Seven Falls of Tribulation (2)
Hovering behind the girl were seven grey spears, their appearance identical to the technique Jun Meng Chen had used just hours ago. However, golden inscriptions could be found on every spear, radiating a dense, violet light.
Compared to Jun Meng Chen's attempt which had taken quite some time for the arrays to coalesce into the spears, the spears before him had completed such a process the instant the girl spoke. Gazing at the seven, infinitely sharp spearpoints, Jun Meng Chen struggled to move his body to no avail, a sinking feeling in his heart.
"For my resentment…cry."
With the girl's whisper that seemed no more than a dissipating wisp of thought, the first spear shot out at Jun Meng Chen, transforming into a thin streak of light. Just like the other immortals in the cavity, Jun Meng Chen was unable to process a single thought or utter a protest before the spear was embedded into the ground.
Instead of condensing a small bead of concentrated divine essence at the tip, the spear point split into seven equal fragments. The fragments folded back to fuse with the spear shaft, and before Jun Meng Chen's wide eyes, the spear devolved into a coalesced ball of divine essence. The instant the ball was exposed, it exploded.
Boom!
Without Jun Meng Chen's defenses shielding him from the incoming blast, the mere explosion hurled him upwards with great velocity, before painfully colliding with the disk moments later. However, a shockwave tore through the moment he landed, causing him to curl up in pain from the impact of the shockwave. Lightly convulsing, he spat out a thin stream of blood.
"Hold..."
"For…hate, I cry."
The second spear darted towards Jun Meng Chen instead of the ground before him. Unlike the first spear, the second did not travel at an untraceable speed, and Jun Meng Chen could even see the incoming spear in great detail.
As it hurtled towards him, the spear tip separated into four fragments, jutting out from the spear handle's circular rim akin to prongs. With a dull sinking sound, the prongs jabbed into Jun Meng Chen's right leg, piercing into bone.
There was no pain, only a sudden sensation of falling into a world of ice. When Jun Meng Chen reflexively grasped towards the spear embedded in his leg, his arm flashed before firmly latching onto the spear shaft.
"Ah!"
Without taking the time to marvel at his regaining of bodily movement, the spear piercing his thigh fiercely vibrated, forcing Jun Meng Chen to release a repressed hiss of pain. After the initial moments of pain, all Jun Meng Chen could feel was a dull throb emanating from the wound.
Each time his fingers neared the spear, the throbbing would increase in intensity, before releasing a spike of scorching pain.
His hair disheveled, Jun Meng Chen looked at the girl standing at a distance, only to meet a pair of dull, violet-golden orbs. Within, he could see a faint mix of confusion and amusement weakly flickering, gradually settling into a muted apathy.
As if detecting that Jun Meng Chen could now move, the girl extended her right arm, and the faint whisper could be heard once more.
"For…grief, I cry."
The third spear blazed forth, emitting a blistering heat as it raced towards Jun Meng Chen. Without wasting any time, Jun Meng Chen leapt into an awkward standing position, before attempting to channel divine essence towards his legs to dodge.
However, the spear in his thigh pulsed once, and Jun Meng Chen was horrified to discover his Deity core sealed, and his divine essence reserves all drained and withered by the spear. Helpless, he remained frozen as the incoming spear slammed into the ground with terrifying velocity.
Just from the impact alone, Jun Meng Chen was once again sent hurtling upwards. Just as he began to fall, the spear disintegrated into a chaotic string of the Divine Script, and a scorching heat seared his back.
Craning his head to see the disk explode with a violent, magenta flame, Jun Meng Chen's body was enveloped in the resounding blast in mere seconds, fully disintegrating into particles of divine essence. The girl's figure distorted as she too vanished, and not a single trace of the disk, spears, or even the spatial tear could be found.
With a start, Jun Meng Chen flashed open his eyes to find himself in the inner sanctum of his courtyard. The sheath that he had held in his hands, was nowhere to be found.
Checking his body and discovering not a single change to be found, Jun Meng Chen frowned, wondering if he had suffered from an illusion. Then where did the sheath go?
"Meng Chen. Come out for a minute, let us talk."
Hearing Jun Dong Min's voice resound from the courtyard's entrance, Jun Meng Chen broke from his stupor. Shaking his head, he changed into a more formal robe, then departed to greet his father. Behind him, the inner sanctum engaged the concealment array once more, vanishing from any prying eyes.
Walking into the guestroom, Jun Meng Chen found his father reclining against a chair, gazing into a cup of tea. Hearing his entry, Jun Dong Min raised his gaze, fixing his eyes onto Jun Meng Chen's movements. Solidifying his expression into one of respect, Jun Meng Chen took a cup of green tea, before sitting across from Jun Dong Min.
"Why did you call me, father? Is there something I need to do?"
"The final selection for exploring the Ghost King's domain has been altered a bit. The Demon Palace will be dispatching three of their younger immortals, and the selection will pit you against them, as nobody else remained in the clearing."
Jun Dong Min spoke, his voice slightly hoarse. Before he had made the decision to visit Jun Meng Chen, the Pavilion Heads had all convened once more to decide how to obtain Jun Meng Chen's supposed "legacy."
Consigning the porcelain cup grasped in his hand to be the target for his glare, Jun Dong Min asked nonchalantly, almost as if his words meant nothing at all.
"Meng Chen," he began. "Just where exactly near Blaze Mountain did you get to witness such an event? Did you manage to secure a divine essence trace?"
Jun Meng Chen glanced at his father, before gazing into the distance. Releasing a light sigh, he glossed over his prepared description once more. Without waiting for Jun Dong Min to interrupt, Jun Meng Chen stood after speaking, quickly striding from the guestroom.
Musing in his chair, Jun Dong Min furrowed his brows before departing as well. Wandering aimlessly in the Pavilion of Swords, he found himself standing before a small rotunda.
His gaze turned gentle, and he leaned against the cold, white wall while pondering on Jun Meng Chen's words and behaviors. A cold expression flitted across his face as Jun Dong Min released a divine essence transmission, the recipient unknown.
-
In a secluded region of his courtyard, Jun Meng Chen lightly swung his sword in a simple sword dance. As the sword flowed through the air, his thoughts couldn't help but return to the encounter on the mysterious disk.
"Who was that girl?" he wondered, before angling the sword parallel with the ground, and sweeping outwards from his chest. "How did she appear there? And she mentioned something about her sheath…"
As he lightly exerted, Jun Meng Chen limited the movements of his feet, ensuring that his position did not stray for more than a few centimeters from where he began. Suddenly, he ceased mid swing, shaking his head.
"The concept isn't defined properly," he mused. Shaking his wrist and gazing at his reflection staring back at him from the flat of the blade, Jun Meng Chen thinly smiled.
"It was more chaotic, yet within the discord, there existed an orderly calm…a point of unison?"
Placing his feet together and holding the sword directly above his head, Jun Meng Chen took in a deep breath. Stepping forward with his left foot, he released the blade in a clean vertical slash, supporting and stabilizing the hilt with his left palm. Lightly tapping the sword, he stopped the cut when it was level with his chest.
Before the blade's momentum could fully dissipate, Jun Meng Chen lightly slapped the hilt with his left palm while relinquishing his grip, sending the blade spinning in the air. Springing back a few meters, Jun Meng Chen rushed forward while angling his body to allow the center of mass to be located near the shoulder.
Infusing divine essence into his left shoulder, he rammed forward, and at the same time, threw out his right arm behind him. The sword fell into his grip, and Jun Meng Chen quickly reversed it, before turning to his left while swinging the blade. The sword flashed in a wide arc, the cold edge emitting an aura of death.
As he righted his grip on the sword, Jun Meng Chen was about to slash towards the opposite direction, when he suddenly stopped. Allowing his sword to drop to the ground, he rubbed his chin in contemplation, lost in thought.
"She called it
Clapping his hands together, Jun Meng Chen stomped his foot, launching the blade to soar into the sky. Directing his gaze onto the ordinary steel sword, he channeled divine essence into its core, causing the sword to slowly emit a pale glow, and thin inscriptions were visible on the blade.
However, Jun Meng Chen didn't stop infusing divine essence when the inscriptions were fully visible, instead increasing the amount he channeled. With shrill shrieks, the sword hovering before him violently trembled as the inscriptions released a warped, multicolored radiance.
Eventually, the sword exploded into innumerable fragments of corroded steel, leaving behind a dense cloud of congealed divine essence.
Directing with his hand, Jun Meng Chen willed the cloud to gradually compress into a single point. Looking at the tiny bead floating before him, Jun Meng Chen threw it into the distance, before conjuring a sword and commanding it to chase.
When the bead had traveled fifty meters, he directed the sword to slice it in half. To his utter dismay, the halved bead merely dissipated into streams of divine essence without the expected explosion.
"Hey, what angered you so much, to be warping your own swords and causing them to explode?"
A teasing voice interrupted Jun Meng Chen, causing him to look up in surprise. There, he saw Balthazar in his customary luxurious violet robe, tutting in distaste at the warped shards of metal littering Jun Meng Chen's feet.
Jun Meng Chen frowned, before a thought sprung in his head. Withdrawing the mustard seed plaque and tossing it to Balthazar, he coldly remarked.
"What's this?"
"Oh? Ah…that's…"
Hearing Balthazar hesitate, Jun Meng Chen narrowed his eyes, conjuring another sword as he released a swift slash. Seeing the blade rush at him, Balthazar released a shrill screech, frantically dodging out of the way.
"Your Father!" he complained, ruefully gazing at his ripped robe. "This set was worth quite a lot, it was made from fifty-thousand-year-old spider silk! To rip it like that without any mercy, just how cold can you be?"
"You can just reform one with divine essence. Instead, why don't you tell me," spoke Jun Meng Chen, twirling the sword while affixing his gaze onto Balthazar's figure. "Just what does that plaque do? I highly doubt that it has anything to do with the Ghost King's domain."
"What, it's nothing more than a plaque that I wanted you to pass on to Ming Yue…you shouldn't have noticed it yet– Ah! Help! Murder! Murder in the Divine Palace!"
Hearing Jun Meng Chen's speculation, Balthazar twitched before muttering underneath his breath. As Jun Meng Chen heard his sister's name within the suppressed complaint, he said nothing as seven swords formed from divine essence supplied from his Deity Core rushed towards Balthazar.
In his haste, he failed to notice that on each sword were indistinct inscriptions highly similar to the ones he saw on the girl's spears.