Chapter 1072 Tug Of War
Dyon's expression immediately became very serious. Even with his soul, it seemed he wasn't able to see something a dao formation expert wanted to hide. If that wasn't the case, he would have seen Elder Nova's true cultivation long ago.
'He's too close to me.' Dyon's mind went into overdrive. He didn't have the time to confirm whether or not Elder Nova was an enemy. For all he knew, Elder Nova was a man left behind by the Energy Path to ensure that Soul Rending Peak never rose again.
It made perfect sense too. If Elder Nova was meant to be a guardian for Soul Rending Peak, why would he be stationed at Unseen Peak?
It had to be remembered that Slaughter Peak was the Peak controlled by the Caedes family. That was why it so easily fell under the control of The Cathedral.
However, Unseen Peak was the Peak formerly controlled by the Jafari family.
Who was the family most resilient to the new order? Which family was most likely to trigger the rise of Soul Rending Peak? Was it not the Jafari family? The very same family that seemingly had a vague connection to Dyon's grand teacher?
Wouldn't it be smartest to send someone to monitor them?
On top of all of that, even if Dyon was willing to ignore all of that and think of Elder Nova as a friend anyway, why would he have allowed the Jafari family to be destroyed? He was stationed in Jafari clan territory, yet did nothing when The Cathedral and The Caedes family finally decided to get rid of them? Too many things didn't add up.
Dyon knew that if Elder Nova was an enemy, he'd have no chance to survive if he let him have the initiative. He had to take advantage of the moment when he was still over confidently showing off his steady rise in power.
At that moment, Dyon threw out all of his master's rules, pushing everything he had to the utmost limit.
The aura of a dao formation expert was completely unable to lock him down like it could have before. An added ability of his Presence was this very attribute, giving him leeway to stare down arrogantly even against the most vicious opponents.
Dyon's wings burst from his back, radiating outward with a fierce golden light. The eight of them flapped with an unprecedented strength even as Dyon's Demon Emperor's Will climbed to the first stage of the second act.
In an instant, Dyon's power multiplied by sixteen times. His skin reddened and his robes burst apart into a fiery rage of flames.
Just when Elder Nova was just beginning to notice that something might be wrong, a scene that could shock the world occurred.
The skies began to tremble as the earth below shattered.
What could only be described as an ancient land descended, hovering just below Dyon's feet.
The piece of land couldn't have stretched more than a dozen or so meters in every direction. In fact, it was dried and cracked, with a completely unappealing appearance.
Yet, it gave off a dangerous, primordial aura that made those that faced it tremble in terror.
Dyon's manifestation appeared in the air, taking their breaths away.
He had matured along with Dyon, his handsome, chiseled features presented to the world in an untouchable light. The disdain in its eyes was clear for all to see, even when faced with the power of a dao formation expert, it was completely fearless.
At that moment, Elder Nova who hadn't felt any suppression whatsoever suddenly felt that his power had dipped by almost 5%, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
However, just as he was still trying to figure out what was going on, three orbs of light appeared before Dyon.
These were none other than secret weapon of Soul Rending Peak. Dyon had taken one from Elder Bowa, the other he snatched off of the Mother's corpse, and the last he took from the former master, Elder Ricci.
When Elder Bowa used this formation against Dyon, he directly gained the power of a middle celestial despite because a lower celestial with not even a single meridian filled completely and having terrible soul talent, so much so that he could barely utilize the formation effectively.
That wasn't all either. The central power of this formation was located within Soul Rending Peak itself. That meant that the power diminished the further from the sect you traveled, yet they were able to give Elder Bowa that large of a boost despite being in an asteroid belt located millions of miles away!
Now, not only was Dyon less than ten miles from Soul Rending Peak, his soul talent far outstripped Elder Bowa's to the point where he could control all three remaining formation cores at once!
The instant those three formation cores appeared, the suppression Elder Nova was experiencing increased from barely 5% to almost 20%!
The moment Dyon activated all three formation cores at once, his stamina depleted to nearly 0. By all rights, he shouldn't have had any business continuing to use so many formation cores at once, but that was when the Energy Core began to spin viciously.
The pace Dyon lost soul energy at was being recovered so quickly that it was almost as though he hadn't lost any to begin with. Dyon's soul was so powerful and robust that it could withstand the Energy Core's pace.
There was no question that the mightiness of the treasures of the 33 heavens was about to make their presence known.
Dyon's aura continued to climb. With the help of the Soul Rending Peak formation cores, his momentum was no less than a peak celestial a mere step away from breaking into the dao formation realm.
However, he wasn't complacent.
For one, the gap between a dao formation expert and a peak celestial was so large that it bordered on being unfathomable. There was a reason it took so long to progress along the realm.
Secondly, Dyon had no idea what level Elder Nova had reached. His senses couldn't comprehend the dao formation stages at all. Unless a vastly stronger and a vastly weaker dao formation expert stood side by side, Dyon wouldn't have any hope of distinguishing their levels.
Even worse than all of this, Dyon's soul was under a ridiculous amount of strain. It was constantly being drained by the formation cores before being replenished by the energy core. That level of push and pull would have long since shattered anyone else's soul!
Dyon understood very well that he couldn't allow this state to continue. He would at best last half a minute, at worst, less than 10 seconds.
However, Dyon knew that he had to do this. Without the formation cores, he wouldn't be able to do what he needed to do: and that was to raise his soul to the dao formation levels!
Dyon roared into the skies, pushing his soul to the uppermost limited.
A barrier seemed to shatter at that moment as a second overwhelmingly mighty pressure took hold of Planet Cathedral.
A second dao formation expert!
At that moment, a temple appeared in the skies, exuding an ancient aura even more magnificent than the cracked land beneath Dyon's feat.
It was a four sized pyramid that was eerily reminiscent of an ancient Mayan temple. Each of its sides held a stair case, intricately designed to meticulous standards. Even without standing upon it, one could tell that climbing to the very top would be no simple task.
By this point, Elder Nova still hadn't had the time to react. So many things had happened, yet less than a fraction of a second had passed. Even when Dyon summoned the Aurora Steps, his expression was still slowly changing from his casual smile to a serious one.
However, he wouldn't get the opportunity to react. The moment the stairs appeared, yet another pull occurred on Dyon's soul, draining him quickly, albeit less quickly that the three formation cores.
The Energy Core was beginning to lose its tug of war. It wasn't that it couldn't pull in energy quicker, because it could. This was a treasure that sucked the primordial energy out of an entire universe in a split a second, how could it not meet the demands of a mere essence gatherer pretending to be a peak celestial?
The problem was that Dyon's soul couldn't handle a faster speed. He could already tell he was nearing his limits. But, for the sake of his life, his goals, his friends, and his family, he pushed himself even further.