Death was something very few could experience and live to tell the tale. It was something hard to describe. Whether it was the sensation of the collapse of one's consciousness, the signs of your awareness that seemed to feel everlasting at times fade, or the unforgiving coldness permeating throughout your limbs as your heart stops beating, they were all incredibly difficult to describe.
"HUUUUUU!"
But amongst what should've been eternal darkness, a speck of radiant grey light flashed in what felt like the entire world.
"Haaaaa…"
A sharp exhale followed that sound of an incomparably deep inhale, expelling all those feelings of death sweeping across the soul, the mind, the heart, and the skin.
Wei Wuyin's lonesome head that formed some kind of eternal loneliness froze in the Dark Void. Then, the head reversed its spin. The body that had been detonated into bloody mist alongside those four Astral Souls began to shiver as it gained substance, bone, and flesh.
As if the world was a video placed on rewind, the life-slaying sword that swung viciously down and the spear that violently pierced into those fleshy lungs began to reverse. The neck that was severed regrew as the sword left, the lungs regained their completeness as the spear was removed, and those holding it began to move away.
Their beguiled expressions filled with unanticipated fear shifted to a ferocity infused with genuine killing intent. Venerable Slayingsword returned to his barrier, eyes closed, the sword light receding and hidden as he prepared himself. Kun Yiming hid in the Dark Void, awaiting her opportunity to strike, vanishing within the vastness of Highlord Bluecloud's Mystic Aura.
The Highlord himself retracted his palm. The white Solar Star-like seal began to repair itself, entrapping the Highlord once more. Soon, Wei Wuyin's body was completely intact, undamaged, exuding the aura of a Divinity of Dragons, and his charge towards Venerable Slayingsword reversed just as well.
」waL latnemelE fo laeS laidromirP :trA nigirO dlroW htneT「
"LAES"
The world kept rewinding rapidly, speeding up as it did, to the point where the white Solar Star-like vanished, revealing a closed-eyed and recovering Highlord Bluecloud, the astral force returned to the Void, and Wei Wuyin's hand-seal was undone.
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Wei Wuyin's silver eyes combined the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity with the profound Temporal Eye, exerting his Minor Authority on the laws of time, seizing the time essence beneath the heavens to gaze upon the world.
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"HAH!" Wei Wuyin's heart began violently beating as if a stampede of ten thousand riled bulls ravaged within. If it wasn't for his refined flesh and muscles resembling that of a True Dragon, Wei Wuyin did not doubt that his heart would've exploded then and there.
Dizzy still, Wei Wuyin wearily eyed Highlord Bluecloud, who kept refining the alchemic product to recover, waiting for a moment to unleash his Demi-Mystic State and deliver a decisive strike that would lead to Wei Wuyin losing his life. Wei Wuyin's Spiritual Sense swept hundreds of thousands of miles in a second, yet he only sensed the far away Kun Yiming's clone, the long-prepared Venerable Slayingsword, and the patient Highlord Bluecloud.
Even then, the Mystic Aura made his perception extremely fuzzy. At first glance, it felt as if his Spiritual Sense was so powerful that Highlord Bluecloud's Mystic Aura couldn't suppress it, but he knew that truth was far more sinister now. It was a deliberate move by Highlord Bluecloud solely to feed in a false narrative of Kun Yiming's defeat, all while the true Kun Yiming was hidden in his Mystic Aura, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
They weren't just coordinated but had thoroughly planned out several layers of tactics to push Wei Wuyin to a dead-end. This was the result of preparation against an enemy that had an understanding of your power. This was what Wei Wuyin needed to experience. While he knew of his enemies, his enemy would similarly grasp his abilities and plan accordingly.
In some cases, he could be abruptly ambushed without any preparation or at a severe disadvantage, leaving him in a predicament where escape might not be possible. As he possessed the bloodline of a True Void Dragon, his means of escape was unrivaled within his stage of cultivation, but that didn't mean his abilities couldn't be suppressed, or escape was impossible or inadvisable.
"The Minor Authority of Time Law is profound," Wei Wuyin heaved an emotional sigh and cleared his thoughts and built up anxiety. Using the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity's Eye of Truth, his Temporal Eye, True Void Dragon Bloodline Energies, Future Time Energies, and the Minor Time Law, Wei Wuyin had developed a unique application of their combined powers and qualities, executing a Spiritual Art.
「Profound Void Art: Eyes of Fated Avoidance」
He personally named this profoundly powerful ocular-type Spiritual Art.
For only a few seconds, just three seconds, by channeling all those powers in an exquisitely united manner, he could send himself into a physical realm of the future, a temporary sequence of possibilities within the boundless river of time based on his initial desires, and perceive the eventual result.
He actually experienced his death.
Furthermore, he added a little bit of mental manipulation to its casting, preventing him from knowing if or when he cast this Spiritual Art. This allowed him to act and react as if it was his only life. This knowledge would immediately be reintroduced after the Spiritual Art completed its process.
While Wei Wuyin had died during that possibility of events, it wouldn't have been permanent—Wu Yu was on standby. After his death was absolutely certain, the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn would swoop in and execute Temporal Reversion of Mysticism to reverse his death.
Wei Wuyin had extracted that memory inside his Sea of Consciousness ,too, hiding it within his Secondary Mind, and currently believed that Wu Yu wasn't anywhere near and that death was genuine. With his cultivation foundation, the three Ascended beings wouldn't be able to reverse his death even if they exhausted all their lives to do so.
This was the cost of Temporal Reversion; the greater the target, the higher the cost, and Wei Wuyin's soul was enveloped by the Minor Time Law, so the energy needed would require at least the Earthly Saint level, and the poor soul would likely need to exhaust thousands of years to succeed.
If Wei Wuyin had died for an entire eight minutes, unless a being at the Worldly Saint stage took action by exhausting their entire life, Wei Wuyin would be permanently dead. While being extremely strong had its advantages, it made defying death equally difficult. Despite being a Mortal, it was harder for him to experience Temporal Reversion than a typical Soul of Mysticism cultivator.
Subconsciously, Wei Wuyin touched his necklace.
「Profound Void Art: Eyes of Fated Avoidance」
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Wei Wuyin's silver eyes combined the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity with the profound Temporal Eye, exerting his Minor Authority on the laws of time, seizing the time essence beneath the heavens to gaze upon the world.
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Wei Wuyin formed a hand-seal.
「Tenth World Origin Art: Primordial Seal of Elemental Law」
Highlord Bluecloud was sealed in shock. Then, Wei Wuyin rushed Venerable Slayingsword. When Kun Yiming took action, the Wind Origin Dragon transformed behind him, opening a Void Portal directly behind him.
Boom!
Highlord Bluecloud exploded out using his Demi-Mystic State, tapping upon a fraction of an Earthly Saint's true power, and roared as he thrust out with his palm to send a wave of cataclysmic Spiritual Power.
Kun Yiming, grimly bewildered, found herself in the direct path of the wave of spirit-annihilating power. Aghast, she was impacted.
Venerable Slayingsword hadn't reacted, his entire focus upon his sword as sword light spewed out of his eyes, and he struck with terrifying killing intent. The blade was abnormally quick, but Wei Wuyin reacted by manifesting a…
Just as he was about to react, he was hit by a wave of aggressive Spiritual Power. His eyes bulged as his Astral Souls, while prepared, were besieged by destructive power that sent them spiraling. His attempt to react was halted midway, and the sword stayed true to its course, swiping across Wei Wuyin's neck and sending his head flying.
「God-Slaying Art: Greatfall」
The resulting sword light swept his body, causing his body to be obliterated. Without Kun Yiming behind him, Venerable Slayingsword no longer cautiously held back and unleashed the outburst of sword light he had long prepared.
"HUUUUUU!"
But amongst this darkness, what should've been eternal, a speck of radiant grey light flashed in what felt like the entire world.
"Haaaaa…"
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Wei Wuyin's complexion grew eerily ashen. Dying once was already difficult, but twice felt as if it had impacted his soul in some extreme way. The sensation of death was far too terrifying, especially since he had extracted his memories of his past experience, removing the knowledge of the Spiritual Art and only keeping the mindful change of strategic tactics and their reasoning. He once again had his life flash across his mind, those figures' faces, their meanings to him, and the unwillingness to die erupting with his entire willpower.
He breathed out a mouthful of turbid air containing wisps of deathly aura. It wasn't a lie to say that Wei Wuyin had died just then. The possibilities of events were replicated using the Minor Time Law and his True Void Dragon Bloodline, conjuring a temporary physical realm that essentially ran a simulation, and he was experiencing all these events as if they were happening. Then, time would reverse for him, but in reality, it hadn't happened.
It was increasingly profound and complicated as one thought about it. He was generating a timeline solely where he existed, a timeline that could only exist for three seconds and not a single second more.
Others would call this heaven-defying!
In actuality, this Spiritual Art wasn't without its disadvantages. If Wei Wuyin was equally as strong as he was but was an Ascended being, he might not get three picoseconds, let alone three seconds. This was largely due to his Mortal Existential Framework needing far less energy to simulate, yet still roughly a thousand times more than the three Ascended beings he faced altogether.
Moreover, should any of these Ascended beings grasp the Temporal-type and Spatial-type Way of Mysticism, they might even be able to interfere with his power. Fortunately, they weren't Earthly Saints.
As for the cost of executing this art, while most of the fuel was ambient time and spatial energies, the Bloodline Energies was the most significant consumption and thus limited Wei Wuyin to only six times at his current level before his Bloodline Source was depleted.
"Again!"
「Profound Void Art: Eyes of Fated Avoidance」
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Wei Wuyin's silver eyes combined the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity with the profound Temporal Eye, exerting his Minor Authority on the laws of time, seizing the time essence beneath the heavens to gaze upon the world.