Tian Hai looked the effeminate hand that had appeared next to Xue Chang. His mind wandered for a second as he realized this sight was actually a little familiar, but this time it was a mysterious appendage holding on to another strange appendage.
This time is wasn't a lightning dragon being held back by Xue Chang.
Yong Heng's voice rang out into the sky "Today I announce my return!"
Although Tian Kai and Tian Hai did not recognize it, seeing how calm Xue Chang appeared they were sure all of this was according to plan.
The crack above Xue Chang enlarged slightly as more of Yong Heng's arm tried to reach out, but he could only stretch out up to his shoulder.
At that moment a voice appeared in Xue Chang's head. He didn't even hesitate and his hands began to form several different signs, and a slit opened up in his forehead.
Opening his mouth, a suction force begin to release from Xue Chang as the arm in the sky was physically ripped away from its escape route and begin to shrink.
As it shrunk, the odd appendage flew over and entered into Xue Chang's gaping mouth. In a single motion, he completely inhaled and swallowed the arm. Much to Tian Hai's fright.
This sequence pf events was something that caused him to be completely lost. Usually, he could make sense of most things Xue Chang did, but this time it flew right over his head.
Xue Chang took note of his guards' curious expressions but ignored them for a second. Instead he closed his eyes once more and went into another meditative state.
The voice that appeared in Xue Chang's mind was actually not Yong Heng. But rather the voice of intent that came from another entity he was familiar with.
Lil Blackie, his asura, had requested of him to attempt to absorb the arm. the process was sent into his mind and Xue Chang immediately took action. His sudden actions not only surprised Tian Hai but Yong Heng as well, who seemed like he wanted to say something but held back.
Closing his eyes, Xue Chang could see a mysterious space appear in front of him. In this space, the arm from the sky floated around idly. Almost as if it was dead.
And just as he was about to ask Lil Black what he should do next, another figure appeared in the strange space. It was an adorable puppy with fur as dark as the night sky, Lil Blackie!
The pup swam over to the arm and began to nibble on its edges. Xue Chang calmly sat there and watched the seen slowly. While usually he would have been a little concerned with the actions he just took, right now he didn't show a single trace of fear.
Lil Blackie and him were connected on a strange wavelength. They could almost perfectly understand each other's emotions and thoughts with just a quick glance.
As such when the asura made his request, Xue Chang knew that it would pose him no danger and immediately went to work.
This sense of familiarity had only appeared one time before. It was a similar feeling to what he and his twin brother felt.
Thinking of Xue Hai, Xue Chang felt a melancholy feeling overtake him. But this feeling disappeared soon after. HIs brother was becoming an immortal! There was no reason for him to feel sad about it. And it wasn't like he was completely heartless.
From recent news, Xue Chang knew that Xue Hai was at a critical juncture of this cultivation at this very moment. But once their sister's eight birthday came, he was positive his little brother would make a trip no matter what.
Time passed quickly in the mysterious space as the asura continued to gnaw at the arm until it had completely disappeared. The asura released a satisfied sigh as a wave of sleepiness asked over it.
Xue Chang understood that despite the years that passed, this creature was still in its infant stages. As such it mainly only ate and slept at the moment. He didn't mind this however, as he was sure that as the asura matured the benefits it could give him would be immense.
Feeling the bond between man and asura deepen slightly Xue Chang smiled lightly to himself.
It seemed that he would be close to the next stage, and if he was lucky maybe he would obtain the subspace!
Suddenly Xue Chang noticed something strange occur, before when he used "Thousand Armed Asuras" he could only summon up to 20 arms. But now there was one extra, the 21st arm.
"Hmm that's odd, I can tell this arm is a part of my ability now but it also feels off. Like it's not an original part of the spell."
Xue Chang couldn't help but notice that this new addition was different than the other arms. It felt more unique, as if it belonged to its own world.
Yong Heng's voice rang in Xue Chang's head, "Thousand arm asura allows you to partake in an asura's power after splitting it into a thousand portions. Theoretically the absolute limit should be a thousand arms, but this one… this one doesn't seem to hold to that limit."
"What does that mean Yong Heng?"
"It means that if you fully master that spell, you won't have a thousand arms. You'd have a thousand and one. Which should be impossible, I've never heard of something like this happening before."
This was unheard of, Yong Heng had never seen anyone somehow get an extra arm. Then again, this arm was something formed by his prison, so it was quite rare in its own way.
Xue Chang didn't question it too much. He could tell that this was the result Lil Blackie wanted and it definitely wouldn't be detrimental to him.
It was an odd feeling, but not a bad one.
All Yong Heng could do was silently gaze on at the new arm, but slowly his eyes raised up and saw Tian Kai and Tian Hai standing nearby.
In the past, he used to see a strange gauze wrapped around them, hidden from sight. No one, not even Xue Chang was able to see this gauze.
This was a person's "fate". Not matter how talented or powerful a person could be, there was no doubt that there was an end point to their destiny.
But, after the tribulation with the shadows, that gauze had now disappeared. Just as he predicted. Agitating the heavens above caused a distortion in literal fate to occur, forming the shadows that the two guards fought against.
In the past he was sure that it was their fate to never get past the qi refining stage, but now that they had fought against their own fate and won it was up to them to decide where their path would take them.
Today, not only Xue Chang, but even those around him had truly surpassed their own limits.