149 Universal Heart Xiang Hong. (1/2)
As the human figure within the crack became more and more visible, the sky-covering crack itself also seemed to grow even larger and wider, the entire sky trembling as if the end times had come. As the human figure got so close to the edge of the crack that even its footsteps could be heard, even the tanned and rugged Mao Tengzou, who had valiantly faced the massive dragon that was Xing Yuyen, faltered slightly when the human figure fully revealed itself.
Standing in the middle of the gargantuan crack was a youth with ocean-blue hair and light blue-eyes, a loose green robe covered in a wavy pattern draped over his body. The youth was somewhat short and lanky, but just looking at him was enough to fill the normally arrogant and confident Li Yang with limitless dread, he felt like an ant standing face to face with a god. Mao Tengzou's lips curled up slightly, but it was clear that his smile was somewhat strained as he looked at the youth.
”Xiang Hong, you came quite a bit faster than I originally anticipated, you must love me quite a bit. But tell me, are you really going to unleash all your power here, after going through all the trouble of creating these lovely cemeteries to seal away His Lordship?”
The youth, Xiang Hong, didn't seem to have any plans on responding to Mao Tengzou, calmly raising his right arm and pointing at Mao Tengzou. When Xiang Hong's finger finished extending, the ocean all around Li Yang and the others all vanished, even all the moisture in the air completely vanished. The islands that hadn't been sucked dry by Mao Tengzou suddenly withered and dried up in less than a second, every single trace of water that wasn't within a living being's body vanishing. In less than a second, Xiang Hong had turned the entire Ocean God's Graveyard into a desolate place so dry that just swallowing was an arduous task.
All the water and moisture that suddenly vanished appeared in front of Xiang Hong's finger, gathering together into a pea-size orb that was practically completely translucent. Li Yang didn't even dare to hazard a guess at how strong that orb was, just the sheer amount of water used to create it was something he had a hard time wrapping his head around. Ever since the appearance of Mao Tengzou, in just a few short minutes, basically all of Li Yang's pride had been stomped down. Even if he was at his peak, he would not have a home in this battle, he would still just be able to watch and focus on fleeing.
Mao Tengzou's mouth started to move, but Xiang Hong unleashed his attack without bothering to hear what he was going to say. The translucent orb vanished from sight, Mao Tengzou's body blurring as he rushed to dodge, appearing several hundreds of kilometers away from his previous position. Shortly after the orb vanished, the sky split open once more, a finger-thin line running through the air and vanishing into the distance.
The energy gathered within the tiny orb was so great that it simply disintegrated everything it touched as it moved. The wind, space itself, even the laws and the Qi in the area, all was shattered into fragments so tiny that they looked like a thin line when they gathered together to fill the void that the orb left in its wake. Mao Tengzou dodged the attack early on, but he didn't do so unscathed, his left arm and shoulder had completely vanished, a circular wound pulsating with white tentacles all that remained.
Mao Tengzou glanced at the pulsating wound, looking surprisingly happy as he looked at it. His lips curled up slightly as he turned his head and locked eyes with Xiang Hong, his wound already regrowing so fast that it took his arm less than a second to grow back.
”Come on now, what was that piss-poor attempt? I was able to absorb about half of the energy within that attack, it's not like you to hold back that much. It seems like the law of the Void really scared you quite a bit, you must be terrified of unleashing His Lordship again. Is that why you didn't bring that fucking Void King with you this time around? Scared that he'll just break everything again?”
The voice of Mao Tengzou carried with the wind and reached every corner of the hidden realm, but Li Yang had no idea if it was on purpose or not. At the same time, Li Yang couldn't help but feel a mixture of curiosity and dread towards whatever being was apparently sealed here, that even someone as terrifying as this Xiang Hong would be fearful towards. Xiang Hong raised his head slightly while looking down at Mao Tengzou, opening his mouth for the first time since arriving here.
”Still as arrogant and insufferable as always. There's no need to act all cocky, how much energy did you have to expend to neutralize my attack before absorbing it, be honest now?”