Alm and Bruno stared intently at the round being a few meters in front of them.
"Is this how everyone sees us? It’s definitely a giant round monster!" Bruno commented incredulously.
"A grotesque ball of fat... and we’re still getting bigger than when we first met him in the clan," Alm added with disgust.
The other whale then took a step forward, and the entire space seemed to fall under pressure as if a giant demonic beast had opened its eyes. Alm and Bruno felt that directly in their bodies and fell silent, immediately stunned.
"Is this physical cultivation? Are we causing all these phenomena?" Bruno murmured.
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Both Alm and Bruno were familiar with what was in front of them; it was a celestial reflection. Whenever a cultivator incorporated the world’s QI into their body to cultivate, an impression of them was engraved in the celestial laws. The cost of using this for personal benefit was to create karma with the world so dense that it could kill them at the first opportunity.
But a formation had no intelligence, only brute energy. The defense method used at the entrance of the castle was a crude method but had a clear power limit. If a divine cultivator wanted to enter, they would easily pass through. So, this mechanism was a classic used in desperation in very important formations. Large clans or sects often used it.
The entire formation made the QI available for the reflection to use. A high-level formation had a much larger amount of QI available than a body could withstand. Of course, there was a limit to the power of the reflection, but almost all techniques, and even a simple intelligence from the original, remained. Even divine cultivators would be intimidated, having to fight against themselves.
Whoever designed this was definitely condemned. But one life wasn’t worth as much as the disaster of something important being taken; most of those who used this defense method thought something similar.
The whale’s reflection immediately stopped, and its eyes were illuminated with a brown, earthy color as it looked disdainfully at Alm and Bruno, who were standing there watching.
"He’s mocking us! That’s his look of contempt!" Bruno exclaimed.
"It’s just a replica at our level. But we’re still injured..." Alm analyzed, ignoring Bruno. "Physical cultivation and bloodline power... it doesn’t matter much in the end. Let’s use what he can’t copy, and this will be quick and easy."
Soon, the real whale drew a black saber from its inventory. It was one of the weapons they had forged in the desert this month. They managed to forge almost fifty weapons, all made to sell when they returned. All of them had suicide runic seals of the ’Thorn’ type. Not only that, but all contained another sealed power inside, designed to kill the user directly once activated, different from the Thorn-type seal. Naturally, Bruno and Alm could activate this hidden power if necessary, so their weapons definitely couldn’t be used against them.
The problem with this weapon at this moment was that the Thorn runic seals, which are the seals that everyone can see and use, are kind of suicidal seals as well. That said, the Thorn runic seal wasn’t of much use. As for the hidden power that can directly kill the user, obviously, Alm and Bruno wouldn’t activate it. Simply put, the black saber wasn’t that helpful, but it was better than nothing.
The reflection’s face immediately smirked sinisterly and took steps forward. The real whale then charged, maximizing its physical cultivation and bloodline power.
The proximity between them diminished rapidly, and both exchanged penetrating glares. When the saber approached within three meters, Alm and Bruno noticed a subtle change in the reflection.
WHOOSH!
A sudden burst of wind and earth sent the whale flying several meters backward. As it got up, its serious eyes betrayed the intensity of the situation. In an instant, the entire environment was engulfed in a violent sandstorm.
Crack!
Alm and Bruno stared at their own bodies, bewildered. The sand was as dense and hard as steel, cutting and penetrating their defenses with ease.
"That... is our power?!" Bruno commented incredulously, but they didn’t have time to reason. Suddenly, from behind, they felt a concentrated burst of energy.
BOOM!!
The whale spun violently in the air, spewing blood as it performed the involuntary acrobatics. After several turns, it stood up in an instant.
"Is that magnetic control? Can it be used like this?" Bruno muttered in disbelief.
A deadly chill ran through them. Then, in a desperate move, they leaped to the side, but all the earth and sand seemed to come together around the whale, trapping it in place and preventing any evasion.
BOOM!!
The whale’s body rolled on the ground again, covered in blood. However, it stood up again agilely, its eyes now showing immense disbelief.
"YOU SAID IT WOULD BE QUICK AND EASY! RAISED THE HELL FLAG AGAIN!" Bruno shouted, trying to alleviate the death tension he felt.
"We can’t fight against this earth. He has a much higher level of mastery over the laws than we do. We’ve completely lost our senses and perception. We’ve been cornered," Alm replied, using all his strength to run.
But only now did they realize that the entire floor of the place was covered in sand as if they had been transported back to the desert. With a few steps, their feet seemed to sink into the ground. Alm saw the sand clearly seeming to turn liquid, acting like highly efficient quicksand, engulfing everything in its path.
The whale struggled to break free, but they sank deeper and deeper, up to their knees. Then, despair and a dense sense of death hit them. Next, two tattoos on their fists lit up, ignoring the previous internal injuries, and brute power exploded, sweeping the earth away.
However, they were slow! They only saw a black shadow, like a cannonball, crash into them.
BOOM!!
The sound of bones being crushed and blood spraying in all directions covered the entire environment. The whale fell, rolling even further, with almost fatal injuries. But, in the next second, they got up with twisted faces and bloody eyes.
"That... was the technique with the infernal laws... He can use everything we have perfectly. And the power of his bloodline is being used at a much higher capacity than ours," Bruno said, astonished.
"No, that bloodline capacity is the same as ours. We just didn’t know how to use this power correctly. We still relied only on the experiences and mastery we had from our past, and we almost didn’t practice the new things we have... now we’re cornered and screwed."
Bruno nodded, and the whale tightened the saber still in its hands. Seconds passed, and the sandstorm now penetrated their wounds, invading their bodies and causing even heavier internal damage. Quickly, they spit out a lot of blood, but a new attack did not come.
"He’s not going to attack?" Bruno commented.
"Why would he attack? He can see we are on the brink of death, and he is just waiting for an opening. Even without an opening, the sand will kill us the same way. I’d let the target suffer slowly and wouldn’t take the risk. Killing while causing suffering is always more fun," Alm replied understandingly.
"It seems that he even copied your tactics. We have to try something, and fast!" Bruno exclaimed, trying to sense the enemy’s location within the earth.
"We can’t locate him; he’s just an illusion made of QI and runes. Using the power of our soul is practically useless. If he doesn’t want to come out, we have to attack!" Alm said and focused on the runic seal of the saber.
"DON’T ACTIVATE THAT OR WE’LL REALLY DIE!" Bruno said fiercely.
Alm wanted to activate the ’Thorn’ type runic seal. When activated, it sacrifices the weapon to deal more damage. The rune connects and merges the weapon directly into the user’s body, quickly multiplying the attack power. However, in return, all the damage caused by the weapon is received equally within the body of the user. But clearly, this was a suicide move, and they were already very injured.
"We have no options. If we catch him off guard, we might kill him with a simple strike and maybe survive," Alm said calmly.
At that moment, both felt the sand invading their bodies even more, a pain coming directly from their muscles and flesh. And it seemed to be deepening further, slowly.
"If this invades our meridians, it’s over!" Alm added.
Bruno then carefully examined his body. The sand was like tiny titanium points, but within each grain, there was a dense Earth QI mixed.
"Qi... if this invades our viscera... maybe... YES!" Bruno shouted mentally, having a new suicidal idea. "Let’s deactivate our physical cultivation and let the sand invade the viscera through the wounds!"
"WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Alm immediately denied it.
"We only have one chance. Deactivate everything and use only the tattoos so we don’t die immediately," Bruno said seriously.
"He’s going to come finish us off!" Alm replied sharply.
"I’m counting on that. Let’s explode with all the QI from our meridians and bloodline at the same time. Maybe... no, it will work!" Bruno added, not so confidently.