Chapter 1709: War Within The Void (7)
The five young geniuses of the Heavenly Saint Phase stared absentmindedly at Wei Si"s original location with varying emotions. The hulking juggernaut came, crashed, and claimed the Edict Seed before departing. The unusual Void Portal defied their understanding. They could only surmise that it was the result of a void treasure with reluctance and ugliness in their hearts.
They were right, of course; the void ring had been instilled with Wei Wuyin"s will to execute the Void Portal Creation Art affixed to Pakhet"s spiritual aura and leave upon sealing the Edict Seed of Earth. Wei Wuyin"s preparations were almost always subtle, yet they were definite.
Unfortunately, if not for the Great Ruination Cannon"s lingering field of chaos, Wei Wuyin could have easily claimed the Edict Seed himself. Wei Si wasn"t very efficient in swift in-and-out jobs, but the others were all in critical states of comprehension.
Chen Minghui"s torso lowered as he began to aggressively cough, breaking the strange atmosphere that was building up. Lu Xuanyu aside, the other three had varying facial expressions as they looked at Chen Minghui from the Seeking Profound Palace, from pity, to guilt, and finally—indifference. The last emotion belonged to Sui You whose life had been saved by a desperate gambit. She looked toward the guilt-ridden Cao Zhulian and sent a spiritual transmission.
Despite his feelings, Cao Zhulian nodded and the two stared at the severely injured Lu Xuanyu with killing intent, and in a flash, they simultaneously took action! They took action to kill! Lu Xuanyu had lost his weapon and his two arms, his body unable to heal easily due to Wei Si"s ferociously tyrannical Spartan aura that was on par with Minor Law Auras.
Lu Xuanyu expected this, so he nigh-instantly shattered a pellet within his Dantian. The two rus.h.i.+ng toward him with killing intent were stunned as incredibly dense life energy rose from his body unburdened by Wei Si"s aura, and his arms were instantly restored while his pale complexion turned healthy and vibrant.
This was a high-quality, high-tier Mystic-World grade Lasting Breath Pellet that was bestowed to him by Exalted World-Saint Azureriver, his alchemical patron, as a life-saving trump card. It didn"t just heal all internal and external injuries, bypa.s.sing many restraining factors like foreign time energy or law aura, but it restored a considerable amount of mystic energy to the user. While it only works on physical injuries, that was more than enough.
Lu Xuanyu brought out a lesser-graded blood-crimson spear and his Mystic Aura erupted ferociously. He didn"t hold back and launched himself at the duo and hidden lovers without any hesitation. Their clash shook the world. Heavy booms, waves of sword light, and blood-crimson shadows of spears repeatedly swept through the world.
Sui You and Cao Zhulian"s teamwork was impeccable as they had an exceptional rapport, but Lu Xuanyu was strong. Too strong. He clashed with both of them with a clear advantage. Moreover, he was fighting while holding back, keeping two separate wisps of Spiritual Sense upon Wei Yinan and Chen Minghui. It was clear that he was the vigilant and cautious type, not able to lower his guard at all.
Wei Yinan didn"t find this scene too odd. While she was a pirate, her network of knowledge wasn"t so lacking that she was unaware of the superpowers of the various galaxies. The Zenith Creation Tower that Exalted World-Saint Azureriver belonged to were enemies with the force that Sui You"s Violet Breath was a subsidiary of, Cao Zhulian belonged to the Prosperous Ruin Galaxy"s Serene Mountain Sect, and Lu Xuanyu was a young, talented cultivator that was a considerable threat given the potential horizon for war.
Both factions from different galaxies had open bounties for Lu Xuanyu"s head. If they could obtain it, they would be greatly rewarded, perhaps capable of leveraging this opportunity to a.s.sail the Ascended Saint Phase and become galactically renowned Mystic Overlords!
Wei Yinan had no dog in this fight after the Edict Seed was lost. Killing Lu Xuanyu would only offend a peak Worldly Saint Alchemist and that would only instigate an unnecessary war and grudge. There was no need to bear that sin.
So she decided to take her leave to avoid being implicated. While leaving, she looked back at the lonely figure of Chen Minghui wearing his mask, barely holding on as the wild waves of mystic power were causing him to skid here and there, sometimes he was tossed and rolled on the crumbling and cracked earth, but despite having treasures or talismans capable of allowing him to escape, his focus remained on the fight.
She spat angrily, "Foolish idiot."
Then, her eyes flashed with pity and she sighed. Unrequited love wasn"t an issue, but foolishly obsessive unrequited love was certainly a sad sight. The faint glimmer of hope in his chest was unwilling to be snuffed out, and perhaps his ideal outcome was to save Sui You one more time to transmit his feelings, hoping it would reach her.
"..." She floated silently in the air. With a frustrated grunt, she stomped her feet against the air, creating a brief explosion. She cursed Chen Minghui inwardly, deciding to stay near the faceless idiot, preventing Lu Xuanyu from killing him to rid any variables. She hated this. She really hated this! When did she have an interest in helping the hopeless?
While the complex situation within one Sh.e.l.l World kept unfolding, the outside Dark Void was a stage of chaos, slaughter, death, and cries! The Sh.e.l.l Worlds acting as b.l.o.o.d.y battlefields in this war for a single treasure worth fighting for had long since vacated and a temporary truce had been established between the various forces for the sake of saving themselves.
They rushed out hurriedly to encounter the four Sages unleas.h.i.+ng terror upon their forces. An utter nightmare. The only exception was the Serene Mountain Sect that remained untouched, but not even Exalted World-Saint Azureriver"s private fleet was spared as the Sages attacked.
When the Sage of the Serene Mountain Sect returned to her untouched fleet, she was surprised after receiving the report from Dan Yahui and World Prophet Jilpa, her Vice-Captain and onboard Oracle. From the Great Ruination Cannon"s chaos field, four Sages left with clear intent, attacking each faction besides theirs, despite them launching the first move and attempting to kill them, causing devastating damage.
The Sage of the Serene Mountain Sect, Cao Jingyi, hadn"t reached her cultivation solely out of nepotistic care or luck.
"They"re dealing with the others before deciding to deal with us as a group of four."
Cao Jingyi wore deep red, bright gold, and dark silver robes. She was middle-aged with a touch of natural grey in her short straight bob cut, and her soft beige skin had faint traces of crow"s feet and smile lines, yet these characteristics of age only accentuated her natural beauty. She wasn"t too slender and her body lacked any bombastic voluptuous qualities, yet her bodily figure made it hard to find faults to the common eye. Her lime-green eyes glistened with age, wisdom, and authority with every s.h.i.+ft of her gaze.
It was easy to tell that she enjoyed and wielded great authority over her long life.
Dan Yahui paled slightly at her words. There were continuous booms resounding outwards as those unknown Sages fought and unleashed raw havoc upon the various vessels. The others were certainly fighting and likely losing.
Cao Jingyi"s eyes narrowed. "Three of them have grasped Minor Laws. They"re far from ordinary Sages. One is severely injured and struggling against the Seventh Waves Pirates, but the Spiritual Presence of that Sage attacking the Violet Breath"s s.h.i.+p is hovering over stealthily. That Spiritual Sage would abandon everything if the injured Sage were to come under the threat of death. That"s why the Seventh Waves Pirates" reinforcements are only retreating, not daring to unleash their trump cards to harm her.
"They don"t want to obtain the vengeful attention of that Spiritual Sage that has grasped a Minor Law. They are rather fortunate. With any luck, they should be able to escape as long as they keep exiting, but they won"t leave their young pillar behind easily. So they"re waiting for news."
Cao Jingyi deduced as her eyes observed the fierce clash between Nepit and the Seventh Wave Pirates. She couldn"t breach their defensive wards and barriers despite her best efforts, and she was growing increasingly frustrated as her attacks became more reckless.
If it wasn"t for Nepri"s oversight, they would have retaliated in full force against her.
"The Martial Sage is crus.h.i.+ng World-Saint Azureriver"s fleet. They have already taken down two. While the Sage wielding the Minor Law of Light hasn"t held back unleas.h.i.+ng her strength. The Seeking Profound Palace, however, isn"t so easily defeated. They"ve already sealed her. These Sages aren"t very familiar with the formations and arrays or means of these fully-equipped Void Vessels that dare to explore the galactic Void-Blank s.p.a.ce."
After concluding this, she decided to no longer waste time. She looked at World Prophet Jilpa.
The World Prophet Jilpa hadn"t stopped trying to execute divination arts and spells since the beginning. His life was on the line, after all.
"Escape is possible if we activate Void Leap Formation and shroud ourselves with chaos energy. But anything else, we"ll face a catastrophe of varying levels."
While vague, his skills were genuine.
"Then, we"ll do that!"
Cao Jingyi was decisive. She didn"t dare fight four Sages, one was a Spiritual Sage that had tremendous Spiritual Strength, and another was a Martial Sage with unsettling physical power. While she had lived for over 180,000 years, she hadn"t grasped a Minor Law!
"What about Young Master Cao Zhulian?"
Dan Yahui asked.
"He"ll have only nine seconds to activate his Escape Talisman, or we"ll leave him."
Cao Jingyi answered resolutely. If they waited and died because of an Edict Seed, it genuinely wouldn"t be worth it.
"Ready the formation!"
Meanwhile, Imentet was unleas.h.i.+ng Ascension Art after Ascension Art, rapidly depleting her Mystic Power as she tried to break out of her imprisonment on the Seeking Profound Palace"s Void Vessel. She couldn"t imagine how they trapped her, and why this Void Vessel could trap her—a Sage with a Minor Law so easily!
Unfortunately for her, this trapping mechanism was designed to capture a specific Void Creature with the strength of an Enlightened Sage, and if it weren"t for the Edict Seed"s spontaneous appearance that alerted all the forces within hundreds of quintillions of miles, they would have kept on mission to capture that creature.
She yelled out of sheer frustration as she kept blasting this ink-black cage that swirled like a river"s stream. Her terrifying attacks were swallowed and mitigated by the cage, and she couldn"t escape despite her best efforts.
Eventually, she calmed down and pouted. She didn"t hesitate to bring out a talisman imprinted with Void Energy. There was an insignia of a dragon on it, lively and spiritually animated. It exuded a strong presence.
This was a talisman that Luo Ning had given her. At first, she found it ridiculous that someone of Luo Ning"s cultivation had given her a life-saving tool given her True Sage Phase cultivation base, and she had even tried to give it back, but Luo Ning"s insistence was fierce. Despite her cultivation, she was hard to resist.
According to Luo Ning, this was a talisman that the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint had given her to save her life, personally refined with the purest Void Energy. It could, one time only, unleash a Void s.h.i.+ft Art while protecting one from the chaotic effects of traversing the Void.
She cursed this s.h.i.+p before activating the talisman. Her body vanished as she entered the Void. When she was soaring through the Void within the body of a semi-transparent grey true dragon, her eyes widened as disbelief expanded her pupils. Beyond the draconic manifestation of Void Energy was potentially limitless, ever-changing information of the universe.
She knew that the Void was often used as a medium by Oracles to divine the past, present, and future of the world"s trend, but seeing it personally was an unimaginable experience.
When she tumbled out of the Void, she was still in a brief stupor. But she found herself right outside the chaos field, seemingly pushed out by the Void by it. This interference was why Wei Wuyin couldn"t easily leave or carelessly leave those behind.
She shook her head as grat.i.tude in her soul arose for Luo Ning, including an understanding of how precious this talisman was. She promised that when she finished this and returned, she would cause her to squeal and grip the sheets. Then, her eyes flashed toward the Seeking Profound Palace"s Void Vessel.
She smartly decided to avoid that vessel and flew toward Nepit. Nepit noticed her arrival and didn"t say anything as they both understood each other"s struggles. The two women began to tag-team against the Seventh Waves Pirates, putting them under great pressure!