The light but devastating strike descended toward the giant whale. That power was locked on him; even if he wanted to escape, there was no chance of getting away. It was entirely impossible for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm to survive this.
All the disciples turned to run with all their might in desperation, but that strike made the space so dense that they could hardly move. The smell of death was in the air, and even though they were not the target, they would be affected by the impact and could easily die.
The whale remained with crossed arms, indifferent. In the same second, his entire group took a firm step to his side; if the leader didn’t move or give an order, they just stayed by his side without moving; they all had complete confidence in him. In a second, the entire ground and earth violently shattered, and all the disciples were already lying on the ground, trembling. But when it was just a few meters away from destruction and death, the power suddenly froze.
The elder in the air squinted and saw his strike easily dispersing in the air. Then, he turned to a corner and saw a slim figure move slightly. "Patriarch, you have no right to protect him!" Shouted the elder as everyone around was startled, looking at the same place he was.
The slim figure approached calmly, floating in the sky. Everyone saw him quickly and thought about kneeling, but their legs were shaky, and their minds were stunned by the elder’s simple previous strike.
"Are you being deliberately hasty? Or has age truly blinded your senses?" The elf spoke dryly. "I made it clear that I would not tolerate the elders directly attacking the disciples without evidence. Are you trying to conceal the evidence?"
"You!" Responded the elder furiously, but the patriarch didn’t give him time to say anything else.
"Are you accusing him of trapping and killing all the elders and older disciples? Then it’s easy to prove you’re right. Release your wings now!" The patriarch gave the order, and everyone trembled as their wings came out of their bodies as if they were out of their control.
Only the small group in the center was indifferent; the power of the patriarch’s command seemed to have no effect on their wills. In a few seconds, the whale sighed and waved to the two beside him, and soon, their wings were exposed. Everyone watching from afar in the show paid close attention to the three malicious cultivators in the group. Almin and Langrum had four complete wings, and their leader, the whale, had three wings...
The patriarch just snorted and spoke lightly. "If he really did what you were accusing him of, it would be impossible for him to have only that. Even using infernal techniques, even I can only burn one wing at a time and lose all control of the laws, having to rest for a whole day."
Alm and Bruno heard that somewhat incredulously. For Alm, it was extremely easy to manipulate the wings and infernal laws because he was very close to Yin, so they thought it was normal to exchange as many wings as they wanted for power. But they soon accepted. If someone like the patriarch could burn two or more wings with a high-level technique, his power level would be extreme to the point of competing with someone in the same realm of the divine world. It would be only once, but that would be very shocking. It made sense they couldn’t burn more than one wing at once.
"You could feel their wings before and still wanted to attack first. Tell me, was it because your descendants were killed? Or do my words mean nothing to you?" The patriarch spoke lightly, but the entire world of cultivators froze in a deadly and bloodthirsty chill.
The elder in the air narrowed his eyes even more and snorted. The patriarch was certainly stronger than him, being a few levels above; he couldn’t afford to go against him now. At that moment, the elder responsible for the test felt a deadly premonition, and cold sweat ran down his back.
"My granddaughter was someone I cherished greatly, and I spent many resources on her. I let emotions consume me." He spoke with eyes almost bleeding. Everyone understood that only part of it was true, though.
"Now, thinking more calmly, it seems that this was a setup." The elder spoke and turned to the other elder responsible for the test. "It seems that this fool and the others who died manipulated the disciples, trying something. We can’t know the truth, but his memories might reveal a bit of what happened."
The patriarch snorted heavily in the air, still angry. He didn’t respond immediately. Clearly, the elder was shifting the blame onto a scapegoat. But as he said, the complete truth would never be revealed because the dead didn’t speak. It was better to avoid losing a high elder and request an investigation among the demons to find out if they saw or knew anything.
Everyone waited in silence for a few seconds, then the patriarch waved, and with a movement of his eyes, the Qi closed around the elder responsible for the test. That elder immediately froze, levitating toward the patriarch.
"I will personally investigate this matter. You can go." The patriarch’s light voice and order sounded, and all the elders turned and left without looking back.
Alm and Bruno clearly felt the bloodthirsty intention coming from the back of that high elder, but he didn’t dare to act now. ’Initially, it was just the pathetic elders, but now we are already being targeted by the high elders. Will the patriarch come personally next time?’ Bruno commented lightly.
In that second, a grayish board appeared in the air next to the patriarch. In a few seconds, he spoke to all the disciples. "I’ve already recorded the entire test results; you can go to the central building and receive your rewards. Go!"
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
The disciples heard that, and an immediate relief passed through their eyes. Soon, everyone ran away, as if they didn’t want to stay even one more second. Only a small group remained in the center.
A few seconds later, the patriarch descended lightly, standing a few meters in front of the whale. "You never tire of making enemies." The patriarch spoke lightly, looking into the whale’s eyes, but no response came.
"It’s good to be young," the elf said, snorting. "This is only causing more and more friction among the high elders and will bring nothing good to the sect. From now on, you and your group no longer need to participate in the tests with the other disciples."
The entire group turned their eyes to the elf in astonishment, except for the whale, who mentally cursed the elf for calling them young. Then the patriarch waved, and a rune flew close to Goku, Langrum, and Almin.
"With this, you can go to the central building and request entry into the prison. This is equivalent to the exams you would have to pass until the day of entry into the abyss. The three of you are entitled to five days each, and you can use them whenever you want. This way, the high elders won’t be able to easily set you up, avoiding problems for me to solve." The elf spoke lightly, with a tired look.
"In fifteen months, the abyss will be open for those capable of entering. Only one in a thousand comes back alive after going deep into the abyss. I’m sure you’ll want to go, so prepare well." The patriarch spoke and turned away, leaving with the completely restrained elder unable to make any sound.