While running towards the golden palace, Ruri, clinging to the whale’s back, took the opportunity to read the entire content of the Jade Slip.
’Master, the technique uses Yin in conjunction with spatial laws. It’s called ’Shadow Space,’ I believe I can quickly master the basics,’ Ruri said through the array, closing her eyes to enter deep meditation.
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The whale nodded, satisfied. The time Ruri spent among the evil cultivators, surrounded by Yin in various different places, made her extremely familiar with this aspect. She could consider herself superior in this regard to any ordinary cultivator and maybe even superior to most evil cultivators. After all, she had Alm as her teacher. Additionally, she was now familiar with spatial laws, so learning this technique would be straightforward for her. However, from what they had seen earlier, the technique had a fatal flaw, so they turned their attention to someone running right behind.
They kept running, and Sayqi followed closely. At a certain point, they turned around, and a short sword appeared in front of her. It was something they had kept, thinking it would be useful in an emergency for Ruri, but now they handed it over without hesitation.
Sayqi held the sword in her hands, with a confused expression. Then, the whale spoke without turning around, "Shadow Space uses all Qi in conjunction with spatial laws and Yin, so all your attack power is abandoned in exchange for pure speed, right?"
Sayqi nodded, with no intention of hiding anything, and the whale continued. "I made this sword myself; it has a runic seal called ’sharpening.’ Just activate the seal before using your technique, and you’ll have the power to kill along with your speed."
Sayqi’s heart beat frantically as she felt the seal on the sword. She turned to the whale not knowing what to say, but they spoke directly, "You don’t need to fight, just run, and never use this weapon without my authorization. Save it for emergencies; the seal can only be used once, and you’ll have to replenish the energies."
Sayqi suddenly stopped her steps and bowed. "Thank you, sir!"
The whale kept walking, snorting without turning around. "Don’t waste my time; I’ll run at maximum speed, keep up."
Soon, they burst into full speed, and Sayqi had to hastily use her technique to keep up with them.
Half an hour later, they stopped, and the whale’s face changed significantly as it looked forward. Just ahead was the golden palace, and in the center of it, a creature with six arms and six wings was sitting. Its eyes were closed, in deep, carefree meditation, oblivious to the external world.
Ruri opened her eyes and jumped to the ground, standing next to the whale. "I’m ready, master. I can use the technique, and I can fight."
The whale snorted lightly. This whole place had an infinite source of the three powers of life. Thanks to the tattoos, in this place, they had infinite Qi to use; as for Ruri, all her mental power was equally infinite here. This, combined with the Eternal Bond, which used exactly the three powers of life, allowed Ruri to use her powers indefinitely, making her an unstoppable force, even with her low cultivation. Ruri now possessed a set of stolen powers that she could use without energy limitations.
"Don’t be presumptuous. Cultivators have many cards up their sleeves for emergencies. You might have the power to kill, but with your low cultivation, you die as easily as you can kill them," the whale said dryly, leaving Sayqi confused by this statement.
"Wait for my signal, just run alongside Sayqi. Don’t forget what our goal is." They concluded and took steps forward. Soon, the two, with very different expressions, followed them closely.
As they stepped into the golden palace, Hexaalis opened its eyes and stood up, a bit surprised to be awakened.
"You came too early," he spoke, looking at the three. "Sayqi, you finally decided to join someone. Humans really can’t stand loneliness for so long; he’s a bit strong, but he’s very young and impatient... it’s a shame. He can’t run like you, and now, finally, you’ll meet your end when I kill him."
Sayqi just sighed lightly, acknowledging that they came too early. It was too presumptuous to believe they would defeat Hexaalis so easily without any information. But... now she was on the tiger, there was no way to escape. She thought and clenched her fists.
"Well, now that you’ve formed a group... this human girl is very weak. But no matter, rules are rules. I’ll increase the difficulty," he said, and Sayqi’s eyes widened.
The Qi around Hexaalis changed drastically, and a feeling of discouragement mixed with despair enveloped Sayqi. Previously, Hexaalis had cultivation at the second level of the Heaven Stage Realm, and she never came close to defeating him. Now, he magically raised his cultivation to the fourth level of the Heaven Stage Realm.
Alm and Bruno watched closely. ’He uses a strange technique to completely seal his cultivation... but his body is still at the peak of cultivation. He is normally immortal against anyone else,’ Bruno commented.
Alm spoke coldly, ’With his cultivation still sealed, we have an opportunity to surprise him. But if he senses anything wrong beforehand, we’re dead. We have to act with precision in a single move, no room for mistakes.’
’There are still three other assessors. Sayqi said all the dead are taken by the formation... if he dies and gets taken, we risk being discovered by the others.’ Bruno quickly added. ’We need to kill him and instantly put him in the inventory... we can’t fail.’
The whale sighed and took out a saber from the inventory, taking steps forward. "Heh heh heh, round human... your aura is a bit abnormal, but you’re still very young. There has never been a single hero who completed the Realm of the Heavens and took less than a thousand years in each test. Patience is fundamental, and now you won’t have another chance..."
Crack!
Hexaalis interrupted his words as he saw the ground below the whale crack. The whale’s eyes turned red, and an aura resembling black flames enveloped its body. It was the Manifestation of Instinct, of the Soul Eaters.
The whale emanated abnormal physical power thanks to the infernal laws, surprising Hexaalis. Then, the whale took a step, slashing with its saber, seemingly splitting space. However, without delay, the creature’s arms lit up, and six ethereal and golden weapons appeared.
The whale’s eyelids contracted. Then, the saber instantly pierced, leaving behind a red streak as it cut towards Hexaalis in an unfathomable and unpredictable manner.
Boom!
Hexaalis lightly shook a golden spear, smashing it against the saber and causing it to cut through the winds.
"Eh?" The whale’s face changed, showing surprise. "Hold this!" Dozens of earth runes appeared in the air, exploding, then countless earth spikes attacked in all directions towards Hexaalis, while the saber slashed again.
Hexaalis lazily advanced, with two swords in one pair of arms, two sabers in another pair, and two spears in the remaining arms. All were ethereal and golden manifestations, precisely like a hero’s sacred sword.
He just casually trembled with each strike. His weapons moved precisely, effortlessly parrying and destroying every earth spike and saber strike.
"Is that the only technique you know?!" Hexaalis spoke, and the whale looked at him with widened eyes, seemingly confused. "Well, this is going to be very boring," Hexaalis added, scoffing.
After speaking, Hexaalis’s body shone in gold, and suddenly, he soared into the air, transforming into a golden ray of light. At that moment, Sayqi felt the presence of death; she just looked to her side in extreme concern, searching for Ruri. But... only a residual image was there.
BOOM!
Almost instinctively, Sayqi activated her technique at the last second. A gigantic crater, glowing in gold, appeared where the two of them were.
Sayqi appeared at the extreme opposite, almost exiting the golden palace, then felt a figure materialize by her side and nearly jumped in astonishment. She saw Ruri sprout and completely vanish from her senses.
’This... space shadow... she learned it in such a short time; impossible!’ Sayqi thought, startled.
Ruri just smiled and turned forward, while Hexaalis turned in their direction, equally surprised. With no time to speak, he turned his weapons to the side, and a black missile quickly appeared, crashing into him.
Crack!
The black missile was sneaky but had no attacking power and was quickly destroyed. It was a distraction; Hexaalis then rapidly redirected two of his arms, and the whale’s figure emerged, slashing at him.
Clang!!!
The saber cut through, filled with tremendous bloody power. As their attacks collided, the whale was knocked back, flying backward.
"What tremendous strength," the whale spat out those words in astonishment, and the creature heard it, smiling sinisterly.
He flew backward, his back slamming directly into the golden floor. With a bang, the ground trembled with the impact but remained completely intact. The whale rolled back a considerable distance before stopping and looking forward with a serious expression.
"Ahahaha!" Hexaalis burst into laughter, slowly advancing toward the whale, who still breathed heavily. "It must be hard for you, treated your whole life like a king among the commoners in your world. Your human form even disfigured itself, and you became this ridiculous round thing..."
Hexaalis stopped his words and frowned. Suddenly, a violet glow evaporated, and a dozen black missiles, multiple times more powerful than the previous ones, emerged a meter away from him, ready to collide.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All the missiles exploded, crashing into Hexaalis, but he didn’t budge. A golden glow around him seemed to absorb a large portion of the missiles.
Alm and Bruno recognized it: it was the hero’s energy absorption. However, they knew it would only last a short period. So, they ran, slashing furiously with their sabers.
Hexaalis snorted, seeing the whale run, and understood his tactic. It seems he underestimated that human a bit; he managed to hide his abilities well and still did something beyond his senses. Was that mental power? He wondered, astonished.
The whale’s saber clearly burst with all the power it could use. Then, the golden power shimmered, fading away, and Hexaalis dispersed five ethereal weapons, leaving only a single saber glowing much more intensely. He couldn’t move immediately after using this defensive power, so he attacked head-on!
The blows collided... However, at this exact moment, the whale’s hand suddenly let go of his saber. A wave of Qi surged from his body suddenly, and his other hand delivered a punch of inconceivable power.
This attack was simply too abrupt. The saber, full of power, was nothing more than bait; then, a punch with power multiple times greater than the saber fell onto Hexaalis’s chest.
"Eh?" Hexaalis murmured, shocked.
’Is this human’s physical body more powerful than his weapon?’ he quickly thought. Then, instinctively, he converted all his Qi to his chest, in a quick defense.
BOOM!
The muffled sound of the punch hitting Hexaalis’s body echoed. Then, the whale lifted his eyes, and his face twisted in disdain at Hexaalis’s ridiculous look.
Hexaalis then moved his lips, amused. "Naive boy..."
Slash!
In the middle of his words, his body shook violently, and his gaze rose to the sky. Then, his head tilted back... In the last moments, he realized a young girl behind him, wielding a curved blade...
Swish!
There was no gush of blood, no colossal roars... He simply vanished without comprehending what hit him at that moment. And, in the microsecond his consciousness faded, he was swallowed and emerged inside the spatial inventory.
"Naive idiot," the whale muttered dryly on the outside.