Chapter 2: Thunder Sea Phenomenon

That evil, twisted face lunged down to devour him. Black fog billowed, as if darkness had fallen over the earth itself, suffocating and panic-inducing. Malice, hatred, slaughter…endless waves of negative emotion surged in, drowning Seth Santee's body and battering his will. "So you want to crush my will and replace it?" His will seemed to corrode under the pressure, agony so fierce it defied words. The face trying to swallow him had to belong to a top-tier powerhouse from the Myriad Worlds. Even after countless ages of death, it had left behind a wisp of undying will. And it was not alone. The faces hanging in the heavens above did not seem entirely dead either. Boom! Seth's will wavered. Even his body trembled, as if those poisonous emotions were about to stuff him full until nothing remained. "My vengeance isn't paid. You want to steal my body? Keep dreaming!" "This is my Dao Bone. The Stars of All Heavens are under my control!" His voice rang with iron certainty. The runes on his Dao Bone seemed to flow outward, flaring around him and blooming with the aura of the Primal Order. The Stars of All Heavens resonated with those runes. Dao Resonance thundered. In the blink of an eye, the horrific faces vanished, as if crushed beneath absolute suppression. Only the face that had forced its way into Seth's will still struggled. It unleashed a world-shaking roar that sent his Sea of Consciousness quaking violently. Buzz! The runes on the Dao Bone blazed even brighter, like divine light woven into a net. The face, unwilling though it was, gradually dispersed. The will hidden within it fused into Seth's own. "Poison Emperor!" In an instant, Seth's Sea of Consciousness filled with countless Poison Arts, all inherited from that will that had tried to devour him. In ages past, the Poison Emperor had used Poison Arts to ravage the living, bathing the world in blood, until a towering figure suppressed and killed him. "So this counts as an unexpected gain." Seth recalled the terror of having his will nearly torn apart, lingering fear still clinging to him. Yet the Poison Emperor's unfathomable Poison Arts were no small harvest. His awareness withdrew from the hidden space within the Dao Bone, and his eyes snapped open. He was still in Showyer Manor. The scene of his Dao Bone being dug out felt vivid, as if it had happened moments ago. "They didn't kill me. That means Evelyn Showyer hasn't fully awakened the Dao Bone yet," Seth murmured inwardly. If it had awakened, he would have been the first to die. He did not hesitate. He sat cross-legged at once. In his Sea of Consciousness, Dao Chapters emerged: Undying Heavenly Art. The moment the Cultivation Art began to circulate, ancient, mysterious characters surfaced in his eyes, as though they contained an eternal secret. Heaven and Earth Energy poured in like a flood, surging through his body and tempering his meridians. Every particle within him seemed to brim with strength. Even more clearly, he sensed that the True Essence condensed through the Heavenly Art was vastly superior to the True Essence he had gathered before. In less than half an hour, a roar like mountains collapsing and seas howling erupted from within Seth! "Bitter Sea!" Joy crashed through him. With his Bitter Sea opened, he became a Martial Cultivator once more! A Martial Cultivator defied the heavens and fought against fate. The first realm of cultivation was the Bitter Sea Realm, crossing the Bitter Sea to reach The Other Shore! What surprised Seth even more was this: unlike the blue Bitter Sea of ordinary cultivators, his Bitter Sea shone red-gold. "So this is the Bitter Sea of the Undying Dao Body!" At the same time, the Undying Dao Bone at the center of that red-gold Bitter Sea burst into dazzling, blinding divine light. A terrifying mental intent seemed to spear straight into the nine heavens, piercing beyond the sky itself! Rumble, rumble, rumble! Above Showyer Manor, Tribulation Cloud churned. Vast thunder rolled in with a furious roar. Red-gold lightning spread into a boundless Thunder Sea, spilling a heart-stopping aura of destruction. Within it, the True Dragon and Divine Phoenix streaked back and forth, tearing open the firmament! "Celestial Phenomenon!" Farwind City was jolted fully awake. Countless people stared toward Showyer Manor. Who had triggered a Celestial Phenomenon? Inside the manor, the commotion erupted as well. Jace Showyer hurried to Evelyn Showyer's room. When he saw his daughter radiant and brimming with vigor, he asked excitedly, "You succeeded?" "I did." Evelyn's expression was proud, her chin lifted. "The Innate Dao Bone awakened within me. I've become an Innate Dao Body. And my Cultivation Level broke through two realms in a row. I've stepped into the Eighth Level of the Bitter Sea Realm!" In Farwind City, the Eighth Level of the Bitter Sea Realm already meant elder status! "Dao Bone awakened, Eighth Level of the Bitter Sea Realm…so the Celestial Phenomenon was caused by you!" Jace was ecstatic. "Then the Farwind City Grand Competition seven days from now will be a foregone conclusion. Even without that cripple Seth Santee, all the Mineral Vein Resources will still be under the Showyer family's control!" "Any word from the Warth family?" Evelyn asked. Her gaze no longer stopped at Farwind City. "On the day of the Farwind City Grand Competition, the Warth family will personally send an elder here to propose. They also promised to arrange your entry into Skyreach Academy for cultivation, as an elder's personal disciple!" Jace threw back his head and laughed. "It's time to get rid of that cripple Seth Santee." A sliver of killing intent flashed through Evelyn's cold eyes. Her future was destined to blaze with glory, and Seth's existence was a stain on it. "Don't worry. No one knows he ever had a Dao Bone. Tonight's Thunder Sea Phenomenon will only tell the world that the Showyer family has produced an unrivaled genius. No one will remember Seth Santee's name ever again!" … Inside his room, Seth had no idea the outside world had been shaken by the phenomenon, much less that everyone had pinned it on Evelyn. He remained immersed in cultivation, tireless and focused. Bang! The door was shoved open with brute force, tearing him out of his cultivation. "You're still not dead?" The young man in the doorway frowned. "Landon Showyer." Cold light flared in Seth's eyes. Evelyn's cousin. "You want me dead that badly?" "If you died, it would save me some trouble." Landon strode in. "I've got to hand it to you. You suffered Cultivation Deviation, your Cultivation Level got ruined, and you still dared to set your sights on Evelyn. That's practically begging to die." "Cultivation Deviation? Set my sights on her?" Seth sneered inwardly. Jace and his daughter were truly skilled at weaving lies. They had even fooled their own people. "Too bad," Seth said, staring at Landon with icy calm, as if the man barely mattered. "You can't kill me." "You still think you're the former top genius of Farwind City?" Landon exploded. "Go take a piss and look at your reflection. You're a cripple with no cultivation. You're not even fit to be my dog!" Back then, Seth had crushed Farwind City's younger generation. In Showyer Manor, even Landon, a direct-line young master, had to follow his orders. Landon had long wanted Seth dead. Boom! The aura of the Fifth Level of the Bitter Sea Realm erupted. Landon took a single step forward, his fist wrapped in the glow of True Essence as he smashed it toward Seth in fury! Thud! A hand caught his fist. "Y-you…weren't you turned into a cripple?" A tyrannical surge of True Essence drove into Landon's arm. Terror flooded his face as his meridians felt like they were about to be crippled completely. "Sorry to disappoint you." Seth released Landon's fist with one hand. With the other, he clamped down on Landon's throat and slammed him hard into the wall. Dust shook loose. The entire room seemed to tremble. Landon spat blood, his eyes already going unfocused. "You want to kill me? Sending a dog won't cut it."