"The Dao of Void is quite terrifying," Wei Wuyin commented. But his expression was somewhat pale, clearly having exhausted an absurd amount of astral force and physical strength. To rip the head off a Realmlord's refined body was not an easy feat, requiring one to twist and wrench with tremendous force.
His fingers dug into the cranium of the hulking elf simply from the sheer force used. The outline of his fingers were forever etched into his skull.
Wei Wuyin didn't like to talk during a fight, but to ensure his plan worked, he needed to. Each syllable he uttered contained hidden mental energies intermixed with void force, and it laid as a trap. When Wei Wuyin arrived before the hulking elf, grasping his fist, he had sent a boundless amount of void force into the Realmlord's body!
It was the cause that led to the delayed reaction of the hulking elf at the very last moment. He hadn't even been able to resist. He was indeed careless! Retracting his Worldly Domain and allowing Wei Wuyin to come into direct contact with him! The hubris and confidence he held in his heart led to his death.
Wei Wuyin had conceived and constructed this method from Timelords! They were said to be able to induce a Temporal Dissonance, making one perceive time faster or slower than reality. This could make experts of the highest caliber make endless mistakes, both offensively and defensively. And while he didn't have temporal energies, he had void energies linked to the concept of time!
But he realized how difficult it was! Just this slight delay had caused Kratos to use roughly 90% of its astral force reserves!
90%!!!
If it wasn't for his Astral Core's absolutely massive reserves of astral force, he would've been unable to achieve it!
As for his two 'deaths', that was a Void Imprint! It was one of his new Bloodline Abilities unlocked after reaching the Fifth Stage of the Mark of Mortal Myth, and he could leave a realistic copy of himself containing the same mass, visual image, and aura in the space he previously occupied for a very long time. As for vanishing? He was just extremely fast.
The bloodline ability didn't have much use in a real fight, making Wei Wuyin realize that some bloodline abilities just weren't designed for combat. He had to get creative, turning it into a substitution art. Regardless, he felt this Void Imprint would link to other abilities one day, allowing unique and miraculous changes.
Still, We Wuyin couldn't approach the Worldly Domain of a Realmlord carelessly even during the Season of Regression, so he waited for it to be retracted before making his move. The decisive arm severing was beyond his expectations. He had to admit, this Realmlord was extraordinary. It was far too unfortunate that he met Wei Wuyin in this life, that he was selected to die.
In the perceptions of others, the spectators could see Wei Wuyin arrive above the hulking elf from behind in a blur and twist his head a full circle, pulling it viciously from his thick neck with a violent yank. It was extremely bloody and savage!
Yet what was even more terrifying was the body's actions after the fact. The hearts of everyone grew extremely cold at this sight. Even the experts hadn't witnessed a headless corpse acting on its own, especially those children. They might be scarred for life.
Even if the crowd was startled from horror, how could the old ghost be? The platform glowed and explosively burst into bits of starry lights! Wei Wuyin floated in mid-air, not by his own power but by a power originating from the sky, and he was emitting the same boundless white radiance as the platform.
The starry light from the platform started to gather onto Wei Wuyin's right hand, forming a vortex. The air currents of the world twisted and exploded as the light traveled. The severed head in his hand and the headless corpse vanished, engulfed by some unknown power. They were restored into a single whole and returned to the mountain before anyone could react. However, the Realmlord was truly and fully dead.
Wei Wuyin hadn't just twisted his head off, but sent a burst of astral force that completely destroyed his brain, completely killing him off to complete the test. Perhaps only those who exceeded Mortal Limits could resurrect him or save his soul from crossing to the otherside, but clearly the old ghost had no intention to do so.
Shoom!
The starry lights emerged once more, flickering endlessly as they encircled Wei Wuyin. While in mid-air, the gushing air currents, and gorgeous lights fluttering around him, Wei Wuyin seemed to become deified. His handsome looks were astonishing alongside the imagery, causing numerous inhabitants of True Desolate to gawk at him in awe.
Wei Wuyin's hair was lifted and twisted about randomly, causing him to frown with a contemplative light within his eyes. There was a strange power within these starry lights, containing traces of energies he wasn't quite familiar with.
Soon, he felt a prickling sensation on his right hand. Looking at his right hand, he was shocked to discover the mark had added another triangle, reaching a total of three, and fully completing the perfect circle. The mark contained pure, dense, vast, and heavy earthen energies. The aura emitted from this mark was filled with a unique Intent, far greater than Desolate Earth Intent.
In fact, it was devastatingly powerful. It felt boundless, infinite, without limit! The heaviness was a concept, not a truth. The vastness was endless, with no horizon. The purity was natural, with no turbidity.
"There's a specific Intent within this mark…" Wei Wuyin concluded, inspecting the mark intently. If he had to estimate the level of this particular Intent, it was far, far greater than the high-level Desolate Earth Intent. In fact, it felt as equally as profound and strong as Absolute Zero Ice Intent.
Just as Wei Wuyin's mind wandered, a violent burst of multicolored light pierced out of the dark sky, descending upon him with thunderous momentum that engulfed his entire figure. The inhabitants gasped, Wei Wuyin's existence seemingly melted within the thick ray of bursting light.
The young woman and old man looked on with varied expressions. The young woman was in utter disbelief. Wei Wuyin had single-handedly eliminated a Realmlord, and in an extremely brutal fashion! She had fought her urge to risk her life, unwilling to die an unfair death in a minor world realm such as this, but Wei Wuyin had snatched victory with his own ability!
Even she wasn't certain how he won, simply the vicious act of his victory. And she didn't know how to react.
The old man had a complex, incredibly ambiguous expression. He was currently investigating the multicolored light and felt a sensation of trepidation for the first time since arriving in this world realm. From this feeling, he had confirmed a few things regarding the truth behind these so-called Holy Ceremonies and the Will of Deities these natives incessantly droned on about.
In some ways, an existence beyond Mortal Limits was truly overseeing matters on the continent. To some, it might be an unmatched deity; to others, it might just be a powerful cultivator.
As for Wei Wuyin's victory, while shocked by the method in which he claimed the man's life, he wasn't shocked by the end result. Wei Wuyin was clearly a genius sufficient enough to obtain the title of Chosen. Furthermore, his origins were likely far from ordinary, so it was extremely, abundantly, and outright clear and certain that he would win.
If he couldn't, then who could?
Who could?!
Aaannnngggg!
A sound of a holy gong ringing erupted!
The Grand Priestess heard this gong and straightened her back, her sightless eyes filled with a fanatical glow. "THE HOLY SON HAS BEEN CHOSEN!" Her words were world-shaking, empowered by her fullest cultivation base as it spread throughout tens of thousands of miles!
She spread out her hands, tears dripping from her eyes, kneeling as she cried out in the most reverential voice filled with boundless happiness, "THE HOLY SON HAS BEEN CHOSEN!"
The hooded figures seemed undisturbed by their fellow member's death, but after those two sentences were repeated, they all kneeled and clasped their hands, crying out the same six words to the world! To them, this was their purpose in life!
They upheld the Holy Ceremony of Divine Bestowal for thousands of years, generations of their ancestors kept their mission strong without fail. And in their generation, they witnessed the ascent of a Holy Child!
There were extremely tough times throughout their lives as they questioned whether these tests and the doctrine they followed were worth it. Would they turn to dust never fulfilling their lifelong mission? Would one ever be worthy enough to accomplish the task?
There were even times where discussions of deliberately allowing the contestants to claim victory. And there was even a time where this plan was enacted, yet it did not receive the Sound of Divine Ascent! The Divine Lord Desi could not be fooled! And those involved were viciously eliminated for their transgressions and disrespect!
They had faced difficulties of the heart, flesh, will and self, so to see this day actually occur, the tears they shed today were absolutely genuine!
The millions that watched heard the words of their most respected figure, the Grand Priestess Si De! They were confused for a second, looking at each other as if verifying if someone else had heard her correctly. Seeing the light of searching in the eyes of their neighbor, it verified a truth that they couldn't believe.
A Holy Son…
A Holy Son has been CHOSEN!
"WAAAAH!" The crowd erupted in vigorous cheers. A happiness exploded in their hearts as they stared at the ray of violent light piercing into the ground, having completely hidden Wei Wuyin's figure. Their prayers had been answered! Some pious ones, particularly the older ones, cried alongside the hooded figures. They dropped to their knees and chanted out ancient scripture.
It was a display of extreme faith.
An extremely old man with less than a few days left in his natural life lifted his gaze, those muddy and turbid eyes of his, to gaze longingly at the ray of light. He was carried by his great, great, great grandson who was a strapping young man with a bright pair of eyes, intelligent and energetic.
"It happened, granddad! It happened just like you dreamed!" The young man excitedly laughed, pointing at the ray of light, but the old man didn't respond. Panicking, he hurriedly asked, "Are you okay? Please don't die on me!"
His panic wasn't noticed by anyone, and this caused him to shake in fear at the worst possibility.
The old man smacked him upside the head with the palm of his withered and wrinkled hand, "Stop moving so much! I'm not dead." A rare energy erupted from his voice and body, causing the young man to relax. The old man continued with a soft whisper, "Not yet. I have to…"
At this moment, the violent ray of surging light exploded into bits of reflective light! It rained light! At the center of that ray, a figure emerged before the eyes of everyone, and thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of screens projected throughout the entire continent!
From these screens, a young man garbed in pure white robes and inner clothes, seemingly untouched by the filth of this world, appeared before the sights of everyone in any populated location in the entire continent!
He was handsome, extremely to the point of being otherworldly. His dark-colored hair fluttered majestically without wind, his silver eyes were as radiant and mesmerizing as lunar satellites, and his faint smile was heart-shaking, exuding boundless and unmatched confidence.
With a faint white radiance around his body, he truly seemed to be an image of a Holy Child chosen by a divinity!
The old man's muddy eyes cleared, reflecting Wei Wuyin's lofty demeanor, striking looks, and exquisitely dressed figure within. Every conceivable inch of Wei Wuyin's exalted image was branded forever in his pupils. A faint smile of content tugged at the old man's lips as he gripped the shoulders of his descendant. "I have to see…" He finished his sentence.
The young man was excited, "Yes, you've seen the Holy Son! Your dream came true! You were right, you were right!" His excitement caused him to not notice the tightened grip of the old man loosened, his frail body becoming slightly heavier, slightly softer.
But the young man didn't move much, his tears flowing from his eyes. He kept repeating those three words over and over: "You were right!"
—–
In Scorched Skies of the Four Extreme Continent, two figures lifted their gazes to observe the newly constructed screen. When the screen reflected the image of that dashingly radiant holy figure, they both exclaimed!
"How could it be him?!?!"
"What the…?!"
