Chapter 829: Stellar Nest, Sword & Shield
A grand, imposing scene dominated the Stellar Nest. The unique realm itself had no feasible limits of its external space, seemingly extending limitlessly beyond the horizon; no clouds, sun, moon, or stars generated a sense of infinity. A boundless environment.
Yet the countless number of Stellar Rain lifeforms that formed several mile-high mountain-like backdrops served as a heavy contrast to the nine white dragons and their domineering existence. Their long, white-scaled bodies danced around Wei Wuyin, yet they remained grounded.
At times, their breaths were of searing heat and surging fire. At times, their breaths were of an insidious chill and glacial mist. At times, their breaths were thunderous booms and crackling lightning. They embodied the nine elements, painted white by the essence of elemental origin.
The nine dragons stayed on the glass-like ground, not flying and being nine sovereigns of the skies. Since the beginning of the fight, Wei Wuyin and the masked figure had kept their battle limited to a few meters above ground, not trying to leap high or send the other into the air.
Wei Wuyin wasn't sure of the exact reason, but he noted this peculiar habit of the masked figure and emulated it. He kept his feet settled onto the dragon's head, and the dragon's body slinked across the glass-like ground with its five-clawed limbs scraping across the surface. Despite the tremendous power of the elements fueling their existence, none of the dragons left so much as a millimeter-sized scratch.
The ground was unbelievably hard.
When the masked figure observed the nine dragons, fear could be felt from their change of stance, briefly reflecting an intent to retreat with haste. But this lasted a brief moment as they observed Wei Wuyin's stable footing and imposing stature amidst the dragons with lengths of ten thousand meters. Wei Wuyin was deeply observing every change of the masked figure, and sensing the relief emanating from the figure, his mind stirred greatly.
The white dragons that seemed capable of dominating existence weren't enough to bring him fear, but the possible act of flying above a certain limit seemingly had.
Wei Wuyin formed a hand-seal. The white dragons roared, shaking the world and causing the Stellar Rain lifeforms to ebb and flow in the distance like the tide of an ocean. They refused to retreat, but the sheer spiritual strength within ignited their flight response.
The nine dragons began to rapidly shrink in size, condensing their elemental origin force and spiritual force to the utmost. After a second had passed, the nine dragons had become ten meters in size. Their forms lost their imposingly grand size, gaining a greater spiritual and draconic aura that distorted fixed space within the Stellar Nest.
Wei Wuyin stepped his feet on the chilled ground, his eyebrows furrowed as he sent his spiritual sense to penetrate it again. Unfortunately, he was impeded by the surface itself and clashed against an impassable obstacle. He contemplated if unleashing all four Soul Idols would elevate his spiritual strength to a high enough level to do so.
"A Multi-Link Spiritual Astral Array? Such a high reserve of astral force. A dantian expansion method? Or an astral storage method?" The masked figure's heart seemingly settled, seeing the dragons shrink. It was as if he would refuse to continue this fight if the battle was against such tall creatures. However, he instantly deduced the nature of Wei Wuyin's nine dragons of elemental origin.
However, Wei Wuyin's furrowed brows deepened. The masked figure was unbothered by the rippling spiritual strength emanating from his nine dragons of elemental origin. This was likely his strongest offensive means outside of his saber, so he was taken aback by this unflustered response.
The nine dragons of elemental origin were the combination of elemental origin force, draconic force, eden force, and spiritual force. It consumed roughly thirty percent of his entire reserves of astral force, and that was an utterly outrageous quantity, to say the least.
Still, this masked figure was quite talkative. It was as if he was entirely unconcerned by Wei Wuyin's offensive. 'Is it because I lack killing intent?' The thought passed through his mind. Since this battle had begun, Wei Wuyin hadn't gone for any lethal moves, nor had he revealed the slightest wisp of killing intent. He fully intended to capture this individual.
This rang true for the masked figure as well.
The masked figure commented: "Well, it's a little too rough. The principle core of their powers is very compatible, but the balance of forces is strictly that—balanced, and their variety leads to further instability. A lack of focus, so to speak." The masked figure took on an instructional tone, but it had an oddity within.
'The vocal inflections are different…' The span, tempo, depth, and articulatory precision transmitted through the spiritual transmission had changed without warning. It was as if an entirely different person had spoken those words, but the voice itself was consistent. It was baffling.
"Let me show you a proper Multi-Link Spiritual Astral Array." The masked figure shook their hands, clenching their fists and delivering two short fist pumps. Their hands began to glow with the brilliance of spiritual light.
At their right, a golden light shone resplendently.
At their left, a silver light shone resplendently.
There was a balance between the two, but the lights carried unique auras that segregated them. The lights became tens of thousands of the tiniest flaming wisps that circulating around his two limbs. With a thrusting punch at his right, the golden wisps gathered, materializing into a proper form. A sword was conjured. It was an extremely long golden-colored arming sword, extending to eight feet in length and four inches in width.
With a thrusting punch at his left, the silver wisps gathered, materializing into proper form. A large kite shield that had a height of eight feet, capable of covering the entirety of the masked figure's body formed.
The two hovered beside the masked figure, emitting various Intents. Some of them were strong, some were weak, but they perfectly merged and interacted, fueling their strengths and enhancing their spiritual potential.
Furthermore, within the masked figure's hands, two stones had appeared, clenched tightly. If one wasn't observing closely, they wouldn't notice the sparkle of light emanating from them.
An array typically required external power to fuel its function. It was a ridiculous concept for a cultivator to fuel a powerful array by themselves. The masked figure seemed to have limits to his reserves, having to rely on two external items to power these two.
Wei Wuyin's spiritual sense went awry. He was affected by a spiritual siege of Intents causing his spiritual sense to forcefully bend and distort when it approached the sword and shield, inducing a small grimace on his face.
'Golden Intent? Silver Intent? Sword? Shield? Battle? Yin…Yang Intents…this...' Wei Wuyin might've suffered from inspecting them, but he still grasped the various auras with his spiritual sense. He felt roughly ten different Intents within each, all compiled in a disproportionate manner, yet forming a synergistic perfection. These Intents merged, creating a unique spiritual force. This spiritual force was defined by what was included!
In comparison, his nine dragons of elemental origin were like stuffed turkeys, uncooked and lacking preparation.
ROAR!
His nine dragons actions reflected Wei Wuyin's interest in the masked figure. They roared in challenge, unrelenting and arrogant. These nine dragons of elemental origin carried traces of Kratos, Ori, and Eden's personalities. Their pride was challenged, so they refused to allow such statements to go uncontested.
The nine dragons didn't need instructions. They swirled around Wei Wuyin for a single rotation before surging towards the masked figure with their imposing spiritual auras at lightning speeds. They stomped and clawed at the chilled surface, producing dull thumbs with their power.
The masked figure fearlessly met their charge. With sword and shield hoisted beside him, he controlled them as if tethered to his being, using his shield to guard against the fastest of the nine dragons. This dragon spewed out a dastardly vicious breath of white flames, spewing out heat of an unbearable nature.
Everything melted before it. Yet when it came in contact with the shield, the Absolute Hot Origin Fire was met with an unsurpassable enemy. Shield Intent was a very unique, rarely conceived Ethereal Intent. It was defined by its defensive, nigh-impenetrable power.
The searing flames spewed out endlessly, yet as if by magic, the shield seemingly blocked it all. It couldn't go over, under, or over the sides of the shield no matter how much was poured out of its gullet.
The nine origin dragons were independent and coordinated. While one occupied the shield, the other swirled towards the back in a twisting gale and opened its toothy mouth with enough to gobble the masked figure whole.
The masked figure barely moved, merely swept his left hand behind him. The shield miraculously vanished from the front, reappearing in the path of the vicious bite. With a push of his right hand, the shield smashed against the dragon's mouth. With a thunderous boom, the dragon was parried to the side with a low roar.
Shockingly, the breath of white flames continued yet was halted by an invisible wall. It was unable to break through the lingering power of the shield that remained. But his opponent was against nine, not two. The masked figure was reminded of this as three dragons came from above in a spiraling, united descent. They crackled with lightning as they threw their entire bodies toward the masked figure.
Pinned. That was his predicament—an assault from the front, back, and up high limited his choices. But the masked figure was unbothered, using his right hand. He lifted it triumphantly, as if declaring victory to the entire world! The golden sword took action, becoming a golden storm of sword light that shot upwards.
The swrod storm impacted the bodies of the three dragons. Their roars were short-lived as they were eviscerated by the storm, becoming specks of white motes. With another pull of his right hand, the sword rematerialized, and he swung it towards the origin dragon that was spewing out waves of flames.
The sword was like a scythe of devastation. The elemental dragon couldn't even roar before the speed of the sword sliced into it, splitting it in half completely. It burst into specks of white light motes that filled the world.
With four dragons down, the five coordinated jointly. They attacked from five different angles, spewing out breaths of glacial mist, thunderous lightning, searing flames, slicing streams of water, and torrential storms of wind. Attacked from five directions, the masked figure smashed his left fist against the ground, entering a half-knelt stance.
A wave of silver light burst outwards, spreading like an omni-directional flood. It met the raging elemental breaths and blocked their power perfectly. The masked figure twisted his fist on the ground, and the flood turned in coordination. The elemental breaths spun, kept at bay by the silver light, and then with a heavy pull upwards, the breaths rebounded off of it.
The breaths were reflected against the elemental dragons, but alongside the dragon breaths were sharp, sinister sword light that prevented the dragons from reabsorbing their power! The sword light sliced into their bodies and caused them to explode into specks of white light motes.
In an extremely short period, all nine dragons were dealt with. The masked figure slowly stood; their cracked mask exuded a form of endless might and means.
Wei Wuyin watched it all, his eyes remained closed, and his expression was serene.
"See?" The masked figure moved their right hand, and the giant sword was placed firmly on their shoulders. If there wasn't a mask there, Wei Wuyin knew they would be smiling brightly at this moment. The triumphant air was clear.
"A true Multi-Link Spiritual Astral Array isn't so fragile; For it, fuel doesn't equate to power. Its means are far more vast. Balance isn't the proper way of spiritual methods." The masked figure gave thoughful advice, giving Wei Wuyin lessons like a teacher to a student.
Wei Wuyin 'looked' at the masked figure, and then he sighed. "You're not wrong, but you're also not right." For the first time since the battle had begun, Wei Wuyin had spoken!
"Oh? Do tell." The masked figure curiously asked, a wisp of amusement within their tone.
Wei Wuyin nodded. "Your methods are exceptional; you struck at the connective weakness of my spiritual force each time, breaking it apart with sword and shield force for a perfect unity of offense and defense, but you misunderstood the principle of my Astral Array, of my objective."
"Misunderstood?"
Wei Wuyin moved his head around slightly, taking a deep breath. With a soft exhale, he explained: "I'm not going for overwhelming power; I'm going for endlessness." Wei Wuyin clapped his hands together, eliciting a soft pow. The motes of white light that were scattered across the battlefield began to vibrate. Suddenly, they converged at a mind-boggling speed.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Nine ten-meter-sized dragons of elemental origin reformed, surrounding the masked figure with spiritual light gushing out of their eyes from all sides. They seemed unhurt, utterly unaffected by their destruction. In fact, they emitted a faintly stronger aura.
When the masked figure witnessed this, while concealed, their expression surely underwent a drastic change.
"Let's try this again," Wei Wuyin coldly stated.
The masked figure looked around, seeing the lively and ever-stronger dragons of elemental origin. He returned his gaze to Wei Wuyin, who stood imposingly behind them, his arms folded against his chest and his expression serene.
Struck by realization, the masked figure nodded. With sword and shield in hand, he pointed his two hands towards Wei Wuyin and then…
BOOSH!
The masked figure fled!