"ENOUGH!"
A thunderous shout followed the ear-splitting, space-rippling explosion. The shockwaves spread throughout the World Prison, its walls trembled as minute fissures began spreading throughout its surface, and two objects soared away from the epicenter at hair-raising speeds!
"Gah!" Yun Che held the Heretical Berserk Godsword in his hand defensively, jetting backward while skidding across space with enough momentum to cause abnormal distortions. When he finally halted himself, the fixed space in the area formed a heavy depression that twisted and bent to accommodate his body. He had forcefully halted his momentum by leveraging fixed space!
Such an exquisite technique indicated that his comprehension of Spatial Arts was at a level where the Spatial-type Mystic Rune was all but guaranteed upon his Earthly Ascension.
The other object continued to soar explosively until it smashed against the World Prison, and then the fissures greatly enlarged, and the cage began to crumble into bits of condensed spatial fragments. The object seemed exceptionally heavy, comparable to a planet, and was sent flying by an abnormally terrifying strength.
When Yun Che finally collected himself, his eyes and senses darted swiftly to locate He Bojing. He expected a vicious follow-up after He Bojing began to use Mystic Power!
"You!!!" But what he found was not He Bojing's imposing figure exerting dominance over the battlefield with casual bearing befitting an Earthly Saint. No, what he saw caused his heart to race: An one-armed old man with a reddened expression of exasperation getting absolutely thrashed! Subconsciously, he looked at the other object that flew out alongside him, and his pupils constricted slightly as he noted it was a severed limb!
PAH! PAH! PAH!
Wei Wuyin's assault was relentless! His fists and legs were moving at speeds that defied space and time, seemingly shadows of the Dark Void, afterimages of space, and they struck with unerring accuracy and fantastic skill. Every strike was backed by extreme precision, hitting a location that either discombobulated the enemy or dealt severe damage. There was no in-between!
He Bojing's flow of Mystic Power was hindered as Wei Wuyin struck key locations, continuously disrupting the flow of all four mystic-graded energies, especially the energy of his Mystic Soul—Spiritual Energy!
"Ugh!" A fist smacked dead-center into He Bojing's right temple, and his eyes blanked for a second as an unbearably disruptive Spiritual Strength infiltrated his Sea of Consciousness. Then, as he defended against this strike, another blow, a fierce leg sweep, hit his abdomen, sending a burst of Spiritual Strength to his Mystic Soul.
These types of attacks weren't very powerful, but they were insidiously designed, and they came at unpredictable times at difficult-to-pinpoint angles and locations. The double layer of sensory deception made defending at such close-range as difficult as an ant trying to carry away a tree.
Woosh!
At random times, a hand that acted as a blade struck at He Bojing's vital points. Unfortunately, the Earthly Saint defended against each of these lethal strikes, clearly placing the utmost focus on dealing with these specific attacks. Still, Wei Wuyin's hand swept at an inconceivable angle at his neck, and when He Bojing defended, the angle distorted and slammed down onto his head!
He Bojing guarded against this attack with his remaining arm. But then, from the corner of his eyes, he saw a grey glint slice past.
WOOSH!
A severed leg jetted out like a missile towards the World Prison, crashing against it, fracturing it more, and almost bringing about its collapse. He Bojing's teeth clenched heavily, his eyes wide with indescribable rage! Wei Wuyin's wings had attacked, slicing at his leg while his focus was drawn elsewhere!
Occupied by Wei Wuyin's assault, He Bojing was unable to reinforce his World Prison. Moreover, his remaining arm desperately held onto the Heavenly World Core, refusing to allow Wei Wuyin or Yun Che's controlling methods to work, giving him less maneuverability than normal.
Facing this type of mystifying, high-speed, intense close-quarters-combat style, He Bojing was instantly suffering losses. Moreover, he was a Water-Attributed Cultivator, so he was a mid range to long range fighter, and his physical body wasn't close to being even average amongst Earthly Saints, nor was he adept at Martial Arts.
Yun Che was scarcely able to believe his eyes; He Bojing, an Earthly Saint, was being crushed. This winged, grey-scaled masked cultivator displayed extremely adept fighting skills at close range and had shown a degree of vast and rich experience fighting Ascended beings. Furthermore, the figure was using a peak Mystic-Earth concealment mask—incomparable to his Thousand Faces of Man, yet he hadn't revealed the slightest traces of his powers or origins. This figure could be a Demi-Mortal Lord or an Earthly Saint—there was no way to determine.
The only indications were the bouts of Spiritual Strength, but sensing them was like trying to grasp the Void!
Yun Che gritted his teeth; he should leave right this second while both were occupied, but the Heavenly World Core was still in He Bojing's hands! He clenched his sword, and with a deep breath, he shot back into the fight with madness raving in his eyes!
He had a feeling that teaming up with Wei Wuyin was the best course of action despite their desire for the core. This feeling originated from his heart and instincts, and he always followed his instincts for survival and fortune.
When Yun Che arrived, he swung his sword again! The titanic-sized planetary force was birthed, followed by an ungodly suppressive power. He Bojing's eyes shook slightly as he used his remaining leg, pumping a self-damaging amount of Mystic Energy forcefully into it at even greater damaging speeds, and it thickened by twice its size, and with a ferociously deep growl, he kicked out and space bent.
Wei Wuyin's wings folded protectively in front of him in an instant. To He Bojing, it was as if the Infinite Void Wings were always there, which startled him. The profundities of time and space this cultivator was using were peerless! In addition to their tactics of mixing disruption with lethality, his mind could only think of a single person that could rival this cultivator!
"The Void Voyage Sect's Sect Master!" Despite his belief, he ruthlessly kicked! The feeling of pushing something away didn't happen, however. The tremendously empowered strike of physical force sunk into the wings like marshmallows, vanishing as if it was sent into the ether.
The sharp distortion between reality and expectations left him temporarily dazed; Yun Che's sword swung down at this exact moment! The sword smashed against his back, and his eyes blanked into a ghastly white, his pupils and irises vanishing amidst the sclera of whiteness and bloody veins.
If the world knew that a sword had sent an Earthly Saint into unconsciousness, the uproar would be massive, and desire at an all-time high for this godly treasure!
Wei Wuyin deftly moved, his wings opened promptly, and the Heavenly World Core was summoned by his Mana Dominance with his left hand! The grip of the temporarily unconscious Earthly Saint was pried open by the Heavenly World Core's own power and shot toward Wei Wuyin's hand!
"Yoink!" In a playful, mocking tone, Yun Che activated the Mystic Rune that was forged by a Heavenly Saint, granting him Mystic-level Mana Dominance, and the Heavenly World Core's shadowy mist twisted vigorously, forcefully causing Wei Wuyin's hand to retreat.
Woosh!
The core instantly shot into Yun Che's hand, and he grinned. Then, without hesitation, he touched his chest and, just like before when he fought against Bing Tian, Void Energy surged outwards and engulfed him, and then he vanished!
"..." Wei Wuyin watched all this happen silently. Then, he looked toward He Bojing, who was regaining consciousness. He couldn't help but pity this Earthly Saint. If he hadn't held back since the beginning, this fight would've been his to win, or at least it would have bee very difficult for him to lose. Unfortunately, Wei Wuyin knew that the Heavenly Daos had likely influenced him to hold back against two Blessed.
After all, it didn't make much sense for He Bojing to hold back against him, whatever the mental excuse the Heavenly Daos gave him. Wei Wuyin was reminded of the terrifying influence it could exert over others. While it wasn't outright mind control, it was borderline hypnotic suggestions that could or could not be followed based on a variety of factors.
"Was my fortune saving Xiao Bing?" Wei Wuyin contemplated. The Karmic Luck deduction was relative to the payoff. Going down this road of thinking, perhaps He Bojing intended to capture Xiao Bing for his own goals, and while he would protect her from the Evil Blessed, he would also bring her harm.
"Oh? Hm."
If he saw this as an opportunity that could be exploited and Xiao Bing's engendered life as the foundation, then some of this made sense. The potential gains and losses came at certain levels, with Xiao Bing's death at the hands of the Evil Blessed as the greatest possible failure and negotiating for her life with one of them as the highest conceivable outcome. If so, then he'd exceed his potential gains, protecting Xiao Bing with little cost using his own strength.
This was only a conjecture, though. This entire event, especially how it started, was confusing and hectic. He didn't know what the Heavenly Daos wanted, especially considering their notably obvious intentions to establish a team-up effort against He Bojing.
Then again, it's not like this was the first time a Karmic Luck encounter led to meeting a Blessed.
"Lin Ming…"
All those years ago, in the Myriad Yore Continent's Golden Milk City, he'd met a struggling-to escape-youth that entered a mysterious palace.
"Unless this…is it to establish a relationship?" Wei Wuyin continuously pondered the intentions of the Heavenly Daos. If he opened a line of negotiation, then his relations with another Earthly Saint or a Blessed could've been established.
"AHHH!" A fierce howl resounded.
Wei Wuyin's Infinite Void Wings flapped, and then he shot towards the location where Yun Che vanished. His wings glowed faintly, and the space there ruptured into a multi-colored scar of light. He vanished within.
The scar instantly closed.
He Bojing's figure arrived there, missing an arm and a leg, and his eyes as red as a raging bull. He had not only lost Xiao Bing but the Heaven Relic and the one responsible for Bing Tian's strange state. He was livid!
He roared once again, causing his World Prison to shatter!
Numerous unfathomable auras flooded in almost immediately after!
-----
In the Skyrend Domain, space shook slightly as Yun Che tumbled out of the Void Energy-empowered Spatial Shift. Despite his cultivation increase, shifting using this enhanced spatial tool was still a rough experience.
He looked at the Heavenly World Core, and his eyes brightened considerably! Last time, he was unable to bring the Heavenly World Core with him, but after studying the Mana Rune during these years, he learned he could not only cause it to erupt with power but also sink it into passiveness, allowing it to be shifted spatially with a void-enhanced treasure.
If he had grasped this power before, he would've escaped with the three cores when he fought against those two meddling and thieving bitches.
"Unfortunately, that little Everlasting Ice babe escaped. Who in the heavens was that winged cultivator? He resembled a humanoid dragon…" Yun Che was still baffled by everything that happened, especially He Bojing's quick appearance and even his objective. Still, he at least accomplished his primary objective.
Heavenly World Core: GET!
"Interesting tool you have there."
A voice resounded that caused Yun Che's scalp to tingle.
