"Stand down!!" the lady who had suffered a backlash after attempting to peer into Zenith had quickly called out. The creature or more so individual who rushed towards him suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. It reverted to a calmer state before returning.
"We are leaving..." She spoke while clutching her eyes. Her transparent white veil now bloodied while that same ethereal portal they had come in had opened up again. with the help of her companion, they both left without another word.
The Priestess, her sister, was stunned by the sudden turn of events; in fact, all of those present was suddenly cautious. She was as strong as them yet was so severely injured.
"Who are you!!..." The leading black-cloaked figure suddenly called out to Zenith with grave caution. His hand was hidden to his side, ready to fight if need be.
Zenith was feeling a bit of pain inside his body and mind. Such an act didn't come for free. It felt like being stung by a bee right in his brain. "Are you deaf? The one you are after is my little brother. Your fighting will cause a mess. Those whom I said to leave better piss off and those who have no ill intentions need to behave."
Zenith was still careful even though he didn't forget to try and benefit from this. He had carefully planned how he would do things, making enemies with all of them would be annoying, let alone those behind them. At the very least, he could cherry-pick who would be more beneficial and less of a hassle.
There was a sombre silence between all sides. However, they weren't at all convinced yet by Zenith. "Older brother? Interesting I think our master would be quite interested if we manage to bring you back to see what secrets you have" The leading cloaked figure had made a decision replied and was about to make an action but was a little to slow.
"Screw off! this kid is my snakeys Lunch heh!" The little youth Spoke before his large snake suddenly opened its gaping mouth and lunged forth, rushing forward with intense speed towards Zenith.
Zenith wasn't a fool he had been on too high alert to any sudden changes he couldn't afford to be careless here. Extending out his right hand's index finger a resonation of soul energy spurred forth.
In front of the snake first a ripple of space followed by a dark hole the size of a pebble forming. The entire area within several kilometres began to act as an if a massive vacuum had formed with that dark hole almost like a maw being the centre.
Those experts close to it activated their auras as best they could but were still being drawn towards the maw. The snake which had been right beside the maw was sucked straight in after giving off a hiss of fear and confusion.
The black maw then vanished in a near-instant. Zenith was feeling a large amount of pain, he could feel his organs bleeding internally and, taste iron in his mouth from blood, but he swallowed it down.
"Snakey!!!" The youth screeched with sadness and anger; he had no idea that he just kicked a rigid steel board. Having underestimated this individual.
"Next person who thinks I'm an easy target won't know how they died, so if you want to make a move you sure as hell better hope it's worth it." His voice was hoarse and heavy with a threatening tone. Those present were no doubt fearful, being able to kill a creature like that with such ease was incredible.
"Laws of space?..." The Anchor lord whispered under his breath, but he didn't dare believe it. "Impossible its unheard of for anyone to utilise anything related to space, it must be something else." The emissary didn't think it real, but the strength behind an attack like that would kill him if he acted rashly.
"We are leaving..." The cloaked figure responded. The situation was out of his hand and considering how powerful the being in front of him was. He doubted even his master could accomplish such an easy kill. It would be foolish to make an enemy out of this person.
He left no more room as he and the other two left just as quickly as they had come. Other than those present in the immediate vicinity, four other figures had been watching from a distance. Seeing how the situation had turned out and the strength they witnessed, they had quickly left as well.
The youth was gritting his teeth in anger as he looked at Zenith. "Y...you!!....do you know who you are messing with?!!" He spoke. Zenith, in response, raised his index finger again and pointed towards the youth.
"say that again?" Zenith spoke calmly, yet his actions terrified the youth who quickly backed away and vanished in that mist like portal he had come in previously.
"Now then. the rest of you...." Zenith's glance over them had caused shivers the ripple throughout their body. The two knights with the Priestess took careful steps forward yet were somewhat afraid as their hands were on the hilts of their weapons ready to defend her.
"Let's see..." Zenith's soul force rippled out, engulfing the three main individuals and scanned them carefully. He felt the presence of some rare items but no spatial rings or bags of holding for some odd reason there was the possibility that they were relatively rare. Several things he was interested had, of course, caught his eye.
"The red pebble you have, that blue leaf with white veins that you have and the transparent vial with a golden liquid that you have, hand them all over."
"Huh?" their reactions were all the same, not only were they surprised as they hadn't even sensed him scan over them. But now he was speaking as if he intended to rob them.
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"Senior...this isn't this...." The Priestess stepped forth past her guards and spoke a little nervously. "This is robbery is what it is!!" The anchor lord grumbled out, cutting her off.
"Sir...I haven't offended or quarrelled with you, why must you request the Star tears in my possession..." Hearing what was in his grasp, the two looked at the emissary feverishly the item he had was scarce.
"So you do possess it! Several hundred years ago, it was you who managed to find it first!" the Priestess spoke up in a disappointed manner. The formation of star tears was a big deal to them. When a star died, its dying Light as faint as it was, still had immense power which had a chance to form randomly in a realm and would greatly benefit cultivators who found that liquid.
"Perpetual realm kids are the worst," Zenith grumbled. "This is the application fee for attempting to recruit my little brother. If you don't want to pay it. Then you better get moving."
He relaxed a bit. Those three items were vital for him in strengthening his physical body as well as start his cultivation. He would be stupid if he dared to make his soul stronger as there was no need for that right now.
"Well...Senior cant you be more reasonable?" The anchor lord wanted to cry. That so-called pebble was an Earthen eye it only formed in Aethering crystal veins that were close to Active Volcanos and even there only a handful would be found per vein.
"Well." Zenith took a moment to think it would be mean of him to bully them, so he scanned their bodies carefully and decided to give them a little advice though, with every scan, his mind would hurt more. "What's your name?" Zenith asked the Priestess.
The two knights looked at Zenith, annoyed and wanted to swear and curse him, but they understood he was incredibly powerful. "Senior, please call me Iliana" She gave a subtle slight bow."
"Mm," Zenith responded with a simple nod then began to speak. "Your body has an imbalance. You infused too much Light Attuned aether that was quite pure very carelessly without strengthening your organs. I suggest you find a herb with life energy and use that energy to strengthen your organs. I bet you wake up in constant abdominal pain."
Today the Priestess Iliana had never expected to be shocked and surprised as many times as she would expect. This so-called illness of hers was indeed genuine, but it was a method her predecessors had come up with and something they had to handle as well. The pain was considered a trade-off of cultivating using their method. Now suddenly this random expert who looked like a sick child had given her such a simple cure.
"Senior...i..is this true?..." She was shaking a little with excitement and expectation if this could be cured like this and the pain removed she would easily give up that Leaf. The Leaf itself was from a rare plant bathed in light energy; it would grow five leaves every hundred years or so.
"Go try it and find out, If it doesn't work, you can come back to this spot, and I will sense you and ONLY if it doesn't work." He responded.
The emissary and anchor lord were a little stunned. Unaware that this hidden method of the Priestess would have such a trade-off. Zenith then looked at the emissary.
"You are having trouble stabilising your sword aura after a breakthrough, and that is because you haven't experienced many life and death situations. Sure fighting weaker creatures is fun and all but consider it as practising against wooden dummies all the time. In the end, your aura will only be tempered through life and death situations you said you look after this region right? I think you need to get out more or you will stagnate."
Zenith spoke with little care as he began to point and describe the issue plaguing the emissary who in turn listened attentively whilst remaining quiet.
Rather than shows a look of surprise. The emissary was deeply shocked on the inside because as Zenith talked, he considered the viability and truth and found it was indeed correct.
Without so much as a word he removed the vial from his bag, it glittered with a soft glow like gold dust with light shining on it then threw it towards Zenith.
Zenith waved his hand and caught the vial with simple soul energy. He then looked at the Priestess who sighed but nodded to herself, removing the Leaf which was the size of a palm then extended it out. The two knights looked at the Leaf with expectation yet frowned as Zenith used the same method to retrieve it.
"You....well..." Zenith's eyebrows twitched as he glanced at the Anchor Lord who blinked before coming to a realisation then suddenly spoke. "Senior! I'm sure you know my illness somehow...s...so please speak of the treatment" He was also excited if he could get his issue fixed.
Zenith quivered a little. The anchor lords illness was stupid and a little sad. Because he focused on cultivating Earth aether energy, it had accumulated too much, and his so-called manhood would stay risen and hard all the time without any way to lower it.
"Whoever thought of this method and dared pass it on is quite a degenerate" Zenith couldn't help but speak out, the anchor lord was angry but knew it was the trade-off for his strength and bowed his head not daring to speak up and retort him.
"This is a little more tricky. A method of softening hmm. Place it into a furnace where the temperature is enough to soften steel, once a day for a month. That should revert it back and no longer cause the issue. next time you dare carelessly circulate Earthern aether don't rush that too fast."
Zenith felt like he was in a world of primitive monkeys, watching these people and their issues he realised some things. The universe he was from and the other three their methods were much more advanced and had many fewer errors, even the cultivation methods for their level were relatively better.
He also realised that the aether core of these people was too impure and rough. Rather then a smooth sphere it was better to call them rough and bumpy with impurities.
"Senior...is this truly necessary?" the anchor lord uttered in worry. He had excellent resistance to fire but high enough to melt steel would still hurt him a bit.
"Well if you don't mind staying like that forever then no?" Zenith responded. The anchor lord sighed and retrieved the item. He glanced at the Priestess who had an idea of what plagued him, then gave him a look of disgust while the emissary shook his head. The anchor lord was a little gloomy as he handed the item over. At the very least if ailment of his could genuinely be cured, it would be worth it.
"Ok, ok, good!" Zenith looked at the three items with a simple smile then glanced at the three again. "Remember my words....cause trouble and see what happens. You also better keep your mouths closed and not talk to anyone about me, especially to my father." His voice carrying a threatening tone that made them all shiver with deep fear. After remembering the strange ability, he had used to kill a creature in a near-instant that they would only be able to fight to a draw with it was fair to assume they would be frightened.
Afterwards, they had all quickly left, heading towards the village. At the same time, treatment could wait. This child was now more gravely important. Not only was this one blessed with heaven, but he had a strange older brother who was a mysterious powerhouse. The need to take him in was more important than before.
"Urgh..." Zenith suddenly looked down as blood ran down his eyes and stained the bandages. He also spat out some blood. Wounds began to open along his body as he could no longer use soul energy to keep it in check. "Well...I got some good stuff today at least.." He laughed greedily before using his hands to turn the wheelchair around and head back.