Chapter 409 - 405: Captured
Woosh!
A comet of light soared through the dreary skies, brightly lighting up the immediate environment before smashing heavily into the dirt-covered ground.
Boosh!
A crater formed, leaving a single figure present at its center. The impact had produced a dust cloud, covering the figure in grey-colored dirt. A series of coughs resounded, followed by an exclamation of surprise.
"Desolate Intent?" A familiar aura permeated the surroundings, causing Wei Wuyin to react with a tinge of surprise. He walked out of the dust cloud, covered in grey-colored dirt. The dirt seemed to be infused with Desolate Intent, capable of siphoning off the lively qualities and energies of living things, such as moisture or heat. It signified deprivation and absence, but also absorption and assimilation.
He touched his clothes, realizing the Desolate Intent infused dirt had stuck to him like a parasitic insect, attaching to the energies he emitted by default, such as his heat, moisture, lifeforce, and gases. With a faint smile, his eyes flashed with a light of deprivation, grey and absent of lively qualities, causing the dirt to be siphoned of its desolate powers.
With a brush of his black clothes, he removed all the dirt. After handling this, he looked at his environment to discover a dirt-covered world with mountains that were few and far away from each other. These solitary mountains were quite interesting as he couldn’t help but give them a second look.
He exited the crater, about to fly when he discovered the thin, extremely restrictive ambient mana. But he brushed this off, exerting the power of his Zenith Origin State, invoking a strong disruptive power that shattered the bindings that the mana was subjected to.
Instantly, the surrounding mana for hundreds of meters in all distances vibrated with an intensity of extreme happiness as they shrouded his figure. He floated off the ground, looking around at a greater height. As he got higher, he felt the power of desolation within the air become greater, more lethal and parasitic.
"If a normal cultivator tried to fly in these conditions, they would be hard-pressed to resist this power. They might be deprived of their innate energies, mummified without being
able to resist." As he lifted his hands, he realized that even if he descended, the power of desolation would continue to suckle away at his innate energies at the same degree of intensity.
"Peculiar," Wei Wuyin lightly commented as he absorbed the power of desolation, enriching his own innate energies after a brief revolution of his cultivation base. Unlike others, he could easily unravel this power and convert it into strength. This was the benefit of Desolate Intent.
He landed, no longer using his Zenith Origin State’s enhanced Mana Control to prevent the restrictive power from affecting it, causing the ambient mana to briefly wail with a tremble before becoming thin and seemingly uninteractive once more.
"Even more peculiar," his Celestial Eyes roamed the world and inspected this strange power. It didn’t only restrict the ambient mana but the ambient essence was being similarly restrained. But from what he could tell, be it mana or essence, its quality was far, far greater than a planet’s.
He tapped his foot against the dirt, scraping the dirt to the side until he touched the ground hidden beneath. When he pressed his feet against it, his eyes brightened momentarily. "The crust of this continent here is extremely durable, far greater than the Myriad Monarch Main Planet."
This contradictory scene baffled him for a moment, but then he realized a possible theory. From his observations, its possible that the current world realm was at a period of restriction, like a season. The restrictions don’t just serve to thin the ambient mana or essence, but strengthen it. After the period is over, the enhanced mana and essence will give birth to a far greater environment.
"Ingenious!" He couldn’t help but praise the design. If this was actually happening, then the creator was having the world realm cultivate in a similar way to weight training for mortal experts. But that also was curious, because there had to be an endless source of lesser energies to strengthen.
Just as he was marveling at the superb design and cunning of this world realm, he turned to observe a dust cloud growing in the distance. His silver eyes watched as the cloud appeared and approached, as if it was just conjured from nothing.
"Cultivators?" A wisp of interest flashed within his eyes, observing the cloud grow until it was fifty meters high, bulldozing its way towards him with a continuous rumble of fearsome stomps. This seemingly intimidating scene wasn’t remotely moving Wei Wuyin’s heart. Instead, he recalled that Wall of Heaven that had rushed at him, taking the crust of the continent, trees, all life in its path, and everything else with it.
The cloud of grey dust soon reached him, and with an eerily roaring sound, enshrouded his figure entirely. The cloud lingered, sounds of stomps and faint roars emitted from within. Soon, the cloud twisted and twisted until it formed a tornado that slowly bore through the grey-colored dirt and crust, disappearing from view.
The peaceful ambiance of the scene returned.
Meanwhile, hundreds of meters underground, Wei Wuyin was riding a large lizard-like beast that seemed to be a cross between an iguana and a mole, its razor sharp claws stabbed into the air and made a tunnel. He was currently bobbing up and down on its back, restrained by numerous black-colored shackles.
Boosh!
They penetrated a hollow layer and entered a circular tunnel, wide and linear, with a circumference of at least fifty meters. They fell heavily within, no longer digging through the air. The darkness of the tunnel was well-lit by torches that burned white.
Wei Wuyin looked up, seeing several lizard-like moles drop down from the hole that had just been made, encircling his lizard while a few humanoid figures tightly held chains in their hands, chains that connected to his shackles. After the seventh and last beast entered, the hole healed itself in a miraculous fashion as if it was never there.
"Interesting," he remarked as he observed the humanoids riding the digging beasts with practice and poise, seemingly trained and having done something like abducting individuals many times. They spoke in a tongue he was unfamiliar with, surprising him for a moment.
There were fifteen humanoid figures, with two to each beast, with the largest beast holding three, and the one steering such a beast seemed to be the leader. They weren’t abnormally shaped by any means, having two arms, two legs, and a head, but they were all covered in grey-colored , tightly wrapped and concealing clothing. This clothing exuded faint desolate power, but it seemed to repel and contain it rather than emitting it themselves.
"Protective wear?" Wei Wuyin kept thinking aloud, unable to contain his curiosity. When he spoke, the humanoid figure that held him to the lizard-like mole beast harshly tugged at his chains, causing him to feel an abrupt wave of dizziness.
He felt the shackles emanate the power of desolate and various restrictions, trying to absorb his innate energies and seeking to pacify him entirely. These were quite clever, but incredibly useless to those who harnessed Desolate Intent. He only felt mildly discomforted by its tightness.
The group of fifteen seemed to be exchanging words, discussing some matter. After the leader listened to their words, he gave orders and their expressions were varied and complex. The beast rider that controlled the one he sat on tugged at his shackles once more as they, and the only other partner they had, shot off with him in the direction of the tunnel.
The others traveled in the opposite direction at full speed, seemingly meant to do something else.
Wei Wuyin wasn’t bothered by this, merely quietly waited for the completion of his ride as he calmly inspected the tunnel. The walls were smooth, extremely well-crafted. There were definitely various formations embedded on the surface, protecting and preventing physical and spiritual penetration except by those with the special means to do so.
He wouldn’t have been able to sense this tunnel unless he felt the need to inspect hundreds of meters underground. After all, his Celestial Eyes couldn’t observe so deep nor could his spiritual sense penetrate through solid material without forcefully doing so.
He imagined very few people would try to send their spiritual sense through this type of environment, simply the desolate power that was quite prevalent here would be a troublesome hassle to overcome.
He waited for a few minutes before he heard a faint clamor and sounds of activity towards the direction they were traveling. When he turned his head to see the commotion, his mind spiraled with awe!