Chapter 543 Simp

543 Simp

With the wisp of dark-red flame dancing in his palm, Liam began to ponder over the Spider Lily's capabilities.

Just like Darkness and the rest of his elements, Liam wasn't harmed by his own Path, nor could he sense any particular danger from it. But for something so sparse and limited, and so compactly unique, it must have contained some speciality that no other Path had.

He was just itching to find out.

But first, he had a few things to verify. With the Spider Lily's essence still burning in his hand, Liam willed for it to return back into the flower. Slowly, the essence flickered in and out, before puffing out in an instant. Back to his spiritual Path space, the essence – which Liam had extracted from the Spider Lily – immediately poured back into the wilted flower petal, rejuvenating it. Liam smiled. 'So I can refund it if I don't use it instantly. Neat.' One had to remember that, as cultivators rose above the ranks, their fighting methods grew increasingly different from their Mortal counterparts. However, some things didn't change. One of them was resource management. For example, during Liam's earlier Mortal Rank phases, he'd often need to ration out his darkness reserves across prolonged fights. The same went for mental energy, spells, inscriptions and more. But now?

Liam could use Darkness day and night without it being finished. Well... not exactly. Under rare circumstances, if a fight required him to go all out, he'd most likely burn through his darkness reserves by the end of the battle. Though, he'd regain most of it before his wounds healed. But now that he was a Zenith, fights weren't decided by just elements, physique and weapons.

They were also decided by Paths. This meant that most of Liam's old spells – those below the fourth and fifth ranks – were practically useless. Outdated and redundant against stronger opponents.

Knowing that he still had a bit of flexibility regarding his Path power, gave Liam some breath. 22:28

'What do I test it on, though? I made sure to find a desolate place. Not like there'll be a group of sea bandits that'll pop out of nowhere.'

A moment later, Liam felt a change in Meathead's connection with him. His eyes glittered.

A second later, he immediately rushed to the puppet's location, using every speed boost he could.

'Tell me I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong.'

Liam wasn't using his swords. Nor his blood, his shadows, his spells, his Chaos. Nothing.

He intended to use only his Path.

Then, opportunity came knocking.

Liam felt one of the imps attempting to stab through his spine from behind. Just as the sea creature got close enough to do so, Liam pivoted his foot, grabbing a hold of the imp's spear. Unfortunately, the imp reacted in time, fluidly changing his choice of attack from stab, to swipe.

SHING!

A successful attack! A gash nearly six inches deep ripped through a swath of Liam's chest. Then, as the spear completed its swiping motion, it suddenly stopped, as though freezing in time.

Liam's hand had moved from the spear, to the imp's wrist.

The imp grimaced and tried to pull away.

Liam smiled. His grip was unmoving.

Just then, Liam used the Spider Lily's power, and...

Nothing happened.