To those around the boy, despite widening the distance between them the best they could before the abilities of that human kid froze them in place, the pressure on their souls was unbearable to the degree where they felt like their souls might just burst if things kept going like this for much longer!
While being in that helpless state, getting covered by that wild and primal-aura made them, especially the unexperienced juniors among the elves, feel like death isn't too far and it wouldn't take that long for it to reach them.
However, right when despair was playing mind games on the weak-minded individuals.
The soul-pressure was gone, the primal-aura also suddenly vanished.
Before any of the elves could rejoice or relish the feeling of being free, the silhouette of a man appeared above the human boy.
Lin was holding the platform with three hands then raised his remaining three hands towards first-light, according to the observers... the boy seemed like he was completely unaware of the person hovering above his head during that moment.
The great-sage himself said : "Had I noticed that fellow? Then... I absolutely wouldn't have tried it at all. Of course! However, all that happened anyway. So... delving too much into the past wouldn't help me any."
*****
Lin held both objects on eye-level and began to slowly push them towards one another, doing that simple action was a great struggle for some reason.
A bit earlier the kid decided to throw all caution to the wind and risk it all when his ability of paragon-will refused to follow his commands, the same went for the other ability that made his physique change so suddenly!
Unlike the ability of paragon-will which required him to fuse soul-force into the already perfectly-fused qi-vitality and weapon-intent, then... that new technique required him to discard soul-force from the equation and exchange it with his light-energy.
However, when the boy tossed the dice he didn't discard soul-force... he attempted to fuse all four different systems of cultivation into one.
During the gate-trial in mercenary-city he experienced it with his own body, so he could say that he does have a faint idea of how it should be.
The great-sage immediately sensed the difference once he attempted it, pushing the platform and first-light towards one another became much easier for some reason.
*****
The elves were startled by the sudden appearance of that human silhouette, especially the seniors.
Having some stranger enter their eternal-forest and appear so close to the sacred-area with unknown methods and unknown intentions, caused alarm bells to ring within their minds.
The curiosity of the juniors towards the identity of that man was a lot more compared to their seniors, the tension in their hearts however... was a lot less.
That mysterious person could be clearly seem by everyone, except for his head... that area of his body was blurry and vague to all who looked at it.
All those who attempted to force their keen and sharp sight among the elves to look at that man's face were struck by a head-splitting pain before fainting while foaming at the mouth!
Judging by the attire of that mysterious individual, someone like him could be mistaken for a harmless scholar.
However, when the boy discovered the trick to bring both objects together, that person suddenly acted once the platform and first-light touched one another.
*****
"Hmmm..." Lin suddenly felt unease and immediately looked up, he gawked when he saw the silhouette of that person hovering a few tens of meters above him.
Before the boy got any chance to think of anything to say or do, he saw that mysterious scholar press his palm towards him from above.
An intricately-complicated spirit-formation formed below his hand, once again before the great-sage got any chance to understand which of the colorful elements was which and where it went through the twisting lines of that formation and which node it positioned itself... that spirit-formation instantly shrunk into the shape of some ancient-looking rune!
That ancient-rune had a unique form of beauty and captivating charm to it, as if it was personally made by a single stroke by that scholar.
Yet what confused Lin the most was how it seemed vague and blurry, like it doesn't exist at all.
The situation remained the same until the palm of that scholar touched that ancient-rune.
As if being decreed by a heavenly-immortal from above, that ancient-rune was "somehow" passed into this spirit-world.
Just the aura being sensed from that ancient-rune was enough for those left awake and experiencing it happen to understand why it's here.
It's here to demolish that platform, it's here to destroy that golden bracelet, it's here to annihilate the boy for even trying to fusing them!
"That's!..." The great-sage suddenly uttered these words when he sensed "something" being awakened within his body.
*****
Right when the great-sage seemed like he's toast to these elves, a grey cloud exploded from the platform in his hands followed by a deafening buzz.
They all saw a miniature-formation activate on the area of his right chest before some sort of object in the uncommon shape of a ship exited the formation, that ship swiftly rode the waves on that grey cloud and positioned itself above Lin's head to block that ancient-rune!
'Is that the materialized-form of his intent? What an unusual shape that is.' Kamen'dir thought to himself while expectantly waiting for the clash to happen.
*****
'The ark of salvation reacted on its own and freed itself from the restrictions of the formation, would it be able to stop that rune?' Lin thought while focusing the most on pushing that platform into first-light, somehow he intuitively felt that all of this would end if these two fused.
Yet, the boy was quickly struck with disappointment when all that ark could achieve was to slightly delay that ancient-rune before getting fragmented into tiny pieces after a muffled explosion that caused countless cracks to appear on the spirit-formation being fortified by dao-tier spirit-energy from three sovereigns!
However, the suicidal-defense by the ark that willingly sacrificed itself didn’t go without return.
The great-sage immediately sensed it clear as day when that ancient-rune lost about half of its lustrous-glow after its previous clash with the ark, fusing the platform with first-light became twice as easy compared to before.
‘I guess that’s why bringing these two together felt like pushing two planets close to one another huh.’ Lin thought when he noticed how half the platform entered the golden bracelet without suffering from any sort of repulsive-force.
*****
"H-how?..." One of the elves fortifying the spirit-formation gawked from shock and fear while muttering this word.
"What in the holy-tree is that rune?" Another one said while feeling troubled by emotions of desire and greed when she looked at the ancient-rune.
Kamen'dir : "Doesn't matter what it is, right now we should be focusing all of our power on the spirit-formation."
Another elf from the ones who's been passively watching everything so far said : "Don't forget that this place is already very close to the sacred-area."
"Yeah. Looks like we have got to get involved in this matter after all." Another seemed annoyed with the prospect of doing anything in this situation.
"Forget all about your worries about Karma, the brat has been hiding every single one of his Karma-strings since he exited the sacred-area." Another one seemed annoyed at the lazy one among them.
"I wonder if he's doing so himself!" Another voiced his thought about the matter.
"Humph. Certainly not, must be the doing of that old fox Mu Jianhong." Another elf was shacking his head while denying the idea of a junior being able to hide his Karma-strings from their eyes.
"Leave these for later, that rune is about to clash with that grey cloud. Stay on your toes now, our juniors and the sacred-area might receive harm otherwise." A slightly more authoritative voice warned the elves.
*****
The ancient-rune fell without delay towards Lin after overcoming the blockade of the ark, next line of defense in front of it was that cloud of disintegration shock-waves who fought bravely and managed to delay the ancient-rune and stop it from reaching its target.
Yet, despite all the struggle, tossing, and turning against the ancient-rune... that grey cloud of disintegration shock-waves barely managed to chip-at another half of the ancient-rune's lustrous-glow before following the example of the ark.
Seeing disintegration shock-waves being so easily scattered into nothing as if they're nothing more than a puff of smoke made the boy feel hints of timidity, wariness, and fear attempting to creep into his thoughts.
The spirit-formation which nine senior elves were trying to reinforce with their dao-tier spirit-energy was showing signs of recovery when the cracks all-over it began to mend at a quick-rate noticeable to the naked eye, was combusted into colorful-fragments instantly when the clash happened!
All these elves could see was these colorful-fragments fading like embers becoming cinders before vanishing into thin-air.
*****
While the humanoid-fairy was deep in her thoughts about whether or not the boy has noticed the current state of her main-body, she sensed disturbance nearby and looked towards the source before disappearing into the ground after her foot landed on the Begonia flower beneath her bare foot.
The speed which this pixie could travel within that complex network of roots is... nothing short of teleportation!
Once the petals of the Begonia flower bloomed, Fiend-Root saw that ancient-rune falling on the three-headed and six-armed man without any sort of defenses or blockade standing between these two.
The humanoid-fairy frowned deeply when she saw the boy's dangerous situation and sighed inwardly because nobody can help him once he attempts to fuse these four systems together and thought to herself : 'Damn you Fiend-Blood, you could've at least given the kid some vague hints about what's going to happen. After seeing what happened when I exposed the boy to my death-dao... he's certainly going to embrace death without daring to ask for help from Kai.'
Seeing the nine senior elves about to form another spirit-formation around the boy, the pixie who's already feeling annoyed after knowing that Lin currently have extremely low chances of transcending this unique-tribulation on his own suddenly said : "All of you leave." Before using some roots to carry the unconscious elves away to safety.
"Yes. Holy-envoy." Kamen'dir and the eight other elves immediately stopped what they were doing and retreated towards the line of trees away from the sparring-area.
Once their sight got blocked by the thicket of brambles that circled two kilometers around the human kid, those elves had no choice but to climb the trees and watch while standing on the extremely wide branches.
*****
Right now Lin was on the brink of utter despair, why wouldn't he when two of his strongest assets were nothing but "wind" in this case when faced-with this frightening rune!
A natural reaction to protect himself was raise his original two arms to protect his head, that's when he noticed the symbol on the back of his right-hand.
without a shred of hesitation he aimed his forefinger on that ancient-rune and unleashed a ray of light-energy, since his spirit-tank was already low... this attack left his dantian-space completely dry like desert sand at noon.
'Phew... thankfully where wasn't any explosions this time.' The boy thought to himself while preventing himself from screaming at the ancient-rune which seems like it still have more than ten-percent of its energy left after overcoming three different types of defenses.
All he have left right now is some leftover soul-force that wouldn't be of much help in this situation since this ancient-rune doesn't have a soul, and his own physique that wouldn't be of much help either despite being such a freakishly-strong body!
The great-sage doesn't have any other choice right now, all he could do is gamble it all on a final toss of the coin and leave his fate to lady luck to decide.
First he used the soul-ability "soul-lock" on the ancient-rune with all his power without holding back, he didn't carry any emotions of worry for consequences that might follow that reckless behavior.
Second he retrieved that black-steel armor that he received from his master that day when he met that elder in that strange black and white place, Lin willed it to cover all of his body without delay.
Third he took a sideways-stance and faced the ancient-rune with his right-side and used two arms on that side to cover the right-head, thankfully his arms arms resembled a shield when he stacked them on-top of one another!
Two arms from the left-side were used to cover his chest and stomach.
The remaining two arms were holding the platform and desperately pushing it into first-light with all the urgency in the world and hoping that they'd fuse already before he's dead meat.
Right now this feat seems like it's possible when given enough time but, that dreadful rune seems like it's intent on taking his life before it happens.
Fourth he activated his martial-spirit and got embraced by the spirit-wings.
However, the wings on this boy clearly lost a lot of coloring on these feathers.
The pair of violet-gold wings were very faint, the pair of white wings were very pale, the pair of silver wings were almost grey!
Soul-lock really managed to delay the ancient-rune and the boy diligently took advantage of that time to push the platform a little bit more deeper into first-light, he also noticed that his soul-ability weakened the runes by a few digits somehow.
Still, the threat of death was genuinely the same... that ancient-rune having just one-percent of its power seems like it's more than enough to take his poor life.
Especially when he's in this severely dilapidated-state.
Finally the ancient-rune fell on Lin, carrying with it the weight of an entire universe!
His spirit-wings barely got touched by that ancient-rune before they were sent hurling back towards the dantian-space, a reaction that saved these six wings from the fate of getting almost every single feather plucked-away.
The good news were how that fleeting-encounter between his martial-spirit and the ancient-rune resulted in a couple more digits being chipped-away.
When that ancient-rune touched the dark-steel armor covering the pair of arms protecting the boy's right-head, all he got to hear was a sizzling noise before it melted then his nose picked the coppery-smell of blood.
apparently all the skin, muscles, and tendons on his right-side were shredded into a tangled-mess of blood and gore in a split-second before his sturdy bones began to follow their example... crack after crack appeared before they began to fall in fragments.
Yet despite all that was happening to his body, the great-sage wasn't lamenting his fate.
He used one of his arms that he dedicated to protecting his chest and continued to push the platform into the golden-bracelet, simply because he's confident that he's certain to die if that didn't happen.
Despite there being just a small section of the platform remaining outside first-light, things are still looking grim for Lin.
Simply because... he doesn't have anything left to throw at this ancient-rune after his three right-arms, right-leg, and right-head were gone.
Except for the remaining left-arm that he was planning to dedicate it to protect his chest!
However, despite using it to push at the ancient-rune.
Once the majority of the upper-arm on that left-arm was gone... the ancient-rune finally was uninterrupted when it pushed on the boy's ribcage from his right-side without a shred of delay.
Like a machine designed to reap lives, that ancient-rune went for the kill.
Once the ribcage on his right was conquered, the great-sage was mentally preparing himself to meet his end.
The rate at which his hands are pushing the platform into first-light has increased by a lot after this ancient-rune lost all that energy, that's true but... it seems like that rune still have about three-percent of its power left intact.
Way more that enough to kill him twice over with enough energy to spare!
*Screech...*
The sound of metal grating on metal awoke Lin from his unhealthy daydreams.
Apparently that ancient-rune hit some sort of blockade before it could reach his innards!
The boy immediately remembered the formation connecting his organs in a colorful membrane.
*Crack...*
Right when hope began to ignite within his mutilated chest, the great-sage heard a faint sound that allowed a flood of unease and apprehension to submerge his thoughts.
The most frustrating aspect in this life-ending situation was how this damned ancient-rune doesn't even have more than one-percent of its energy left, yet that measly one-percent feels like an endlessly-deep, an immensely-wide and vast chasm that's impossible to cross!
'Man... that black-steel armor was so useless, I really do wonder if it things would've gone any different without me having to waste some of my precious time wearing it. Damn it... I was so close... I was so close for fuck sake!' Lin thought to himself while watching that ancient-rune finally pass the colorful-formation that protects his innards.
The remaining part of the platform currently outside first-light is like an inch or so but it would take him a few seconds to push it completely inside, his organs and the head in the center would be long gone by then.
*Sieve sands of worry, calm my soul away*
*Mend wounds of time, unbind space... let it go free*
*Push seeds into darkness, hide this hope... cover it with my soil*
*Guide my sprout into light, shower it with love and pray... may it never spoil*
*Only for the dao, only for the dao, only for the dao... that's why we toil*
Lin, the elves, and everyone around the four branches of mercenary-guild could hear these words.
Amazingly enough, these words managed to delay the ancient-rune until the boy finally managed to shove the platform completely into first-light!
Once it happened, that ancient-rune seemed like it lost the remaining one-percent of its energy and began to show signs of disappearing from this world as if it never existed to begin with.
Kai : "Don't you dare let that decree escape!"
Fiend-Root : "Take that rune into your tool before it disappears, quickly now."
Just when the great-sage was about to relax his tense nerves and surrender himself willingly to the sweet embrace of dark unconsciousness, he heard two different voices ringing like morning bells within his head... urging him with commanding-anxiousness.
All the first one did was confuse Lin, but thankfully the pixie's sweet voice scattered his confusion.
The boy used the remaining energy in his body to smash the golden bracelet into the ancient-rune, since it's stuck pretty deep into his right-side... apparently the great-sage used a bit too much force and aggravated his own wounds!
*Gasp...*
"Tsk..."
All he got to hear before loosing all of his senses was the humanoid-fairy gasping from shock followed by the awakened-soul of the ring of origin clicking his tongue... seemingly amused and approving what he got to see so far.
*****
"Kya!..."
Lin suddenly jumped from underneath the warm covers, stark nude and completely drenched in his own sweat from head to toe.
Shivering and shaking all-over while his breathing was extremely rugged and disorderly after experiencing the nightmare of being locked in a cage with that scholar!
The boy never felt this crippling danger from anyone other than Kai before his encounter with that silhouette.
Yet somehow he's certain that scholar is a bit stronger than the talking-raccoon.
'Oh. I just heard someone scream-' Before the great-sage got to look towards the source he felt some soft and silky fabric hit his face before hearing a similar scream saying : "Pervert!"
