đź“– Chapter 1097 - Resolving the Crisis!
All of this takes some time to describe, but in fact it happened in an instant.
The moment he agreed to take a look at the alternate future, Wang Baole had prepared himself. He already knew that the consciousness from the future that had suppressed the Book of Heaven’s Mandate was the blood-colored centipede, and he knew that it wouldn’t come for no reason.
Thus, it actually didn’t matter whether he agreed or not. However… the blood-colored centipede was too confident. It believed that everything was under its control, that it could completely play around with Wang Baole’s fate. This was its only flaw.
And perhaps this flaw was Wang Baole’s only chance of resolving this crisis!
As for whether he could really resolve the crisis or not, and what the consequences of failure would be… Wang Baole didn’t want to think about it. It was already too late for him to care about failure. Moreover, his usage of Ebbing Time had indeed won him a chance at life!
After all… Flowing Time, which Ebbing Time was derived from, was a supreme magic that came from Wang Yiyi’s father. It was a divine ability from beyond the universe, one that Wang Baole had only gained enlightenment of after leaving the world in a past life!
Thus, although his Ebbing Time couldn’t compare with the real Flowing Time, it was already a pinnacle divine ability in the bounds of the Never-Ending Dao Domain. Even though the finger pressing down on him came from an unfathomable origin, it was still slightly affected by the technique’s power.
At the opportune moment, the illusory figure of his zombie past life appeared from Wang Baole’s body, roaring out for light and causing the world around him to instantly be submerged in a boundless sea of light. The piercing light illuminated the blurry world and converged on the incoming finger.
It was as if the endless light wanted to cleanse the darkness represented by the finger. However, the Dao Intent contained within the finger had reached an appalling degree, so even the power of light generated by a zombie who had spent his entire life looking up to the light wasn’t enough to destroy it. At most, it made the finger fade just a tiny bit.
But that wasn’t the end! A moment later, the peerless figure of the devil blade appeared. All the power of Wang Baole’s third life converged on its blade as it slashed down!
With this slash, the sea of light was parted, and the exceedingly sharp devil blade sliced toward the tip of the finger.
With a boom, the finger trembled slightly, and a crack appeared!!
At almost the same time, the figure of the resentful Chen Yang appeared. Boundless dark aura erupted from his body. It was the hatred and resentment of Wang Baole’s fourth life!
Hatred for heaven, hatred for earth, hatred for all living things, hatred for the universe and the starry sky, hatred for absolutely everything in existence!
In the vast sea of light, the endlessly dark aura of hatred was extremely prominent. In an instant, it charged toward the finger that had been slashed open by the devil blade!
Rather than colliding with the finger, it rushed in through the crack opened by the devil blade and exploded inside! The transparent finger instantly became murky, but it still wasn’t over.
The Burning Torch godling appeared and let out a monstrous roar, along with an astonishing punch. This punch seemed to gather his everything – his doubts about heaven and earth, his doubts about the truth of the world, his unspeakably painful headaches, and the madness that caused him to slaughter the starry sky… Fusing with the power of the previous attacks, the punch instantly caused the cracks on the finger to spread.
Cracks covered the entire finger, and even half of the hand behind it!
And at that exact moment, the figure of the little white deer rushed out from Wang Baole’s body. With its confusion toward heaven and earth transformed into persistence, with its persistence toward the world transformed into confusion, bearing a lifetime full of obsession, the little white deer had smashed through the ends of the starry sky. And now, facing the incoming finger, it did the same. Charging forward, it collided with the finger head on!!
A terrifying boom immediately rang out in the surroundings. The little white deer’s antlers instantly collapsed, and its body also shattered. However… the hand filled with cracks also seemed to have reached its limit, and it actually began falling apart!
Unfortunately… it was just falling apart, not collapsing!
The hand suddenly split into five fingers and three palms, but they didn’t shatter and disappear. Just like a centipede that had been cut to pieces, they were still able to keep struggling. Spreading out, the eight hand parts approached Wang Baole again from eight different directions!
A sharp light flashed in Wang Baole’s eyes. The moment the eight parts rushed toward him, he closed his eyes, and… an illusory black wooden board appeared outside his body!
As soon as it appeared, it began expanding. In an instant, the black wooden board that could originally be held in one hand grew to a size just over that of a person. It looked almost like… a coffin!
The appearance of the black wooden board, with its pitch-black color and ancient aura, made the void tremble. The eight parts of the hand also trembled, as if something was making them hesitate.
And at the instant of hesitation, Wang Baole merged into the black wooden board. With a leap, the coffin-like board rose into the air, and as if being moved by an invisible giant, it… slammed down toward the five fingers and three palms!
Bam!
A crisp knocking sound suddenly echoed out, causing the entire void to collapse. Ripples spread out at a rate visible to the naked eye, and the surroundings became like a mirror shattering bit by bit.
And shattering together with this mirror were the eight parts of the hand!
The three palms were destroyed in an instant, and four of the fingers were also unable to hold on, breaking apart a moment later. Only the index finger managed to persist, albeit with deep cracks spreading all over it. At the tip of the finger, a face suddenly appeared, as well as… the illusory form of a centipede!
The face’s eyes were bright as it stared at Wang Baole. It smiled with pleasant surprise, as if the failure of the hand was no issue for it, or perhaps even a positive result.
“Good, good, you didn’t disappoint me after all…
“Although this is just the manifestation of a single one of my thoughts, for you to be able to destroy it… is quite impressive.
“Black wooden board… I’m becoming more and more interested in you. Especially… your origin…
“Interesting, very interesting. I’m about to awaken now. The day I fully awaken is the day we meet each other again, and that day… isn’t far away.” Amid bizarre and eerie laughter, the centipede disappeared. And the moment it disappeared was the moment that the void completely collapsed.
Wang Baole’s eyes flew open. He was no longer in that void, but above the volcanic crater on Planet Heaven’s Mandate. In front of him was Reverend Heaven-Learned, and beneath his palm was… the Book of Heaven’s Mandate, whose light had obviously dimmed.
Wang Baole didn’t pay any attention to the sharp gasps from the surroundings, nor did he care about the old servant’s shocked gaze. After a few moments of silence, he checked the Book of Heaven’s Mandate to make sure that the book’s own consciousness had returned. Then, he raised his head and looked at Reverend Heaven-Learned, eyes full of doubts.
“How long?” Wang Baole asked.
“Seven days!” Reverend Heaven-Learned replied softly.
“Seven days…” Wang Baole murmured. A sense of weakness suddenly overtook his body, as if he had overdrawn his strength. He felt like his legs were about to give out just from standing there.
However, his eyes were shining brightly. Wang Baole knew that he had escaped a deadly crisis this time. If he’d failed, then he would have been possessed, and consequently… the Wang Baole that appeared from then on, the one in the futures of Xing Jingzi, Xie Haiyang, and the other two… would not be himself!