"Good. Good. Good. Secure the entrances and prepare to break in." Head Void's mood hadn't been so good in thousands of years. Not only would he receive a divine grade technique, he'd also receive a supreme grade treasure and get revenge all in a single day? This trip was more than worth the three months he wasted.
"Stop for now, boy." Head Void spoke directly to Dyon. "This will take weeks at your pitiful pace and I'd like to deal with a few matters first."
Dyon grit his teeth. The situation couldn't have been worse.
Head Void was alert again the moment he didn't follow his instructions immediately. The academy pocket dimensions had been found. And his life was still in danger as Head Void's vice grip tightened around his neck.
"I said, stop." Head Void roared.
Dyon sighed inwardly. It seemed that nothing would allow his life to be easy.
"[DEVOUR]!" Dyon's soul strength surged in an instant, sucking away large portions of Head Void's Mind's Eye.
A howl of pain escaped the family head's lips, immediately alerting the seven kitsune who surged toward his voice the moment they heard it.
Head Void fought back, tearing Dyon's soul apart, piece by piece. It was simply impossible to attack with the soul and escape unscathed. The only reason Dyon didn't die instant was because his soul was hundreds of times more powerful than Head Void's!
"Your soul?!" Akuno Void raged. "You dare trick me?!"
The pressure on Dyon's neck increased to inconceivable levels. If Head Void had the physical strength a dao formation expert should have, his head would have already been separated from his neck many times over.
Dyon roared with all his might, unleashing the Tree of Life and Death for the first time in decades.
A beautiful crystalline tree appeared in the air, shimmering with an ominous aura. Its root surged forward, piercing into Head Void's body with all its might.
Under normal circumstances, even if Dyon was a hundred times more powerful he had no chance of piercing the protective layer dao formation experts had. Enigmatic energy was too thick and too powerful for him to even remotely grasp the concept of. However, Head Void's mind had been thrown into chaos the moment Dyon launched his devouring assault.
Yet, despite all of that, the beautiful crystalline roots barely penetrated a half a centimeter into his tough exterior… Dyon had no choice but to accept it and grit his teeth.
From the outside looking in, this was suicide. A mere essence gatherer, devouring the energy cultivation of dao formation expert? He was simply asking to explode. But, that was where the Energy Core came in.
Dyon's body was immediately bombarded with energy he had no hope in controlling. His organs sheered apart, his bones shatter, even his supposedly tough skin broken apart in hundreds of places.
Still, he pressed forward, sucking Head Void's cultivation toward himself as quickly as he could before funneling it all toward the Energy Core.
His inner world shook as the powerful energy swirled with it. Its cracked, dry lands sheering apart into fine dust particles.
It was at that moment that Head Void roared. "Die!"
SNAP!
The sickening sound of a spine breaking in half resounded through the Elvin Island as Dyon's head was tilted at an angle only a dead man could match.
An enraged Head Void threw his body toward the Palace rubble, completely incensed. He had lost his mind in anger so severely that he completely forgot about the divine grade technique he had been so excited about. He was hoping that Dyon would fear for his life enough to stop devouring his soul and energy cultivation, but the bastard just kept going as though he didn't care about his life!
The seven kitsune finally made it back to their family head. Looking at the haggard and weak appearance of Head Void, none of them dared to speak a word.
Akuno's breath was rough. His loss in energy cultivation was negligible, but the loss to his soul was something he couldn't ignore. He had only just barely made it to the celestial realm, but he had just now fallen to the essence realm in just a few fractions of a second! If he had held on for any longer, Dyon would have killed him!
"DAMMIT!" Head Void roared, causing the buildings around him to collapse. Even the island itself sank deeper into the ocean, forcing waves of salty water to assault the streets of Elvin Kingdom.
It was at that moment that the supposedly dead Dyon stood, a blaze of white fire lighting around him as he straightened his neck.
He rose into the air with a severe glint in his eye, completely shocking the kitsune who thought he was long dead.
'Having an undead body is quite helpful… I wish I didn't have to use it though…' Dyon thought to himself as he leveled out with the kitsune. They were so shocked by his appearance that they didn't even dare to attack.
In mere moments, Dyon's body was healed to the point where it seemed as though he had just awakened from a good night's rest.
Seeing that the kitsune were finally snapping out of their stupor and were gearing to attack him, Dyon held up a finger, telling them to wait a moment. In the next instant, a perfectly healthy Aki Void appeared beside him before kneeling in the air obediently.
"Aki!" Head Void was astonished.
"Grandfather!" Aki pitifully called out, but he couldn't move on his own for obvious reasons.
Head Void reached out with his energy, suppressing Dyon's movement. He thought that the matter would end here and he could finally take his grandson back. He was even sneering at Dyon underestimating the prowess of dao formation experts. However, he could only watch in shock as Dyon waved his hand once again, causing Aki to disappear once more.
"Give me my grandson back or I'll kill you!" Head Void roared.
"Currently," Dyon began with a casual expression, "Aki is being held within spatial ring, which is why no matter how much you try, you can't sense him."
The kitsune immediately tried and failed. It was clear that Dyon was telling the truth.
"The ring has a self-destruction array attached to it. The moment I die, the ring will implode, causing not only Aki, but also the other two geniuses to die as well." Dyon continued.
This wasn't the entire truth. In reality, the three kitsune geniuses were within the shrunken demon sage tower. Dyon placed the tower within his inner world, effectively stopping the kitsune from sensing them.
However, his words weren't entirely lies. If he died, his inner world would collapse. If it collapsed, everything within it would be destroyed. The reason Dyon went with this explanation instead was that it was easier to grasp, understand and accept.
"Do you think that's enough to stop us from dealing with you? If I have to confine you for thousands of years, that's what I'll do!" Head Void roared.
Dyon shook his head. "I'm telling you this so that when what happens next, happens, you'll know to go all out and protect me."
"Protect you?!" The kitsune sneered at Dyon's words.
However, Dyon only nodded and continued. "Of course, protect me. Because if you don't, well… Your precious geniuses will die."
A grin spread across Dyon's features as an ominous feeling overwhelmed the kitsune.
A surge of saint energy flooded out of Dyon's Energy Core and into the world, rapidly cleansing Dyon's body before entering his meridians.
The audible sound of something shattering reverberated through the world as Dyon seamlessly broke into sainthood with an ease that would astonish even the world's greatest geniuses.
Earth trembled and the skies quaked.
"STOP, STOP THIS INSTANT!" The kitsune panicked when they realized what Dyon was trying to do, but it was already too late….
A tribulation was descending…
The kitsune looked up and into the skies, completely distraught. They wanted to simply kill Dyon, hoping that that would end the tribulation, but they knew better than that. Now that they were in the vicinity, there were only two options: pass or die along with Dyon. If Dyon died, the option for passing would be gone, and so would their lives.
Dyon wasn't the first in history to think of such a suicide tactic, but that was exactly what it was: suicide. Not only would the difficulty of the trial be raised in direct proportion to the number of individuals present, it would also take their cultivation into account. The moment Head Void was involved, was the moment that their deaths were sealed!
Not only had this become a tribulation for dao formation experts, it was multiplied by all of whom were present. There was nothing but death waiting for them!
However, there was one thing Dyon was banking on. Although the difficulty would be scaled up to the power of a dao formation expert, he believed he had found a loophole.
