Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 134 part 2! Things are about to get real!
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
The few orders barely lasted less than a blink, a common phenomenon at their cultivation level.
With their Time perception somewhat twisted, with an instant turning into hours, and years turning into an instant, it made for some paradoxical situations, but none that were important here.
After that fragment of time passed, the group launched a fierce attack, with each Void Seed cultivator on the Federation's side being targeted by at least one Beast, if not two.
It was not long before all those Tier 4 cultivators, human and beast alike, left the Surface Layer to descend into the First Void Layer to confront each other.
Out of the whole group, only Wang Ling, the Eighth Level Void Seed Federation Cultivator, and the two High King-Grade Demon Beasts burrowed even deeper until they reached the Second Layer, the three displaying their superior comprehension of the Void Intent.
As the rest of his team started fighting against their opponents, Wang Ling, one of the Senior Great Enforcers from the Extinguishing Hall tasked to protect Demian Mikhailov, the latter considered a Void Sapling Seed genius—though now Wang Ling felt like describing him as merely such was wildly underestimating the young man's potential—, quickly became busy using his Peak Second-Grade Marsh Intent to fend off those two disgusting Demon Fish, which both relieved and annoyed him.
He felt relieved because any damage would remain on the corresponding Void Layer, avoiding property destruction and innocent casualties.
However, the fact that those Demon Beasts were clearly trying to stall his group, waiting for that Mid King Grade Sword Fish to deal with that Moon Elf woman and the other young ones, was something that irritated him greatly.
'Always the same tactic with those damn fish! Bully the one with the many and the weak with the strong. The day our Supreme Elder breaks through to the Mid Void Sapling Level, let's see who bullies whom!'
He exclaimed inwardly, though he knew that the higher one went, the more difficult it became to advance.
He was already experiencing it with a Minor Level bottleneck at the Void Seed rank, let alone a Major Level bottleneck at the Void Sapling Rank.
Honestly, if it were not for that, the Elder would have reached a much higher cultivation level instead of being stuck for tens of thousands of years at the same level.
The upside was that Demon Beasts, unless their Bloodline reached a certain level, faced an even harsher time when it came to breaking through to higher Levels and Ranks.
If it were not the case, the Federation would have been destroyed tens of thousands of years ago, and the current situation where those Demon Fish were desperately trying to smother the Federation's geniuses would never have occurred.
While his thoughts wandered briefly, not from a lack of fighting experience, but because his strength had reached the Peak Second Layer and thus allowed him some mental leeway against those two whose power 'merely' reached the High Second Void Layer.
Of course, the difference was not large enough to one-hit kill them, but it was still enough for him to stand in an invincible position against those two, the only undeterminate factor being how long it would take to defeat, or even kill, the opponents.
Thus, the problem was not if he could defeat the opposition, but how long it would take, and with those two acting in a surprisingly well-coordinated two-fish team.
The Spike Bone Fish acted like a front-line warrior, bearing the brunt of his Void Elemental Wood and Water Spells, while the Shadow-Scale Fish kept kiting Wang Ling with some Curse and Poison Spells before hiding behind the other Demon Beast.
Because the Dark Element excelled at Movement and hiding Techniques, that damn Beast was so slippery that Wang Ling's Spells kept missing, though it was not for lack of trying.
With the need to protect himself from the enemy's poisons and curses, coupled with that other Bone Armored Beast constantly distracting him, it was no wonder he felt slightly frustrated.
Even after having lived for a few thousand years and having weathered so much, a hint of annoyance still rose in his Heart, though it was quickly dispelled when he recalled that their side also had its own trump card.
That and the look of surprise and anger on those two fish's ugly mug, most likely because his combat strength was much higher than they previously expected.
After all, Great Enforcers were extremely rare in the Federation, and it would have been much more likely for a Junior Protector General to be present.
Even the presence of a High Martial General from the Military Hall serving as a protector for a Peak Chi gathering Rank young man would have been unlikely, let alone a Senior Great Enforcer from the Extinguishing Hall, an Elite among the Federation Elites.
After all, the average strength of each of the four main Halls was markedly different, usually going like this: Government Hall (Average Strength), Protector Hall (Above Average Strength), Military Hall (Genius Strength), Extinguishing Hall (Monstrous Strength).
Of course, that level of power was the minimum combat strength criterion to join each Hall, and it was not impossible for someone from a weaker Hall to be as strong as someone from a stronger Hall, although most of the time, it would usually result in a transfer offer to that particular Hall.
The opposite was also true, especially for the Extinguishing Hall.
For example, if a cultivator from the latter was incapable of keeping up with their standard Monstrous Combat Prowess in relation to their Cultivation Level, then they would usually be transferred to another Hall of their choice.
It may sound extremely utilitarian, but at the same time, it was simply logical that for any privilege, one needed to have the corresponding qualifications, not only increasing the odds of accomplishing the Hall's related missions but also the chance of surviving said missions.
After all, if an Enforcer were sent on a mission with a specific cultivation level requirement, it meant that the mission's threat level was adapted to their strength.
If their combat prowess were not up to standard, then the most likely consequence would be a wasted death, something that none of the higher-ups, no matter how callous they could be, wanted.
The best example was Wang Ling, who could easily face two High King Grade Demon Beasts without problem, and even, if given enough time and with no one else intervening, could grind those two annoying loaches to death without risking severe injuries.
If someone else with the same cultivation were in his place, then they would have most likely been quickly overwhelmed and died without being able to do much.
Unfortunately, even with his current fighting prowess, Wang Ling had to accept the fact that taking care of those two Beasts would take some time, and thus, instead of trying to kill them as quickly as possible, he focused on trapping them, not only slowly but surely grinding their Energy reserve down, but also stopping them from reinforcing anyone else.
'If the two of you knew about our trump card, I wonder what face you'll make.'
He contemplated with amusement, especially as he noticed the two Beasts growing a bit frantic when they started to realize their current predicament.
There was still some uncertainty in his Heart, however.
'I wonder what's happening with Core Elder Anrepov, though. Seeing that he hasn't intervened yet, something's definitely happened...'
Speaking of the Core Elder Pietr Anrepov.
A few moments ago, a short while before the Peak King-Grade General Frost March attacked the City's Teleportation Station.
Pietr was currently seated cross-legged in the Third Void Layer, at a location right above the Red Tide District, with half of his attention on monitoring the entire City, while the other half was observing the young Demian Mikhailov's breakthrough.
The smoothness of such a normally dangerous breakthrough truly baffled the older man.
'And here I was calling myself a genius. Truly, comparison is the mother of disappointment. Although attributing it merely to his talent may not be entirely accurate. With those sorts of abnormal results, the lad surely has some heaven-defying secrets. Then again, which Void-Sapling and Transcending Tribulation cultivator doesn't?'
Shaking his head slightly, he swiftly extinguished any untoward thought before it had time to sprout in his mind.
Since the young man was on the Federation's side, there was no way Pietr would covet the lad's Fortune.
It was even more so with Demian's teacher being an Anrepov descendant.
With many historical examples of Forces where those Higher-Ups stole Fortunes from the lower-rank cultivators, Pietr Anrepov knew if a day came when such events became commonplace in their Federation, then it would mark the beginning of the end for them.
To be honest, whether it was from a moral standpoint or a long-term development, such a practice needed to be squashed as soon as it appeared, even if the cost was the life of a high-level cultivator.
Actually, with a growing pool of Void Sapling and Void Seed cultivators as an example, himself included, the results of such an approach spoke for themselves.
Another thing to note was that every cultivator had his/her own Fate, also called Heavenly Luck, and the higher one's talent, the higher one's level of Fate was, with encounters of heaven-defying opportunities aplenty, bottlenecks seemingly nonexistent, and a cultivation speed that would garner the jealousy from many of those less fortunate.
Of course, Fate was an extremely elusive concept, and no one understood it perfectly.
At most, cultivators possessed a few superficial pieces of knowledge, such as making an enemy of a Heaven-Defying genius would very often result not only in the death of the offender but also the destruction of the Force behind the latter.
That was, unless the offender in question had around the same or a stronger amount of Fate, or Heavenly Luck.
With that said, nothing was absolute, and being an extraordinary genius was not an absolute protection from death, even against those much less talented.
Otherwise, what was even the point of cultivating and transcending Mortality?
Thus, talent only gave a head start, lowering the difficulty of reaching a high level of cultivation.
However, alone, it was wholly insufficient, a fact proved many times through the death of an innumerable number of those geniuses through the extremely long history of this World.
Even those extraordinary monsters like the young Mikhailov below, who had a decent chance of reaching the Transcending Tribulation Rank, could fall along the way if they were not cautious enough.
Even if they did reach that Rank, the odds of being stuck at the First Level were extremely high, and even if they had the possibility of breaking through to higher levels, it was more likely that they would perish under one of the Transcending Tribulation's tribulations.
The Path to immortality was anything but easy, and most would never walk far alongside it.
Out of the Quadrillion or more living beings, how many could reach the First Level Transcending Tribulation Rank?
How about the Second Level, Third Level, or even beyond?
Immortality?
Such an elusive goal...
With all that talk about talent, Pietr was aware that there seemed to be a special category of genius, one who transcended Peak Heaven-Grade.
Those people were called 'Immortal seeds', and their existence was even rarer than Transcending Tribulation cultivators.
Though Pietr was not aware of the exact details, he knew that anyone possessing that sort of talent, as long as they did not die on the way, was destined to reach the Transcending Tribulation Rank at the bare minimum.
Apparently, there was even a slim chance of transcending Mortality and becoming an Immortal, though the word 'slim' was a true understatement.
Nonetheless, it was still better than virtually every other cultivator in the Mortal World, whose chances of becoming Immortal were virtually null, and that was even with those Tier 6 Beings included.
From what he heard, those Immortal Seeds seemed to be divided into different grades, but the details were a bit vague, probably due to the rarity of their appearance.
However, Pietr knew of a few easily identifiable phenomena that were supposed to appear during major breakthroughs, and the flower phenomenon slowly coalescing above the young Mikhailov's location seemed to be one of them.
Feeling stunned, Pietr wondered inwardly.
'Is that... Is that a 'Heaven Recognizes the Soul Lotus' phenomenon? If that's the case, then the lad should be an Immortal Seed, shouldn't he...?'
That was the thing with Immortal Seeds: On the outside, they would 'merely' appear as Peak Heaven Grade talent, even when examined by high-level cultivators, and only during some special moments could one discover some clues about their foundation's depths.
Thus, realizing that a potential Immortal Seed had just appeared in the Federation, Pietr felt a surge of happiness mixed with a hint of worry.
'That possibility... If I'm aware of that legend, there's no way those old Emperor-Grade Fish would not, and if they do, they will definitely grow even more desperate trying to kill him...'
Letting out an inward sigh, he added to himself.
'It seems that the lad's path has suddenly grown much harder. Hopefully, he will have enough time to fulfill his potential, both for his and the Federation's sake...'
As if his words were prophetic, his senses immediately caught two sources emitting some dangerous fluctuations, both hiding outside the City on the Third Void Layer.
With a cold look on his face, the powerful Core Elder stood up and sent his Voice booming through the Void Layer.
"And here I was, wondering why it suddenly smelled like rotten garbage. It was actually two filthy Beasts coming to visit. If you're just here to chat, then you two might as well return to that putrid den you call home. No need to waste my time."
With a lean, muscular frame, lightly tanned skin, dark-blue, long hair, and blue eyes filled with some small lightning Elemental bolts, the handsome and young-looking man flaunted an extraordinary appearance and a fearless Aura.
Call it pride or confidence, but those two colossal Demon Beasts, who had stopped hiding a few thousand kilometers away from the City and suddenly appeared in plain view, did not intimidate the Human cultivator.
'Two Low Emperor-Grade Rank, uh? Let's see what you two stupid fish have planned this time...'