Zac glared at the Reaver, trying to understand why he was acting this way. The Reaver had been relentlessly henpecking him and their mission for the past six hours despite having signed off on most aspects already. Kator was trying to get a rise out of him all this time, and there was no way he was just bored. Interfering with one's breakthrough could cause a backlash or even death.
It was impossible to not draw parallels with Tavza's situation. According to Laz's explanation, something had indeed gone wrong with Tavza's cultivation after Kator had infuriated her. Most of her pathways were damaged and twisted, and some inexplicable mutation had damaged her foundations. She could barely exhibit the strength of an Early Hegemon right now.
Tavza would recover much of her strength after fixing her pathways, though that was easier said than done. Zac had discovered over the past two years just how superior he was to most cultivators in this aspect. Damage that Zac fixed within a day could take a week for his elites. This had always been the case, and it was only recently he learned the truth.
It was not a benefit of the Void Emperor bloodline or the Kayar-Elu experiments as he'd believed for most of his life. It was a benefit of his Sindris Clan heritage. The Sindris Clan was famed for their resilience and recovery, so this advantage was something he'd inherited from the biological father Leandra had mentioned.
Tavza didn't have those abilities, and the Azol bloodline didn't appear to excel in this regard. Kator wasn't lying when saying that she might not recover in time for the trial, depending on how bad the damage to her foundations was. Was Kator trying to force a similar situation on him, thinking he would be easier to control in a weakened state?
If so, Kator was doomed to fail. Energy refined by his [Void Heart] wouldn't harm him, especially not when the source energy was so gentle. On the contrary, the refined Faith Energy was so beneficial it caused another problem. Some of it was already being dragged into his cells and toward his Cosmic Core. If he waited too long he might miss his last chance to upgrade [Void Mountain] before he had to face the [Epiclesis Bell].
"Do we have a problem?" Zac said, Killing Intent slowly seeping out of his body.
"Scary, scary," Kator laughed.
His casual tone didn't match his actions. The immense force of multiple Earthly Daos exploded from his body, making the whole corridor shake. Just its latent pressure dispersed Zac's intent and suppressed him to the point his Miasma grew turbid. He would only be able to exhibit half his strength unless he activated [Void Zone] to combat the assault.
It was the first time he'd fully experienced Kator's overbearing aura since their duel. His improvements weren't quite as noticeable as Zac's. Unfortunately, that didn't mean much if they came to blows. Kator's attributes and Daos had been suppressed when they fought, which was no longer the case. And while Kator hadn't made as many breakthroughs as Zac, his gains could still be considered extreme for two short years.
Iz had warned him about this before she left for training. The elites of the Multiverse were more focused on foundations than practical combat strength in the early years of their cultivation. With the upcoming trial, their focus would shift to leveraging their inborn and accrued advantages into actual power.
The current Kator was far deadlier than before and undoubtedly among the strongest sealbearers. Only the Flamebearers mentioned in the report seemed to have a clear edge on him, which was the whole reason he'd been picked for the mission. Worse, Kator had already experienced Zac's usage of the Void. He'd slowly adapted to the unpredictability of Zac's Void-imbued technique during their duel, and he'd had two years to plan for counters.
Zac couldn't fight him now. But he wouldn't have to endure that much longer.
"You want to slink away the second we've entered the deadzone?" Kator sneered. "How am I supposed to know you're not planning on contacting someone? Perhaps the Tayn Clan? You're not leaving my sight until you've upheld your part of the bargain and taken us into the Imperial Graveyard."
"Are you trying to prevent my breakthrough?"
"When did I say that? Although I am concerned. You're making a breakthrough out of nowhere, and your body is suddenly flooded with foreign energy. What if you follow in Tavza's footsteps? How will you call over the bell then?"
"You're acting like we don't have a safeguard in place. And you don't have to pretend to worry about me. People have tried to stop my ascent from the beginning. It never takes."
"I guess I should be careful then?" Kator snickered. "Go, have fun. But this guy is coming with."
Zac glanced at the floating sphere which had appeared by Kator's side. It was made from greenish bone and covered in dense engravings that formed an abstract eye. Its runes lit up, and Zac immediately felt a sensation similar to a spiritual consciousness locking onto him, except it never relented.
Kator's demand clearly overstepped the norms of cultivation. This level of invasiveness was something you'd only see on penal cultivators and deathsworn. Zac's veins bulged from resisting the urge to smash the drone. Instead, he disappeared in a flash. He couldn't waste any more time. [Void Heart] was pumping out more and more refined Faith Energy by the second, and some was already seeping into his cells and Cosmic Core.
The orb had no problem keeping up with Zac, maintaining a distance of five meters with pinpoint precision.
"Will the spy device be a problem?" Zac asked from his nook in the small space erected in his Draugr half's chest.
"The device is nothing compared to the defenses I've breached in my days," Esmeralda assured from the seat of honor in her shrine.
Rather than a shrine, the small subspace looked like a mud pond surrounded by a dense haze. Zac was sitting in a hollowed-out trunk to get some privacy, but it still felt very cramped. They barely had twenty-five square meters between them, of which Esmeralda took up over twenty.
"This is important. There can't be another situation like the Ensolus Ruins."
"That was different!" Esmeralda furiously signed. "This tool is a Peak D-grade observer—it can't accomplish something beyond its grade. It won't notice anything amiss as long as you don't let anything leak more than two meters from your body."
Esmeralda's assurance provided some relief as he entered his cultivation chamber. Kator's delay didn't cost him too much energy, and his past weeks of training let him quickly find his center and give up on the bubbling anger. [Void Mountain] activated, and he infused himself. It would be hard to notice anything amiss with his body even if Esmeralda's obfuscation failed at that point. He roused the Faith Energy, gently steering it toward the waiting mountain.
A river of faith formed between Heart and Mind, where the illusory mountain accepted what [Void Heart] supplied. The last blanks were rapidly being filled in, and Zac breathed in relief when he felt the Void Sigil shudder and stop accepting energy. The Hidden Node released the last of the refined energy soon after, and Zac steered it to his Cosmic Core to be used as Kill Energy.
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The remnants were far from enough to provide another level. The requirements now that he'd reached level 193 were immense, and he'd barely crossed the threshold before finishing his training. Having the Cosmic Core did remove any distractions from his body at least, allowing him to focus fully on [Void Mountain]'s transformation.
Zac didn't know what to expect now that the Bloodline Talent was about to evolve. Karz's vision hadn't shown that part, and none of his other talents shared this feature. [Void Zone] was static, and [Force of The Void] gave absolutely no indication of having been improved. Zac generally only realized he'd gained a few percent after opening his status screen.
Slowly but surely, the mountain's aura rose. It energized the Void Energy infused throughout his body, and even his Void Emperor Hidden Nodes began to hum. It finally looked as though the mountain imploded, which released a wave of extremely condensed Void Energy that carried [Void Mountain]'s unique aura.
The energy wave crept forward like a tsunami reaching land. What would happen when it left his Soul Aperture in his current state, entering his two bodies? Esmeralda could safeguard everything within two meters. What if it spread further? More importantly, his other body was hiding inside the Shrine of Kanba, a space that definitely wasn't immune to the spiritual extinguishment of [Void Mountain].
Zac shuddered at the thought of the space collapsing, depositing a toad and his other body right in his chest in a gory explosion. Thankfully, the pulse was slow enough to give him some time.
"We have to get out," Zac said from his cubby. "Can you keep hiding us?"
"Why do you insist on making trouble," Esmeralda groaned. "I'm already fearing what you'll do to this place when you absorb those cursed things later."
"You should have known what you were getting yourself into when you approached me back then," Zac scoffed. "Can you do it?"
"Two minutes at the most, and don't move! I can only trick the sentry so long. Our safe range will shrink to just over a meter."
"That should be enough."
Zac was already spying on the Reaver through the Yphelion's security system. He'd actually stayed true to his words. The Reaver was seriously scanning room by room with the help of his two assistants. Ogras was keeping them company, and Kator's barbed comments slid off without leaving a mark.
Space rippled, and Zac's alter ego appeared with Esmeralda in tow. Following the thief's instructions, Zac didn't move an inch. He remained seated in his own lap, with a pocket-sized toad sitting in his palms. It was highly uncomfortable, and Zac thanked the Heavens that Kator hadn't insisted on a human guard. It would have been incredibly hard to explain the scene, and not just because his human half was supposed to stay on Earth.
Zac didn't have time to worry about optics. The wave had already reached the edge of his Soul Aperture and continued into his body. Golden vortices and abyssal ponds absorbed a little bit wherever it passed, adding to their stockpiles of illusory motes of Void Vigor. It quickly became apparent he'd been worried about nothing. The amount of energy contained in the pulse was impressive, but so was the hunger of his bloodline. Zac even had to restrain his body to make sure his legs and arms didn't get shortchanged.
The process was quick and uneventful. Zac gently squeezed the toad after thirty seconds, and they were gone without leaving any hints of their aura. To the outside world, they had never been there. Zac remained unmoving the entire time, occasionally releasing ripples of Deathly Dao to make the room's energy more turbulent.
The mountain in his mind had already calmed down, and everything looked stable. There were no measurements to [Void Mountain] like [Force of the Void], but Zac estimated his breakthrough had increased his stockpile of Void Vigor by roughly 40%. Zac was still more interested in the mountain itself.
He deactivated the Bloodline Talent to confirm his hunch. The mountain didn't disappear as before. Instead, it somehow inverted in a way Zac couldn't quite comprehend. It was there, yet it was not. Rather than seeing it with his mind's eye, he sensed it through his bloodline. Zac somewhat felt it was the same as with the real Void Mountain. It was right there, yet out of reach even for Supremacies. There was no fate without affinity.
Zac reactivated the talent, nodding in appreciation when it cost less Void Energy and not more. It was a small benefit of inverting instead of summoning the mountain. He infused himself, letting the Void fill his body. It was impossible to properly test things out while being under surveillance, yet Zac could tell the energy density was significantly higher.
He didn't sense any new features added, indicating a comprehensive boost to the talent. It would let him phase through sturdier barriers and stronger Daos while improving his camouflage and fusion with his other cultivation aspects. Interestingly, it didn't seem to draw any more Void Vigor than before, meaning the addition to his reserves was a pure boost to how long he could keep the talent going.
Finally, Zac turned to the part he'd been looking forward to the most. [Void Mountain] rippled, and [Spiritual Void] answered. Streams of Void of Life, Void of Death, and even Void of Conflict streamed out of the Hidden Node, each a perfect mirror of his actual Daos. Zac struggled to keep his expression impassive while roaring in triumph within the shrine of Kanba.
His theory was correct, and his prayers had been answered. Zac finally had a stable source of the Voids that belonged to his path. Adding Void to his technique had proven incredibly powerful. It almost allowed him to turn his duel with Kator around. Unfortunately, he'd lost the ability to replicate the technique since the original mountain was consumed during his bloodline evolution.
The ability to generate Void was back, stronger than ever. A few tests indicated it was quite draining to convert the stockpiled Dao into Void. Even then, it was clear he could draw far more from his Hidden Node than he ever could before. It was also incredibly easy to replenish [Spiritual Void] compared to the old mountain that needed to rest for a week after moderate use.
The only downside was that it was impossible to draw Void and Dao simultaneously, even when using different Daos as sources. He'd have to pick between adding Void to techniques or empowering skills with [Spiritual Void]'s original function. It was a shame, as the combination would have been absolutely deadly.
Zac stayed in his chambers for another hour, partly because of his reluctance to deal with Kator. Eventually, he couldn't stall any longer.
"Had your fun?" Zac asked when returning to the bridge.
"For now," Kator said. "I asked around. None of your people even know how to repair this vessel."
"Where would I get shipwrights of that level?" Zac shrugged.
"You're underestimating the dangers in the Imperial Graveyard."
"All of us are carrying spares in our spatial rings. And I'm more worried about the troubles inside the ship than those outside it right now."
"Ha! Fair enough," Kator laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tease you anymore. I can't have you mess up the next step. I'm too handsome to die in this blighted corner of the Cosmos."
The Reaver stuck to his word, and the bridge remained blissfully quiet as everyone mentally prepared for the upcoming storm. A beep made everyone open their eyes after a few hours.
"Ten minutes out, huh?" Kator said and took out a box. "Are you ready? Because there's no backing out afterward."
"We're ready," Zac said.
Ten minutes later on the dot, Kator opened the box. Inside was a crystalline flower that instantly withered when exposed to the environment. In another area of the deadzone, a butterfly would just have died, alerting the others it was time to drag the [Epiclesis Bell] into the Zurbor sector. The timing was important. They couldn't be too early or too late.
The bell's aura was almost blinding after two years of joyful sacrifices. The Chapter of Carnal Resolution was bound to notice its appearance. If everything went according to plan, a Monarch or two would be sent to investigate, at which point Zac activated a second ritual.
Another hour passed, and Zac had to calm his beating heart. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. There was so much that could go wrong in the next steps. Even if everything proceeded as it should, he would still have to face the Atavism of both the Spark of Creation and Heart of Oblivion in quick succession.
There was also the entity inside the [Epiclesis Bell] to worry about. It was highly likely that sinister thing had planned a counter after being forcibly dragged so far across the frontier.
A sudden tremor interrupted his thoughts, and Zac shot to his feet with alarm. "Activate the shields!"
It was too late. The lights had already dimmed, and the consoles went dark. Zac could only access a few emergency routines. The rest was locked down by an incredibly powerful Karmic lock that reminded Zac of his meeting with the 84th Lord. It wasn't that their ship had been sealed. Rather, any future where the ship was working had been blocked by an immense amount of opposing fate.
"We've been caught!" Jaol said with shock, displaying an image he'd recorded just before the Yphelion's systems failed. "I swear, this thing came out of nowhere! Not a hint of it on the scanners."
The seven-storied pagoda glowed with celestial lights and radiant shrouds. It was as though they were being shown a glimpse of paradise, a grandeur that shouldn't exist on the mortal plane. Zac swore, knowing his fears had been realized. They'd been intercepted by the Buddhist Sangha.
"Damn! What are those bald lunatics doing here?!" Kator roared, his body turning into a blur. Zac felt himself lifted from the ground when Kator grabbed him by the collar. "Bastard, what have you done?"