Chapter 398 - 394: Auric Sea, Lian Yu's Uniqueness
As Wei Wuyin began his descent, the emotional concern of everyone else was clearly shown. Alongside those were expressions of intense confusion as they observed the freely flying Lian Yu who carried Long Chen with relative ease. Just seconds earlier, a battle to save the duo from the gravity of the Auric Sea was waged at the highest level, causing three former Grand Imperial Sages to act and fail in the end.
Yet Wei Wuyin, a Soul Idol Phase cultivator, a youngster of less than fifty years old, and an Alchemist, had seemingly resolved the issue before everyone’s eyes. The disbelief and confusion was greatly warranted.
Ji Changkong glanced towards Yao Zhen, who was similarly glancing at him, questions flickering within their eyes. They turned to Tuo Bihan, who was intently watching Wei Wuyin with a neutral expression.
A disciple at the Heavenly King rank, someone who possessed a Soul Idol Cultivation base with far greater combat standards than normal Soul Idols cultivators, could no longer hold his curiosity. He asked no one in particular, "How did he do that?"
His words sparked numerous bright lights, temporarily causing those watching Wei Wuyin to look at each other inquisitively. The Auric Sea was rather special, and it restricted spiritual sense due to the unique gravitational forces. Similar to how gravity can distort light, it can also drag along spiritual senses.
This aspect was why Gravity Emission Phase Cultivators, those at the Sixth Stage of the Astral Core Realm, were so overbearingly powerful. While they might not be outstandingly strong in neutral situations in relation to Light Reflect Phase experts, in combat situations they were at an outrageous advantage against lower-leveled cultivators. Their ability to distort spiritual sense, light energies, spatial energies, and influence their opponent with uniquely generated gravitational forces was their cultivation advantage.
The Auric Sea was a perfect demonstration as to why it was so powerful. A vast astral force of a Sixth Stage expert had been drained not simply because of the power but the gravitational force required a diversion of astral force to resist the pull. This was why Qin Rui had lost not just her astral force but her innate energies as she drew upon everything to resist it.
It was an extremely unfavorable environment to fight, and eliminated the Gravity Emission Phase’s advantage due to the greater gravity. In here, they had no Spatial Resonance, Light Reflection, or Gravity Emission cultivation advantages, making them akin to incredibly overpowered souped-up Soul Idols Phase experts.
"..." But no one could answer, merely remaining quiet. This silence lasted for a while until a groan attracted everyone’s gaze. They realized that Qin Rui, who was being pumped with pure energies quietly by Tuo Bihan, had started to wake.
When she did, so did Long Chen, who received the same treatment from Lian Yu. Regaining their consciousness or mobility, they both had varied expressions. Qin Rui was filled with momentary confusion until she saw Tuo Bihan, then she rose abruptly, her beautiful eyes turned towards the Auric Sea.
She seemed prepared to exclaim loudly, but she halted seeing Lian Yu and Long Chen safe at the ten thousand feet range. Her turbulent heart settled with relief. "Did I save them?" She turned to Tuo Bihan, trying to get verification. While she had her inner anger at his actions, Tuo Bihan was like a grandfather-figure to her, so she still sought him out and felt fine with him holding her.
Tuo Bihan clicked his tongue, turning his gaze towards Qin Rui with admonishments in his eyes. "You all are so stubborn. So incredibly stubborn." He briefly swept his glance at Ji Changkong and the other elders who took time to retract their powers.
"What do you mean, Grand Sage Tuo?" Yao Zhen asked, seeking an explanation. While he knew that he had quickly followed Wei Wuyin’s order, therefore he wasn’t targetter by those words, he still wasn’t sure about the entire situation.
Tuo Bihan sighed, "You all saw him order me to stop, not to take action. Then give you guys the same order as he stood patiently beside them. Do you think the little boss could have breached your protective wards shielding the two of them without harming those inside? Why else would the little boss command you to stop your actions besides having a solution? Did you all really think he would publicly, before the witnessing eyes of other forces, plot to kill Long Chen? Isn’t that just exclaiming to the world of internal conflict and corruption? Long Chen wasn’t even the one in danger, but that wet girl there."
"...!" Seemingly realizing something, they turned to Lian Yu. Long Chen had just regained his ability to move, looking at the crowd’s curious gazes and hearing Tuo Bihan’s words. His expression became a little ugly.
Tuo Bihan scoffed, continuing: "You guys should be experienced on how the little boss acts, and he is calculative and confident in everything he does. Which matter hasn’t he settled with ease? " As if bringing up all Wei Wuyin’s achievements, such as handling his enemies with precision, or accomplishing tasks and feats beyond them.
They then realized that every last one of them was shielding Long Chen and Lian Yu as they descended, but Wei Wuyin just waited by the side patiently. If he wanted them to die, he would have ordered them to drop them or something more direct, push him down himself. The realization twisted Ji Changkong’s face into an unsightly image. Even Qin Rui’s eyes widened, her eyes in disbelief.
She was about to ask with grievance, but Tuo Bihan interrupted her. "The little boss doesn’t owe any of you an explanation, nor did he need to explain his actions or solution to any of you. You should’ve known by now that everything is a test of loyalty; he gave an order, you should follow it."
"..." Yao Zhen and Bei Ming’s eyes brightened. While Tuo Bihan hadn’t explained how, he explained the why. And the ’why’ meant they would benefit greatly after their decisive actions.
This caused Ji Changkong’s already unsightly expression to become downright ugly. He groaned in his heart, seemingly failing in his observation ability, understanding of Wei Wuyin, and lost his chance to flip to Wei Wuyin’s side after the Long Chen fiasco.
Qin Rui’s beautiful eyes flickered. She remained silent.
Long Chen turned to Lian Yu, he whispered: "What did he do to you?" His voice was somewhat weak, making it very difficult for others to hear besides them two.
But Lian Yu was startled, thinking. She said after a long contemplation, "I don’t know. I felt like I had a brick in my chest, pulling me down, and then when he touched me, it felt as if it vanished or became noticeably smaller." She touched her bountiful valley, causing an alluring sight.
Long Chen frowned, his lips twitched at the ’touched’ word. He looked down, seeing Wei Wuyin continuing his descent. There was a faint desire in his heart to see Wei Wuyin become bloody mist and crushed flesh just like that Timelord.
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Wei Wuyin wasn’t aware nor cared about what was happening above him as he descended. He was already a hundred feet below the ten thousand feet line, his hands trembling slightly.
"Are you certain?" Wei Wuyin asked internally.
"Yes. I feel it below," Kratos, the Draconic Void Astral Soul, spoke in a grave tone. This was the first time it wasn’t sounding like an arrogant god that had no restrictions in this world. Its unexpected seriousness brought waves to Wei Wuyin’s heart. "I need to get closer to be absolutely certain."
He nodded, descending further.
When Wei Wuyin had seen Lian Yu’s descent, he felt that there was a strange power exerting itself on him. It was oppressively strong, seeking to drag him down. It was probably no less than Lian Yu’s. But there was a strange difference, and that was towards the grade of forces used relative to the force exerted.
If a fourth stage Astral Core Realm attempted to resist, the gravitational force would correspondingly increase until it wasn’t able to. This was why the elders, Long Chen, and the former Grand Imperial Sages all felt the same level of difficulty and achieved similar results with stopping Lian Yu’s descent despite their varied cultivation levels.
Long Chen could last longer because his cultivation was beyond the standard of a normal Soul Idol Phase expert, but it clearly isn’t enough. This same level of force pressed against him, threatening to drag him down, but his physical strength was horrifically high and he had astral force that went into unimaginable levels for a Soul Idol.
With his four Astral Souls, all of which were Nine-Ringed or higher Soul Idols, with extremely large Astral Cores that were representative to his powerful physical, mental, essence, and spiritual energies, he resisted this force with immense ease.
After inspecting the issue, Kratos had spoken to him that he might be the cause. It felt that his bloodline was being affected, trying to drag itself downwards while attached to the unique gravitational force. After Eden intervened, it contained his bloodline aura and the force vanished.
It was correct; his True Dragon Bloodline had been drawn downwards. But then what about Lian Yu? He was startled after this discovery, and he went to her. After using his Celestial Eyes, he couldn’t find any irregularities. She was a human without a speck of Draconic Bloodline in his eyes.
But when he finally touched her, using his own bloodline to feel her own, he realized that she contained a unique power that had a Draconic Signature. It was stored within her heart, and seemed to take the form of a legendary Jiaolong, or Dragon of Myriad Rivers within myth. They had another name, Flood Dragons.
That’s when he realized that somehow she had a Flood Dragon’s Aquatic Essence infused within her heart. After suppressing its aura, Lian Yu was free.
Xue Yifei had the Yin Dragon Soul within her sea of consciousness and Yang Dragon Soul infused into her beating heart, and it carried the Demonic Essence of a Demonic Dragon. Similar to how Wu Baozhai can cultivate the Imperial Heaven Qi Method due to her innate ignition essence, Lian Yu could cultivate something similar to his True Dragon Method alongside Xue Yifei but acquiring different powers, like Yuan Longshi had.
After he inspected her Astral Soul, he felt as if he could glean into Heaven’s Intentions. She had a Water Astral Soul born from a Heart of Water Qi, as ordinary can be. It seems that something was likely to happen, infusing her Astral Soul with the Aquatic Essence in the future, unlocking an extraordinary talent towards water forces, gaining both Aquatic Energy and Draconic Energy.
When she unlocks that hidden potential, who knows what her limit will be? In comparison, however, his True Dragon Bloodline was a Pure Bloodline, and be it demonic or aquatic, they were merely derivatives mixed with something else.
He stared at the Auric Sea, "What are you?" He kept descending with narrowed eyes.