Michael had joined the meeting between Sheryl and Geophery on Gordon's request. Initially, he was not keen on being there. But as soon as he looked at the two, he felt a terrifying sense of danger. Michael's intuition was a psychic art which could give him the correct feeling based on his situation. It was extremely mystical and even after mastering the ability to an extent, Michael had no idea how the ability functioned. As Michael was unaware, it was reasonable that others who were not psychics could also not prevent the effects of his ability. Considering that neither of them had any directed killing intent towards himself, they must be hiding their intentions as the feeling arising from his intuition should be correct. Michael knew that the young-master was definitely hiding something. As all the others involved in the meeting were powerful experts, Michael positioned himself beside Sheryl. She was the weakest and in most need of assistance if anything happened.
But when Gordon left, Michael felt the sense of danger becoming more intense. Thus, he kept looking at the duo extremely intently. He was straining his internal energy to completely cover the duo's reactions. As a result, as soon as both of them showed an indication of movement, he had already grabbed Sheryl and jumped backwards. Thankfully, the other experts appeared quickly and surrounded them before they could reach Sheryl. But Michael felt that the situation was extremely dangerous. And sure enough, many cultivators appeared unexpectedly. Michael was considering all his options - should he take Sheryl and try to escape? Should he escape by himself? Should he go all out in fighting?
Michael was having trouble deciding. Then he heard the conversation between Geophery and Jack - and he understood that their target was actually Sheryl. He looked at Sheryl with his All-Seeing Eyes without turning and saw the deep fear in her eyes. How could leave a girl so innocent and naive to deal with such a deadly situation by herself? He decided - what use was cultivation if he had to scheme all his way? It was true that acting sensibly in situations was the way to go. But, there were some times when one had to take a stance. If this had been two years ago when he barely knew Sheryl, he would have been the first to flee. But now that he had known her for a while, his heart did not allow him to save his own skin. Emotions were really confusing - but so was being human.
> Geophery : You bastard! Seniors, we have the advantage. These guys are obviously not making way. We need to hande them. Please take of these experts. After all, we are the stronger party. As for these demi-ascendants, even restricted, I can kill them all. Let's grab the girl and get going.
>
> Michael : You need to ask for my permission first!
He had made up his mind - he was going to go all out!
> Geophery : Kid, get lost. I don't have time to kill you today, so you should patiently wait for your death.
>
> Michael : Is that so? I guess then I will have another dance with death!
Michael attuned his body, soul and spirit and started the merger - the process to reach the celestial path.
> Let the world know that I walk the path of celestials, unafraid in life or death - I shall control life and death!
The world around Michael stilled. His internal energy and spirit energy merged together and rather than restricting each other like countless many attempts before, they merged completely - fusing into a single form - celestial energy.
The appearance of celestial energy was like a faucet opened in the middle of a pond. The heaven and earth energy bellowed! The world changed colours. A huge amount of spirit energy was pulled in from the entire surrounding city. Clouds of spirit energy started forming and the entire city turned dark in the middle of the day. As this happened, a huge amount of celestial energy was filling up Michael. But this was not all. Soon, two huge vortices emerged around him. One of the vortices was green in colour and contained great vibrancy - the radiance of this vortex engulfed the entire mansion. The other vortex was pale yellow - containing stillness, rot and darkness. These two vortices looked like a flashy light show around Michael but all the experts present could understand what it meant
Law-condensation!
Michael was not only beginning his celestial transformation but was also breaking through to demi-ascendance.
All his enemies were looking at him gloomily but no one dared to do anything. This was a celestial transformation. If this had been a few years ago, these people would have had no problem in attacking Michael before he could complete his breakthrough. But now, the divine decree made sure that no one would dare to disobey it! The decree clearly mentioned
Celestials could be subdued but not be permanently harmed or killed in the next 20 thousand years without a good enough reason.
If the people here tried to stop Michael from completing his transformation, it would be seen as the violation of the decree. Of course, the decree gave some room for manoeuvre. If it was a death-feud between celestials or if an upper-ascendant killed a celestial who was lacking in talent, perhaps they may get off with light punishment. But for these ascendants here, celestials were a rarely seen breed. If they really interrupted this breakthrough - they would be killed in the most torturous and painful ways. Thus, no one dared to attack and the entire battlefield stopped to give way to Michael's breakthrough.
This was exactly what Michael had planned as well. After all, the divine decree was public knowledge and one of the reasons that he worked so hard to find the celestial path. Michael had managed to find his celestial path some days before but he delayed his breakthrough. It was for this very use. As the laws revolved around him, the heaven and earth energy entered his body from top and bottom converting him from a simple mortal to someone more - heaven's favoured - a celestial. Michael had anticipated what becoming a celestial would feel like but the result was actually quite different. Michael had been measuring celestials with the improvements due to internal energy - which was very wrong to do. Internal energy was ultimately the fusion of physical energy and soul energy. Both of these were limited in a cultivator. Thus, internal energy was not much of an improvement over the normal path. But celestials were different! Becoming a celestial meant that one's spirit pool completely fused together with one's body and soul. This also meant that the person was now connected to heaven and earth. How could the power inside a single person compare to the energy of heaven and earth?
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Michael's body and soul were overflowing with power. He felt like he had an endless supply of celestial energy. Also, the might of celestial energy was much more than internal energy. As there was simply too much celestial energy, it seeped into all of his body and soul soaking it at a fundamental level. Michael was like a sponge that was soaking up the celestial energy. As a result, his physique, his soul and his awareness all increased by leaps and bounds. But this was not the end of the breakthrough. Michael had long since hit the bottleneck in his law-cultivation. Now, he was using his laws to breakthrough to the condensation realm. As the huge vortices of laws appeared, Michael activated his perfect persona blessing. Considering that Michael was now a psychic cultivator, the effect of the blessing was many times more powerful than before. The two vortices expanded like crazy till they covered half of the entire city!
A huge commotion erupted and all families around turned their eyes to the Marx family mansion. Unfortunately, the powerful barrier did not allow most of them to see what was happening. Only a few people in the city could guess that a new celestial was making the declaration of his arrival!
The breakthrough continued for more than a minute, after which the world spirit calmed down and the law-vortices disappeared. But, what was left in their wake was Michael - who was completely different from his previous self. He was currently exuding an aura that caused the first transformation realm experts to pale. The feeling of not being in control of their own life assaulted them. This was Michael Rageberg - a celestial demi-ascendant who wielded the power of two grand-laws. Adding the fact that he had pretty great attainment in combat, there was no doubt that he could take on at least three of these restricted ascendants.
But the situation was still the same. The Marx family was simply too outnumbered. Even addition of Michael's battle strength did not really change their situation. Because the other side had more experts with higher cultivation.
Geophery looked over to one of the people, the one who had the strongest aura and said
> Senior, we have already wasted a lot of time! His breakthrough has delayed us for more than a minute. If Gordon makes it back here, we will not be able to escape. We need to attack now!
The senior guy responded with a grunt as he charged towards one of the second rank experts. The other third rank guy attacked Uncle Jack. The Marx family guys were barely able to hold their own, let alone provide any help. The second rank guy that had appeared from the spatial treasure before alone took on the three other experts at the first rank. This left five first rank opponents and one teacher who was a second rank ascendant. It was a lineup that would frighten even second rank ascendants. But Michael did not show any emotion on his face. He smiled before igniting his dao intent. An indomitable aura rushed out from his conscient and merged perfectly with his new celestial self. His power-level climbed to ridiculous levels! Currently, Michael could kill an average first rank ascendant in a fair fight. But after this, Michael cast his trump card spell - Battle Body. Immediately, his aura that had stabilized jumped to a whole other level. His power was so extreme that the floor below his feet cracked. The air thrummed and rattled. The spirit energy of the surrounding churned and the barrier covering the mansion thrummed. Michael felt like he was on a high - the likes of which he had never felt before. It was as if he was fundamentally different from his past self.
In fact, he had a feeling that he could fly with his own power and enter the law-ocean! This was a subtle feeling but he knew that he could do it. He could actually ascend, even as a mortal!
Naturally, his enemies too could feel the same. Their expressions changed as they grew more and more cautious. They all had the same thought
What a monster!!
It was not that there had never been people who could ascend while being in the mortal realm. But such people were rare even among celestials. This was the mark of a true genius! And all these figures had reached the upper ascendant realm - without fail. Each of them was known across several planes and were masters of many worlds. The likes of Gordon Marx could not compare to them. What they saw when they looked at Michael was not a demi-ascendant that could barely ascend but an overlord that would hold his own region in the law-ocean many years down. They had been pretty confident that nothing could stop them. But now, they were up against a monster. If they went all out and harmed him, they would be killed for sure. The divine beings would not even need to do it - their own seniors would skin them alive. But there was no way to actually subdue this beast without them without going all out!
Michael was ready to face them all. He even activated his persona blessing and was ready to fight. But he did not make the first move. After all, he was the one defending. While he was not scared of these guys, the fight was never about him. He was protecting Sheryl, he needed to buy more time. The pressure exuded by all these cultivators had already caused her to pass out. If not for the various protective treasures on her, she would have suffocated to death. Michael had to be careful at each and every step.
Geophery said
> Lord, there is no feud between us. We don't mean to harm you but accidents can always happen. Even though the divine decree states we can not kill you, if we fight, perhaps you might die. Please consider this. You have unrivalled talent and potential. In the future, the Marx family might not even be worth much in your eyes. Why is there a need to sacrifice yourself for them?
>
> Michael : What you say is true. If we fight, accidents may happen and I may die. But so might you. And what is different is that even if I take all your lives, I will not face any repurcussions. Also, you guys are pretty hard-pressed for time. So, I will give you a chance. If you leave now, I will not try to stop any of you. I shall even stop the rest from persuing you and give you a safe retreat. If you don't accept this offer, perhaps all of you might end up never leaving this place.
Geophery was an arrogant young noble who had always used his father's reputation to get away with things - this was how the public viewed him. But this was a gross misconception! He had indeed used his father's influence for his own success but this did not mean that he was dumb. He had tried to scare off Michael as one last attempt. But Michael's counter had left him speechless. It had even managed to damp his spirits and shudder his determination. He knew that there was no other way. He immediately sent over a voice transmission.
> This guy is very powerful but he is alone. We will have to use a few sacrifices. Four of you go and fight him. Try to block his path and separate him from the girl. As you have law-marks in your body, it would be difficult for him to kill you. Keep your powers in check and don't hurt him. Or else, we might all be dead by tomorrow.
The four could only show deep frowns and charge forward. This was simply asking them to get beaten. Even in a full-blown battle, they might not come up on top. Now, they were required to stop the guy but could not really hit back. This meant that they could only be punchbags. The four charge towards Michael from different directions. The battles on the other side of the mansion had already shaken and destroyed the mansion in many places. As the earth rumbled and the air shattered around Michael due to the shockwaves from the other battles, he readied himself for a difficult battle. Today, he was going to fight and show the world where the peak of mortals lay.