Dual Cultivation God Returns

The complete control of the perimeter was established after another week.

The long walls stretched out and partitioned the advance of the ants into long winding channels.

Coupled with stink pills covered areas, this allowed for a smooth rotation of troops, with plenty of time to rest, as well as for less experienced and lower cultivation Sect members to gain experience in the rear lines of defense.

The response to the 5th-tier Profound Grade ant was also tested.

Though now it was impossible for the members of the Sect to do it. That which detected the ant and launched the stink pills, was the Grand Formation.

Even though it was detected early, it managed to approach quite closely to the defensive lines before being neutralized by stink pills.

The formation also used several stink pills to cover an entire area, instead of a targeted shot toward a specific specimen.

However, the result was still satisfactory. The threat was neutralized, and this was enough for the ant to become vulnerable for an attack of the Grand Formation, which, at this moment was still not ready.

Meanwhile, the World around them continued to come alive.

It wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but it still could be felt.

An inexplicable feeling, fleeting and hard to notice, except for the fact that winds were now becoming more and more frequent.

The grayish color of the surrounding world, however, did not change, and was not likely to.

The ants still occupied all of the Spiritual Lands and continued to drain the Spiritual Qi, in order for the Queen to produce more ants to attack and reach the only place which offered true abundance, the World Stone leading to the Soft Meadow Continent.

The change that was happening now was just the part of the natural current of Spiritual Qi, which was not enough to completely overturn the devastation which was inflicted.

Perhaps the only visible indications, that something indeed was changing, were the wind, and the rare cloud in the skies.

The deadly, still air of this ash desert was now disturbed by occasional gusts of wind, that swept the dust kicked up by the ants.

This scenery, earned this stronghold the namesake “Desolate Fortress”.

A more reliable measure of the World’s revival, was the gradual appearance of ambient Spiritual Qi in the air, and the fact that the Grand Formation began to use less energy from the Spiritual Stones they brought with them, and become more reliant on the Spiritual Qi from the surroundings.

As they waited for the Grand Formation to become fully operational, Wu Long noticed the 5th-tier Profound Grade ant which was disoriented by stink pills periodically shot toward it, stumbling around without aim, got dangerously close to the fortress by coincidence, risking to cause damage.

“I guess, it is a good opportunity”, he nodded, thinking he also needed to test a few things.

The gusts of wind rose all around the fortress, carrying the dust, and gradually turning into duststorm.

At the same time, clouds also began forming in the sky, rapidly expanding and becoming darker, heavier, until they formed heavy thunderclouds, bolts of lightning flashing in between them.

Wu Long stepped off the ledge of the fortress, and using the outer wall as a platform, shot out in the direction of the ant.

Powerful winds swirled around him, and arcs of lightning flashed on his skin, light of thunder appearing in his eyes.

‘Sustained-Charge Lightning… let’s see how far can I push it…’, he narrowed his eyes in anticipation, as the Sustained-Charge Lightning began coursing through his network of cores within the blood vessels, while his normal lightning began concentrating on the outside, above his skin, as if turning into a streak of lightning himself.

The flash of lightning surrounded by torrential winds and now droplets of water, as rain began pouring down, along with raging thunderstorm in the skies, reached the ant, and disappeared toward the horizon.

“Is he…?”, Feng Yi widened her eyes, seeing that he wasn’t cutting down the ant here but, smashing into it like a battering ram, carried it away with him, although, by the time she spoke, he was already beyond their field of vision.

“Yes, he plans to fight it without the stink pill’s effect”, Madam Liang chuckled, shaking her head, as she drew on her smoking pipe, “He really didn’t change at all…”

“Ah, Darling…”, Hong Ye’s eyes lit up with crimson light of light arousal, as she looked toward the horizon, her cheeks becoming a bit rosy, as Hone Yue shook her head at this reaction, though her eyes were also locked in the direction Wu Long disappeared into with the ant.

“You don’t have to look so worried, it is Wu Long we’re talking about”, Luo Mingyu smiled, seeing that some of the ladies, like Gong Liwei and Song Lingfei had concerned looks in their eyes, “If he wasn’t sure he could handle it, he wouldn’t do it, and if he sensed it was going bad, he’d use the stink pill or retreat”

“I just can’t get used to how he does these daredevil acts without a moment of pause”, Song Lingfei sighed with a wry smile.

—

A massive cloud of ashen dust rose into the air, as the ant was unceremoniously thrown after being rammed through miles and miles of desolate desert at insane speeds.

There was, however, no damage to it.

“Heh, sturdy… that’s more like it!”, Wu Long, appearing amid a flash of lightning, covered in arcs of light, with wind swirling around him, and the thunderstorm that rapidly spread above his head, floated in the air like the incarnation of the force of nature.

His excitement rose when he tested the durability of his opponent, since he long since needed a target with no urgency to defeat, but that had the toughness to withstand substantial abuse.

It was the perfect punching bag, he just had to be careful to avoid its weak spots.

The ant, still slightly disoriented by the lingering effects of the stink pill, and the sudden rough treatment, stumbled up.

As he waited for it to fully recover and the stink pill effect to completely wear off, Wu Long took a bit of time to assess the first yields.

He sustained a bit of internal damage, since it was the first time he fully used the new Sustained-Charge Lightning with the sufficient output to match what he used with normal lightning, causing some mildly painful lessons, and requiring some adjustments he made on the spot.

The results, however, exceeded his expectations, as that same output, gave him a lot more speed than the normal lightning.

Partially, due to a much smaller charge of normal lightning he could now spare to spread atop his skin, but also partially due to the specifics of the Sustained-Charge Lightning.

But the biggest, and most important factor, was Spiritual Qi consumption.

‘Perfect…’, a smile appeared on his lips, as he confirmed that, unlike before, now he could sustain this speed almost indefinitely, as long as he paced his consumption of Spiritual Qi on attacks and other uses.

The Sky Piercer appeared in his hand, the arches of lightning around his hand stretching to run around the spear.

The ant stopped aimless movements distinctive to disorientation, seemingly finally sensing Wu Long’s presence, and slowly turning its hexagon-netted eyes to him, as its antennae moved.

The surroundings were dark, as the torrential rain poured from the heavy black clouds, with occasional flashes of lightning, that sparkled on the slick, wet exoskeleton of the ant.

This relative stillness lasted for a few moments, a few flashes of lightning in the background, and then, both the large, 3-meter high ant and the man covered in arcs of lightning disappeared with a giant explosive sound, a shockwave sending away the raindrops.

Wu Long’s figure was flung back, with the ant in fast pursuit.

“Like hitting a fast-moving solid rock mountain as a mortal…”, Wu Long noted, feeling the numb sensation in his arm from the impact that sent him flying.

The ant was also, significantly faster than him. And that too, at a much lower speed than it would normally be capable of.

Wu Long was aided by the fact the ant did not have an adequate footing, its sharp legs sinking deep into the dust-like ground.

That lowered speed, however, was more than enough to give it a massive advantage when it approached him, its powerful mandibles going in for a “bite”, which would split a person caught in its clutches in half.

His spear struck one of the mandibles, using the impact to launch himself back, avoiding this strike. This, however, did not even slow down the ant which made repeated attacks that he evaded using the same method.

‘Let’s see how far I can go…’, Wu Long started raising the output of the Sustained-Charge Lightning, something he couldn’t previously do considering Spiritual Qi consumption.

Gradually, his speed began climbing to a new height, as evading each attack became easier, until he eventually was able to maneuver to the side, as the ant passed, stopping and turning with a bit of difficulty.

‘This seems to be the current limit… my body won’t handle more…’, Wu Long concluded after roughly reaching the ant’s limited speed, though still slightly slower.

This, however, was enough to fight it.

A series of continued shockwaves followed as the two clashed.

Wu Long still lost out in brute force, also limited by the footing, but the close enough speed allowed him to exchange blows and retreat to the sides, not allowing the ant to keep forward momentum and forcing it to constantly turn, and thus not being able to compound its brute force with its speed, or force him on the constant defensive like at the start.

There was not even a scratch on its exoskeleton, much less its mandibles, even though Wu Long managed to overtake the initiative, and began initiating more and more attacks, not head on but from the side of its head, diagonally, never allowing it to fully face him.

Attacks also fell onto the blade-shaped lower parts of the ant’s legs, and the side of its thorax, the hardest part apart from the mandibles.

His spear disappeared, exchanged for the Blood Drinker, which he took with both hands for the first time.

The following brutal attacks sent far more violent and powerful shockwaves in all directions, managing to slightly shake the ant, as it was now pushed, instead of taking it without even being forced to move.

“Now, let’s try it out”, Wu Long muttered, satisfied with the results.

The attacks he made, tested out both the sturdiness of the ant’s different parts, but at the same time, he tested his weapon choice, in order to determine which would most likely endure his experiment.

His hands holding the Blood Drinker began vibrating, gaining a very subtle blur around them. The blade of the saber, naturally followed, emitting a low humming sound.

“Let’s see…”, he moved for another strike, a strange, slightly screeching sound resounding at the moment of the strike, as if the ant’s armor was sawed at, instead of hacked at.

“More”, the speed of vibrations increased, without increasing the width of movement, as Wu Long made another attack, and another.

The power with which he struck slightly diminished as it was harder to transfer concentrated force, some of it dispersed in the vibrations.

But he still wanted to test further, increasing the frequency of the vibration more and more.

The blade, which was naturally crimson red, began heating up without changing its color.

But at a certain point, it reached a glowing temperature, especially at the edge, in the parts which touched the ant’s armor, as intense heat began spreading from it, the droplets of rain could no longer reach it because they were spread too far by the constant shockwaves, but any remaining water on the ant’s shell and Wu Long, as well as what previously seeped into the ground around them, started turning to steam.

‘… this is…’, as he witnessed this, Wu Long’s eyes slightly widened, his mind stirred.

He didn’t lose any composure in the fight, still continuing to battle the ant, but part of his mind was full of thoughts.

“Hmm…”, he muttered, with curiosity lighting up in his eyes.

His left hand left the handle of the saber.

Another one, far inferior, but the sturdiest one he had after the Blood Drinker, and kept just in case in his Spatial Ring, appeared in it.

After some time, he was able to achieve the same effect with it, confirming it wasn’t the effect gained from the metal of the Blood Drinker.

He now struck the ant while wielding two glowing sabers, vibrating both of them, lessening the power of each strike, exchanging it for an increase in the speed of each attack, as well as doubling the number of swings he made.

The nameless, poor quality saber in his left hand started showing signs of damage after reaching a certain threshold of vibration frequency.

After a momentary thought, he stopped vibrating it, cooling it down, fist naturally, and then speeding up the process a little with the Cold Rune, and after it normalized, instead, started to send a large current of lightning through it.

This gave a predictable result of heating up the entire saber, the heat more evenly distributed.

As he examined, and compared the two phenomena, the Blood Drinker’s vibrating blade began making small cuts into the ant’s armor, unlike the other blade, which reached nearly the same temperature, but was only leaving dark marks from temperature. Chapter provided via M|V|L@EMPYR.

He did not care about the damage at this point though, focused on comparing the blazing, glowing sabers in both hands.

And then he felt it, the already familiar sensation, which surprised him, and then caused him to chuckle, and then lightly laugh.

“And here I was wondering…”, he spoke with a slightly wry tone of voice, both amused and to an extent annoyed, “…to think this was the secret…”

The Rune, he perceived, was one which he already had within him, but only now, he could feel it. The Rune of Heat. Yet the feeling he always got when gaining a new Rune did not pass.

And then, a bright light flashed deep in his eyes, and the world flashed ablaze as flames spread like two giant wings behind him, and then losing that form, turned into a shroud of burning fire that surrounded a large area around, as he finally obtained his fourth Five Elements Rune, the Fire Rune.

The ant grew visibly agitated, as the temperatures around started climbing higher and higher, the area around them turning into a sea of fire.

“I guess, I have to thank you…”, Wu Long spoke, since he never expected such gains from this battle, on top of testing out his ideas, “And at the same time, I am a bit preoccupied at the moment, so I will be finishing this”

His gaze grew sharper, and a sphere of discoloration spread around him, the flames, burning bright with red, orange and yellow, turning black and white, as the ant stopped dead in its tracks, pinned to the spot by a dreadful, overpowering pressure.

The Blood Drinker moved, and arcs of Saber Qi went forth, forcibly sucking in all of the wind and fire around, cutting down the ant’s weak spots in the neck and connecting the thorax and abdomen, leaving cuts glowing with heat, and burning.

The discoloration disappeared, leaving behind a slight afterglow, as if there was still a film left behind, which faded away incredibly slowly, as if clinging to the world.

Wu Long exhaled with audible exhaustion, as this use of Saber Domain was touching upon the very upper limit of what he currently could manifest, and placed serious burden on him, both physically and mentally.

However, a smile didn’t leave his face, as he was in an incredibly good mood.

“Heh, what a bonus…”, he chuckled, and stashing away both the corpse of the ant, and his weapons, leisurely turned on the spot in the direction of the Desolate Fortress, whistling an upbeat tune, and disappearing in a flash of lightning, leaving an area burnt by flames, lightning, and soaked by the rain, as well as the still raging thunderstorm.

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