Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 136 part1! Enjoy!
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
As Lydia's eyelids fluttered open, the scene in front of her brought her a mix of surprise and relief, the crushing feeling of death previously surging in her Heart instantly vanishing.
Indeed, in front of her, the previously kilometers-long Demon Beast was now floating motionlessly above the palm of an enchanting woman, his body now barely larger than a goldfish.
The woman in question, whose hair and eyes kept changing color, switching from a dark blue hue to a light blue color as the light brushing against them shifted slightly.
Not only was her appearance breathtaking, but every movement of hers radiated noble dignity, hinting at her extraordinary identity.
Coupled with the fact that her Soul Sense could not catch her presence despite her clearly standing in front of her, Lydia could easily tell who the mysterious woman was.
Actually, when the Moon Elf recalled how easily the other dealt with a peak Tier 4 Talisman and a Mid King-Grade Demon Beast, she realized something even more incredible.
However, she decided to keep that guess to herself, and with a grateful smile adorning her own beautiful face, the Moon Elf woman bowed deeply, saying.
"I, Lydia Silvenir, thank the Silk Mermaid Empress for your life-saving grace. If there's anything I can do to repay you, I'll gladly do it, even if it means risking my life."
Those words melted the cold expression on the Empress' face, replacing it with a gentle smile.
Shaking her head slightly, the enchanting woman responded.
"Little girl, you just faced a Demon Beast with higher cultivation than yours, risking death to protect the foremost geniuses of my Federation from our enemies. Being from one of the Main Continent's Tier 6 Force, you could have easily stayed neutral, but you still chose to act. No matter the reason behind your action, it's a fact that you rendered a Major Meritorious Service toward my Federation. So, consider that life-saving grace already repaid. Not only that, but as one of the Federation's Core Elders, I can assure you that you'll receive further rewards matching your merit once this situation is resolved."
Indeed, no matter how altruistic Lydia was, Empress Eldoria Silk could tell that the other woman did not act as a Dao Protector for the young Mikhailov with pure intentions.
Evidently, she had her own reasons, and Eldoria could even guess what they were.
Nonetheless, it was a fact that she risked her life to protect the most talented genius the Federation had ever seen.
Not one of, but the most. Indeed, any Immortal Seed would be considered a treasure for any Force, especially one as young as her Federation.
Finally giving birth to one who could potentially push the entire Force forward, if anything had happened to him...
Contemplating what could have happened if it were not for her presence, a wave of killing Intent subconsciously erupted from her, her expression immediately turning murderous as she ordered the Moon Elf woman.
"Stay here while I deal with the other rabble. It's time I put an end to this farce."
As those words reached Lydia's ears, she noticed the pebble-sized Demon Beast floating above the other woman's hand, instantly losing all his Vitality, turning the Sword Fish, whose cultivation was even above her own, into a mere corpse.
The change was so swift that the silver-haired woman felt a sense of surrealism, though it also affirmed a reality she had already been aware of.
'Truly, power is everything. If I had her cultivation, why would I have struggled so much against that disgusting fish...?'
Fortunately, though she had almost lost her life, she knew she had truly made the right bet this time.
Now, the only unknown was how much she would gain...
Seeing the Demon Beast disappearing inside the Empress' Void Ring before both woman and item instantly disappeared from her senses, Lydia then turned toward Damien's direction, her senses telling her that the young man was still in the midst of his breakthrough, although from the fluctuations, it should not be long before it finally ended.
Looking at the extraordinarily handsome face adorned with a serene expression, she was not sure if it was an illusion created by her tired mind, but she seemed to vaguely distinguish the nascent appearance of a Transcendent cultivator, someone who would shake the cultivation world in the future.
He was still young and weak now, but the Elven woman's intuition told her that he would reach heights she could never imagine.
Falling into a light daze, she subconsciously whispered in a tone filled with some strange emotions.
"I can't wait to see what surprises you'll bring me, young man..."
On the other side of the City, where the Teleportation Station was located.
A few moments ago, while Protector General Anrepov had just used another Heavenly Mountain Giant Spell to encase his body and face the opponent in close combat, the last one having broken down after having been battered by the Beast's Ice-Earthen Spike Spells and Void-crushing tail swipes.
Of course, Mikhail was not one to receive a beating without retaliating, and thus the body of the Peak King-Grade Demon Beast battling him was also riddled with injuries, though most were merely surface wounds, bringing little impact on the other's combat strength.
Another thing that was not impacted and greatly irritated Mikhail was the disgusting fish's taunting words.
"Humans are truly useless. Really, the only thing you're good for is to be used as blood food. Look at those people you brought. Can't even defend themselves against my Generals and Commanders, but they're still claiming to be my Frost Beast Palace's equal. Truly useless! But you don't have to worry, once we kill all of you, your bodies won't be wasted. We'll use all of your corpse as cultivation resources. How delightful!"
As if something suddenly came to his mind, he added.
"Actually, why don't I do you a favor? I'll keep a few human and Spirit Beast females to play with for a while. That way, your Federation will live on a bit longer. What do you say? Speaking of females, is there any present here that you care about? If there is, I can include her as a kind gesture. Aren't I, General Frost Marsh, magnanimous?"
From the beginning of the battle up to this point, Mikhail had to listen to the mocking words that his opponent kept spewing nonstop, which inevitably succeeded in annoying the middle-aged-looking man.
Fortunately, with his thousands of years of experience, his Dao Heart would not waver with that kind of cheap tactic.
Well, it was cheap, but he could not deny that if it worked, it would truly be deadly.
After all, at their level, a split second of inattention would be enough to inflict a grave injury on the opponent, which would give a massive advantage to the one injuring the other.
Otherwise, a battle between two peak Void Seed cultivators could last for days, weeks, or even months before a winner was determined.
Of course, that was on the premise that no Tier 5 Item was used during the battle.
Since the Energy requirement to activate one of those was colossal for cultivators at their level, it could quickly drain one's Energy reserve.
However, the resulting 'firepower' matched the Energy expenditure, so one had to weigh whether it was worth it or not.
In any case, in the current battle, none of the two was using Tier 5 Items, only Peak Tier 4 ones, with Mikhail's golem body wielding a gigantic, European-looking longsword while the Frost Whale Demon Beast's weapon was a flying serrated harpoon, which, given his whale-like body, seemed both odd and appropriate at the same time.
Looking at the ghostly whale face sneering at him, Mikhail swiftly slashed his sword toward the latter, trying to wipe that disgusting smirk from his face, though it was unfortunately intercepted by the harpoon before it could hit the Whale's body.
With the harpoon's diagonal grooves, the longsword's blade was briefly hindered, giving the Beast enough time to swing his gigantic tail toward the Water Earthen golem encasing Mikhail's body.
As it hit the golem's left shoulder, a big chunk of the latter disintegrated, though it did not affect the Protector General's combat power.
After all, the golem was merely an Elemental body, with its human form possessing none of an average human's weaknesses.
Of course, if the golem received too much damage, it would inevitably crumble into Elemental particles.
Losing a part of its shoulder, however, was far from being considered 'serious damage', and thus it only took a thought from Mikhail to turn the injured shoulder as good as new.
Seeing that none of them could truly injure the other, Mikhail replied in a calm but cold tone.
"You vile things are doomed to fail today. The only success you'll find will be to lose your lives here."
Pausing for a second, a cold grin then appeared on the powerful Protector's face as he added.
"You spoke of turning us humans into cultivation resources, but what will happen is the opposite. All of you filthy Beasts will end up as seafood dishes served to us, Federation's cultivators. Truly a fitting end for all of you vile scums."
With each word, the playful expression on the Whale Demon Beast progressively disappeared, leaving place to cold fury, completely fitting for a Beast with the Frost Whale Bloodline.
"Human, with just those words of yours, I vow that from now on, I will torment every human I find, putting them through the worst torture you can imagine. They will crave death with all their heart but will only find pain and despair."
Although he could tell the opponent was serious, Mikhail merely clenched his teeth, swearing inwardly that, if one day, his cultivation grew strong enough, he would do his best to exterminate every single Demon Beast from the Frost Beast Palace, leaving none of those wicked monsters the chance to escape.
However, his resolve mattered little in a world where strength dictated everything, and his cultivation was barely enough to deal with the enemy's King-Grade Generals.
As for those Emperor-Grade Kings, Ministers, and Supreme Emperor?
A single thought from them would be enough to end his life.
That was the despairing reality.
Each Rank was a higher World, with only the rare few able to barely match those beyond their own Rank.
Unfortunately, though his combat strength was high, he was not one of those monstrous geniuses.
After a few random thoughts surfaced in his mind, he shoved them to the side and was about to reply to the Demon Beasts' threatening words, but he was suddenly interrupted when an enchanting voice resounded in the Void, plunging the two into a brief daze from the Soul-shaking power it contained.
"You won't have that chance, you disgusting worm."
The monstrous killing intent was almost palpable, and although Mikhail was not its target, shivers of dread coursed through his body, shaking his normally strong consciousness.
That was the case for him as a bystander, so it was not hard for him to guess how much the actual target fared.
Indeed, the colossal Beast's consciousness was already on the verge of crumbling into oblivion from a few words, his blood beginning to gush from his body's every aperture, from his eyes to his ears.
Even his pores were expelling golden-red blood, turning the previously majestic, icy blue-colored Whale with a heaven-shaking aura into a dying blood fish.
Not knowing when, the figure of an impossibly attractive woman appeared by the middle-aged man's side.
Turning his head slightly, he bowed his head slightly in her direction before exclaiming with mixed emotions.
"It's been a few decades, Empress Silk. Seeing you now, it seems congratulations are in order."
Hearing the words of that old friend of hers, the woman who looked much younger than Mikhail responded, a smile suddenly gracing her lips, which unwittingly plunged the man into a brief daze.
"We haven't seen each other for merely a few decades, and you're already treating me like a stranger, calling me Empress Silk."
Shaking her head slightly, she added with a light grin adorning her captivating features.
"You've changed, Mikhail Anrepov."
Seeing how the woman he had known for thousands of years was treating him in the same, familiar way despite her current status having experienced heaven-shaking change, a surge of warmth appeared in his Heart, though he still shook his head and replied wistfully.
"Saying I changed when I'm still stuck at the Peak Void Seed Rank, while you, Eldoria... You finally took that step..."
While gazing at her face, his eyes turned absentminded.
"It's just that I can't see the path forward, and the more time passes, the less confident I become..."
Sighing, he shook his head, his eyes regaining focus as his gaze met hers, the light smile on his face hiding his inner turmoil.
"In any case, I'm truly happy for you. As for my own situation, as long as I can protect the Path of those juniors, giving them enough time to grow safely and become the Federation's new pillars, then it'll be more than enough for me."
The man's previous emotional wavering completely disappeared with those words, replaced by a powerful Aura of confidence and pride, dazzling the beautiful woman by standing his side. With a warm smile, she shook her head slightly while mumbling.
"You really took that old man's words to Heart, didn't you...?"
Her tone then rose slightly as she commented.
"If everyone shared the same mindset as you, then the Federation would have already surpassed the Frost Beast Palace thousands of years ago."