1006 Taste of the Realm (I)
For a moment, Wang Wei ignored Old Man Nether's words and focused on himself. He saw a few bruises on his body that refused to heal; to be precise, they healed exceptionally slowly. He knew it was not the power of Dao Will or Willpower Manifestation.
'Existence Hierarchy?' he thought. This was not the first time he dealt with this thing but only recently that he knew its universal term. Once a Great Emperor or even other Immortal Tier creatures kill a mortal, that creature will have their [Existence] wiped, thus preventing others from using Life and Death Dao, Time Dao, or any other revival methods.
In the Empyrean Realm, cultivators will experience a second Grand Dao Source Baptism, thus sublimating their [Existence] for a second time; that's true even for regular Empyreans. The result of this change is another application of [Existence Hierarchy].
Old Man Nether's existence is higher than Wang Wei, so he can naturally injure him, similar to if he had used a Dao Will. Luckily, Wang Wei's strength is extremely close to the Empyrean Realm, so the injuries were not serious.
Wang Wei finally paid attention to the person present. It was a burly old man dressed in casual black clothes that looked very ordinary. He had long white hair and a white beard resembling a lion's mane.
The feeling this person gave Wang Wei was very odd. Usually, older cultivators will have a more wise or sage-like appearance. But Old Man Nether resembled his grandfather with a wild and unrestrained aura.
'He looked like the kind of person that gets agitated and offended for the smallest reason.'
"Boy, is your tongue tied? I asked you a question."
"I'm a little disappointed," suddenly said Wang Wei.
"Excuse you?"
"I've heard so many times how powerful you were and how much of a threat you pose. But..."
Wang Wei did not finish his word and only shook his head. However, Old Man Nether was already looking at him with furious eyes.
'He really gets offended at the slightest thing?'
thought Wang Wei. Sometimes, a person's aura is misleading. However, it seems this was not the case.
"Boy⌜"
"Your reaction has reduced even more points in my eyes⌜such poor performance for someone of your status." Wang Wei shook his head. After a brief analysis, he understood why the latter was like this.
His mentality has changed after spending so much time in the lower dimension, being invincible. Old Man Nether might have been even more arrogant if not for the seal placed on him.
"You're pushing your look."
"Did I say something wrong? Firstly, you're only an ordinary Empyrean. Secondly, you're still in the early stages after so many years. Thirdly, your goal is to control Samsara, but your main Dao is not Life, Death, or Samsara. Instead, it's some batched Dao that combines a few minor aspects of Samsara Dao. Tell me, how can I not be disappointed."
"Damn you," yelled Old Man Nether.
[Flame of Hell: Torturous Flame]
A dark green flame materialized in this empty Void Battlefield, and screams of immense agony emanated from it. Wang Wei's eyes lit up as his first instinct was to absorb this flame and evolve his Pain Innate Talent to a higher level. Sadly, he saw the future, and a terrible fate awaited him if he tried this tactic.
[Death Flame]
A jet-black flame materialized out of Wang Wei's body and confronted the green flame. However, his attack did not last a second before being corroded. The green flame enveloped him and rapidly incinerated his body and soul.
'Did he want me to suffer?' thought Wang Wei before vanishing. He could feel a terrifying pain as the flame did its job. However, he was one of the best body refiners in the world⌜a job that only masochists can partake in. So, such an attack was useless to him.
He did not focus too much on such a small matter as Wang Wei had discovered something: his Samsara Dao was severely hindered. He noticed the anomaly in the first attack but confirmed it on the second.
So, Empyreans can hinder the operation of a Great Emperor's Grand Dao Source. And if their Daos are the same, the hindrance is even more severe, probably reaching the level of deprivation.'
Although Old Man Nether's Dao only had minor aspects of Samsara Dao, it was enough to render this aspect of Wang Wei's Dao useless. Of course, the main reason for that is Wang Wei's actual cultivation level is 32% Grand Dao Source, thus the severity of the suppression.
"It seems you're not all talk; I should take this seriously."
"Glad you're coming to your senses. However, my disappointment has only increased," said Wang Wei with a gentle smile. However, his guard was already at its peak. He saw the frantic side of Old Man Nether was gone, replaced by a terrifying calmness.
'Yes, how can someone who has lived for so long be easily seen through,' he thought.
Old Man Nether looked him directly in the eyes, "Boy, what do you want?"
"I'm curious by nature, so I want answers," replied Wang Wei directly.
"How long have you lived in the Myriad Emperor World? With such longevity, you should know some deep secrets, right? How many events were you the secret mastermind? How did you get sealed in the first place?
"Why are you so obsessed with controlling Samsara? How did you descend from the upper dimension as an Empyrean? How did you prevent True Heavenly Dao from directly liquidating you?
Like I said, I have many questions."
"And what if I don't answer?"
"Don't be like this," added Wang Wei as he looked in the distance. "I've figured out some things, so tell me if I'm correct. Your Nether Hell was probably your first attempt at achieving your goal.
Back then, you didn't want to control Samsara but to create your own version.
"Soon, you realize your ambition is too big, so you focus on controlling an existing one. That time was probably when you were sealed, hence why the lower dimension's Samsara was still intact.
True Heavenly Dao should have been involved in your seal since it seems more severe regarding matters of Samsara."
Wang Wei realized this truth based on the secrets he divined or deduced from the three karmic positions of Human, Earth, and Heavenly
Emperor. True Heavenly Dao seemed very strict about the Earth Emperor Position since it dealt with reincarnation.
Because of this discovery, he suspects the Earth Emperor, one of the eight parasites, might be a False Earth Emperor. At the very least, there should be some secret or flaw to his karmic position.
"What do you think? Was my deduction correct?" asked Wang Wei with a smile, but he was observing every minute facial expression of Old Man Nether. His theory on the latter's true objective is that he's trying to achieve half-step transcendence by creating or reproducing another module of the chaos universe⌜reincarnation.
However, this theory has a significant flaw⌜Old Man Nether is too weak. If he had such a brilliant idea to achieve transcendence, it would be best to spend all that time he wasted in the lower dimension to first become a Peak Paragon and use this method.
"Sometimes, knowing too much is not necessarily a good thing," replied Old Man Nether calmly. He had never felt so angry and insulted in such a long time. However, he was the kind of person that was scarier the more calm he was. So, he appeared very relaxed in this conversation.
"I agree, knowledge is a curse, but only for those who don't know how to use it," added Wang Wei.
"What a cheeky brat," chuckled Old Man Nether. "I cannot believe someone could irk me so quickly.
You should be proud⌜you've created a record for the fastest person to reach my Most-Eliminate-At-All-Cost-List."
Old Man Nether cracked his neck and shoulder while Wang Wei gave him a look.
'It's you're no longer in the mood for talk. That's fine. Anyway, you should have figured out by now it's impossible to remove the seal in this place even if you kill me."
Old Man squinted his eyes, "In that case, I only need to refine and control your soul."
"That's the spirit," responded Wang Wei. "Let me have a taste of the next realm of cultivation."
"You want to use me as a wetting stone to see if you can enter the Taboo Realm? You can continue to dream."
"It seemed you're not as stupid as I gave you credit for," laughed Wang Wei as he rushed toward his body.
Boom!
His body exploded into trillions of particles. A few seconds later, he reappeared in the distance with even more bruises. Wang Wei did not care as he realized using his True Will to boost his healing factor was a great way to deal with these small [Existence] injuries, if you can call them that.
"Let's try again," he roared before rushing forward for the second time.
