1007 Taste of the Realm (II)
Wang Wei died the third time, but he was persistent, like a terminator who would not stop until he accomplished his mission. Sadly for him, Old Man Nether got wise and used a different tactic on his fourth attempt.
[Chain of Hell]
A terrifying red gate with hell-based designs manifested behind Old Man Nether before opening from the middle, sending black chains toward his opponent.
Wang Wei reacted swiftly as he defended himself by creating an infinite number of universes between him and the attack. This was not the extent of his protection. In these universes, he recreated the River of Fate.
In other words, Old Man Nether's chains had to bypass an infinite universe while confronting the fate of an infinite number of sentient beings. Alas, the chains only paused for less than a second before binding Wang Wei, capturing him.
He did not hesitate and blew his body up the moment he was caught before materializing in the distance, away from the chains.
'The gap is so big?' His strength was at the limit of the Great Emperor Realm, probably 69.999% Grand Dao Source, yet this battle was on one side.
He used the surrounding seals so Old Man Nether could only use 70% of his power on this battlefield.
'The worst part is I can tell this guy has not fought in a long while, so his battle IQ and experience are mediocre,' analyzed Wang Wei as he tried another tactic. He used all his Grand Dao Boost to bless his soul and attacked.
[Soul Whiplash]
Old Man Nether's eyes squinted slightly before waving his hand. Wang Wei's powerful soul attack disappeared as it was never here.
'So, an expert in the Soul Dao? No, it should be in Yin Qi and related power.'
[Chain of Fate]
Wang Wei condensed his own chain, which had the power to influence or restrict a person directly from their fate. The chains confronted, and on paper, fate is a much higher power than hell. The confrontation dictated otherwise as the black chains eviscerated the gray chains before proceeding to their target.
[Freedom from Binding]
The freedom aspect of Wang Wei's Dao was activated as a means to deal with this attack, and the result was the same. The sheer difference in power proved that all tactics were essentially useless.
So, he died again by his own choice. Scars appeared on his face once he revived, but he did not care. He saw that Old Man Nether wasimpatient, so time was running out for him.
As expected, countless devil creatures from hell appeared on the battlefield and immediately began hurling hell chains at Wang Wei, trying to capture him.
'He's determined to capture me,' he thought as he realized no one used a lethal technique - everyone was focused on capturing alive to free their master.
'Time is running out, and my plan is not working,'
thought Wang Wei. One of his objectives for this battle was to glance at the Taboo Battle Realm.
Sadly, after a few direct confrontations and deaths, he did not see the path ahead besides the one he came up with-unsealing his soul to achieve an Empyrean Quantity level soul power.
However, Wang Wei always felt this method was cheap and not the true Taboo Realm and might have consequences for his ambitions of achieving Taboo in all three Immortal Stage Realms.
'Let's try one more thing,' he thought as he activated the attribute of his fleshly body⌜Nothingness. After proving the Dao and condensing his Human Fiendgod Bloodline, he had long entered the second realm of Void and even walked deep in mastering it.
Boom!
Wang Wei's punch hit Old Man Nether's chain, and his eyes immediately shone brightly. He noticed his attack damaged the chain, albeit slightly. Regardless, he saw his power corroding the chains.
'Is this the answer? Condensing more power of nothingness until I reached the peak of the Void Stage, thus achieving Taboo Battle Realm?'
In less than an attosecond, Wang Wei did not an infinite amount of deduction by perusing through infinite possibilities and a similar number of divinations by traveling through the River of Fate.
He smiled wryly, 'Is the Perfect Foundation the only way?'
His deduction was successful, and the Power of Nothingness was a way to achieve Taboo.
However, the amount of power his body needs to hold is too much, and most of his deductions result in him being assimilated and turned into nothingness.
This result was the same unless he became an Empyrean or opened the Gate of Power. He only deduced success after using scarce material to reinforce his bloodline and drastically increase his affinity with the [Power of Nothingness].
After this deduction, Wang Wei realized that achieving Taboo did not rely on a person's talent, effort, or ingenuity. The leading proponent for success is a person's luck or background. Rare resources are needed to take that step, and only people truly blessed can succeed.
Unfortunately for him, although he might be one of these truly blessed individuals, he was currently stuck in a small pond. The lower dimension did not have the resources he needed to make that breakthrough - unless he asked the Dark Truth.
However, he did not know whether there would be consequences for asking that thing for resources for the Perfect Foundation and for his Void Stage Cultivation. Furthermore, according to his previous calculations, achieving the perfect foundation had the same effect.
'Maybe that Wu Hong already predicted this outcome, and she suggested to me to go with the Perfect Foundation.'
As he died for probably the fifth time, Wang Wei was deep in thought. Since he had his own method of achieving Taboo, his ego - or sense of self-reliance - was fulfilled, so it was alright to use the perfect foundation.
Wang Wei secretly shook his head. Although he had already decided, he still had some reservations, hence why he delayed doing this for so long.
Old Man Nether sensed a change in his opponent, so he temporarily stopped his attack. "Have you changed your mind and realized your efforts were useless?"
"So, you knew what I was doing was futile."
"Of course. The Taboo Battle Realm is almost a myth, a legend ⌜ I would not be surprised if no one in the history of the Eternal Ascension World had ever succeeded - that's how rare it is."
"Well, there is a first for everything."
"Young people these days⌜they always dream things that are out of their reach."
"The same thing can be said to you, isn't it? But that didn't stop you."
Old Man Nether's eyes twitched before returning to calm. "Alright, I've had enough of you. Let's end this battle."
[King of Hell Mode]
A black armor that seemed to be made of bones appeared around Old Man Nether's burly body.
His long hair and beard turned into purple flames, and his eyes were all red with no pupils.
Wang Wei squinted as he detected the seal was pushed to its limit after this transformation. If the previous Old Man Nether's power was barely 70%, now it is 70.999%.
Wang Wei suddenly laughed, showing a wild and unrestrained smile. A pill appeared out of nowhere inside his open mouth, and heswallowed it.
Boom!
His aura exploded, becoming as vast, ethereal, and supreme as his opponent.
"What did you do? What's that pill?" asked Old Man Nether with a frown.
"Empyrean Ascension Pill," replied Wang Wei calmly. "As the name suggests, my strength can ascend to the same level as you temporarily."
"Impossible. Such a pill cannot be refined or even exist in the lower dimension."
"Your existence proves there are no absolutes and that the rules can be broken," said Wang Wei.
"However, you're correct - I used some clever means to get my hands on this pill."
Wang Wei was feeling the strength in his body when he saw Old Man Nether was still confused.
"The Illusory Pill Canon."
A look of realization dawned on the flaming man.
This scripture was unique, allowing the user to create illusory pills without the material.
"Did you get the recipe from the upper dimension? From those meddling br...from your ancestors?"
"That's correct," nodded Wang Wei as he ignored the latter's ugly complexion. He felt the power surging through his veins.
"Such power is intoxicating. I feel like I can do everything, like I was invincible. No wonder a high enough Dao Heart is required to reach this realm."
He now knew how easy it was for even the best among Great Emperors to get lost in this power and let it get to their heads.
'If that's how powerful Empyreans are -how scary are Paragons?'
After coming to this realization, Wang Wei decided never to underestimate any of the parasites. No matter how weak he says they are or how much he disdains their actions, they are still Paragons and deserve to be taken seriously.
If he's not careful, he will be the one who suffers.
"Alright, let's truly start this battle."
