Chapter 1417: Made Up My Mind
"[Heaven's Blaze]!" Yi Shenghan howled.
He was far too upset by the sudden defeat, and he wanted to at least take his opponent down with him. Blue lightning burst forth.
His clan's forbidden technique burned his mental energy and vitality, paying a hefty price in exchange for a sea of lightning of immense strength and depth beyond his current cultivation.It would have taken Yi Shenghan another decade of cultivation, at least, to produce such an attack normally.
His clan's forbidden technique would allow him to do so now at the cost of mental energy, vitality, and future potential.
Despite the heavy price, despite the lost potential that might never return, Yi Shenghan didn't care. How could he have been defeated by a nameless challenger?
Strong though he might be, Yi Shenghan was nothing more than a pampered brat from a Holywing clan.
The sea of lightning that suddenly manifested dyed the sky blue.
Zhou Ying erupted in a burst of vitality and natural energy, turning into what seemed like a green crystal. Golden radiance shone where her head would be, and gray fog surrounded her.
"[Avatar of the Fae: Galaxybound Enclosure]!"
A titanic burst of vitality and natural energy erupted from her, turning Zhou Ying into a facsimile of a goddess of nature, the princess of the forests. Huge wood dragons emerged from underground, each the size of a skyscraper. A golden tide of dragons appeared, swallowing up the lightning. Zhou Ying retreated into the midst of the wood dragons, which soared through the air and the sea of lightning, surrounding it and encapsulating it with their bodies.
The blue lightning, however, refused to be corralled. It whizzed back and forth. Snakes of blue lightning wriggled out from the cracks in the wood dragons' defenses and through the clouds.
The lightning charred the wood dragons black, but Zhou Ying continuously infused her vitality and natural energy into them. The wood dragons quickly shed off their charred bark as they came back to life.
The sea of wood dragons crashed into the sea of lightning. The skies were dyed blue; the ground, golden. The two types of energy sizzled as they came into contact with each other.
In the end, the lightning lost steam first. Yi Shenghan had sacrificed far more than Zhou Ying did to create his attack, and the resulting strain could not be tolerated for long periods. The golden wood dragons tore apart the sea of lightning, and Yi Shenghan vanished amidst the wood dragons. It was obvious who the true victor was.
The spectators were in an uproar.
"So is she really part of the stellar hunters, then?!"
"Didn't we see her true form just now?"
"Who are these stellar hunters, anyway?"
"Apparently, they're part of a race that participated in the Cup centuries, or possibly millennia, in the past. They weren't weak then, either."
The Hall of Immortals' vast reserves of treasures meant that the ninth Immortal King was able to recover from the mental trauma resulting from his defeat readily. To the universe at large, this was incredible.
It was well known that dying in the virtual realm would deal severe damage to your mind, one which you wouldn't be able to recover from without years of recuperation at least.
Furthermore, the ninth Immortal King had used a technique beyond his capabilities. It wouldn't be unusual if he had to recuperate for a few decades; the fact that he was even up and standing was a miracle.
The Hall of Immortals boasted the strength needed to accomplish such a feat.
It boasted millennia of resources, and each generation was stronger than the last. Every Immortal King that stepped out of the Hall of Immortals was at the top of their generation. Even the supreme forces of the galaxy could not countermand the Hall of Immortals, and no one knew the depths of its strength.
Only if mental restoratives were as plentiful as cabbages to the Hall of Immortals could the ninth Immortal King have restored his mental faculties within such a short period of time. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
The ninth Immortal King walked into the depths of the hall.
The depths of the hall were open only to members of the Hall of Immortals, and no foreigner had ever stepped within.
An altar lay in the deepest recesses of the hall, or perhaps a divine tower. Its interior was cylindrical, and floating seats hung on the walls.
Behind each seat was a copper tablet engraved with arcane and abstruse information. At the very bottom seat was an ancient elder; at the next level up, a corpse; even higher up, corpses encased in copper. The higher one went, the more copper there was. The highest seats were covered in a cloudy mist, and it was difficult to see what lay within.
There were an incredible number of seats, so many it was impossible to count them all. These were the strongest members of the Hall of Immortals, who had accomplished great deeds in life, but who were now corpses perched all up along the walls of this divine tower. The difference was that some had barely decayed, while others had been skeletal corpses for millennia.
No one was certain whether they were truly dead, or if they had found another means to live on beyond their physical body.
The ninth Immortal King raised his head and shouted, "I want to challenge the Immortal King's final trial!"
His voice echoed in the divine tower, which began to shake and reverberate. The corpses all began to tremble, either of their own volition or because of the ninth Immortal King's voice.
"You possess the qualifications to do so," a voice replied, from an unknown source.
"But are you aware of what this trial represents?" This time, multiple voices spoke in unison, echoing throughout the tower.
"Of course," the ninth Immortal King replied.
"You're still too young. Your eight seniors have all failed this trial. Although you might be the prophesied ninth Immortal King, this trial is far crueler than you might imagine."
"You should recuperate after just having received a traumatic mental blow. It'll help increase the chance of your success."
The ninth Immortal King replied, "I cannot wait any longer, Elders. If I want to beat that man in the future, I will have to challenge this trial and become a true Immortal King."
The first voice sounded from an unknown source, "I had intended for you to obtain a genetic expansion from the Galactic Rising Stars Cup before you took part in the trial, but it seems that things are not to be."
The ninth Immortal King pleaded, "Elder, I beseech you to grant my request. If my opponent places in the top ten, he'll have a chance at genetic expansion, and will surely grow more powerful as a result. The Immortal King's trial is my only avenue to defeat him."
"If your mind is set, then we won't stop you. Let the trial of the Immortal King begin!"
A set of copper doors opened up within the tower, and ghostly cries and moans could be heard within. Who knew what horrors lay within? The ninth Immortal King glanced into the unknown darkness, swallowed a gulp of saliva, solidified his resolve, and stepped within.
The copper doors slammed shut with a bang.