"..."

A wave of awe flowed ceaselessly through the hearts of everyone present. They had just bore witness to the reveal of two heavenly geniuses who had developed a Nine-Ringed Soul Idol and had heaven-defying combat strength for their cultivations, yet the ending had left them utterly speechless.

The Myriad Monarch Sect's participant, Beastman Zuhei, had been afflicted by a severely fatal attack that left his chest almost entirely empty, even his heart seemed to have been eviscerated by that attack. As for the dark horse that was Lin Ming, this Elemental Heaven Pavilion participant, he had suffered an incredibly gruesome fate of losing all his surface skin before abruptly vanishing in a flash of white light.

They didn't know if Lin Ming had been sent away or if he had turned into specks of dust by the silver light. It was a befuddling event.

Qing Qiumu covered her mouth with her palms. Her normally gorgeously gentle emerald-colored eyes were revealing horror and shock. While she didn't know Zuhei personally, she knew that he was Wei Wuyin's subordinate. She didn't expect him to meet his end like this.

And she wasn't the only one.

Long Chen's eyes were extremely wide. "He's...dead?" His disbelieving voice was filled with uncertainty. Zuhei could be classified as a genius of an era by his standards, by his current combat prowess, and his future potential. A cultivator that had comprehended two Intents, reached the Zenith Mortal State, manifested a Nine-Ringed Soul Idol, had met his demise at the hands of a similarly outstanding genius.

It didn't feel real.

But as he observed Zuhei's life aura dwindle endlessly while spewing glaringly crimson blood from his lips without end, he couldn't help but accept it. Furthermore, even if Zuhei survived, his heart had been destroyed. He was essentially turned cripple.

"Urgh…" Zuhei soon lost his ability to control his remaining energies and the ambient mana to maintain flight. He started to fall from the sky as streaks of crimson formed from his mouth and chest. His eyes fluttered without end.

'I...lost?' Zuhei's thoughts were slow and felt heavy, as if every word was a chore of immense effort. He felt a pain in his mind as he recalled the previous events. He had unleashed his strongest art—Imperial Bloodforge Way: Roaring Blood, Crushing Spirit—and he lost. This was a bonafide art designed by a Mystic Ascendant that assaulted both the body and spirit in a tyrannical fashion, and one of the preliminary arts of the Bloodforging Mystic Method.

To think that this profound art that could devour entire planets at its strongest had led to his defeat. It was…

...Unexpected.

In the end, he lost. He could feel his consciousness fading, while his body was being invaded by elemental forces and destroying it on a fundamental level. He no longer felt his Astral Soul. Was it all lost just like that?

He couldn't help but recall his past.

He had joined the Myriad Monarch Sect with much effort. At first, he wasn't anything special. He could cultivate a little bit faster than others amongst his lineage, had a bloodline that was a tinge greater, and so he stood out a little. He was excited and happy. He had a loving and beautiful mother, a strong and sturdy father, and a cheerful and naive little brother.

His life wasn't so bad.

While he envied those Sky Nobles and Heavenly Kings, he understood his limitations. He was fated to merely be amongst the five million, and that was enough. Then, his world was turned upside down.

His mother was desired by a Mortal Captain-class Elder. The forceful means and sinister schemes of the elder led to his father challenging this Elder and being crippled as a result. Soon after, his little brother had gone against the rules of the sect and was subsequently executed.

Before he could react, he was left with a raped mother, a crippled father, and a dead little brother. His life…

He went mad.

Mad with unfathomable rage and killing intent.

He sought to become a vicious monster and lay his life on the line for revenge, and he had birthed Battle Intent and Slaughter Intent as he embraced his lineage and killed his way through the sect. In the end, he was foiled and captured, sentenced to die of old age in a jail after being brutally crippled. As a beastman, he had a lifespan far beyond normal humans and would likely spend thousands of years there.

For one hundred and sixty years, he was forced to live in isolation and helplessness. He had given up on living, on revenge, on everything.

Then, he arrived.

His life was changed. He had even claimed his revenge with his own two hands in the end. He had gained unfathomable strength! His future had no longer been left for oblivion, but reclaimed by that person's hands. So, he decided to devote his life and entirety of that future to this individual.

He became his claws.

He became his fangs.

Well, he was…

Feeling the incredibly pervasive cold of death, he couldn't help but see his life flash before his eyes. He had no more family in this world. The only thing he had left in this world was him...just him.

And he couldn't handle a single task! All he had to do was win the Grand Spirit Trials, prove his worth as his claws and fangs! Yet...yet…

His face became wet with more than just blood.

'Please forgive me...Master...'

"Do you think I've given you permission to die?" A voice resounded beside his ears, igniting his fading consciousness a little. He had already lost feeling of his body, otherwise he would've noticed he was held by the very man he sought forgiveness for. Besides the sound of that particular voice, he couldn't perceive anything else around him.

"Su Mei, did I give him permission to die?" Wei Wuyin asked with a trace of genuine confusion in his voice.

Su Mei was floating beside Wei Wuyin with a faint smile on her face, exuding a little bit of warmth as she gazed at Zuhei. She responded, "You haven't, Lord Wei."

Wei Wuyin nodded, "That's right; I haven't." As he said this, he retrieved a man-sized crystal coffin filled with watery paste from his spatial ring. With a wave of his hand, Zuhei was placed inside.

The last thing Zuhei heard before his consciousness faded: "You did far better than I expected. Your purpose isn't finished yet, so rest well. You'll have much work to do after."

After that, the now-sealed crystal coffin was handed to Su Mei who enshrouded it with her astral force. She was very careful as she handled the coffin. When she looked at Zuhei, she saw that the watery paste seemed to be integrating with Zuhei's flesh, regrowing his cells, and rebuilding his foundational structure. Her eyes brightened in wonder for a brief moment.

Wei Wuyin was twirling his fingers as he inspected the elemental forces that had been extracted from Zuhei's body. These elemental forces had been bestowed with spirituality. They had the ability to attract other elemental forces and imbue them with a task. This was why Zuhei was covered in multicolored lights beneath his skin.

It was quite insidious. Fortunately, he had comprehended Elemental Origin Intent, and his was of a higher level than the one within this. To extract it and bring it under his control was literal child's play.

'Lin Ming survived because of that dot on his forehead. It truly is difficult to kill a Blessed. But it didn't seem like a tool or armament. A technique? Someone left it to protect him, and it even has spatial energies and can perform spatial shifting. Beyond the Realm World Phase?' He couldn't help but recall that gorgeously stunning woman he had seen with Lin Ming on the Myriad Yore Continent.

After he realized this, he sighed with a bit of relief. He had felt that Blessed typically had some form of protection, or at least a few did. He wasn't sure if Lin Ming was like Long Chen, with a Grand Monarch Wu Yu-like character protecting him from the shadows, or like Yuan Longshi who relied solely on himself and a situational trump card like the Yang Dragon Soul.

Therefore, he exercised caution and allowed Zuhei to test it out. Who would've thought he could give this Blessed a life-and-death battle with extremely close results. If that's the case, he could kill Lin Ming if presented with an opportunity. Fortunately, he hadn't jumped the gun lest he be hunted by his mysterious guardian.

He sighed again, but this time lamenting how he didn't have an exceptional character standing behind him. While he had plundered Wu Yu from Long Chen, it still wasn't a protective talisman that was entirely his to have nor was it certain that Wu Yu would act unhesitantly for him. He didn't like that uncertainty.

In the end, he could only accept his situation.

As he thought this, he looked at the ravaged world below and the sundered clouds above. "I didn't want to do this, but I guess I'll just end this here. Watch him," Wei Wuyin said.

He slowly descended with all eyes on him. There were even a few that felt sad for him as Su Mei carried a coffin with Zuhei within. To them, he was dead. After his chest was devastated in such a fashion, how could he not be? But how were they to know the wonders of a top-tier eight-grade alchemical paste, Waters of Life. As for being crippled?

Before a talented alchemist, did that word even exist?

Only injured and dead were in their vocabulary.

He arrived at the devastated area that once held the battle arena. When he did, shockingly, a projection was shown in the sky.

Wei Wuyin.

Myriad Monarch Participant.

Sky Ruler Cultivation.

Spirit Points: 2,350

-

# of Continuous Victories: 0.