Volume 5 Chapter 26 (1/2)
Book 5 Chapter 26 – Runic Glyph
Li Yiming's painful roar resonated throughout the entire city.
”Yiming!” Liu Meng, who had been trying her best to wrap her head around the situation, leaped up from where she sat and rushed toward the Eastern Gate.
”Li Yiming? Is that really you?” Stargaze said in a low voice and her silhouette slowly faded away.
”Li Yiming…” Li Huaibei turned back to look at the neatly maintained streets behind him and picked up a leaf from the ground.
Li Yiming's body shook violently as puffs of emerald gas gushed out from multiple sides of his body. His silvery hair was moving back and forth rapidly in the wind as his muscles dried up, aging at a visible speed. Within his body, his Heavenly Vein emitted a fervent green light as it absorbed as much life energy as it could, but it showed no signs of reaching level six.
”He can't take it anymore!” Eyegla.s.ses opened his eyes with difficulty, but he could not inch forward even the slightest.
”Yiming… let go!” Eyegla.s.ses screamed, his voice unable to reach Li Yiming.
A nearly inaudible crack was heard. Li Yiming snapped out of his frenzy and lowered his head; on his right leg, a small crevice appeared. His muscle had shrunk like a dried up tree branch, hinting that it was going to give away.
'But the seal… ' Li Yiming knew that his body could not keep up any longer, and despite Bai Ze's seal, which seemed as fragile ever, he had to give up. 'It's no use to keep going like this. Even if I manage to free Bai Ze, if I lose my life in the process, there's no point…'
Li Yiiming gritted his teeth and pulled his hand away from Bai Ze's statue.
Or so he thought. To his horror, Li Yiming realized that his hand was now stuck to it, and he could not sever the link between himself and Bai Ze.
A moment of hesitation and the fissure that originated from his leg had already spread to his left ribs. Even the gaping wound on his chest appeared to have widened. Li Yiming attempted to cover up his wound using his left hand, but his life energy still escaped slowly between his fingers. Li Yiming knew that he had over-tested his luck, and he found Thunderflash to be of no use.
'Might as well give it one last try.' Li Yiming decided to make use of the last chance he had. He looked above him and uttered two words.
”Thunderous Strike!”
The moment Li Yiming felt the green energy vanish from his body and his vein, he knew he had succeeded.
Li Yiming looked up with a smile, only to see a fissure opening gradually in the sky above. What looked like a giant purple eyeball open up on the other side of the fissure that crossed the dimensions. Li Yiming's intervention, along with the life energy of the formation, had caused a terrifying change to the lightning which was brewing in the clouds above Lianyun City.
A moment later, the giant eyeball turned its attention toward Li Yiming, and a bolt of black lightning shot out toward him.
After launching the attack, the giant eye retreated back into the fissure that closed itself, and vanished completely. The lightning that fell toward Li Yiming was not very imposing in size, but the amount of power it contained convinced him that his lightning immunity would prove to be ineffective against it.
'Am I going to die to my own spell?' Li Yiming's worry was only temporary, as the bolt of lightning was suddenly blocked off just as it was a few inches away from his head. The next moment, it suddenly changed its course, flying toward a ray of blue light in the distance. The lightning melted into the ray of light and vanished a second later.
'The formation, it's still not done…' Li Yiming closed his eyes. His right hand started trembling again as the avalanche of life energy inundated his body once more. By now, he had so little strength left, he could not do anything more than hanging onto the statue like a broken rag doll.
'It's over…' The overflowing life energy revitalized Li Yiming for a moment, but it was followed by its inevitable escape. Li Yiming could feel his consciousness slip away slowly.
Ding!
A faint metallic noise, like that of a bell, suddenly rung in Li Yiming's mind. It was that mysterious runic glyph inside of his body that acted as a surrogate for his talent.
The golden wok right outside of the Eastern Gate suddenly resonated with the noise, and its golden aura brightened.
Ding!
The runic glyph emitted another chime, and for the first time, it could clearly be seen.
The golden wok suddenly burst out in golden light, like a miniature sun.
A moment later, the golden light receded, and the golden wok regained its mundane appearance, just like when Li Yiming saw it for the first time.
After losing the support of the wok, the blue waterfall of life energy directed at Li Yiming suddenly dissipated. Li Yiming looked at his right hand, and noticed that the muscles in his arm were recovering quickly. Instead of gus.h.i.+ng out of his body, the life energy actually returned into him through his wounds, and soon enough, Li Yiming had enough strength to stand back up, perplexed, but reinvigorated.
'This runic glyph… What kind of talent did I awaken?' Li Yiming touched the Bai Ze statue out of instinct, but this time, the statue turned into a ray of white light and vanished as it flew into his chest.
'Oh?' Li Yiming turned his attention toward his inner self; Bai Ze was now resting inside of him.
”Li Yiming!” Un.o.bstructed by the winds, Eyegla.s.ses quickly reached Li Yiming's location and examined him from head to toes.
”You did it!” Eyegla.s.ses looked at where Bai Ze's statue used to be and said in a confused voice.