Ace felt his soul was recovering rapidly because of the absorbance of the orb's element-essential qi and recover some of his strength.
Ace HD-Qi started to boil in his meridians and he instantly active silent steps to evade the upcoming guardian who has leaps towards him and it was like it was flying at high speed all its sharp hands combined in front, it looks like a spearhead with monstrous power behind it.
Last time Ace was caught off-guard because of the soul attack and hit by the guardian sudden attack when he was in a muddled state. However, this time Ace was completely sober and he can still evade physical attacks, especially since this guardian body was not as powerful as a Qi River realm cultivator.
Besides, it seems like this thing has panic about something and was in hurry to end him so it didn't use its soul attack and directly used physical attack to end him quickly. Further, it seemed that powerful soul attack took some time to activate or the last two soul attack was already its limits.
'shhhuuuu'
By a hair, he evades the attack of the guardian and quickly runs to the opposite direction Ace was striving to make some distance between them.
That guardian seems to be a little surprised by how Ace who was looking lifeless just a moment ago was able to move like this now. But it didn't care because it could sense that the 'element essential Qi' of the elemental orb was depleting at a fast pace.
It was just about to turn around to used a soul attack this time when the empty and silent sky of the moon forest's core region started to become noisy. All of a sudden temperature started to drop.
The guardian felt extreme danger and immediately after that, a huge pressure descend on it like a huge mountain and because of this huge pressure, it can't move its body anymore. It struggles but it was all in vain. This pressure has locked it into its place.
Ace's condition was the same or even worse than the guardian's because he was wounded and his soul was still in a healing process when this huge pressure lock on him.
However, Ace stand strong and didn't fall on the ground because of the mountain-like pressure. 'Is this pressure coming from heavenly punishment?'
'This pressure is much stronger than that thing, but my body is resisting it to some degree. Is it because of the Heavenly Qi?' Thought Ace intensely.
He felt like his unique Qi was helping him resist this pressure and that was how he still standing right now or he would be fell on the ground long ago and can't even move a finger.
If Ace know that no one can move in heavenly punishment before he would instantly choose to go through it first without hesitation. So, it could lock that monster in one place and let the heavenly punishment deal with it and he will somehow cross this punishment because he has heavenly qi.
Ace now thinks that some random lightning would strike after seeing he can move a little bit and guardian can't, but very soon he will find out just how naïve his thoughts were.
Suddenly, the dark sky of the core region seems real but it has no stars and moon one could tell it was not real and some kind of natural phenomenon.
'Errr, crrakk,'
Cracks began to appear in the 'sky' and suddenly it shatters like glass!
It was like something has hammered it and shatter the dark dome of the core region.
Rays of light enter the dark core region of the moon forest for the first time in thousands of years.
Ace was startled by this, 'It seems like outside is still daytime.' He thinks because he didn't see any light here from the moment he entered. He has no idea about how time was moving outside.
It was like he was in a huge dark cage and someone has tear opened it with force.
'So, this is how strong can a nature trap be. It is like the entire core region of the moon forest was this elemental orb domain and nobody can find their way out once come inside.' Ace thought gravely.
If this was true then he was in huge trouble because he still needs to find seven more orbs and just this first one has given him the deadliest time of his life. And he was still not out of danger yet.
However, Ace's focus quickly shifted towards his body because the Dark Void has started to greedily absorb Heavenly Qi at a high scale and pumping it to Ace's meridians and entire body. It was like he was in a deep ocean of Heavenly Qi. Even his injuries begun to heal because of it.
Even space started to tremble as all the Heavenly Qi within hundreds of miles began to gather towards Ace, his surrounding Qi becomes practically Heavenly Qi. It was so dense that it could be seen with the physical eye like a black mist.
The strangest thing was the dark void wasn't converting the Heavenly Qi into HD-Qi it was devouring the heavenly qi like a bottomless hole. All the heavenly qi was entering inside and no one knows where this huge amount of heavenly qi was going.
'RUBLE!'
Before the dark void could absorb anymore Heavenly Qi it supplies was cut off by something unknown and Ace hear a huge rumble above his head as he snapped open his eyes to see the source of this rumbling.
However, the moment he saw above his head his face turns ashen and became horrified.
Because the originally sunny and cloudless sky moment ago has now turned dark, with pitch-black inky clouds. Thunder rumbled and white lightning flashed in them.
Everything within hundreds of miles went completely dark.
It was like Ace has returned into the core region again but it was now darker.
"Is this the Heavenly Punishment?! How the hell I'm supposed to endure punishment from this thing??!" Ace was completely horrified and couldn't help but curse out loud, "System are you sending me to my death even that monster was cuter in front of that huge forming thunder cloud???!!"
Before Ace has some idea but now it was finally confirmed just where the hell that huge pressure and what has stopped the heavenly qi around the area, it was all happening exactly because of those inky clouds or descending of the 'Heavenly Punishment'.
He saw that all those black clouds were like a huge whirlpool, and the whirlpool's center was right above himself!
That whirlpool looked like nothing more than a huge black eye focusing expressionlessly on him. At the same time, a terrifying destructive will pushed down upon him and it was way more powerful than before's pressure. The previous pressure seems like a child in front of this will.
Ace immediately realized that he was now unable to move even an inch. He was unable to even blink.
'I'm doomed!' This was the only wild thought in his mind right now.
Ace saw more and more inky clouds gather in the sky. The white lightning within the sky gradually converged at the center of the black clouds like it was concentrating at a single point.
"Is that collection of lightning going strike me?!" Even if Ace was naïve, he didn't dare to take that strike head-on. He madly struggled to somehow free himself.
But it was as if his whole body was being pressed by a huge mountain. Despite his best efforts, his body merely trembled continuously. The ground beneath his foot started to crack.
Ace couldn't help but tremble in fear. He tried shifting his body but he felt as if a whole mountain was crushing him from every direction. Even after using his heavenly qi he was only able to make very small movements and was simply unable to dodge anything.
The inky clouds in the sky were becoming increasingly thick, and the lightning was becoming more and more concentrated in the center.
Suddenly, the rumbling sky became completely silent. A white bolt of lightning several feet wide, it was no longer lightning it was pure 'Destructive Thunder' and it shot straight down from the center of the black clouds.
However, this thunderbolt target was not Ace it shot towards the orb guardian who was standing still in its place helplessly like Ace. Its Qi was not heavenly qi like Ace so he can't even move a single finger. The white thunderbolt power seeming to want to destroy and exterminate every living being in its path.
Ace watched as that terrifying white thunderbolt descended. He felt an endless destructive will and despair coming from it.
The white despair thunder finally strikes straight into the guardian's head full of eyes.
"BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!"
A huge booming sound rang in the vacancy and hundreds of meters of ground crumbled as that one thunderbolt create a huge crater.
Ace has made quite some distance from the guardian before he was locked on his current spot, but even after that he was caught in after-shocked by the thunderbolt and he vomited two consecutive mouthfuls of blood.
Ace was horrified after seeing this and finally understand the true terror of angry Heaven.
Before he didn't pay much attention to the risk of using the heaven stealer technique and stole from heaven. He thought that the benefits were just too great and enduring the heavenly punishment now and then would be worth it.
However, now he finally knows that the prize of using the heaven stealer technique was this deadly.
Ace saw the towering-like guardian body in the center of the crater, its body was charred all over, and he could even see grey flued coming from its eye sockets that have turned into meat pasta now.
The mighty guardian of the Qi River realm has died in a single thunder strike of Heaven.
'Rumblllleeeee'
Ace snapped out his dazzled state after he hears a huge rumble even stronger than before.
He trembly look above and saw even more lighting was concentrating in the center of the whirlpool.
It seems like the last bolt was to clear any obstacle between Ace and Heaven.
Now that the 'hindrance' was out of the way, it was finally time to punish Heaven's Stealer!