Chapter 1451 True Purpose
Chapter 1451 True Purpose
A breaking sound echoed deep in Ji Chengming's soul, activating the protective mechanism left to him by his father—an enormous face that kept morphing into countless facial expressions to express thousands of emotions. The emotions varied, but they also had one thing in common: obsession.
The obsession manifested in many shapes: the intense desire to survive, the intense anger to seek revenge by all means, and the rage of killing people who have wronged you beyond words can explain. It did not matter what the intense emotions/desires or the obsessions were; it manifested in this singular face.
Boom!
Tian Xuan's sword finally landed, but the effect could be described as ridiculously useless. Ji Chengming survived but did not look happy; on the contrary, he seemed furious, probably because Tian Xuan pushed him to such a level.
"Destroy him," Ji Chengming ordered. As soon as these words left his mouth, the obsession creature released a terrifying tower that shook the entire trial for a few seconds.
'This aura,' Wang Wei thought; this face reminded him when he faced Supreme Unity. He squinted his eyes, waiting for what was to come. Besides, Tian Xuan was the only person calm throughout the situation.
"Stop!' Sir Lu said, and his words contained immense power as the face suddenly became immobilized. "This is the second time you've broken the rules." Ji Chengming was not allowed to teleport outside the tower during his fight, but he still did it. However, Sir Lu had not reprimanded him since he returned immediately.
"Get the fuck out of my way," Ji Chengming said coldly. Now that he was forced to activate his protective measures, he would annihilate his opponent for bringing him shame and humiliation.
"Your actions have violated the rules, meaning you have officially lost this match," Sir Lu declared calmly. Tian Xuan deactivated his [Awakening], returning to his former handsome face.
'Interesting,' Wang Wei thought. 'It seems the trial spirits are using this opportunity to establish their prestige. Let's see where their confidence comes from.'
"And?" Ji Chengming sneered. "What are you going to do about it?"
"The rules are clear. Since you lost, you must die," Sir Lu replied calmly before snapping his finger to manifest a towering clear palm that descended directly toward Ji Chengming. The myriad face creature turned into a dark green shield to protect him, but its power was utterly useless before the palm. Then, for the second time in his life, Ji Chengming experienced genuine fear.
"You are quite bold," said a gentle voice with a hint of laziness. The clear palm disappeared, replaced by a pair of eyes accompanied by a background of a universe full of vivid and bright colors like a rainbow.
"No, you're the bold one, Ji Liuyu," Sir Lu said calmly. "You know the rules, but you send your people here and expect them to break them or act as if they don't apply to them."
"Cheng'er is young and brash, so it's normal if he makes a few mistakes," Ji Liuyu replied calmly. "However, this does not mean you have the right to execute him."
"And what are you going to do if I insist?"
The two stared at each other for a brief moment. "You know your situation, so why are you doing this?" Ji Liuyu asked with a sigh.
"It's not your time to judge what we do," Sir Lu countered back.
"What do you want?"
"Take your people and leave."
"Cheng'er is the only one who broke the rules, so why are you exiling everyone?"
Sir Lu frowned. He immediately realized these people would not give up. "Fine, but you must pay to take him away."
"No problem," Ji Liuyu answered before a crystal descended from the sky. With a wave of his hand, the thing disappeared before anyone could see or detect what it was.
"Supreme Elder, I have no problem with your decision," Ji Chengming suddenly said before pointing at Tian Xuan. "But I must kill this bastard."
The horrifying eyes did not even glance at Tian Xuan and asked: "What do you say?"
"Nothing can happen to him as long as he's in the trial."
"Why are you —"
"Teacher, someone is threatening to kill me. Please help, if not for my sake, for your face," Tian Xuan suddenly bowed. A pair of golden eyes that embodied all knowledge and secrets of the world materialized above the battlefield, looking down on the rainbow starry sky eye.
"The little brat from the Ji Clan, it seems you are still acting as arrogant as ever," the Heaven Cardinal said. "It's odd, given how Ji Dingxiang was quite the humble lad."
"L-Lord Cardinal," Ji Liuyu stuttered before regaining his calmness. "My apologies — I did not know he was your apprentice."
"Your palace should remember that you are not the Primeval Body Mansion. You only exist due to the kindness of Grand Dao. Understand?"
"I do."
"Good," the Heaven Cardinal nodded. At his peak, Ji Dingxian was more powerful than him, so he had to give his descendants some face — especially since the bastard left some protective measures for them before his passing. He looked at his disciple but did not say a single word; his eyes had communicated enough. Tian Xuan nodded before bowing, and the Cardinal left.
"You little bastard," Ji Liuyu cursed as he looked at Ji Chengming. He had to control himself; otherwise, he would have annihilated this bastard for forcing him to experience such humiliation. Ji Liuyu controlled himself because of Ji Chengming's importance and because he understood the latter.
Ji Chengming did not act arrogantly because of his deep background. Besides the Body Primeval Mansion, no faction dares walk arrogantly everywhere in the Chaos Universe, meaning the Ji Clan knows how to raise their people properly. Although they are arrogant, it's not to the point of being mindlessly prideful to the detriment of themselves or their factions.
Ji Chengming's situation is the result of a few things. Firstly, he was born with the highest concentration of their founders, Ji Dingxiang's bloodline, meaning he had a terrifying affinity for Soul Dao. Unfortunately, their clan hasn't given birth to a transcendent in a while, and they are starting to worry. Ji Chengming was their hope.
However, the Ji Clan and the palace realized the limits of their bloodline, so they chose another approach. They allowed Ji Chengming to use their study of one of the taboos — the Abomination — to add variety to his Dao and break free from the limitations of his bloodline. This approach has shown some success so far, but the backlash was that Ji Chengming's mind had become chaotic. They successfully suppressed most of it, but his pride, arrogance, and brash nature remained and even intensified. They sent him to this trial to use foreign means to become a Paragon as soon as possible. Although their clans have similar methods — albeit not as effective as this trial — their methods also involved Soul Dao, meaning it could aggravate Ji Chengming's situation instead of improving it.
"Come with me," Ji Liuyu said before disappearing with Ji Chengming. However, as soon as he left, everyone — except Sir Lu, Tian Xuan, the palace people, and the Primeval Body Mansion people — immediately forgot the conversation they had heard or the fact that Ji Liuyu had appeared in the first place.
Some Paragons, like Emperor Kong, felt something extra had occurred but did not notice anything else. Only Wang Wei knew his memories were erased.
"What a pain," Wang Wei complained before teleporting to the first room in the Dao Tower. He borrowed the trial energy to condense a few needles he embedded into his acupoints and soul. Memories were part of his [Existence]; it's the reason Eternal Emperors and above can revive themselves as long as someone remembers them.
Wang Wei activated the part of his [Existence] involved memories, and he remembered most of the conversation, with a few blurry parts that he had to fill in the blank. "This is valuable information," he muttered, taking the time to analyze everything.
"Something fishy is going on with Tian Xuan," he muttered. "Hmm?" Before he could even proceed further with his analysis, he detected something. Someone was using the trial's power to hide something in this room. The odd thing is that the object would reveal itself only if another Dao Overlord walked into this room.
Wang Wei waved his hand, and a piece of paper appeared before him. He carefully opened it to see the content:
[I need to see you in secret. Use your Heaven Deception Array and this trial's power to create a secure location — Tian Xuan.]
"Hehehe," Wang Wei chuckled. "Things are getting interesting." Curiosity immediately got the best of him, and he did as the note said. After being powered/blessed by the power of this trial, this array could probably be hidden from anyone or anything — including Grand Dao.
Once everything is set up, Wang Wei steals Hong Wa's method by resonating his Three Emperor Position with Tian Xuan's to summon his projection.