BOOM!!
A shockwave expanded from the point of collision! All space, light, mana, and gravity were pushed aside, creating a temporary zone devoid of ambient forces. If not for the long-since-dead state of the Earthbound Wave Stellar Region, the havoc on the lives present would be nightmarish.
The terrifying power infused within Evergod's simple thrusting fist was the raw, destructively concentrated Mystic Power of a 9th Runic Ascendant. Despite being a simple strike, not a Martial Art, a Spiritual Spell, or any Spiritual Art, it still generated such a devastating result! The strength of a 9th Runic Ascendant was on full display here!
"...!" Evergod's eyes shone brightly with interested surprise. His empowered fist met a wall of formidable light-grey scales; the fist acted like compressed air upon the surface of calm water, repelling the layers of space and explosively revealing the object hidden beneath. It was scales! They were imbricate and orderly, and each the size of at least six hundred square feet. Evergod was remarkably tiny before one, and his fist had impacted a single scale.
Despite his world-ending strike, the surface of the light-grey scales remained unmoved and undamaged. The sight caused him to be doubtful if his attack had been nullified by a strange power. This fist was enough to cause an entire starfield to collapse!
The Alchemic Saint was intrigued by the fact that this creature was a genuine serpent. It was only by standing before it himself, completely exposed to visual perception, that Evergod could verify this assumption that others have made over the years by its snakeskin. However, as he observed it more, his thoughts became jumbled as it seemed slightly different than a typical snake.
Before he could properly discern this difference, his eyes bulged. The scale retreated at sight-blurring speeds. Evergod felt the siphoning of space as it moved, and his heart shook with fear as a sensation of deadly crisis enveloped his thoughts. Driven by self-preservation-derived fear, Evergod withdrew his fist and punched out with a low roar!
The creature had pulled back its tail and swiped!
BOOM!!!
An even larger shockwave erupted! Unbearable pain shot through Evergod's fist, arm, and torso as he stifled a cry of pain, controlling his Mystic Power and forcing it to erupt at full force! However, he instantly felt his arm shatter into roughly a million pieces. The shining pupils of his eyes shrunk to an almost non-existent state. The cold sensation of death crept through his soul, giving him the most glacial of hugs.
Evergod's signature golden robes and seven-colored sash began to release solar star-blinding levels of light. In the blink of an Ascended's eye, a hundred Ever-Starliglit Pellets appeared around him, activating instantly!
These pellets were programmed with previously designed instructions, acting without any need for external force on Evergod's part, causing radiant light from each to wrap around each of Evergod's limbs with frightening accuracy, and then with wisps of light that resembled baby hands, they carried him back like tiny fairies of myth. But these hands lasted only for a brief millisecond, enough to send him roughly thirty thousand miles away, and their power shattered before the remaining pursuing strength aimed itself at Evergod's body.
Evergod's reaction was not slow after escaping; he then executed a series of flips and spins to disperse the remaining power. He kept circulating his internal Mystic Power madly before whipping his shattered arm to the side in its gruesome, dislocated state.
BOOOOOOM!
A raging explosion occurred at the point his fist was fully outstretched, and his body was sent flying at breakneck speeds in the opposite direction."AH!" Evergod shouted with a tinge of madness. Directly in the path of his flying body, chaos mana began to fold onto itself, solidify, and establish walls.
BOOSH! boosh!boosh!
Evergod kept violently crashing into each. He enveloped himself in his Mystic Ward as he tried his best to regain control over his body. It took roughly 216 walls of condensed chaos mana before he was able to slow down to a halt. Firstly, he inspected his glowing palm to ensure no damage had been caused. Only after seeing that it was perfectly fine did his heart calm down, and his eyes grew colder, sharper, with a hint of wariness.
"You beast!" Evergod spat. His seven-colored sash lit faintly, and a pellet appeared within his Dantian. He circulated his cultivation base fully as the pellet dissolved, erupting with Temporal Power, and his devastatingly ruined arm rapidly returned to normal alongside the destroyed sleeves.
This was the Earth Reversal Pellet. It was a relatively common Mystic-Earth graded pellet that any Alchemic Saint could produce, essentially merging their Temporal Power and Alchemic Power into one, infusing the profoundness of Temporal Reversion into a pellet that could be used at a later time. Moreover, this pellet could be infused with varied amounts of Temporal Power throughout a long, long time to mitigate the need for lifeforce. It was a life-saving, energy-conserving, and easily usable product.
As for the pellet's quality, it was dependent on the effective power of the Temporal Power within. Low-Quality products were as effective as an average Soul of Mysticism Phase's Temporal Reversion, while the high and peak qualities were the Demi-Mortal Lord and Earthly Saint, respectively.
Evergod had just used a peak-quality version to repair his damaged body and destroyed arm. Moreover, he spent none of his precious reserves of Mystic Power to do so.
Earlier, Evergod had dodged a few tail swipes with ease, so he had this inflated belief that his 9th Runic Ascendant Earthly Saint speed could easily evade any attack as long as he was careful, but he was swiftly proven wrong. The speed that the serpent used to attack could not be reacted to! If the Alchemic Saint hadn't prepared his protective measures beforehand, he might have lost half his body or his entire life.
The dark gloom in his eyes intensified as his madness cleared from the exposure to near-death danger, bringing him a strange clarity of mind.
"What are you?" Evergod softly growled. He knew that the earlier attacks to prevent him from passing were merely soft warnings, and after attacking, the creature had retaliated with the intent to harm. However, strangely enough, Evergod felt no intention to kill. He was unsure if the creature was being manipulated or not. Glancing at his glowing palm, his eyes shone briefly.
"Could I be going towards its nest?" Evergod felt that the creature was merely protecting its habitat, not once actively attacking, only defending or warning him off. If so, then it made sense that it was preventing him from entering its territory with what he was currently holding. He completely calmed himself down as he scanned the surroundings, finding the faint shadow of a creature outlined through fixed space.
With a heavy breath, he decided to take the long route around this creature instead of using anything else. While it'll be a waste to go around an entire Stellar Region, it would be better than exhausting his trump cards before getting to the Neo-Dawn Starfield.
"Fine," Evergod compromised; the Alchemic Saint gave one last glance toward the shadowy outline before speeding away, deciding to take the long way around. Unfortunately, as he was mentally devising a strategic way to avoid the borders of this Earthbound Wave Stellar Region and likely the nest of this strange creature, he felt a wave of horrific spatial pressure crash against him.
He was instantly sent spinning yet again. It was hard to grasp the concept of up, down, left, or right as his heart began to race with indescribable fear. From his glabella, the Spatial Rune of the Way of Mysticism manifested in full force, exerting a terrifying might over all spatial energies in the area!
"What?!" He was unable to resist despite his continuous, wholehearted efforts. His golden robes burst out with strange interconnected runes exerting a faint aura that far exceeded an Earthly Saint! If Yun Che had been present, he would have immediately recognized it as a Heavenly Saint's Mana Rune!
The unfathomable power of Mana Dominance erupted, and the Chaos Mana of the Earthbound Wave Stellar Region began to rush toward Evergod as if seeking to save their king. With a gushing sound, he was instantly enveloped in a shell of chaos mana. The momentum of his movements began to gradually slow down.
As Evergod finally regained himself, he exerted control over his robe, the Heavenly Chain Robe, an ancient armament belonging to a deceased Heavenly Saint. It was incredibly damaged before, but after ten thousand years of dedicated nurturing, Evergod had carefully restored a few of its functions. While it could barely be considered as retaining a single percent of its power, it was enough to exert the indomitable might of Mana Dominance.
The golden robe fluttered as his seven-colored sash primed itself with a faint glowing radiance. When he looked around, he realized he was back to his original location before leaving, and his pupils shook.
Did he slow down, or was he moved back here?!
He tried searching for the creature's shadowy outline, but after losing sight of it, he had lost all traces of it as well. A grip of uncertainty wrapped around his heart. What just happened? As he contemplated his next move, several existences across the Sealed Regions were alarmed.
Wang Yutian was adamantly focused on Evergod's location. "It didn't wake up?" He was pleasantly surprised by this discovery.
"..." The discarnate soul in San Yongli's Sea of Consciousness was oddly silent; her focus was intensely attuned to the happenings surrounding Evergod. If her state was described, it would be: unblinkingly observing.
Wei Wuyin was lying flat on his back as a gorgeous, voluptuous body bounced up and down, revealing an absolutely mesmerizing sight that could beguile the soul, yet his Celestial Eyes observed the World's Trend. "It's not over yet," he muttered.
"Yes! Mn-! NOT YET!" Yang Chaoyue's eyes were watery as she increased her pace, displaying exceptional lower body control.
Evergod's expression darkened as he scanned the Dark Void with his Spiritual Sense, even resorting to Ocular Spells that focused on identifying spatial anomalies. His efforts yielded no fruit.
After a thoughtful pause, Evergod proceeded to fly once again. Before getting too far, he was hit again by a wave of spatial pressure that sent him back to his original location. He didn't activate any defenses or make any attempts to stop himself, and he found himself directly where he was before.
He tried this three times, measuring the distance before the spatial pressure erupted, and he discovered that it was roughly 72,000 miles from his current location in any direction.
"A formation?" His suspicions left him increasingly uncertain as he found no traces of one.
"A11 illusion?" He tested this theory by using various illusion-shattering tools, but nothing changed.
"A worldscape?" He launched a flurry of terrifying attacks in every direction, sufficient to shatter any boundary of a Shell Pearl World or anything similar.After the seventeenth attempt, he found himself unable to discover why, how, or who was causing him to experience this wave of pressure. Left with no choice, he realized that to escape this predicament, he'd have to bring forth another of his trump cards. The thought of exposing something else left him incredibly enraged but equally helpless.
"Come out!" He accessed his Internal World, and from within, several auras began to escape!