The Saint-Emperor gasped, his hair standing on end as fear grew within him, stemming from his very soul, and even further, from the depths of the cycle of reincarnation!
It was a sense of danger that one would experience when facing one’s greatest enemy, and was shared by everyone who lived within the Eternal Immortal Domains!
Every living being couldn’t help but feel unprecedented terror and shock for what the future held!
“The Enemy from Beyond… moved!”
“The legends are true! If that giant wakes up, he’ll exterminate everything!!” Countless cries of alarm filled the world. Even the Eternal Sea responded, as though it had a spirit, causing wild waves to surge across its surface.
Bai Xiaochun was just as shaken, and felt as if he had just laid eyes on a predestined archenemy. Considering what he had seen in the Worldly Daoist’s memories, his feelings were even more complex. Even as he took in a deep breath, he noticed that, as the eyelids of the Mortal Renegade quivered, two strips that almost looked like paper were now visible on his body!!
One of them stretched from his forehead to his dantian region, while the other went from his right shoulder to the same location!
The strip stretching from his shoulder was roughly twenty percent dark, indicating that it had lost some of its power, and was only eighty percent effective.
Worse, the strip stretching from his forehead was now eighty percent dim, indicating that only twenty percent of its power remained!
Bai Xiaochun wasn’t sure what those lines represented, and in that, he was not alone within the Eternal Immortal Domains. Few people understood their significance. However, as soon as the Saint-Emperor saw them, his face fell, and he began to shiver uncontrollably.
“One of the strips has been broken!!” he blurted out loud. Shaken, Bai Xiaochun focused on the strip leading from the forehead to the dantian region, and realized… that it provoked fluctuations within his blood, as though the strip were somehow connected to the bloodline of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty.
Instantly, his pupils constricted as he put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Before he could say anything, the Saint-Emperor explained.
“There should be three strips. Back when the Eternal Mother created the three Eternal Sons, they fought the Enemy from Beyond, and gave up their lives in the process. The Eternal Mother also paid a huge price to forge… three sealing strips, backed by the powers of the three bloodlines!!” The Saint-Emperor quickly went on to provide more details, explaining everything he knew about the subject. The truth was that now that the Mortal Renegade was moving, it spelled impending catastrophe for the Eternal Immortal Domains.
At a time like this, the Saint-Emperor didn’t care at all about struggles for power. He cared about the existence of the Eternal Immortal Domains as a whole. If the Great Enemy awoke, and there was no one there to stop him, then all creation would be toppled and cast into infinite darkness!
“Each and every one of those bloodline sealing strips is of critical importance. They were created by sovereign-level world magic, and are precisely what have kept the Enemy from Beyond sleeping until now!” The Saint-Emperor was so anxious about the matter that his words came in rapid-fire succession.
“There used to be a strip leading from his left shoulder to his dantian region, which was powered by the Vile-Ancestor. The strip on the right shoulder is from the Saint-Ancestor, and the middle strip is from the Arch-Ancestor!
“The Vile-Ancestor’s strip has already been broken, which proves that the Vile-Emperor is truly dead, his bloodline suppressed and contaminated for years by the imposter…. Although only one strip has been broken, that already allows the Great Enemy to begin to move.
“The strip connected to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty has eighty percent of its strength remaining. As for the strip connected to your bloodline, Arch-Emperor, it has been weakened to a dangerous level, presumably because your people took so long to return, and also because of how late you reached the Archaean Realm!
“If those final two strips are broken… then the Enemy from Beyond will awaken!!”
Even as the Saint-Emperor spoke, the Mortal Renegade trembled, and his eyelids flickered visibly, as though he were struggling to break the final two bloodline sealing strips!
As he struggled, the strips began to grow darker; clearly, it would only be a few more months before they were destroyed!
The death of the imposter Vile-Emperor had pushed the Mortal Renegade past the limits of his patience. He didn’t want the sealing strips to gradually wear away; he wanted to burst through them and wake up as soon as possible.
“What can we do to strengthen the strips?!” Bai Xiaochun asked. He feared death, but he knew that if the Mortal Renegade woke up, the entire world would be plunged into darkness. Therefore, there were two options at hand. Either sit around and wait to die, or do something to fight back!
“There’s only one thing we can do. If we get close enough to enter the sealing strips, then we can use the power of our blood to reinforce them!
“But if we fail… then what awaits is the destruction of the Eternal Immortal Domains! The so-called Enemy from Beyond possesses the terrifying might of a sovereign, power that we are no match for….
“As for the sealing strips, only those with the power of an archaean can do anything to bolster them. That means that we are the only two who can do it!” The Saint-Emperor’s eyes were now lit with determination. Although he was usually a hypocritical, sanctimonious person, right now, he had put that aspect of his personality to rest. He had made his decision about what needed to be done!
When Bai Xiaochun realized that the Saint-Emperor was essentially talking about entering the body of the Mortal Renegade, he nearly gasped. However, now was not the time to ponder the situation. If the Mortal Renegade struggled to the point where the Arch-Ancestor’s sealing strip went completely dark, then that would leave only one remaining sealing strip.
“There’s no time to lose!” the Saint-Emperor said anxiously, immediately beginning to fly at high speed toward the Mortal Renegade. As he rose higher and higher, a large moon sigil appeared behind him!
Gritting his teeth, Bai Xiaochun flew after him. The two of them became bright streaks of light that shot closer and closer to the enormous Mortal Renegade. Eventually, they were so close that they couldn’t even see his head, only his chest!
As they neared, it became even easier to see how much the Mortal Renegade was struggling. It was almost like an earthquake, with loud rumbling sounds and incredible pressure that caused the Saint-Emperor’s face to go pale. As for Bai Xiaochun, his bit of sovereign aura made it a bit easier for him.
Eventually, they headed in two different directions, the Saint-Emperor going toward the sealing strip on the right shoulder, and Bai Xiaochun heading as quickly as possible toward the Mortal Renegade’s forehead!!
Those were the locations of the two sealing strips’ true origins!
Soon, the Saint-Emperor’s expression flickered, and even Bai Xiaochun was shocked, as they found that there was some sort of invisible barrier surrounding the Mortal Renegade’s body.
Shouting, the Saint-Emperor ignited his moon sigil, a life-essence treasure that gave him the punch he needed to break through that barrier. Moments later, blood-colored light shone around him as he reached the sealing strip, and disappeared.
Bai Xiaochun had a much simpler time. He resorted to the Undying Hex, which was now powered by his archaean cultivation base. Piercing through the barrier, he appeared in front of the sealing strip tied to the Arch-Ancestor’s bloodline. At that point, he looked back down at the lands below.
Just barely visible were the people of the Eternal Immortal Domains, craning their heads as they looked up nervously. Although most couldn’t actually see him or the Saint-Emperor, everyone was paying close attention to see what would happen.
All of these things had happened so suddenly that it was hard to take them all in. However, Bai Xiaochun knew what he had to do. Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth and entered the bloodline sealing strip!
Down below, the cultivators in the Eternal Immortal Domains were waiting, terrified and deeply aware of the danger they were in. However, there was nothing they could do other than wait and pray.