Those words of the young woman resonated with the internal thoughts of most present, if not everyone. Even Grand Priest Zi Gu was staring stunned, with disbelief painting his entire facial expression with thick layers. While it was rumored that the Holy Son of Tri-Elementus had an outrageous spiritual strength at a very young age, there was never any mention of his Astral Core.
"Thirty-Two Centimeters!"
Enormous!
Thick!
Unbelievably Big!
Regardless of their thoughts, the same thing was illustrated in their minds: the largest Astral Core they'd ever witnessed.
The light surrounding Wei Wuyin trembled and twisted, faint glimmers flickering on the surface of his skin, revealing to the world his cultivation base at the Fifth Stage of the Astral Core Realm! With the absence of gravitational forces, this verified his cultivation level to everyone!
But this only exaggerated their thoughts, prodding at their disbelieving minds and even making themselves believe that they'd been placed into an illusionary world. How could this be real? Was this real?!
Yet, Wei Wuyin stood floating in the sky, his dantian glowing as it contained the outline, shape, and outrageous size of his Astral Core!
The average size of a Light Reflection Phase Cultivator, even in this thriving society of cultivation, was one-fourth of a centimeter. One-fourth! Even a Gravity Emission Phase expert, be it here or in the starfield, was just half a centimeter in size, incredibly difficult to change due to the refined astral forces within.
As an Astral Core became larger in circumference, so did the quantity and the quality of astral force stored within. As a cultivator's cultivation base rises, it becomes increasingly difficult to expand these two traits. The former, quantity, was easier, but quality required the innate energies that produced astral force to reach higher levels. This meant physical, mental, essence, and spiritual energies must be elevated in strength to further expand the Astral Core.
What would thirty-two centimeters in the Light Reflection Phase reflect? How vast was their World Sea? Enough to drown the continent ten times over? How powerful were their innate energies, their astral forces? The shock and disbelief was only expected from everyone who understood this concept of a World Sea. After all, the World Sea was a metaphysical space that contained vast, vast quantities of astral force despite the seemingly limited size of a Cultivator's Dantian.
"How does he even cultivate?!" The young woman shouted in utter disbelief. 39,300 Spirit Units? Thirty-two centimeter-sized Astral Core? Just a little over a decade of cultivation time?! Was this even possible? Should this even be possible?! There was a limit to talent, and a limit to one's foundation!
The old man's heart rapidly raced, feeling incredibly perplexed by this reveal. This was because he knew that when they first met three years ago, Wei Wuyin's Astral Core was only ten centimeters! In three years, he reached this?! HOW?! Does he eat high-grade alchemical products for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?!
With Wei Wuyin's mind-blowing foundation revealed, the entire world was shaken, but the man himself was entirely unbothered by these exaggerated reactions. Instead, his eyes were calm, cold, and emitted faint traces of killing intent. He executed his Elemental Spiritual Art: World of Origin!
He hadn't just executed it once, but nine times!
The span of time he used to unleash these nine arts in rapid succession was equivalent to unleashing half of a single art before! This was roughly eighteen times faster! This was the boundless cultivation benefits of possessing the Shifting Elemental Primary Light and refined astral force with those light energies! Vast quantities of Elemental Origin Force gushed out from his body, erupting in a spray of white light.
The immediate area around himself became filled with elemental origin force, with white elemental light that would shift colors at random intervals.
"Retreat!" Grand Priest Zi Gu fiercely ordered, prompting the eleven other temple members to retreat in haste back to the Sky Zephyr City's area.
"Activate the defensive formations!" Grand Priest Zi Gu cautiously kept his distance, realizing that Wei Wuyin wasn't an ordinary cultivator from his Astral Core. Were all Holy Children this monstrous?!
Typically, these temples avoided establishing defensive or offensive formations as it was a place of worship, but after their Holy Son had been determined, they all bore the fear of losing him just like the Lei and Shuang Clan lost theirs. A few upper-echelon members of the temple suggested establishing defensive and offensive formations to combat hostile forces, such as the other Holy Children.
He had eventually relented with some protest, inevitably folding due to his fear of the same dreadful outcome. While the formation itself wasn't too complex, a little hasty, even Grand Priest Zi Gu would have issues fighting against or breaching the formation during the Season of Regression.
A twisting sphere of violent wind engulfed the city at its borders, directly cutting off Wei Wuyin. As he stayed at the edge of the borders, they had successfully isolated him.
"No! Kill him!" A voice, female and cold, roared out from the Sky Zephyr Temple. It trembled the entire space, causing the temple members to grow pale. They snapped out of their daze, realizing their primary orders! Without thinking, they had retreated against an enemy, locking themselves behind a protective wall seeking safety and protection!
Enraged at their own fear, they grasped their astral weapons, urged their astral force into maximum activity, and shot out of the spherical domain of twisting wind, seeking to exit and clash with Wei Wuyin's elemental origin force. Unfortunately, as they hardened their wills and were reminded of their duties, sounds of a boundlessly majestic origin shook the world!
ROAR! ROAR!! ROAR!!!
A rumble that nearly took them out of the sky occurred! A few of these Realmlords, with their refined bodies of a thousand or so years, directly spat mouthfuls of blood. Grand Priest Zi Gu's expression became ashen, his eyes flashing with fear. As a Timelord, it shouldn't be possible for him to feel fear, only caution!
But there was a reason that changed today!
MANA!
ROAR!!!
An explosive roar, seemingly the simultaneous overlapping of nine different sounds, blasted the world in its might! A shockwave of mana surged outwards with Wei Wuyin at its center, clashing with the sphere of wind, shattering it on contact!
A gushing surge of endless wind blades cut through the world, slicing into the city and causing numerous cries of pain, agony, and death to resound below!
"Mana?!" Grand Priest Zi Gu shouted in shock, feeling the situation was ludicrous. Wasn't this the Season of Regression? Wasn't mana restricted by the Divinities of the Four Extreme Continent?! His thoughts went blank as he instinctively conjured an astral ward, deflecting the powerful backlash of wind with ease.
Soon, the erupting light that swarmed Wei Wuyin settled, and revealed a sight that no one present would ever forget!
They had long, slithering forms. They had eyes filled with spirituality, reflecting the elements. They had impossibly sharp five-clawed limbs that rent fixed space, solid earth as if it was mud, the air as if it was water, and glinted with brilliant light.
With every twist of their pure white bodies, they would reveal their scales that were defined to the utmost limits of reality, where every curvature was as vivid and lifelike as one's hand. They swirled their bodies, releasing mists of various colors as their breath, and if one counted, they would total nine!
ROAR!
The ambient mana pulsated directly with their draconic roars, subjugated by their dominating presence. These were dragons! DRAGONS! And they had a length of a thousand meters, smaller than the last time they were unleashed, but far more compact. Their draconic auras were extremely vibrant and domineering, causing the bloodline of even humans to quiver, their hearts pounding heavily at the sight of them.
They swirled, twisted, and gazed upon the world with Wei Wuyin as their centerpiece, like obedient pets as they used their eyes, which seemingly contained nine different elemental worlds, to observe the Sky Zephyr City. In the minds of every expert, a draconic roar was unleashed!
A few directly fainted from the vast spiritual might each dragon released, and a few even directly lost their lives.
"Spiritual Astral Array?!" Grand Priest Zi Gu was terrified as he inspected the dragons, quickly determining their origins. "A Multi-Link Spiritual Astral Array?! How did he…" The disbelief was terrifying as he noticed that, while these dragons were separated in their existence, they were linked by a powerful, unbreakable spiritual link.
Just being in their presence was like resisting an offensive spiritual spell. He reinforced his spirit, guarded his sea of consciousness, and hurriedly shouted: "Prepare for battle!" He no longer hesitated or questioned, looking at the killing intent effusing from Wei Wuyin's eyes.
A Realmlord roared, feeling challenged as he wielded twin swords. He erupted in a surge of wind force, angrily shouting out a battle cry as he manifested his Worldly Domain and charged at Wei Wuyin. He was like a piercing twister as he moved. As long as he killed Wei Wuyin, who cared about this array?!
Swiftly, he faced the nine dragons fearlessly, and lifted his swords with a vicious expression. "Die!" He summoned his wind force with all he could muster, causing miles of air to twist and churn! Just as he did, his expression changed as his eyes went blank, his body distorted under some force, and horror replaced his fearless expression.
He wanted to scream out words, "It's a wo-" but he was cut off at the last moment by a blurred figure that moved at sight distorting speeds.
CHOMP!
A horrified, delayed shout resounded. "Watch out!" Grand Priest Zi Gu was rushing towards the Realmlord in hopes of halting him, but he anxiously stopped after seeing a dragon's head arrive before the Realmlord, bite down and devour him in a blink of an eye. He had felt something was wrong, but he didn't know what. Seeing this dragon consume his temple member, his heart trembled. They were too fast!
The lifeforce of that Realmlord was erased.
He was either dead or trapped in a sealed space, but when he felt the shattering of a talisman linked to the Realmlord's soul, his heart sank at ten thousand meters a moment.
He was dead.
The dragon's eyes gave him a glance, revealing a world of lightning and releasing translucent mist with yellow motes with every breath. The simulated breathing, realistic eye movements, lifelike qualities, and draconic aura made it seem extremely realistic, causing him to forget that it was a conjured manifestation.
Terror filled their entire hearts and minds.
Wei Wuyin's eyes glowed fiercely, forming a handseal as five dragons unleashed a world-trembling draconic roar. With thousand meter long bodies, they ravaged the skies and sundered the earth as they soared towards the Sky Zephyr City.
