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Chapter 254: Bring the Battle to Another Place
Master Dan’s group was confused by what Aldrian meant, but suddenly, they felt their surroundings change. They were shocked by the abrupt shift. How had he done that? Was it an illusion? Yet, they could feel the energy of heaven and earth flowing naturally, just like in the real world. If Aldrian had truly moved them using some kind of space laws, how had they been dragged along without any warning?
Wei Zhi, still reeling from the shock, finally took in his surroundings and found the place strangely familiar. Then, it dawned on him.
"This is Sazim Fortress!"
He and the others were shocked. Did this mean Aldrian had moved them all from the capital to the devil’s territory in the blink of an eye? The distance was absurd—even for an Emperor-stage cultivator to attempt teleporting alone, let alone bringing all of them along. Yet Aldrian showed no signs of exhaustion or the usual symptoms of a cultivator drained of heaven and earth energy.
Could he possibly have infinite energy within his dantian?!
Aldrian brought them here because he believed they could fight more freely. After all, they were still Emperor and King-stage cultivators capable of causing mass destruction to an entire city. When they arrived, Aldrian sensed the presence of many devils around the fortress. They appeared to be in the midst of constructing a temporary base around it.
The devils knew that Sazim was not what it used to be, and the environment here was unfavorable for them. As a result, they decided to build a new base just outside his domain. A few devils, who were in the middle of their guard duty, noticed the sudden appearance of Aldrian and the others and immediately warned their comrades. However, Aldrian paid them no attention. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the four targets in front of him and, without hesitation, unleashed the same black lightning.
RUMBLE!
The power of this lightning was beyond his expectations. The already formidable heavenly lightning, combined with death energy and death laws, created something akin to lightning from the underworld. It even pierced the spatial barrier he had created to prevent others from escaping. The lightning corroded the barrier’s power and "life," rapidly weakening and shattering it.
This perfectly aligned with the concept of death he envisioned: death comes for everything, even techniques.
Aldrian stretched his hand forward, and lightning shot from his palm toward his opponents.
RUMBLE!
"Evade!" Grand Duke Gouvard shouted as the lightning bolt hurtled toward them. Master Dan hurled his cauldron forward, using it as a shield to block the lightning strike.
DUM!
The sound of lightning striking the cauldron echoed, and the lightning actually created a dent on the cauldron’s surface. Master Dan, who saw this, was truly shocked. That was a low divine-grade artifact cauldron! They could feel that Aldrian’s strike was as powerful as a peak Emperor-stage attack, but to instantly dent a low divine-grade artifact like that, which was meant to be used as a defensive tool, was something even a peak Emperor-stage cultivator difficult to achieve.
This strange lightning must have unusual properties and a unique concept to make the artifact seem vulnerable!
The lightning strike Aldrian had just unleashed spread out, unlike when he had focused it at a single point in the underground base to attack the already dead devil. As a result, it was much weaker now. But if he had focused it on one point, wouldn’t that mean he could crack or even pierce the low divine-grade cauldron?
The others also used their movement techniques or defensive artifacts. The black lightning spread like a wide net, attempting to kill anyone caught in it. Grand Duke Gouvard instantly took out his family’s legacy artifact—a middle divine-grade spear—and created a slashing motion with his technique.
The power of the attack he unleashed was nearly the same as the lightning strike. Although his slash didn’t completely stop the lightning, it weakened it enough for him to block the remaining force with his other defensive artifact—a low divine-grade shield—in his other hand. However, the devils weren’t so fortunate, as they lacked the proper defenses to block the lightning. The other devils, aside from Wei Zhi, couldn’t defend against the strike and were instantly obliterated by it.
As for Wei Zhi, when he activated his defensive talisman, it instantly broke. But just before the lightning struck, he quickly used his secret escape technique. His body was struck by the lightning and instantly turned to crisp ash, but from the distance, something rose from the ground.
Thousands of small creatures formed a shape, and soon they molded into Wei Zhi. He gasped, his face tired as he looked toward Aldrian with trepidation.
He was fearless, unafraid of anything, even Emperor-stage cultivators. Yet, the black energy from Aldrian triggered a fear within him that he couldn’t control. It felt as though his fear had awakened after lying dormant for so long.
He used his substitute technique, sacrificing the gu inside him. This was one of his last-ditch efforts to escape if he was cornered, but the side effect was a drop in his strength, as the gu he had painstakingly raised inside him was sacrificed.
"I have to escape! That man is abnormal!"
When he attacked Aldrian with his poison technique, it seemed to have no effect. The poison appeared to be purified upon touching Aldrian’s body, as though he had immunity to all poison. Wei Zhi could confidently say that even a body constitution like the "Thousand Poison Body"—a famous constitution immune to all poisons—would still be poisoned by the technique he had personally refined using various poisons.
However, Aldrian simply watched him and his technique with curiosity, interest clearly shown on his face. It was as if he saw only him or his poison as an object of interest—a kind of guinea pig. Wei Zhi felt humiliated, but he knew the bigger picture.
It was better to save himself first and plan for the future. He no longer cared about the Doria Empire. He would be dead before Lord Envy could catch him if he didn’t escape now! He dashed toward the outside of the fortress, where he sensed many devils.
Grand Duke Gouvard and Master Dan, watching Wei Zhi try to escape, could only grit their teeth and curse him for his cowardice. However, they couldn’t attempt the same escape, as Aldrian had them tied down and seemed to be letting Wei Zhi go.
Wei Zhi then stepped onto the fortress wall and looked at the devils outside, who seemed confused by the sudden appearance of the spatial barrier covering the fortress.
"What is this barrier?"
"That is lord Wei Zhi!"
The devils looked upward, their eyes widening as they saw one of the members of the Seven Devils of Annihilation. Wei Zhi ignored the devils and took a quick glance at Aldrian, who was still standing in the same position with one hand moving as he unleashed black lightning at Master Dan and Grand Duke Gouvard. Wei Zhi could tell that Aldrian didn’t truly intend to kill these Emperor-stage cultivators but was instead playing with them.
Wei Zhi then saw Aldrian look in his direction with a smile. Seeing that smile, Wei Zhi felt a chill run down his spine and immediately tried to break the spatial barrier. Using his poison technique through his palm, he attempted to strike at the space itself. His comprehension of the poison laws had reached such a high level that it could even affect and poison space itself.
He used the corroding properties of his poison and attempted to corrode the spatial barrier. However, after striking the barrier, he was stunned to find that his poison had no effect whatsoever. Though the barrier seemed thin and transparent, it was actually sturdy enough to block one of his most powerful techniques, the 100 Poisonous Palm.
He tried another trick: releasing poisonous gas from his mouth toward the barrier. Although it was much weaker, he could use this technique for much longer. With his experience, he could release the gas for more than two hours before exhausting the energy in his dantian. However, he didn’t need that long. He only needed the gas to weaken the spatial barrier, allowing him to strike it with his next attack.
The devils outside also tried to help Wei Zhi by attacking the barrier, but their efforts were of little use, as the barrier only rippled slightly. There were more or less a thousand devils outside, the strongest of them at the Grand Duke stage.
"Arghh!"
Wei Zhi shivered when he heard the sound of Grand Duke Gouvard’s pain behind him. Glancing in the direction of Aldrian, he saw that Grand Duke Gouvard was in a miserable state: his low divine-grade shield was broken, and his body was covered in burn marks.
Master Dan’s cauldron had already cracked in several places and seemed on the verge of destruction. However, Aldrian remained calm, showing no signs of the pressure making him rush his poisonous technique. After a few seconds, he finally noticed some signs that the barrier was being affected by his continuous poison breath. 𝚗ov𝚙𝚞𝚋.c𝚘m
Even though it was a small development, he felt his chances of survival rising. He smiled, thinking that escape was no longer impossible.
However, his heart turned cold when he sensed a presence suddenly appear behind him.
"Where are you going, Wei Zhi? Why don’t we have a great chat?" Aldrian’s voice resonated in his left ear.
