Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

The silver light over the horizon caused Yan Zaizen's eyes to constrict and his heart to palpitate. He knew where his sensation of imminent crisis originated from. However, upon seeing the silver light, his body froze. He tried urging his body to move, to survive, but it refused to budge. It was almost as if his soul was telling his body to stay still and obey its will. The feeling was almost as strange as the self-observation from earlier.

"Hahahahaha! Still wish to run?!" Laughter filled with malevolent will surged across tens of miles in distance. Yan Zaizen urged his utmost strength to turn his head to see its source, only to see several blips of light from the horizon speeding towards his direction and becoming larger.

"Shit!" Yan Zaizen shouted. At this moment, his struggles to rid himself of this strange paralysis intensified only to be met with failure. His bones uttered cracking sounds, but his body didn't budge an inch. He could only watch as the blips of light flew over to reveal what surprised him even further.

A group of people wearing similar martial attires were being chased by a dirty old man who laughed at the sky with a scythe in hand. The dirty old man was dressed completely in black, his eyes seemed overly sunken and almost unhealthy shade of pale-white covered his face, but his body released a tyrannical aura. His teeth were sparkling white, lips thin, and body seemed to be frail - reminiscent of Yan Zaizen's scrawny physique. The most notable feature was the glowing orb emitting resplendent and pulsating smoky light into the air from the man's dantian.

Origin Core Realm!!!

His heart released erratic heartbeats from this realization.

Meteorite City was a relatively large city with influence in the country of Presba, and not a single member has reached the Origin Core Realm. In Presba, he could only imagine the top clans and sects in the country would possess such domineering experts. The upper-echelons of his clan, even his grandfather, were only at the peak of the Qi Unification Realm. The Origin Core Realm was essentially a legend in his eyes and not once did he ever think he'd witness one with his eyes. Their status was lofty; their strength, insidiously powerful.

He didn't have much time to think on this revelation any longer as the group of experts who were running stopped just above him several hundred feet in the air, and they ignored his existence like a human ignores an ant. Don't get him wrong, he loved this, but hated that they had to stop where he was. Do they want to take his little life in their battle?

The experts' expressions were odd as they stopped, they looked around here and they then turned their eyes towards the dirty old man, who stopped just a few dozen meters from them while laughing. They seemed to be surprised, and their eyes hid a deep-seated level of fear. One of the experts spoke, "A formation?" This expert, unlike the others, had only vigilance in his eyes - no fear.

"You like it?" The dirty old man said with relaxed and laughing expression. It would seem as if he was just asking an old friend about how they liked his new tool or home. However, the expert couldn't help but retort, "Han Genji, do you really wish to go against my Soaring Cloud Sect?!" His tone held a hint of arrogance and aggression.

Soaring Cloud Sect?!

Yan Zaizen knew of the Soaring Cloud Sect, just like he knew of the Water Veil Sect. They were, with three others, apart of the Five Great Sects of Presba. The Soaring Cloud Sect had extraordinary prowess in cultivation and had a varied and agile number of methods. They weren't the weakest of the Five Great Sects either, and they definitely had Origin Core Realm experts holding the fort.

The Five Great Sects of Presba were the Soaring Cloud Sect, Water Veil Sect, Earthly Titan Sect, Vanishing Fiend Sect, and Solitary Sword Sect. With the Solitary Sword Sect at the forefront of strength, they were extraordinary enough to possess enormous influence over the entire country. However, the five sects didn't just inspire awe inside Yan Zaizen, but also a little bit of sadness. If recalled, Ya Qinqan's dream of entering the female-only Water Veil Sect led to him giving her everything he had to realize her dream only to marry another. Yan Jinzen was also attempting to join the Soaring Cloud Sect. Thus, his feelings were undoubtedly complex.

In response to the Soaring Cloud expert's words, the dirty old man simply flashed his teeth in a sinister smile that seemed to send a cold chill down one's spine.

Witnessing this, the Soaring Cloud expert expression fell, and the others around him had the fear in their eyes intensify. Now they were caught in his formation, and it just meant their current predicament had been a premeditated act. Escaping with their lives may very well be a dream unless they were willing to pay an exceptional cost.

"Fine. I, Gao Shiyan, shall fight you to the death." As he said this, a sword inexplicably revealed itself in his hands. The tightening of the hilt of his blade only revealed his fluctuating emotions, despite his calm expression. However, the dirty old man simply laughed, "With just you? Hahaha!" The others realized the situation and adjusted their positioning rather quickly; each of them glowed with a resplendent smoky silver light that interconnected with each other, and then a brighter light poured into Gao Shiyan's body. Gao Shiyan's expression turned even calmer, and his grip on his sword tightened to the point where it resounded even to Yan Zaizen's eyes.

However, seeing this, the dirty old man — named Han Genji — simply shook his head. His eyes brimmed with playful amusement and a hint of pity. Unaffected by their attempts at establishing a formation, he began to finally take the initiative to speak. "You all chased me under the shade of being righteous and ridding this world of evil, but didn't you just want my life for your own gains? Now that I've ascended to the Origin Core Realm, you want to retreat and even bargain for your lives? How laughable! What a good dream, what a good Soaring Cloud Sect!"

His tone held grievance, and it seems like he had a thousand words to say, but could only say these. Gao Shiyan, however, just readied his Qi. From Yan Zaizen's perspective, he was familiar with the level of Qi pulsation, it was at the Qi Unification Realm, and likely not at the initial-stage, but a realm excellently cultivated. Normally, Yan Zaizen wouldn't be able to notice the difference, but with his soul having properly ascended to a cultivated status, it allowed his memory and sensations of before to become more vivid.

The others around Gao Shiyan also possessed a similar aura of Qi Unification, but considerably weaker. Likely, they were at the Initial or mid-stage.

At this point, Yan Zaizen determined a few things from their exchange. Firstly, he was currently in a formation. It makes sense that rarely any lifeforms were in this area except rather weak ones, and why no one even comes to these isolated plains. It was simply that he never perceived it. Secondly, this formation has trapped not only him but also them. It seems he's been restricted from moving due to his low cultivation while they are likely weakened and understood running away was an impossibility within this formation. Third, they were going to fight to the death right here.

Lastly, it's likely he'll lose his little life in the ensuing chaos.