The halo linger above Wei Wuyin abruptly expanded from its slightly below head-sized length to reaching slightly beyond his shoulders. The halo proceeded to descend, a layer of multicolored light covered the gap, and Wei Wuyin was directly swallowed by it.
Before Guan Yu's eyes, Wei Wuyin vanished after the halo swallowed him entirely, leaving a faint halo of light trembling on the ground. Guan Yu stared at the halo, then the skeletal faced corpse, and his expression eased. He looked around cautiously and withdrew a large-sized compass-like object. This compass didn't have directional indicators but a map that denoted the nine zones of the Battlefield. There were flickering dots of lights on the map, numbering above ten thousand.
After discovering that there weren't any lights nearby, Guan Yu nodded, and then sat down to meditate. He'd just wait. He had a feeling that staying with Wei Wuyin would offer him unimaginable benefits. After all, the man was heaven-defying. Not even his war file remotely hinted at his ability to do the things he'd done.
He muttered disbelievingly to himself, "Could he really be at the Eighth Stage?" Guan Yu realized that Wei Wuyin lacked basic knowledge of the Star Core Phase because he hadn't reached that stage yet, which blew his mind entirely. However, if he'd known that Wei Wuyin wasn't a Timelord, but a Gravity Emission Phase cultivator, his mind might never recover.
-----
A world of total whiteness. There was no horizon. There was no solar star. There were just walls of whiteness and these walls emitted overbearing radiance that could easily blind anyone who stared at them for a long period. In this world was a cube that was the size of a small mountain. It was of the exact design as the War Spirit Altar, even the 'War' character was etched on its top alongside the gambeson wearing figure that blinded with the whiteness.
Wei Wuyin was unable to be blinded with his eyes already closed, but he felt the scintillating light try to pierce through his ocular seals. This light was extremely terrifying since that same seal was keeping his overbearing spiritual light from pouring out of his eyes, bringing immense pain to the core locations of his three Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity formations.
When he thought of this spell, he thought about his currently sealed eyes. Wei Wuyin had wanted to open his eyes long ago, especially after learning that his physique was refined to its physical limits. However, just before doing so, Eden had warned him to stop immediately. It was nestled in his Sea of Consciousness, and it confirmed that the cause of all this, the breaching of limits regarding his Celestial Eyes spiritual formations that enable the three abilities—Eye of Truth, Eye of Illusions, and Eye of Immortality—hadn't been solved. Not even close.
If he removed his ocular seals and unleashed his Celestial Eyes, his Sea of Consciousness, Mind's Eye, and eyes themselves would be experiencing immense suffering of unbearable levels, just like before and he'd be unable to use his Celestial Eyes or visually see regardless. This had caused him to feel depressed. No one, especially a cultivator, would want to be blind by choice.
This was even worse when he considered the Battlefield that hellishly restricted his spiritual sense, his secondary visual perception, leaving him at a great disadvantage.
The only foreseeable conclusion was to elevate his cultivation, but he wasn't sure if that'll be a solution. Neither was Eden. His cultivation foundation was maximized to their limits, and at the moment, beyond his limits and barely being kept together. If he ascended to the Realm World Phase, his cultivation aspects will all elevate alongside it, and this might not equalize. This being more so since the Realm World Phase fused everything into a Domain Seed; his Soul Idols, Spatial Resonance, Primary Light, and Gravitational Central Mass into a single whole, far stronger than the sum of its parts.
To put it simply, he might be visually blind indefinitely.
This was the cost of pushing his cultivation far, far beyond conventional limits. Furthermore, his Astral Souls didn't wish to stop. They wanted to refine transcendent Spatial Divine Resonance Pills before ascending. They were unwilling to halt. But how could he fault them for this? Blame them?
Their opponents weren't any mortal beings or Ascended beings, but the Heavenly Daos, the Calamites of Hell, and the unknown future! If he said he didn't feel the pressure to be at his greatest possible state while facing these challenges and enemies, he would be lying to himself. They just felt what he felt. They wanted what he wanted—to survive.
He couldn't settle.
He wouldn't settle.
Wei Wuyin just hoped that this wouldn't eventually lead to his untimely demise due to an accident. For example, King, Ori, and Kratos all wanted to consume more transcendent Soul Deity Invoker Elixir. Fortunately or unfortunately, Eden explained that each of his Astral Souls were uniquely marked and unable to use the same means to summon forth another replicated tribulation.
However, its tone was incredibly depressing as it explained this dejectedly. Wei Wuyin was speechless then.
He could only warn them not to push things too far, or else the Calamities of Hell might not even have the opportunity to claim his soul if it explodes with theirs.
"Soldier of War!" That voice from earlier, androgynous and instilling sensory dissonance, resounded once again. It caused Wei Wuyin to frown, but he had adapted extremely well to its voice's effects. After a short moment, he breathed out a breath and all things regulated.
"That bastard! I won't be affected again! I won't! I won't!!" Kratos roared angrily at the voice, feeling as if its pride as a Void Dragon was being challenged with every syllable of this voice. The three Astral Souls cheered from their locations, also pissed by this nauseating feeling. After all, it wasn't just affecting Wei Wuyin.
"You have summoned the War Spirit to exchange your War Souls for the prospects of victory! The Nexus of the Battlefield heeds your call. Make your choice: Soldier or Commander!"
Wei Wuyin's expression immediately became extremely strange.
This...was this...what…
The voice was female! Furthermore, it was extremely sweet and gentle, like a little girl speaking in the most adorable manner. While the words it spoke were powerful, the voice itself was contradicting to say the least. How could he not be taken aback?
"Hahaha! Its just a little girl!" Kratos triumphantly laughed. Since it was continuously exposed to the dissonance, it had sifted through the effects and effectively blocked out the cause from affecting them. In a way, this dissonance was nestled in the forces of Chaotic Spatial Energies, so it wasn't hard to unravel if given enough time. It was a Void Dragon, after all!
Fixed? Stable? Chaotic?
It was the Void! Which of these did it not govern?! Which of these did it not have dominion over? Even the Heavenly Daos can't trap it! A child challenging a master! Nothing more.
Wei Wuyin could feel the torrential wave of pride emitting from every resoundingly powerful heartbeat of his. He couldn't help but smile, deeply amused. To think this so-called War Spirit had the voice of a little girl. He wondered if he opened his Celestial Eyes and observed the War Spirit, would he see the image of a little girl?
Regardless, Wei Wuyin decided to not expose the clearly heavy attempts to disguise itself, and just answered: "Both." He didn't just want to see what Soldier offered but Commander as well. He was bestowed an abnormal 49,770 War Souls for his feats and merits on the Battlefield. After giving the female titan two-hundred, and obtaining close to two thousand from the sadistic woman, he had 51,341 War Souls.
"As you desire, Soldier of War!" The War Spirit sounded out. Then two panels silently formed in front of Wei Wuyin. They listed all the products of Soldier and Commander. After a minute, Wei Wuyin's expression changed.
"War Spirit?" He called out.
"Soldier of War! You may request any of your desires!" The little girl's voice and the words caused another type of dissonance to form.
"When will I get the lists?" Wei Wuyin asked.
"Hm?" The War Spirit curiously hummed. "The lists are directly before you, Soldier of War! You may speak out your desire and exchange the appropriate number of War Souls!"
Wei Wuyin's expression became slightly unsightly. He waved his hands in front of himself yet he felt nothing, passing directly before the list like they were ghosts.
"Are you sure?" Wei Wuyin questioned doubtfully.
"I am sure, Soldier of War."
He kept waving forward and nearly lost his balance.
"..." War Spirit.
"..." Wei Wuyin.
There was a long silence. These lists were clearly made from the same type of power as the halo, and he couldn't sense it with his spiritual sense nor touch it with his mortal body. Thus, he was left awkwardly standing there.
"Can you tell me what is on these lists? I'm sorta blind at the moment…"
Wei Wuyin felt a presence arrive directly in front of him after those words. It wasn't something he sensed with his spiritual senses or caught with his other senses, more like an intuition. Like something was inspecting his face with immense doubt. It was a little uncomfortable. This lasted for a long, very long period before it abruptly vanished.
"Okay, Soldier of War! I shall explain the contents of the lists and its prices, but only once." As the War Spirit spoke, Wei Wuyin could've sworn that he heard it grumble out some curses. This might be attributed to Kratos dismantling its vocal disguises, but it still felt unclear and distant. If it wasn't for its adorably cute voice, this might cause shivers to run down one's spine. Instead, Wei Wuyin warmly smiled.
It repeated: "Only once."
"First Item: One unit of Essence of War, priced at 3 War Souls. Second Item…"