by Zhuang Bifan
"That's Osric's soul!" When the offensive spells collided violently with the Domain World, Archbishop Martin and the others finally reacted, and discovered to their absolute horror that the shadow flying out of Osric's body was Osric's soul.
This scared Archbishop Martin and the others as they finally remembered that Osric was a Sanctuary powerhouse whom no ordinary people could contend with. Sanctuary powerhouses were already existences that were nearly godly. Even if his body was decayed, his soul would still be almost indestructible, and the strength it possessed would not be weakened by the loss of his physical body.
The battle just now had proved how terrifying a powerhouse that was at the peak of the Sanctuary-realm was. The members of the expedition team were practically useless in front of Osric. Even Lin Li, who was also in the Sanctuary-realm, had no means to retaliate. Now that Osric's soul had emerged with just as much power, it was obvious what their outcome would be!
However, Lin Li was not the least bit surprised that Osric's soul had appeared. In fact, he even expected it, simply because Osric's soul was not perfectly fused with his new perfect body. When Osric's soul and the perfect body did not fuse seamlessly, it would be akin to the relationship between a metallurgist and the Alchemy Colossus he controlled. If anything went wrong with the Alchemy Colossus, he would be able to escape in time. On the other hand, if they fused perfectly, it would definitely be difficult to separate them.
Of course, the lack of a perfect fusion between Osric's soul and his body was one of the main reasons why Lin Li could get his trap to work. If Osric had achieved perfect fusion, Lin Li would not have been able to plot against him successfully with that magical crystal. Given Osric's realm and abilities, he might've really broken free from the influence of the bizarre magical crystal.
Hence, nothing in the world was perfect, and one could never get the best of both worlds. Win some, lose some. Lin Li had long been prepared for the situation that they were facing now. At least Osric's strength would definitely be affected greatly after losing his body.
"Damn it, you all deserve to die!" Osric had never been so enraged before. Even when he parted ways with the Immortal King, and knew that the High Elves had already fallen, he was never this infuriated.
Just like the Immortal King, glorious and dignified Highlord Osric was a mythical figure. Yet, he actually lost his new body after being plotted against by a junior. It was a huge insult and humiliation to him. In particular, this proved that all his previous plans had been seen through by Lin Li, and he had been plotted against several times before.
Chapter 1001 - Mana Erosion
After launching a wave of offensive spells to vent his anger, Osric opened his own Domain World and suppressed Lin Li's Domain World mercilessly. In the previous battle, Osric couldn't be bothered to display his Domain World. If the previous battle was just a teaser, the battle now was truly a true-blue fight for life.
In Osric's Domain World, a prosperous world that was under the rule of the High Elves was displayed, just like Anril during the Dark Age, which was recorded in history. In this Domain World, the World Tree covered more than half of the world, and a large number of High Elves could be seen in the canopy of the tree, continuously attacking Lin Li.
Even though it was just a spiritual existence, Osric's Domain World was much bigger and stronger than Lin Li's desolate Domain World. Under the pressure of Osric's Domain World, Lin Li's one world seemed to be facing doomsday as various spatial rifts appeared amidst the constant tremors. The light of the debris of the stars shone through the rifts, looking as if they would break free at any moment.
Fortunately, Osric clearly had not obtained the true essence of the Domain World yet, and thus it couldn't be compared to the Immortal King's Domain World. The Immortal King's Domain World was already a real and existing one which could coexist with and be parallel to Anril. Just like the worlds that Lin Li had walked through in the past, including Alanna from 1,300 years ago and the Undead World from the resurrected Tree of Eternity, it would be able to continue existing even after the departure of the Immortal King. In fact, it would even continuously evolve and survive on its own.
Osric's Domain World clearly had not reached the level of the Immortal King's yet, which was the reason that Lin Li's Domain World could survive by a small margin. Although the seven pieces of the debris of the stars continuously flashed and appeared in the rifts, they did not get shaken out under Lin Li's control. Hence, the Domain World did not collapse under pressure.
At this moment, everyone in the expedition team had already been integrated into Lin Li's Domain World by Lin Li. Hence, no one was idling about at all at this moment. Instead, they were continuously trying their best to resist the attacks coming from Osric's Domain World. Deep down, they were well aware that that was all they could exhibit in a battle of this level. If they still did not put up a fight now, they would no longer have the chance to do so in the future.
The people in the expedition team felt like they were experiencing a war at the end of the Dark Age because they were facing enemies like the High Elves in Osric's Domain World, whose countless High Elves were continuously attacking Lin Li's Domain World. Although the strength of each and every one of the members of the expedition team had been greatly improved, they were still weak and helpless in the face of the High Elves that were pouring in endlessly. They were like a tiny boat that would face the danger of capsizing at any moment.
Lin Li did not defend himself passively, and even though it seemed that he had been suppressed, he did not give up on finding a chance to retaliate. Although Osric was still extremely powerful now, the loss of his body had still impacted him greatly.
In particular, Osric had gone through a body fusion once, which caused plenty of his soul power to deplete. With the influence of the magical crystal, his strength was probably only at level-27 now. Although there was only a difference of one level between level-26 and level-27, the two were actually worlds apart. However, the debris of the stars that Lin Li had was already in its complete form, and could truly exert combat power that ordinary level-26 Sanctuary powerhouses could not compare to.
Osric was obviously completely enraged, especially when he saw that the insignificant minions of the expedition had actually joined the battle against him. The anger within him could not be suppressed at all.
"You're a bunch of minions, how dare you intervene? Die!" With a loud roar of anger, Osric extended his arms, and a giant hand that was condensed by mana immediately broke through Lin Li's Domain World and grabbed the people of the expedition.
The giant hand of mana almost covered the sky of the entire Domain World, and seemed to emit infinite pressure. Before it even landed, it made the members of the expedition feel extremely hopeless. To them, it was simply a punishment from the gods who seemed to want to destroy them and the world together.
Although Lin Li could leave the members of the Brilliance Shrine's and Rotterdam Kingdom's teams in the lurch, he could not abandon the elites of the Tower of Dusk from his team. He immediately waved his hand, and seven dazzling rays of light immediately emerged from the Domain World, forming a large colorful storm below the mana hand.
BOOM!
The giant mana hand collided with the colorful storm forcefully, causing the entire Domain World to shake violently as well. Thunderous sounds came with the appearance of the rifts in the space, and the sky and earth were continuously shattering amidst the tremors. The members of the expedition below the storm were also shaking violently, and were unable to stabilize themselves. They fell onto the ground in a messy manner.
On the other hand, the giant mana hand that had collided with the colorful storm did not disperse separately, but instead reached a stalemate with it. The colorful storm was continuously revolving around the hand like a grinding wheel, wearing it down and making ear-piercing sounds of metal being rubbed against stone. When the members of the expedition heard those sounds, they found them extremely deafening, and it was as if their
heads were about to burst because of the noise.
If it had been in the past when Lin Li had not obtained the other half of the debris of the stars from the Well of the Sun, the colorful storm formed by the power of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars probably would have been slapped away and dispersed by the giant mana hand. However, Lin Li was now holding complete pieces of debris of the stars, and he also simultaneously obtained more experience in using the debris of the stars from the Immortal King's incarnation. His combat power had increased by more than a few dozen times.
Lin Li continuously triggered the release of the power of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, and dazzling rays of light were fused into the colorful storm. Despite being under the pressure of the mana hand, the colorful storm did not decline at all, and instead grew even stronger. As the colorful storm revolved continuously and wore Osric's mana hand down, the hand seemed to have almost become illusory.
"You've obtained what he wanted. Indeed, he's left everything for himself!" Although he had long seen Lin Li using the debris of the stars, Osric got even more infuriated when he truly felt its power.
Osric had used the debris of the stars before. Back in the mausoleum, his perfect body used the debris of the stars, Nothingness. However, a powerhouse like Osric who was at the peak of the Sanctuary-realm did not take the power of the incomplete debris of the stars seriously.
However, through the collision between the giant mana hand and the colorful storm now, Osric was immediately certain that the power of the debris of the stars in Lin Li's hand was far from comparable to the power contained in the debris of the stars that he had used. If Osric still could not guess anything from the changes, he wouldn't deserve to be called a mythical figure second only to the Immortal King.
As the Immortal King's favorite disciple, Osric had always thought that he would have a share of his teacher's legacy, be it the Sky Castle or the debris of the stars. However, the reality was that the Immortal King not only did not leave the Sky Castle to him, he had also given the debris of the stars to someone else, which was unacceptable to him.
However, Lin Li was baffled by Osric's angry words. Clearly, Lin Li had obtained the debris of the stars himself, but Osric seemed to have said that the Immortal King had left everything for himself, including the debris of the stars and more. When Osric snatched the magical crystal, he seemed to have said the same thing.
Lin Li knew since long ago that he seemed to be very similar to the Immortal King in terms of appearance, and there had been many people who mistook him for the Immortal King in the past too. However, Osric was the Immortal King's disciple who had followed the Immortal King for countless years, so how could he be mistaken for someone just because of his appearance?
Through the conversation he had with the Immortal King's Soul Imprint in the Well of the Sun, Lin Li could vaguely feel that his arrival in Anril seemed to have something to do with the Immortal King. However, Lin Li definitely did not think that his physical existence and the Immortal King would have anything to do with each other.
However, facing the furious Osric, Lin Li knew that he couldn't ask anything, and was too weak to do so anyway. At any rate, the Immortal King's Soul Imprint had already mentioned that it was possible to get all the answers by going to the place where the Well of the Sun was supposed to be, which was the same place that the Tree of Eternity had fallen.
For Lin Li, the most important thing now was how to defeat Osric and finally gain control of the entire Sky Castle. Even though Osric had lost his body, souls of Sanctuary powerhouses were almost indestructible. Lin Li could probably only truly destroy Osric's soul when he reached the Immortal King's strength.
However, with Lin Li's current strength, it was almost impossible to destroy Osric's soul even if he had the help of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars.
In the blink of an eye, Osric's mana hand that had invaded Lin Li's Domain World vanished under the colorful storm. However, that did not mean that Lin Li had obtained victory. The mana hand contained Osric's spiritual imprint, and even after being reduced to mana, it still existed independently in Lin Li's Domain World, destroying the entire structure of the Domain World like a virus.
In the face of the penetrative and pervasive erosion of mana, Lin Li had no choice but to summon the power of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, after which numerous rays of light swept through the sky and the ground.
Chapter 1002 - Successful Control
It was a contest on a whole other level where strength had become secondary, and what mattered the most was each party's experience. Even though it did not seem too intense on the surface, it was just as thrilling as a toe-to-toe battle.
Osric's experience was definitely rich and incomparable to ordinary people's, as he had killed plenty of powerhouses.
However, Lin Li was not that inferior to him. Although he had only been in this world for a few years, and had not experienced many actual battles, he had other ways to gain experience.
The Dragon Crystal of the Dragon of Destruction, Azardas, contained a lifetime of battle experience. Likewise, the magical crystal of the top powerhouse of the Abyss, Balak, also contained lifetime experience of Balak, the ancient deity. Most importantly, the control crystal of the Sky Castle that Lin Li had obtained allowed him to gain a huge amount of knowledge and experience from it even though he did not know the origin of the control crystal.
With such a rich acc.u.mulation of knowledge, there would not be a great gap between them even though Lin Li might not have more experience than Osric.
What really gave Lin Li a headache was the indestructible nature of Osric's soul, which left him with no means to attack. If Lin Li were far stronger than Osric, he could seal Osric's soul. However, the problem now was that Osric was the stronger one, and Lin Li was already having a hard time resisting his attacks. He obviously did not have any remaining power or energy to seal Osric's soul.
"Go to hell. So what if you've obtained those things? I want to let him know that he had made the wrong choice!" Osric's anger was clearly not just directed at Lin Li, but mostly at the Immortal King's unfairness. He roared angrily and erupted with an even greater power.
With this terrifying power, Osric broke straight into Lin Li's Domain World with only one goal, and that was to kill Lin Li. He no longer cared about the control crystal. Those who defied and despised him had to die.
Under the pressure of Osric, Lin Li's Domain World was already swaying. This time, the entire Domain World collapsed, and a massive wound had appeared in the sky. The ground was shaking and collapsing.
Faced with such a sudden change, Lin Li did not panic in the slightest, and suddenly raised his hand to release an emerald-green seed. It was the Seed of Eternity of the Undead World. As the tree fused into the space of the Domain World, a patch of green suddenly appeared on the ground in the center of Lin Li's Domain World. Immediately afterwards, it grew at an extremely fast pace.
In the blink of an eye, a huge tree appeared in the middle of the world, and its roots spread all over the earth, while its canopy seemed to support the sky. It was the legendary Tree of Eternity, but in Lin Li's Domain World, it was just an illusion created by the power of the Tree of Eternity.
However, the power of the Tree of Eternity was extremely massive. Even if it was just a small portion of the power of the Tree of Eternity, it was enough to support Lin Li's Domain World and make it stable. As the Tree of Eternity appeared, the large wounds were healed in a split second, and the entire Domain World immediately became extremely stable.
Under the power of the Tree of Eternity, Osric's mana which had invaded Lin Li's World Domain had its spiritual imprint removed in the blink of an eye. It was then integrated into Lin Li's World Domain, and became the power of the world.
Seeing the change in Lin Li's World Domain, Osric was boiling with fury because he knew that he had fallen into Lin Li's trap again. Under the protection of the Tree of Eternity, Lin L
i's Domain World almost became a real world, unlike the Immortal King's Domain World. It turned into a huge, solid cage for Osric who had broken into it.
However, at this moment, Osric was not fl.u.s.tered at all despite being infuriated. After all, the power of his realm would allow him to break the Tree of Eternity's protection over the Domain World easily. Of course, the easiest method was to kill the creator of the Domain World. As soon as the creator died, the world would vanish.
Hence, when Lin Li's world was still changing, Osric flew straight towards Lin Li without pausing.
However, just as Osric was about to reach Lin Li, Lin Li did not panic. Instead, he smirked mockingly.
Before Osric realized what Lin Li's smirk meant, a huge black hole suddenly appeared in the Domain World. The black hole was right in front of Osric, and a powerful and irresistible attraction emerged from it, pulling Osric into the black hole while he was charging forwards.
"The Abyssal Passage!" Osric felt a familiar aura from the black hole—it was actually from the depths of the Endless Abyss. He immediately stopped and retreated. Although Osric had swept through the Endless Abyss countless times during the Dark Age, he was just a spiritual existence now, and could not quite resist the binding force of the Abyss on his soul. Once he was s.u.c.k.e.d in, it would be difficult for him to get out of it again.
The black hole that led to the Endless Abyss was f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y opened up by Lin Li, who managed to do so by using the impact that the power of the Tree of Eternity had on the World Laws. Besides, that was the only solution that he could come up with to deal with Osric for the time being. An indestructible soul was the most annoying thing to deal with, and once Osric's soul was placed in the Endless Abyss, it would probably be impossible for him to escape in less than 1,000 years.
Lin Li took painstaking efforts to lay such a trap. How could he allow Osric to escape easily? Under his manipulation, the black hole immediately became even larger. It seemed like a monster's mouth that tried to swallow Osric who kept retreating.