Chapter 76: Which God?
The battle was over. Qin Chu stood victorious.
Ekaterina, defeated and exhausted, lay beside him.
He didn’t waste time, his mind focused on absorbing the combat experience, converting it into strength. He wouldn’t let any opportunity to grow stronger slip away.
He sat cross-legged, entering a meditative state, his focus turning inwards.
He didn’t notice the faint gray mist that began to creep across the cold floor, tendrils of shadowy energy writhing above him, slowly descending.
His consciousness sank into his body, his vision blurring, the world fading into a gray haze. Then, firelight pierced through the darkness, revealing a crimson diamond, the size of a soybean, burning with intense heat.
His Battle Origin, the core of his Battle Qi.
Beside it, a multicolored diamond, slightly larger, pulsed with energy. His Demon Core.
Though he hadn’t focused on magic in this life, his mental power, fueled by the countless Demons he had consumed, was his strongest attribute. His Demon Core was even larger than his Battle Origin.
His Battle Qi, guided by his will, cycled through his meridians, his Battle Origin, a ravenous beast, devouring the surrounding energy, its crimson hue deepening, becoming more vibrant.
Fragments of Saint Quartz, crushed by his hand, lay scattered on the floor.
The energy within the Saint Quartz, Loseweisse’s gift, surged into him, a fiery tornado fueling his Battle Qi. He could feel his power growing stronger with each passing moment.
Waves of heat radiated from his body, dispelling the night’s chill. Flames danced in his hair, his skin glowing crimson, his entire form resembling a blazing inferno.
His progress, though remarkable, brought a frown to his face. A sharp pain pierced his forehead, a primal urge to destroy welling up within him.
His head throbbed, a strange energy invading his mind, threatening to shatter his consciousness.
His body burned, his skin hot as a branding iron.
His cultivation had been invaded. Something, a presence unseen, was disrupting his progress.
Faint whispers, their origin unknown, their language alien, echoed in his ears.
He couldn’t understand the words, but he sensed their insidious intent, their power to corrupt, to drag him into a dark abyss. A cold, slimy tentacle, its touch repulsive, wrapped around his neck, its tip slithering across his face, his neck, his arms, his stomach…
The sensation, so vivid, so horrifying, made his skin crawl.
He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt heavy, as if sewn shut.
His body twitched, his muscles spasming. Though his eyes were closed, he saw them, translucent figures, their forms shifting and writhing, their limbs contorting in unnatural ways.
Ghosts, shadows, unspeakable horrors.
They slithered towards him, their limbs transforming into serpent-like tentacles, their movements sinuous and unsettling, their forms drawing closer…
The contamination!
His ventures into the Void, his glimpses into forbidden realms, had incurred a price. The powerful entities within that endless expanse had noticed him. Perhaps he was too insignificant to warrant their direct attention, or perhaps they were bound to that realm, unable to leave. Regardless, their influence, their corruption, had seeped into him.
If they had appeared before him personally, his fragile consciousness would have shattered instantly.
He had believed that the Holy Light within him had purged the contamination, but it had been lying dormant, waiting for an opportunity, striking when he was most vulnerable, his defenses weakened during his cultivation.
A cruel and insidious tactic.
If this continued, his mind would shatter, consumed by madness.
He fought against the whispers, the encroaching darkness, his consciousness sinking deeper into his body.
He had to regain control. Time lost all meaning, seconds stretching into eons, breaths becoming lifetimes. Finally, his right index finger twitched.
And then the silver bracelet, the mark left by the strand of hair, erupted in a blinding white light.
Waves of pure energy radiated outwards, washing over him, purging the darkness. The bracelet detached itself from his wrist, the strand of hair dancing above his head, each movement unleashing a burst of Holy Radiance, its silver form stretching, its ends meeting, forming a glowing halo.
Behind him, a small, green sprout emerged, its form solidifying in the Holy Light, its single leaf, small and delicate, trembling in the powerful energy field.
Within the radiant halo, a translucent figure, its form feminine and alluring, its body bound by countless chains, materialized.
The figure raised a foot, its shape perfect, its skin smooth and flawless, tapping the air lightly.
The world froze.
And then, from the point of contact, a massive ring, woven from countless silver threads, expanded outwards, encompassing everything.
The shadowy figures, caught in the ring’s embrace, screamed, their forms dissolving into white smoke, their essence purged.
They were banished… no, purified…
Their malevolent consciousness, their corrupted souls, were incinerated, their tainted energy cleansed, transformed into pure energy.
From the base of the sprout, countless tendrils, like roots, snaked outwards, greedily absorbing the purified energy.
The room, previously filled with a dark, oppressive presence, was now cleansed, the air clear and vibrant. The sprout’s leaf, now slightly larger, pulsed with newfound energy. The tendrils retracted, wrapping themselves around his Battle Origin and Demon Core.
A flicker of black light, a fleeting glimpse of madness, a whisper of rage, vanished before him…
Qin Chu opened his eyes. The grotesque visions, the whispers, the oppressive darkness… it was gone. He was sitting on the floor, Ekaterina, still under the potion’s influence, lying beside him.
Everything was as it had been before his cultivation session, as if it had all been a hallucination.
Ekaterina, Angelica upstairs, the guards outside… none of them had been affected by the invasion. To them, nothing had happened.
He looked at his right wrist. The mark left by the silver strand of hair still glowed faintly, its warmth lingering on his skin. He turned, but there was no sprout behind him.
He frowned, then, after a moment of hesitation, activated his Star Flame Battle Qi.
A flame, small and vibrant, flickered in his palm.
He stared at the flame, its reflection in his eyes a silvery white.
The Seed of Light, the Seed of Life…
Anthea had said that the seeds within him had sprouted… And the figure, the translucent woman bound by chains, the one that had appeared within the halo of Holy Light… who was she?
A tap of her foot, and space had frozen, time had stopped, all darkness banished.
She had appeared within the ring of silver threads… Could she be… the one imprisoned within the Void?
Which God was she?
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