A delicate cry escaped Ri's lips, but there was already nothing more Dyon could do. The rumbling in the skies said it all… a tribulation was coming…
Dyon's expression was haggard, his right eye bleeding in an endless rain.
He felt as though his heart was about explode out of his chest, thumping so quickly that it just might give out at any moment… His muscles ached, his eyelids felt heavy, he even faintly felt his life slipping away.
But, his eyes remained glued upon his wife as the skies above sent down its first strike.
Another cry left Dyon's lips. Every time she called out, Dyon felt as though the wound was his own, that his own heart was being repeatedly stabbed, dripping with blood that singed the earth below.
Ri's delicate skin was being torn apart. Every strike seemed to blast another part of her body into meat paste. Though the medicinal efficacy regrew these lost body parts soon afterward, the damage done was undeniable.
There couldn't have possibly been a worse torture for both husband and wife alike. Madeleine, Clara and Amphorae felt their eyes water uncontrollably. Though the latter two didn't understand why Dyon had done this, they knew Dyon would never do something so harmful to them without reason…
By the time the 81st lightning strike fell… Ri's body disappeared completely… All that was left was a pile of ashes…
Dyon clenched his jaw so tightly that blood began to seep from his gums and out from his lips. His mind was only filled with thoughts of ripping the World Tree's realm apart.
Dyon's bloodshot eyes stared at the pile of ashes. A faint pearly light was nested within.
This was the one part of Ri's body that he went all out to protect: her soul.
Dyon had really had no choice in this matter. He couldn't continue allowing Ri to carry around a looming danger. He didn't know exactly what the World Tree was planning with Ri, but its presence was absolutely unacceptable to him.
The matter he learned from the dwarves had been grating on his mind for too long. It had already been 6 years since that day, yet it was a constant shadow over his heart from start to finish.
When he realized that his theory about the ancient battlefield was correct, he knew that this was his chance to free Ri's shackles.
The problem was that he couldn't underestimate the World Tree. An entity that could rule a world and even send so much power through a world barrier wasn't an opponent he could face right now. Even the weakest immortal could threaten his life, let alone an existence who stood at the pinnacle of immortals.
This was why Dyon acted the way he had. He didn't have the luxury of telling his wives what was happening. The fact he even told Madeleine was something he saw as a mistake even now. He was lucky that it hadn't impacted the end result, though he was unsure if his gamble had worked.
For the ancient battlefield's oceans to be capable of blocking Dyon's immortal sense, it was impossible to claim them to be normal.
There was most definitely a secret hidden below, but this wasn't the foremost reason Dyon came here for. What he wanted was to aim for the most opportune time to make his move.
He needed three things. He needed the optimal environment, he needed his wife to be in an optimal state, and he needed the World Tree to lower its guard.
These waters were the optimal environment for two reasons. First, within the Ancient Battlefield, the barrier to the outside world was already extremely thick. This made the already difficult connection between Ri and World Tree fainter.
However, the second reason was the more poignant point. These waters had the ability to shrink Dyon's sense range from covering universes to a mere ten thousand kilometers.
One had to remember that Dyon Immortal Sense wasn't normal by any stretch. When Dyon only had Divine Sense, he could see hundreds, even thousands of times further than those of his soul cultivation. How could this not also be the case for his Immortal Sense?
The only reason he seemed to be only on par with others now is because crossing universe barriers is simply too difficult. Any advantage Dyon had would be snuffed in an attempt to cross a 4th barrier. Maybe his advantages wouldn't become clear once more until his soul continued to evolve further…
However, what was clear was that these advantages should have been more obvious in a place like this ocean.
By Dyon's estimates, a normal 3rd Grade World Seer wouldn't even be capable of seeing 100 kilometers outward from their center if they were in his same position!
If even a 3rd Grade World Seer could be suppressed like this, Dyon had the confidence that even the World Tree would be stifled!
Dyon didn't care what level of entity you were. When it came to matters of the soul path, even if an Alchemy God descended from the skies right now, he would not lower his head.
This optimal environment dulled the senses of the World Tree to the point it couldn't react as fast as it usually could. And this was where the second facet, Ri's optimal state, came into being.
Using Ri's body as a refinement cauldron was incredibly dangerous. Any resistance Ri had would lead to an unmitigated disaster. No matter how much Ri trusted Dyon, it was impossible for her to dull all of her senses completely. The best opportunity was for her to be frozen into a moment of enlightenment.
Dyon trusted in his wife's talent. He knew that simply showing her this environment would be enough for her to break into a new realm. If it hadn't been for Dyon's actions, she would already be an Overlord right now!
However, this was only one of the reasons Ri had to enter this state.
