Chapter 439 - 435: What Time Can Do
"HELP ME!"
"SHE’S TOO STRONG, HOLD THE LINE!"
"It’s over...we’re all going to die..."
The eruption and collapse of another city left the elves hopeless and in despair, not expecting the sudden descent of a Realmlord!
Wei Wuyin was sweating bullets, having already passed through his third city. He was frustrated by events. Not because of the fierce and vicious slaughter the female Realmlord was unleashing, but how the elves were unable to hold her back for longer than a few seconds!
In all three cities, each had a Sixth Stage Astral Core Realm cultivator overseeing matters, but they were almost instantly obliterated by the female Realmlord, and the city-wide formations did little to resist her. He now realized that the elves truly were the weaker race in this world.
He couldn’t help but think of the possibility that if the high-ranking members of this world were to enter the starfield, who could resist them? They would bulldoze over everyone, and might even have means to resist the planetary formations.
If Realmlords were already this horrifying, how about Timelords? The thought sent shivers down his spine, not in fear, but with the imagery of the massive damage they could cause.
He now realized why the starfield had been subjugated by two false Realmlords, and why Tuo Bihan didn’t consider them opponents. And how an entire starfield heralded the Myriad Monarch Sect as the next ruler by default, just with Tuo Bihan’s presence!
Realmlords were not to be underestimated! And this was especially so for genuine Realmlords!
Wei Wuyin soon came across a larger tunnel, clearly fashioned and maintained a little better than the others. His eyes brightened! Could this lead to one of the Nine Capitals? He remembered Chu Leitao mentioning how there were nine cities that housed the main branches of the Grey Sand Elves.
These cities had to have Realmlords and powerful formations defending them! While he might be leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire, he had no choice!
With a renewed vigor, he sprinted just a tad bit faster.
A long distance behind him, an icy-cold gaze was carried by the female Realmlord in hot pursuit. There was a heavy frown on her face, clearly not expecting Wei Wuyin’s insidious means and actions to use entire cities to delay her. She had to destroy half the city to shatter the formation, taking tens of thousands of lives as a result, before shooting after him.
But she couldn’t go around, because she wasn’t certain if he’d hide in the city! It was better to destroy all obstacles than to let that little shrimp go free. "You overestimate these insects. Even their Capitals can’t stop me, fool!" But she wasn’t as fierce as before.
A Realmlord did not have an unlimited reserve of astral force, and flying during the Season of Regression at maximum speed, using her refined spatial energies to produce spatial force, and bulldozing over formations and foolish elves was extremely costly. She had already used more than eighty percent of her Astral Force in her World Sea.
She didn’t have permanence, so she couldn’t reuse her astral force freely. This was a benefit only those at the Zenith Mortal State possessed, and she only had an 8th Mortal State Astral Soul! Those who cultivated to the Zenith Mortal State needed nearly a hundred times as many resources to cultivate and experienced far, far more difficult astral tribulations. Only the elite geniuses of an entire world would dare venture on that path.
She cursed at Wei Wuyin in her heart. As a Realmlord, her energies and astral force take a considerably long time to recover.
She growled. If they came across another city, she wouldn’t be able to pursue him further! While she had a Worldly Domain, the Season of Regression made her unable to grasp and convert the ambient energies and mana for her usage, so she had to use only her own power.
She bit her lip, feeling aggrieved after entering the larger tunnel, noticing that it was more maintained than others. She knew this led to one of the Nine Capitals of a Great Elven Clan. While she didn’t fear those insignificant pests, capable of crushing any overseer they had, she still knew her situation would be dire if she continued!
With a long breath, she started to form handseals and used a full ten percent of her astral force alongside the remaining bit of her spatial force, locking onto Wei Wuyin’s fleeing form with her spiritual sense.
"Ha!" She executed a spell.
Wei Wuyin was running while his breathing was extremely turbid and heavy when his body felt impacted by a forceful power. He was lifted off the ground momentarily, feeling as if he was pushed upwards by an unseen hand. Then, he floated downwards.
He was startled, but kept running the moment his feet hit the ground.
"You can’t escape me," the female Realmlord said with a cold glare. Then, she shot upwards and vanished into the earth.
Wei Wuyin instantly froze, stopping a few dozen meters from an exquisite gate that stood hundreds of feet high, brightened by golden light-effusing stones lining the walls. It gave the entire gate a majestic feeling of nobility. There was a single character painted at the center of this gate, and it covered roughly fifty percent of the gate.
He turned around, realizing the pressure of the female Realmlord had disappeared. With a frown, he no longer felt a sensation of deadly crisis. A tremble occurred in his legs, arms, chest, and neck. An abrupt sensation of weakness emerged throughout his body as he felt as if a mountain had been lifted from his shoulders.
Thud!
His knees heavily hit the ground, arms limp by his side and head hung weakly to the side. He had never felt so exhausted before. Every bone in his legs, even his toes, were littered with countless cracks from the level of forceful physical exertion.
After a moment, his silver eyes flashed with a violent chill. Without hesitation, he moved his weak arm to bring out a vial of elixir. He swiftly imbibed it then took out several pills. He threw those into his mouth as well.
"Five minutes. In five minutes, you’re dead!" Wei Wuyin swore to himself, slowly refining the alchemical products, all of which were ninth-grade! He had never had the need to use them before, but now, he didn’t hesitate!
The pills and elixir were miraculous, seemingly working together in perfect harmony as they intermixed into producing an even greater effect! Their energies funneled directly to King and Ori! As they were located in his dantian, they were the easiest to recover.
Creak!
The grand majestic gate started to be pushed open, separating into two portions. Wei Wuyin’s silver eyes didn’t bother looking, hurriedly trying to recover King and Ori to a proper level. The alchemical products carried energies with effects that engulfed their Astral Cores, slowly mending their cracks.
He felt a wave of excitement from them both, feeling their rapid recovery. Ninth-grade products were meant for Realmlords and those above, and even then, they might not be able to obtain them. He had just used several mutually beneficial products in unison for two Astral Cores at the Spatial Resonance Phase, so the effects could be imagined!
The opened gate soon revealed two figures. A lovely female figure alongside a tall, brawny man with a rugged beard that gave him a handsome manliness that went against typical elf appearances. The female was an elven beauty, with waist-length light brown-hair with golden highlights, a slim physique, and two proud twin peaks held dangerously in her dress.
The tall male elf was clearly older, containing the wisdom of age in his eyes, but didn’t look middle-aged. They were both garbed in grey robes with lines of gold that gave them a noble feeling, and they had similar bronze-colored skin.
When Wei Wuyin saw the two, his eyes constricted for a moment. The male wasn’t a normal cultivator, definitely a Realmlord or higher! He gave him a similar feeling as that young woman that was with Lin Ming at the Myriad Yore Continent.
As for the young woman, he was even more shocked by her! Her eyes were glowing with a beautiful white radiance that contained innumerable variations and permutations, alluding to her Elemental Origin Intent! She seemed to have cultivated a unique ocular spiritual spell that vested her eyes with Elemental Origin Power!
Could she be?
Was she a Chosen Candidate?!
His heart throbbed fiercely, not expecting to meet one of them, and it was even an elf! He felt that the Divine King Han Xei might be a prejudiced bigot, preferring humans over elves, demons, and beasts. But then, since elves were present on the continent, that might not be the case.
Even the Elemental Heaven Pavilion was the hub of human cultivators, so he didn’t know what to think.
The bearded man walked forward alongside the young woman. He spoke in elf language, "It seems she left." His eyes glanced upwards, ignoring Wei Wuyin.
The young woman nodded, "She had rampaged through three cities. She must be low on astral force."
"Guess she’s not that stupid," the bearded man laughed in faint amusement.
The young woman frowned. "You’re not going to track her down?" Her voice contained a little dissatisfaction.
The bearded man shook his head, a glimmer of helplessness in his eyes. "You know about the Season of Regression. The greater one’s cultivation, the greater the restraining effect. While I could injure her during this time, she could take me down with her. As for killing her without that sacrifice? It’ll be possible during the Season of Devils, but not now."
The young woman pouted for a moment, but didn’t say more on the topic. She soon turned to Wei Wuyin, seeing his haggard appearance marred by sweat and blood leaking from his nose. Even his eyes were bloodshot and veiny, clearly an indication of overexertion of his innate energies.
The bearded man rubbed his ruggish beard, "This Ganshu is only at the Spatial Resonance Phase. She seemed to have been chasing him. Quite impressive, and...ruthless!"
Wei Wuyin didn’t say a single word nor reacted to the man’s killing intent-filled tone, clearly pointing out his actions were extremely ruthless to lure the female Realmlord through multiple cities. Wei Wuyin didn’t understand what the bearded elf was saying, merely his intent was understood.
He knew his life was hanging on the whim of these two.
Right now, he just had to focus on recovery.
The bearded man seemed to realize that Wei Wuyin didn’t understand them. He sighed, switching to the common language. His tone was rather uncomfortable as he spoke, clearly revealing his unfamiliarity with using the language. "Why shouldn’t I kill you?"
Wei Wuyin stared at the man for a long moment, turning to the young woman with a strained movement of his neck. He didn’t answer. If they were going to act against him, nothing he said will convince them otherwise, and answering might trigger them to act sooner.
The young woman frowned, tracing her white gaze across Wei Wuyin’s dirty face that was still extremely handsome. "You were chased by a Realmlord of your race, why?" The young woman asked curiously.
This was what Wei Wuyin wanted! If they asked questions, then he could delay! "I...stole...something..." Every word he said was purposefully strained, making every word last a little longer. If they wanted answers to their questions, they must delay any action against him!
The bearded man settled his internal astral force, holding back from obliterating Wei Wuyin. He was truly about to turn Wei Wuyin into dust, not caring about his background or reasons, only the deaths of the elves he caused. It was only because the young woman asked a question that he decided to delay doing so. To him, what did it matter if he acted now or in a few minutes?
The young woman was clearly curious, "What did you steal?"
Wei Wuyin gulped loudly, clearly showing he was having difficulty speaking due to his injuries. But when he noticed they didn’t intend to offer him any recuperative products or support, he knew in their minds that he was already marked for death. After all, why waste resources or energy on a dead man?
"...I...too...took...spell." Wei Wuyin didn’t lie. The spatial ring contained a few special spells, so he did steal it. He knew these two would definitely have ways to determine if he was lying, and he was right.
The young woman glanced at the bearded man, her eyes brightened. A spell that could urge a Realmlord to hunt down a Spatial Resonance Phase cultivator through three elven cities? It must be heaven-defying!
A light of greed flashed through her pretty white eyes, and even the bearded man roughly rubbed his beard in curiosity.
Wei Wuyin knew that if they could read his mind, they would unhesitatingly do so, taking his life directly after. He bitterly smiled, but he just needed a few more minutes!