Chapter 1828 Chapter 1821: ACT II (5) |
"..." Wei Wuyin blankly stared at his clenched fist, clutched firmly by Long Shiya's hand, his posture the perfect example of ease, and his aura flowing without the slightest disturbance. The monstrous strength of Wei Wuyin's Draconic Ascension-transformed physical body was halted casually by this hulking Supreme Sage known as Abhorrent Sky!
'Probing attack?' Wei Wuyin, for the first time, felt the immense strength of Resonant Qi cultivated by a Supreme Sage. It was powerful and profound, far exceeding qi, astral force, mystic force, and mystic power by no small degree.
Despite using his entire depth of spiritual and physical strength to a maximum, Long Shiya was unmoved.
Wei Wuyin's body grew hazy. Long Shiya didn't let go of his fist, yet the resonant qi of the heavens engulfing the fist was unable to stop his retreat, allowing him to flicker a few hundred feet away in an instant. Throughout it all, Long Shiya watched with impeccable tracking, following him throughout his shift through the Void.
"Your Martial Arts is rooted in time, space, and can freely access the Void? What miraculous martial bloodline power!"
Long Shiya was commented genuinely, especially as someone who cultivated primarily as a Martial Cultivator, those who pursued peak physical strength. The vast majority of cultivators' bloodline essence was physical essence with little distinction, with some rare exceptions.
"There's also an exceedingly ancient and mysterious power within it!" Long Shiya was growing increasingly interested as he observed Wei Wuyin's Draconic Ascension, sensing the infused Magi Bloodline. "Unfortunately, it's a little underdeveloped," he commented with a hint of pity.
Wei Wuyin inspected his fist. Despite only being blocked, every single bone in his hand was crushed into powder. If not for the minor eternal and regenerative properties of his Stellar-Paragon Physique, his hand would have disintegrated on impact. Additionally, Long Shiya had seen through his escape means, so if this was a real fight, he would have devised a few countermeasures to impede future travel through the Void.
'He tracked me through the Void,' noting this mentally, Wei Wuyin sighed internally. The powers of a Supreme Sage far eclipsed Ascended beings. It was a little sad to say that that attack of his contained all of his foundational strength without any additives. It was utterly pathetic and useless against a Supreme Sage.
If he had such strength to contend with a Resonant Soul Realm, he would be unprecedentedly invincible.
That said…
He wasn't relying on Minor Ascension Arts, physical strength, and spiritual strength.
"I was just testing your level," Wei Wuyin's Draconic Ascension form receded, returning him to his normal state.
"If you weren't capable of defending against that much strength, then this would have been overly disappointing." By now, his fist had healed completely.
"Hmph. Only that much? Even the severely injured Elephant-Tigress Sovereign out there would have been able to take that much. While your restriction of cultivation base is strange, you don't need to hold back. Seeing this domain of yours, I can only imagine your true strength. I'm interested in seeing it myself!"
Wei Wuyin thought for a moment.
'Tch.' A soft voice echoed out in his soul.
"However, as agreed: you may ask your question." Long Shiya honored his words. 'If you wanted to ask a question, you didn't need to act so shamelessly. Even a toddler could see through it,' he thought, believing that Wei Wuyin was downplaying his strength for the sake of that question. After all, this domain was an extraordinary evolution art for a domain, containing a profoundly mysterious power that his True Soul yearned for.
"How unfortunate," Wei Wuyin said with a trace of pity, inducing a lift of Long Shiya's curious left brow.
"My question. Right. I was going to ask you about the Resonant Soul Realm, particularly the Minorheaven Envoy Phase, but then I realized your depth of understanding might be as shallow as an infant just entering this world, only instinctively knowing how to breathe and move your limbs.
Your understanding could potentially lead me astray," Wei Wuyin's words flowed smoothly as he visibly relaxed. If he was similarly at the Resonant Soul Realm, Long Shiya's understanding of his cultivation stage would assist him in navigating his own, but as a mere Mystic Star Phase Cultivator, Wei Wuyin understood the implications of seeking information far beyond your existential depth, and it was better to observe and make conclusions based on your depth of knowledge with an open-minded approach.
This lightened the weight of Wei Wuyin's mind.
"So I'll ask this instead: What did they offer you?" Wei Wuyin's eyes dimmed.
"The Zeniths?" Long Shiya ignored those incisive words, which from his perspective was insulting and demeaning as if his depth of cultivation was considerably lacking to discuss with Wei Wuyin. He refused to surrender his mental momentum in a shadowy battle of wits and words. "Since nothing shall escape from this realm, I'll tell you—" he raised three fingers, his index finger, middle finger, and ring finger, lowering his thumb and pinky, "—three Mystic-Heaven grade Alchemical Products: two Soul Pills and the Heaven-Refinement Novacore Paste."
The Heaven-Refinement Novacore Paste was the signature product of the Zenith Refinement Alchemic Saint! It was a miracle product that could temper, nourish, and refine one's body. It was a divine alchemical product for Martial Cultivators. Meanwhile, Soul Pills were stupendously valuable in their own right, capable of acting as Essence Pills for Resonant Soul Realm experts.
If the Elephant-Tigress Sovereign had one, she could recuperate her spent and exhausted Resonant Qi of the Heavens with far greater ease. She could then use that accumulated qi to heal her wounds. It was priceless. If used for True Sage or True Soul Phase cultivators, it could initiate an opportunity to ascend into the Resonant Soul Realm!
"Impure?" Wei Wuyin inquired, seeking clarification.
Long Shiya curtly nodded, "20% minimum."
Impure-quality products might seem insignificant, but low-quality products were technically perfect products without the slightest hint of impurity. In the Utmost Purity Galaxy, they often referred to low-quality as 'Low Perfection'. In the same vein, high-quality and peak-quality were High Perfect and Peak Perfection respectively.
Impure-quality products were known as the common standard divided by percentages of impurities within. Long Shiya's '20%' indicated a product with at most twenty percent impure material within. This was disgustingly inferior to Low Perfection products, and normally, alchemical products were largely rejected if they had more than a 9% impurity.
As products rose in grade and tiers, that number inevitably lowered in terms of acceptable ranges for other developed cultivation societies. The Utmost Purity Galaxy, however, was widely considered as beyond the standard, and they rarely accepted products beneath 9% impurity. Still, countless cultivators would use inferior products for their cultivation, unable to truly consider quality when time was limited and pressure in competition only increased by the day.
Yet the Mystic-Heaven grade products with 20% or less were phenomenal, and not a single Resonant Soul Realm cultivator at the first stage would decline such a hefty windfall. A single Soul Pill could negate thousands upon thousands of years of effort, while other products might constitute hundreds of thousands of years of effort.
For example, the Elephant-Tigress Sovereign hadn't consolidated her cultivation base despite being a Resonant Soul Realm expert for hundreds of thousands of years!
Long Shiya was no different!
No one understood the egregious difficulties of cultivation more than them! A single Soul Pill at the impure-quality might equate to tens of thousands of peak-tier Mystic-World grade products. The comparison could only be more exaggerated, never less!
Wei Wuyin wasn't too surprised. Despite being a Heavenly Saint Alchemist, this didn't mean the Zeniths were swimming in Low Perfection or low-quality Mystic-Heaven grade products. They didn't seem very moved by his excessively high-end quality Mystic-World graded products either, so they likely could replicate such an aggressive stockpile of products with some effort.
"Anything else? I'm feeling generous," Long Shiya said with a hint of a smile.
Wei Wuyin shook his head lightly before staring at Long Shiya. "A pity," as he said this, his hand reached for his saber's hilt. When he gently touched it, he felt the saber howl within his soul.
KING!
He could feel Element's emotions surge as he touched it. It yearned to be unsheathed.
Wei Wuyin could no longer suppress King's urges. There was only a single reason for his feelings. This act, this scene, this portion of the play was going to come to an end. Moreover, he could no longer determine when.
It was simply: NOW!
SHIING!!!
Awakened Saber Intent!
The stars within his gaze transformed, becoming sabers. All four Astral Souls united, becoming a single cohesive unit, much as they had during Kratos' first Draconic Ascension!
Heart of the World, World of the Saber Intent!
The Sempiternal Resonance Domain granted unprecedented resonance with all things within the World Realm. Whether they were the sky or earth, they all transformed into a sea of Omega Saber light.
Annihilation!
Imperial!
Saber!
The Laws within his soul roared to life. Under the will of the absolute end, to bring all things to a conclusion by the edge of a saber, a single swing to settle all grudges and matters of life, whether that be to protect or to kill, all three Laws were flawlessly wielded.
The sheathed saber was inched out of its scabbard by a single inch.
Omega Saber Soul Light!!
A violent geyser of soulful radiance erupted from Wei Wuyin.
A single breath of his sliced apart all of creation, space, and time as smoky clear light gathered around his fingers gripping Element's hilt.
Wei Wuyin sensed his Saber Intent accumulate steadily within him. It was an unrivaled sensation!
Long Shiya's eyes widened in disbelieving shock. Instantly, he executed a series of arts and defensive spells that enveloped his body in no less or more than three thousand layers of defenses. For the first time since becoming a Supreme Sage, he felt an unprecedented crisis, and he spared no expense in gathering his defensive strength against this upcoming attack!
Countless things were going through his head. Was that a saber light with an aura of Law?! One thing after another kept feeling mysterious around this foreigner, completely subverting many aspects of his knowledge regarding cultivation.
But before he could properly consider any of these matters, Wei Wuyin had taken a single step forward, pulling out Element in a single fluid motion. It wasn't just a withdrawal, it was simultaneously a swing!
SHIIIIIIING!!!
The world went silent.
THE SABER HOWLED!!!!!
All the omega saber light within the world converged into a single slash. It was thin. It was long, stretching from heaven to the earth. Its speed defied space, time, and distance. As the saber swung, it hit.
There was no delay.
Wei Wuyin felt it with his soul. His Saber Law entered an entirely new realm of authority, surpassing the minor, and by relying on its edge, Annihilation and Imperial followed smoothly. It was simple, almost too simple. However, perfectly natural as if destined.
He calmly sheathed Element back into its scabbard.
"A real pity."
-----
The world outside was awaiting the result. Will Long Shiya last all three rounds flawlessly or suffer some minor injuries?
Perhaps he'd suffer heavier injuries?
But only a minute and a few seconds passed since the Shell World Pearl was sealed, and then it began to convert entirely into a sharp saber light, ever-eradicating and limitlessly tyrannical, as the shell of the world realm began an irreversible transformation!
Under the eyes of countless observers, the Shell World Pearl began to slowly disintegrate!