Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Two figures hovered mid-air next to a silver spatial platform. If one looked at their eyes, it revealed a brilliant light of happiness and satisfaction as if they won the lottery. In truth, they did. Earlier, they swept the entirety of the fifth floor from recorded arts and methods to armaments and alchemy.

They split it fairly with a simple arrangement.

Whoever obtained it, owned it.

Surprisingly, Ma Xiuren didn’t lose out to Yan Zaizen in wealth obtained. Her qi cultivation was at the peak-Origin Core Realm, but her body cultivation easily rivaled the mid-True Essence Realm in vital energies. That didn’t even include her physique tempering from the method she practiced. With her physical speed, she snatched what she wanted and blew through any formations in her way.

He felt more and more that she wasn’t so simple.

She gave him a sense of reliability. It wasn’t just how she looked, being around a seven or eight-year-old girl, but all of her actions towards Yan Zaizen left him with a developed sense of trust. Despite this, they never held an actual conversation. Since she didn’t talk, he didn’t force her to but he was curious. Initially, he’d assumed she was mute, but when he attempted to send her a soul transmission, she didn’t reply either.

Only shook her head.

He found this strange, but everyone had their own personality. It’s possible she had her own difficulties as well.

"The sixth floor," Yan Zaizen muttered. The fifth floor was the area for Core Disciples, Core Elders and those of equivalent status. The sixth floor, however, was the quarters of the Upper-Echelon. Even if the formations had deteriorated with time, these members would likely place exceptionally profound defenses against thieves both inside the sect and outside the sect.

With their exceptionally profound cultivation bases, likely rivaling the first-floor of the Heavenly Genesis Realm, they couldn’t be underestimated.

"The next floor may not contain anything. All those at the upper-echelon wouldn’t allow their things to be taken or stored in their residences." Pinaka commented, her words seemed to come from experience. "When one reaches the Heavenly Genesis realm and constructs their heavenly shrine, they obtain an entire sub-dimension for themselves. Within it, they can keep all of their important objects or, if it’s large enough, their entire possessions."

When Yan Zaizen heard this, his expression darkened. In that case, what they just obtained could be everything that’s left. In that case, they’ll have to exit the same way they came in. When the others come to check out the area to find it scavenged, they’ll likely await his return in an alliance.

Ma Xiuren seemed to have similar thoughts. Her eyes flickered with various lights suffused with caution and calculation. If they exited right now, they could avoid this issue. The strong groups would still venture to the sixth and seventh floor for benefits. This couldn’t be avoided. However, if it takes a long time to bypass the sixth floor’s obstacle, then the others may catch up.

In that case, they may team up right then and there. In this situation, they’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place. That being said, how could Yan Zaizen back down? The sheer possibility of something grand beyond this floor was still there. If he could obtain it, then he’ll try! He couldn’t give up and back down, his Dao was of Sovereign Ascension after all!

"I’m going forward, what about you?" Yan Zaizen inquired. Ma Xiuren only gave a decisive nod. A slight smile surfaced on Yan Zaizen’s face. It feels odd having someone by your side in a dangerous venture. The sensation was different than his time in the Deep Mines with Tao.

It was satisfying!

"En." With that, he activated the spatial platform. With a flash of silver light, both of their figures vanished.

----

In the seventh floor of the Asura Phantom Palace, two figures that were incorporeal in form shimmered in and out of existence with instability. They were soul forms without bodies, but they had an odd characteristic. If Yan Zaizen saw them, he’d recognize them as phantasms or spiritual phantoms. The formation that triggered at the entrance attempted to change him into a lesser version of one of these things that couldn’t be considered alive or dead.

They were souls that thrived by assimilating other souls into their own for cultivation. Kneeling, they stood before a two-layered white-bone altar that stood thousands of meters high. The altar had dark-crimson blood on each layer that seemed to be simmering in intense heat. At its peak, a sky-blue orb was placed like a divine object on a platform, it fluctuated with intense soul fluctuations.

The altar released an aura of profound concealment. If one wasn’t directly looking at the altar, it’ll be as if it was never there.

"We’ve done it." One of the phantoms said, its voice filled with ancientness but suffused with excitement. This phantom looked like an old man with withered hair, skin, and dull, lifeless eyes. Despite this, the fluctuations that radiated from him could cause any expert in Asura Phantom Realm to quiver.

The other phantom was of a young woman. She was an exceptional beauty and the exact opposite of the old man. Her hair was so long its length exceeded eight feet. Her figure was full, her eyes bright, and her illusory skin looked soft without any blemishes.

"The Realm Lord of this Minor Realm is truly too gullible," the young woman spoke with intense disdain in her voice, "all we had to do was reveal the entrance to the realm and he sent sacrifices here without qualms. Now, with the help of their lifeforce, vital essence and souls, we’ll be able to revive him!"

The old phantasm didn’t say anything, simply looked at the white-bone altar with traces of reverence in his eyes. To him, this was reviving his god. Now, all it’ll take is time before the process will be complete.

"Oh? It seems we’ve got our first set of personal sacrifices," the young woman commented, her eyes looking at empty space with an amused glint in her eyes. However, the old man stayed looking at the altar with no shift in emotions. "If we can obtain them, we’ll be able to shorten the time it’ll take to revive him." Her words were deliberate as the once dull-eyes of the old man shone brilliantly afterwards.

His ethereal body vanished suddenly.

"Haha!" The young woman laughed mischievously with content that she didn’t possess for tens of thousands of years. Finally, her father was returning. When he did, she’ll be able to reconstruct a proper soul form, reconstruct her body, and be reborn anew!

----

With a flash of silver light, Yan Zaizen and Ma Xiuren appeared in an area of pure blackness. This area didn’t seem like it had an up, down, left, or right. There was no light nor wind. It reminded him of chaotic space, but it was vastly different, as chaotic space didn’t have anything, no aura, no fluctuations, just an omnipresent ripping force.

They floated mid-air with surveying eyes. To their surprise, this floor contained nothing. "Could this be the sixth obstacle? Where we have to find another door?" Yan Zaizen asked Pinaka. However, for a long while, he got no response. Only after several minutes passed did she speak, but the words caused Yan Zaizen to feel insecure.

"This is bad," she nervously said.

"What do you mean?"

"This is a shattered sub-dimensional realm. Typically, there’s no way out." Pinaka informed, her voice filled with a nervous tone. For the first time, he felt Pinaka be nervous. One must know, she possessed Yan Zaizen’s Mortal Dao of Sovereign Ascension which contained unyielding confidence. Yet, she was nervous.

"No way out?!" Yan Zaizen was shocked, he shifted around to the left and right, his sense - both qi and spiritual - was sent out in a wanton fashion to search every inch of this location. Unfortunately, there was nothing but blackness. He even tried to use his qi-essence combined with his spatial laws to breach space, but this location had far stronger space than before. No matter what he tried, he failed.

He could reach millions of li in distance, but found absolutely nothing!

Ma Xiuren also had an insecure glint within her eyes. It seemed she understood the situation, but she was inwardly shocked. Pinaka didn’t mention it, but a sub-dimensional realm that’s collapsed, normally, one couldn’t actually travel there. Typically, the sub-dimensional realm would be collapsed while you’re still inside. This would trap you in there forever, but it also meant no one could enter it forever. Unless you had a special method or tool to do so.

"So what do we do?" Yan Zaizen, however, wasn’t panicked. He wasn’t knowledgeable about these things, but his confidence in the situation didn’t drop a single ounce. Pinaka may have inherited his dao, but he created his dao! It was the representation of who he was, and it’s not something that could be changed.

"..." Pinaka and Ma Xiuren was silent. They truly had nothing they could do. This should’ve been impossible. How could one prepare for the impossible?

Witnessing their lack of reaction, Yan Zaizen softly nodded. "Then, we’ll search around. If we entered, there must be a way to exit." With that, he flew forward at a steady pace. Ma Xiuren followed behind, her eyes looking at Yan Zaizen’s confident smile and serene attitude. She didn’t say anything but subtly stepped closer. The insecure feeling she felt at the situation started to melt like ice in summer.

"If my qi cultivation base was higher, I would be able to exit this place." Yan Zaizen silently thought, his gaze looking to and fro with caution. His current cultivation was only at the late-Qi Unification Realm, this was exceptionally low. Unfortunately, he couldn’t locate where his Origin Source was.

It was like...it wasn’t in his body.

Wait.

His eyes flickered with a trace of acute light. However, before he could touch upon that insight, a ray of black light that seemed to fuse perfectly with the black surroundings shot towards them like a missile. It was concealed in a stealth, unable to be seen due to the background, unable to be sensed due to its characteristics, or heard due to its silent nature. An attack like this was the perfect strike in the dark, quite literally.

Normally, Yan Zaizen wouldn’t have noticed this, but he felt his soul form slightly tremble with an instinctual sensation of danger.

"!"

Herculean Avatar Art!!

His body transformed instantly. With that, he decisively grabbed Ma Xiuren, and with a flash, they shifted several li away from their previous location. Having been suddenly grabbed and taken away like a little girl, Ma Xiuren felt odd. She looked towards Yan Zaizen to see him with vibrant amber-gold eyes filled with vigilance. With that one glance, her vital energies rallied to its highest.

In that tiny body, she released an aura that could cause mountains to collapse and grown men to kneel in inferiority.

"Who are you?!" Yan Zaizen shouted viciously towards the surroundings, his eyes suffused with tremendous killing intent.

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