Crossroad Lake.At that moment, all the martial artists present there had their mouths and eyes wide open, unable to conceive the scene that was unfolding before their eyes.
High in the sky, suspended in mid-air, there was a man of fascinating appearance who seemed to be about thirty years old. He had long black hair, tied back by an elegant and refined hair clip that ended in a ponytail. His eyes had a dark green color, and he was wearing a tunic made of a fabric that, at first sight, could be defined as precious.
But, despite his attractive and well-groomed appearance, his face had a cold expression. His body also gave off a feeling of coldness and disinterest. It was as if everyone else in his surroundings was trash that didn"t even deserve to be looked at by him.
The reason the other martial artists had stupefied expressions was that this man had suddenly appeared above them. They didn"t know how he could have gotten over the surveillance block around the lake or how he could have flown all the way here without them even noticing.
However, that didn"t matter now. What mattered was to understand how to react to the appearance of this unknown individual.
"Who are you! How did you manage to get here!" A voice said.
One of the various sect leaders from the middle sects recovered from his astonishment and immediately began to question the individual. At the time, they were busy with the Secret Dimension on which they had spent all their resources, so they couldn"t afford to have unknown factors in their plans.
The man pretended not to listen to him, or maybe he didn"t listen as he focused on something else. His eyes were glued to the tower where the Artifact Spirit resided. No, rather than the Artifact Spirit, his eyes were looking beyond that point.
The pa.s.sage to the Secret Dimension.
The precise point where he was looking at was where the pa.s.sage to the Secret Dimension had been created. How a stranger who hadn"t witnessed the opening process knew that fact was a total mystery.
Seeing that he was ignored, that sect leader lost his temper and began to hover in the air. He wanted to reach the man with high-quality clothes and teach him a lesson. However, as soon as he made a couple of meters upwards, that sect leader fell to the ground with a thud, quickly generating a dense pool of blood.
Gulp!
At that sight, all the martial artists present there swallowed. They had seen how that unknown man had just s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the sect leader who was flying up. The next instant, that sect leader died without even being able to utter a groan.
One look!
One look was enough to kill a spirit soldier! Was this at least conceivably possible?
"Spear Intent, Annihilation Spear."
Suddenly an immense pressure arose in the vicinity of that unknown man. Those closest to him fell to the ground while from their body came out blood from all the orifices. Those with more luck were more distant, and, although they suffered a similar pressure, they had time to get away in time to avoid fainting on the spot, even if with difficulty.
Despite the distance and the fact the man"s aura was directed elsewhere and not directly to them, despite all this, just his spirit power fluctuation was sufficient to kill a dozen spirit soldiers instantly.
Screech!
Without even the time to conceive what was happening in front of them, a screeching noise exploded around. It was so loud that all the martial artists had their eardrums broken. While the blood was leaking from their ears, the survivors looked with horror at the origin of that screech.
In front of them, a sort of gash had been created in the s.p.a.ce. And as if a veil had been torn apart, now something could be seen on the other side.
In a poorly lit place, a brown-skinned boy and a blue-haired girl stood before a flower. The various martial artists there immediately recognized the two youths because they had seen them with the Flower Sect group and were among those who had entered. However, if they could now see these two youths, did it mean that what they were observing was the inside of the Secret Dimension?
"And so, this is where he hid it. Well, it"s time to close this business."
The man"s cold voice rang out. Strangely, at the expense of his coldness, his words also contained a mixture of excitement and urgency.
Next to the two youths, there was another person. A beautiful woman who made you think of a beautiful flower. But they had no way to admire her beauty because they saw the woman shaking a strange sphere, and suddenly, another shriek sounded together with the appearance of the dazzling white light that appeared at the opening of the pa.s.sage to the Secret Dimension.
"Hei, Lian, Ye, Xing. I don"t know what"s going on. Something has attacked the very s.p.a.ce in which the Secret Dimension itself is still. If this continues, the whole Dimension will collapse. I am going to proceed to evacuate all the beings present inside while detaching the Secret Dimension and inserting it inside the Heart," Gaiya urgently communicated with a worried voice.
It was the first time since she had woken up there that something like this was happening. But whatever it was, it wasn"t something she could fix from there. Not with a soul without its body. The only thing she could do now was to secure Lian and Bao Bei"s children. Because she knew she was out there. There was no way her love wouldn"t protect her family.
"No, if you do that, you will die!" Hei tried to stop her.
"It is the only way. Besides, I am already destined to die. But don"t worry, I won"t disappear right away. I can still hold out for a while. At least I can see your mother like that."
Gaiya didn"t accept further replies and proceeded to bring all the youths of the younger generation out of the Secret Dimension.
Suddenly about seventy people appeared without warning on the sh.o.r.es of Crossroad Lake. Except for two of them, all the others were confused as to why they were there. They then recalled that it had to be because their time in the Secret Dimension was over. Only when they thought about at that, they looked up and finally noticed the elders and sect leaders standing away from the lakesh.o.r.e.
But that sight displaced them again. The younger generation martial artists couldn"t understand. If their sect leaders and elders were the ones who called them back, why were they so far from the lake? Yet before being swallowed up by the white light and entering the Secret Dimension, every big shot of their sects was excited to the core by the treasures that could be found, even becoming annoying in the recommendations they had given on how to behave in various situations.
And while the younger generation martial artists were trying to understand that reason, they finally noticed something. Yes, they finally saw a series of corpses. And they weren"t the bodies of random people, many recognized sect leaders or elders of known sects or even of their own.
"What the h.e.l.l is going on!?"
"Sect leader! Master! What!?"
"Nooo! Grandpa!"
Various screams sprang from those poor martial artists of the younger generation who had found themselves in that gruesome spectacle. They couldn"t conceive how so many spirit soldiers, the peak of strength on Rainbow Island, could have died that way.
But unfortunately, they didn"t have the luxury of being able to mourn their lost loved ones or think coolly about the situation. The man standing in mid-air was going down, and his aura moved to the point where the younger generation of the partic.i.p.ant sects was. No, to be precise, he was focusing on one point: where the Heart of the World Tree was, meaning near Hei.
Boom! Screech!
Another great aura appeared from the sphere while the beautiful woman seen before appeared again. Her spirit power, therefore, enveloped all the martial artists of the younger generation, materializing a transparent pinkish petal that blocked the pressure coming from the man in mid-air.
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"I figured he hadn"t left it without a guardian. But do you believe that a soul on borrowed time can resist me?" The unknown man expressed himself in a laugh of scorn and disgust at the sight of Gaiya, immediately recognizing the state in which the divine beast was.
"In that case, why don"t you deal with me? Or are you afraid of losing again? You, The One Who Hides Behind The Curtains."
At that moment, another voice sounded throughout the lake. On hearing that voice, Hei felt a sense of familiarity and strangeness. He was used to hearing that voice inside his head, while now it was audible to anyone.
When the words of the mysterious voice died down, the unknown man a.s.sumed an incredulous expression as he opened his eyes wide as if he couldn"t believe what his ears had heard. Then his brow furrowed up to deform his whole face in anger, and he clenched his fists with all the strength he had.
"Who!? Who did it!? How do you know that expression of words? Who taught you that?!"
The unknown man had lost all his calm and confidence just now. Inside him, there was only a blinding rage that was clouding his judgment and his heart.
"Even though it"s been a hundred thousand years, as I imagined, you haven"t forgotten how he called you. And as usual, you haven"t lost the habit of taking possession of bodies that aren"t yours. Or are you terrified to come here yourself?"
While the eyes of the unknown man flew across the surface of the lake at high speeds, they finally managed to find the origin of the voice that was communicating with him.
It was where the sect leaders and the surviving elders were located a short time ago, before stepping back for fear. A small spider, a few millimeters in length, stood there. And yet, despite the tiny dimension of that being that seemed to be easy to crush, he could feel immense pressure coming from the spider — a force not at all inferior to his.
And under the astonished eyes of all those present, the tiny spider began to get bigger and bigger.
10 centimeters, 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters.
Tremble!
When the spider reached 100 meters in length, it was the moment in which its transformation also ended. Its st.u.r.dy eight legs came to rest on the ground generating a slight earthquake in the land. But this earthquake wasn"t due to its body"s weight but to the very pressure of its spirit power. Even if it was difficult to believe that, given its size, the actual weight of the spider was significantly lower than what a spirit beast of its size should have had.
"Bao Bei," Gaiya muttered in a tender voice as large pearl-like tears rolled down her cheeks again and bathed her face. Even after one hundred thousand years, she could recognize the being she had loved the most in her life. And the mere fact of being able to see her again was more precious than all the treasures she had ever earned in her life.
"Bao Bei?" The mysterious man was able to hear the slight murmur of Gaiya, and immediately, his mind began to flow through his thoughts until he found the origin of the name he had caught up.
"You! Now I remember, you"re the spider b.i.t.c.h who was always with him. How can you still be alive?! No, it doesn"t matter. It is good that you are alive. The punishment for destroying my plans at that time. I couldn"t inflict it to him as he had died, but it will be a pleasure to make you pay for it instead." The mysterious man spoke in a speech full of hatred and resentment as the contours of his eyes became distorted by the madness of anger.
"The One Who Hides Behind The Curtains. What you just said, I should be the one saying it. For many years I thought I couldn"t take revenge. Yet now, ironically, I got my long-awaited chance for revenge. As the Companion of the Beast Emperor, Hei An, I will now p.r.o.nounce the sentence for the sins committed by you against our race. The sentence is DEATH!"
The calm and gentle tone of Bao Bei had been replaced by such authority and strength. It was hard to imagine that that voice belonged to their mother. Yet they had seen with their own eyes the transformation of Bao Bei. And although it had increased considerably in size, in the end, she kept her features.
The giant spider of 100 meters was undoubtedly their beloved mother. There was no way they could be wrong.
"Gaiya, it"s a huge relief to see you again. But I have to ask you to protect them while I fix this."
"Yes, Your Highness," Gaiya replied reverently.
As the companion of the Beast Emperor, Bao Bei had automatically a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Empress of the Divine Beasts. But rather than using her t.i.tle of Empress, she preferred to be called by the t.i.tle of Companion of the Beast Emperor. The only one who called her by the name of her highness had always been Gaiya, the Queen of plant and flower type Divine Beasts.
The large body of Bao Bei at that point slowly began to rise in the air until it stopped at the same height as the unknown man. No, now he was no longer anonymous. Although his real name hadn"t been revealed, Bao Bei had called him "The One Who Hides Behind The Curtains."
Looking from the sh.o.r.e of the lake, under the protection of the spirit power of the divine beast Lotus of Love, Gaiya, Hei, Ye, Xing, and Lian were watching with deep concern in the direction of Bao Bei. In particular, of all of them, Hei was the one with a heart full of anxiety and fear. He knew his mother"s condition well and what it would happen now and its consequences.
Immediately, tears of sadness began to fall down his eyes as he again cursed his impotence.
As it was typical of his mother, Bao Bei noticed the look of her cubs and Hei"s tears. So she turned to them momentarily as she sent a spirit message straight into their minds, audible only to them and Lian.
"Don"t cry, my little ones. Rather than being sad for mom, why don"t you root for me? I need all your support, my loved ones. And as my children, yes you too, Lian. As my children, you must engrave this battle in your minds and hearts because this is the fight that you will carry out in the future. The battle against the real enemy hidden behind the curtains. The reason from which all this despair and "destruction" originated."
The words of Bao Bei to her loved ones were dark and enigmatic. Hei, his little sisters, and Lian couldn"t understand at all what she meant precisely. After all, they were still completely shocked by all that had happened so far. Yet, one thing was sure.
Yes, they were sure that Bao Bei was going to show them her real strength. The real power of a sixth-level divine beast. The power of a being at the height of the force obtainable on this planet, excluding the divine rank.
Bao Bei then moved her eight eyes back to The One Who Hides Behind The Curtains and prepared for the fight. Meanwhile, The One Who Hides Behind The Curtains had managed to regain his composure, placing himself in a position to attack.
The fight that would forever leave a scar in Hei, Ye, Xing, and Lian was about to begin.