A few seconds passed, and the space around finally stabilized. At this moment, Corin found himself in a dark and oppressive place, immersed in an imbalance of Yin energies and unknown laws. He took a deep breath, feeling all his senses numb; the Qi, the laws—nothing there resembled what he had experienced before.
In the midst of this stupor, the whale beside him detached Ruri from his body, then snorted dryly. He had just over two hours left. Then, he turned to Corin.
"The situation here is not good. In the Realm of the Heavens, Ruri and I gained combat capability several times greater by luck. She had her limitless mental power, and our main technique could be used continuously without major losses, but now, with each use, we lose a bit of our lives, greatly limiting us."
Corin looked at the whale and nodded in relief. He was genuinely scared of Ruri’s power. Even with cultivation at the third level of the Foundation Establishment Realm, her ability to kill enemies was comparable to his. She was still well-trained, unlike him, making him even more frightened. Adding her speed and seemingly infinite mental power, she seemed like a young goddess walking among mortals. Corin no longer had any hope of catching up with her in his lifetime.
The whale quickly summarized Calirer and the current situation. Corin listened attentively and quickly understood why his master was in such a hurry, even though he could have easily won that place if he had taken his time; there was no such path.
"The enemy has a cultivation beyond this mortal world, making it impossible to do anything with our power," said the whale, looking at his disciple. "But I won’t let one of mine die."
Corin clenched his fists, awaiting his master’s next words. "I will borrow a power that is not mine, and initially, there was a 5% chance of everything going well. Now, with you, that chance has increased a bit. I won’t force you to take such a great risk of death; you don’t owe me anything..."
"I will meet your expectations!" Corin quickly interjected. "Please, trust me. We’ve had little time together, so I may not be reliable, but I’ll work hard to be useful."
"I understand, but I don’t want someone who merely uses me as an avatar for their expectations and hopes. I’m not perfect and have a goal considered impossible to achieve in the future," the whale said lightly.
At that moment, Corin recalled all the teachings left for him in the bloody rune in his universe. There were tips on various areas and vast knowledge about cultivation and its realms, which helped him progress quickly in that regard. But there was also information about the invincible enemy that could invade that place.
"The queen..." Corin murmured, thinking of the one who easily dominated his mind for a while and then kidnapped him, trapping him in that place with so many others.
He sighed, thinking of something, and then turned to the whale with a serious look. "Master, you may not be aware, but in my universe, in the short time I had my mind controlled, there was an invasion."
The whale quickly pondered Corin’s words. When they fought against the will and the true consciousness of the queen in the penultimate main quest, she claimed to have given orders to invade the universe they finished passing by. However, they had already left, and everything was empty. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that she also wanted to investigate what happened in the primitive world. (Chapter 205)
"They were invincible gods and thoroughly investigated everything," Corin continued, his gaze becoming cold and painful. "It was shortly after they had established the faith of the divine skeleton. Then, they destroyed everything related and killed... all those missionaries you saved with me."
"They were the main spreaders of faith, and all their memories were sifted through before they died. But it wasn’t just that; they killed everyone who had any thoughts of worship... I, luckily, was under the queen’s control, and they did nothing to me. They just gave me hints, calling me the protector hero of that place."
"With their guidance... I myself destroyed several of your monuments and killed... countless innocent people," said Corin, his eyes trembling, and his pupils becoming empty. "They stayed for a few months and left. It was after that I freed myself; maybe I only achieved that because they took away my free will and forced me to do those things... then, shortly after, I was captured and thrown into that place."
The whale listened silently, gazing attentively at Corin. The queen was ruthless, and her heroes and servants had no qualms about destruction and killing. They remembered well the methods the hero used to try to catch them in his universe.
Alm considered himself radical, but he had limits; they didn’t deliberately torture or destroy souls. They usually just killed an entire planet at once, and everyone died without even understanding what happened. The heroes, on the other hand, were completely unscrupulous. In the past, they had even killed an entire solar system that briefly assisted Alm, of course, after torturing and reading everyone’s memories.
Corin fell silent for three painful seconds amid his memories, then continued: "Master wants to put an end to that bitch and all her servants. That’s also my wish! I’ll do everything to get revenge on her and prevent her from continuing to dominate other places. Even if I die, I won’t regret it!"
"So, let me follow you, and I won’t lag behind. Even though I’m just an ant, I want to become strong enough to raise my fangs to the heavens. If I die now, it’s because my will wasn’t strong enough. So, I’ll reincarnate and try again!" Corin concluded, looking intensely at the whale.
Alm and Bruno nodded, their minds wandering. The queen must have caused a lot of havoc in various places, so there should be people like Corin everywhere. But... they were the only ones who had really come this far. If they could gather these people and train them? A new understanding dawned on them; it seemed that this was the intention of the Heaven’s Will from the beginning, which is why the main quests led them to other universes.
"Great. I’m not a hero, and I don’t want companions beneath me, waiting for me to give all the orders and take care of them. You must make your own decisions and fight by my side, not behind." The whale spoke lightly, and Corin clenched his fists.
"You are my first disciple, so you’ll have to work hard not to embarrass me. Now we’ll have our first test together; the chance of survival is minimal, but defeating the queen is almost impossible. Without risks, we won’t get anywhere." The whale concluded and then turned to Ruri.
"Brat, time to work." In the same second, Ruri opened her eyes, automatic words coming out of her mouth.
"Yes, master."
***
Within the realm of ashes, in a distant and seemingly impossible-to-reach place for any demon, there existed a separate area entirely cut off from the rest by the laws of space. Inside, only the demon emperor, using his emperor emblem, could pass through. And within, any evil cultivator who entered would be shocked to look at the horizon.
A gigantic black tower, much like the other seven that existed around the abyss, was imposingly radiating a Yin presence so dense that it could suffocate and kill anyone who approached.
On the ground around it, no soil was in sight, only countless runes connected like strands of energy. The runes emanated an infinite Yin that seemed to be receiving from somewhere else, and everything was being converged toward that black tower. Those who knew about the seven black towers above the abyss, acting as antennas receiving Yin from higher realms, would immediately understand upon sighting this. Everything that the other towers accumulated was being converged to that eighth tower; here was the center of Yin, and of the entire abyss.
Near the tower, only a crackling sound of electrical currents could be heard. At the highest point, in a room inside the tower, a woman completely covered in her own black blood was pinned to a wall, while infinite electrical currents passed through her body.
Her eyes bulged, her body trembled, her external and internal state already reached a point where it would be hard to say she was alive; added to this, her entire existence was immersed in infinite pain and torture, lasting for quite some time. Yet, she didn’t scream, nor did her eyes waver. And in front of her, a demon figure considered small by demonic standards observed her silently.
"In less than an hour, I’ll break that defense within you. Will you still hold onto this ridiculous hope? No one will save you, even if he’s someone I found admirable, it’s ridiculous to think he can do anything." The figure said with a mocking smile.
No response came, and looking at the demoness amidst the lightning in front of him, her eyes slowly turned towards him. Soon, her lips, dripping with her black blood, curved into a faint smile, conveying only contempt.
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The demon chuckled lightly and made a move, with the lightning multiplying the pain it deliberately caused. Calirer only gritted her teeth and refused to make any sound; soon, the demon spoke dryly.
"Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll have plenty of time to break your will. It’s always fun to see someone slowly crumble. Nothing that a few millennia of refinement..."
He stopped his words midway, turning abruptly to the side. But it was too late...
He then realized in horror that a black arrow the size of a hair was already in front of him. And in it, he felt a limitless soul power erupting like a volcano in full force.