Pop.
It was an unprecedentedly bizarre and unexpected sound, yet when it resounded, there wasn't a single existence on the Myriad Monarch Planet that hadn't heard it. It was as if there was a bubble filled with gushing air that had been poked and exploded, but it was so soft, so low, so all-present that it was difficult to make sense of it.
However, to most, this sound was merely strange and had zero effect on their response. At most, they turned their heads in synchronized confusion. To those who could feel the sound, they reacted intensely and acted with the utmost solemnness.
The five Grand Imperial Sages, Heavenly Commanders, Prime Imperial Sages, Imperial Sages, and Heavenly Kings on the planet were the only ones that felt it. Their Astral Souls rumbled as their innate spatial energies afforded to them by their cultivation base resonated.
Numerous figures throughout the world turned their heads, opened their eyes, looked in a certain direction, and vanished. They left their secluded cultivation, concoction sessions, intimate moments, and idle meditation to flashed through the void. They were like fleeting shadows as various movements arts enhanced by spatial energies were executed. These were all characters at or beyond the Fourth Stage of the Astral Core Realm, the Spatial Resonance Phase.
In a total of two seconds, a single location within the Myriad Monarch Sect was the gathering place of all these elite experts.
This location was within the Extreme Monarch Mountain! The Myriad Void Gate stationed in the first level. This Myriad Void Gate was Li Ling, a peak Mortal Captain rank Elder, and while she heard the sound, what started her was the numerous auras arriving above the Void Gate. Her heart raced as she left her office in a hurry, and she was accompanied by a sight that would normally be seen in crisis or war—the gathering of the sect's most elite experts.
Tuo Bihan levitated above the Void Gate alongside the other four. They surrounded the Void Gate in a perfect pentagonal formation, their spiritual sense bearing down on the Myriad Gates. They all had dark expressions, with intense gazes. Away from them in a secondary layer were those at the Fifth Stage of the Astral Core Realm, the Light Reflection Stage. They acted as a secondary barrier almost instinctively.
Since the true experts of the sect had arrived, they would only be able to serve as support.
Those at the Fourth Stage acted as the third layer. A man-made three-layered circle filled with experts was formed, their auras primed and ready.
Bo Kay was also there. His body wreathed in demonic wind force that manifested as a violet and verdant green cyclone. 'What's happening?' He was startled to notice the formation they took based on who arrived first, and they all came here. From his perspective, he felt a boundless mystifying surge of spatial power in this area. He simply traced it and arrived here out of curiosity.
After all, it was very rare. But the moment he arrived, the Grand Imperial Sages, Prime Imperial Sages, and Heavenly Commanders were already here. He could only distance himself as he realized this incident was beyond his scope. What possible matter could simultaneously attract every expert on the planet? His eyes honed onto the Myriad Void Gate.
Its arc structured and runes remained untouched and unchanged. It was as if nothing was happening outwardly, but he kept feeling as if there was a single point, infinitesimally small to the point of impossible to see, was currently located there. It was at the very center of the arc; this was what his body refined by spatial energies told him.
"You see it?" Ji Changkong was the first to speak, breaking the silence. His words weren't towards anyone besides the other Grand Imperial Sages, so they all remained silent as they listened. Many of their hearts were wildly racing. What did they see?
"…" The other four remained silent. However, in each of their eyes, rays of light, either scintillating, dim, soft, or blazing were being emitted without end. This was their spiritual arts being executed. Ji Changkong was similarly staring with eyes that unleashed sharp light.
Zen said while hefting the turtle shell on her back with a shrug, "There's a spatial anomaly." Her voice was still drawn-out and slow, but each syllable shook the hearts of everyone present. How could there be a spatial anomaly?
One must know that the entire planet was wrapped around by a unique Spatial Array that prevented any unauthorized access to the Myriad Void Gate. This wasn't an array designed and built from their generation but during Grand Monarch Wu Yu's reign. It contained mysteries and profundities that exceeded the Astral Core Realm.
How could they not be startled?
The level of graveness in everyone's eyes increased by several notches. A hint of fear, uncertainty, and vigilance entered their thoughts.
Tuo Bihan narrowed his eyes dangerously, his old hands clenched slowly and vigorous astral force started to accumulate. The sheer power within these hands could cause the collapse of dozens of continental flat earths. The entire space started to ripple and tremble.
"Wait!" Zen called out. She realized Tuo Bihan's thoughts and hastily urged him to pause. Amongst the five Grand Imperial Sages here, Tuo Bihan was the one with the oldest age, sturdiest foundation, and robust energies. Not only was he the only human Grand Imperial Sage, but he was also the strongest human expert at his cultivation level in the entire starfield. Unlike most, he had the luxury of concocting alchemical products for himself. This disparity should not be underestimated.
However, Tuo Bihan didn't. His eyes narrowed furthered and vast, boundless, insane levels of astral force started to bellow as space contorted from the deviating power of gravity, sunlight twisted and turned, absorbed by his body, and space itself rippled.
Yao Zhen, Ji Chengkong, and Qin Rui paled instantly. What was he planning on doing?! The other experts were immediately overwhelmed by the cascading display of power and the entire planet started to tremble. It took their all to stay in position, but many were forced back.
They all gawked in horror. Was this the strength of a sixth phase expert?!
Zen shouted again, "Bihan! Stop!!" Her old heart was also shaken, but not because of Tuo Bihan, but because she knew why he was readying for a cataclysmic battle.
Tuo Bihan's dull grey robes fluttered, and his entire body emitted boundless light like an immortal from myth. He seemed to have turned deaf, his eyes and aura were stable and determined. The only thing reflected in his senses and pupils was the Myriad Void Gate.
Zen realized Tuo Bihan won't listen, so her heart shivered. She was about to act, but abruptly and without warning, a voice echoed throughout the world. It carried the same qualities as that distinctive pop, but this was a voice.
"Why does this always happen to me?!"
This voice snapped everyone's thoughts towards the Myriad Void Gate. Tuo Bihan, the one seemingly ready to destroy the planet itself, eyes widened in disbelief and shock. This was because that voice was distinctive and clear…
His power deflated as he shot towards the Myriad Void Gate. The other Grand Imperial Sages were shaken as well. They too recognized this voice. It was the voice that bribed them without a hint of shame—Wei Wuyin!
Just as they were about to follow Tuo Bihan, within the center of the Void Gate, a black dot formed. This dot was mysterious, was the size of a marble, and it released no aura. It caused everyone, Tuo Bihan included, to halt their actions. They felt that this black dot was beyond strange. Before they could assess it, a groan of pain echoed as a grey object protruded out of the black dot.
This grey object was smooth and within it was countless ripples in every direction. It looked like…
It looked like…
"It's a fingertip?" Yao Zhen immediately realized the shape of the object. In terms of the anatomy of humanoid creatures, this was the fingertip of an index finger. It lacked flesh, veins, arteries, or a hint of blood, and it was merely the bone portion.
A fingertip?!
Then, the dot expanded. It became capable of fitting two fingers, and the fingertip plunged further outwards as it revealed itself up to the second joint. It moved, wiggling about as if trying to expand the black dot.
What…
Two, three, four, and a thumb. Soon, the black dot expanded enough for an entire grey-colored hand to reveal itself. This caused everyone's eyes to widen into full moons. A grey bone hand was piercing through the black dot and causing it to grow. Furthermore, this hand had a storage ring on its middle finger.
"Hurry the fuck up!"
The voice echoed once more before the black dot expanded in a flash and encompassed the entire Myriad Void Gate. It became a perfectly spherical object that lingered slightly above the ground and seemed to contain black nothingness within. It reminded everyone of a Void Portal and its black void it creates. However, never had they seen a spherical portal. Usually, they were like mirror surfaces with the Void Gate's arc as the frame.
"Is it him?" Tuo Bihan's expression turned completely odd and uncertain. But he couldn't reconcile with what he was seeing.
"Finally!" The voice echoed out for the last time, but the omnipresent-like quality had ceased, with its soft tone becoming clear and near. The hand left the black sphere, accompanied by a bony elbow, shoulder, chin, and head. It soon created a complete picture.
'A skeleton!' This thundered in everyone's minds. Their eyes popped out of their eyes and they saw a sight, seeing the absolutely disturbingly and nearly impossible sight before them. A naked skeleton, but it wasn't completely a skeleton.
Its silver eyes were brilliantly resplendent, connected to a brain that seemed to be permeated by seven-color lights, and a central core that radiated an indistinct color. There were no eyelids or flesh around these eyes, looking ghastly and horrific.
At its chest was a beating grey heart several times larger than a normal human, seemingly covered in scales. Each beat of this heart was like a mythological roar of a legendary creature. While no sound was emitted, this was what their senses and minds perceived.
At his dantian area, directly above his navel, was the only mass of flesh. Besides that, its legs, arms, neck, and head were entirely bone. No, actually, there was one other feature they forgot. There was another piece of flesh that hung from between the skeleton's legs, and it was pointed downwards, swaying with each movement, and its features…
They were impressive, to say the least.
However, there were strings that attached it with the heart and brain, with grey and seven-colored light surging through these strings. There was also distinct golden-colored energy just above it, clearly emitting a glow that permeated into the two dangling spherical objects below.
When the skeleton moved, they all took a step back subconsciously!
They were elite experts, but they weren't used to seeing such an odd corpse. Wait, was it a corpse?
The skeleton paused, its silver eyes swept the crowd unblinkingly. Since it had no eyelids, the sweep was exceptionally terrifying and piercing. It turned its bony head around to look left and right as if to see everyone present, then it turned to see its hand, body, and current situation.
'How the hell am I alive?' Wei Wuyin asked with uncertainty. His entire body was stripped of flesh, blood, leaving his brain, heart, and genitalia. By all means, he should be dead. However, just as he said this, he felt a jolt at his spine. His body neck twisted to his backside.
'Where're my wings? I feel them, but I…" He was confused. From his memories, he had unleashed his Infinite Void Wings. Then, he attempted to travel through the void by using Void Force to generate a Void Portal. But that's not what happened.
No.
That's exactly what happened.
However, he was merely experimenting with the possibility and didn't expect a Void Portal to actually be created. Not only was it created, but he was also sucked into the Void Portal. At that moment, he felt as if he was split into a billion different pieces and experienced a billion different things. His mind was absolutely overloaded with information. He lost himself for a moment until Eden and Kratos acted.
His Infinite Void Wings unleashed his boundless power as they stabilized himself and his mind became increasingly clear as the information was accepted and refined by Eden. When he regained himself, Kratos called him foolish and demanded he hurriedly determine a location.
Realizing the danger, he tried to mentally fixate on his home in the Myriad Monarch Sect. His first and only home within the Wei Clan's grounds where his mother, father, older brother, and himself lived. However, Kratos angrily shouted that he couldn't and his Infinite Void Wings started to unleash more power.
Before he knew it, he was before a white dot and he tried to open it. During this time, it felt both like a century and a millisecond. It was beyond strange. In the end, he tried to pierce through it but was accompanied by a startling amount of feedback. This feedback caused him to feel pain that nearly rivaled being burned alive but paled in comparison to hearing the details about Hell.
It was so painful that he tried his hardest to exit from the white sphere. When he exited, he found himself here—surrounded by the Myriad Monarch Sect experts. And he was a skeleton.
"So bothersome! This was the only location I could connect with." Kratos spoke with annoyance. Wei Wuyin felt its discontent. Quickly, he understood. Since Wei Wuyin's choice was invalid, it likely opened a spatial portal to the most recent fluctuation of the void. That was the Myriad Monarch Sect's Myriad Void Gate on the first level, the location he set off too.
Tuo Bihan's eyes stared for a second, noticing that monstrous thing dangling between its legs, his mind rumbled. "All of you: Disperse!" He gave a direct order. Instinctively, trained by the constant exposure to the Power of Authority, all those beneath the Grand Imperial Sage departed without hesitation. They traveled a distance away but remained vigilant.
Tuo Bihan lifted his hand and erected a spiritual barrier to prevent senses from encroached. This even isolated the other Grand Imperial Sages. The others didn't question it. They merely stayed at the boundary of the barrier. The inside of it was misty and uncertain.
Tuo Bihan approached, his eyes sweeping Wei Wuyin's skeletal form up and down. "Are you that little lass?"
If Wei Wuyin had eyelids, they would be twitching. He realized Tuo Bihan had a habit of changing his reference often. He could distinctly recall being called little boy, boy, and little fellow in the same exchange. Now it was 'little lass'.
Wei Wuyin tried to speak, but his jaw opened and no sound was emitted. He was uncertain. Didn't he speak before? He could've sworn that he had spoken several sentences a few seconds before.
In truth, if it wasn't for Wei Wuyin's silver eyes and manhood, Tuo Bihan wouldn't have been able to determine his identity with certainty. The first was rare, but the second was indistinguishable. He had seen it fully via his spiritual sense when he broke open the Sky Layer for his crane.
"You're him, but how did yo-" Tuo Bihan was speaking when the black sphere started to visibly tremble.
Ziiip!
In a blink of an eye, it was like space was zipped up and the sphere vanished. When it did, Tuo Bihan's eyes widened in disbelief and shock.
"I'm back?!" Wei Wuyin realized his flesh, blood, skin, and various energies had returned into his body. Well, he didn't have any clothes still, but he had returned to normal. He lacked his Infinite Void Wings, but he could feel his bloodline source had thoroughly been exhausted, forcing a regression. As for why? He wasn't certain, but it could be…lag?
"…" Tuo Bihan gave Wei Wuyin an odd gaze. It caused Wei Wuyin to feel uncomfortable.
"What?" Wei Wuyin asked, elation suffused his heart. He truly thought he was dead, and likely became a ghost.
"Brat, are you into exhibitionism?" Tuo Bihan asked honestly.
Wei Wuyin's expression darkened.
