852 First Sound
The head of the lion collapsed to the ground as though it was ready and waiting for Dyon’s second swing.
In too much pain to call upon its earth will to protect itself, and too scared to do so even if it could, the head of the lion was bashed in without remorse, causing its body to disappear in a flurry of lights.
The last of the rust on Dyon massive sword disappeared, leaving behind its charcoal-like existence.
However, Dyon rage hadn’t settled down yet, nor had it in the months he had been fighting already. Before the two earthen lions who appeared could even react, Dyon was already swinging his enormous sword down on them.
Dyon mindlessly pursued the path of slaughter. He had already lost count of how many he had killed, nor could he tell how much time he had spent in this second trial. But, what he did know was that his injuries never seemed to be able to truly heal. Whether it be the blistering heat that only increased and seemed to not effect the beasts at all, or the fact he was constantly overexerting his already heavily injured body, none of it was good.
The trouble was that while his Energy Core had primordial energy, primordial energy in and of itself wasn’t capable of healing. When Dyon was fighting for the Angel Clan, it was life essence energy from the spiritual vein that he used to heal himself, it was just that the primordial energy was also filtered in by him in order to strengthen his body.
pAnda (nov)e1​ But, now, there was no spiritual vein because the Energy Core hadn’t had nearly enough time to create one. Not to mention the fact it would take much longer since these were no longer ancient times.
So, Dyon body was relying on its own healing abilities, while primordial energy was actually constantly making Dyon’s body more and more difficult to heal because it was actually strengthening his body to unprecedented levels.
The only good news was that Dyon’s body was now approaching his 4x state with Demon Emperor’s Will, while still in its base form. Although this made his body many times more difficult to heal, it still raised his strength.
That said, he couldn’t access any of this strength now because he was being constantly suppressed by this third trial.
By now, a year had passed and Dyon had finally reached the final wave of the earthen lions, making this his 40th wave total.
His body blinked in and out of existence as he constantly dodged spikes in the earth. His Presence fell, calling the raging lions to immediately become docile, allowing their heads to be obediently bashed in.
Even as the last one fell, and the motes of light gave Dyon’s massive sword a slight bronze sheen, another ear splitting roar resounded through the world, causing Dyon’s eyes to narrow.
Ignoring the system’s question once again, he instead looked at the enormous worm bursting through the ground before slamming down into it.
Its body was at least a hundred meters long, while its diameter was easily twenty. Its mouth was completely circular, in fact, it didn’t seem to have a head at all since it was completely replaced by a revolving meat grinder of teeth.
Dyon could even tell that his Presence’s abilities were negated partially. When he looked through his master’s memories, he suddenly understood…
This massive worm actually contained a faint trace dragon blood within it. As such, it was actually known as the Wyvern Worm and had an air of arrogance to it that was normal for dragons and their descendants.
However, that just pissed Dyon off more.
Dyon continuously aimed for the wyvern worm’s fake, knock off version of a dragon’s reverse scale. Taking complete advantage of its haughtiness and dislike of sneak attacking, Dyon didn’t worry about the worms disappearing beneath the ground. Instead, he dodged and swung in a rhythmic motion, jumping from worm to worm and reaping their lives.
Earlier, Dyon had tried using his Demon Emperor’s Will to make things easier, but he immediately noticed that not only did his stamina drain faster, his strength didn’t increase at all. In fact, the world’s suppression increased along with the stages he climbed, seemingly intent on keeping him at a certain power level.
However, Dyon didn’t mind. Since that was the case, this trial clearly didn’t want you to use any special techniques or cultivation methods. That was perfectly fine by him.
Time passed without end. While it took only a year for Dyon to decimate the first two beast waves, it wasn’t until half way through the third year that he finally managed to slay the final wyvern worm of the 60th wave.
When the 61st wave started, Dyon couldn’t help but see a pattern. It was as though the third trial was doing its best to completely counter him.
The first beast wave of metallic rhinos was a probe, but the second wave of lions seemed directly tailored toward dealing with his Presence. Although it ultimately failed, that was due to the restrictions in the power allowed for the second beast wave, and not for any other reason. The lion was the King of beasts and thus had faint dislike and struggle against Dyon’s Presence.
The third wave made it even more obvious. The beast even had a trace of dragon’s blood, albeit a very faint trace, that made Dyon using his Presence on more than a few thousand at a time impossible. By the time their numbers sky-rocketed into the tens of thousands, then the hundreds of thousands, Dyon had to spend focus a lot more on running to avoid being cornered, while focusing his Presence on small groups.
And now for the fourth wave, the restrictions of his Presence became even more apparent. Not only was the beast now of the Heaven grade, it was actually a King beast!
Within every beast species, there will always be those beasts who exceed their fellow clansmen. When this difference is great enough, they are titled as the King of their clan and thus become King beasts. This title is ignored when it comes to beasts who have the ability to change into humans, but for Heaven beasts who can’t, this title is still apropos.
There was another thing about King beasts that was very relevant for this particular situation, and that was the fact they always followed the sovereign path of their wills!
In a one on one situation, Dyon would hardly care about this, because he was confident that his Presence would still win out. However, as the numbers climbed, Dyon realized that in all likelihood, his Presence would only work on a few hundred at a time, and if this trend continues, with the next beast wave, it might only work on a few dozen at a time. By then, this trial would really put him at death’s door.
However, this was exactly the kind of pressure Dyon wanted. Although the previous waves were difficult and took him a long time to break through, he never truly felt like his life was on the line.
But now, as he watched the five-meter-tall Silver Wolf before him, growl lowly as though it was stalking prey, he finally felt his blood boil.
For almost three years now, he had felt nothing but endless rage. At first, he didn’t even understand what he was mad at until he realized he was angry with himself. Why else would he jump into this trial without healing his injuries, why else would he trudge on even while knowing those same injuries were only getting worse and harder to heal, why else if not to punish himself?
Dyon pointed his massive 7 foot long sword toward the wolf in provocation, his eyes lit up with a dense battle intent. By now, the huge sword was a glistening copper-bronze color, its former charcoal black flaking off. It now weighed hundreds of jin, growing with Dyon as he just finally crossed the barrier of meridian formation. Surprisingly, at this point, Dyon felt that the restriction on energy cultivation was lifted, he knew that this was a bad premonition for himself, but he didn’t care.
And then he charged, allowing a roar to escape his lips as the first sound he had made in years.