Chapter 735: Soldier Of War, Spoils Of War
Wei Wuyin's mind went abuzz with shock. 49,770 War Souls?! This was unexpected, yet he didn't reject this gracious reward. After all, these were his spoils of war earned after expending enough wealth that buying a richly located Starfield wasn't out of the question.
Killing a Demi-Mortal Lord was not cheap.
Thus, he steadied his floating body the best he could and used his spiritual sense to observe the rapidly moving orbs of white light that flew around him like they were leaves blown in the unpredictable wind. He was unable to see these trails of light, but he felt a connection to every War Soul conjured. It caused his right palm to slightly itch.
When his spiritual sense met the orbs, his mind was infused with images that caused his expression to darken considerably. These War Souls contained spiritually animated depictions of his acts of war, which mostly consisted of a blazing death.
Coincidentally, he observed the scene of Cai Liuyang's fiery death. The entire scene was in slow motion, revealing the last acts she performed before she was vaporized by the extreme heat and explosive force. She held Jing Jiu's corpse and tried to protect it.
She held it so tightly that it seemed close to exploding. When the fiery blaze slowly burnt her skin, sundered her flesh in its explosive might, she seemingly realized that her efforts were pointless. She started to shift her protective power from herself to Jing Jiu's corpse…
"She wanted to keep his corpse intact…" When Wei Wuyin murmured this, he felt a mixture of complex emotions. The image of Cai Liuyang's attempt to protect Jing Jiu in her last moments invoked memories of his own past.
In the end, he could only sigh as her efforts did nothing. Shortly after her body was overwhelmed, slowly blown apart, Jing Jiu's corpse closely followed and was incinerated instantly. Her actions hadn't changed the outcome.
When he withdrew his spiritual sense, he inspected the other War Souls. He realized it wasn't just a coincidence that he witnessed Cai Liuyang's death. The vast majority of these War Souls depicted that moment. It seemed a large portion of them were generated due to her death.
War was cruel. But he didn't feel pity or sadness, nor something useless as regret due to this display. Just earlier, Cai Liuyang had killed celestials, humans, and titans alike in her raging pursuit of him. They had lives, families, lovers, and dreams. Were they less important than her? Did they have less potential? Lacked their own stories?
She ended them without a moment's consideration, and she had even crushed his neck and killed his False God Avatar. He didn't feel an ounce of emotion from her dying, just reminded of a moment in his own life that bore a remarkable similarity to it.
Wei Wuyin sighed as he kept that memory in his heart. Just as he was about to use the Identity Rune to store his War Souls, his mind stirred. He didn't trust this storage system. Even Jing Jiu was planning to store the War Souls in a different container, also skeptical of these Identity Runes.
Therefore, he brought out Jing Jiu's spatial ring and interfaced with his connection with the War Souls. They started to slow down and then rapidly flood towards him. He held out his ring and they funneled into it, disappearing like ghosts.
When he inspected the spatial ring's storage space, he realized that each of the War Souls were floating about yet remained relatively calm. They weren't sporadic in their movements, far more serene than before. However, just as he was about to wait for this to conclude so he could deliver the War Souls to the female titan, the voice sounded out:
"Spoils of War claimed! Soldier of War, deployment to the Nexus Battlefield shall begin in 10…9…"
When it started a one-sided countdown, Wei Wuyin's expression changed drastically. Wasn't this out of order? Shouldn't he be given a list of things to exchange? Also, Nexus Battlefield?! When did he agree to all this?
Wei Wuyin had satisfied his urge to fight, wanting to now return to the place he was before, and take on the Heavenly Daos' intended route for him. After learning about the Battlefield, he knew that he could exchange alchemical products for War Souls or other resources. He didn't need to fight this war! Or any war that wasn't started by him! It made no sense for the Heavenly Daos to send him here when it couldn't gauge his strength accurately.
A Gravity Emission Phase cultivator, totally unprepared in this Battlefield, Blessed or not, was absolute death. Just the oppressive gravity would turn ordinary Realmlords to bloody and broken mush. How could he hope to survive in the eyes of the Heavenly Daos?
He didn't want to agree to be shipped off to some Nexus Battlefield. What the hell was even that? Screw all that! He wanted to resist, but the invisible power that was lifting him was far too strong. He didn't realize this before, but it was terrifyingly oppressive!
After bit of struggle, he couldn't help but feel defeated.
But when did soldiers have the right to decide their deployment? They were sent wherever their commanders said, no questions asked. They killed whoever their commanders declared the enemy, no hesitation needed. This was why the Heavenly Daos judged the actions or sins of a soldier on the General, not the soldier themselves.
Wei Wuyin understood this concept as a commander and as an Inheritor of Sin quite thoroughly. However, it did little to console his fleeting aspirations of living a comfy life as an alchemist, supplying for those on the Battlefield from behind-the-scenes while avoiding possible death. He had expended almost six years of raw effort to kill a Demi-Mortal Lord expert, walking the very edge of death. One mistake, his life would've ended in a swift twist. He wished he had conserved some fire-attributed pellets, but he wasn't certain what would work on a Demi-Mortal Lord, so he used all of it.
Just to make sure.
"7…6…"
Wei Wuyin deeply sighed in his heart. He wondered if this was Jing Jiu's opportunity. After all, with his weapons, talismans, and tools, he could've killed a Demi-Mortal Lord if they were weakened enough. This might have been the Heavenly Daos intentions for Jing Jiu, to become this so-called Soldier of War.
"Fine," Wei Wuyin conceded. If this was an opportunity, then he'll give it his all to claim every last drop of benefits available. That said, he hurriedly drew upon his void force, unsealing Kratos. He directly formed a connection between the space of Jing Jiu's ring and the female titan's spatial ring he gave. With their close proximity, he transferred two hundred War Souls after executing Void Crystallization on them. He found that the War Souls didn't repulse spatial energies like mystic-graded materials, so it was extremely easy to seal them.
"2…1…"
Wei Wuyin had done what he could. It was up to the female titan to become a Spiritualist.
At zero, Wei Wuyin vanished.
The phenomenon of white trails and bright, blinding brilliance soon subsided. The mortal and Ascended soldiers were startled by this development. Zi Fu and Tai Hao were the most startled initially, searching for Wei Wuyin's extremely noticeable figure amongst tall titans, but to no avail. They glanced at each other, noticing the confusion in each other's eyes. This was only exacerbated after several minutes and titans started to claim their War Souls again.
Unable to gain any answers, Tai Hao and Zi Fu left the Battlefield… They were going to go to their respective homes, both obtaining exactly what they wanted.