glances at the Tianming Sage. A connection to a powerhouse like that — how many people could only dream of such a thing?

Soon, the Tianming Sage received a reply. His expression turned peculiar.

"Yeye says Yuan left for the Lower Layer of the Land of Origin this morning. Said he was heading to the Mist Forest."

Understanding dawned on everyone as they turned their gazes toward the Dark Domain.

Adams nodded. "Then it's settled — that's Yuan in there."

"I never imagined the Feral Beast at the heart of the Mist Forest could be this powerful. Yuan has killed Divine Grade Aberration Beasts before, yet the creature in the Mist Forest can fight him to a standstill?"

Though they lacked the strength to fully gauge the combatants, they could sense that both auras were roughly equal, and the raging aftershocks suggested an even match.

"So what do we do?" Yan Xing asked.

The Tianming Sage gave him a bemused look.

"What *can* we do? We wait. Or do you think you can intervene in a battle at that level?"

Yan Xing's mouth twitched. "...Then we wait."

Ten days later, Lu Yuan and the Mirage Dragon were still locked in ferocious combat.

Both possessed inexhaustible Spirit Power, immensely powerful physiques, and formidable Mental Power. Even though both were War God–level powerhouses unleashing extreme combat strength, they could sustain this indefinitely.

Yet even after ten days, neither had found a single opening in the other's defenses. The battle remained deadlocked.

**BOOM!!**

After what might have been the thousandth clash, the Mirage Dragon regarded Lu Yuan from across the distance and bared its fearsome jaws in something like a grin.

"Let's stop here. At this rate, neither of us will claim victory."

Lu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then stood down.

In truth, he felt his cultivation time had simply been too short.

At the stage of Divine Grade Transcendent Genes, the Combat Techniques they contained were certainly formidable — but the most precious element was actually the knowledge of Laws encoded within. Only by fully absorbing and assimilating that information could one reach peak strength.

Lu Yuan had refined all his Transcendent Genes to perfection, but his comprehension of Laws remained too shallow. As a result, even though he wielded more Laws than the Mirage Dragon, he couldn't suppress it in combat.

The Mirage Dragon's deep comprehension of Laws had been the decisive equalizer.

Given time — time to deepen his understanding of Laws — the sheer number of Laws at his disposal would let him crush the Mirage Dragon with ease.

While Lu Yuan was lost in thought, the Mirage Dragon spoke again.

"Your strength is impressive. To reach this level in such a short time — you are worthy of being the Inheritor of the Origin."

Lu Yuan smiled. "So you're saying you acknowledge me?"

The Mirage Dragon's gold-green eyes fixed on him. "I do. To have grown this powerful this quickly — there may well be a real chance you'll achieve the Laws Rank."

Relief washed through Lu Yuan. "In that case, Senior Mirage Dragon, what about the Heart of Laws you mentioned?"

The dragon chuckled. "Impatient youth."

But it didn't keep him waiting. One massive claw flexed, and in the next instant, a seemingly unremarkable transparent crystal appeared in its grasp.

Though the crystal looked ordinary, the aura it emanated was profoundly arcane — impossible to ignore.

"Each Heart of Laws allows you to choose one Law for deep-level comprehension," the Mirage Dragon explained. "Past War Gods have used a few of them, but even so, none ever broke through to the Laws Rank. You possess the Cosmic Origin. With both the Heart of Laws and the Cosmic Origin to aid you, your chances of breaking through will be significantly higher."

Lu Yuan eyed the crystal in surprise. "There's more than one Heart of Laws?"

"Of course. These are gemstones formed from the crystallization of Laws across the entire universe. Naturally there's more than one — but they are exceedingly rare. The universe might not produce a single one in hundreds of millions of years."

Astonishment flickered through Lu Yuan's eyes. He hadn't expected the Heart of Laws to be that precious.

As he spoke, the Mirage Dragon sent the crystal floating toward him.

Lu Yuan caught the fist-sized crystal and studied the dragon with curiosity. "Senior, have you absorbed a Heart of Laws yourself?"

The Mirage Dragon smiled. "One."

Lu Yuan nodded.

Even someone as overwhelmingly powerful as the Mirage Dragon had absorbed one and still failed to break through. The difficulty was evidently even greater than he'd imagined.

*Perhaps the Evolution Cube inside me can help somehow.*

While Lu Yuan mulled this over, the Mirage Dragon continued, "When you use the Heart of Laws, it would be best to wait until you've broken through to War God, inscribed every Transcendent Gene, and refined them all to perfection. That way your foundation will be at its most solid, and the probability of a successful breakthrough will be higher."

Lu Yuan nodded. "I will."

The Mirage Dragon returned the nod. Then something complex flickered through its gold-green eyes.

Light blazed from its claw once more.

This time the glow was a deep, luminous blue. When it faded, a crystalline cube rested in the dragon's grasp.

A deep-blue crystalline cube.

The moment Lu Yuan saw it, his eyes went wide with shock.

"That's... the Cosmic Origin?!"

The deep-blue cube radiating that ethereal glow — wasn't that identical to his own Evolution Cube?

Though it appeared slightly smaller than his Evolution Cube had been before its first metamorphosis, and its light was somewhat dimmer.

The Mirage Dragon gazed at the cube in its claw and spoke evenly. "When the Origin Will initialized the Cosmic Origin and fused it with a living being, it split the Origin into several pieces as a safeguard against the unexpected. What merged with you was only the core fragment. What I hold is another shard."

It raised its head to look at Lu Yuan, gold-green eyes gleaming.

"I am one of the guardians of the Origin fragments — and one of the examiners of the Inheritor. Had your growth failed to earn my recognition, I would have extracted the Origin from your body and bestowed it upon another being, starting the process anew. That, too, was part of the mission the Origin Will entrusted to me." The dragon paused. "But since you have earned my recognition... this fragment is yours."

With a thought, the Mirage Dragon sent the deep-blue cube drifting toward Lu Yuan.

Inside him, the Evolution Cube trembled violently — shaking with an intensity he had never experienced before.

Lu Yuan understood. After all, these were fragments of the same source.

The Evolution Cube — no, the Cosmic Origin — was driven by pure instinct to reunite with itself.

The Origin fragment hovered in the air for only a moment before the Cosmic Origin within Lu Yuan's body pulled it in. It became a streak of light and plunged into him.

In the next instant, the fragment merged with the Evolution Cube inside him.

Deep blue radiance blazed outward, suffusing Lu Yuan's entire body.

He could feel it — a transformation at the deepest level. It was the same sensation of life ascending that accompanied a gene breakthrough, yet incomparably more potent.

Every attribute surged. His body, his Mental Power, even his very cognition grew sharper and more agile. Mysteries of Laws that had eluded him before now unraveled with ease.

It was an enhancement in every conceivable dimension.

The magnitude of it left him reeling.

The Mirage Dragon's voice echoed across the stillness.

"The mission I carried for all these years — it can be considered fulfilled at last."

Lu Yuan snapped back to the present and looked at the dragon. Recalling its earlier words, he spoke with cautious uncertainty.

"Senior... you said you're *one of* the guardians of the Origin fragments. Does that mean there are other fragments out there — and other guardians?"