"..." Xu You.
The Lord of the City of Voyage's facial expression had fallen into the depths of night, as dark as one can possibly imagine, but his eyes exuding an ancient and peerless might contained no fear—absolutely none.
The robust and explosive joint aura of the Ascended beings before him was impressive, but they couldn't move his heart by the slightest millimeter. What caused his expression to drop considerably was the unity of their Mystic Aura.
There was no disharmony; every trace of power in their Spirits of Cultivation, Sea of Consciousness, and Innate Energies were all as one as they connected. This wasn't like the typical standard of thousands of Ascended beings fighting together in the slightest. Instead, what he faced was a single Mystic Aura of one will, a single entity!
This was a true army, forged as one.
The bloodthirstiness, savagery, unity, and will forged by the flames of war and the hot blood of their enemies were deeply entrenched into their souls. He could feel it instantly, and his heart was only moved by this fact, and not even close to their tyrannical aura that would cause Earthly Saints to flee with their tails between their legs and hands on their heads.
"Who trained you all?" Unable to contain his brewing curiosity, Xu You asked with a light voice that boomed as if he originated from an ancient god of yesteryear, instilling a sense of reverence and abject, irrepressible fear into the beating hearts of countless with the greatest of ease.
However, under Legion Commander Zhan Zheng's lead, the Legion of War was unaffected by his pitiful attempts to exert his superior spiritual strength. He didn't even need to move, yet the damning strength of Xu You swept and dissipated across the entire legion as it was split apart and ground down by each of their spiritual strength.
Xu You slightly frowned.
Woosh!
His thoughts were interrupted as the Legion of 10,000 launched their attack! A battalion of them split off, a total of 1,000, jointly surged with forceful power, and then they launched a series of Mystic Power volleys. They were condensed strength in their simplest form, but when Xu You faced these meteorites of vast power, he felt as if they resembled wall-crushing boulders launched by catapults of war.
He felt as if he was being sieged upon!
He took a single step to the side. It was merely a single step, but he flashed like a shadow and traversed a thousand miles in the blink of a mortal's eyes. When he did, he frowned as his eyes inspected the rainbow walls. He hadn't gotten any closer.
Abruptly, his expression slightly changed as he turned to see dozens of meteorites barreling toward him with tremendous, planet-destroying strength. They can track him? He was mildly amused at how these Ascended beings could home onto his location.
With another step, he vanished two thousand miles away. However, his aura was concealed, merging with fixed space as if he was one with it. He had little intention to fight this Legion directly. While he held no fear, he had cultivated for so long, survived countless plots, schemes, and deadly encounters, and easily recognized this as a trap laid down by someone competent, resourceful, and powerful.
It would be extremely foolish of him to recklessly engage without understanding the entire situation. Moreover, the force that could cultivate ten thousand Ascended cultivators, all at least at the Demi-Mortal Lord, was certainly fearsome. There was no power in the Sealed Regions that could do so, so this must involve outside organizations.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
The volleys of power, much to his surprise, kept blazing toward him. His frown became more pronounced as he waved his sleeve casually, sending out a gust of wind that could rearrange planetary orbits, and the volleys were easily spiraling out of control and fell towards every which way without order or control.
"This Stellar Transit Light is acting as the foundation of a Sealing Formation," Xu You deduced with his vast experience and comprehension of the Law of Space.
WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!
The meteorites changed course once again, regaining their swift momentum, and darted toward Xu You as if they were destined to hit him! Another casual wave, Xu You completely upended their undying determination and sent them every which way.
Xu You's eyes flashed with explosive spiritual light as he analyzed the walls. Then, his heart finally shook for the first time. With haste, he checked his connection to the Endless Voyage Mirror and was unable to receive any hint of its power.
"They've segregated space using the Stellar Transit Light's chaotic space properties?" As a Lord of an Endless Voyage Realm's city, he possessed the talisman that can allow him to exert a degree of control over the Endless Voyage Mirror, activating a few of its mystical powers that Heavenly Treasures possessed.
However, this formation didn't simply trap him, it separated him from connecting with the Endless Voyage Mirror. He instantly realized this cage was tailor-made for a cultivator skilled in the Laws of Space. Moreover, it was a disruption formation as his attempts to execute Spatial Integration had left him with little success, the meteorites of power still targeted him. He couldn't even perform a Spatial Shift.
"What supreme expert is taking action against us?" It was hard for him to stay calm. The profoundness of the Sealing Formation meant the cultivator had to have manifested a Seed of Law regarding Space, and they must possess an intricate knowledge of the Endless Void Mirror's formation structure, internal limitations, and connectivity strength.
Could one of the Mystic Overlords have taken action against them?
His heart shivered at the thought. "Wait, it can't be that simple, right?" As he said this, he realized that the volleys launching toward him had increased to two hundred. The Legion was sending continuous attacks his way. He didn't even glance towards them, moving a little, waved his right sleeve, and kept inspecting the walls with a dignified gaze.
The meteorites of power might have the means to collapse a tiny-sized Starfield instantly, but towards Xu You, this pitiful degree of power wasn't worth a single iota of his attention. He only spared a little to deal with it like it was—a minor nuisance. Like when an ant dares to crawl on your skin, and its fate was already determined when noticed.
Xu You formed the same hand-seals as earlier, unleashing his tyrannical ocular spell. As the explosive rays of spiritual light rocketed towards the rainbow-colored walls, they found themselves reaching a certain point until they completely stopped. Soon, the gushing ray that led to his eyes began to freeze as if caught in a single moment of time.
His pupils shrunk ever so slightly.
"Present Time Energies?" He hastily canceled his ocular spell, his body moved to dodge the incoming meteorites, unwilling to exert even a little effort to even send them elsewhere. In fact, he wanted to get further away from the walls.
"No wonder, no wonder. They've isolated me completely by locking me into a Sealing Formation encapsulated by a shrouding formation fueled by Present Time Energies. Such an intricate trap," said Xu You with a voice containing a heavy load of anger. He felt incredibly aggrieved that someone was targeting him, and it was likely a joint effort of supreme experts capable of manipulating advanced profundities of time and space! While he was unlikely to be specifically targeted, it was clear that only experts of his level could safely explore the Time Vortex, so it could've been any of the Endless Voyage Realm's powerhouses.
He was just unlucky.
"Fortunately, the energy fueling this Sealing Formation is only at the Earthly Saint Level. The heavens always grant a path," when he concluded this fact, he calculated the time needed to escape this carefully constructed cage.
Three minutes?
No.
Two.
He wasn't a Lord of the Endless Voyage Realm for nothing; his comprehension of Temporal Arts and Spatial Arts was exceedingly high level for the typical cultivator at his level.
With a curt nod, Xu You was relieved as he flickered. Tens of thousands of meteorites whizzed by him, like a school of violent fish, they moved and homed onto his position once more. A chase of cat and mouse, but to him, he was the cat and they were fruit flies that he could deal with utter ease. In fact, he would let them accumulate as he searched for the door.
By this point, the female Battalion Commander specializing in poisons and strategic deployment of environmental factors neared War Commander Zhan Zheng who was acutely following the rapid and elusive movements of Xu You. This was the same Battalion Commander that suffered at the hands of Wei Wuyin once before, rushing away as others threw away their lives for her, and eventually was beheaded mercilessly.
Her aura contained an unfathomable quality, having reached the Earthly Saint Phase. She was named Zhan Gu.
"We've accumulated enough, Commander." Zhan Gu quietly said, her eyes extremely calm as she watched the thin elder zip across with an air of domineering nonchalance. At times, he would glance their way, lacking the slightest sense of fear or danger. To him, six Earthly Saints and thousands of Demi-Mortal Lords was the mildest of inconvenience.
An army or not, they were just flies.
It was time to prove him wrong.
Oh so very wrong.
Zhan Zheng nodded. He lifted his hand and…clenched his fist!
Xu You dodged seamlessly or deflected with a wave of his sleeves as he had already found a few flaws to exploit in the formations. As long as he breached the Sealing Formation containing the profound properties of chaotic space, he could brute force the Present Time Energies that were preventing him from connecting to the Endless Void Mirror.
As long as he escaped and connected with the Heavenly Treasure, even Mystic Overlords will have to retreat for fear of bringing upon them the Ascended Sovereign's wrath. A wisp of relief flowed through his heart and body. He needed to leave as soon as possible.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Abruptly, Xu You found himself surrounded by exploding meteorites! The explosions were terrifyingly destructive, collapsing fixed space everywhere, and it would leave an ordinary Earthly Saint greatly distraught. With Spatial Shifting restrained, one had to face these explosions head-on!
But Xu You merely snorted softly, his Mystic Aura erupted as a power that greatly restrained Mystic Power was unleashed! A worldly will emanated from Xu You as if he was a decreed by the Mystic Daos as a noble of its governed world!
Heart of the World, World of the Mystic Intent!
Mystic Heart Intent!!
The sign of a Worldly Saint!!!