246 Concluding With A Choice

"Unbelievable," the red-haired woman said as she tilted her head to the side, narrowly avoiding the bullet Elizabeth had shot at her from less than a foot away.

She kept swiping, slashing, and chopping with her curved longsword at speeds that easily surpassed that of hundreds of times the speed of sound as she continued, "You can actually keep up with me? And all these damned energies emanating from your body…"

Internally she laughed at herself for believing that fighting with Elizabeth, 11th Ranked Chosen of the Cataclysm, would be easy simply because of the vast difference in their Cultivation Bases.

"Hmph!" She snorted, finally relenting to the use of her Goldfinger.

The sound of her snort carried into Elizabeth's Soul Land without even her Ominous Passage or Precognitive Divination being able to perceive its threat and the full brunt of the impact sent her Ellie incarnation into immediate stasis.

"Heh," the red-haired woman smirked upon seeing the light in Elizabeth's eyes instantly fade as she brought her sword up to hack away at her limbs and render her immobile.

"Sun, now!" Yrre screamed as she felt the impact of the red-haired woman's soul attack render Elizabeth unconscious, yet Sun had already disappeared from her side by the time she had begun calling out to him.

Having consumed a Seething Yang Pill, Sun sacrificed a full 5% of his Blood Essence to outspeed the red-haired woman a dozen times over.

However…

"Die!" Elizabeth's lifeless eyes had their crimson luster return as Lisa took over the body's control and exploded with ghastly potent Death Core Qi.

As the Life Reversal Art's Domain instantly projected a sky of death all around her and the enemy, and the black aura coating her hands turned nearly opaque from the density of the Death Qi contained in them, Lisa barehandedly deflected the red-haired woman's sword away; sustaining only a "mild" injury as her overwhelming Death Qi, having temporarily risen to Excellent Affinity, managed to grind away a major portion of the energy concealed in the blade before making contact.

Her other hand, having formed a fist, descended on the red-haired woman's stunned body carrying with it the force to obliterate entire mountain peaks.

Unfortunately for the red-haired woman, Lisa didn't believe in 'holding back.' Despite the definite critical damage she sustained, Lisa still came at her with more than just the intent to kill; there was also a lust for all the quality Nascent Qi she'd have access to after the fight ended.

"Eat shit, motherfucker!" Lisa cursed, still in control of Elizabeth's body long after Ellie had recovered from stasis.

[Skills:

Name: Spirit Mystic Art: Transcendent Strength

Level 63

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Experience: 15,000,000/15,368,348

Spirit Grade: A

Energy Cost: 0.1 Core Qi per minute minimum to take effect in the Core Stages

Primary Effect: Depending on how much energy is infused into the body before an attack is dealt, the user's Strength may increase by drastically different amounts. At the lowest range of effect, 0.1 Core Qi increases the body by 10%, increasing in 10% increments as the amount of Core Qi infused doubles; i.e. 0.2 Core Qi increases Strength by 20%, 0.4 Core Qi increases Strength by 30%, 0.8 Core Qi increases Strength by 40%.

Secondary Effect: 75% of the increase to Strength carries over to Speed and Defense Stats.

Tertiary Effect: As Body Cultivation increases and more acupoints are unlocked, certain thresholds enter the user into unique states. Currently, with 256 opened Acupoints, gained from half completion of a True Grandmist Body, reaching a 120% increase in power through the Mystic Art's Primary Effect will grant the user's body Hyper Regeneration at the Level of a Pure Yang Core Bearing Stage Cultivator.]

Boom!

Not giving enough time for her to recover or react, even as the red-haired woman's body broke through Earth's stratosphere, Lisa seemingly teleported next to her ascending body and striked it with Strength breaking past the one-million-unit mark.

Usually, only Pure Yang Cultivators pursuing the Extreme Path of Physicality or Extreme Path of Perfection Cultivators had physical parameter Stats registering in the millions in the Nascent Cultivation Stage as the vast majority of Cultivators stopped actively cultivating their bodies after breaking into the Spirit Realm.

Generally speaking, Cultivators followed the dogma that the Mortal Realm's six Stages cultivated the body, the Foundation and Core Stages of the Spirit Realm cultivated their energy, and the Nascent Stages cultivated the soul. Only when all three were cultivated to their limits would there even be a chance to break through into the next Realm and become Immortal.

The red-haired woman unfortunately followed the orthodox method, despite her extremely well built foundation and potential. As a Nascent Cultivator, aside from her Intelligence and Energy Stats, she probably didn't even reach the mid-to-late eight-hundred-thousands when it came to physical parameters.

Consequently, the damage done by Lisa in her enraged state was beyond consolation. The powered carried in her punch directly shattered a hole into the woman's armor, making it seem more like it was a piece of brittle glass and not a set of Spirit Grade Armor.

However, Lisa didn't dare to relent simply because she successfully retaliated; nearly outright killing the red-haired woman as her body was set on the path to escape Earth's atmosphere and wander into the infinite void of space.

"Get us next to her before she gets the chance to recover and react," Lisa demanded as her incarnation in Elizabeth's Soul Land appeared before Ellie.

Without a sign of complaint, the moment Ellie got hold of her body again, she did as Lisa said, already knowing what had to be done.

Fighting with Cultivators at or above the Nascent Stages was a tricky endeavor which could easily result in death if not properly handled. As those in the Nascent Stages formed a Nascent Soul, the precursor to an Immortal Soul, technically they could revive even if their corporeal body died.

All the strength in the world wouldn't amount to squat if Elizabeth let the red-haired woman's Nascent Soul escape before she dealt it a finishing blow.

Thus, with the unrestrained use of her Contraction Space Art, Elizabeth instantly appeared behind the still ascending body of the red-haired woman.

Only, before she could cast the final attack…

'I can't believe I'm being forced to do this by a Core Stage brat,' the red-haired woman thought as she galvanized her soul.

"Soul Extinction Art: Sound Calamity," she stoically said aloud, feeling like the world was spinning as a horrifying 25% of her soul instantly evaporated to fuel the attack.

"Shitty host! You better revive me quickly after this!" Lisa screeched as her body became nearly 80% translucent. With the overwhelming majority of her Ancient Godslayer Fiend Essence drawn out into the world of Elizabeth's Soul Land, the invisible soul attack heading straight for Ellie's incarnation was instantly reduced to a fraction of its former glory.

'Lisa!' Elizabeth paled as she watched Lisa's body vaporized almost entirely. Lisa was left in permanent stasis, as had Belle and Zhenlong's incarnations within Elizabeth's Soul Land, only capable of being sustained by the representation of Elizabeth's Understanding of Death, atop a stargazer lily.

Unfortunately, before she could worry about Lisa, Elizabeth shuddered in the outside world as even a fraction of the Sound Calamity attack threatened to rend her soul and sunder her Soul Land.

"You…" Elizabeth became enraged as her Soul Variation Skill flared to life and raised her Soul Force to the point that it could tank what was left of the Soul Calamity attack. She probably would have died if not for the sheer number of Profound Truths she had comprehended in the Sky Seizing Castle and the soul she had been nurturing with grandmist since she was in the Mortal Realm.

After a heptagram array of crimson-black energy appeared on Elizabeth's hand, Elizabeth mercilessly pierced the red-haired woman's torso and directly shattered her Dantian barehanded.

Not bothering to care about all the Nascent Qi that rushed through her body, the same hand formed a palm before the red-haired woman's terrified expression.

'Talent Stealing Blood Seal!' Elizabeth coldly chanted internally.

With her proficiency in the technique increasing after training in the Sky Seizing Castle, she directly ripped the woman's Nascent Soul from her Upper Dantian.

She would have immediately annihilated the red-haired woman, body and soul alike, if not for the prompt of her Quest Functions, stopping her in her tracks.

[Quests:

Cataclysm Hidden Quest: Chosen Slayer (Complete)

Spirit Grade Difficulty: SSS

Degree of Completion: Perfect

Objective: Defeat a Chosen of the Cataclysm.

Afterword: Hats off to your first win against another Chosen of the Cataclysm. It was likely to turn out this way considering your current ranking trumping hers by three places, but given the surrounding circumstances you did extraordinarily well. Not only did you beat a wielder of the Goldfinger-class Sound Soul Arts, but you did so against one at the Nascent Cultivation Stage as a Core Formation Stage Cultivator without the use of your most devastating abilities. Truly worthy of a Perfect rating.

Reward:

Choice:

1) Soul Sound Arts (Spirit Realm Portion) [Condition: Kill Xiang Moxie]

2) Divine Transmission: Xiang Moxie [Condition: Spare Xiang Moxie]

Bonus: Situational Augmentation (Nascent Soul of Pure Death)]

"Tsk," Elizabeth's tense fingers itched to shatter the red-haired woman's, who she came finally come to learn was named Xiang Moxie, Nascent Soul. But, it seemed her dedication to pursuing efficiency and benefits outweighed the degeneration her anger brought to her mental state.

'Persephone,' Elizabeth called, 'is there any good reason for me to accept sparing her? Aren't we supposed to be irreconcilable enemies because of the Cataclysm?'

'Well,' Elizabeth could tell just from the tone of Persephone's voice how much relief and joy the goddess must be feeling from her Chosen's first triumph against another Chosen of the Cataclysm, 'Since you've effectively enslaved her with your Talent Sealing Blood Seal, she's your servant. Sure, killing her now and getting the Spirit Realm portion of a Goldfinger-class technique would prove to be extremely beneficial, but only for the short term.

'Remember, you're set to surpass even Gods. How much use could the mere Spirit Realm portion of a Goldfinger be to you after you have long surpassed the Spirit Realm? There's no guarantee that you'll come into contact with the technique's higher Realm portions. Not to mention it would be extremely unwise for you to begin cultivating a Goldfinger Sound-type Cultivation Method like the Sound Soul Arts, when you don't even have a Divine Grade Time Cultivation Method,' Persephone concluded.

'So, what? I don't kill her and… and… oh,' Elizabeth followed through with the idea of taking Xiang Moxie as a servant and realized both the promise and risk of sparing her.

She thought, 'If I spared her, not only would I have a servant with the entire Goldfinger, I might just be able to befriend her with the information I get from receiving a Divine Transmission on her, making her that much more of a worthwhile companion!

'Moreover, Persephone's right. The risk of Path Deviation is just too high if I started cultivating a Goldfinger Cultivation Method for Sound, while the best I have for Time are Peak Spirit Grade Methods.'

Path Deviation was a kind of disease that could plague any Cultivator who lost sight of their symbolic direction in the path of Cultivation. Usually, it was imperative that Cultivators cultivated as few types of Energies outside their major, to lessen the risk of manifesting Path Deviation, but Elizabeth's Status Functions warded off most potential mishaps, by clearly defining where she stood.

The disease would only arise if a new energy was suddenly introduced into the paradigm of a Cultivator's established Soul Land and caused confusion as to what their major was; what their focus was. But for Elizabeth this wasn't an issue as nothing could so much as touch her Fragmented Transcendent Good Tier Time Affinity.

Suddenly introducing a Goldfinger Cultivation Method that focused on only Sound, however, could easily sow chaos amidst the carefully constructed balance of the Affinities in her body. The only reason her Embryonic Goldfinger Cultivation Method for Chaos, Chaos Requiem, didn't impact her in the same way was because of the intrinsic nature of Chaos itself.

It helped that Chaos Requiem wasn't a fully fledged Goldfinger, but even if it was, because Chaos Affinity was tied to her Cultivation Base, she wouldn't have to worry about Path Deviation from cultivating it as her Time Affinity was guaranteed to always be ahead.

However, ignoring the risk of Path Deviation, just having access to another Goldfinger, even if it was just the Spirit Realm portion of the Method-type Goldfinger, would immensely benefit Elizabeth even if she broke out of the Spirit Realm. By following a Cultivation Method classed as a Goldfinger, she would be guaranteed true perfection. The Sound Soul Arts would establish a foundation for her cultivation of Sound to surpass Divinity. To surpass Godhood.

The question was, whether or not it was worth risking a guaranteed chance to study the Mortal and Spirit Realm sections for the method, for an unpredictable servant. Moxie had just lost her Chosen Status and been relegated to being another Chosen's slave, so there was no telling if or when she might strike back out of spite.