1829 Breaking Through
Alex felt a change in his state.
He saw the world through his inner eye, the one that belonged to his nascent soul. What he saw was a world of glowing light, a mass of Qi that filled his vision and all.
And then it began shrinking.
More accurately, he began growing. The Soul began growing.
Alex's nascent soul got larger and larger until it could no longer fit in the Dantian at all. As if a chick inside of an egg, his Nascent soul broke through the non-physical barrier that kept his soul inside the Dantian, and started growing even more.
Outside of the dantian, the world he saw was dark. But still, he could see some lights here and there, like thin glowing wires that formed latices all around the sky.
He saw the many meridians glowing all around him.
As he did, he felt a sort of connection forming between him and the meridians. He soon became aware that it wasn't just a connection between him and the meridians, but rather his entire body. He could only see the meridians, but there was everything else too for him to connect with.
Saint Transformation realm was when the Nascent soul grew out of the Dantian and started connecting with the physical body. It was the realm that was truthfully nothing more than preparation for when one would become an Immortal and fully combine their body and soul into one pure being.
Alex had begun his journey on that very thing. He had entered the Saint Transformation realm.
But, he had only just stepped into that realm. His foundation wasn't stable and if he left right now, there was a chance he could destroy everything he had worked for.
He needed a bit more time. He hoped he wasn't too late.
* * * * *
Hannah stared at the open blue sky as the worldly aura emanated vibrantly down toward where she stood. Instead of coming for her, it had come for Alex, who had just begun breaking through to the Saint Transformation 1st realm.
She was unclear at what point of the breakthrough he was in. Breakthroughs for her were much different than it was for everyone else.
Still, seeing the worldly laws told her that it wouldn't be long before he was done with it. Given that he was in a bubble of sped-up time, it wouldn't take him too long before he was done with it.
Maybe a minute or two at most.
She feared that she didn't have that time.
She stood up, bringing out Starweaver into her hand as she stared at the man who moved toward her.
The Dragon Emperor stood nearly 100 meters away from her, his Immortal power blinding everyone's senses with its glorious power.
He held a haughty appearance now, as though the world itself was beneath him at this point.
"If you move out of your way, I won't hurt you too badly," he said. "There's only so many people I fear I can kill before I'm forced out of this world."
Hannah's eyes narrowed at those words. Was he lying? Or was he confirming that he was going to be forced to leave if he did anything that the heavens deemed unsuitable for this world?
She had wondered if he would be struck by Heavenly Judgment for killing mortals, but since he was a mortal of this world, there was also a possibility that the heavens wouldn't be so cruel in its judgment and instead choose to do something else.
The Dragon Emperor's words made her more certain that was the case.
The Dragon Emperor gave a small smirk after seeing that she chose not to answer.
"I see," he said. "Then I will deal with you swiftly."
Hannah barely managed to catch his movements and struck back with her Immortal Qi at the last moment.
Her fiery slash exploded against a bolt of lightning and she felt the force of the impact smack back at her, nearly pushing her back had she not protected herself. Her eyes showed a look of fear at the fact that the Dragon Emperor's Qi had been so much stronger than she had imagined.
The Dragon Emperor was somewhat surprised as well. He hadn't expected Hannah to survive his attack. But then, she had been stronger than a regular Saint even when they were in the same realm as him, so he understood there was something special about her.
He sensed the skies to see if the attack had roused the heavens. It had not. He could go on for more.
"I will commend you on surviving that," the Dragon Emperor said. "But how much longer can you do so?"
The Dragon Emperor pointed his spear toward her and used an attack.
Tendrils of lightning bolts forked out from his spear tip, moving in all directions. However, instead of attacking everyone, it targeted just her.
The bolts of lightning were each strong enough to kill Hannah with a single strike, so she had to act immediately to protect herself.
They staggered as they arrived, giving her just enough time to fight back.
Hannah improved her defense with the Jade Body technique and then started using fire attacks all around her to protect herself.
She struck two lightning bolts on the left, before attacking the one on the right.
She stabbed the one that came from above her and then created a Swirling Water shield to protect herself from two more from the right.
She barely managed to slice at the one that came for her from below her, but because of that, she was struck by the one of the ones that came from above.
Hannah cried out in pain, feeling the burning on her skin when it had struck. She quickly fought back two more before another one hit her.
Hannah was continuously pushed back, one after another, but she remained there, fighting back. She wasn't wounded so badly that she couldn't retaliate, but it was slowly getting to that point.
A barrage of attacks struck more of the lightning bolts that made her way, destroying them as they came. Hannah still felt the force of the attack even after it was destroyed, but it was not enough to wound her.
Hannah moved a few steps back to gather herself and looked at the colorful motes of light in the sky where everything had crashed into each other.
She sensed the elders and many of the Saints that had remained behind attacking the Dragon Emperor, destroying his attacks.
Thousands of attacks were used to fight just a single person.
The Dragon Emperor stood untouched by the attacks and simply smiled.
"If you all wish to fight me, I shall let you join," he said and pointed his spear toward the sky. Everyone prepared for his attack, but nothing came from him.
Even so, everyone felt the hair on the skin stand on its end. Their hair slowly began lifting up on its own, as if attracted by something.
They looked up and as they did, they realized what was happening.
Hundreds of thousands of bolts of lightning rained down from the sky upon the Dragon Emperor's command, attacking every single person who had chosen to remain behind.
He was single-handedly going to destroy everyone on the battlefield.
