Looking at the spatial distortion that had not yet completely calmed down and the remaining traces of sparks from the void lightning that had turned the body of the Fifth Order phoenix into ashes, Lilith could not help but feel a tinge of fear in her heart.
That fear she felt increased as she felt Fire Sorrow"s murderous intent slowly settling in, and then a question automatically appeared in her heart.
Lilith knew in her heart that unless she used a power she did not want to use she would have no hope of defeating Fire Sorrow for a second time. After all, the reason why Lilith defeated that time was because Fire Sorrow was taken by surprise when Lilith activated Niflheim, which gave her time for her to close the distance enough to use the power of the Absolute Frozen Domain on Fire Sorrow.
It was then that Lilith wondered if during her combat against Fire Sorrow the second in command of the Demonic Army had really given it her all... Because feeling that terrifying murderous intent and power she had seen before, Lilith did not doubt that Fire Sorrow had probably destroyed more than a few worlds.
It was hard to imagine that the kind and gentle woman who always smiled softly at everyone or scolded Lucifer like a big sister whenever he didn"t behave actually hid such a powerful murderous intent in her heart.
Several seconds later, Fire Sorrow turned around and the cold expression on her face had completely melted.
She looked at Bai Zemin with extreme concern, "Are you alright?"
"... I"m fine." Bai Zemin sighed before adding in a voice thick with grat.i.tude, "Thanks to you two, that"s it."
This was the second time Bai Zemin felt utter desperation.
The first time was against Ghost Emperor Jack. At that time Bai Zemin knew that he had no hope of winning, fleeing, and naturally he also did not expect to receive help from anyone.
Although against Thao Zhi it was also a moment filled with despair, Bai Zemin knew that he had a small hope of surviving and winning as long as he completed the last requirement of his evolution before dying.
But this time against the Fifth Order phoenix... Bai Zemin could not have survived if not for Lilith and Fire Sorrow"s quick intervention.
"... That is the power of a completely loosened Higher Existence." He clenched both fists tightly as he muttered through his teeth: "I couldn"t do anything but run from it."
He had received a very small portion of the phoenix records when Fire Sorrow killed her. Although the damage Bai Zemin had caused her was not much, something was something and therefore he naturally received a small portion of her records.
From those records, Bai Zemin learned that the Higher Existence that almost killed him was in fact level 450 before her level dropped below 420 after being hit by the Soul Record.
This meant that the phoenix was only a Fifth Order being that had evolved relatively recently compared to monsters that had lived hundreds of thousands of years.
"A level 450 weakened phoenix made me flee like a homeless dog." Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Now I realize how insignificant I am in this big universe."
And there was still The Golden Domain packed with experts that he would have to face in less than six years...
For the first time in a long time, Bai Zemin had doubts about himself.
"Zemin, you..." Lilith looked at him with a slight frown and pointed out, "You just survived several attacks from a Higher Existence while you are only a Lower Existence of Second Order but you feel sad? Even the strongest Fourth Order soul evolver would have been turned to ashes, incinerated in less than two seconds by the flames of a Fifth Order phoenix."
"I only survived because my armor increases my movement speed by 50% when I"m fighting alone." Bai Zemin shook his head, "Basically, I survived long enough for you to save my life only because I was able to run fast."
"Silly boy, not only did you survive numerous attacks from a Fifth Order phoenix which is characterized as one of the most powerful races in terms of magical attack but you survived with practically ignorable injuries considering the situation you were in." Fire Sorrow finally paid more attention to Bai Zemin"s body, but she found it hard to believe what her eyes were seeing.
The armor that he along with Kali and Shangguan Bing Xue had spent so much work on was quite damaged.
Several plates worked with the Leviathan scales needed to be replaced and some of the metal had melted so some maintenance that would probably require a day or two of work was impossible to avoid if he wanted to bring the armor to its peak again.
Fire Sorrow also noticed that his right arm was nothing more than large bones and a good portion of his back had caught fire from the heat, revealing flesh and muscle beyond the skin.
However, while Bai Zemin"s condition was pitiful the reality was that his injuries were not particularly serious considering who he had faced.
"You... how can it be that you have the pa.s.sive skill Diamond Body?" Fire Sorrow asked in astonishment. "If I recall correctly, among the evolution requirements of that skill is the need for a Fifth Order Soul Stone..."
As for whether or not Bai Zemin had the ability to kill a Fifth Order being... It was clear that at the very least he wasn"t capable of doing such a thing in a head-on "fair" battle.
But hearing Fire Sorrow"s question, Bai Zemin hesitated.
It was true that one of the big reasons why he had survived with relatively light injuries was because he had evolved the skill Golden Bones to Diamond Body.
The defense stat was an untracked stat, so it was impossible for him to know it accurately, but Bai Zemin was absolutely certain that his total defense, regeneration speed, overall recovery rate... Everything had increased by at least two or three times.
In fact, Bai Zemin still had Ruler of All Matter and if he had used it his injuries would be even less serious. It was just that he was cautious, and instead of unleas.h.i.+ng all his trump cards at once, he saved them for the most critical moment that came his way.
But... Could he really reveal to Fire Sorrow the existence of Soul Manipulation? This was a skill whose existence he could not let others know about, the exceptions so far being Lilith and Kali.
Fire Sorrow seemed to notice that her question turned out to be more delicate than she expected, so with a slight smile containing some bitterness she nodded, "Don"t worry, I understand."
"...I"m sorry." Bai Zemin apologized a little embarra.s.sed.
Fire Sorrow had helped him quite a bit during this time, but he still couldn"t trust her completely... Not when those beautiful purple eyes seemed to look past him and not at him.
Partly to lighten the slightly uncomfortable and sad mood a bit, Lilith asked worriedly, "Zemin, your eyes... What"s wrong with them?"
"Ah, this." Bai Zemin sighed with his eyelids closed. He could feel the two crusts of dried blood on either side of his face.
"Predicted Danger Sensed allows me to sense and thus move accordingly to any danger 1 second ahead of time, but the higher the danger level and the greater the power difference between me and the attacker the stronger the backlash my brain receives." He explained calmly.
"Your brain cut the connection with your eyes to avoid further damage." Lilith nodded with an expression of understanding.
"That"s just the way it is. Therefore, it will probably take me a day or two to regain my sight." Bai Zemin shrugged his shoulders.
He really was lucky, and only now did he realize that he was luckier than he thought.
His Predicted Danger Sensed skill would probably no longer activate after his eyes had suffered so much damage and thus he would only be sensing danger when the phoenix launched her attack, which meant that Bai Zemin would no longer have 1 second to close the terrifying difference in speed and power between the two.
Just as Bai Zemin turned around and was about to suggest returning to the Sky Destroyer, he realized that he still had the Anti-Magic Domain active so he deactivated it.
And that was when Fire Sorrow"s pupils contracted several times to the size of needles.
"You- Wait!"
Even though he couldn"t see, Bai Zemin turned slightly and asked in confusion, "What"s wrong?"
"You ask what"s wrong..." Fire Sorrow whispered in shock.
For the first time, Bai Zemin felt that Fire Sorrow was looking at him as if she was looking at a real monster.
Other than Kali whose emotions were very well hidden, Fire Sorrow was the only one who until today had not looked at him as if she was looking at an anomaly despite all the immense shocks she got since she met him.
Even Lilith was not able to pa.s.s that challenge.
Today, Fire Sorrow lost as well, and Bai Zemin whispered in his heart, "Of course..."
"That now... What was that?" Fire Sorrow asked, unwilling to accept something she knew thanks to her vast knowledge after reading countless ancient books and living countless years.
She was immune thanks to the immeasurable difference in power between the two, but that didn"t mean Fire Sorrow didn"t feel obstruction when it came to mobilizing her Mana to activate a skill.
And she knew that there was only one skill in the entire cosmos capable of achieving such a monstrous effect strong enough to ignore the difference between a Lower Existence and a Higher Existence.
Bai Zemin"s eyes could not see, but he still "looked at her" for several seconds before sighing to himself.
"That thing I just deactivated is the Anti-Magic Domain that was once mastered by the Barbarian King." He calmly explained, "I still can"t use it at will, and it"s only thanks to another skill of mine that I can use some of its power. But someday I will succeed, when I become strong enough."
"It really is..." Fire Sorrow"s eyes sparkled with complicated light as she looked at the young man in front of her feeling more and more confused.
She had no doubt that Bai Zemin knew of the Barbarian King"s existence from Lilith. But this was of no importance to her at the moment anyway.
Gravity Manipulation... Blood Manipulation... Annihilation of the Falling Sky... Domain of the Wolf Emperor... All of these were wielded and used by the Heavenly Wolf in the past, and that was why Fire Sorrow was at least 80% sure that the young man in front of her was the reincarnation of Sirius.
Of course, there were noticeable differences between the two existences.
For example, Sirius did not have Record Devastation nor did he have that strange golden skill that allowed him to modify his records to some extent.
Overall, Bai Zemin was more powerful than Sirius was when he was level 100 in the Second Order.
But... The appearance of the Anti-Magic Domain made that 80% confidence plummet enormously. Fire Sorrow no longer knew before whom she stood.
After what seemed like a long time, she hesitantly asked, "You... Who are you?"
Leaving aside the fact that this was the first time she had met someone capable of wielding two Domains at the same time without dying as a consequence of the terrifying pressure such skills had on one"s records, the Anti-Magic Domain belonged to the Barbarian King.
Therefore, Fire Sorrow was no longer so sure whether Bai Zemin was Sirius or not.
Bai Zemin looked at her silently for several seconds, and after a brief silence finally sighed.
"If you find the answer to that question before I do I will be grateful if you tell me. I"ve asked myself that question several times so far." He shook his head, and as he gently flapped his wings to return to the wars.h.i.+p he added, "I only know that whoever I was in the past, if I ever had another life, does not and will not change the fact that I am currently Bai Zemin... Just a human born of an ordinary family."
Would Fire Sorrow still be as friendly after this? Bai Zemin did not know.
The truth was that Bai Zemin did not want to trick her, and he certainly would not play with the feelings of a woman who had suffered for countless years.
He had suffered for a few years, and he knew how painful the heart was... He didn"t want to and couldn"t imagine how much Fire Sorrow had suffered from heartbreak.
Therefore, he would be honest with her... and hopefully, they would not be enemies in the future.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
We have been in the top 1 GT for 10 months in a row, and it means a lot to me to see that my effort pays off. Many thanks to you, who still donate your golden tickets and support Blood Warlock <3