Deathly Energy!
If lifeforce energy embodied all that is life, then deathly energy embodied the end of all that is life. His inscriptions turned blacker than the Border Expanse and his eyes seemed to lose all forms of life. In his body, his heart was the only source of life throughout his body.
It remained flickering in defiance. It watched the deathly aura like an unyielding guardian protecting all creation.
"This!" The second-floor Heavenly Genesis expert was shocked. The raindrop was shrouded by an inky, blue aura. When he tried to sent his spiritual sense, qi sense, or heavenly sense outwards, it seemed to be ruthlessly devoured. This terrified him greatly.
For ten li, a shroud of deathly aura encapsulated everything within the Deluge Realm. This ten li grew to eleven li in a thousandth of a second.
"What the hell?" Yu Shi was momentary stunned. Since this battle, Yan Zaizen kept doing odd things that seemed out of his cultivation base limits. The near-instant regeneration, the two astral stars, and now a shroud of death. Normally, this aura should kill him instantly. Not even a user of a death concept would infuse their living body with an aura of death.
That's like courting death.
Quite literally.
He decided to end this quickly. The raindrop took a second to return to his left hand, but by that time, the aura of death already reached over eight hundred li.
"Die!" He sent the raindrop piercing towards Yan Zaizen. Unfortunately, despite piercing space, the moment the raindrop entered the shroud, he lost connection with it. "What?!" Blood sprayed out of his mouth in ridiculous amounts.
His eyes, for the first time, revealed intense and deep fear. "Get out!" He hurriedly shouted towards his men, but he received no response. His face turned horribly grim.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
The deathly aura continued to expand. Yu Shi had already tried attacking this aura but his attacks seemed to diminish with each strike. Not only that, it grew bigger in response. He started to feel worried about his realm's fate.
Suddenly, the shroud of death started to shrink. In a split second, it returned to its home - Yan Zaizen's lungs. Yan Zaizen was revealed but there was no raindrop or expert formation. Even the bodies of the experts were no longer present.
He clenched his fist, his eyes revealing white flames. "Siphoning Shadow of Death...siphon all within the heavens...truly…" Yan Zaizen's deathly aura had siphoned heavenly genesis group's formation.
The energy in their bodies was completely siphoned taken after several seconds. Their physical bodies were restricted with soul energy and placed in the Meteor Ring. As for the Raindrop, Yan Zaizen isolated the ripple that intervened with his spatial laws.
The moment the raindrop entered his deathly aura, it was sent into his chaotic space. This momentary loss of connection allowed Yan Zaizen to send the raindrop into his Meteor Ring, immediately disconnecting the connection it had to Yu Shi.
This method was something he used back in Grux with the giant mountain. The raindrop's core was Yu Shi's pseudo spirit-rank armament, this was how he could control it. The frozen rain within the realm couldn't be gathered without a core medium. The moment it was taken, Yu Shi suffered an immense backlash.
From the moment Yan Zaizen saw that raindrop, he suspected this. After a moment, he thought of this plan. It may have been simple overall, but Yan Zaizen's battle experience wasn't great. Not the mention, his death form had severe limitations. If it absorbed a certain amount, his white flame will absorb the deathly law for self-preservation.
Not only that, his deathly aura couldn't be used for a vast amount of time after. Not to mention, if he uses his death form, he couldn't enter his life form until it completes its maximum allowed absorption.
He found this odd considering they were a part of his physique, but it seemed like they acted according to their own rules. It frustrated Yan Zaizen, but he couldn't actually affect this regardless of how much he tried.
As for now?
The previously deathly aura receded and converted into lifeforce energy that shined so brightly that he radiated light like a miniature sun. He could feel his reserves recover completely. Eyes flickering, he turned towards Yu Shi.
Yu Shi saw this and his face turned even grimmer. At the moment, he had suffered an intense backlash, all his forces disappeared somehow, and Yan Zaizen's energy reserves had restored. His aura was even more intense than before.
With a wave of his hands, his heavenly shrine emerged out from his dantian. It wasn't an actual palace but three upright pillars with a square foundation base beneath. The pillars were lined up in a straight line with one at the very center.
This shocked Yan Zaizen. He had seen heavenly shrines and knew their shapes and structures varied greatly but he never knew that a heavenly shrine could be brought out willingly by an expert.
"Be careful! He's igniting his heavenly shrine! He's going to sacrifice his condensed heavenly essence and floors for extraordinary but temporary power!" Pinaka warned.
"What?!" Yan Zaizen was stunned dumb. Why would a Heavenly Genesis expert destroy their shrine? Couldn't he just make a concession? He recalled Guan Yin, he expected Yu Shi to be similar.
Yan Zaizen was right and wrong. If it was any other expert in this situation, they would attempt to discuss before going all out. However, the Mortal Dao of Desire was essentially the representation of fixated madness. Anything he desired must be his through any means necessary, even sacrificing his own strength.
This was why this dao was especially troublesome. Not to mention, Guan Yin had a bestowed dao, her personal pride wasn't nearly as intense as Gu Yu who developed it. She could lower her head if needed. If Gu Yu had to suffer humiliation, he would be just as mad as Yu Shi. However, he found it beneath himself to deal with Guan Yin's lethal problem.
"Ahhh!" Yu Shi roared with madness. Extracting one's shrine came with an intense pain. However, if he ignited the heavenly essence condensed from heavenly law liquid while it was in his dantian, it would be an act of self-detonation.
Two of the three pillars started to burn with golden fire. Within this golden fire, the heavens seemed to be burning fiercely. Motes of blue light roamed in the golden fire. Each mote represented the laws of water.
Yu Shi's eyes turned completely blue.
"HMPH!" Yan Zaizen coldly snorted. He wasn't an idiot to allow his enemy to reach his peak state. Murderous light flashed in his eyes. He stomped forward.
The world cried.
The space begged for mercy.
The realm quaked in fear.
Yan Zaizen, with all of his lifeforce energy, shot outwards with his all. With a speed that could run laps on light itself, he appeared before Yu Shi with eyes filled with the greatest desire to see another's death he had ever made.
He had moved so fast that his skin ripped from his body. For every yard moved, his skin would be removed. However, that skin would be repaired just as fast. By the time he reached Yu Shi, he had left behind a skin-like trail that seemed like a set of countless shadows or afterimages.
Yan Zaizen had moved faster than his body could withstand.
"What the fu-" Yu Shi's madness was completely eclipsed by his fear. He instinctively retreated but Yan Zaizen's fist shrouded by white light rumbled forward with earth-shattering force.
The weakness of igniting the heavenly essence in one's heavenly shrine was the second of weakness where they no longer had it. Without ample preparation beforehand, doing so would only leave yourself open for a strike.
"Wai-" Yu Shi felt intense regret. He wanted to speak up to delay Yan Zaizen. Perhaps if he could do so, he could finish his ignition and end this freak! Even to the last millisecond of his life, his desire for the realmship and Lang Xue was greater than anything else. Even his life.
BOOM!!!
The incoming world-crushing fist landed heavily on Yu Shi's body. An explosion thundered. The shockwaves turned his physical body and soul into dust. In his eyes, the madness of desire remained.
On this day, Yu Shi's Dao vanished.
"..." Yan Zaizen's chest heaved up and down in exhaustion. He felt an intense sensation of a deadly crisis at the ignition of a three-floor heavenly shrine. That last movement consumed over ninety percent of his lifeforce energy, including all the excess. He felt exhausted physically.
"The battle between experts are determined in blinks. Under those circumstances, even a fourth-floor Heavenly Genesis expert could've died instantly." Pinaka reminded.
"It's unfortunate that I couldn't use you. With my cultivation base been too low, this level of opponent truly is too much." Yan Zaizen commented, waving his hand to obtain Yu Shi's heavenly shrine. Two pillars were half destroyed. He tapped it, sending all of Yu Shi's precious possessions into the Meteor Ring.
Pinaka once informed him that Heavenly Genesis experts store their things within their shrines. They seem to be in an isolated space that only the wielder could access. Luckily, without Yu Shi being connected to it, he could access it with relative ease.
It was because of this ability that he didn't realize initially that Yu Shi brought out an armament core for his formation. It was so seamlessly done that it was as if the realm's frozen rain gathered to a single point.
With a heavy sigh, he looked towards the deteriorating realm formation shield and dim planets. He reminded himself to never fight a Realmlord again in his home ground. If Yu Shi didn't have a projectile armament, if he didn't suffer a heavy backlash, if he decided to fight patiently instead of igniting his shrine, if Yan Zaizen didn't have soul energy fast and strong enough to isolate the armament, if, if, if.
Yan Zaizen felt that things could've gone differently if any variable changed.
Luckily, it didn't.
He felt so sore. His skin shredded itself so many times that if he counted, he wouldn't finish in a year. The pain was intense that his body quivered slightly with every movement.
He waved his hand, bringing out Lang Xue. Her eyes were dim. Yan Zaizen saw this and couldn't help but check out this woman once more. He shook his head, he felt that fate was an odd thing. If Bai Lufeng had never begged for her life, Yan Zaizen would've left and been caught in an ambush. Who knew what Yu Shi had prepared. Maybe another formation, or perhaps he intended to utilize the entire realm to kill him.
When he thought of the entire realm, the sun and giant moon didn't do anything impressive. He felt ninety-nine percent sure that those two things would've joined the assault. If so, could he have won?
However, because of Bai Lufeng, he purchased her and caused Yu Shi to reveal his intent earlier than expected. This led to Yan Zaizen fighting in a different position.
He felt that both this girl and Bai Lufeng had saved his life. As for Bai Lufeng, this was the second time he had done so.
"What was your heavenly shrine attribute?" Yan Zaizen asked.
"Saber…" She answered emotionlessly.
Yan Zaizen checked Yu Shi's contents. With a wave of his hand, he brought out a one-floor Heavenly Shrine, "here." He placed it in front of her chest.
"This?!" Her emotionless and dim eyes revealed life and excitement as she recognized the structure. It was a single sword that towered to the heavens atop a crescent foundation.
She grabbed it and immediately reconnected with it. As it was originally hers, it only took a second before it was re-established into her dantian. The moment she did, the energy in the shrine gave her a boost in physical strength.
She was once more whole. With a single breath, her heavenly shrine helped her refine the outside essence into true-essence mixed with a heavenly aura. Her heavenly aura and power to rip through space recovered in a short few seconds.
Her beautifully eyes regained its fierce quality, she looked towards Yan Zaizen with a squinted, scrutinizing gaze. "Why?"
Yan Zaizen chuckled helplessly at her question. "You may not realize it, but you helped me greatly. Now, let's get that treasure!" He waved his hand to bring out the realmship with Tao and Bai Lufeng.
"What? What about Yu Shi?" She questioned, looking around to see the mess of the realm. Space was chaotic and distorted, trying to resume its normal state, but the damage was extensive. After all, Yan Zaizen had collapsed the realm ruthlessly with each step.
Yu Shi was more cautious and careful towards the realm state, but Yan Zaizen didn't care.
"Hm? He's dead." With that, he got on the realmship, "let's go." He truly wished to go, his body was incredibly exhausted and his soul suffused severe drain from stopping that attack for even that brief period of time.
"..." Her mind went blank for a second and then her expression revealed a hint of horror. What was the concept of killing a Realmlord in their own Realm?! She shivered and realized that Yan Zaizen had extraordinary strength.
Her eyes shined brilliantly with intelligence. Later, it flickered with an unfathomable light. She stepped onto the realmship with hesitation no longer in her gaze. "That way." She calmly pointed towards one of the water planets.