Chapter 130 - Feast

The avatar’s domain erupted outward like a shockwave of pure oppression — a pressure so absolute it seemed to compress laws itself. The air became heavy and suffocating. It was likely a blood related domain.

Niva collapsed immediately, her body slamming to the ground with a thud that knocked the breath from her lungs. She couldn’t even lift her head against the crushing weight of the domain’s force. Her muscles screamed in agony, completely paralyzed by the sheer weight of a Great Sage’s will.

But Cale stood there, unmoved.

His multiple cultivation layers along with his Apex Stage body, his Peak-Apex soul, his accumulated laws and intents, allowed him to endure what would have killed most cultivators instantly. The domain’s pressure was significant, but not insurmountable for someone with such a body and soul.

Seeing Niva’s helpless form on the ground, Li Zhan’s sanity finally shattered completely.

"Hahah! Die! Both of you die! Ancestor please kill them! See this is what happens when you target my Li family! You bitch, you dared to backstab me! And you, whoever you are, it’s your fault! Hahah!" he screamed with manic glee, his laughter echoing through the chamber like the death rattle of a drowning man.

But Cale had done his planning.

As he leaped toward the avatar, the Great Sage’s remnant prepared its arm to defend, anticipating a frontal assault. Instead, something unexpected happened.

Cale used the Thorned Lotus to create a flying foothold mid-air, long enough for him to push off from it. In a single fluid motion, he vaulted over the avatar’s raised defense and landed directly behind it.

SLASH!

His blade came down in a devastating arc, carving through muscle and bone of his chest. Li Zhan’s arm separated cleanly from his body, blood erupting from the stump like a fountain.

"You!" the avatar roared, fury transforming its features into insanity. "To think this man dared ignore me — someone who was once a Great Sage! Who transcended mortal limitations!"

But Cale didn’t stop,

He executed all three steps of the Three Steps Technique in rapid succession, covering several meters of distance in a single second. Mid-motion, he tore a barrier talisman from his inventory and threw it toward Niva.

’Oh... right, I have those paperman talismans too now that I think about it,’ he thought with frustration. ’But it’s nearly impossible to ever match the timing of an enemy attack one second before to use it. Sigh... such a pathetic talisman.’

The barrier materialized around Niva, forming a protective shell just as the avatar began charging toward her position.

Behind him, Li Zhan was gasping his final breaths, blood pooling beneath his severed arm, his eyes wide with the desperate hope of salvation that would never come.

"Ahh! Ancestor! Please save me... cough... cough... please... Ughh... I don’t want to die here! Nooo..." he looked utterly pathetic.

Cale didn’t hesitate.

He hurled Noxis, the Primordial blade crossing the distance between them in a blur. The sword pierced directly through Li Zhan’s heart, pinning him to the stone wall behind him like an insect in a collector’s display.

Li Zhan’s final scream cut off abruptly as his consciousness fled his dying body.

By the time Cale completed the maneuver, the avatar had already charged toward him, its face contorted with rage.

"You dare kill my descendant right in front of me! Die!" it roared, its fist accelerating toward Cale with force sufficient to obliterate mountains.

Cale tried to dodge, but the domain’s suppression had slowed his reflexes just enough. The avatar’s fist connected with his side.

"Argh!" Cale gasped as his body flew like a ragdoll, crashing into a massive stone walls. The impact cracked the stone, dust erupting in clouds around him.

He pushed himself upright immediately, assessing the situation in a single glance.

The avatar was now targeting Niva.

Its massive fist descended toward her protective barrier with killing intent, the strike designed to obliterate both her and the shield simultaneously.

Cale reacted on instinct.

The Thorned Lotus flew toward Niva and transformed mid-flight, forming a spherical shield that enveloped her just as the avatar’s fist connected.

"Hahaha! Petty tricks!" the avatar roared as its punch connected with the crystalline shield.

The impact was horrific. The shield shattered like glass, fragments scattering in all directions, leaving Niva exposed for precious seconds before the Thorned Lotus could reform its protection.

’If I go all out with my laws and intent,’ Cale thought in the microsecond between breaths, ’I can last for around a minute before my essence finishes, and I’d need to recover for several minutes afterward.’

But that minute was all he needed.

"All right!" he charged forward, Noxis manifesting in one hand while the Thorned Lotus reformed into a silver sword in his other hand.

He attacked with relentless speed and force, his dual blades creating a whirlwind of violence. Each strike landed under the combined pressure of his three domains, each cut maximized damage and limit the avatar’s recovery time.

Every slash left black intent like ink spilling from the tip of a calligrapher’s pen. Every cut released chaotic flames so intense and destructive that the avatar couldn’t properly heal itself even with its full concentration and will channeled into regeneration.

The Great Sage’s remnant was being pushed back.

Step by step, blade strike by blade strike, Cale had forced the avatar into a corner — exactly according to his plan.

Then he activated Chains of Holding.

Spectral chains materialized from intent, wrapping around both of the avatar’s arms and locking them in place with absolute constraint. The avatar was a fist-user — a boxer type cultivator who relied on unarmed combat. Without its arms free, it was severely limited for a few seconds.

"Ugh!" The avatar struggled desperately, its entire form straining against the chains. "Let me go! You dare—"

But Cale gave it no opportunity to break free.

In the chain’s first two seconds of absolute constraint, he moved.

He grabbed the avatar’s head with both hands and smashed the back of its skull against the stone wall behind it with force sufficient to crack bedrock.

CRACK!

"You! What are you doing... no! No! No! My soul! You damned kid! What are you...!" the avatar screamed as Cale began the process of devouring its essence.

He pushed Noxis through the avatar’s torso, pinning it to the wall. Noxis wasn’t an ordinary sword — it could negate the laws that made it impossible to capture and consume a soul. It was the perfect weapon for exactly this kind of user.

Cale smiled as he fed, drawing the Great Sage’s remnant soul into his own being like a vampire draining blood.

"Heheh, stop it, it’s embarrassing if you praise me this much~" he murmured, enjoying the process.

The soul of a Great Sage—even as just a remnant possessed power equivalent to an Apex Stage cultivator. And this particular soul had been maintaining itself for thousands of years, compressed and preserved, making it far more potent than a freshly-deceased cultivator’s essence. It was exquisite.

"Hah... to think fate has turned on me in such a way..." the avatar laughed with a sound of bitter acceptance as its form began to dissolve.

"A descendant who couldn’t even protect the inheritance..."

The avatar’s body transformed into ash and scattered, leaving behind only the physical Dao Bones.

Cale immediately recognized them, the skeletal remains of the Bone Fiend Emperor himself. These bones contained the accumulated power of a lifetime spent perfecting bone cultivation techniques. They were exactly what he needed.

A massive hole suddenly opened in the chamber’s far wall as two sections of stone slid apart, revealing a hidden alcove. Ten ornate pillars materialized, each one bearing an artifact or reward of incredible value.

Cale moved toward them, claiming what he needed.

The first item was a scroll. The moment Cale’s fingers touched it, the parchment dissolved into information that flooded directly into his consciousness.

[New Intent Bone Radiate Intent has been added!]

Bone Radiate Intent was a technique born from mastery of bone cultivation itself.

The next item was a jade slip. Absorbing it granted him an entirely new technique.

[New Technique Ailment Split Soul Body Creation Technique has been added!]

[WARNING! DUE TO HOST’S LOW CULTIVATION, HOST CAN ONLY CREATE ONE SPLIT SOUL BODY!]

Cale frowned. If his combined soul and physical body cultivation was categorized as "low" for this technique, it would take quite long before he could create multiple split souls.

Most cultivators could only create two or three throughout their entire cultivation journey — these soul bodies were incredibly expensive to maintain and difficult to control.

Then came the final and most crucial reward.

[New Ability Fate Shattering Technique has been rewarded!]

As Cale processed the new abilities and techniques flooding into his consciousness, integrating them into his cultivation foundation, he suddenly realized something important.

He looked behind him.

Niva was lying with her back against the stone wall, barely breathing, her body bearing the marks of the avatar’s domain pressure. She was still alive, somehow, but only barely.

"Sigh... just how weak are you, and still manage to survive all this?" he muttered, walking toward her. "As expected of one of the fated ones."

He produced a high-tier healing pill and an elixir from his inventory and fed her. Her body began to mend under the pills’ potent effects, injuries closing, color returning to her pale face.

Once she was healed, Cale led her deeper into the chamber.