Chapter 114: Suffocating Might
Halt, Wenjun Long issued the command with his Divine Sense, forcing the procession of Elders to come to a stop about twenty meters away from the caves entrance.
His body language is relaxed, yet firm. Wenjun Long does not expect combat, yet he is prepared for it. That is worrying, Meili Zhu assessed.
Your weapons. Return them to your spatial rings or surrender them to me if you do not have one on you, Wenjun Long continued to use his Divine Sense to get his orders across, indicating a need to insulate themselves against any eavesdroppers.
What if I refuse? Wenyan Ren replied, boldly choosing to voice his dissatisfaction aloud against the draconic measure. Despite finding his actions rash, Meili Zhu could not help but silently agree at the need for the protest. All five of the Elders in attendance knew that their pseudo-Soul Emperor level artifacts would offer little protection against a true Soul Emperor, but to strip them of their weapons was no less than a brazen humiliation.
Even Zixin Ren would not dare of taking such a casual tone with me, child, Wenjun Long communicated his divine sense to all of the Elders present, even though his words were only addressing Wenyan Ren.
I do not speak alone, Wenjun Long, Wenyan Ren replied with a sneer. The Elders of the Sky Division stand together as one.
The five of you? Wenjun Long posed the rhetorical question, before shaking his head in pity. The world has already left you behind, yet you fail to even recognize it. Let alone Grand Patriarch Yao Shen, even if all of you were to ally against me with your precious artifacts, you would find it impossible to overcome me.
Outrageous, Liewei Hu snapped. You go too far, Wenjun Long.
Is there a reason for such blatant provocation? Jiayi Song asked, her tone flat and unamused.
Fellow Daoist Long, such brashness is the territory of the youth. It is also quite unlike your usual, reserved demeanor. Is there a reason why us Elders of the Sky Division have attracted your ire? Meili Zhu asked, her tone saccharine as she tried to ease the tensions.
Wenjun Long shook his head once again.
You mistake the truth for provocation, He communicated via his Divine Sense. Use your own Divine Sense to inspect my armor, then. See for yourself, the difference between us.
His armor? Meili Zhu thought, her mindscape a flurry of calculation. Is it code? Misdirection? The Earthen Armor he has equipped is a simple construct of compressed rock, support for the tremendous weight of his deadly pseudo Soul Emperor Artifact. Is there an anomaly within the armor?
Meili Zhus senses hadnt picked up anything off about the rock armor Wenjun Long had encased himself in, otherwise she would not have approached him so casually.
Still, she could not begin to assess the other possibilities without first confronting the most literal.
Her Divine Sense swept outwards, first assessing the surface of the rock armor and noticing nothing out of the ordinary. The Divine Sense brand that Wenjun Long had marked the inside of the armor with lay inert and would continue to do so as long as Meili Zhu did not try to impose her own will upon the artifact and claim it for herself.
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That too, was expected.
Then, her divine sense penetrated deeper, past the armor.
Meili Zhus eyes widened in surprise and she found herself instinctively taking two steps back.
Had the artifact Wenjun Long concealed beneath his armor been capable of deflecting her divine sense, Meili Zhu would not have been so terribly surprised. There were certain ways to achieve that effect, whether it be in the form of clever alloys or rare natural treasures. In almost all such cases though, such methods had little use besides serving as the tiling of concealed chambers, making them too brittle to be utilized for any other purpose. Otherwise, they would be commonly used in forging both armor and weapon artifacts.
The unknown armor that Wenjun Long concealed beneath his decoy rock one achieved a similar effect, yet in that subtle difference lay something unimaginable. Meili Zhus divine sense had not failed to penetrate the armors surface, no however, the moment she did, the Master of the Faceless found her senses overwhelmed.
A torrential river of pure Qi buffeted the divine sense strand that she had willed forward, the sensory feedback transferred to her Nascent Soul so intense that it left her reeling.
Im suffocating, Meili Zhu realized what the nauseating sensation most resembled and reflexively tried to retract the strand of Divine Sense.
Her expression darkened as she realized that the strand would not budge, the quagmire of compressed Qi unwilling to let it escape. With a grimace, Meili Zhu severed the strand of Divine Sense, before leveling an intense gaze at Wenjun Long.
What have you done? Meili Zhu asked, all pretense leaving her tone as she addressed Wenjun Long with accusation in her words.
If you wish to find out, comply, Wenjun Long communicated via his Divine Sense, his message simple.
Lightly biting at the tip of her tongue to still both the rage and humiliation she felt at being blindsided by such a secret, Meili Zhu swept her gaze across the Elders' tense visages before meeting Wenjun Longs confident gaze.
The pattern of inexplicable strength was one that Meili Zhu had both seen and studied before, throughout history and in person. The reason, almost always, turned out to be a defection to the twisted, heretical paths, leaving behind the rules and safeguards of the righteous society in exchange for the depravity of the demonic path.
But she detected no taint in the vast torrent of Qi she had examined, no wisps of soul essence that would indicate blood sacrifice.
What if we wish to leave? Meili Zhu asked, her tone blunt.
Then you may leave, Wenjun Long voiced his response, seeing no reason to conceal both his message and the lack of regard within it.
I no longer know enough to postulate, The thought echoed through her mind, tinged by a weariness and exhaustion that she had been trying to run away from in the entirety of her later years.
With a soft sigh, Meili Zhu returned her pseudo Soul Emperor artifact to her spatial ring, knowing that in case of ambush it would take too long to withdraw it to defend herself.
Her actions were directed by a simple assessment Wenjun Longs earlier statement had not been wrong. The five of them, with or without their weapon artifacts, could not defeat the current Wenjun Long.
The Elders had reached the same conclusion, although there was far more hesitation in their actions as they too, retracted their weapons back into their spatial rings.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Wenjun Long communicated via his Divine Sense, That will suffice. Now follow me and be careful not to let even a wisp of your Qi leak. One can never be too careful.
So Meili Zhu and the four other Elders went, into the depths of an unknown cave.
Five minutes later, the cave collapsed inwards, leaving little traces of the secret gathering beyond a small pile of rubble.
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