Beneath the terrified gazes of countless people across the world, the Supreme Sword in Huang Tian's hand had already swept down!
Sword qi that could split the river of stars, sword light that could tear the cosmos, the unmatched might of a divine sword—
There was none of it.
All was as mild as wind and cloud. In the instant the sword fell, it only raised a faint breeze in midair, and that breeze did no more than stir his sleeves, setting them drifting gently.
"Wh-what is this?" Someone stared, wide-eyed.
"Where is that sword qi capable of destroying the universe? Why has it vanished?"
"Could it be an illusion? Does this sword have no use at all, and exist only to frighten people?"
"Damn it! I was actually made a fool of by a sword!"
"And this is still called the Supreme Sword? Better to call it the Sword of Fear. Aside from filling the heart with despair and terror, it does nothing whatsoever!"
"But even after seeing with my own eyes that this sword hasn't the slightest power, I am still terrified of it beyond measure. I don't dare look straight at it. Why?"
"The reason is simple. This is an oddity capable of twisting a person's spirit and will. Anyone who sees it will feel fear rise unbidden. It has nothing at all to do with your identity, your station, your strength, or anything else.
"Unless you possess a Mental Bulwark, you cannot ignore it. A so-called Mental Bulwark means the mind has raised a wall that can block the spiritual attack of any oddity."
"Hiss—then Huang Tian, the Lord on High, also possesses something like a Mental Bulwark?!"
Amid the seething talk, Callum and the whiskered man gazed at Huang Tian. Both fell silent, awe rising in their hearts.
No one had imagined that, besides being able to regrow severed limbs, and besides surviving even if his brain and heart exploded, Huang Tian would also have a resistance of the spirit, and be untouched by oddities!
Neither flesh nor spirit had a weakness. It was too outrageous. It drove one to despair.
How were they supposed to deal with an existence like this? The two looked at each other, the cry rising in their hearts.
Hua~
At that moment, "God" Wyatt revived once again. Only this time, the anger on his face was gone, replaced by a trace of worry.
He had already been killed forty times in a row!
Pu~ His body burst apart on the spot. A dense rain of blood sprayed over the earth, dyeing the ground a stretch of crystalline red.
Mm. And now it was the forty-first—
Wyatt's latest death jolted everyone out of their shock.
An elder of Eden, white at the temples, slowly let out a breath. "He is strong. Extremely strong! Beyond our estimates. As things stand, he has almost no weaknesses. If we want to deal with him, we must annihilate his body in a single instant. Only then would he be unable to regrow limbs, or even be reborn from a drop of blood.
"Or else, use that spear."
Someone beside him took it up. "There's nothing to think over. Use that spear directly. If even it is useless, we need not struggle any further."
No one spoke for several seconds. Then another person nodded. "I have no objection."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
After this brief exchange, the white-haired elder gave the order. "Have Hardy go out with that spear."
"Yes!"
In less than half a minute, a middle-aged man appeared below Huang Tian and the others, his torso bare, solid muscle on display. He looked up at Huang Tian in the sky, drew a short spear from behind his back, and called out, "Sir, this is the final blow!"
Huang Tian, who had just "absorbed" the Supreme Sword, heard him and looked down at Hardy and the short spear. The short spear was much the same as the Supreme Sword. Nothing could be made out from it either. It was just as plain and unremarkable.
Mm. Nearly every oddity was this ordinary, as if divine things hid their own light. When they were not in use, no one knew how absurd and outlandish they truly were.
Then they saw Hardy raise the short spear. Muscles knotted all over his body, and he roared, "Go!"
The short spear left his hand, yet it did not fly like an arrow. It vanished all at once. In a thousandth of a finger-snap, as if it had crossed space itself, it appeared directly at the very center of Huang Tian's chest.
The spear tip stabbed in through the front of his chest, pierced his torso, and the butt of the spear remained exposed before his chest.
There was no scene of blood spraying. It was as if the short spear had been embedded in his body from the very beginning.
The next second, the short spear blazed. A layer of deep-blue light rose along the shaft and spread rapidly outward, like ripples over flowing water, running the length of his body—from his chest to the crown of his head and both feet, from skin down into flesh, blood, and marrow—
Huang Tian's expression froze at once.
His face was calm, his gaze deep and still. It seemed he had not yet had time to make a single move before that layer of deep-blue light had enveloped him completely.
Then, as if the world had gone still, he hung there in midair. Even his sleeves no longer stirred. Time ceased to pass around him. He was like a god's statue, frozen in place.
"Did it work?" Hardy's body went taut, a searching look in his eyes.
One second, two seconds, three—several seconds passed, and Huang Tian still showed no reaction at all. He did not so much as blink.
"It worked!" The white-haired elder let out a long breath, a smile rising on his face. "We have contained the most powerful humanoid oddity known to date!"
A colleague nodded and smiled. "Worthy of the Seal Spear. Whatever lies in sight, it ignores spatial distance, ignores realm, and seals the target outright."
"Haha. It's only that we don't dare try it. Otherwise, one thrust of the spear could seal even the sun blazing in the sky!" another said with pride.
The several from Eden all let out a breath, talking and laughing at their ease, until one of them frowned and asked in puzzlement, "We all know that this Huang Tian, the Lord on High, once seized a ring of absolute defense from the Holy Emperor Sect Master. Why didn't he use it just now? By my guess, the Seal Spear should be unable to break that ring's protection—"
At these words, everyone's expressions stalled.
"Mm, perhaps he simply had no time to use it? After all, the Seal Spear is too fast, far too fast. There is no time at all to react."
"I rather think that ring, like the other oddities, has already been devoured by him, so of course he cannot use it."
"I also think it was devoured."
"If that is truly the case, then all we can say is that we were far too lucky."
"I, on the other hand, think the ring is still in his hands, but that he is too confident—confident to the point of extreme arrogance. He believes no oddity can restrain him, and that is why he does not use the ring."
"Those who drown are often the ones who can swim. The arrogant are bound to die by the very thing they rely on."
"Talking of this now is already meaningless. Whether or not the ring is on him, and whether or not he is arrogant, he has already been sealed. We have successfully contained him."
Listening to his colleagues, the white-haired elder said coolly, "Tell Callum, Hardy, and the others to bring Huang Tian, the Lord on High, back to headquarters. Be careful. Do not touch the Seal Spear, lest some unknown change occur."
"Yes!"
In the sky, Callum, having received the order, flew up before Huang Tian and reached out. The moment his fingers touched the other's clothes, Huang Tian's whole body gave a slight tremor, then dispersed into nothing like cloud and mist. Only the Seal Spear remained, floating quietly in midair.
"Hm?!"
Callum, and Hardy and the others on the ground, all stared wide-eyed, their minds buzzing. "The Seal Spear clearly has no power to annihilate a body. How did he crumble away to ash and smoke?"
Just as they stood lost and bewildered, a palm as clear as jade suddenly reached out of the void and seized the Seal Spear. Behind the palm came an arm, a body—an utterly familiar figure appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Huang Tian, the Lord on High, has revived?!!" Countless hearts were shaken.
Limb regrowth. Flesh that could not be defeated.
A Mental Bulwark, ignoring the twisting of the spirit.
And he could revive, damn it!
So complete in every way—was there any justice left under heaven?!
"An oddity that can ignore realm and seal a person is indeed a fine one."
Holding the short spear, Huang Tian looked it over, appreciation in his eyes.
Just now, when the Seal Spear pierced his chest, that spiritual-power avatar of his had indeed been sealed. He could not move in the slightest, as if the flow of time had stopped.
A pity that his True Immortal body had not yet shown itself. One spiritual-power avatar being sealed was no great matter. He had only to break it apart and condense a new one.
As for why he had not used the Shelter Ring at the start, it was because he had long since reached the realm of divine clarity and could perceive crisis. If the Seal Spear could follow the line of cause and effect and kill his True Immortal body, a sense of danger would have arisen in him of its own accord. But none had come, and so he had not minded experiencing the oddity's nature for himself.
Huang Tian's gaze left the short spear and turned to the utterly stunned Hardy and the others. Spiritual pressure surged. Hardy instantly exploded into a pulp of flesh, and the several who had given the orders earlier likewise burst into a mist of blood!
Right after, Huang Tian's calm voice spread through the whole imperial capital. "Any other means left?"
At this, a mid-level member of Eden flew out in fear and trepidation, bent in a bow, and said, "That truly was the final blow. We are willing to hand over every oddity, and to cooperate with you in containing them safely, in exchange for your forgiveness!"
In truth, if Eden wished to resist to the death, they could still have managed it. After all, although oddities had appeared only about a year ago, oddities theoretically capable of destroying the universe had already come into the world.
For example, they had once contained a Killer Wax Figure. This wax figure would kill every living thing it saw, but its fighting strength was about the same as an ordinary person's. The threat seemed very small. How could an ordinary person destroy the world, let alone the universe?
But its nature was deeply frightening: every two seconds, its numbers doubled!
In only a very short time, its numbers could fill all of Canxing, and then fill star systems, rivers of stars, even the vast universe!
Of course, whether it could actually fill the universe was still a question. No one knew whether this oddity could truly increase without an upper limit, and no one dared to try—
But one thing was beyond doubt. It could absolutely fill all of Canxing, and then kill every human by sheer numbers!
If they released this oddity, they might be able to resist Huang Tian. But even if they succeeded, what meaning would there be?
No one wanted to die. The people of Eden were no exception, especially if it meant dying by an oddity they themselves had released. That would be both worthless and absurd beyond measure.
"Please come with me into headquarters," the mid-level member said.
Huang Tian nodded, absorbed the Seal Spear, and then threw another punch, blasting apart Wyatt, who had revived yet again—then took a step and walked at the mid-level member's side.
"Please."
"All right."
Seeing this, the ordinary people of the nations of the world thought little of it. After all, those earlier folk oddity-containment organizations had also given in very quickly. This was merely the same scene again.
But for the official containment organizations of the various nations, it felt entirely different. The Great Western Empire, in particular, was one of the most powerful nations in the world. If even it had given in, that more or less meant the cause was already lost—
"Could it be that every oddity will in the end belong to one person?" Quite a few sighed.
"A person? He may not be a person. Perhaps he is a humanoid oddity. If every oddity is devoured by him, he may grow into the most terrifying monster in the world! By then, humanity will have no chance of resistance left!"
"Heh. You think he isn't terrifying now?"
"I'll say again what I said before. In this whole star system, in the universe, humanity is nothing but a grain of sand. No—not even a grain of sand. Don't think too highly of yourselves. Even if he becomes the strongest oddity in the world, so what? What need is there for him to go out of his way to kill us? Is he that idle?"
While the official containment organizations of the various nations were locked in fierce argument, Huang Tian was leisurely absorbing every last oddity in Eden headquarters: the Killer Wax Figure, the Lie Detector, the Singing-and-Dancing Cabbage, the Inextinguishable Match, the Perfect Cosmetic Machine—
Some of these oddities were not very powerful, but they had considerable practical value. The Lie Detector, for instance: if anyone told a lie, it was certain to be detected. Or the Perfect Cosmetic Machine, which could, according to a person's facial contours, shape the most perfect appearance belonging to that person alone.
He spent some time, and when every oddity had been contained, Huang Tian flew out of Eden headquarters, stood high in the sky, and quietly waited a little while.
Hua~
Wyatt, who had already died forty-eight times in a row, revived once more. This time he truly felt fear, for he came to know, in some unseen way, that this was his final chance to revive!
If he was killed forty-nine times in succession within a single day, he would die for good!
"Spare—"
The word had barely left his mouth when a palm of crystalline flesh came smashing down on his head!
Boom!
His skull burst. Blood and flesh flew. Wyatt's body went abruptly rigid, then gave off a wash of faint light. Beneath that shroud of light, he changed from a headless corpse into a clear crystal.
Huang Tian raised a hand and beckoned, seizing the crystal in his grasp, and at once he knew: if he were willing to fuse with the crystal, he could immediately become the new "God"!
He shook his head. He held the crystal for thirty seconds, and it turned into a point of light and flew into his body.
And just then, a sudden change erupted. Within him there suddenly appeared a Crystal Sphere, crystalline and transparent, radiating a profound mystery. A little more than one-third of the sphere was filled with blue-violet.
If it were filled completely, he would obtain a great fortune, and glimpse the hidden Root—
An inexplicable intuition arose, and he felt all the more stirred. He looked all around, laughed aloud, and said, "Next target, Yinshi!"
With that, his figure vanished from high in the sky. In a flash, the countless people watching the livestream saw him appear above the capital of Yinshi. About an hour and a half passed. Aside from the Shenwei Federation, he had already traveled through every nation and contained every last oddity. Nearly seven-tenths of the Crystal Sphere within him had turned blue-violet.
"Still a little short—"
He murmured. His figure shifted, and he appeared above the headquarters of the Oddity Management Association in the Shenwei Federation!
Chapter 249