Chapter 1876: The Essence Of The Beyonder’s Power
Chapter 1876: The Essence Of The Beyonder’s Power
As soon as Dugu Baitian stepped into the River of Time, his body rapidly aged; his hair turned white, his skin became loose, wrinkles and age spots formed all over his face, and soon afterward, he turned into a bone-like figure before becoming sand particles, dissipating between Heaven and Earth. With the blessing of eternal life, the Grand Chancellor soon revived himself, but the result was the same; he repeated the process of aging and dying. It took him more than six deaths before he found a solution by creating a Divine Repository that locked his time essence inside his body.
Meanwhile, Wang Wei remained calm and composed. The rapid passage of time was not just to kill his opponent, but to use the Dao of Time to analyze the essence of death that was sustaining Dugu Baitian’s existence. And that’s just one of his objectives. With such a vast amount of time energy, he can experience billions of futures in a matter of seconds to deduce the truth of Death Reverence’s power. With the help of the [Existence Observation Technique] — which he pushed to the limit — Wang Wei did not miss a single dot on his opponent’s scroll of life.
After the seventh revival, Wang Wei appeared beside Dugu Baitian and cast an Energy Absorption Technique to forcefully remove the Death energy embedded deep in the latter’s soul and body. The Grand Chancellor fought back, releasing a punch that perfectly combined the power of the six grand constructs, his Divine Repository, and his Conquest Dao.
Unfortunately, Wang Wei did not even need to do much to stop the attack. Although his avatar couldn’t use all the physical strength or the full might of the true body, the techniques, abilities, and other skills were freely available. Even if their potency was not as high as the original’s, with his absolute control, he could still close the gap by other means.
As such, when the punch was about to land, Wang Wei surrounded himself with his Essence Saint Will, granting his skin the power to [Reject All Phenomena]. The result was that the punch was weaker than a feather landing on a child. Meanwhile, Dugu Baitian died miserably when his energy was drained; his body was instantly mummified as he lost all the life energy that sustained his powerful fleshly body.
Wang Wei observed this ball of Death Energy, a purple light flashed deep in his eyes as he analyzed its essence. He did not dare use it on himself, but he was curious about the difference between his Death Powers and this one. The power resembled his and even belonged to a higher essence or echelon, which made sense since it originated from a Saint. However, Wang Wei sensed that this was not the only difference.
"There is something odd about it — something foreign, just like Cthulhu, which makes sense since Death Reverence probably fuses this Chaos Universe’s power system and the Beyonder’s home world system. However, knowing this doesn’t help that much."
Knowing there is a difference doesn’t mean he knows where it lies; with something as complex as the power of death — especially at Saint Tier — the matter might be beyond Wang Wei’s capabilities. As he glanced at this power, he couldn’t help but frown:
"Do I have to seal this bastard? However, something tells me I might fall into a trap if I use this approach." Didn’t Death Reverence know Dugu Baitian wasn’t his opponent? Anyone who watched his battle with Lin Fan will come to that conclusion. As for whatever Saint-tier trump card Dugu Baitian might have, that was also useless since Wang Wei controlled a second-step array.
So, Death Reverence’s purpose is probably to try to control or destroy the array from within and, more importantly, to gather information. Wang Wei also suspects he is a bait, and if he seals Dugu Baitian, then he will fall for it.
"One of my advantages has always been the information from other civilizations. So, if I could reverse-engineer the Beyonder’s power, the information I gathered would do wonders for my Saint Path —not just my Primordial Saint Path, but across all three steps—maybe even my Transcendent Path. More importantly, I could find a way to kill him without the need for a seal," Wang Wei thought.
Finding or creating a killing method will not only help him deal with Dugu Baitian, but also Death Reverence. So, after mulling it over for a few seconds, Wang Wei made his decision: "In that case, let’s use a rougher experiment."
As soon as Dugu Baitian was revived, Wang Wei acted. He condensed a second Death Energy Ball, but this one originated purely from himself — from the laws and rules of this Chaos Universe. Then, using the Dao of Yin-Yang, he forced the two distinct yet similar powers to clash while maintaining a balance, and he placed the final product inside Dugu Baitian’s body.
The result was terrible. Half of the Grand Chancellor’s body became necrotic, while the other half instantly lost its vitality. While this sounds like the same thing, they were not; the difference was even visible. The left part of Dugu Baitian turned black, with numerous signs of decomposition. Meanwhile, the right part remained the same, except its vitality was gone.
Wang Wei suddenly felt he was on the verge of a discovery. So, he instantly annihilated Dugu Baitian’s body, then regenerated it in perfect form; the experiment needed a fresh, intact subject.
"You monster!" the Grand Chancellor roared, attacking wildly without caring about his surroundings or the damage of using secret techniques. Alas, Wang Wei ignored him, focusing on gathering data. The bastard couldn’t even break his defense, so all his struggles were pointless; his only current value was as an experimental subject. For the second round, Wang Wei did not first absorb Death Reverence’s power of death inside his body. Instead, he injected his own, then ordered it to clash with its counterpart; he wanted to observe the power in its natural state.
The second experiment revealed more data. He realized the necrotic part of the body had somehow strengthened it, just like Zombie Cultivation. Meanwhile, the second part had just died of natural causes. Wang Wei’s eyes shone with brilliance as he thought, "Their fundamental difference seemed to be their purpose. Death, in this universe, is for the afterlife — the balance to keep the universe operating. However, Death Reverence — no, Deathbringer — controls death for his own will, his own desire and purpose."
Wang Wei felt he was so close to the truth. So, he killed Dugu Baitian again and even used the River of Time to accelerate his revival. Then, he immediately proceeded with the third experiment. This time, the data revealed the left part of the body had regained "life."
"Death and then life — is it a Zombie? An Undead? Wait, Undead, foreign Chaos Universe," Wang Wei thought. "Necromancers? Could it be that Beyonder is from a Chaos Universe that uses magic, and he was once a Necromancer?"
As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, it overwhelmed all other thoughts> Without wasting another second, Wang Wei ran a few experiments to test his theory. And all signs indicate that Dugu Baitian, and even Death Reverence, were nothing but a unique form of undead that Necromancers are used to controlling.
"There is a way to definitively prove the truth, but that requires time. And doing it now might alert the enemy," Wang Wei thought.
"Enough!" Dugu Baitian roared. He could accept the constant death and revival, but he refused to be treated as an experimental pawn. As someone who has left countless legends across the Chaos Universe, how could he accept such a fate? His pride and ego will not accept being treated in such a manner.
"You forced me to do this. You forced me." While gritting his teeth, Dugu Baitian suddenly injected all his Death Power into the parasite in his Sea of Consciousness. A bestial growl escaped his mouth, but Dugu Baitian didn’t immediately lose control. Instead, twelve pairs of black wings grew from his back, followed by a pair of red horns. His eyes then turned red, his hands into claws, his teeth into sharp fangs, and his feet into goat hooves.
"He looks like a combination of a Western Demon and a Fallen Angel," Wang Wei thought, his facial expression remaining neutral despite the odd transformation. The Chancellor’s appearance further reinforced his theory about the Beyonder’s origin. Regardless, his primary issue remained: how to kill this thing without revealing too much information to Death Reverence.
"Such power," Dugu Baitian muttered to himself. "Is this the strength of a Saint?"
"You can barely count as a 1-pillar Saint, but yes, it’s still a Saint," Wang Wei commented.
The fallen overlord glanced at him, "You still dare to be cheeky? Should I praise your courage or admonish your stupidity?"
Sadly for him, his attempt at intimidation was futile as Wang Wei continued to glance at him as if he were an interesting and unexpected scientific experiment, "Someone from the Ji Clan probably created you as a means to break the limit of their family bloodline through the power of Seven Emotions Six Desires. Unfortunately, you are a failed product. But who knew their creation was so compatible with the power of death? Wait, no, there is another possibility: the Beyonder’s power is highly adaptable, capable of assimilating any energy or unique power for its own use."
Boom!
A terrifying punch hit Wang Wei, but a semi-transparent shield generated from the power of his array. Dugu Baitian roared in anger as he continued to bombard the shield. His fists and bones broke and regenerated, but he didn’t care. While the death power had stabilized his mind and consciousness, he had lost the power to keep increasing his strength from his rage and anger. So, even as Wang Wei continued to look at him with the same gaze — that gaze a higher being gave to a pitiful yet interested creature — he wanted to rage, but it was pointless.
"Hmm, I think I know how to kill you," Wang Wei uttered with a wide grin.