A power emanated by a cultivator at the ninth level of the Body Destruction Realm, with an extremely dense and pure primordial lineage, made the sky and earth tremble. The entire space seemed on the verge of collapsing, with all focus turned to the whale, who watched tensely as the imposing woman advanced.
Alm and Bruno clearly sensed her piercing gaze approaching. They noticed something amiss there; through the window of their souls, they saw a void and a lack of emotion emanating from her.
Alm even considered ignoring the fact that she was Denil’s mother. After all, they had nothing to do with it; they weren’t Denil. But seeing a person clearly controlled in such a way, he felt nothing but fury.
’To hell with it, we took over this body. We accept all the stigmas left by Denil,’ Bruno quickly and firmly said. ’This body is a bit... well, its bloodline has proved to be something exceptional. We have to reciprocate in some way.’
BOOM!!!
Ruri just widened her eyes completely astonished. She saw her master being directly hit, without reacting or attempting to dodge. The whale flew like a round torpedo and collided several meters away against the spatial barrier.
The entire formation shook with the heavy impact, but obviously it wouldn’t be destroyed, even if hit a thousand times harder.
Suddenly, Ruri remembered the stories she had heard and read in the sect. They spoke of a distant past, where a single woman named Quitera, the only one in the history of the Three Extremes Sect to have managed to enter the hidden world in the Skyward Forest.
Ruri had even seen the sect leader once. He was at the seventh level of the Body Destruction Realm and was considered the most powerful of all. However, this woman was clearly human, not a demon. And she was at the ninth level... it could only be her!
Alm and Bruno, on that day when they gathered everyone upon their return, recounted the story they had heard from Denil’s father about his mother; they didn’t care one bit about it. Neither they nor Denil gained anything from their parents. If they hadn’t taken over the body, Denil would have already died, becoming a harassing maniac. But Ruri immediately connected the dots and ran at full speed.
’Master! I’m going to fight her!’ She roared through the formation, her voice brimming with seriousness.
The whale rose slowly, sensing the approaching woman suddenly stop. Then, a cutting blow tore through space towards the woman’s chest. She turned around and her fists transformed into earth harder than steel.
CLANG!
A spatial power considered the sharpest and most lethal of laws was stopped by the laws of the earth, those which few cultivators studied because they considered them weak and meaningless. Earth might not have great attacking power, but in terms of defense, even space could be surpassed and blocked.
Alm and Bruno watched Ruri’s serious gaze and fell into thought. ’Why the hell...’ Bruno began to say, but then stopped abruptly, seeming to understand something. ’She knows we’re not Denil. We don’t care as much about attacking our mother.’
Alm retorted, ’Idiot; Quitera is still the mother of this body. She prefers to face... alone...’
’Mother-in-law,’ Bruno completed what Alm would never say. ’Well, doesn’t matter. Let’s focus on freeing her. Her soul has been completely enslaved, but the power of faith can easily purify that.’
Clang, Clang, Clang...
Ruri roared and attacked swiftly with her katana. Quitera only defended herself. Earth was strong in defense, but her speed was compromised due to her weight; the more power focused on defense, the greater the demand on the physical body. Alm and Bruno, with their physical cultivation, were the only ones capable of ignoring this fact and fighting using the best of the earth. On the other hand, the others, by focusing on defense, lost a lot of mobility.
’Ruri, you need to create an opportunity to hurt her. Her soul has been enslaved and we can remove that, but we need to create a way in,’ Bruno transmitted the message through the array, but Ruri was completely focused and didn’t respond.
A fierce fight unfolded. Ruri was almost imperceptible, just a blur moving swiftly, attacking from all directions like a shadow in space. Cracks began to appear in Quitera’s earth armor; she had no capacity to counterattack, and the battle became a war of attrition.
This was Ruri’s only solution: repeatedly attack the same points, exhausting the enemy’s Qi and bloodline. However, Ruri’s Qi was much smaller; she would run out before Quitera.
If it were just a few days ago, Ruri wouldn’t have any chance of winning. But now, she had some confidence. The katana she was using, made by Vuard, didn’t have a sharpening seal; instead, it had a storage seal.
Inside, Ruri put her mental power in the densest form possible, like a liquid poison. Ruri fought, injuring the earth and subtly triggering that power, while Quitera slowly recovered. However, a bit of the poison seeped into her body.
Before, with just mental cultivation, Ruri wouldn’t have had enough potency to take down a more powerful cultivator specialized in defense. But now, with her internal mental rune, she realized her mental power didn’t increase; it multiplied hundreds of times.
Having incorporated the spatial rune and not having created the mental rune before proved to be a fatal mistake. If her master were present at that time, he would have noticed and stopped her. Without the mental rune, her mental power quickly became obsolete. It was as if a crucial piece was missing, and all her potential was being wasted.
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Now, everything changed drastically, and slowly, one could see small violet lines covering Quitera’s body. With the new internal rune controlling this power, it was impossible to disperse, so it could quickly penetrate and corrode even the best defenses.
Alm and Bruno watched closely, amazed at what they were witnessing. Bruno then commented, ’She only used a small fraction of the storage seal. If we make a katana with an enchantment seal and mix the metal with mental power... her capacity will be terrifying.’
’The sharpening seal was always best for her in the past, but now her spatial mastery has become exceptional. With a blade enchanted by mental energy and spatial laws, it will far surpass the sharpening seal. We just have to find a suitable metal to make her katana,’ Alm responded, analyzing the situation.
Minutes passed, and Quitera realized something was wrong with her body. The woman facing her was impossible to deal with defensively. She tried to turn around and deal with the other target, which she deemed easier.
However, as she took a step to turn, Ruri’s hairpin pulsed. A much more powerful spatial power emerged, and the katana pierced directly into Quitera’s shoulder, bypassing her powerful defense. Her blood flowed everywhere as her expression turned shocked.
Ruri’s aura was now cold and deadly; each move was calculated to cause lethal damage. She seemed capable of facing even a god, so precise and lethal were her strikes. Ruri attacked without hesitation, disregarding her own life. If the enemy considered retreating, they would be the ones to die. Under the pressure of such a terrifying enemy, anyone would suffer mentally.
Immediately, the whale’s eyes shifted to an intense celestial blue, while Bruno activated the entire rune of faith. After acquiring mortal knowledge of this law through the system, he learned to use it in many different ways.
With the wound caused by Ruri on Quitera’s body, Bruno fired a concentrated beam of faith laws mixed with his soul. The energy penetrated directly into the wound, entering her meridians without any defense. In an instant, it reached her mental sea and forced its entry with divine soul, as if encountering no resistance.
While Bruno worked, Ruri approached the whale with Alm taking command. She sheathed her katana and sighed, noticing the countless cracks in the blade. It wasn’t as good as a weapon made by her master.
"You still need to relax more and provoke while you fight. Destabilizing the opponent with techniques and provocations makes everything more effective, as well as more relaxing. A mentally destabilized enemy loses much of their capacity," Alm calmly assessed.
She looked at Alm and nodded. "I understand, master. I’m used to leading while fighting and worrying about various other things... Sorry to disappoint you, I’ll fix that."
Alm snorted and approached her, gently placing his hand on her head, caressing it. "Don’t be foolish, I’m pleased. You’ll never be perfect because perfection doesn’t exist. You and I are different and fight in different ways. Seek to create your own fighting style."
"Yes," she replied, feeling the gentle stroke.
Alm noticed that Bruno was still busy and focused. So, he turned to Ruri and lowered his hand, gently holding her face. It was something Bruno did back then when he was controlling the body, now Alm felt an irresistible urge to do the same.
Ruri accepted the gesture, looking deeply into his eyes and smiled gently, placing her hand on top of his. Her mind now knew she dealt with two distinct masters and worked quickly to understand their nuances. Bruno was active and acted on his emotions without hesitation, while Alm was always centered and rational, acting only when necessary. If he took a step, it meant he was open, and it was she who needed to adapt and act.
Ruri took a step forward, sensing from the whale’s eyes that Alm didn’t reject her. This encouraged her, understanding a bit more about the dynamic between them. Alm felt a great shake in the face of her affectionate gaze but quickly thanked for their significant height difference. If they were the same height, things would have taken a different turn quickly. It was at this moment that Bruno returned.
’I’m done already... What’s going on here? Acting sneaky?’