The sun was finally positioned in the center of the sky, marking noon. Within the world of evil cultivators, there was no sunlight, but inside a cave beneath Celestial Abyss City, the runes from the Tablet of the Evil God marked the end of the test for the young disciples.
A gray cloud covered the center of the cave, and all the disciples were being brought back. Soon, the responsible elder noticed the tense and frightened looks from the disciples, and to his surprise, almost all of them returned alive.
A few seconds passed with the elder watching closely. Then, in a distant place, a round and giant mass began to take shape. Beside it, other figures appeared, and the elder seemed, for a second, to lose the mask and show his astonishment.
He quickly regained the same cold and indifferent expression, but his slightly lost eyes soon met the giant whale, which returned the gaze calmly. Unable to understand, that elder felt a cold sweat running down his back.
Silent seconds passed, and soon everyone who survived was present. Then, the elder looked at everyone, speaking dryly.
"As this is an exceptional test, there is no simple method of measurement to distribute the rewards. So, it was decided to divide everything according to the number of wings each one has, and everyone received a good amount."
Everyone sighed in relief, leaving the elder even more astonished, thinking, 'Why are they not confident in their gains?'
Then he continued. "Those with one or two wings will receive 100 abyss crystals. Three wings will get 300. Four wings, 600. Just release your wings, and everything will be noted by the tablet, and you will receive the reward at the central building."
Some sighed in relief for receiving a reasonable amount. But none showed excitement. The elder already had a good idea, as there were only two truly novice disciples; the vast majority had two wings, and a few had three. But after a whole day inside the prison, most should have gained at least one new wing, maybe two. The amount of crystals they would receive should have sparked some enthusiasm, but none of that existed.
Quickly, a group released their wings, and a black shadow emerged on their backs, all with two wings. Then, everyone followed suit, releasing rapidly, and wings manifested everywhere.
At that moment, things became clear to the elder, who thought in disbelief, 'Everyone... seems to have hardly evolved at all!'
He then looked at the whale's group. There were only three disciples, and all of them had three wings. 'This Zanou is older and hasn't evolved. But the newcomers built an entire wing.' The elder reflected.
Soon, the Tablet of the Evil God vibrated, noting everything and awakening the elder from his stupor. Then he said nothing and waved, making the space contort, moving everyone back to the city.
The cold breeze hit all the disciples, who breathed a sigh of relief. However, when their vision stabilized, they all felt a tightness in their chests that made them take a step back in fear. As they looked in all directions, their senses were obliterated by a circle of twelve elders covering every direction.
They trembled in strangeness when the voice of an elder reached their ears. "Everyone can go quickly! We are just waiting for one group!"
The disciples felt the weight lift off their chests and quickly ran away without looking back. Whoever the unlucky one was, it was their problem now. Then, only the elder in charge of the test and a trio remained standing calmly. The now thirteen elders looked intensely at the whale, but only a smile of ridicule was plastered on the fat and round figure.
One elder took a step forward; it was the familiar old Dyen. Soon, the Core Formation Realm cultivation of all thirteen exploded into the sky like a tsunami, focusing on the group overwhelmingly. But... in a few seconds, all thirteen looked strangely at the center. None of the three, including that child used for dual cultivation, even trembled or changed expression.
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The only change seemed to come from the whale, who had his hands behind his back. And he seemed... to be struggling not to burst into uncontrollable laughter.
None of them paid attention, but two tattoos on the crossed wrists were subtly glowing. And mentally, the whale was thanking the gift delivered by all these friendly elders.
Langrum and Zanou noticed something strange with the faces of those elders. But the leader was standing, so the two stayed behind, waiting for orders. They had gone through several desperate moments together and almost died by a hair's breadth. In the end, the leader guided them through the impossible path, and now, there wasn't a single thought of disobedience in either of them.
One minute passed, and then the impatient old Dyen at the front shouted, "You two, behind the whale! If you allow us to scan your memories and everything you have, you can live. Or die with him, and we'll take everything anyway. What's it going to be?!"
It didn't take a second for the response to come. It wasn't words, but rather a laugh of ridicule from the large green woman. The human next to her seemed cold and completely expressionless as if nothing in the world could shake his mind.
"Stop barking and act like a man. If you want to steal from us, just try, but prepare your grave first," the woman spoke after laughing a bit more.
"You bitch, as you prefer. Zanou, I can still take you back, think it over." Dyen shouted, looking at his former disciple. But to his total surprise, his gaze remained cold and impassive. He couldn't believe it. Was that really Zanou?
Soon, a rough murmur that sounded like a growl came from Zanou's mouth. "They... missed... me?"
Old Dyen immediately changed his expression to a furious and bloodthirsty black. All the elders around restrained themselves from laughing. Zanou said that without any malice, unaware of the messages left by the whale on his behalf. But all the elders interpreted it differently.
So, the whale spoke sarcastically. "Looks like my pet is missing his ladies a lot, and I'm sure they miss him too. Look... he's even downcast and very affected." The whale finished, laughing loudly.
At that moment, old Dyen exploded, drawing his weapon and jumping forward with an endless bloodthirsty aura. To everyone's surprise, Zanou was the one who stepped forward.
Out of their sight, Mira on the whale's shoulder squeezed his neck firmly, and Langrum on his right took a step closer. Then, the whale's eyes changed suddenly.
In milliseconds, the black earth inside that world seemed to bow and shine in a brown tone. Then, the whale's hand grabbed the arm of the green woman nearby, and with a bang, he made an explosive leap towards the sky.
Old Dyen didn't even notice this change, completely immersed in his rage, and all the elders around couldn't reason out the reason for this strange movement. If he had tried to jump out, they would intercept him. But... he jumped up? He can't fly, so he'll fall... what kind of colossal stupidity is this?
It all lasted a second until these thoughts permeated everyone's minds. Then, the air around seemed to freeze. Only then did they turn in fear to the youth who remained. And they were incredulous because they couldn't recognize another human there anymore.
All the skin, once pale, was as black as ink. His eyes looked like a demonic and malevolent abyss. And a nefarious and cursed aura exploded from his body. If he had horns or wings, everyone would kneel, thinking they were facing a pure and true devil. But that didn't lessen the racing hearts and the disordered QI in their extremely frightened bodies.
Old Dyen reached in front of Zanou and saw his sudden transformation. But he didn't care or fear; that was indeed strange, but his cultivation hadn't changed. No matter what happened, he was still an ant in his eyes.
"DIE!!!!"
The old man shouted, pointing his spear at Zanou's head. Then, a painful sigh of relief escaped from the mouth of that black figure.
BOOM!!!
All the buildings and structures of the Celestial Abyss City trembled and threatened to collapse in the face of that explosion.
A black cloud expanded from the center of the city for several meters. That center was a place made to gather a large crowd, so it was open with hundreds of meters without nearby residences. Soon, the cloud advanced in all directions until it almost reached the limit of that place, and then it stopped.
All the city residents, and even those who cultivated in closed rooms, woke up startled. Then, they looked at the center but couldn't see anything inside. Even the most powerful elders, trying to use their QI to see, immediately severed their connections with it, feeling their bodies tremble.
"This... is a demonic curse!" One of these elders almost shouted.
Several tens of meters in the sky, the flying whale finally stopped rising. It had used all the QI it received as a gift from the elders, along with its newly improved earth power. Sure enough, it made an unbelievable leap, prepared for Zanou's move.
Mira was laughing excitedly, looking around from very high up. Langrum, being held by the whale's arms, felt strange but remained firm and silent.
The whale descended slowly, with its earth mastery ensuring a smooth and damage-free landing. When it was almost touching the mist, the Yin and Yang tattoo lit up, and the Yin fist extended, sucking the cloud like a black hole as they fell.
When they touched the ground, they quickly began to sweep away that mist at full force. Screams that sounded like tortured souls in hell reverberated; in a minute, half of the mist was gone. It was then that they saw in front of them Zanou, now looking like a human again, holding his spear shakily.
At the same time, Mira and Langrum saw Zanou and noticed tears streaming down his eyes like waterfalls.
Finally, a few meters in front of Zanou, old Dyen stood still. All his skin and eyes had black lines, indicating that he was affected by the curse. But... he wasn't screaming or surrendering.
Around him, a pure aura that seemed not to belong to an old man was lit. It was almost entirely Yin, but there was a bit of Yang in it. Mira and Langrum immediately recognized it; it was life energy... life energy from a woman... and it seemed to be such a large and pure amount that it was surely all that a young woman could possess.
Then Zanou spoke with a painful murmur. "Lyra... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!!!!"