"It's impossible! No one under Sage can create a Domain! How did you do it?!"
"Mo Tian, with your understanding of space and your current cultivation, you could have achieved such a result as well. But instead of working on a solution, you tried to take a shortcut because you were too afraid to fail! This Domain is the result of the hard work of generations of sect leaders working on the 'Black Tortoise Under the Rain'. Thanks to all their insights, I've been able to produce some result.
"Contrary to you who wants to get results as fast as possible because you fear your own death despite your young age, I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I might never be able to break through to the Sage realm. And even if I did, I am already too old to prolong my lifespan any further. But I will pave the way for my successors to reclaim our cultivation of immortality. Mankind will break through the Forsaken Dao Era without having to resort to such abject methods as those you would have imposed upon us. The ideals of Emperor Nuwa will not die with my generation, young boy!"
The black tortoise shell around Mo Tian was now fully closed. The traitor was feeling as though he was in the deepest abyss imaginable. But he wasn't being pressured by water. Instead, it was space itself that had become as dense as a liquid. And it was applying a pressure beyond Mo Tian's resistance. Right now, he was forced to use all of his Qi and spiritual senses just to survive the pressure alone. Furthermore, besides the pressure, his body was also being pulled away in all directions by space. Both forces should have opposed each other. Instead, they were complementing one another. There was no escape.
Finally, Mo Tian realized. This wasn't really a Domain. If it had been, he would be dead already. A Domain was attained only upon reaching the Monarch realm, the last realm before becoming an Immortal. Within one's Domain, the cultivator who had unleashed it was all-powerful. Even a cultivator of the same strength would be suppressed as though he were a mortal unless he could activate his own Domain and rival his opponent's.
Thus, it was impossible for anyone under Monarch to fight against a Monarch. Even a late Sage would be easily suppressed by an early Monarch. However, that didn't mean there was no way to fight. In a sense, a Domain was a form of array formation. In a localized area of the universe, the Monarch would summon his inner world of which he was both creator and master.
Thinking about this, Mo Tian had pierced the secret of this so-called Domain. 'Black Tortoise Under the Rain''s last move, 'The Shell Encompasses the World', could create something akin to an array formation by manifesting the thirteen tortoise shell scutes produced by this art. But this wasn't enough to form such a powerful prison. No, Sect Leader Xuan had added his comprehension of the Dao of Space.
Once again, a Spirit Warrior, no matter how powerful, should be unable to understand any form of Dao. The Dao itself was the truth behind all truths, the principle that was at the root of everything in existence. Understanding the Dao was simply impossible for a mortal. Only by transcending both one's mortality and one's universe, could the Dao become comprehensible. But before that, one could still perceive glimpses of the Dao. Those were minor laws and principles referred to as Dao as well. But unlike the Dao that was one, those Dao were many. And each cultivator could see different things in them.
The Dao of Space was one of the most complex Dao, but also one of the most important. Understanding the nature of space was essential to one day break through the veil of one's universe to get a chance of studying the one Dao. But only after becoming a Sage one could study those Dao. Indeed, the tribulation to become a Sage consisted in seeing the world directly through the Soul Embryo. This was the only way to discern any part of the Dao, as small as it might be.
Apparently, Sect Leader Xuan and all the past sect leaders all the way from Ancestor Wu himself had found a work-around. During the tribulation, one would try to see through the Dao and all sorts of phenomena would try to oppose them as the Dao was jealous of its secrets. But even if they were to fail, which had happened every single time, this didn't mean that they had been unable to see anything at all. Each time, they were in fact able to see a bit more. And because they all knew what they were looking for, they had been able to gather more and more understanding of the Dao of Space.
Comprehension of a Dao was not something that could be passed on. It had to be experienced for oneself. However, it was still possible to give hints. From generation to generation, the sect leaders had slowly helped their successors. And now, Sect Leader Xuan had almost formed the equivalent of a real Domain by using the array formations of the Wubei Sect and his own martial art.
Now that Mo Tian knew what this was, he also knew he had a chance. Against a realm Domain, he would die in despair. But against such a replica, he could fight his way out. After all, this was just a very powerful and complicated array formation. If he had to rank it, it had to be similar to a 2-star Spirit array formation. It was powerful indeed but he had studied the array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom for quite some time. Besides, he had the arm of Da Mo with him right now. There had to be a way to destroy this pseudo-Domain!
-
Outside of the tortoise shell, the fifteen chief elders were ready to act. Even Sect Leader Xuan was uncertain how long he could contain Mo Tian and the arm of Da Mo. The best outcome would be for Mo Tian to die. Then, they would only have to try and contain the arm of a dead body without any master. But none of the chief elders, nor the sect leader, were too hopeful. Mo Tian was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and he could control that arm after all. Thus, although the sect was in turmoil and fire, they had to stay right there to deal with Mo Tian.
They were not waiting idle by though. Sect Leader Xuan was fully focused on his pseudo-Domain while Spirit Master Xiao and Chief Elder Baishen were organizing the chief elders. With the presence of the sect leader, they were certain that they could have a chance. He would buy some time with the giant arm while they would deal with Mo Tian if necessary. Killing him was the priority. Even Spirit Master Xiao who wanted to gather more evidence about the demonic cultivators had to agree with that. They simply could not let him live. Unless she saw the greatest opportunity to cripple him and capture him, she would aim for the kill.
As they were all getting organized, Cao Yun had finished his work. Sun Liao was staring at his master's body. It was literally rotting away. The Evil Qi within had already killed most of his tissues and organs. Now that Cao Yun had gotten rid of most of the Black Death Prison, the flesh was starting to rot. Chief Elder Qinghe was amazed because he could vaguely perceive what was going on within. Although he could not extend his spiritual senses into Chief Elder Suxian's body, he could sense the perturbations caused by his Soul Embryo trying to exit his body turned into a rotting prison.
Even Elder Meng was surprised by his young student. The last time he had seen him, he had still been a Mortal. Right now, he was a Mortal Warrior with the ability of a 5-star Human alchemist. What Elder Meng did not realize at the time was that Cao Yun had a great advantage when it came to Evil Qi or Death Energy thanks to his Drop of Wrath. His time in the Yellow Death World and his meager understanding of 'Death Verses' also helped quite a lot even when it came to Evil Qi.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Chief Elder Suxian had controlled his soul, tiny parts of his Po had started to turn into Death Energy. Thankfully, most of his Po was still pure. And thanks to Cao Yun, the parts that had been soiled by the poison were now purified.
Finally, Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo exited his body. Unfortunately, Chief Elder Suxian had only been a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. That meant that his soul was contained within his Soul Embryo but it was not perfectly harmonized yet. Once outside of the body, the Soul Embryo was thus condemned to never progress again. Indeed, cultivation relied heavily on the Upper Dantian, even in the Sage and Monarch realms. Only an Immortal could discard his physical body.
In fact, this was the reason why the lifespan of a cultivator would not increase before he became an Immortal. The physical body could only live two thousand years. For mortals, this was a lot, but for someone trying to reach the Immortal realm, this was short. Even during the most prosperous era of mankind, an average Immortal would have taken around a millennium and a half to reach such a realm, three quarters of his lifespan. But an Immortal could easily double his lifespan after that. In fact, some legends claimed that a late Immortal could live for several dozens of millenniums. Indeed, Immortals developed something called an Immortal Body, beyond what the physical body could do.
Many details had been lost and some even thought that those were mere legends. With an entire era of no cultivator being able to become a Sage, despair had taken a hold of many. But many others still retained hope. Cao Yun was now one of those. He had decided that he would climb the cultivation world as high as he could. With his Drop of Wrath, he wasn't worried about stagnating. In fact, he had too many things to cultivate at once. However, he also had a huge problem now, his Bai Hui was almost ruined. For now though, this worry was very vague because the current crisis was incredible in proportion. The Wubei Sect, the most powerful sect of mankind, was on fire and a giant red arm had destroyed a huge part of it.
Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo appeared in front of everyone. It had the same appearance as he used to have before being poisoned. But it was blurry, as though there were two Chief Elder Suxian superimposed on one another. Even his voice was causing an echo.
"Chen Guo, you saved my soul... I don't know how I could ever repay you..."
Sun Liao's face was complicated. He had known that his master's body was condemned but seeing his soul safe and sound outside of his body made it real all of a sudden. He was happy that his soul was safe but also tormented by his physical death. In a century or two, Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo would cease to be, slowly being consumed by the Qi around him. Because a Soul Embryo had no meridians nor Dantian, there was no Qi in it. This also meant that it had no Wei Qi. Thus, it was exposed to all the outside influences. The Soul Embryo could resist it for some time but it could never replenish itself without the Upper Dantian.
Chief Elder Suxian was now condemned to never progress and to slowly die out. But at least, he was still alive for now. With array formations, they could even be able to protect his Soul Embryo a bit longer. Maybe they could stretch his lifespan to three or four centuries. In the end, he would die almost as old as he would have in his physical body.
Chief Elder Qinghe was very perplexed. He had been the one who had felt what Cao Yun had done the most clearly. And it was obvious that he had some extraordinary control over Evil Qi. Even a demonic cultivator would not have had such an expertise. But it was also crystal clear that he was not a demonic cultivator. With his old age, he knew when to keep quiet. Both Spirit Master Xiao and Sect Leader Xuan had an interest in the boy. They had to be aware of his abilities. Thus, he would only speak of what he had seen with the Sect Leader.
"Brother Chen, thank you!"
For the first time ever, Sun Liao was almost crying. His pride and arrogance were the last things preventing him from bawling out. On the side, Ren Chao was shocked to see his brother in such a state. He had not realized how much Chief Elder Suxian meant for him. He was not just a teacher or a master, he was closer to a father to him. Indeed, Sun Liao had trained under him almost all his life. Although his family was renown when it came to array formations, most of what he had learned had been through Chief Elder Suxian. He had visited his family after hearing about a young prodigy and had started his training early on.
For Sun Liao, Suxian Zheng was his second father. His first father was too busy with the family business and he had barely seen him while growing up. Although he loved his real father, most of his affection was for his master.
"Master, I..."
"I know. There are many things we should discuss, but I fear that we may not have the time. Luoming Tian has betrayed us all!"
Sun Liao had never seen such hatred and rage in his master's eyes. He quickly regained his composure. His master was unaware of what had happened in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Although there were many things Sun Liao wanted to say, he had to first help his fellow disciples. Chief Elder Suxian was the only one he could think of who could potentially save them. He had to tell him everything.
"Master, all the third-years are still trapped within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The demonic cultivators collapsed all the realms into one and it's too unstable. When we left it was already about to crumble. I fear that everyone is soon going to die..."
"What?!"
Elder Meng, Chief Elder Qinghe and Chief Elder Suxian all reacted as one. Sun Liao explained everything that had happened, everything. After an instant of reflection, Chief Elder Suxian reacted.
"I need to get there as soon as possible. There may be a way, but unless I examine it myself, I can't be sure."