Zhao Wei languidly knelt on the ground as a sense of extreme debilitation washed over him. His body became weak and tired all of a sudden.
His face was pale white as if it had been drained of all of its vitality.
"Hahaha, hahaha!" With the energy he had left inside of his body, Zhao Wei began to laugh.
It was laughter devoid of happiness and victory but defeat, sadness, understanding, and enlightenment. It mirrored his current inner feelings. His eyes had been opened wide once again.
Being reminded that he was insignificant and weak in the grand universe stung and drilled deeper at his heart.
"So that is the price I had to pay to use [Stellar Nova: The One], huh?" Zhao Wei calmly thought.
"Hahaha, not bad. Losing lifespan in exchange for 60 seconds of unrivaled power capable of decimating formidable foes… Now that's what I call a power with consequences."
Zhao Wei didn't feel any regrets after achieving more enlightenment about the [Primordial Stellar Energy Body Refining Art] and using it as a base to create [Stellar Nova: The One].
[Stellar Nova: The One] utilized both inner strength and the Illusory stars to give the physical body a burning form with temperatures scaling above even the sun's core.
It was a form of invincibility and absoluteness, making one embody destruction and bring despair and hopelessness to the enemies.
Though not a supernova in the literal sense, the technique utilized flames of a stellar core to burn away everything from existence.
'I have lost about 140 years of life force, leaving me with only 10 years to live. I am lucky that the price wasn't death instead. It seems the gamble paid well enough for me. 10 years is really a lot while at the same time too little. Increasing my cultivation base will ultimately increase my lifespan. But wait…? What if that doesn't help and increasing my cultivation won't overwrite the side effect?' Zhao Wei clicked his tongue and then released a tired sigh.
"I will deal with it later on. I am allowed to procrastinate even once. I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years right now." Zhao Wei then hoisted himself from the ground.
"The encounter with that old man was extremely strange and if I hadn't pulled out an uno reverse card on him, he would have really killed me for sure. His killing intent was the real deal." The pictures of his previous life and death fight began to flash inside his mind before coming together to form a video playback.
"Right before I burned him into nothingness, I swear he had a smile on his face as if death wasn't the end for him but just the beginning." Zhao Wei began to analyze the little details of his battle with a frown on his face.
"Anyway, I killed him and there is no way something that I personally extinguished from existence could resurrect. The old man was only a Ninth Rank Martial Master and there is no way that he can defy the laws of death. Unless…"
The Eye of Death, the Eye of Samsara, and the Eye of Destiny… If Old Man Chu had one of those three God Eyes, he would have had a 1% chance probability of escaping death. But sadly, Old Man Chu didn't have any of those God Eyes.
Old Man Chu only claimed to have come from the Asura Lineage, a bloodline that Zhao Wei had never heard of.
"This may as well be an alternate universe or the original universe with a twist." Zhao Wei clicked his tongue once again as he picked the special stone off the ground which upon putting it on his palm, gradually transformed into ashes.
The wind then blew away the ashes.
"Formations, inscriptions, and sealing arts are really making me yearn for them after experiencing just a taste." Zhao Wei's eyes blazed with greed and thirst for knowledge as he trudged along the ruined landscape.
The sealing boundary that had once been there was no longer there and Zhao Wei could now see the outside world. The veil had been withdrawn.
Sealing Dao, the art of containment and suppression over all of existence, was something that Zhao Wei had a good impression of.
It was a very difficult path but its versatility was beyond excellent. The potential of sealing arts was never expounded in the original storyline. The God Sealing Race was the 14th rank race among the Ten Thousands Ancient Races associated with sealing arts. The God Sealing stone was the only memento of their exemplary past.
"What if the Dao of Sealing was cultivated into some sort of Great Dao? Hehe, sealing everything wouldn't even be a dream. Meng Hao really had that dogshit luck gu up his *ss to come into contact with the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex." Zhao Wei continued with his journey and killed off a few more bandits which summed up his points above 100 points.
Three days passed just like that and through his investigation, Zhao Wei found that the silver guards of the Guanjun Corps delegated with the monitoring and assessment of the young sky guards, didn't find out anything about his battle against a Ninth Ranker.
Zhao Wei concluded that it was due to the sealing array that canceled out sound and vision(invisibility).
Having amassed points to his heart's content after decimating a lot of bandits, Zhao Wei decided to stop. He feared that he might not leave anything behind for the others. It was a good thing that the bandits were just as many. If Zhao Wei killed all of them then there wouldn't be any meaning for the other youngsters to tamper and improve themselves. If it wouldn't have been a test being constantly monitored then Zhao Wei wouldn't have been lenient and 'unselfish.'
During those three days, Zhao Wei had also by chance met with Zhao Yufei who was in a group of two. Her strength had reached the Peak of the Sixth Rank, with her battle prowess reaching the Quasi Martial Master Realm.
Zhao Wei hadn't talked with her and only gave her a terse nod before she could try to engage him.
Her look of slight disappointment and angry pout had made him smile to himself as he felt like a father who had just witnessed their daughter's growth. It was kind of a very weird feeling since he didn't view himself as some sort of father figure to anyone.
Anyway, the mission ended without a hitch and wasn't suspended like in the original timeline. The youths of the Sky Guards Battalion should consider themselves 'lucky' since Zhao Wei had basically cleaned up all the seventh rank Martial Masters bandits. Well, since the Guanjun Corps were present, it was more like making their bandit hunting easier.
***
Guanjun Palace, inside the Sky Guards Battalion area, Third Guard calculated the overall battle points of each individual.
"Lu Xiaoyun, 30 battle points."
"Feng Hanyue, 50 battle points."
"Kung Lao, 28 battle points."
Third Guard read out the battle points gained by each individual. It was random and didn't follow any order.
"Zhao Yufei, 39 battle points."
"Lei Cong, 33 battle points."
The youths curbed their breaths in anticipation as they awaited their results.
The situation reminded Zhao Wei of the times when the results of gaokao were out and most of the high school graduates would have extremely high hopes… or maybe not.
"Zhao Wei…" Third Guard specifically stopped at his name. A look of immense surprise showed on his usually unresponsive face before it returned to normal.
Clearing his throat, Third Guard continued.
"Zhao Wei, 143 battle points!"
"..."
"..."
"Eh?"
"I am not dreaming right, gege?"
"Eew, stop calling me that with your disgusting voice."
"You heard it very well just like everyone."
"I-Impossible!"
"Too perverted!"
"That's almost all our battle points combined!"
"He cheated!"
"Cheat? Your mother!"
"Aaargh, Lin Feng! You started it yourself! You will see after this meeting."
"Kekeke!"
Many youths couldn't believe what they had just heard as a commotion ensued.
***
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