As soon as the whale recovered, he nodded, satisfied with the raw power emanating from Zaimo. Zaimo’s manifestation, called the Connector Rune, initially allowed him to absorb Qi and Laws from the environment to amplify his power. However, it was clear that this manifestation was not yet fully developed. (Chapter 617)
During the three months spent with the dwarves, after teaching everything he knew and listening to the opinions of the more experienced dwarves, several ideas emerged in Zaimo’s mind. He not only improved his manifestation but also managed to achieve exactly what he had envisioned when he conceived it: uniting the armor of all the dwarves and sharing their powers on a smaller scale.
’This goes far beyond a manifestation that distorts the Heavenly Laws. It seems like a Divine Dao, or an early version of one,’ Bruno reflected mentally.
Alm nodded in agreement. ’The Heavenly Laws haven’t turned against him yet... something very important must still be missing in that Connector Rune.’
The two were completely certain of this. This power, unlike common manifestations, had great room for improvement. It was hard to even imagine a limit for it. This was exactly the definition of a Divine Dao.
In the past, Alm and Bruno asked Zaimo why he had chosen something so unusual for his manifestation. His answer was peculiar... he simply felt that it was what he desired deep inside.
Now, seeing the results and knowing Zaimo’s past, the two understood. He made this choice for the same reason his armor is entirely focused on protecting Thea.
His life’s goal is not to become strong but to protect. Just like in his previous life, where he wanted to end the war even if it meant sacrificing himself eternally; in this life, after living and experiencing peace in his city, he knew that place had only existed for 5,000 years in the Queen’s universe, and it could be destroyed. He wanted to protect all of that at any cost.
’Even without memories, a person’s past life has a much greater influence than one might imagine. Quirio and Zaimo are proof of that,’ Bruno remarked, scoffing, before turning his attention back to the present.
Above the now completely destroyed arena, the spatial channels were still open, and the specters continued to descend. As expected, their power was now three times greater than the first ones that appeared; the trend was for them to become increasingly powerful.
Several people from the army moved to confront them, and defeating them was now an arduous task. But they were still not strong enough to easily kill the heroic disciples.
"You were right. Sorry for doubting your sharp eye," Yuan’s voice, in his human form, sounded close to the whale.
The number of specters matched exactly the number of remaining people in the surviving army. The whale’s assumptions were correct: they would have to fight indefinitely, and the level of the specters would continue to rise until many died, leaving only 100 of them.
Once that point was reached, the final confrontation would likely decide who would be number one and claim the greatest reward. New specters would stop appearing, and everything indicated that whoever defeated the most of the remaining ones would be number one.
"I never doubted. My eyes are sharp, and I liked him right from the start," Yue’s voice sounded, followed by a light smile.
The whale and everyone else looked at her, incredulous, but she just smiled excitedly and didn’t back down.
Bruno scoffed; she was very young, full of energy, and especially spoiled. But there was no malice in her; she had just had a very easy life up until now. Yuan also scoffed but ignored it and looked at the whale, waiting for his commands.
Bruno nodded and began to speak, "Let’s..." But he stopped mid-sentence, sensing Alm’s aura turn dark.
’Things outside are getting problematic,’ Alm spat mentally, clearly sensing everything. ’We can’t take our time, we need to end this.’
Bruno focused his perception outside the arena and widened his eyes. A massive-scale battle seemed about to explode at any second. They sensed the terrifying Gods and beasts, clearly realizing that the sects they were protecting were on one side, against much more numerous enemies... it would be impossible to protect them.
’Fuck,’ Bruno cursed. Things are never calm when they’re involved. ’They don’t seem like they’re going to retreat, which is intimidating the enemies a bit, forcing them to be careful. But if we delay and the fight starts, it’ll be impossible for us to do anything.’
Alm agreed. If a fight started, they would be completely defenseless on the way out. It would be easy for those Gods to focus on them, and that would be the end. But if the others were still alive, they would be forced to be careful even if they had the advantage in a battle.
Among high-level cultivators, an advantage is just an advantage. You can’t be careless at all, even with a 99% chance of victory. The level of techniques any of them had could easily turn the tide.
There was only one unique chance for Alm and Bruno to try something; for that, those Gods would still have to be alert to the enemies. Now, the plans would have to change.
"All of you," the whale spoke coldly. "I intended to do this calmly and safely, but I feel that could be more dangerous."
The whale turned, nodding, and pulled thousands of weapons from his inventory. All of them had runic seals; 70% of them were not immortal weapons, but all had the ’Thorns’ runic seal. The rest, with a deep pain in his chest, were holy and ancestral-level immortal weapons that would be lost.
Bruno stored the spirits of the weapons in the inventory, and only their bodies would be lost forever.
"At my command, everyone focus your Qi on the seals of the weapons. You can only activate them and immediately launch them into the air towards a specter. This seal is something suicidal; if it connects with you, you will die. But if it hits the specters, we can destroy them all in one move."
Once he finished speaking, everyone held the weapons, shocked. Their eyes were already expressing an almost irrational adoration toward the whale; could he really make this so easy?
Alm and Bruno stored many things in the inventory. Most of these weapons had been with them since the planet Pristine. The Thorn Runic Seals were something very peculiar, kept for some situation where they could be useful.
Maybe using just common weapons would be enough. But the immortal weapons would ensure they had enough power. If they didn’t do this and it wasn’t enough, everything would be burned uselessly.
"I’m going to jump up. At my command, shoot. The alchemists and dwarves will follow up and finish the job. I’m going to end this convention."
The whale spoke, and everyone nodded without hesitation. At this point, no one doubted anything he said.
The whale snorted and activated his full physical cultivation. With a single movement, he leaped upward, piercing through the descending specters.
Halfway up, he shouted, "NOW!"
Everyone held those weapons, feeling the pain of losing something so valuable, but they threw them toward the specters. The runic seals on the weapons pulsed as they were activated. The specters, sensing the danger, tried to flee.
However, the massive attack hit more than half of them. The runic seals attached to the creatures, and even though they didn’t have true physical bodies, they still contained Qi, and their forms were enough for the thorns to invade them.
Immediately afterward, the dwarves and alchemists roared in unison, and a rain of flames and blasts echoed through the area.
The specters that managed to escape the initial attacks, in trying to flee, created an opening, then were swallowed by the annihilating power. Those hit by the weapons were defenseless and were easily taken down as well.
Meanwhile, the whale continued to ascend, passing through the dragon statues and approaching the spatial channels from which the specters were emerging.
They had sacrificed much to act quickly; the initial plan was to eliminate the enemies calmly, after all, the theory that the test would end when everyone died wasn’t guaranteed enough.
To win for sure, there was only one option: destroy all the enemies. But how to do that? The specters were similar to souls, so they were sure they could absorb them all into their inventory.
They planned to devour everything inside the spatial channels, but how many trapped souls would be on the other side? It must have been a terrifying number, and the inventory had a space limit. Expanding it would consume unnecessary Qi, so they never expanded it much.
Now, they’d have to increase its size, and for that, they needed a lot of Qi to burn. However, for the formation to keep those souls trapped, there must have been valuable things on the other side.
The whale reached the top, where the skies funneled into a region filled with open spatial channels. At the center of them, the rune in his inventory was activated.
Using divine soul energy, he applied the Manifestation of Gluttony to maximize efficiency. Suddenly, the specters that were emerging were easily sucked inside.
As he got even closer to the channels, the suction power increased. Thousands of specters, already prepared to cross, were swallowed...
In the next moment, Alm and Bruno’s senses invaded the other side of two channels. They confirmed the sight of an infinite sea of souls, all covered in golden runes. The power of each soul was determined by the runes surrounding them. All the souls, which were called specters, seemed to be completely unconscious.
With excited smiles, Alm and Bruno burned 99% of their divine soul power. The suction force they generated could leave gods and heroes catatonic.
In the arena, everyone saw only the whale using the legendary technique the Dragons knew well: the Devouring God Spatial Technique, which was described as the supreme power of devouring.
"Wow! He really looks like the legendary sky-devouring whale," Yue exclaimed, her eyes shining.
No one knew the full capacity of this technique. Only ancient and questionable records left by some ancestral Azure Dragons, who had seen the Chaos Yin Dragon use it in the distant past.
But seeing the whale above displaying such power, everyone believed it was normal. The disciples couldn’t clearly sense how much he was devouring.
Outside the arena, everyone paused to watch the events. They observed the whale’s actions, and not even the gods could clearly perceive the amount of stuff being swallowed.
It was very, very fast, with a terrifying suction force.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Millions of souls... billions of souls... trillions of souls... there was no way to count...
And it wasn’t just souls; the golden runes were being brought in as well. Once inside the inventory, Alm and Bruno dominated them, converting the heroic energy contained in the runes into Qi, aided by the tattoos.
The inventory expanded as the souls were absorbed. Alm and Bruno were burning resources, but there was no other way. The number of souls and runes was uncountable.
After several minutes, both of their eyes lit up. They saw the Earth Dragon Heavy Sword and the Soul Jade, both trapped by the golden runes, waiting to be awarded to the tournament winner. Now, everything belonged to them.
Minutes passed...
Finally, it was over. They had to burn 70% of the runes sealing the souls to expand the inventory. Even so, the remaining amount was a shocking amount of resources.
All the souls were now completely unconscious, floating in the inventory, which had expanded to the size of a colossal planet.
The whale landed calmly in the arena, in the midst of the people. Then, the entire region began to tremble violently...
The formation sustaining the place seemed to be searching for something. In a few seconds, the trembling stopped, followed by a sharp sound. Above, the dragon statues opened their mouths, and pearls with karmic blessings began to fall toward the ground.
"Each of the hundred heroic disciples, take one," the whale said calmly.
There were exactly a hundred disciples, and they had all already accepted that everything would go to the whale. After all, he was the one who did all the work, and anyone else in his place would demand at least a large portion.
But with those words, they were stunned; he wasn’t going to keep any? However, the whale snorted with a cold aura, as if he wouldn’t accept being questioned. This snapped them out of it, and they all quickly moved to grab a pearl.
Then...
*RUMBLE!!!*
The entire formation around them cracked and shattered as if made of glass. In a few seconds, the arena and everything around it ceased to exist. All the disciples found themselves back in space.
Then, a wave of invincible power enveloped them, completely sealing everyone’s cultivation and movement.