Saarken felt as if his body had sunk into a sea of lted lead.
Every movent beca heavy.
It was like drowning thousands of ters under the surface, where pressure crushed bone and thought alike. Space itself pressed against him from all sides. His limbs felt slow, his joints stiff, and even breathing took effort.
These were 3rd Order spatial restrictions. Invisible, cold, and rciless.
Saarken tried to gather his Spirit essence and cast a Spirit spell. The essence moved, but sluggishly. The spell formation collapsed halfway, crushed by the pressure around him.
He tried again.
Failure.
His face darkened with anger.
Not far away, Aksai floated calmly inside the cube-shaped space. He let out a slow breath and finally allowed himself a short break. He took out a recovery potion and drank it without hurry.
Warm Spirit essence flowed through his veins as the potion took effect.
Maintaining the cube drained his reserves every second. He knew this clearly. That was why he needed this mont.
Saarken saw this. And it enraged him. To be treated so casually while trapped. His eyes burned as he stared at Aksai.
"You will pay for underestimating , you vermin," Saarken said through clenched teeth. "Do you think only you have trump cards?"
He reached into his storage ring. A piece of armor appeared in his hands.
It was dark and flexible, made from layered snakeskin that shimred with dull light. Strange lines ran across its surface like living veins.
A 3rd Order snakeskin armor.
As soon as Saarken wore it, his body let out a low crackling sound. His muscles tightened, his bones felt lighter, and power surged through him.
His strength, speed, and endurance all rose at once.
His Spirit essence also began to recover faster.
Saarken ignored the dull ache spreading through his body. The armor had drawbacks. He knew that. But he had no plan to drag this fight out.
Next, he took out a small bell. The bell was old and plain, but the mont it appeared, it rang on its own. A deep, heavy chi spread through the space.
The sound pushed against the invisible walls around Saarken. The pressure on his body weakened bit by bit. The crushing weight eased. One had to say that the First Supre was better equipped than the First and Second Supres.
With the combined effect of the armor and the bell, most of the spatial limits faded. He rolled his shoulders and took a step forward. The step landed firmly in the air, as if he were walking on solid ground.
Only a slight resistance remained. Negligible. Saarken laughed.
"Hehehe," he said, looking straight at Aksai. "Did you really think a borrowed artifact could help you win?"
He continued walking forward, each step confident and steady.
"Don’t worry," he went on. "I won’t let your toys go to waste after your death. I’ll make good use of them. Especially that cube from the Frostbound Sect."
His eyes glead with greed and malice. It seed that Saarken knew about the origins of Aksai’s artifact well enough.
"I don’t know how you got your hands on it," Saarken said, his voice cold, "but I’m glad you did. What belongs to you will soon be mine. A proper war trophy. Hahahaha."
The mont his words ended, Saarken burst forward. The air shook as he charged at Aksai with a speed and force far greater than before.
Aksai did not retreat. Instead, he smirked.
’Good. I’ve turned him into a mindless bull that knows to charge ahead at the sight of anything red.’
He watched Saarken rush toward him like a raging beast, power surging, eyes filled with killing intent. The pressure from Saarken’s charge distorted the air, and even the weakened spatial field trembled.
Just when Saarken was only an arm’s distance away—
Aksai moved. Space tore open between them.
A spatial rift appeared without warning. It was tall, longer than Saarken’s body, and wide enough to swallow two n side by side. The inside of the rift was pitch black, silent, and filled with an unknown pull.
Saarken’s eyes widened.
"What—"
His instincts scread danger. He thought that it was one of the Frostbound Sect cube’s techniques that he hadn’t heard before.
He imdiately tried to twist his body and change direction, activating his movent technique to dodge away from the rift. He did not want to be dragged into sothing unknown, especially not during a fight like this.
But Aksai was already there. Golden light burst from Aksai’s body.
His Aurous Realm body cultivation activated fully. Golden Qi surged through his limbs, wrapping his muscles and bones with dense power.
At this close range, Spirit spells were too slow. This was a body cultivator’s domain.
Aksai stepped in, his movent sharp and precise. He slipped past Saarken’s guard and struck first, taking complete advantage of the surprise factor and his opponent’s shocked state.
A sharp kick landed squarely on Saarken’s lower back.
Crack.
A dull sound echoed through the air. Pain exploded through Saarken’s body before he could even react.
Before he could regain balance, Aksai followed up. His palms struck out like hamrs, slamming into Saarken’s back and side. Golden Qi poured into the blows.
Saarken’s 3rd Order natural Spirit defense flared, but it failed to hold. The golden Qi pierced through it and tore into his body.
"Ugggh!"
Saarken let out a grunt as blood rushed to his throat. Then ca the final blow.
Aksai twisted his waist and kicked again. This ti, with full force.
The kick landed squarely on Saarken’s rear, brutal and precise. Another sharp crack rang out as bone gave way.
Saarken’s body flew forward like a broken arrow. Straight into the spatial rift. His figure vanished into the darkness in an instant. The rift rippled violently as it swallowed him whole.
In the next mont.
Saarken felt his body twist as he was thrown through the spatial rift. Another fraction of a second, the pressure vanished.
He stumbled forward and barely managed to steady himself in midair. His feet soon touched solid ground. The feeling under his feet was strange, soft yet firm, like living soil.
Saarken looked up. His breath caught in his throat. He found himself inside a massive wood-elent domain.
Thick vines and roots were everywhere.
Dark green and brown vines twisted together with deep red roots, forming a huge do above him. The sky was completely covered, blocked by layers upon layers of living wood. The roots pulsed faintly, as if they were breathing.
A soft green glow flowed through them, giving the whole space a quiet but heavy presence. The ground beneath his feet was the sa.
Roots crawled across the surface like sleeping serpents, while vines rose and fell slowly, alive and aware. Saarken’s heart sank.
This was not an illusion. This was a real domain.
He narrowed his eyes and looked around carefully. Through small gaps between the vines and roots, he could see beyond the do-shaped barrier.
"Hmmm? What... what are these..."
What he saw made his pupils shrink. Outside the do lay a vast farmland.
Neat rows stretched far into the distance, filled with lush greenery. Spirit plants grew everywhere, their leaves thick and healthy, their stems shining with Spirit light. The air was rich with wood-elent essence, so dense that it felt almost liquid.
Saarken recognized many of them at once.
Third Order Spirit herbs.
Third Order fruits.
Third Order dicinal plants.
And not just one or two.
Dozens.
No—hundreds.
They were being cultivated at the sa ti. His breathing grew heavy. This... this was a fairyland. A true cultivation paradise.
For any Core Formation Lord, this place was a dream. The resources here could save decades of slow cultivation. So of them could even shorten the path by centuries if used properly in alchemy using the right recipes.
Saarken felt his blood heat up.
"What... what kind of place is this?" he muttered, his voice low and hoarse.
"Where am I?"
Greed flashed in his eyes. All thoughts of caution vanished.
He imdiately gathered his Spirit essence and turned toward the do-shaped wall of vines and roots. His killing intent surged as he prepared to tear it apart.
If he could break out—
If he could take even a fraction of what grew here—
It would all be worth it. Why would soone like him try to stay hidden and run an organization like Kalingoot if Dadangar Subcontinent had plenty to offer for all the Core Formation Lords it currently was a ho to?
With that thought burning in his mind, Saarken raised his hand, ready to destroy the barrier and loot this mysterious farmland for everything it held.
However, before he could make a move, he heard a distant voice coming from behind him.
"Kekekeke. You are at death’s door and still want to rob while standing in the middle of my farm? I guess I must acknowledge your bravery, born out of ignorance."
Aksai said as he appeared beneath the giant Demon Tree that had cast the Devil’s Den inside his Everwood Farmland to host his enemies for their first—and last—ti.
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