"Sect Master, is it okay to follow these evil cultivators to this place? What if they attack us after they have dealt with the elderly man they came here for? Aside from that, they are with their ancestor, and we are helpless against them this time." One supreme elder of the White Stork Sect asked with concern.
"Hmph, they would not dare to attack us unprovoked; otherwise, it will be an all-out war for our sects, with the side that wins remaining weaker with fewer members. It is not beneficial for them to attack us. Aside from that, we followed them here to watch their fight with that unknown elderly man and measure the strength of both sides. Being here is the correct decision, and we are not participating in this conflict. We were merely accompanying these evil cultivators so that our juniors could confirm whether the old man was the one who slaughtered members of the Black Ancient Cult and took the divine beast. Without the presence of the Black Ancient Cult ancestor, I would never have agreed to help them. Aside from that, we might be the lucky ones to get our hands on the divine beast." Sect Master Oseka stated with confidence.
As the ten White Stork Sect members converse on top of the three white stork birds in the sky, a loud voice calls out from the flying ship ahead of them.
"OLD MAN, COME OUT AND FACE THE JUDGMENT FOR YOUR CRIMES!"
The Ancestor of the Black Ancient Cult, accompanied by a cult leader and the twelve supreme elders of the cult, yelled angrily on top of the flying ship after sensing a fluctuation of spiritual power emanating from the cave below in the middle of the Forsaken Forest.
The Black Ancient Cult's ancestor is a hairless elderly man with several tattoos, including those on his face. He is a short, black old man with a little hunch in his back, but his aura is overwhelming to less powerful cultivators.
Without a waste of time, an elegant old man slowly emerged from the cave, followed by a jet-black cattle that had recently gained some confidence.
Sect Master Oseka gazed down at the old man and the cattle, then at Fairy Maki and the two elders.
"Is that him?"
"It is him, but..." Fairy Maki murmured as her gorgeous eyes widened in shock.
"Say it. What is it?" Sect Master Oseka impatiently asked.
"Look, Sect Master. The newly born divine beast is already a cultivator, emanating the aura of a Spiritual Seed Shaping Expert." Fairy Maki pointed, still refusing to believe her eyes.
"What?!" Everyone, including the sect master, exclaimed in unison. Everyone was preoccupied with probing the old man's strength and paying little attention to the thing they had all come here to capture.
"Impossible!" The elders who were accompanying Fairy Mika bellowed in disbelief.
Looking at the beast and the elderly man who had just emerged from the cave, the ancestor of the Black Ancient Cult was confused. If the elderly guy is the one who annihilated his juniors from the cult, why is he with the beast that is already a cultivator rather than the mortal one that was just born from nature?
The cult ancestor looked at Sect Master Oseka, who nodded his head in confirmation.
'It is him' Sect Master Osaka sent a telepathic message.
'Why is the beast then?' Cult ancestor inquired with suspicion.
'It appears that this divine beast is not as simple as we all believed. It must be a unique divine beast with spiritual channels beyond our comprehension, such as 2000 or even more.'
Sect Master Oseka telepathically responded, but he hated confirming the absurd idea to the cult ancestor. If such a suggestion is as he implied, then this beast will be a miracle that he could not snatch from these experts here. However, to assess the strength of both parties, he stated this fact so that the fight may take place at all costs.
"I want to see who dares to judge me for my crimes in this backwater place known as the Bluesky Region." The elegant elderly man declared as he glanced above at the cultivators in the sky on a ship and birds.
"You are the b*stard that murdered the junior members of my Cult? This place seems beautiful enough to bury an ignorant piece of sh*t like you." The Cult ancestor rebuked vehemently.
"You... You are the b*stard that murdered my daughter? You have asked for your own death. Kill him!" The Cult leader, speaking for the first time, roared in rage.
The Cult leader and the twelve supreme elders flew on top of coffins, making identical several gestures with their hands.
All dressed in black robes formed a line in the sky, channelling their spiritual energy toward the supreme elder in the centre.
"Is this the rumoured legendary Vitality Roots Chain Formation of the Black Ancient Cult?" Sect Master Oseka stated, frowning.
With the spiritual energy assistance of the twelve evil cultivators, the supreme elder charged forward on his coffin, carrying a sword and preparing to slay the old man.
"Impressive! As expected of an evil cult. This formation momentarily advanced your cultivation from the final stage of Spiritual Seed Nurturing to be comparable to the advanced stage of Soul Germination. But, sadly, you still overestimate your abilities if you believe you can challenge me in this manner." The elegant elderly man smirked as he said this.
Like a divine leader, the old man struck up with his palm, releasing a soul phantom to dispose of the charging supreme elder of the Black Ancient Cult.
BOOM!
The supreme elder was smashed by the phantom palm and fell like a ragdoll in the worst possible state. His flying coffin was destroyed, and his current circumstance is unknown.
If he is still alive in that state, then his vitality is incredible.
'Oh my... Oh my... Is this the battle between gods and immortals? This old man is very strong.' Oris thought with surprise, expecting to see more action.
"He is a Soul Perfection stage expert! You are no match for him. I shall take the lead in this fight!" The Cult Ancestor commanded as he prepared to fight.
"What?!"
Everyone in the sky was shocked to hear this revelation.
"A Soul Perfection stage expert? No wonder he did not fear our White Stork sect ancestor and dared mention him by name. There are no Soul Perfection stage experts in the Bluesky Region as I speak. Fortunately, we did not offend him; otherwise, our sect will suffer imminent doom." Sect Master Oseka pointed out, dazed and terrified, "But I am curious why the Cult ancestor is so confident. Do not tell me! Did he also reach the Soul Perfection stage?"
All of the White Stork sect members were terrified after hearing their sect leader's comments.
If the Cult ancestor has attained the Soul Perfection stage, the power balance in the Bluesky Region will undoubtedly shift.
'Soul Perfection Stage, huh? I am curious about the margin between the Spiritual Seed Shaping and Soul Perfection stage.' Oris wondered how far he had to go to become a Soul Perfection stage expert. He can not wait to be as cool as the old man once he has reached that level.
Flying away from the flying ship, the cult ancestor stood in the sky, exuding an oppressive and suffocating aura. Repeating the elegant old man's palm strike, the cult ancestor unleashed a soul phantom palm tainted with black energy.
"Hahaha! Impressive! As expected of an evil cult. I did not expect this backwater place to produce a Soul Perfection stage expert. Unfortunately, you are still no match for me." The old man said this while repeating the same palm strike.
BOOM!
The two phantom palms collided in the air, forcing everyone back except the elegant old guy.
PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!
As the blast pushed everyone back, the cult ancestor rolled back into the sky and coughed up a mouthful of blood. While others were impacted by the explosion, he was injured because he used his spiritual energy to push his phantom palm.
"Set up Vitality Roots Chain Formation. This b*stard has reached the final stage of Soul Perfection." The Cult ancestor roared in resentment as he realized the elegant old man's might.
The twelve cult members wasted little time in initiating the Vitality Roots Chain Formation while flying on their coffins. They all linked their vitality roots to direct spiritual energies toward the cult ancestor.
The Black Ancient Cult liked to employ coffins as flying vessels because they could put their most powerful cultivation slaves inside to draw spiritual energy when it was most needed.
It is difficult for evil cultivators to gather the energy of heaven and earth in an orthodox manner, thus, they rely on enslaving cultivators to suck on their spiritual energy to advance in their cultivation.
BOOM!
The cult ancestor's aura was comparable to the advanced stage of the Soul Perfection stage since it was filled with overwhelming spiritual energy from the twelve. However, it is insufficient for rivalling the final stage's power, but the cult ancestor remains confident in his methods.
The cult ancestor surged forward to attack, summoning an elemental domain of dark energy around himself. The elemental domain increases the power of related elements, and the cultivator's strength and speed are enhanced greatly by their domain. In layman's terms, cultivators become invincible in their domain.
Like a divine leader, the elegant old man summoned a fire element domain around himself and smiled as he waited for the attack.
His fist covered with dark energy, the cult ancestor tried to smash the old man's head with a punch.
BAM!
Avoiding the punch, the elderly man launched his fist back, but to his surprise, the cult ancestor blocked the fist aiming for his chest by crossing his hands. Though the cult ancestor felt the impact force of the fist, he was resilient and made use of his legs to kick back.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Flying in the sky, brawling like street fighters, the elegant old man dominated and delivered dreadful punches, but the cult ancestor also threw powerful punches that the old man blocked.
Though this kind of fighting is not appealing, especially among Soul Perfection stage experts, it is exciting to want to punch the person you hate in the face.
The cult ancestor was becoming exhausted, his spiritual energy quickly diminishing; such is the downside of relying on external spiritual energy.
The cult ancestor hastily flew back, summoning a gigantic soul avatar that resembled himself and anticipated smashing the elderly man to smithereens.
"Pulling the soul avatars now? Hmph! Let me show you what true strength is," the old man muttered, preparing to summon his soul avatar.
The old man summoned an exquisite soul avatar that resembled an enormous unicorn. Just as the elegant elderly man prepares to attack...
BOOM!
A swift beam formed by lightning struck the old man's back and pierced his stomach, leaving a massive hole through which you can clearly see to the other side.
The elegant old man was looking not so elegant, pathetically falling like a ragdoll, leaving all in the scene shocked and terrified.
"Old man!" Shouting like a crazed beast, Oris charged in a panic towards where the old man was falling.
BAM!
The old man harshly fell to the ground, his eyes fixed on the direction of the attack, and he noticed a beautiful woman flying in the sky with a smirk on her face.
The old man's spiritual energy quickly deteriorated because his centre of vitality roots and his secondary cultivated soul had been completely destroyed.
"Old man, you can't die!" In a panic, Oris didn't know what to do. When his eyes roamed in the sky and met with the beauty, Oris felt rage he never experienced before building within his chest. He shouted his cattle lungs out with rage, "You stinking b*tch! That was a dirty move! How can you sneak attack the man? He is a good guy. How can you do this?"
The old man leaking blood from all his orifices, grabbed Oris's foreleg, and he pulled a teleportation scroll to escape with Oris.
When the unknown beauty in the sky saw this, the smirk on her face was replaced by fear and a sense of urgency to quickly attack again to kill the old man.
Unfortunately for her, her second beam formed by lightning strikes empty air as the target and divine beast escape the Forsaken Forest.