Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Yan Zaizen's rage in his heart was beyond the word intense. It was almost overpowering every other sensation in his body. He just wanted to go home! Why does this keep happening?! Yet, Wu Yuanxu had been dealt an extraordinary blow and he was schemed against once more.

When he thought of Wu Yuanxu, his rage couldn't help but turn into sorrow, but then even more rage filled him. He knew Wu Yuanwu was dead. The strike completely blew through his chest and leaving a gaping hole, one without a heart and some other organs. Others may not have seen what happened, but with his spiritual sense, how could he not?

"Senior Uncle Yuan…" The old man was nice to him from the moment he met him, he inducted him into the Anima Syndicate, warned him about the Ying and He Clan, and even operated the spatial platform for him. However, he died!

Why?!

If she wanted to kill him, so be it. But why kill Wu Yuanxu?

He did nothing.

He didn't deserve it.

With gritted teeth, he was shot into some unknown area of complete darkness. There was no light, no stars, no earth, no air, no world essence, and no life. This was chaotic space!

Currently, he could feel it trying to rip him to shreds, sending him throughout all space into tiny bits until his existence was thoroughly wiped out.

Fortunately, his aurora-like soul energy covered his body and resisted the ripping force. However, it was being worn down quickly. It's only been thirty seconds, but it felt like several days. It didn't take long before his soul energy was exhausted, and he could no longer resist the ripping force.

It tore at his body, but his Herculean Physique was not one to be underestimated. Even with it, bits of his flesh was being ripped off his body. His entire existence was being pulled apart as if being shredded from its molecular bond.

"Ahhh!!!" He screamed in agony. The ripping force wasn't limited to just his physical body even his soul form felt it. "I...need...to...survive!" He told himself, he kept on doing so till he lost count. No matter what, he needed to survive. Survive, go home, and get revenge for Wu Yuanxu's death.

Most importantly, he needed to go home.

When he thought of why his desire to return home remained constant, he couldn't help but feel tears well in his eyes. As they did, the tears were ripped apart from all directions into nothingness.

He was seventeen this year. Every month for the past twelve years, he would visit his parents' graves, clean them and tell them about his life, his troubles, his achievements, and his hopes. He had so much to tell now. Before, it was always filled with bad news, but now...he had so much to tell.

So much.

He wondered if the people of his clan were taking care of their graves in his absence. If they kept his mother's favorite flowers watered and left with enough sunlight so they could be as pleasant as the smile he remembered. If his father's favorite wine was poured on his grave so he could tell his drunken jokes to his mother in the afterlife. The things they loved the most, did people give it to them so they can enjoy it? Would they wonder why he's gone? If he's dead...

Would they be worried?

The tears flowed from his eyes like a stream.

He just wanted to tell his parents he was okay. That he was better than okay. That he wasn't talentless, he wasn't destined to be a failure, and that they can rest assured that he'll live a good life. Like they wanted him to.

But what now…

The ripping force had already ripped apart all of his belongings except the Meteor Ring, leaving him completely naked. In foresight of the events, he placed everything he had inside the Meteor Ring of any importance. He could feel every inch of his skin being pulled away in an infinite number of directions. Originally, he tried to use essence liquid or crystals from his ring to recover his strength, but the moment it was taken out, it was ripped apart into nothingness.

A mid-grade essence crystal was gone just like that.

"I can't die...I can't...I can...I" Time slowly passed and it felt like several weeks at this point, but only several minutes had truly passed. It was hard to get one's bearings in chaotic space while being ripped apart from all directions.

His skin was already gone, as well as his hair and bits of his muscular flesh. He was slowly being torn apart into nothing. His consciousness was teetering on collapse. He was lucky that cultivators didn't need air to survive like mortals. Otherwise, he would've suffocated long ago.

A soft white glow appeared from his chest. It danced about softly, emitting faint traces of lifeforce energy, but it was severely tiny. Despite this, it kept dancing, and with every tick of movement, it sent a surge of lifeforce that stabilized Yan Zaizen's remaining life. It was burning his qi to restore his flesh, skin, and strengthening his body. However, the ripping rate was far greater than the restoration.

It kept struggling, but the energy it could feed off became less and less. It started losing its stability, flickering as if about to go out. If one listened to the dancing flame close, they could hear sounds of faint crackling. It was struggling, being unyielding, and never willing to fade! It would protect its life and the life of its owner.

The conceptual law of the Unyielding Flame of Life! This little guy didn't quit. It couldn't.

Time continued to pass by, but the Unyielding Flame of Life kept Yan Zaizen alive. However, at this point, he only had some muscle left. His skin was thoroughly gone, and a faint trace of death surged from his body.

From this faint trace of death, an orb shot out of his chest and circled the flicking white flame like a predator. It didn't do anything for a while, but when the unyielding white flame was about to wince out of existence, it surged with a siphoning suction, absorbing the chaotic space and remnant flame of life. The white flame was sucked into the orb and seemed to have vanished.

Just like how the white flame can consume the energy of its user to produce lifeforce, the black shadow orb can do the inverse - siphoning from external energies to produce death. If one looked closely, the orb of death kept siphoning the chaotic space, permeating an aura of death, but the unyielding flame of life didn't vanish. Due to siphoning the chaotic space, the ripping force on Yan Zaizen was diminished considerably.

Atop its inky black surface, a tiny, almost minuscule, white flame was silently dancing. As the orb continued to siphon the surrounding space to enlarge and enhanced itself, it reached a point where it completely encapsulated Yan Zaizen. However, as the concept derived from Yan Zaizen, it was incapable of affecting him. It then reached a zenith, and the white flame exploded outwards. It grew violently, absorbing the aura of death in the surroundings, and taking its place.

The death energy may have been created by itself but its existence relied on Yan Zaizen, therefore making the death energy a part of Yan Zaizen. The white flame could absorb it due to this, strengthening itself as a result. It was as if Yan Zaizen was the inky black wood.

The orb of death shrunk while the white flame grew. The white flame replaced the black shadow surrounding Yan Zaizen. A surge of lifeforce energy integrated itself into his body. It was truly similar to the concept prevalent in the inky black wood. The aura of death would siphon the flame's strength, reaching the zenith, and then the white flame would absorb it in return. However, the white flame couldn't thoroughly consume the aura of death either, creating a strange equilibrium that protected Yan Zaizen thoroughly.

Yan Zaizen's physical body restored at a visible rate. His hair grew back, his skin returned, and his musculature which was thinned to almost nothingness restored itself. It hadn't taken long before he regained consciousness and saw himself surrounded by a large white flame.

He looked at his healing palms that seemed to be surrounded by flames, "Flame of Life?!"