842 Yan Liling's Battle (Finale)
After seeing his opponent’s annihilation, Gao Buqin did not immediately revel in his victory. His battle senses told him things would not be easy, so he used his Divine Sense to check his surroundings.
And as he expected, he noticed a strange pill floating amid the numerous space debris in the Northern Quadrant. And as soon he saw the pill, it changed.
Muscles, blood, bones, and skins regrew from the pill, and Yan Liling reappeared with a slightly pale complexion.
‘This Flesh Reorganization Pill still feels disgusted,’ she thought. She created this pill to imitate body refiner’s Drop Blood Rebirth. However, the process of rebirth is painful and feels terrible.
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‘I should have expected his second battle spirit to be related to the Soul.’ If Bao Buqin created his battle spirit to assist his Weapon Refining Profession, it would make sense to create one focus on Spiritual Power and the Soul.
After all, spiritual power is the most valued asset or talent of all professions.
‘Be that as it may, his Duyi Realm is very weak. But it shouldn’t?’ By the previous attack, he realized Gao Buqin’s Duyi Realm was only in the second stage. However, the easiest way for a person to achieve the Duyi Realm is by combining two cultivation systems.
Gao Buqin met the requirements, so Yan Liling predicted for him to have a higher level.
‘It could be that his cultivation talent has not reached such a level,’ she analyzed; fusing two or more systems is not something anyone can do.
‘It could also be a side-effect of the Soul Enslavement.’
Thud!
While Yan Liling was in deep thought analyzing the situation, Gao Buqin was not idle; he gazed at her without hiding his deep killing intent. His cracked Immortal Tier Armor was replaced with black armor while the lion spirit fired the previous attack.
But, it suddenly began to change.
The first of which was the color that turned light golden. Subsequently, the armor seemed to have fused with Gao Buqin’s body. His skin had turned a light golden color, making him look like some kind of robot with long black hair.
Spikes appeared on his shoulders, born from the tips of different sharp weapons like swords, spears, and arrows. Two metallic wings spread behind Gao Buqin’s back, and the wings were composed entirely of different weapons.
The amalgams of so many different weapons should look weird, ghastly even. However, the entire thing had a natural and graceful appearance.
‘Spirit Transformation,’ thought Yan Liling, remembering the information; this technique imitates Dao Body’s Awakening. The cultivators in the Battle Spirit World can transform into their spirit and use the full extent of their power.
After his transformation, Gao Buqin did not waste time and rushed toward his opponent.
Boom!
Yan Liling felt a terrifying force pushing her backward. If she did not rely on her instinct to activate her [Cauldron of Flesh], she would have burst into a mist of blood.
And even with these measures, the bones in her arms cracked, followed by great turbulence to her internal organs.
‘Peak 7-Leaf Strength,’ thought Yan Liling as she groaned internally. After stopping her momentum and regaining control of her body, she checked her arms and discovered an anomaly.
‘A curse? There is also the power of the Bleeding Rune,’ she analyzed. ‘It seems he created a battle spirit dedicated to battle using the power of an artifact; his body became the embodiment of countless artifacts with different effects.’
The Bleeding Rune is often used when creating weapon artifacts to ensure the enemy will bleed to death and weaken them. It is one of the first Divine Runes that Weapon Refiners learn.
[Cauldron of Defense]
Gao Buqin’s barrage of attacks landed on Yan Liling’s protective shield. And with only a few attacks, he cracked the shield. However, strange blue-colored pills appeared before releasing an energy that healed the shield.
‘Because I still hope to walk the Unorthodox Nine Extremity Foundation, I never used the Eight Heterogeneity Foundation, so my base strength is only 4-Leaf.
‘I have a few pills and a secret technique to make me rival his strength. However, for the battle plan, we made to deal with him, there is a better way.’
[Pill of Intangibility]
The moment she swallowed the pill, Bao Buqin’s fists–who had changed into the property of a shield-breaking treasure–finally broke her defense, and he went for the kill.
Boom!
Gao Buqin’s fist twisted the space where the force of his fist hit. However, he felt nothing; it was like he was hitting air. No, even the sensation of his fist touching the air was not as odd as this one.
He did not believe what he felt, so he released a barrage of devastating attacks to no effect. His other two spirits joined the battle as they worked in harmony to aid him, but the result was the same.
Gao Buqin did not believe in this evil and used even more sophisticated methods.
His golding palm turned into a Yin-Yang Diagram as he tried to forcefully revert Yan Liling out of her current state, changing her from an intangible form to a tangible one.
Unfortunately for him, Yan Liling created that pill using Wang Wei’s power of Nothingness. As such, its essence is not simply intangibility but the concept of nothingness.
Gao Buqin then changed tactics as his Weapon Body changed, taking the properties of a rare Time Artifact. Then, he attempted to revert Yan Liling to a few minutes prior when she was not in such a potent state.
His attempt failed as nothing can affect nothingness–not even time.
However, Gao Buqin currently had the mindset of a fool due to his desire to end this battle as his master ordered. As such, he did not believe he could not succeed.
He then chooses to attack Yan Liling’s past self; by killing that version, he can eliminate the present version.
Alas, this method also failed. One of the properties of nothingness is its infiniteness, which transcends time. So, such a technique might have worked on past Wang Wei, who had little to no mastery of the Power of Nothingness.
But it was different for his current self.
‘What is this strange technique?’ cursed Gao Buqin internally. He could not find her past self to kill; to be precise, her past seemed to be this vast, even infinite, grand emptiness, devoid of life, matter, space-time, energy, or even concepts known to the mind.
Gao Buqin almost lost his mind after coming into contact with such a grand and ethereal entity. Luckily, he was careful and swiftly gave up attempting such an act of blasphemy.
‘What should I do now? None of my attacks are working,’ pondered Gao Buqin. ‘It seems she wants to wait out until stamina and secret techniques run out.’
The Battle Spirit Transformation was not enough for him to have such tremendous power. Gao Buqin has to rely on the combination of the spirits and Immortal Armor to have such an achievement.
However, it won’t last long. He could feel the terrible burden on his body and soul.
‘Should I use more extreme measures?’ He had a secret technique that sacrificed his spirits for another significant burst of strength. However, the consequences were too severe–especially if he destroyed his Weapon Body Spirit.
As the main Battle Spirit he fused with, it also acted as his soul or Primordial Spirit. So, he could die if something happened to it.
‘Shall I take the risks or continue trying different methods?’
Boom!
A terrifying aura of death, killing, and slaughter burst into Gao Buqin’s mind, turning his eyes red. He immediately had the impulse to kill anything his eyes could lie on.
Gao Buqin made a primal and bestial roar as he looked at Yan Liling like she was nothing but prey. A slaughter aura and desire overrode his consciousness.
Wish!
His battle spirit activated, releasing a mysterious spiritual power that awakened him from his state.
‘Now,’ thought Yan Liling, taking the perfect opportunity when Gao Buqin just awakened from the influence of the Slaughter Spear and his mind was at its weakness.
[Soul Seal]
A cauldron appeared above Gao Buqin, and a seal bypassed his spirits and entered his body. His body shivered briefly before spazzing like he was having a seizure while standing.
Blood overflew from his ears, mouth, and nose. His face contorted as he grinds his teeth. The process was visually brutal and lasted more than a minute.
Finally, Gao Buqin opened his eyes. At first, they were confused, followed by a burst of intense delight.
“I…am…free,” he uttered in a coarse voice as tears fell from his eyes. The past few million years have been a nightmare for him. His mind forcefully twisted to serve someone else, someone he had hatred for.
Resistance was futile, and over time, his obedience grew exponentially. He feared that one day, he would ultimately lose himself.
But now, the nightmare is over.