For the Ancient Emperor, there was another rather troublesome factor.
And that was the fact that the Immortal Art: Immortal Fusing Body Seizing had a time limit.
He had used numerous items in order to form a spirit design. While the spirit design was triggered, he had to complete his devouring. Otherwise, his partial immortal spirit couldn"t maintain the same level of strength.
In other words, the reason why his partial immortal spirit could be so powerful now and easily crush Wu Yu was because he had absorbed lots of lightning previously. These lightning bolts came from the spirit design, and the spirit design was exemplified by the two vortexes above and below Wu Yu.
However, there was a time limit to the spirit design. There was a complete flow to its circulation, from the beginning to the end.
And now, they were nearing the end. If he was successful, it would have ended by now. The Ancient Emperor had never expected Wu Yu to hang on for so long with just a head.
He knew Wu Yu"s devouring technique and ability must have come from the Heaven Devouring Evil Lord, and the technique was enabling Wu Yu to resist his partial immortal spirit that was 100 times stronger.
If he knew Wu Yu was capable of such, he probably would’ve been more careful.
Once the spirit design ended, his partial immortal spirit would be weakened more than 10 times over. When the time came, he would be in hot water! He might even be devoured by Wu Yu!
Although the Ancient Emperor didn"t say a word, he was getting fl.u.s.tered. He knew he had devoured 95% of Wu Yu and gotten pretty much everything. Although there were some gaps, it wouldn"t affect him much. Nonetheless, he wanted perfection and to drain Wu Yu of everything.
He had allowed the Heaven Devouring Avatar to slide away previously. If he allowed the 5% to escape too, it would be a shame!
"Scoundrel!"
With roughly 100 breaths of time left to the end of the spirit design, the Ancient Emperor threw his whole weight behind it, upped his strength to the limit, and started devouring Wu Yu"s Primordial Spirit frenziedly.
However, Wu Yu wasn"t privy to this. He didn"t know about the time limit. All he had his mind was to hang on. This belief was even more intense than the Ancient Emperor. The belief to survive supported him, and images of his kin, friends, and love had all surfaced in his mind. Although his consciousness was blurry, he was in a more feverish state than the Ancient Emperor!
At this moment, he felt like he was gobbling down blood.
Whatever the Ancient Emperor had extracted from his head was gobbled back down.
His will was feverish and definitely stronger than the Ancient Emperor’s!
However, the Ancient Emperor was still overwhelmingly more powerful than him. Although this plan was great, the Ancient Emperor"s devouring was still quicker than Wu Yu’s overall.
Therefore, despite gaining back a substantial portion, his Primordial Spirit’s head was still shrinking. From 5% to 4% and still on a downward trend!
Obviously, the 100 breaths of time were pa.s.sing. Unlike Wu Yu, who was concentrated on resisting with all his might, the Ancient Emperor had to take note of the time while giving his all. Judging from the pace, he could have finished Wu Yu off completely within the 100 breaths of time.
However, he was frightened by Wu Yu"s frenzied mode.
"Dream on!"
Whenever the Ancient Emperor gained the upper hand, Wu Yu would have an upsurge in will to continue devouring the golden liquid and resist the Ancient Emperor. In fact, his head would grow a little more at these moments.
Wu Yu didn"t know about the hundred breaths of time.
He only knew he wanted to live!
This made his struggle even more focused!
If he knew he just had to hang on for 100 breaths of time, he might have vanished completely by 80.
If he knew he had to hang on for 150, he might be absorbed by 130.
However, he had no idea how long he had to hang on for now. He only knew he couldn"t lose. Therefore, he would exhaust all his strength, grit his teeth, and bear the pain. Wu Yu recalled many people at this point. He recalled Feng Xueya guiding him patiently, pointing him towards the path of the Immortal Dao, and eventually Feng Xueya"s chilling corpse. He recalled Sun Wudao having big dreams of him and giving Wu Yu everything he had.
He recalled Luo Pin and their promise to meet again in the sky palaces.
"How can I go back on my word?! How can I!?"
Unresigned! Endless! Unvanquishable!
His Primordial Spirit was screaming, and his frightening will was something that the Ancient Emperor had not expected. As the struggle carried on, the Ancient Emperor was getting restless over the 100 breaths of time. The more he was distracted, the more he was afraid he couldn"t complete within time. Therefore, he lost focus and his mind started wandering. The more he was concerned about the pa.s.sing of time and his partial immortal spirit losing the intensity of strength, the more certain he was that he couldn"t complete his devour by the end of the time limit.
"Wu Yu!” the Ancient Emperor berated. The limit of 100 breaths of time was almost up. However, Wu Yu was still hanging on with just 1% of his Primordial Spirit!
Only 10 breaths of time left!
However, the Ancient Emperor was intimidated. He was afraid he couldn"t a.s.similate Wu Yu within the time limit.
If that happened and time pa.s.sed, his partial immortal spirit would be weakened by 10 times over. At that time, Wu Yu would still be within his stomach. At his current devouring speed, Wu Yu might end up devouring the Ancient Emperor! Then he could regain control of the body and even digest his partial immortal spirit to gain his dao and everything.
He would lose huge if that happened. The partial immortal spirit was also an important part of his body. At this point, he had given up on his Yan Huang Ancient Emperor"s body.
Therefore, in a moment of panic and when 95 breaths of time had pa.s.sed, he spat out the last 1% of Wu Yu"s Primordial Spirit.
If he had persisted for another five breaths of time, he might have a.s.similated Wu Yu completely.
However, he was afraid of an accident. Wu Yu"s relentless will to survive had instilled fear in him. In the end, he chose to discard the final 1%.
Nonetheless, after discarding the 1%, he could have killed Wu Yu swiftly. Although the fusion wasn"t perfect without the final 1%, there was no other way. Once he missed the timing, he wouldn"t be able to devour the last portion that might be containing the most important parts. On the other hand, if he let the 1% enter his stomach, it would be a nightmare.
Therefore, he wanted to kill the final 1% to eradicate all potential future problems. He just had to endure the grievances of losing the final 1%.
After all, he had succeeded in most parts.
Wu Yu had never expected the Ancient Emperor to spit him out in fear.
With just 1% of his Primordial Spirit left, he was exceptionally weak. In fact, everything was blurry. He could no longer sense the Heaven Devouring Avatar. Similarly, the Heaven Devouring Avatar couldn"t either.
The connection between the two bodies was severed, similar to one losing control of one"s arm.
The final 1% could only contain some important memories and the core of one"s dao.
After he got out, his Primordial Spirit was redistributed. It grew a body and four limbs, but its head got even smaller. It was exceptionally weak and could be killed by the partial immortal spirit at any moment. Only by remaining in the stomach of the partial immortal spirit could he retain some strength.
Obviously, Wu Yu also saw the partial immortal spirit shrink by 90% abruptly, weakening extensively.
Even so, it was over 1,000 times more powerful than the current Wu Yu. Wu Yu could be easily crushed to death with a single finger. When the Ancient Emperor chose to discard the 1%, Wu Yu understood he would probably be killed now.
"You are really difficult! Truth be told, I"m a little impressed. Regardless, you stopped me from achieving perfection. Nonetheless, even 99% is great. Whatever you know, I basically know it all now. Now, I have no time to waste on you. You can die now!"
With the Immortal Art: Immortal Fusing Body Seizing completed, the Ancient Emperor had almost succeeded. However, he was still anxious to eradicate the lurking danger by shattering the remaining Primordial Spirit of Wu Yu. He reached out with his giant finger and was about to squash the tiny bit of Primordial Spirit Wu Yu had left.
At the very least, Wu Yu"s hard work had prevented the Ancient Emperor from gaining everything he once had.
This was equivalent to letting him swallow a housefly. Knowing that the Ancient Emperor was infuriated, he felt a little more content.
"It"s enough."
The attempt was destined to be a failure. Wu Yu had never dreamed he could devour the Ancient Emperor, considering the fact that the Ancient Emperor had planned meticulously for this. Nonetheless, biting back at the Ancient Emperor in the process was still a form of reward.
It was a lot easier to kill the final 1% than devouring it. Furthermore, this was the most basic method to seize one"s body. The stronger Primordial Spirit could easily kill the weaker Primordial Spirit.
If it wasn"t because the Ancient Emperor wanted more, Wu Yu would have died earlier.
His finger was like the finger of heaven, while Wu Yu"s body was just the size of an ant. Wu Yu would be crushed easily. It was a simple act. Regardless of how one would see it, the difference between a mortal and an immortal couldn"t be made up for with one"s will, fighting spirit, or even frenzied mind. It was commendable that Wu Yu had done what he did.
He lifted his head. Even now, his gaze was a blazing torch, instilling fear in the Ancient Emperor.
Obviously, this further steeled the Ancient Emperor’s resolve - he had to eradicate the last 1% of Wu Yu"s Primordial Spirit. He could still feel chills at the thought of Wu Yu devouring him previously.
"Die now!
"I have gained everything you have. Moving forward, at least at the Pu Yuan Sky Palace and the vast immortal domain, I will continue an amazing adventure with your body."
He smiled.
"And soon, you will be killed by me. I wouldn"t mind devouring my main body." At the final moments, Wu Yu kept a gentle smile.
"You mean you are placing your hopes on the Heaven Devouring Avatar? Haha! Stop dreaming. There are lots of things that you still don"t understand. Your Heaven Devouring Avatar won"t live much longer."
The Ancient Emperor was flushed with success. The next moment, he pressed down on Wu Yu with his finger and exerted strength.
All of a sudden, Wu Yu felt like he was being sucked in by a powerful force.
He vanished before the Ancient Emperor"s partial immortal spirit.
"I...."
Suddenly, he saw the Ruyi Jingu Bang appearing in an unknown place in the body.
Immediately after, he crashed into it.
Before him, he saw a smart-looking girl.
That was Ming Long.