Chapter 835 Li Jun vs Di Jiaying (IV)
Li Jun's true attack reached his opponent, and Di Jiaying's nightmare began; no, it was a test of will.
Di Jiaying's head exploded as a watermelon dropped from more than a hundred meters into the air; her soul scattered, and her Dao disappeared.
She then revived herself.
Then, she had her spine ripped out of her back, blood dripping all over the sky. In less than a second, she was back in a perfect state. For the next few minutes, Di Jiaying experienced the hell of dying thousands of times and reviving. And each process was gruesome and brutal.
She died by having two ice spears jammed into her eye sockets. She died by being forcefully fed hot magma, frying all her internal organs and viscera.
Her lungs began to expand like a bloated balloon before exploding from the inside. She died by Lingchi, a form of torture whose purpose is to make as many cuts on the victims as possible before they die of bleeding. And with Di Jiaying's fleshly body, she did not die after billions of cuts.
Di Jiaying's body became itchy to an irresistible level. Unable to control herself, she scratched her body, peeling off her skin and muscles. She stopped when only bones remained, and her organs fell out of her body.
She died as her flesh melted like a slime-like creature with no skeletons, muscles, flesh, or blood.
In one of her most gruesome deaths, her body's cells mutated, acting like cancer cells that spread without restraint; they spread uncontrollably until she turned into a blob of flesh that people could not distinguish between her mouth, anus, limbs, and heads.
Di Jiaying experienced deaths only privy to mortals, like sickness, old age, and drowning. The sensation of her lungs being filled with water lingered in her mind for the subsequent few deaths after that.
During her Mortal Dust, she intimated one of her courtiers with the promise of killing them by having four horses rip them apart from their limbs as they ran in opposite directions. Well, she finally experienced the pain of such a death.
In a matter of minutes, she experienced hundreds of thousands of deaths, each different and brutal in its own way.
Then, Di Jiaying opened her eyes as she gasped for air; her powerful lungs working harder than they had ever had to. Her complexion was paler than the moonlight during a winter full moon.
'Where am I? Aren't I dead?' She thought with great confusion. 'An illusion?'
Her mind was not working correctly as the pain of each death lingered deep in her soul, overwhelming her senses and spirit.
She reacted swiftly by using a Buddhist Mantra Di Tian taught her to reign in her thoughts and regain her bearing.
'No, this was not a simple illusion,' she thought after sensing the state of her body.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
While trying to understand her situation, Li Jun did not give her opponent time. A rain of spears descended on Di Jiaying, and she tried her best to defend herself. However, with each passing second, countless more cracks appeared on her armor.
Regardless, she focused on analyzing that attack. Otherwise, she might fall for the same technique again.
Di Jiaying then realized that each time she died in the illusion, her body believed it had died and used the appropriate vitality and blood energy to regenerate or revive her. As such, it was as if she had experienced all these deaths.
Di Jiaying marveled at the ingeniousness of this technique as it targeted body refiners directly. Killing a potent body refiner repeatedly is challenging and requires too much energy, effort, and strength.
And this Illusion Technique bypassed these requirements, allowing them to overuse or overload their regeneration capabilities. Furthermore, body refiners have exquisite control of their bodies, allowing them to use the required vitality for healing or regeneration down to the decimal.
However, Li Jun's [Ten Thousand Death Illusion] separated Di Jiaying's consciousness from her body, forcing her flesh to rely on instinct when distributing vitality for healing. And the body is not as accurate as the consciousness.
Of course, if she were as talented in body refining as people like Wang Wei, Di Tian, Yin Gen, and Huo Fenghuang, her body's instinct would be on par with the consciousness, and this technique would not have the same effect.
'I need energy to supplement my lost vitality,' analyzed Di Jiaying, but her situation was not ideal. There was no energy or Spiritual Qi in the surroundings due to Li Jun's earlier attack.
And currently, she needs external aid to sustain her injury since her internal activities were at an all-time low.
Di Jiaying suddenly punched a hole through the void, creating an unstable space crack leading to a dimension full of water energy; it appeared as if she was running away or strategically retreating to devise a better plan for this fight.
Li Jun would not let her, so he instantly rushed forward, trying to intercept her before entering the crack. However, this was part of Di Jiaying's tactic. As soon as her opponent reached a close distance, the cracked armor on her body detached from her body and rushed over.
Boom!
It detonated, buying enough time for her.
'What a bold move,' thought Li Jun, who only suffered a minor injury. Based on his calculations, Di Jiaying's strength is only peak of 6-Leaf, but she can have 7-Leaf battle strength like him with the aid of this Immortal Tier armor.
After the dark clouds from the explosion blew away, Di Jiaying stood before Li Jun, not entering the space crack. However, she now wore green armor, and her complexion was much better.
With a glance, it can be detected she is no longer as close to death as before.
'I see. Her armor is a False Immortal Weapon,' concluded Li Jun, finally uncovering its mystery. False Immortal Weapons are essentially normal Immortal Weapons with a durability level; they can only last a few months and, sometimes, only a few hours.
Meanwhile, real Immortal Weapons are immortals, as the name implies; they can last for eternity without decaying or losing the energy they contain.
False Immortal Artifacts are usually created by Immortal Tier Powerhouses infusing their strength into an item. For example, Wang Wei once gave a member of his Chat Group a talisman infused with this power; that talisman is essentially a False Dao Artifact.
'Gao Buqin should have created this weapon. However, its appearance makes me alert to the possibility of Scenario S happening.'
Scenario S is a prediction or simulation of this battle where the two groups began to fight using False Immortal Items created by Wang Wei and Di Tian. According to the strategic meeting of the team, such a scenario must be avoided at all costs since they would lose.
Di Tian is, without a doubt, the wealthiest cultivator regarding individual wealth. And Scenario S will allow him to play this overwhelming advantage. However, this was not the main reason this scenario must be avoided.
According to information the Oracle Mirror revealed, Di Tian has a habit of creating False Dao Weapons before his reincarnation and handing them over to his Sleepers as a foundation for their organization and a form of protection.
However, the Sleepers barely used these items and found ways to seal them to preserve their expiration date. Then, at the beginning of each reincarnation, they would return them to Di Tian as protection to ensure he can grow without a problem.
With this information, Wang Wei concluded he could never compete with the latter using False Immortal Items. So, he warned his team to pay attention and prevent Scenario S from appearing.
Most Heaven Chosens have their pride and arrogance, so they disdain using things like talismans and weapons for battle–unless it involves their Dao. Such a mindset is not out of nowhere but the result of early childhood development, where they are thought to not rely too much on foreign aid.
Additionally, the zeitgeist of the entire Myriad Emperor World is to not rely too much on weapons and foreign aid. Instead, cultivators focused more on developing their techniques and battle skills.
As a result of this mindset, most Heaven Chosen will not easily use things like Emperor or Innate Artifacts in battle; they usually use them near the end of battles when they need an edge. And the same principle applies to things like Proving Dao Artifacts.
Wang Wei used this mindset that all the people of this world–including himself–have to plan for Scenario S. Finally, he also gave his team methods to seal space rings and prevent their opponent from taking their False Immortal Weapons.
"I have never had a genuinely exhilarating battle since my fight with Emperor Three Leaf," uttered Di Jiaying with a fierce aura deep in her eyes.
"You fought an Emperor?" asked Li Jun, bewildered by her audacity. However, she did not respond to him.
"I created this technique after defeating him. Let's see how you deal with it."
