The astral cosmos sea was supposed to be an object capable of storing anything without life. Xiang Shaoyun's astral cosmos sea, on the other hand, defied all common sense and could store even living beings.

Of course, storing lifeless objects and living beings required different methods. The former only required him to scan the object with his consciousness, whereas the latter required him to form a connection with the being he intended to store. Only when both parties had the same intention would he be able to store the living being.

Xiang Shaoyun had assumed that this clump of dark origin energy was just an object capable of being directly absorbed into his astral cosmos sea. But when he tried to store it, he failed and sensed a willpower fighting against his.

"What is going on? Is there a living being in this clump of energy?" Xiang Shaoyun muttered in confusion.

After more observations, he confirmed that there was no life in the clump of energy. It was simply energy. The so-called origin energy was the purest form of a particular energy. Although it was not a living being, it possessed its own willpower, and because of that, the astral cosmos sea couldn't store it like a regular lifeless object.

The only way of storing it was through either erasing its willpower or subjugating it. That placed him in a difficult position. His failure made him extremely gloomy. If there weren't all those spatial crested snakes around, he could take his time slowly refining the energy before fusing it with his own willpower and storing it away.

At that thought, he steeled his heart as he thought, These spatial crested snakes are incredibly harmful. Today, I shall eliminate them for the greater good before taking this dark origin energy for myself.

He acted on that thought immediately, and he noiselessly appeared near the snakes. Using his fingers as a blade, he activated his dark energy and slashed the snakes. Instantly, tens of the snakes were killed. The other snakes were alerted and immediately vanished into thin air.

Hiding amid the void, they started searching for their enemy to no avail. In this space of darkness, Xiang Shaoyun's trait of invisibility had been greatly enhanced. One could say that he could stay hidden for unlimited time here. That was why he had the courage to attack all these snakes.

When the snakes failed to find their enemy, they gradually appeared near the dark origin energy again. Once again, Xiang Shaoyun attacked and killed a bunch of them. After a few repetitions, about half the snakes were killed. As for the others, they all fled after feeling threatened.

After spending some time observing, Xiang Shaoyun found that new spatial crested snakes were no longer appearing. Only then did he start dealing with the dark origin energy.

He used the most commonly used method, absorbing the dark origin energy by circulating his cultivation method. His first step was to cram his dark star full of energy. Each strand of origin energy he absorbed brought with it a dense and pure dark power.

Only a short while had passed when Xiang Shaoyun sensed that his dark star was completely full, reaching a point he couldn't even compress the energy within anymore. Part of the reason he couldn't compress it was the purity. At this point, his only option was to cram his other eight stars full as well before converting his energy into draconic aura. He would then be able to advance into the third stage.

And now, the disadvantage of cultivating nine powers showed. If he only cultivated one power, just this clump of dark origin energy would be enough for him to advance several stages in a row, perhaps even bringing him straight to the Sovereign Realm.

With his dark star full, he was forced to channel the energy into his bloodline instead, trying to further awaken his bloodline power. As his bloodline power grew, Xiang Shaoyun sensed that his Imperial Nether Clan talents were improving. He even awakened a new ability—Nethergate.

Nethergate was an extremely tricky ability to deal with, one that could be activated by gathering dark elemental devilish energy through his bloodline. It was capable of shifting an opponent's energy into the void, causing the opponent's attacks to be harmless. With enough strength, one could even banish an opponent into the void.

It was an ability that was supposed to only awaken after one reached the Devil Sovereign realm or above. For Xiang Shaoyun to awaken it now, it was evident his bloodline had been purified significantly.

Xiang Shaoyun was completely out of words. "The Imperial Nether Clan is truly scary. Each ability is inconceivable. No wonder they are one of the Four Paramount Clans."

He tried activating the ability, but even after using the entirety of his bloodline power and astral energy, he could only form a door as big as a head. The door was so small it couldn't even shift a regular attack. Thus, it wouldn't be able to display his ability's incredible prowess.

Xiang Shaoyun understood that although he had awakened the Nethergate ability, his cultivation level was not high enough to display its true might. Instead of wasting his time thinking about it, he refocused on the clump of dark origin energy and tried to think of a way to absorb it.

"Right, since it can fight my willpower, I will try influencing it with my will, making it obey," decided Xiang Shaoyun after thinking about it for a while.

And thus, he sat down cross-legged before the dark origin energy, trying to penetrate it with his consciousness. With the filthless soul at the level of a Sovereign, he was able to create a rather powerful pressure.

Since the dark origin energy was without an owner, its consciousness was rather pure and innocent. Soon, Xiang Shaoyun's consciousness penetrated inside, but he still couldn't store it away.

"What do I lack?" Xiang Shaoyun sank into confusion.

He tried activating his dark star, forming a resonance with the dark origin energy, before pulling with his consciousness. Finally, the dark origin energy reacted. It started enveloping Xiang Shaoyun, and it moved so fast he couldn't even escape in time.

He was trapped right in the middle of the clump, allowing him to sense the deeper truth of darkness. The energy also started permeating his body, forcefully entering his dark star, causing the star to expand rapidly. It spoiled the balance between his nine stars, and since he couldn't convert the excess energy into draconic aura, he had a feeling his dark star was on the verge of implosion.

"I refuse to believe I can't subdue you! Refine!" Xiang Shaoyun roared and channeled the excess energy into his astral cosmos sea, using it to enlarge the astral cosmos sea.

He also set his Nether Soul Domain free, completely trapping the dark origin energy within the domain before releasing all 8,000 of his ghostrunes. As the ghostrunes were of a similar origin with the Imperial Nether Clan, they also longed greatly for the dark origin energy. They started devouring the dark origin energy like crazy. Even his filthless soul benefited greatly.