Alm and Bruno opened their eyes and felt their round, bulky body again. However, something was different. When they looked down towards their waist, they found two big, bright eyes staring back at them happily.
"Hm? I sealed this place," Alm said, surprised.
Ruri smiled softly. "I know master’s power; it wasn’t hard. I miss you so much, and I come here... master’s been away quite often lately..."
A screen popped up in front of them:
[Accept the Rewards?] [Yes / No]
Alm and Bruno ignored the message and focused on the inventory, pulling out the unconscious Lyra. They couldn’t keep living people in there for long, and now that she had been reborn, she was no longer an empty shell.
Ruri’s eyes widened. "She... she..."
"Yeah, I was with Almin, and she’s been reborn. She should wake up soon. Use your mental power to nourish her mind slowly. That way, Almin will have time to arrive before she wakes up," the whale explained gently.
Ruri nodded, and tears began to fall from her eyes. "Finally... he worked so hard."
"Almin created something amazing, and it opened up many possibilities. Later, we’ll need to speak with the Chaos Yin Dragon," the whale said calmly.
Ruri focused on creating a mental rune to nourish Lyra’s mind. This would keep her unconscious longer, but her mind would be completely stable and much stronger when she eventually woke up.
"I’ll call Thea. Her Yang power will nurture the body’s bloodline and make it stronger," said the whale.
Thea got the message through the array, but took her time arriving. Alm and Bruno used the time to explain everything that had happened, and Ruri listened excitedly.
After half a day, Thea took the unconscious Lyra. She could help for a while, thanks to the Yang power she could create. Once she left, Ruri sealed the entire forge and turned to Alm and Bruno with a playful look.
She sensed their wounded soul. They had given all their soul power to the Phoenix. If they broke through to the next realm now, they’d be in serious trouble and would need to recover first.
"Everyone’s helping train the golems in the Earth King Haven Forest," Ruri said, moving closer with a seductive smile. "No need to worry about anything... master still needs to teach me that thing again..."
***
Three days later, the couple came out of seclusion. They were becoming experienced in recovering, which made the process quicker.
Ruri, though radiant, wasn’t too happy about the shortened time. But they promised to purchase a higher level, which meant relearning everything and eventually practicing for longer.
They went their separate ways, and the whale left alone, soaring into the sky and departing from the planet Gloom. There was nothing left to do but rely on themselves to advance.
After moving far enough out of the solar system, they arrived at a vast, empty area. At that moment, they accepted the rewards from the main quest.
In the emptiness of space, all the light from distant stars went out. The heavenly laws trembled, and then a sea of runes surrounded the whale, forming black clouds that resembled a tribulation.
It was an area as vast as a sun around the whale, closing in from all directions. It looked like the world had given birth to a furious death star.
On the planet Gloom, Mistie and the powerful cultivators felt a disturbance in the laws. Stunned, they left the planet and looked towards a distant direction.
There, a pillar of lightning light illuminated the dark void. It was as if a star was igniting, with the whale at its center.
In the vastness of space, it seemed like the only light in the world was that pillar. Runes of lightning fiercely gathered and exploded around the whale, creating wild flashes.
However, the cultivators from planet Fey sensed something strange. They couldn’t see clearly, but they picked up on something peculiar with their senses. It was as if a black saber was tearing through the sky, leaving behind a giant slash.
*BOOM!!!*
"He dares to attack his heavenly tribulation?!" a High Elder exclaimed in shock.
The sound of wild thunder echoed. The power of the attacks multiplied, targeting the center with enough force to tear through space. Before any of the Fey could react, the saber moved and struck repeatedly, without mercy.
*BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!*
The heavenly annihilation couldn’t gather enough power to strike. Alm and Bruno immediately slashed, breaking its runes.
The reason? Alm and Bruno felt a solid presence of death. The annihilation was far beyond what they had faced before. It seemed that, after cheating the heavenly laws with that pill, the heavens were directly boosting the power of the tribulation.
In the first wave, they were forced to burn through a third of their Qi immediately. If they continued facing the tribulation normally, they would be out of resources halfway through.
Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.
’The only option is this. SCREW IT!’ Alm roared and attacked relentlessly.
Everyone who was far away felt exactly what he was doing and was utterly shocked. Was he crazy? The tribulation already seemed extremely powerful, and now its power was increasing...
"The tribulation is getting stronger... but..." Mistie murmured, seriously sensing the situation. "It looks like the annihilation has already reached the maximum power within the rules."
Alm and Bruno had already told Mistie, when they destroyed the Shadow God branch, that they could easily attract an annihilation due to the Behemoth’s bloodline. Since the beast was sealed and no one knew why, Mistie believed it was something within the laws that wouldn’t allow this power to exist.
The High Elders widened their eyes. One of them exclaimed, "Limit of the rules? Wait, that’s an annihilation."
"With his cultivation, there is indeed a limit, even for a heavenly annihilation. But after the first attack, its power increased and then stopped. If it goes beyond that, it would break the rules," Mistie replied, a bit pale. "So, to try and kill him, it’s gathering all its strength and will unleash it all at once."
Within the annihilation, after countless attacks, the whale stopped and coldly observed everything around them.
’Damn, we weren’t satisfied just drawing an annihilation. Now we’ve messed with the laws even more, and they’re hitting us with 100% of their possible power,’ Bruno spat harshly.
Alm snorted: ’If we survive this... not even with our physical cultivation could we handle the next one.’
Bruno nodded. They were relying entirely on their physical cultivation and the power of their tattoos to survive these annihilations. But now, things had escalated to a level far beyond what they expected. They could use the power to refine their bodies, but first, they had to withstand the pressure.
After five suffocating seconds, all the runes around the whale merged into two masses.
They took shape, and Alm and Bruno’s eyes widened in desperation. On one side, a familiar figure emerged: it was the will of the Behemoth, copied by the heavenly laws. On the other... the Chaos Yang Dragon took form.
’Son of a bitch, two primordial beasts? Can’t we get something more appealing? How about...’
’Shut up!’ Alm cut off Bruno’s words before an even deadlier curse could be thrown at them.
They deliberately forced the laws to attack all at once; otherwise, they wouldn’t survive a war of attrition. Their defense was their strongest point; if there was any hope, it was to use everything to protect themselves in an attack.
The two primordial beasts looked down at the tiny point, which seemed like an ant, without any emotion. However, they didn’t attack directly.
Alm and Bruno felt an immense killing intent flowing from the Chaos Dragon, while on the Behemoth’s side, there was nothing; it would only attack because it had to.
’Young one, we meet again,’ the Behemoth’s voice echoed in the whale’s mind. ’So you survived the anti-life. Very good. But now... why is that Dragon here?’
’I killed him. And technically, because of me, you died too. Our karmas are linked,’ Bruno replied, spitting dryly.
"I WAS KILLED BY A MORTAL, IMPOSSIBLE!" The Dragon’s voice echoed only among them.
Suddenly, Alm realized something and smiled coldly: ’How loud. You must remember your last moments; after all, that happened just a few hours ago. I even have your body with me... I’ll finish this shit off and then throw a barbecue with it. I’ll throw a glorious event in the universe, and we’ll all feast together!’
’YOU BASTARD!!!’
The Dragon indeed remembered its last moments but couldn’t believe it. Now, it gathered all the energy it had received, fueled by all its rage. It wasn’t satisfied and began stealing the runes from the Behemoth, accumulating power.
That was the Primordial Dragon, who had lived for ages and was nurtured by the queen. It had total control over all the heavenly laws while it was alive; the energy from those celestial runes was nothing to it. It stole them easily.
The Behemoth watched, tense: ’Young one, he... he’s gathering all the destructive power. Even that which belongs to me.’
’I can see,’ Alm replied, spitting. ’You have to attack me with what you have, right? Don’t resist, let him take all your destructive power. Just keep the celestial life energy within you.’
The Behemoth was confused, but the whale turned to it and shot it a furious look. It took a deep breath and nodded, obeying.
In just a few seconds, all the heavenly laws of the galaxy began to stir. The Chaos Dragon created a destructive attack capable of shaking the heavens and the earth. It was an inevitable strike, not only with terrifying power but also with the annihilating law of the heavens.
The Dragon roared: ’I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING! I WILL CLEANSE MY HONOR!’
"Honor? Did you ever have anything like that in your life? Don’t worry, your ex will also be invited to the barbecue. She’ll be the guest of honor and get that little piece of yours," Bruno said with a playful look.
’CURSE YOU!’ A scream that could only be heard by the three of them echoed.
At the same time, the Behemoth felt the urge that forced it to attack. ’Young one...’
"Attack with everything you’ve got! You are my salvation!" The whale roared, turning to it.
It attacked directly with its saber. The Behemoth was confused; its intelligence couldn’t comprehend its intentions. But upon seeing the eyes of that human carrying its bloodline, it just stopped thinking and attacked.
It couldn’t help but attack; it was merely a reflected will of its original, created by the heavenly laws. However, all its destructive Yin power was forcibly stripped away by the Chaos Dragon. Only a lightning energy remained, which could be considered the Yang side of the lightning.
The Dragon was taken aback by the whale’s swift movement; before it realized it, it was already attacking the Behemoth.
It realized it was being set up again. It had died to a mortal without having the chance to use its power or defend itself; that was an indescribable humiliation. Now, it didn’t think of anything else, just attacked with all its strength at once. A dragon’s claw surged forward with supreme momentum, destroying the time and space around them.
’FACE YOUR DEATH!’