'Oh shit!' Damien's eyes widened as he suddenly saw a beam of jet-black ice shooting towards him at a staggering speed, the same speed at which he threw his lightning bolt!
Because of everything happening so quickly, he realized it was too late to dodge as he got struck by the ice beam and expected to get seriously injured since he could sense the immense power the ice beam was carrying. It was no less powerful than the lightning bolt he had thrown.
However, to his surprise, he only got pushed back by a few feet and felt a burning sensation on his chest from the impact. But other than that, he didn't experience anything serious or concerning.
'My body is that powerful?' This was the first time Damien got struck by his full-powered attack that could have caused serious injuries to a cultivator whose cultivation was in between the Middle and Late levels of the Heaven Ethereal Realm!
Whereas he, who was only at the third level of the Sky Ethereal Realm, was astonishingly able to survive his own full-powered attack without any serious injuries.
This made Damien wonder how powerful Yohr's body must have been at its peak.
But then he again focused on the dome-shaped solid ice barrier and realized its specialty.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"A barrier that can reflect an enemy's attacks by absorbing the energy? How cool.." Damien mumbled with a smile as he already began to imagine the looks on his enemies' faces when they get shocked by getting struck with attacks equally powerful as theirs while he got to chill inside the barrier.
Still, just to make sure, he again moved his hands in the air as he constructed the Frosty Barrier of Doom around him to see if he could see whatever was on the outside from within.
Fortunately, he was satisfied to see that he could clearly see what was on the outside, just like looking out through a glass window even though on the outside, his enemies won't be able to see him.
He then decided to test the defensive powers of this barrier as he began to hurl attacks one after the other while using his mirage of myriad phantasms to dodge these attacks before they could even hit him. Of course, he was only able to dodge them since he knew beforehand they were going to strike him and also because his lightning movement art was quite overpowered.
"Practicing your moves, grandson-in-law?" An elderly man's chuckle came from behind, making Damien feel surprised since he didn't sense Elor's presence until he heard his voice.
"How did you get here, grandpa?" Damien was also surprised that Elor came down from the cliff all on his own.
Elor chuckled as he said, "There are teleportation circles around this island that Irene set up so that I can move around this place without straining myself. Haa…she really cares too much about me even if she doesn't want to admit it."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Oh…" Damien didn't expect there to be teleportation circles around here, but then wouldn't that also mean…
Elor saw through Damien's concern and chuckled, "Don't worry. This old man knows that youngsters like you deserve their privacy. I only came here after I felt some vibration through the ground, which I suppose must be you practicing your ethereal arts."
Elor looked at the jet-black dome-shaped ice and couldn't help but wonder what kind of mysterious power was coursing through Damien's veins for his ethereal energy to turn into such a devilish color.
Still, even if he felt concerned by the presence of his energy, Elor knew that Damien was a good person at heart, especially since Reva loved him.
Damien nodded with a smile as otherwise, he couldn't imagine the look on Reva's face if she knew that her grandparents probably knew what she was doing on the beach yesterday.
"Still, how was I not able to—"
"Sense my presence? Don't feel surprised if you were not able to sense me. It is because of this ancestral treasure around my neck that hides my presence from even powerful cultivators like Ruthren," Elor said as he walked forward with his walking stick.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Damien saw Elor pointing to the bronze amulet on his neck, and Damien guessed that it must be some sort of treasure.
"I see you are interested to know more about this treasure. Well, I think you might feel even more interested if I tell you this treasure is from the outside world," Elor said as his eyes shone in pride.
"The outside world?" Damien asked with raised brows.
"Yes. This belonged to my ancestor and hence has been passed down for generations till it landed in my hands. I never thought that soon I would be depending on this treasure for the rest of my life. With the Xeton Empire still ruling our lands, Irene also insisted that I should not take any risks and always wear this amulet so that I can hide and remain invisible even if someone comes here. It must also be why you never noticed my presence until I showed myself to you," Elor explained.
"Wow. That sounds like a really useful and powerful treasure if even someone like Ruthren can't sense you. It seems that the outside world was quite prosperous and powerful before things ended badly for them," Damien mused.
Elor readily nodded as he supported Damien's statement, "Of course. In fact, according to what my ancestors said, the peak of power in the outside world was far above what we see now in the Rising Sun Continent."
"You mean to say people more powerful than Ruthren once existed there?" Damien asked as his lips parted.
"Not just people, ethereal beasts as well, which I am sure you already knew. It was the main reason why nobody ever dared to open the gateway again. And now they probably still continue to exist since the lands and the ethereal air in the outside world is not the same as ours. In fact, our earliest ancestors who came to our continent as survivors were more powerful than Ruthren, especially the leader, my ancestor," Elor said with a glint of pride in his eyes since he idolized his ancestor.
"More powerful than Ruthren? Whew…" Damien thought of the realms Luna mentioned that were above the Profound Ethereal Realm and could only imagine how powerful the cultivators of the past must have been.
"Then how come as years passed, no one is no longer as strong as them?" Damien asked since, according to him, people should develop in every way as generations pass and not regress.
