June 4th, 2147.
A low orbital gravity lens satellite was the first to detect it, shortly followed by the gods and supernatural beings who had long transcended the mortal form.
Pitch black storm clouds rumbled with constant thunder overhead the North Pacific Ocean, whilst cataclysmic waves roiled back and forth on the ocean surface below.
It couldn’t be seen with the human eye nor properly analyzed by current human technology, but all the energies of the world were in complete chaos here. For those able to see souls, they would have seen the fingers of a giant hand pierce out of the sky before gradually tearing the void open.
A gigantic soul, whose head and shoulders were above the clouds, squeezed out of that enormous crevice before the universe rapidly repaired itself and closed the tear. The pressure emitted from the entity was so powerful that the sea level sank by several hundred feet in a concave dome.
Outside of that, the ocean churned and mountainous waves formed.
Thomas lost track of time in the afterlife as millennia passed like days. With his former compatriots reinforcing his soul, he used his wits to defeat and absorb countless souls, growing more and more powerful.
He learned many new techniques and ways of utilizing his increasingly boundless soul power, even bringing vast changes across the seemingly endless and dull planes of the afterlife.
Language was spread, as was the ability to forge a soul weapon from ones own soul. The soul weapon was unique to each soul and having one rose one’s power significantly, even overpowering greater souls who didn’t have one.
Thomas grew into one of the hegemons of the afterlife, but his attachment to the world of the living never fully left him.
More so than anything, he wanted to petition to god to ask one thing.
Why
He spent another two millennia searching for a way back and eventually found it. With his memories of the living world as a compass, he moved backwards and forced a connection to the living plane with his immense powers.
The world of the living shook around him and he felt innumerable consciousnesses observing him, many containing varying degrees of fear and trepidation, others curious or expectant. There was an entire range of these emotions behind the gazes, most of which couldn’t even tell what he was.
“Ugh… even with my power, I can barely resist the pull of the afterlife that is trying to drag me back,” Thomas complained as the voice of his soul caused the sea to oscillate.
The pull of the afterlife was like a fully stretched bungee cord, trying to forcefully drag him back and only growing more powerful the longer time passed.
“Huu… huu… I just need a vessel. I’ve tested this before, but it was meaningless in the afterlife. Perhaps less so here.”
Thomas curled up in the air and condensed his soul power in front of him, extracting his vessel that had long since fused with him out from his soul and rebuilt it before him. It wasn’t his actual vessel, as that was still fused with his soul, but a copy using it as a cast.
He then entered the vessel, his gigantic soul vanishing into the disproportionately small body and the pull of the afterlife immediately vanishing.
“Shit!”
It was to be expected that a human body was incapable of flight.
He free fell from several kilometers in the sky towards the ocean below, whilst the ocean that was no longer depressed from his soul force came rushing back up and exploded in a torrent of extremely high water pressure.
The collision between the falling body and cataclysmic waters resulted in Thomas’ body being instantly torn to pieces and freeing his soul again.
He recreated his vessel once more, this time already in the water. His power was almost entirely sealed whilst inside of a vessel, but he could still exert some power. This restriction is what caused it to be completely useless in the afterlife, but it was apparently key to persisting in the world of the living.
He gathered his soul force to the bottom of his feet and stood on the surface of the ocean that was still raging. He felt some physical queasiness from the constant rise and fall of the waves, a nostalgic feeling released from his ancient memory,
Another nostalgic feeling was the bone piercing chill from the freezing cold rain that poured down over the ocean.
“Now, where am I?”
Looking around, Thomas’ gaze pierced through the torrential rain but saw nothing bar giant waves tumbling about in the pitch black night. Even the stars had been completely concealed behind the storm.
Thomas was clueless as to his current location and knew very little of the world geography due to his commoner birth. It was only his training by the catholic church which taught him how to read, write, and do some rudimentary calculations.
He did hear many bard tales of the endless sea to the west, however. Some even sang tales of those that sailed too far and fell off the earth. Thankfully it was nearly sunrise, the soft orange glow peaking above the horizon and letting him know which direction east was.
His figure flashed under the illumination of stray bolts of lightning as he strolled across the ocean surface, unperturbed by the giant waves that swept by.
After Thomas had left, the waves gradually calmed and the sea returned to its former tranquility. The rain ceased and winds died down as well, even though dark clouds still loomed over the sky.
All was not pitch black any more as the surface of the ocean was lit up by giant rivers of bioluminescent jellyfish rose to the surface, alongside countless other aquatic species. Deeper down, colossal and even unknown creatures also showed their shadows.
The ocean was bubbling with life as everything seemed to be drawn to this area where a cataclysm seemed to occur not long ago.
In the sky, manmade objects also made their appearance.
Several wooden boats appeared of various designs appeared first. They appeared to be from the colonial era, yet even the smallest was at least three times the size of a standard boat.
They didn’t travel through the ocean either, but instead floated through the sky as if sailing on the wind currents themselves.
“Sect Leader, we have breached through the outer perimeter and have reached the core of the anomaly. The spiritual qi here…”
Atop one seemingly colonial era wooden boat that was of an abnormally large size, a middle aged Chinese spoke to an elder, both of which wore extravagant flowing robes and stood with a high sense of elegance. Even as the wind blew past, they did no waver in the slightest.
“Even a thousand years ago, it was not this rich. If our ancestor was still around, perhaps he would have seen hope to finally break through and extend his lifetime.”
“Sect Leader, you too are at the late Golden Core stage. Perhaps even you could have hope of breaking through all the way until the Nascent Soul stage.”
“Elder Li, there is enough spiritual qi here to reach all the way until the peak Nascent Soul stage, something unheard of for millennia, but we are not the only ones hoping to benefit. A few of the truly old seniors appear to be here too.”
Elder Li tentatively spread his spiritual sense and felt the aura’s of several ancient Nascent Soul ancestors, such was the appeal of the sudden explosion of spiritual qi.
These ancestors lay in coffins on ships belonging to their respective cultivation sects, which were biggest sects there were within the cultivation world who bullied the smaller sects with their might.
The ancestors already had one foot in the grave as their lifespans had been expended, but the ever dwindling spiritual qi within the world had all but sealed their fates. They sealed themselves within these coffins filled with high grade spirit stones in order to remain living, even if their bodies looked more undead than alive.
Their power also remained in its near entirety, but using it would only diminish what life they have managed to preserve.
Off to one side, a smaller sect tried to get a head start in absorbing the spiritual qi in the air but only attracted the attention of everyone else.
Sword energies flew through the night and other esoteric attacks in the form of phantoms and devils appeared. The small sect could barely resist the swarm of attacks before their defenses where overwhelmed and an early Golden Core sword cultivator cleaved their giant ship in two and sending them all into the ocean where a plethora of hungry ancient beasts lurked.
The waters churned from the battle and luminescent jellyfish scattered all over before everything returned to its former calmness.
The beasts had also been absorbing the spiritual qi since before the cultivators arrived, but none dared to battle them. These beasts had no concerns eating cultivators to absorb their spiritual qi, but wouldn’t leave the ocean unprovoked when there were alternatives.
Among the cultivators though, everyone wanted the spiritual qi but nobody wanted to share.
The Heaven Defying Sect’s Sect Leader, Han Jiming, spoke to the elder beside him. “Elder Li, activate all our defensive formations and get the sect members ready. We will soon begin absorbing as much spiritual qi as we can. I hope to break through, and also give our disciples a head start against other sect’s disciples.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
The battle for the spiritual qi was only going to become more fierce the more the remaining amount dwindled, which everyone already knew. There was also a good chance that one of the old fogies would make a move, or breakthrough on the spot and start a slaughter to erase the competition.
The situation only became more chaotic as hundreds of science fiction air ships illuminated the ocean and the sky with giant flood lights.
A voice was then broadcast from the electronic speaker of the leading ship whilst supporting superhumans exited and used technology to achieve flight.
“Eastern cultivators, this energy pocket has been agreed upon by the UN Governing Body for the usage of the preservation of nature and its native spiritual lifeforms. Your act of absorbing the resonant energy of the Quantum-4R field is a blatant action against life on this planet. Cease immediately and return to your country, or we will resort to military intervention.”
Missile bays on the ships opened whilst a cold killing intent was emitted from the cultivators. A few other forces also arrived to profit on the energy detected, but most remained on the sidelines and waited to see how things turned out between the two superpowers here.
One one side was the Protectorate, an international armed force that employed a large number of heroes and mages. They not only held government contracts but also dealt with a large amount of private contracts as well. Their public appearance was extremely important so a portion of their profits also went towards charity work around the globe.
They didn’t branch into China however, as all Chinese heroes and superhumans were under the banner of Eastern Guardians, a PRC controlled agency whose relationship with the Protectorate was tense.
On the other side was a coalition of the largest cultivation sects within China, whose values had not changed for the last millennia.
The Eastern Guardians had also made an appearance, but the relations within China were complex, so they couldn’t simply support the cultivators.
The lid of a coffin on one the ships flew open and a decrepit corpse emanating the power of a middle stage Nascent Cultivator rose, sending emergency alarms in all the ships blaring at full volume inside.
“Arrogant mortals,” The shriveled lips of the corpse moved and its voice appeared inside everyone’s ears simultaneously regardless of distance or steel hull between them, speaking in perfect English. “You eliminated our country from your United Nations and then think you can dictate the rules? These are international waters, do not try to make a fool out of This Eminent. There will be no second warning.”
The situation devolved from there as hundreds of airships opened fire at once. Armor piercing rounds fell like rain whilst supersonic missiles were also released.
The Nascent Soul ancestor merely snorted and every missile and bullet aiming in his direction either exploded prematurely or were mysteriously deflected.
Golden taiji diagrams lit up in front of the other cultivator ships as they released all defensive measures and also counterattacked.
The cultivators had more flexibility in their attacks, which were often much more powerful than just some missiles, but the airships had a much greater maneuverability that the cultivator’s flying boats.
Throughout the entire battle. The cultivators continued absorbing as much spiritual qi as they could, whilst the Protectorate ships opened up specialized intake equipment which absorbed it and stored it into tanks.
The smaller forces secretly moved around the battlefield to find safe locations whilst giant terrifying gazes looked up from beneath the water surface, ready to attack at any moment.
The tensions between the east and the west were already strained, and this conflict only made them worse.
Some of the other ancestors had noticed Thomas’ presence earlier in the distance, but none of them mentioned that. In their senses, he was a source of intrigue as well as caution, considering he was capable of creating an explosion in spiritual energy that everyone was desperate to obtain whilst not having a trace of spiritual qi on himself.
He was an unknown monster, perhaps even some kind of outer god, in their eyes. As he was heading in the direction of America though, they secretly rejoiced that he was their enemy’s problem whilst not warning them.
They even worked together, as if by some unspoken agreement, to keep everyone here and ensure Thomas reaches the shores of America undetected.
Subscribe and never miss a book or chapter release!
End Online Novel 