Chapter 791 The Death of Valerius
Valerius hovered silently in the darkness of space.
“Even if my entire body turns to stone today, I’m still going to kill you.”
His voice was tight with fury as he resumed the pursuit.
But the instant he pushed his speed to the limit, shock flashed across his features.
A colossal blue-black mountain had appeared directly in his path.
Bang!
Valerius slammed headfirst into it.
The petrified patches covering his body shattered almost simultaneously, spraying foul fluid in every direction.
“You human mongrel! You set a trap for me?”
Valerius struggled upright and was about to unleash a powerful divine ability when a beam of temporal light struck him.
His body instantly slowed to a near standstill.
A moment later, Kael appeared with the Time Mirror in hand.
Flames burned within his right eye.
“What?”
Valerius flexed both arms, straining against the Time Mirror’s restraint.
A sharp tearing sound cut through the void.
The Myriad Spirit Light struck him squarely in the chest and punched straight through his body.
More than a dozen divine abilities contained within the beam immediately began ravaging his body and soul.
“AAAAARGH!”
Valerius roared and violently broke free from the temporal restraint, shifting more than a hundred yards to the side.
He was, after all, a late-stage Eternal Realm cultivator.
The sheer depth of his Origin Power and the number of methods at his disposal were beyond anything an ordinary cultivator could imagine.
But the instant he escaped the Time Mirror, another beam struck him.
Valerius froze in place once more.
A hundred yards away, Kael’s skin flushed with strain.
He hurriedly took out his jade bottle and swallowed several drops of Immortal Spirit Liquid.
Kael had just poured more than half of his Origin Power into the Time Mirror.
Anything less would never have been enough to restrain a late-stage Eternal Realm powerhouse like Valerius.
The expenditure was enormous.
“AAAAAH!”
Valerius’s entire body shuddered.
Once again, he forced his way out of the Time Mirror’s restraint.
This time, even he had consumed more than half of his Origin Power.
The damage to his body was worse.
Far worse.
The Myriad Spirit Light was still destroying his flesh from within.
Valerius looked up.
Another flame had appeared within Kael’s right eye.
“No!”
He instinctively raised both arms to protect his head.
Space seemed to split with a piercing shriek.
The Myriad Spirit Light tore through Valerius’s arms and continued straight through his skull.
Even the layers of petrified flesh covering his skin failed to stop it.
When Kael had fought Malachar Tuo, the Lord of Northguard City, his cultivation had still been far lower.
Now, he had reached the Galactic Great Circle.
The Myriad Spirit Light he could unleash today was on an entirely different level.
“You... mongrel!”
Even with a hole punched through his head, Valerius could still speak.
Kael took out the jade bottle again and swallowed ten more drops of Immortal Spirit Liquid.
His Origin Power instantly returned to its peak.
But this time, a sharp, needle-like pain stabbed through his dantian, while a hollow dizziness washed over him.
Immortal Spirit Liquid could replenish his Origin Power almost instantly, but consuming so much in such a short time was beginning to overwhelm even his body.
A pale azure sword slowly condensed in Valerius’s hand.
He gripped the weapon in both hands and fixed his gaze on Kael.
“An Origin Sword?”
Kael immediately recognized the danger.
He poured every trace of his Origin Power into the Time Mirror.
Buzz!
Another beam of temporal light struck Valerius, preventing him from activating the Origin Sword quickly.
“ARGH!”
Kael screamed as well.
Having so much Origin Power torn from him at once pushed his body to the verge of collapse.
But he forced himself to endure and swallowed another ten drops of Immortal Spirit Liquid.
“I refuse to believe I can’t bring you down!”
Kael’s voice hardened.
“Golden Beetles, go!”
At his command, dozens of Beast Pouches across his body opened simultaneously.
Tens of millions of Golden Beetles poured out, forming an immense swarm that rushed straight toward Valerius.
At that point, all strength left Kael’s body.
He could no longer maintain the Time Mirror.
Valerius regained control of himself, but the Golden Beetles were already swarming over him, biting frantically into his body and preventing him from properly activating the Origin Sword.
“AAAAH!”
“GET OFF ME! You damned mongrel!”
Valerius screamed as he repeatedly slapped at his own body.
Every strike killed dozens of Goldsteel Beetles.
He was still a late-stage Eternal Realm cultivator. Even the simplest sweep of his palm carried incomprehensible power.
No matter how durable the Golden Beetles were, they could not survive a direct hit.
Kael was about to speak when another needle-like pain stabbed through his mind.
Damn it. My Spiritual Sense is exhausted too?
He immediately closed his eyes.
At such a dangerous moment, he had no choice but to shut out the world around him and recover.
Wave after wave of Golden Beetles continued attacking.
The swarm seemed endless.
The most troublesome were the several hundred violet-gold beetles leading the assault.
Valerius could knock them away again and again, but he couldn’t kill them.
Each time they recovered, they immediately returned and attacked the most vulnerable parts of his body.
Kael had no idea how much time passed before his Spiritual Sense recovered enough for him to open his eyes again.
“AAAAAH!”
“Kael! I’ve changed my mind! I’ll let you go! Just call these insects back!”
Valerius’s screams had grown so shrill that his voice was beginning to break.
Kael stared at him without emotion.
Another flame appeared within his right eye.
The Myriad Spirit Light swept across Valerius.
Half of his body was severed.
The Golden Beetles surged toward the exposed wound like predators catching the scent of blood.
“ROAR!”
Golden radiance exploded from Valerius.
His body expanded violently, transforming into a colossal golden dragon more than six miles long.
The dragon thrashed through space, twisting and whipping its body in an attempt to shake off the countless beetles clinging to its scales.
“I never imagined an Eternal Realm cultivator would be this difficult to kill.”
Kael forced the words through numb lips.
Then he raised his jade bottle and swallowed dozens more drops of Immortal Spirit Liquid.
His entire body had gone numb.
Even the Immortal Spirit Liquid was beginning to lose its ability to properly nourish his damaged flesh.
“All or nothing.”
Kael drew a deep breath.
His body expanded once more as he entered the strongest form of Stage Twenty of the Fiendgod Transformation.
Buzz!
A massive multicolored sword appeared in his hands.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
Kael strode across the void.
With every step, a golden formation pattern appeared beneath his foot.
“Sever!”
The colossal sword descended with a vicious tearing sound.
Valerius tried to evade.
He couldn’t.
Too many Golden Beetles had latched onto his body, and their relentless attacks prevented him from moving freely.
The enormous golden dragon was split lengthwise.
Several violet-gold beetles seized the opening and burrowed into the wound, devouring their way deeper into the dragon’s body.
“AAAAAH! Kael, enough! I surrender! Tell me what you want! I’ll compensate you!”
Valerius finally gave in.
He could feel the violet-gold beetles rapidly consuming him from within.
“Do you have any talisman-crafting techniques?” Kael asked.
“Yes!”
A spatial ring shot through the dense swarm and landed precisely in Kael’s hand.
Kael opened it.
Inside was a manual titled Celestial Warden Talisman Codex.
Given the circumstances, Valerius had neither the time nor the opportunity to fabricate an entire false manual.
This should be the genuine original.
“Kael, is that enough? Call them back! They’ve already gotten into my brain—AAAAAH!”
Valerius’s screams continued without pause.
Kael regarded him coldly.
“They’ve already reached your brain. Even if I call them back now, you’re no longer entirely yourself.”
His voice echoed through the void.
“So I’m sorry.”
“AAAAAAH!”
Hatred filled Valerius’s final scream.
A violet-gold beetle crawled out through the enormous golden dragon’s eye.
It wasn’t alone.
Clamped between its mandibles was a pale, milky-white larva that writhed violently in the vacuum of space.