In an unknown space.
In this place there was no feeling of life.
The land was dry so grass did not grow and trees did not spring up.
The rivers had dried up leaving behind nothing but huge channels that were once filled with marine life but were now devoid of any beauty.
Even the skies were covered by a thick layer of deep red that did not allow the rays of the distant sun to properly reach the world.
The natural mountains had been crushed by clearly unnatural forces and the earth had been flattened by such powerful attacks that the ground sank in parts and rose in others, eventually giving birth to hundreds and even thousands of mountains formed from the destructive attacks that were unleashed in that area.
The air of this place, instead of being insipid, had a strange iron smell and if one were to open one's mouth one would immediately notice a strange flavor hitting the taste buds; a bizarre taste that probably everyone had ever tasted in life no matter how hard to identify it might be.
This was a truly deplorable world, and far from looking like a world once inhabited by living beings, it seemed more like a world worthy of being the hell in which the evil demons of the legends that circulated among humans lived.
On the top of a mountain, a single man was sitting on a big rock while looking forward with an indifferent expression. But this man's indifference was different from Shangguan Bing Xue's coldly tinged indifference and it was different from Bai Zemin's slightly devoid of any feeling indifference.
The only way this man's expression could be described was as dead. The indifference in his eyes and in his general expression had reached the absolute and insurmountable pinnacle. It was as if even if the heavens collapsed before him at this very moment they would fail to make him blink at all.
What kind of experiences did a person need to go through to make the sparkle in his eyes disappear? It was hard to say… But it was probably better not to know it.
This man had been sitting on that same rock and in the same position for long enough for the muscles in his body to go numb. But even that failed to make even one muscle in his face twitch.
Just to the man's right, perfectly within reach of the full length of his arm, a giant sword with a strange string several meters long tied to the hilt lay silently waiting to be wielded one more time. The bloody aura exuding from the sword's body was such that even demons and ghosts would be scared and flee away as fast as possible.
Suddenly, the man who had not moved his body even an inch and who had not even blinked for an unknown amount of time, finally moved.
His slightly bowed head rose and as if sensing something he looked up into the distant sky. His lifeless and dull eyes seemed to take on some kind of strange passion as for a brief moment they shone as brightly as if within them contained an entire galaxy of stars.
Then, as if nothing had happened, the man slowly turned his head and returned to his original position.
Nothing seemed to have changed, except that if one looked carefully and paid enough attention, one might notice that the corner of the man's lips had turned up very slightly in what appeared to be a happy smile.
* * *
Somewhere unknown in the vast and apparently infinite universe.
This area had the fewest number of stars. Moreover, it was an area in which there was only a single constellation. Strangely, despite the fact that there were fewer stars, far from being one of the darkest areas of the universe it was actually one of the brightest.
This was because the brightest constellation in the entire firmament was located in this area apparently forgotten by the gods and demons.
Honoring the name given to it since time immemorial and honoring the pattern of the set of stars that conformed it, the constellation of the Heavenly Wolf Sirius was like a true lonely wolf that wandered in the middle of the night without fear of loneliness as the darkness that surrounded it was the only company that it needed; a company that would never abandon it and would never betray it.
Suddenly, the brightest star that made up the constellation of Sirius, a star also known to mankind by the name Sirius A, began to flicker as if it were a blinking eye.
The deep blue color of the star slowly took on a deep red glow and not long after that the entire constellation of the Heavenly Wolf Sirius took on the same shade of red.
If a human were to look up from Earth into the night sky, he or she would possibly be quite terrified to see how without warning a set of stars turned from that characteristic white to crimson red. This was especially true for the stars known as Sirius A and Sirius B, which at this moment looked more like the red eyes of a demon looking at the world from another dimension.
The event only lasted a few brief seconds before everything went back to normal. That part of the universe regained its natural calm again and everything remained apparently unchanged.
However, quite a stir began to form among the factions of Higher Existences when the energy released by the Sirius constellation alerted them.
* * *
Boom!
The giant eagle's body hit the ground with such force after falling from over two hundred meters high and being attracted by Bai Zemin's Magic grade treasure that the earth broke into pieces and a crater over fifty meters in diameter with the creature as its center was formed in just an instant.
The eagle was already in bad condition after its battle against Shangguan Bing Xue so the fierce fall it had just suffered had only served to worsen its injuries even more. Even so, the life force possessed by a Second Order beast was even comparable to that of a Third Order human so it tenaciously tried to stand up making use of its skill to support itself.
However, the beast realized that not only was it impossible for it to return to the skies but its movement speed had decreased by at least 20%, which was tremendously bad for its current badly injured state.
Then, the beast noticed a small shadow in comparison to its size hovering above it and as it raised its head it saw a human, this time a man, staring at it with cold eyes from the outside of the crater.
At this point, Bai Zemin's normally black eyes had turned into red eyes like those of a bloodthirsty demon. His deadly indifferent expression could not hide the anger his eyes spoke and while the bracelet still glowed with a faint yellow glow that clung tightly to the giant eagle's body, he gazed at the creature as he slowly said:
"Considering you are a borderline Second Order monster, I'm pretty sure you understand my words….. Do you want a quick death or a slow death? Bark like a dog twice if you want it fast or bark like a dog three times if you want it slow."
The giant eagle's eyes flashed with a glint of anger at the clearly humiliating words of the man before it and after a mighty screech to the heavens, the gusts of wind began to move at the creature's will.
Hundreds and then thousands of wind blades flew towards Bai Zemin as they formed a whirlwind hundreds of feet high behind the beast.
The ground split and rocks were drawn into the eye of the storm. However, even though the crimson clouds coalesced to form a giant vortex in the skies, Bai Zemin maintained his stand as firm as Mount Tai.
In fact, not only did Bai Zemin's feet not move, but the entire area behind him was strangely fine; it was as if the power of the wind could go no further, it was as if an invisible barrier protected that area where the fainting woman lay.
The wind blades that flew toward Bai Zemin also seemed to encounter some strange barrier because as if it were an invisible swamp, the speed at which they advanced became slower and slower for every inch forward. Finally, when the wind blades reached within two meters of Bai Zemin's body, they came to a complete stop.
The giant eagle's exhausted eyes quivered in disbelief as it observed its most powerful magical attack being stopped without the enemy moving a single hand and slowly began to despair.
"This is really interesting." Bai Zemin said aloud.
The ground around him began to tremble slowly at first until then the tremor became powerful enough to cause a 1000 meter area to rumble noisily.
"To think that when the Strength statistic touches such a high level you can do stuff like this."
The surrounding boulders broke off lightly and the cracks slowly spread out as the rocks that broke off the ground rose up into the sky.
"Really interesting… I can even slightly affect the atmosphere around me to this extent just by using pure physical strength." He muttered to himself completely ignoring the eagle.
Then, under the eagle's terrified eyes, the body of the human before it began to slowly rise from the ground. First, it was the back, then the middle, and finally the tip completely separated from the ground!
Bai Zemin's red eyes glowed like lanterns amidst the darkness and excitement roared through his veins as he lifted a couple of meters into the air.
In fact, his physical strength at this moment had reached a level where he could use the vibration of his muscles to create slight alterations to the atmosphere and set up something similar to invisible steps that allowed him to slowly ascend!
Even if this was only possible because this was an Abandoned World so it could not evolve and thus possessed weaker physical laws, it was still amazing!
However, Bai Zemin soon lost interest in his new discovery. His eyes were drawn back to the eagle and he was attracted to the beast like a child attracted to candy.
Clearly, he wanted to kill the eagle and he knew the reason why. However, Bai Zemin did not want to give it a lightning-fast death.
The eagle's eyes were filled with fear at this point. The creature was an intelligent being so it knew that what the human before it had just performed was something that only existences on the level of its breeder could do.
A Third Order existence!
But the eagle could not comprehend how such a thing could be even remotely possible since the aura of the human's body before it was clearly only the aura of a First Order existence!
Just as the giant eagle was scared to death, Bai Zemin said in an indifferent voice:
"You… Flee."
The eagle's eyes flashed with suspicion and caution but even then it didn't stay to think too long and in panic tried to fly away. Unfortunately, Bai Zemin had not deactivated the bracelet's effect so finally the eagle could only turn its body and run at full speed.
Even without being able to fly, the giant eagle's Agility stat was high enough for the creature to cross almost 50 meters in an instant. However, just as the beast was about to leave the 50-meter range, Bai Zemin made his move.
He extended his hand, this time his left hand, and the Purple End Bracelet took on a faint violet glow.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!….
A huge chain of purple lightning blasted with powerful explosions out of the bracelet and flew at the speed of light forward. The countless chains of purple lightning covered an area of 50×50 meters in front of Bai Zemin in just a blink of an eye and everything in that area was submerged into a sea of lightning.
The purple sea was reflected in the red pupils that watched indifferently as a sizable object writhed apparently suffering from wintry pain as lightning lashed its body over and over again.
"Metals have such a stable atomic structure that when electricity contacts such material the electrons flow seamlessly from one end to the other…. I wonder what it would feel like to be roasted alive by lightning." Bai Zemin said in a flat voice.
Within the sea of purple lightning, the giant eagle wished for death. Its wings, which were its most powerful attack weapons and its main pride, at this moment had become the beast's greatest torment and if possible it would rather tear them off in this instant.
Its feathers, which possessed metallic properties, worked as the best conductor and the electricity from the lightning flashes went through its body again and again. The plumage on its back was scorched, its skin burned, and its red flesh turned black as the blood quickly evaporated creating hissing sounds that were drowned out by the explosions of lightning and its screams of pain.
* * * * * * *
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
