Chapter 94
CHAPTER 94
THE COMING
Lino"s decision was not rash or made in an outburst of unbridled rage; rather, it was calculated and cold . During the short period of silence, he conversed with the Writ over his options, and learned of the particular function: forcibly crossing Realms for the short period of time .
Afterwards, Writ tried to explain the consequences, but Lino hardly cared . Anything short of permanent death was acceptable to him . After all, if he couldn"t vent the anger in his heart, he was certain he"d never get a wink of sleep for the rest of his life .
Naturally, he didn"t plan to exterminate the entire Su Clan; most of them were completely innocent and unaware, and however enraged Lino was, he wasn"t blinded by it . Revenge and ma.s.sacre are two things he didn"t dare mix together . Thanks to Lucky, he already had a vague idea of who exactly to target which simply meant there was no reason to delay it any longer .
Because he couldn"t fly, he knew it would take a bit too long to walk over to Su Clan - perhaps half a year at the very least - so he had Lucky lead him to the destroyed teleportation platform .
Tattered stone lay around, the circular formation cracked over its entire surface seven or eight times, with runic lines nearly entirely perished . He studied for a moment and, to his relief, realized he could fix it . It should be enough for a trip over there . . . and back here .
Lino didn"t immediately go after Demons even though it may make a bit more sense to a bystander; though he very much wanted to save Freya, he knew that Prince Yox had long since left, especially because he couldn"t find Lino . In the end . . . I just hope he won"t do anything too quickly . . .
He set about to fix the formation while Lucky sat on the side, occasionally nibbling on some seeds while trying her best to suppress the surging screams . The already clouded sky grew even darker as heavy rain began to fall, soaking both of them . Yet, neither seemed to care much; Lino"s mind was entirely focused on the formation itself .
He didn"t know much about it but, thanks to his experience with arrays, he at least had some idea on the direction . Thankfully, he also had more than enough materials to fix it temporarily . After all, he didn"t need it to be perfect or to transport hundreds of people numerous times . Making it stable for a day or two was more than enough for him .
He patiently worked through the entire night before a faint smile crept up on his lips . By now, clouded sky, as though pierced by an unknown power, was gone, replaced entirely by blue expanse with the golden sun slowly rising in the east . Lino wiped sweat off his brow as he looked up toward the horizon and sunrise . Though it was beautiful, it hardly impacted him much . It was time, he realized .
He looked at Lucky who didn"t say anything and instead got up and walked onto the formation, followed by Lino shortly after . He took a deep breath and flung nearly twenty thousand Qi Stones he"d already prepared at the specific points of the formation . Even if he didn"t know all the details, he knew the overall structure; formation served to rip open a void between two points in s.p.a.ce - no matter how far away they were .
As s.p.a.ce itself was extremely durable - even here, where Qi was rather weak - to do that required enormous energy, something Lino couldn"t provide himself . After a void was torn open, s.p.a.ce was bent between two points until the distance narrowed to measly few meters .
All this knowledge stemmed from his attempts to understand the Laws of Nature, as well as his reading in Ava"s library . He came to understand a bit more about the world itself and how it functioned; for instance, he knew that clouds didn"t simply "appear" in the sky . Rather, they were formed from the invisible water vapour rising high up, where the temperatures drop and vapour in turn condenses - into clouds .
Similarly, he knew that s.p.a.ce itself wasn"t as flat as he imagined it to be; though the books he read on it were rather vague and didn"t provide any definitive answers, by contemplating himself, he came to some conclusions in which he was quite confident . For instance, he believed one couldn"t physically "tear open" s.p.a.ce; what they did was simply displace it, revealing the void behind it . At the very least, that"s what Lino thought . He was too weak, though, to confirm it .
As he watched the formation light up and felt s.p.a.ce around him vibrate, he realized that his conclusion seemed to be right; though it appeared as though s.p.a.ce around him and Lucky was being destroyed, it was simply being "moved" in a sense to create a hole . That hole was a spinning vortex which was just large enough for a person . Usually, large-scale teleportation formations would make the "mouth of the tunnel" immensely vast, but the size of the tunnel itself connecting two points couldn"t be too large . As such, though it seemed everyone was teleported at the same time, the reality was that they crossed the tunnel itself one by one and then were forced to wait - without realizing it - for others to catch up on the other end of the tunnel .
As Lino wasn"t teleporting a lot of people, he used just enough energy to tear open the hole large enough for a person . Even though he was certain Su Clan had already destroyed the formation on the other end, it didn"t matter; coordinates were already "installed" into the formation beneath his feet, and he had rough destination in mind, even if he might be off by a few miles .
Without pausing, he walked into the vortex whereupon he felt strange vestiges of s.p.a.ce a.s.sail him . Thankfully, the formation didn"t simply open up a tunnel between two points, but also coated it in s.h.i.+elding which made it possible for a person to cross through . Otherwise, only someone who could manipulate s.p.a.ce and void at will could cross freely through - something Lino certainly couldn"t do .
Though the journey was short - merely tens of seconds - Lino gleamed a lot from it . Even if he read about s.p.a.ce and void and how they function, this was his first time seeing the turbulence of s.p.a.ce . With a bit more research, and a bit more strength, he was confident in being able to "tear open" the s.p.a.ce with his bare hands at will .
It took him a few moments to gather himself after he was spat out on the other end of the tunnel . After getting used to the sudden burst of light, he glanced around and realized he was standing on a midway point of a rather barren mountain . Surrounding him were other, similar mountains, which further encircled a large valley down below . When Lino"s eyes landed onto the valley, the suppressed rage almost burst out from him .
Right there, in the heart, was a ma.s.sive town - perhaps town was a bit of an exaggeration, but Clan Headquarters hardly seemed to do justice to the size of the thing . Su Clan . . . Lino thought inwardly as his breathing sped up and grew ragged . The town was bustling with life and activity and constant stream of people going in and out of it . South-eastern part of the town seemed a bit cut off from the rest, like a fat bulge at the edge, and sported even grander architecture of which the three ma.s.sive spires seemed the most impressive .
They were clad in bright, golden color, while slightly shorter buildings were silver . The smallest buildings in the "bulge" were bronze-colored, and Lino immediately realized that must be where pretty much everyone who he marked resided .
The three spires formed a triangle and Lino"s eyes immediately lurched toward it; while other Clans and Sects usually hid their Artifacts, Su Clan proudly displayed it right there . One part of it was a golden globe, akin to a sun, resting at the very center of the triangle, spitting out light ceaselessly . Surrounding it were thirteen silver-colored globes, similar to the moon, who continued spinning around it in a specific pattern . Unlike the sun part, which held a hint of warmth even at the vast distance Lino was at, he detected a vestige of cold within the thirteen moons . Lino immediately realized that this was the Clan"s famed Defensive Artifact, one of the most basic requirements of a named Clan or a Sect - [Cycle of Heaven and Earth] .
Su Clan"s Cultivation Method relied on day and night cycles, examining profound meaning behind sun disappearing and moon appearing in the sky, as well as vice versa . It was no coincidence that their unified belief formed the Defensive Artifact that it had, nor that it had such name; in order to practice their Cultivation Method, [Thirty-three Cycles of Heaven and Earth], they had to embody it - believing wholly that sun and moon represented cycles of Heaven and Earth and, in extension, Life and Death itself .
Lino"s eyes focused onto the Artifact as he used the Primal Spirit to examine it . Even though he was unable to decipher its entire status window, he immediately learned more than 90% of people in the Clan itself . Seeing it, though, made his confidence drop somewhat; only now he truly understood why ma.s.sive-scale wars between Clans and Sects were so rare .
[Cycle of Heaven and Earth - Clan Artifact]
Level: NIL
Damage: NIL
Durability: 10,000,000
Special Effect: [Symphony of Day] - ??? -
Special Effect: [Symphony of Night] - ??? -
Special Effect: [Cycle of Heaven and Earth - First Form] - ??? -
Special Effect: [Cycle of Heaven and Earth - Second Form] - ??? -
Special Effect: [Cycle of Heaven and Earth - Core Reversal] - ??? -
Special Effect: [Cycle of Heaven and Earth - Heaven"s Fall] - ??? -
Note: Defensive Artifact of Su Clan; can only be wielded by the Clan"s current strongest person . Its destruction signals Clan"s destruction .