804 Ancient One as Ally
Elena casually took the king pieces from the two deities in the stone coffin unknown to the topless burly man. It was also a rare case where they could get a whole set of chess pieces. Because of that, she also secured it.
“If you want to take it for any reason, you must defeat me first. You can take those chess pieces if I lose, and I will join your organization against heaven.” Zhao Fu turned around again, but he was instantly surprised the chess pieces he was referring to were no longer there.
Elena glanced at Elysia, and they nodded in unison. They then revoked their invisible magic.
“Hou, what are you trying to achieve by negotiating with us, Zhao Fu? What do you expect if you win?” Elena fiddled with three king pieces between her fingers.
“If I win, you must tell me all your plans and grant one wish of mine.” Zhao Fu held his breath for a glance. He seemed to be able to sense a dangerous aura from the other two individuals. So, there were three God-level beings that he was wary of.
“Unfortunately, we’re not against heaven or anything. We’re helping the world reorganize its proper order. An alien entity of catastrophe is wreaking havoc in heaven now, and we will stop it.” Elena put the chess pieces into the dark pouch and paused for a few seconds. “If you hinder us, you are tantamount to opposing the goodness of the world and heaven. A public enemy, and the subject to heaven’s punishment.”
“I see, so you are like the Divine Association in heaven fighting the Council, but you are also cooperating with Earth Mother and nature spirits. Are you able to do it?” Zhao Fu had some considerations in mind.
“It would be welcome if you would like to join the party like what the representatives of the Divine Association are doing. You are not a participant in that stupid game or a sinner. We will ask you one thing. Which side are you on?” Elena made an implied offer of how they would act to the other party.
They couldn’t judge the other party because his attitude was really cooperative. Not to mention, this old monster might be of some use in helping them. More allies were better than more enemies, after all.
“I see… I can already understand it. Then, a match that I proposed earlier is no longer valid. Even so, I would like an exchange move once with you. I presume that you are the strongest one in the group of executioners, correct? ” Zhao Fu glanced at the black-robed lady who had just spoken to him.
“The exchange move to convince your self-confidence? Well, do it if you can accept defeat.” Elena didn’t mind accepting the challenge.
“Haha, it won’t be that easy.” Zhao Fu laughed with his hands on his waist.
‘It seems he wants to do it directly here rather than somewhere empty. Take a safe distance and use layered protection just in case.’ Elena asks Elysia and everyone to go aside. She would exchange a little movement with this old monster in a young, burly man’s body.
The pebbles and small particles slowly floated upwards along with the rapidly increasing energy intensity of Zhao Fu. Waves of golden energy flashed from the tips of his feet and shot upwards as if burning him in a semi-transparent golden flame.
His spiky white hair became erect and seemed to be longer than before. He clenched both his fists, and his muscles expanded slightly.
Zhao Fu’s eyes shone with golden light ultimately. Simultaneously, he launched one of his most potent lethal attacks. “Ha!”
*Boom!* *Swoosh!*
An air blast exploded and shot for tens of kilometers into the sky, splitting the cloud in half and creating hundreds of air ripples along its trajectory.
“!?” Zhao Fu widened his eyes in surprise. His opponent was no longer constrained by physical boundaries, and his attack only penetrated his opponent’s chest as if she was just an illusion.
An attack capable of injuring a God’s existence regardless of their power difference was simply ineffective before this lady?
That blow was also supposedly capable of injuring a person down to the spirit. Still, it only passed right through this lady.
Hundreds of trains of thought crossed Zhao Fu’s mind because it was incomprehensible even to him.
“Are you done? Now it’s my turn.” Elena smirked behind her shadow mask. She immediately slapped Zhao Fu on the cheek so hard.
*Slap!*
Zhao Fu felt a stinging pain on his cheek. He stepped back and forced his face to turn to the side. However, it didn’t end there.
*Slap!* *Slap!* *Slap!* *Slap!*
Elena slapped Zhao Fu on the face several times, right and left, alternately and mercilessly. Those consecutive strikes were not ordinary physical slaps but something more profound.
Zhao Fu was slapped into oblivion without the slightest chance to fight back. The first slap had already shaken his mind because the pain was physical and spiritual. His spirit was also in pain! And, he must go through the torment of the next series of painful slaps.
*Thud*
Zhao Fu fell to the ground with both cheeks swollen. His face was so red and like a pig now.
“Is that enough? I should have punished you more severely than this because you intended to seriously injure me, but I have mercy on you. Be grateful.” Elena massaged her palm as she felt sore after giving Zhao Fu multiple face slaps.
“How ruthless… How can my attack pass through your body without causing any effect?” Zhao Fu muttered in a slightly indistinct voice due to his swollen cheeks.
“I won’t explain it because it’s incompressible to put into words. That’s the difference between my divine law and you. I thought you were much stronger for an ancient one, but it looks like you didn’t put all your strength into it.” Elena tilted her head slightly.
“That’s because I started everything from scratch. I did this several times to prepare myself for a true ascension. Only a handful of ancient Gods believed and had the opportunity… There exists another universe above the Heaven Realm. The higher worlds… I want to go there someday.” Zhao Fu didn’t mind telling his ultimate goal in life because it was an open secret to Gods at the highest level.
“Accumulating cultivated strength by keeping them as reserve power for the tribulation day. True ascension and higher worlds, huh… It seems those oldies in Council are also obsessed with it. Because of that, they-” Elena looked up and sighed. She shook her head as she realized the possible reasons why the Council changed drastically after allying with the Ruvoid God.
Elena then turned around and raised her hand in farewell. “You should help us eliminate all the participants. That way, we can take you and the members of the Divine Association to Heaven Realm sooner. We are currently using Tokyo, Japan, as a temporary base. We will look forward to your contribution. Also, we shall take them with us to imprison them.”
After saying that, Elena took everyone to leave in invisibility. Two stone coffins containing two badly injured and battered deities were also taken away.
“…” Zhao Fu propelled his body to sit down. He never thought he would be defeated by a lady’s fierce slaps. Even if he didn’t use his most substantial potential, losing was still losing, no matter the reason.
A few minutes later, dozens of armed monks went up to the sacred cultivation room with alertness and worry. Still, they were instantly stunned when they saw their strongest master was on the floor in a sorry state.
“Grand Master! Err… Are you all right?” One of the monks ventured to ask.
“Leave! You don’t see anything here.” Zhao Fu shooed everyone away and closed the door.
*Bam!*
“Ahem, my fellow brothers. Grand Master is still meditating with full concentration. He is probably on a great spiritual journey.” One of the monks cleared his throat and explained the situation as if nothing wrong had happened.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
“Nothing happened here.”
“Grand Master is just meditating as usual.”
The other monks pretended to be ignorant and returned to the temple. To keep the noble name of their Grand Master, they had to erase their memory of what they had just seen. They defined the previous explosion, and that suspicious visitor never existed.
Elena coughed in the distant sky above the clouds while holding her chest in pain. She transformed into her ethereal form to nullify the previous attack, but everything didn’t go according to her expectation. She received adverse effects but only hid them.
‘Really, why did you take that attack for granted? It would be much better to put in a layered barrier or create a magic clash to ward off the blow. What if that attack crushed your spirit to pieces? I- I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ Elysia was dissatisfied. Yet, she immediately gave first aid to Elena earnestly.
‘Hmm, I underestimated him a bit. I did that so that we get another strong ally for the event in heaven. But, you’re right, Ely… I should have used a counterattack to neutralize the blow or create a clash.’ Elena smiled weakly behind her shadow mask.
‘I won’t forgive you if you get hurt for stupid reasons again. I’m angry right now.’ Elysia used her advanced healing magic to heal Elena. Even though it was only a slight spirit wound, the damage she felt in her heart was immense to see Elena hurt.
She scanned Elena’s whole existence several times to ensure no injuries were overlooked. Elena was a manifestation of a spirit. Spiritual damage was the same as physical injury, and physical damage could result in spirit injury.
‘Please forgive your silly Elena this time, okay? I will be much, much more careful. I won’t underestimate anyone after this, even if whoever we face is only weak insects.’ Elena scanned her body. The small spirit wound in the center of her chest was gone. She then gave a head pat to Elysia.
‘All right.’ Elysia heaved a subtle sigh.
“???” Vanessa and Evelyn looked at each other in confusion. Apparently, the Goddess of Light was injured from the previous blow, and Elysia had just healed that wound.
“Sigh…” Rhea put her hand to her head. As it turned out, Elena, who often appeared as a superior one, could sometimes do reckless things too.
Elysia then advised Elena about a few things via telepathy. She was like a worried mother scolding her naughty little daughter.
After Elena reflected on her mistake, Elysia didn’t mention it anymore and moved on. They flew away with everyone to resume their hunt.