Chapter 2001: Chapter 1993: An Archer’s Eyes

Four out of five Prime Ascendants had accomplished their task in various ways, each signifying their path and foundation built up thus far, from Tuo Bihan’s struggle to defy destiny with a god-like tool born from controlled madness with a body, mind, and spirit of purity, Shui Fengbao’s fiery performance that sought to inform the world of his status as a Child of Fire, Su Mei’s overbearing speed that rivaled light itself, or Zuhei’s blood-soaked hunt. They all defined them.

Yao Houyi, the Archer, was the last to take the challenge set by their emperor. With two empty quivers and no bow in sight, he stood tall amidst the final moments of Zuhei’s completion, with his blindfold wrapped tightly around his eyes.

Tuo Bihan hugged the bandaged Heretic Berserk Godsword tightly as he lay on his buttocks, uncaring of his dignity or sight, while he slowly dried the sweat accumulating at his brow. He was still exhausted and hot. Especially after suffering some of the effects from Zuhei’s aura of carnage, leading to him losing consciousness, he was perfectly content with resting like this. As he glanced at the receding bloody aura and spotted Zuhei, he couldn’t resist a smile.

Unlike those here, Tuo Bihan knew Zuhei the longest. Back then, Zuhei was imprisoned for a crime of passion born of hunger for revenge and justice. At the time, the Knights of Enforcement decided he would be executed promptly. Tuo Bihan, as an Alchemist, and as someone with an instinct for these things, decided to reduce his sentence to imprisonment and crippling.

He was aware that as long as one held breath, there was always a chance to prevail in this world. Seeing the young Silver Wolf of Slaughter grow into a powerhouse confirmed the belief in his heart at the time—Zuhei’s life was meant for more.

Interestingly enough, the Captain-class Knight of Enforcement who moved to capture Zuhei for his slaughter was BeiMing —Bei Yinyin’s, thelittle prodigal alchemist, and Bei Weiwei’s, the Fourth Commander, mother. The same woman who oversaw Qing Qiumu’s execution, subordinating herself to Wei Wuyin with a moment’s decision. Seeing how Bei Ming had supported his irrational decision back then, Tuo Bihan couldn’t help but realize that certain thoughts and actions could lead to incredible futures.

Was this the elusive karma described in the various Seer cultivation methods? Perhaps he was overthinking it. Still, the sight of it all validated every feeling in his heart. He couldn’t resist the urge to smile, glancing at the sky, feeling as if the world’s horizons were welcoming him with open arms, and that the guarantor of his passage was none other than Wei Wuyin.

Our emperor.

Zuhei, meanwhile, was unaware of Tuo Bihan’s idle thoughts and was instead contemplating Cohen’s words about an unspoken grudge. The Sirius bloodline lineage born from Fenrir, the Silver Wolf...

As his thoughts rumbled in his skull, Su Mei flew beside him. He looked over and saw this young man, who had followed his master long before he had. Despite her strength, which let her stand by his master’s side, he never felt inferior. In fact, her existence and growth spurred his own.

Aside from a few exceptions due to cultivation differences in his early years, he was the only one who consistently sparred with Su Mei, and she could face him calmly as well.

"Your body’s physical presence," Su Mei commented while glancing into the distance and wiping the sweat from her brow, noticing that there were no steps approaching, drawing her curiosity to Yao Houyi’s challenge. That said, she wasn’t remotely concerned about his success or failure. Only Tuo Bihan was a genuine uncertainty because he relied on a Mystic-Soul grade Armament.

Zuhei looked at his sweaty forearm, noticing mana, light, and spatial energies from all three dimensions distorting around it. He exerted enough physical presence to resemble a gargantuan planet with overbearing gravity, pulling in and destroying everything like a churning black hole.

If he were in the outside world, he would outright alter entire stellar orbits and trajectories, potentially draw in lesser starfields and cause them to be pulled into himself. He was sealed within a sanguine crystalline pillar for a reason.

This was the reason.

He couldn’t even use his physical strength without catastrophic damage. The thought caused his mind to grow nostalgic.

Su Mei sensed his emotions shift and turned to him as she caught the smallest smile. "You asked for it."

Zuhei’s heart felt a distinct warmth. Back then, when he was broken, crippled, and imprisoned to the point of malnourishment affecting his body and mind, his master had come to him and sought out the hunger in his soul. Then, when he finally understood the meaning of hunger and accepted his role as his claws and fangs, he demanded a body that could satisfy the hunger dug from his soul.

With a promise of the best body, his master demanded the best claws and the best fangs.

As such, Zuhei’s body was honed to an almost excessive degree of perfection. Despite the Blood Hunt of Carnage Ascension Art that he unleashed, he was a Martial Cultivator, one who relied on his physical body and bloodline energies.

Su Mei added, "Are you hungry?"

Zuhei’s scarlet eyes bloomed with a rich, bloody radiance. His voice was deep and everlasting: "Always."

His teeth, the sharpest fangs, were bared, and his hands brandished into the toughest claws.

They were the best.

They would always be the best.

He would NEVER forget his hunger.

Su Mei couldn’t help but widen her smile. Wei Wuyin understood others far beyond his experience and age, and finding Zuhei was her duty all those years ago.

Zuhei closed his eyes. Su Mei moved to his back and gave a few pats, placing several spiritual seals on his physical presence. Suddenly, the gravitating distortion effect of his tempered body was reduced to manageable levels.

"This will last you another three days. Your cultivation is still too low," Su Mei informed. Zuhei’s cultivation base was only at the Heavenly Saint Phase, the Sixth Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, and was therefore still too low to regulate his overwhelming physical presence. Specifically, it was near-impossible to do so in an oppressive environment like the Battlefield. In the real world, he had three thousand ways to mitigate his presence.

Wei Wuyin suffered a very similar situation with his Spiritual Strength, leading to him being temporarily blind and unable to utilize his Celestial Eyes.

Zuhei, on the other hand, found it difficult to exist in spiritually restricted spaces like this without causing catastrophic destruction with his physical body. Back then, opening his eyes would unleash a spiritual radiance that could crumble tiny planets, but simultaneously damage his eyes alongside excruciating pain.

Yao Houyi walked beside the two. Zuhei didn’t bother looking his way, and Yao Houyi returned the avoidance. "Something’s off," he said, noticing the world’s distinct silence. No stampede of armored feet clamored toward them from any direction, and no rising aura of war rose from an army.

Su Mei and Zuhei noticed this too, but the latter didn’t care, while the former was not privy to any specific details.

Heavy footsteps arrived beside them. Shui Fengbao’s eyes carried a trace of exhaustion and grievance. Zuhei’s Law of Carnage’s power had forced him to instinctively initiate his life-saving means, forcing him to expend more mystic power. However, he would never demand compensation or take him to task for it. This scarlet-eyed beastman scared him a little.

Maybe a whole lot.

"Did you do something?" Shui Fengbao asked Yao Houyi. Earlier, they had joked about facing a greater challenge after joining together, but they would never genuinely do so despite the underlying desire to test themselves. Moreso it was their trained vigilance to know that their emperor would not hold back.

A single legion?

They might face him personally.

He had no intention of screwing around and finding out with regret in his heart. Nightmares were best left in one’s dreams. That was for the best.

Yao Houyi frowned in thought. Considering the previous four tasks, all of relatively equal difficulty, his own shouldn’t have any special circumstances. After seriously recalling all his actions, he shouldn’t have done anything that warranted special treatment.

"You’re his Archer. Your trial will reflect that." Su Mei’s words rang in each of their hearts. When each of them heard that, especially Zuhei, they gained some semblance of understanding.

Whether it was Tuo Bihan, Shui Fengbao, Zuhei, or even Su Mei, their task was direct conflict. However, none of them were truly distance fighters. Shui Fengbao was a literal weapon of mass fiery destruction, while Tuo Bihan wielded a weapon of literal destruction. Zuhei was his fangs and claws, so the meaning was clear. Meanwhile, Su Mei might be his right hand in all matters, yet in the duties of war, she was a sharp saber meant to slice through enemy ranks.

Yao Houyi was different.

"You think he’s going to give you target practice?" Shui Fengbao grinned as he fanned himself, drying the faint sweat dripping from his forehead and feeling a cooling sensation. "Woo, it’s quite hot."

"..." Zuhei.

"..." Tuo Bihan.

"..." Su Mei.

"..." Yao Houyi.

They all simultaneously looked towards him. Then they realized each of them was sweating to some degree. But for the Child of Fire to be sweating?

"How long have we been sweating?" Su Mei asked with a frown. She hadn’t noticed the temperature rising. That was incredibly strange. It didn’t feel hot, but it was hot. The sensation was dissonance-inducing, almost paradoxical.

"Paradox?" Zuhei immediately stared at the sky, his scarlet eyes glistening with spiritual radiance. Then, pure, unfiltered carnage flared in his pupils as the Law of Carnage began empowering his Ocular Spell.

Tuo Bihan raised his hand like a diligent student who paid attention in class. "Valiant Su, I’ve been sweating since Mister Wolf received his ’pass’ from our grand emperor."

"...!" The four of them were all taken aback. Since then?

"Your trial," Su Mei said with a firm solemnity.

"I know." Yao Houyi looked at the sky:

Nothing.

He looked at the ground:

Nothing.

He peered into the flow of mana and light energies:

Nothing.

"Is it in—" Shui Fengbao started to speak when Su Mei flashed to his side, firmly placing her hand over his mouth and applying a spiritual restriction that blocked all transmission. Muffled immediately, Shui Fengbao’s eyes bulged from his skull. Only after a fierce stare by Su Mei did he calm down.

Yao Houyi didn’t even bother glancing at Shui Fengbao as he took to the skies. Soaring up high, his vintage point changed as he tried to peer into the three dimensions of space—stable, fixed, and chaotic:

Nothing.

’Where is it? The source of the heat!’ His perception was pushed to its utmost limits, further enhanced by his Spiritual Spells and Ascension Arts utilized in unison. However, he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the heat. It seemed to be coming from everywhere yet nowhere. It was hot, but it didn’t feel hot, as if they were already hot and therefore began to sweat yet never experienced the heat directly. The paradoxical nature of it was baffling.

As an Archer, his perception was his greatest asset. He prided himself in exceeding even Su Mei and Zuhei in that regard, and it was his extraordinary perception and precision that set him apart from the rest, allowing him to clash with them without seeming inferior. Yet despite his efforts, he couldn’t locate the source.

Seeing Yao Houyi struggle, Su Mei frowned slightly.

Zuhei thought for a second; he couldn’t find the source either, even relying on his Law of Carnage, so it wasn’t concealed within the folds of the Heavenly Realms. However, he could sense the mental confusion besieging Yao Houyi. Witnessing this, he glanced at Shui Fengbao and Su Mei. The latter found his gaze and shook her head.

"Archer!" Zuhei called out. As he did, an overbearing spiritual strength descended upon him. He was almost brought to his knees immediately, recognizing the source of that godly strength—his master. A warning, clear and simple.

However, he gritted his teeth despite his bodily anguish, as his blood was recoiling at the mere pressure it exhibited. "I am his Claws and Fangs! I HUNT! I KILL! I DEVOUR! What...!"

BOOSH!!!

Zuhei’s eyes almost went from scarlet to white, bordering on unconsciousness. What type of strength was this?! However, his mind was tempered by the trials and tribulations that his master had established for himself. He refused to yield here, not out of disobedience, but simply that his desire to assist his master was greater than the pressure he felt. Yao Houyi can not fail.

"...ARE—"

While he couldn’t help it, he could at least say a few words!

BOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!

His feet and legs sank into the earth. If it wasn’t for his unbelievably powerful body, he would have been crushed flat. Unfortunately, Su Mei’s sealing of his physical presence reduced his resistance, directly blocking his ability to unleash his bloodline strength, so he had zero hope of extricating himself from this position.

Yao Houyi looked toward Zuhei. He didn’t believe Zuhei could find the source before him, let alone discover any hints that could evade his eyes when it came to locating obscure signatures. Perhaps if it were hunting a living entity, but not this.

Zuhei gritted his teeth until saliva leaked from his lips, yet he still did his best to get out one more word...just one more!

"YOU!!"

Like an explosion in his mind, Yao Houyi’s expression displayed revelation and shock. He turned to the oppressed Zuhei, the Silver Wolf of Slaughter, and his opinion of him shifted slightly. With a deep breath, he turned his gaze not to the world, but to the Void.

’As an Archer, my purpose is to strike at the hearts of his enemies that he can’t reach. If I can’t defy convention, what is my meaning as his Archer?!’

Sensing or entering the Void was absurdly dangerous for all those beneath the Supreme Sage-level! However, if his enemies existed in the Void, then his purpose was to strike at the Void!

He slowly reached for his blindfold. Then, he gently removed it.

1Eyes as gorgeous as the heavens themselves, glistening with pure gold, lacking all signs of a pupil or iris, only a sea of pure, richly colorful gold. These eyes beheld the heavens themselves, yet slowly, as Yao Houyi formed a hand-seal that resembled an interlocked cage with his hands, those eyes began to change.

The golden radiance faded, replaced by an endless grayish haze.

Since his journey began, he has been cultivating a single Ocular Cultivation Method of his own design, born from various Ocular Spells and Cultivation Methods he had accumulated over an extensive period of time. After all, to hit a target, one must first be able to find and ’see’ their target in whatever way possible.

As such, he has been actively creating a singular art of his own that he named simply: All-Piercing Eyes.

Whether it was the Heavenly Realms, Chaotic Space, or the Void, he extracted quintessential essences from each and imbued them into his eyes so he could adjust the frequency to match, gaining something akin to multi-layered perception across a spectrum of cultivation. This included vitality and even the flow of time.

This Cultivation Method aligned closely with the defiant nature each Prime Ascendant had toward their path of cultivation, yet the benefits of his path were unprecedentedly Bountiful, far beyond his original intentions. For example...

Yao Houyi raised his hands as if wielding a bow. Then he reached into his quiver, touching nothing to the naked eye, and pulled something out. From his pinched fingertips, it resembled the practiced motion of pulling out an arrow.

He nocked the unseeable arrow.

Then, he aimed at an empty region of space.

Whether it was Su Mei or Zuhei, they couldn’t see what he was aiming at at all, yet they trusted his aim.

Because Yao Houyi...never misses.

Pulling the bowstring, a surge of clear light began to gather around his hands, exposing faintly the shape of a bow and an arrow with a grayish, hazy light. The bow induced temporal dissonance while the arrow felt as if it existed in the past, present, and future.

Only an arrow of time could pierce into the Void.

Then, without hesitation, he fired at his target!

A SOLAR STAR WITHIN THE VOID!!

When he released his arrow, he slowly took a breath and repeated the motion, preparing another arrow.

"Eight more to go..."

Stars scattered in the Void existed in multiple layers of space and time, and he was shooting them down!

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