"Tch! At least that stupid cat remembered us! Still, that idiot Long Di was here all along!? I can't believe I was actually worried!"
****
The figure who spoke was one of petite stature, a stark contrast to the other speaker. Her curly hair mirrored the clouds in the distance in terms of colour and texture. Its grey hue challenged the stormy nature of a coming thunderstorm.
It was no one else but Mina Tempesta, the goddess of reincarnation. The one who was forced by the elder gods to come to the cultivation world to accompany Long Di on his journey.
The primary observer didn't say anything in response to Mina's tirade, appearing as if she was already used to it.
"So this is the… 'human,' that lord emissary said the prince mentioned on the day of his birth, incredible. I thought this would be a boring mission, but I'm growing more and more interested."
"This sucks! Stupid Long Di! I wonder how that show ended up after I got kicked out of the Anima Palace? What was it called again? I think it was JoJo's Bizarre Ad—"
The eyes of the observer slid in Mina's direction with a glint of annoyance. "Why are you still here? In addition, don't say that name so close to me," the woman said, cutting off the goddess's rant.
"Hold on, you know about JoJo's Biza—"
"No!" the observer interrupted. "I meant the name of the human! It is taboo among our people!"
"Oh, you mean Long Di? Alright, Long Qiang," Mina started once more, calling the observer by her name. "I told you that I've been searching for this dead-faced meme-worthy calamity for a while now. It isn't my fault that the stupid cat called Long Di's name as soon as he was born." Mina advised.
She was aware of what Pebbles the Wondercat had done because this took place before she left the Anima palace.
"Surely, you're not referring to the crown prince when you say CAT are you!?" A draconic aura surged from Long Qiang.
The power hidden within her body rippled below the surface, bursting to get out.
Mina's eye twitched in irritation when she saw this. Never did she think in her entire life as an immortal goddess that a cat, a CAT! Would ever be referred to as a prince!
"Whatever," Mina turned her head to the side, not looking at Long Qiang.
When the observer saw this, she retracted her aura. "Good, now shut up and just watch, this is getting good. You, humans, talk too much."
"I am a goddess!"
"Eh, five out of ten."
"Your mother is a five out of te—!"
…
The peach blossom petals that fluttered out of nowhere changed the mood of the entire battlefield.
"This…!"
The image of the Peach Blossom Sage appeared in front of Long Di as he stared at the elders and guardians that brought their disciples to raid his sanctuary.
When his eyes landed on the 'finger,' that Long Di constructed, his eyes narrowed before his expression turned to one of horror!
He didn't pay much attention to the elders and guardians. Though they were much stronger than Long Di cultivation-wise, the move that Long Di was executing was one that warranted his utmost concern.
His head quickly snapped back to where he saw Long Di's sorry appearance. There was no spot where blood was absent since it leaked out between the cracks that littered his body.
"Fool!"
The Spiritual Intent of the Peach Blossom Sage hurried over behind Long Di and placed his hand on his back.
Before long, energy could be seen coursing through his body and into Long Di. The cracks that covered his body began to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"Quick, dispel the technique!" The Peach Blossom Sage's Spiritual Intent roared at Long Di.
"What? Why?" Long Di asked, genuinely confused.
"You're a one-star core martial master and this move is at least a High-rank Heaven Grade martial technique at the very least!"
"Still not giving me a reason here big guy."
"Wha… Because you're killing yourself!" The Peach Blossom Sage didn't know why he found Long Di to be so insufferably infuriating!
"Now I don't want to sound like an expert on the subject of living or anything, but I'm feeling really not dead right now and trust me, I should know." Long Di's lazy voice rang out.
"You—!"
"Anyway," Long Di interrupted. "Since you're giving me energy to heal, can you do me a favour and help me finish this move, please? I need to know where its shortcomings lie, and since my body was falling apart like the sanity of a third-year college student, I would rather not do it without the proper fuel."
"Oh, so you're asking me now? I thought you would continue to take it without my consent!" the Spiritual Intent of the Peach Blossom Sage said.
He could feel that Long was channelling a portion of the energy he was feeding him into that martial technique of his.
Long Di was silent for a moment before he commented. "… I would trouble you to not say things that others could easily misunderstand. Now the amount of energy I'm able to forcibly redirect to my technique is only able to keep it from dissipating. So if you could give me some more energy to kill these old people with it, that would be great."
"What a troublesome protégé," the Spiritual Intent stopped wasting time and decided to help Long Di all the way.
Whoosh
A furious wind kicked up as the Spiritual Intent of the Peach Blossom Sage unreservedly poured his energy into Long Di's body.
Originally, a One-Star Core Martial Master could never handle the influx of energy from a Star Creation Sage even if it was a Spiritual Intent, but the Peach Blossom Sage's Spiritual Intent felt like he was feeding a bottomless pit!
Long Di circulated the energy being sent into his body according to the method of his cultivation technique and from there it converted into Heavenly Levyance tribulation energy.
The originally dim finger began to regain its lost lustre, even shining brighter than it was before!
The faces of the elders who were holding out earlier began to pale when they saw what was happening.
"Hold it!" Gang Heng roared.
Though he was a demon, the human race experts didn't think to do otherwise because failure to hold out would result in their deaths!
Dum!
The finger started to descend once more as its weight on the remaining shields caused them to crack and buckle under the pressure and the power Long Di levied upon them.
After a while, one could see runes flowing around the finger. These runes granted it an ancient and regal bearing that one couldn't resist.
As Long Di started to get more comfortable using the Peach Blossom Sage's Spiritual Intent's energy as his own, the efficiency at which he drained the energy began to increase.
At first, the Spiritual Intent was at ease sending his energy into Long Di, but as he began to fine-tune the move, the Spiritual Intent's expression eventually turned to one of strain!
"What the—!?"
Bam!
Like a broken dam, his reserves of spiritual energy began to rush into Long Di's body!
Forget a bottomless pit, at this moment Long Di was more like a black hole that sucked the energy of the Peach Blossom Sage at a rate faster than what the latter could handle!
"Long Di, finish it!" The Spiritual Intent begged. His energy couldn't keep up with the exhaust rate!
When Long Di heard this, he didn't waste any more time; he knew that the Peach Blossom was reaching his bottom line in how much help he could render.
'I didn't think there was so much more to it that needed fixing, and I'm still nowhere near done. Too bad this guy's running on empty soon. I should finish these guys about now. At its current stage, it should be enough I guess.'
As soon as he thought this, he stopped hesitating. The electrical arcs dancing wildly on his middle finger grew even brighter as it resonated with the finger that extended from the heavens above!
Crack! Pling!
The finger broke through the last sequence of shields without much trouble!
After all, how could these people resist the power of a move that not even the power of a Spiritual Intent of a Star Creation True Sage could support!?
The minute the last shield broke down, the pressure caused the human race experts to prostrate in submission!
The only one who remained standing was Gang Heng, but he was only barely able to remain on his feet. The veins that pulsated fiercely on his forehead and the muscles that bulged obscenely on his body were evidence of the strain he was under!
Bang!
His kneecaps exploded, sending him plummeting to the ground!
Before long, the finger touched down on the ground and what happened next was to be expected!
Boom!
A massive explosion spread out from the point of impact. Heavenly Levyance tribulation energy wrecked the land as the blooding energy consumed all in its path!
Even though the Heavenly Levyance lightning tribulation was the weakest tribulation lightning, its inclusion on that list alone was a testament to its destructive capabilities.
At this stage, the other cultivators that had been relegated to mere spectators had retreated the minute the finger reared its head. They were at a distance where the fallout from the attack would no longer affect them.
As of now, they were waiting for the dust to clear to see the outcome, even though it appeared obvious at a glance.
They could consider their horizons broadened today since a peak One-Star Core Martial Master was able to kill several experts, many of who were Martial Grandmasters, experts who had stepped foot into the Cauldron Core Flame Fusion realm!
Whoosh!
The dust that was so prevalent before had rushed away like the tide, revealing Long Di and his surroundings.
A gesture of his was what compelled the smog's retreat, as if he refused to be tainted by even the slightest of filth.
He was fine at the moment, though the Spiritual Intent of the Peach Blossom Sage was a ghost of its former self. Which was really something, considering that it was practically something of a ghost already.
Still, since Long Di was okay, the crowd turned their attention to the group of elders that had rushed towards him before.
"This…!"
What they saw next caused their eyes to widen in shock!