Above The Sky

Chapter 2002 - 21: The Glorious Blaze of a Fleeting Life

Yet the Domain of Void suffered greatly; when the Ashen King stepped forward again after retreating a step, his flames blazed more fiercely and wildly. As Ian once again clashed head-on with the Ashen King, the already dilapidated Domain of Void of the Fiery Flame Land turned into a sea of molten lava, where storms raged and tsunamis surged.

The power of the mighty intersected, and as the ceaseless waves of aftershocks collided and rippled, the flowing lava tsunamis were shattered in mid-air, sometimes halted, reversed, deformed, or even turned directly into smoke and dust, constantly rising and soaring straight into the sky.

And amidst the battle, Ian felt the uniqueness of the Ashen King.

He... seemed not to die.

The Fifth Energy Level does die, which may seem redundant to say, but this phrase is worth being said with caution because when a being of the Fifth Energy Level dies, the force unleashed is enough to shatter the entire Terra civilization. If they wish, they can drag the entire civilization and ecology along with them in burial.

The power the Ashen King just displayed was undoubtedly of this level. Though it might be slightly exaggerated to say the Undying One’s full spirit punch could blow up the Fiery Flame Land, it was certainly enough to knock half the Abassalom mountain range flying, turning debris into a small island in the Stormy Ocean. Such solid earth-shattering, heaven-annihilating power should barely exist on a dozen planets, even having one in a Solar System would be overwhelming.

Yet even for such exaggerated life forms of the Fifth Energy Level, such full-force blows should be limited to just a dozen punches. Any more, and the life burnt away would be enough to weaken them.

But recently, the blows exchanged between the Ashen King and himself were more than a dozen punches.

Where did this already elderly, perhaps even aged antique from the era of Inega II, get so much life to squander?

Even now, the Ashen King is still furiously burning his life, bombarding Ian with indiscriminate attacks—even though each attack is repelled by Ian, each moment the Ashen King can gather even more surging Aether to launch ever more frenzied attacks!

No matter the injuries theoretically inflicted by Ian already sufficient to cause the Ashen King’s demise, it remained so.

This is not surprising; theoretically, Michael could still explode with Axel, even if not, entangling over a month should be enough to exhaust the opponent’s strength. But practically, wouldn’t it take several months to disable the opponent’s resistance... let’s not mention that the Ashen King originally had ace cards.

So that’s it; this is what the Aether Arms Order mentioned, that the Ashen King has a big plan, or so it seems. But the Ashen King and the Aether Arms Order realized their plans were considered failures facing the Arcane Pathway, which is why the Aether Arms Order sought me out, and the Ashen King laid down burdens to decide victory or defeat with me.

Ian’s heart tightened, but his offensive maintained, splitting focus to observe the Domain of Void—and then he discovered that the essence of the entire Domain of Void was converging towards the Ashen King.

Endless Spirit Energy burned by the Ashen King erupted into extraordinarily potent Divine Power, which, when colliding with Ian’s Aether, also returned to the Domain of Void, where it was digested and converted by the Domain of Void, retransforming into an essence utilisable by the Ashen King!

Aether is fundamentally the creation of the Star God; Origin Quality Spiritual Energy is transformed from Aether, utilisable by ordinary life forms at a lower power level. The Domain of Void, as a natural phenomenon of the Aether Universe, is essentially an expression of the separation of the Great Aether Sea into the material world and spiritual world, constantly interacting with the material world, producing natural Aether, also decomposing excess natural Aether, strengthening the material world and itself.

This is why a lifeless, dead star in the universe created by the Star God, after tens of millions, millions, or up to a billion years, can gradually manifest life!

And now, the Ashen King transformed this cosmic natural phenomenon into his own power!

Many people believe that the Origin Quality Spiritual Energy and Aether they use simply vanishes after use—but this is not true; such power only disperses into the natural environment, becoming uncontrollable by the user.

But the Ashen King does not need control.

All he needs is to burn...burn, and burn once more!

If the Domain of Void is firewood, then he is the fire that ignites the Domain of Void! As long as the Domain of Void does not collapse, as long as his spirit and mind can continue to burn, he is the eternally undying flame!

Just like the Undying Flame Spirit is inherently a flow of high-energy particles propelled by the Earth Core, they are eternally immortal unless the Earth Core chills.

[Indeed, you have discovered!]

Noticing Ian’s attacks slow and even start to actively direct the surrounding Domain of Void to prevent its surging Natural Spirit Energy from flowing towards himself, the Ashen King laughed heartily: [This vast space-time, endless Domains of Void, are limitless firewood; if I am an immortal Spark, I can ignite infinite flames for my use!]

"Yes, you indeed grasped a glimpse of immortality’s essence."

Ian also expressed admiration, while the technique of the Ashen King is akin to Axel’s ’Lightforged Realm’, a skill created by Fifth Energy Level powerhouses of Terra seeking to break free from the bonds of the Sublimation Path, albeit Lightforged Realm is more perfected, whereas the skill of the Ashen King merely increased his endurance, temporarily maximizing blue bars and health bars to infinity.

Yet, unbeatable remains unbeatable.

Nonetheless, this skill is extraordinarily exceptional; this skill converting cosmic operating rules into personal power even gave Ian a faint sense of the most primitive ’Other Force Perpetual Motion Machine,’ though this perpetual motion machine indeed requires fuel, which is the Ashen King’s spirit.

Once the Ashen King’s spirit depletes, ceasing his near self-immolation technique, he would drop from this state, reverting to an ordinary Fifth Energy Level.

At that point, the Ashen King would die.

No matter victory or defeat, the instant the battle concludes marks the Ashen King’s death.

A fleeting life brilliantly burning, he practices his beliefs with his own life.

"How long can you burn?"

BOOM!!!

Another punch struck, Ian once again drove the Ashen King back; this time, the Ashen King retreated further than before, as Ian’s power grew too, gradually learning the Ashen King’s techniques, beginning to enhance his strength through the cycle of the Domain of Void and material world, striving with unrestricted full force.

It was during such exchanges that the collision of Ian’s and the Ashen King’s powers gradually transformed and elevated, morphing into a more fundamental, Aetheric interweaving transpiring beyond time and space.

The eternal essence engraved upon Aether, where all beliefs and dreams blazed within Aether.

Therefore, Ian saw the true goal of the Ashen King, or rather, the entire Fiery Flame Land and the Aether Arms Order and Retrospection Sect.

Its name is Reincarnation.

An infinite, sole cycle of the heart’s ’Flame Reincarnation’.