"Feng Qiu was useless to the end. Even with the support I offered her, the best she could reach was the sixth stage of the palace realm. Utterly useless...How far have I fallen, if the best help I can get is third-rate rubble?
The cultivators she got did little to help with my current predicament, and she went and got herself killed before she could even find more arts tied to the Frozen Serenity cannon.
The arts she delivered and the ones I have are barely enough to help me deduce the coordinates of the main grotto of the Frozen Serenity Sect. I need the sovereign tears ice vine fruit if I want a chance of healing these damn wounds.." the elderly man said as he eyed the four holes in his torso that released a calamitous aura.
"110,00 years and it still burns with the same venom as when I got it from that qilin. If that twerp Liu Gen had stayed the course, the wounds would have already been healed, but he went and got full of himself just because he reached the soul formation realm.
And what did that get him? With his puny strength, and a cultivation art I helped him improve to the gold grade, he thought he could dominate the world.
He got slapped around for all his bluster, some crimson wave that was. That kid..."
The elderly man sighed as a rare sign of emotion appeared on his face.
"Such a pity, he had enough talent to even stand out even during the heyday of our sect. But with the means of that kid, I'm sure he is still alive somewhere.
Liu Gen you twerp, you still owe me, and I'll be collecting on a part of that debt today.." the elderly man said as he pinched the thorn in his hand that turned into a red bead filled with inscrutable runes.
" While that kid may have eliminated my abilities to track him through the art I helped him make, the others are not as skilled...three members of that sect seemed like they survived. One of them should be enough to deflect their attention.
You should be thankful you twerp that I'm only going for the one in the domain realm.." the elderly man said as he flicked the bead in the air.
It let out a radiant red light and immediately vanished in the air.
"That should be enough to mislead them...The Order.." a complicated expression flashed in his eyes as he mentioned the name.
"I thought nothing of them at first, but they are too strange. That kid, it seemed like he had the aura of that jade enlightened arc butterfly.
If it wasn't for the restoration abilities of that butterfly and her sect, we would have won the battle back then.
But how is she alive? I was sure she died to the ancient..." he had a bewildered look as she tried to recall past events.
"Then there was that swordsman and that sneaky old man. Even back then, they would have stood out. How did an upstart like them find such powerful people in such a short time?
We had enough talent and foundation back then to run amock in this continent, even with enemies all around, but even with our means, we couldn't spew out so many talents in such a short amount of time.
Are they supported by remnants of the past? It's the only thing that explains it, but who? All of them should have died back then, down to their roots.
This is all too strange, at my state, I can't afford to get entangled with them yet.." the elderly man muttered before he went on to close his eyes in meditation.
The red boiling liquid below him started surging, rising, and falling with every breath. It released a mystical radiance that covered the corpses around it, the red abyssal thorn tree, and the elderly man.
With every corpse dissolved, the tree would vibrate, and produce a red pearl fruit which would then drop disperse into mist that covered the old man's wounds.
Thunderous explosions would be produced every time the mist came in contact with the wound, as an auspicious air accompanied by an ancient-sounding roar was produced from the wound. A loud tearing sound would be produced immediately after.
"Mmh.." the elderly man suddenly opened his eyes with a surprised look on his face.
A rusted old sword that was broken halfway immediately appeared in his hands as he hurriedly stood up.
A murderous cry was produced from the sword that brought with it the illusions of an ocean and mountain of blood, and corpses. The corpses were mythical creatures, powerful spirit beasts, and soul-formation cultivators.
The sword released a dark star cloud that had the aura of terror, decay, and corrosion. The air around its rusty edge was torn apart by its malevolent aura.
The red abyssal tree behind the elderly man let out an eerie black and red light as a majestic red rune was produced from one of the tips of its branches. The rune was in the shape of a scythe, a grim reaper's scythe.
A blinding white light carrying the momentum of a world behind, and the shattering force of a galaxy appeared in the reflection of that elderly man's irises, which turned grim at what he was staring at.
Bang!
A thunderous explosion reverberated all around the grotto bringing enough force to make it seem like the world was ending.
A red barrier filled with glyphs appeared around the grotto to block the incoming mystical white light, but it shattered after a brief struggle as the light charged head-on toward the caldera illuminating everything in its path.
The mountain which was filled with nothing but gloomy red light, now had a light of dawn, shining on it, tearing away at the gloominess and the miasma around.
Boom!
The elderly man swung his sword at the incoming mystical light producing a red-black streak with his swing.
The space was torn apart as easily as slicing through butter, revealing the grey depths of the void.
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