บท 97: A torn hole.
'He knows who I am!'
Her mind seethed and her heart chilled as she witnessed the entire ocean tremble. It was a tremble that invoked horror, a horror so distraught that it seemed to cloud her entire existence.
'I'll die!'
Alarm shook her very core as she attempted to force herself out of the dense air. Yet, she found that its power was beyond her imagination, and even she couldn't escape from its claws.
'Dammit!'
Her eyes gleamed as she gave up escaping, instead, she redirected her gaze towards the innocent smile of Li Wei. A typhoon had formed at this moment, encompassing the sky and the heavens with its mighty roaring waves.
Space itself seemed to tremble as the atmosphere got sundered under congealed power. The entire world reeled, and it was all locked onto that single woman.
This woman turned pale and then blue as a life and death crisis battered her, but she didn't remove her glare towards Li Wei. A destructive aura began to seethe, and Li Wei's expression seemed to change as he frowned.
*WHOOOOOSH*
He drove his palm down, where that typhoon of ghastly proportions hastened. It would only take a single second for it to collide with the woman!
'Soul!'
The woman's mind growled as she firmed her heart with killing intent. A strange shine pierced out of her pupils, one that caused shivers to spike through Li Wei.
"Hm?"
Li Wei's face darkened as he took a step back with caution, grasping the air and forming a dense wall of water in front of him.
It was a truly magnificent sight to behold, one where four great propelled streams of oceanic water gushed from the skies like the descent of nature itself. And in all of this, two tiny figures faced each other with polar opposite lights shining in their eyes.
The woman's eyes shined a destructive and unhesitating gleam, whilst Li Wei's sparkled with inherent mockery and caution. A storm set off beneath this force, clouds billowing in the sky full of vital rain, and grass growing and getting crushed beneath their feet from incessant slams of water.
*GUSH*
'Destruction...!'
The woman's mind shook as she disregarded her own safety! She knew that she couldn't escape from this, so how else would she go out?
Li Wei's expression seemed to change once more as he felt an undulation of terrifying energy billow out of her gaze. He felt his heart sharpen, and his soul shudder.
His smile collapsed and his body seemed to enter a strange pose as he grumbled out with a newfound gaze.
"Martial Sword, First Slice."
He didn't know what she was doing, but he has never felt such dread tremor through him like this. He didn't care anymore so he would show some of his transcendent skills in an art he knows so little of, yet seems to hold right in his grasp.
*WANGGG*
His body riggled amidst disconcerting pops as he grew and expanded to the height of a mini-giant. His muscles tensed as he grasped the sword hanging on his back, and combined with the already majestic air of his oceanic presence, a suffocating presence billowed.
A piercing aura enveloped the world as the entire sky seemed to darken with greyish hues. Yet, also within this was a deep vitality and an oceanic disposition that brought heaviness and resolute nature.
A combination of ocean and sword formed and, from this, a force beyond anything the woman could comprehend descended!
The four tsunami-like waves roiled still, and with his rising sword of unsurpassable stature, a feeling of hopelessness and ungodly horror squealed in her heart!
The woman's mind rattled as she saw this, feeling a true sense of terror arise! She didn't know he was this strong, this... This terrifying!
If she knew, then she would have already given up! This was at a level that pushed right towards the peak of the 9th step! Only old monsters would be at such a level, and she was facing such a monster!
Yet, she could still see that flickering and almost laughable soul within this unquenchable power. This soul... It could be her saving grace.
Each dwindling microsecond seemed to be forever implanted in her mind, and she didn't care as she uttered the last syllables in her mind!
'..BEAM!'
*WANGGG*
The entire world flashed as time got released and Li Wei's sword sped up and up like a slow-motion video returning to ordinary playback. His sword, engulfed in a blueish greyed tint, sliced the air, the world, and the entire sky!
The four waves, all roaring like they are each a disturbing beast, engulfed the heavens and crashed down!
*BANGGGGG*
A deafening detonation resounded as if it was the end of the world, causing the ledge they were on to shake and the entire mountain to tremor with a minute unnoticeable vibration!
The entire mountain shook, a mountain so massive that one single ledge was the size of a forest!
*RUUUUMBLLLLE*
And within this ear-splitting boom, a similarly resounding slash swiped and swept through the air as it seemed to part the entire world. The ledge split from this, it split right down and for hundreds of meters!
A vile force crackled through the mountain and shook it once more, and this time with a vibration that was noticeable to the touch!
*SHAKE*
Churning waves of water gushed off the side of the ledge as steam rose, yet strangely, the chambers engraved in the mountain remained undamaged to this vast destruction.
*SSSS*
And within this cloud of skin charring steam, a single blurry greyish figure stood with a strange glint in his eyes. He didn't move for a while, but a weakness seemed to shroud him as he collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
A striking canyon was beside him, and so was a concentrated crater not too far away. The ocean was still there, but it was dissipating at a rapid rate as if it had never existed in the first place.
"Huh..."
His mind seemed to be slewed as Li Wei muttered with a rapid heart. His soul, in particular, appeared to have a gaping hole drilled right in it.
It was located on the soul's body, not its head, but it seemed to destroy something vital from Li Wei. A part of him.
His eyes seemed dull as that confusion magnified until it seemed to become his everything. Of course, whilst this was happening the entire sect had gone in an uproar.
Numerous Elders had appeared near the sight, and curious disciples too. Yet, all they saw was a thick cloud of steam so hot that it seemed to be able to burn 7th step cultivators.
"What is happening?"
Some muttered under their breath as they, floating a couple kilometres away from the ledge, stared at the writhing cloud of steam. Those below the 5th step didn't even dare move forward as the striking heat was already unbearable here, but as more people arrived those at the top of the ladder appeared.
"The ledge..."
A certain figure, inconspicuous, narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the cloud with shining eyes. His body was draped in a starry black, where faint glistening orbs of light would shine time from time.
Nobody seemed to notice his presence as they continued to analyse the explosion as if he wasn't even there...
"This is where Wen Mian is... Could it be the Sect Master had actually accepted that ridiculous offer?"
The figure frowned as he scratched his black hair with blazing eyes. His stubbled chin and his facial feature, albeit ordinary, seemed to exude wisdom that not many could grasp.
He, as if the heat wasn't even there, took a step forward and appeared a kilometre away from the ledge. The billowing heat was now insane, yet he withstood it without a hint of distress.
"I have been in closed-door seclusion for far too long... It seems that this Sect has really become brazen enough to go against an Overseer... And so I thought I could stay for a little longer."
His pupils seemed to find a certain figure within the thick steam, and from this, he seemed to quiver slightly. His face lifted with a smile, and a blazing laugh erupted out of him. For no one to hear.
"What a compelling aura! Yes, this Overseer has planned it all! Hahaha! I truly feel awe from the second stage, for those who have taken those 9 steps and then that final leap are people I'd never fool with!"
His crude laugh was a little aged, yet he carried a certain disposition that invoked respect. No aura leaked out of him, as if he were a mortal, but he still continued and took another step as he appeared within the fog!
Yet, this still seemed to cause no sort of discomfort as he floated there and took a closer look. He noticed the remarkable canyon and the crater that seemed to have been impacted by a meteor; it all shined in his eyes!
And as this happened the entire cloud of steam seemed to sway, and in a stupefying fashion, it all dissipated into nothing!
*Step*
Then, with a desolate crunch, Li Wei lifted himself off of the floor as that confusion diffused from his eyes. Though it didn't leave him, it instead sowed a seed in his heart that he would never be able to remove.
Those rings of draconic power around his palms dispersed, his blazing eyes levelled, and his body shrunk. He returned to his original temperament, one of strangeness and an eery nature that came from his body's abnormal form.
The man in the sky seemed to pause as interest flashed, and with this, a strange battle intent formed; thoughts echoed in his mind as this took place!
'I have only just reached the 9th step with the last push from my hard-fought seclusion, and this monster seems to exude an aura even I find hair-raising! My Teacher must find out about this, as he hasn't had a good fight for a long time... Yet, why does my spell seem to tell me that he is under someone?'
A strange starry light brewed in his eyes as he analysed Li Wei, who hasn't yet noticed him; or at least doesn't seem to have noticed him.
Odd visions sprouted within the man's view like flowers, all coming from Li Wei. Three flowers caught his attention in particular, and each of them told a different story.
'Crimson Red... For fury. Bright Blue, for sorrow. And... Gold?'
He could understand two of them, but one colour left him puzzled. It was obscure, yet it carried a certain feeling that left him a little rough in breath.
'Subservient, a feeling of inferiority... Towards someone, or something.'
The interest in his heart grew as he flashed and fled back. He didn't seem to have any intentions of speaking with Li Wei, it seemed.
So, persisting atop the ledge, Li Wei took a desolate stroll towards the chamber a couple kilometres away. His mind was in a mess, as he seemed to hold a perplexing feeling in his heart.
'Why do I feel like I've forgotten something?'
His soul shook as this thought surfaced, yet that hole remained. Thus, whatever it had lost, it couldn't retrieve.
'Why do I feel so sad..?'
An unbearable pain resounded in his mind, one that was elusive and hard to pinpoint. It wasn't physical nor was it something you could will through, it was much more terrifying than that.
Li Wei felt every moment of this pain, and each moment seemed to scream at him as if he was forgetting something!
'What is this?!'
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