Caedlum’s shoulders slumped as a small smile played his features. He was happy that he had won, but he was truly too fatigued now. Unlike Dyon, he didn’t have replenishing techniques, he could only rely on his body. However, because he had used his Asura transformation, even though it was only to a minor level, his recovery rate had significantly slowed despite his body cultivation expertise.
He stood, to the best of his abilities, and watched as Uma was taken away by members of Planet Mino. It seemed they were stunned by their loss, but at the same time, there was a measure of respect in their eyes for Caedlum.
What others didn’t know just yet was that Planet Mino had been taken over by beasts. Uma, herself, was a member of a Primal Ape bloodline.
She couldn’t be said to be a peak most member of this bloodline, but she had been deemed worthy enough to be sent on this mission along with the rest of their clan. That said, she wasn’t their main hope, because that rested on the top 6 beauty, Saru’s shoulders.
Many started looking at the top 6 beauty after this display. Although Uma was part of a different clan, the fact she had turned into an ape made them quite apprehensive as to what Saru might be. If a beauty like her turned out to be an ape as well, wouldn’t that just be too sad?
However, Saru seemed oblivious to these gazes as she remained a picture of perfection frozen in time. She knew that although Caedlum had won, he was very much vulnerable right now. They had other members ranked highly in the top 20 that could take their place back forcefully. So, she wasn’t too worried about their position weakening.
Saru’s thoughts seemed to be reciprocated by the crowd. Ferocious gazes seemed to pierce Caedlum’s heaving back as he tried to catch his breath. It seemed they were all waiting for the moment Uma was gone to be the first to step on stage.
The time passed almost too slowly, but as soon as the final member of Planet Mino left the stage, a surging crowd of young warriors pushed and shoved toward Caedlum’s stage, jockeying for position as they sprinted forward.
Caedlum turned around, laughing bitterly to himself as he watched this scene. His muscles were completely torn, and his energy was depleted. He might as well forfeit to the person who stepped up first.
However, the first to land on the stage was someone no one had ever expected. Even Caedlum was surprised, a questioning look appearing on his usually stoic features.
“Hey! You already have a spot, you can’t challenge him!”
Someone roared from the crowd, turning their ire onto the figure that landed leisurely before Caedlum. The crowd of warriors completely agreeing making their grievances known as they continued to make their way toward the stage, convinced that this person’s challenge didn’t count.
Suddenly, a massive wall of gold and purple appeared around Caedlum’s stage, completely blocking out the coming challengers and causing Elder Den’s brow to furrow.
“What exactly is it that you’re doing? We’ve given you a spot in the top ten already, are you not satisfied? You want to use a fallen comrade as a chance to climb up the rankings? How pathetic can you get?” Elder Den sneered.
Elder Den couldn’t understand why Dyon had stepped onto the stage. Why else would it be so other than him trying to secure a higher ranking?
“Either way, members of the top ten aren’t allowed to challenge each other in this stage. But, I do appreciate you making your character quite clear to everyone in attendance.” Elder Den concluded.
“Huh?” Dyon looked up from Caedlum, “I have no intention of challenging Caedlum, what are you talking about?”
Elder Den’s brow furrowed, “Get out of the way and allow others to challenge then.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Dyon smiled lightly, “I’m not in the way. As long as they step onto the stage, they can be considered to have challenged Caedlum. But, it doesn’t seem like they want it enough, so I’m just having a leisurely chat with a friend of mine.”
Dyon’s hand clasped Caedlum’s shoulder, which at first caused him to wince, before an inexplicable feeling of relief and comfort washed over him. Caedlum’s eyes couldn’t help but widen in shock – he immediately understood Dyon’s intentions… But, just how powerful was Dyon to be capable of causing such a drastic change in his body so quickly?
Who didn’t know that the more powerful a cultivator’s body, the harder it was to heal? After all, the quality of material making up your body was greater, which means what it took to damage it was greater, which also meant what it took to heal that damage was obviously also greater. And yet, Caedlum could feel his muscles mending at a noticeable pace even as his to-be challengers pounded against the array he created.
“Move.” Elder Den’s eyes sharpened, “Or I’ll be forced to move you myself.” His hand waved, immediately destroying Dyon’s array. But, to his frustration, before the warriors could surge forward, yet another barrier appeared. He felt silly playing this game of cat and mouse with a junior. He was a peak saint! Destroying these barriers were child’s play, but he had no way of stopping Dyon from creating more. And something told him that if he tried to attack Dyon directly… That puppet might make a reappearance.
Suddenly, an obsidian tree spanning hundreds of meters bloomed behind Dyon, with clear veins of transparent crystals running up its trunk.
King Acacia and Belmont, who were of course in the skybox, could only shake their heads at this point. This boy had shocked them one too many times… They were almost numb to it. Him learning the Acacia Family Manifestation technique? Sure… Why not.
‘Our ancestors are probably rolling in their graves…’ King Acacia sighed.
If King Acacia knew that Dyon had already bullied his ancestors, one could only imagine how he’d react.
“Husband, that doesn’t seem like the base form of the technique either. It’s evolved.” Kawa said, giggling.
King Acacia sighed. He was one of the very few experts who managed to keep up his soul cultivation with his energy cultivation. It was only that he had sealed away his power, especially his soul power which his True Empathy was based in, in order to preserve his sanity. But, now that he was cured and even guided to a first level celestial will by his son in law, his soul had once again slowly bloomed back to its normal height.
This meant that unlike his wife Kawa, he could now see through Dyon’s soul cultivation completely. In fact, he could scan Dyon without Dyon even noticing at this point.
Before, Kawa was already sure that Dyon’s soul power was past the 5th stage. However, she couldn’t be sure because beasts usually had poor soul talent – with only very rare exceptions like the celestial deer sect. This was why Ri’s soul talent was lacking and also why Kawa’s soul cultivation lagged behind her body and energy cultivation.
‘To have a mid 7th stage soul at sixteen… What kind of monster are you…’ King Acacia sighed. He really liked this son in law of his. He had never seen a mind so pure before… He truly felt that even if he couldn’t cleanse himself, if it was only him and Dyon in the world, he would never go berserk.
The thing that truly shocked King Acacia though, was something even Dyon hadn’t noticed. Dyon’s soul was constantly improving passively without the need for him to use a soul cultivation technique!
That in itself wasn’t the truly outstanding point. After all, if an expert completely ignored soul cultivation, but focused on energy or body cultivation, their soul would slowly, over time, catch up. However, Dyon’s soul was already far past his body and energy cultivation!
That said, King Acacia didn’t know if this was a good thing… When he spoke with his good friend King Belmont, he had found out that Dyon’s soul break through had caused a massive commotion. In the end, Dyon had forcefully absorbed saint stones to raise his body cultivation to survive!
Sure, that had worked for a saint soul… But what about a celestial soul? The qualitative change wasn’t something Dyon could fathom. But what if he survived that, would he survive creating a dao soul?
King Acacia almost felt ridiculous that he was practically confirming Dyon would reach that level, but he would feel even more ridiculous not concluding that! What kind of concept was it to be a saint at sixteen? Even through the entire cosmos there might only be a few talents that achieved such a thing. But, those talents would have done so in body or energy cultivation! Two paths that were significantly easier to advance in.
Calling Dyon a monster, was, quite frankly, an understatement.
‘I have to talk him about this… I’m not sure if there’s a solution, but if he keeps improving at this rate, he’s going to die because of his own talent. If you let my daughter become a widow at such a young age, I’ll reach into the stream of reincarnation and revive you just to kill you again!’ King Acacia harrumphed.
That was, of course, something completely impossible for him or anyone else in existence for that matter. Even transcendents couldn’t do such a thing. The laws of the universe were too solid and set in place. But, that didn’t stop King Acacia for swearing such a thing for the sake of his daughter.
Below, Dyon was practically force feeding Caedlum the fruits that fell from his Tree of Life and Death as his game of cat and mouse continued with Elder Den. He had even begun mixing in concealment arrays so Elder Den didn’t know where to direct his power and what to shatter. It was quite funny watching those eager warriors think there was a free lane only to run into an invisible wall.
The time that had passed was barely half a minute, but Caedlum already looked hundreds of times better than he had. The surrounding crowd could only watch in awe as Dyon practically worked a miracle.
‘Is it really so easy to cure people?…’ The crowd was stunned.
Even Caedlum couldn’t help but look down at himself as his body seemed to be renewed. Inwardly, he was aware that he had only recovered about 60-70%, but only 30 seconds had passed!
“Dyon, thank you.” He said with a resolute look in his eyes. Even though him at 70% wouldn’t have been enough to fight for a spot in the top ten, it was more than enough to fight these bottom rankers. Especially since they didn’t have to know he wasn’t at 100%.
Dyon laughed, “It’s no big deal. We’re allies now. I’ll always have your back.” Dyon looked up, “Sorry for the intrusion Elder Den. I was just have a quick chat with my friend. I’m sure 30 seconds hasn’t delayed things too much, right?”
Elder Den nearly lost it at the grin on Dyon’s face. But, before he could say anything, Dyon had already removed all barriers and flashed back to his stage.
All of the rankers could only watch helplessly as Caedlum’s once slumped back straightened. His aura once again became sharp and stifling, and his gaze seemed to pierce to everyone of them who had been eager to take advantage of his weakness.
Madeleine and Ri, who had obviously not taken part in the stampede, only giggled to each other. It seemed their husband really enjoyed stirring up trouble and he wasn’t at all remorseful about it.
Dyon leisurely reclined on his array, laughing to himself, ‘I’ll have to use devour on the next opponent I get if it’s soon, that is. Who would have thought Caedlum’s body would be so strong! With my soul being at the saint level, and his body only being at the lower essence gathering level, it should have been much easier than it was to cure him… I guess I should pay more attention to the demon sage’s techniques…’
Caedlum’s eyes flashed, looking out into the hesitant crowd with a deadpan expression. “Come.”
In the end, the top 20 rankers from Planet Nix and Mino had no choice but to try their luck and regain the positions their planets had lost. But, there was a reason they, themselves, hadn’t been a part of the top ten to begin with. They were far inferior to those of their planet that had lost, so how could they succeed?
Caedlum was capable of leisurely taking care of two such wishful thinkers, and thus made it clear that his new health wasn’t a façade – Dyon had truly cured him.
This raised Dyon’s cache with the crowd even further. There wasn’t a single person in the universe, who was currently watching, that didn’t know Dyon’s name by heart. But, it was no longer because they saw him as a coward. Instead, they saw him as an undisputed genius who had earned every right to be as arrogant as he had been.
Whether or not he cheated was something they had long stopped debating. It just didn’t matter. In fact, there even came a faction of people who were a proponent of it being perfectly fine even if he did cheat. They believed that since it was his expertise in array alchemy that had benefited him, it had technically been his very own power that he relied on to rank highly. As a result, who were they to say he didn’t deserve his rank.
“You go out and cheat if it’s so easy,” They’d say. It was clear that Dyon was beginning to build up his very own fanclub.
“Hmph, I liked it when he was less popular,” Ri pouted.
Madeleine only giggled in response, taking Ri’s arm in hers as they walked to a new set of stages.
The challenging of the top ten had concluded. Dyon had been challenged a few times by the end, but those challengers had never expected to win, they only wanted to test the waters and temper themselves. So, Dyon had gladly obliged. He hadn’t even needed to get up, making use of his array alchemy to build defenses and send out spears was more than enough for him to secure his consecutive victories.
Aside from that, many had tried to test their luck with Vidar and Thor, just to see if they were tired from their battles. But, they had come up empty handed.
Now was the time to officially rank the bottom ninety rankers all before the most anticipated event of the tournament.
Who would stand at the top of the geniuses?
Would it be Tau Aumen? The man with the most experience and the most accumulated cultivation?
Would it be Lionel Belmont? A newly found number one, royal prince, and wielder of the almighty fire and ice flames?
Would it be Saru Shruti? A beauty beyond words, and new comer?
Or would it be yet another new comer in Zabia Jafari? A man with an outer appearance of a brute, but such fine and well tuned control of his wills that he would be noted as a genius wherever he was?
Or even yet, would it be the four completely new sprouts of those rankers? Caedlum? Thor? Vidar? Or would it be Dyon?
The penultimate battle would soon be upon them.
**
In a cave under the Belmont Holy Land mountain range.
“I don’t understand, grandfather. What was the point of waiting all of this time if we were just going to infiltrate without the Belmonts anyway? Don’t tell me we were worried about a measly King Belmont enough to wait for him to be gone to attack?”
A familiar sharp Asian teen stood clad in black. His aura had seemingly completely changed in the past year, and although he had begged his family for a chance to participate in the World Tournament, they had turned him down.
This young man was, of course, Daiyu Chenglei.
“I know that you’re feeling restless about not being able to participate in the tournament, but that’s no reason to start doubting your elders boy.” Elder Daiyu reprimanded. “Do you know how vast this cosmos is? What use is there in ranking in such a small universe? There are competitions you may participate in for the future that are across entire quadrants! There are even inter quadrant competitions, and you’re worried about this little world tournament?
Let me tell you, the only reason we even hold this tournament anymore is because we’re not worthy of being invited to any other ones. Now stay focused.”
Chenglei nodded obediently, staying quiet.
“We attack now, while King Belmont is away for many reasons. One, he isn’t to be underestimated. Or, more accurately, his allies shouldn’t be underestimated. The celestial deer sect paid a heavy price to shatter our daos and severely weaken us, so even our strongest are stuck within the realms of celestial experts.
You have no concept of how powerful the Elvin King is at his peak. But, even he isn’t the one we really must worry about.” Elder Daiyu paused, shaking his head. “There’s no use in speaking of this. In all likelihood, they’re aware that this is the best time for us to attack too. The only reason they aren’t pressing us right now is because they know we also need them.”
“You mean the reason we’re attacking now is for leverage?…”
“Yes. We need to be in position for when the Belmonts do something only they can. But, the only reason we can do this is because –“ Elder Daiyu looked around, “Where is Little Meiying?”
“I sent her away.” Chenglei responded, “She’s served her purpose of finding the entrance for us. She’s just a trophy wife for me now, she has no use here. Once I complete my technique, I’ll consummate our union.”
Elder Daiyu shook his head, “You should value that girl. You have no idea how rare and powerful a feng shui compass will is. I dare say she may be the only one in the quadrant with such an ability. You saw for yourself, even that Jade girl’s True Empath abilities weren’t able to find the entrance. And yet Meiying succeeded easily.”
Chenglei harrumphed, “That’s why I sent her away first. She was already tainted by another. Since she’s no longer of use, I don’t see why I can’t just directly kill her.” Chenglei felt nothing but disdain when he thought of Jade. Not only was she now incomparably ugly, she had even boasted to him about time she spent with Dyon. Ridiculous! Chenglei’s current impotence was a very sore spot for him, and she felt no qualms about pressing it.
“Never mind that. Hand me the box. Our family is still waging war above us, we can’t delay. They need time to retreat before the tournament concludes.”
Chenglei nodded, but when he looked down at his finger, his eyes widened. “My spatial ring…”
Suddenly, a corrosive laugh filled the hallway of the cave behind them as a masked girl with long silver hair appeared.
“Jade?” Chenglei’s brows furrowed. “Didn’t I tell you to leave?”
“You should adopt a nicer tone with me. Or else you’ll never know what happened with that spatial ring of yours… And nor will you find that box.” Jade giggled lightly, relishing in the power she held.