The Poorest Mighty Ones

When Adulam saw Yu Xian, he gave him a live demonstration of how fast a face could turn. Surprise, bewilderment, shock, terror, despair—his pupils dilated and contracted in turn, shifting erratically before turning completely manic. Even a cornered rat will bite. Realizing he could neither flee nor win, Adulam bristled in sheer desperation. Then, with a single command from Yu Xian, the battle began. A black summoned beast resembling a gorilla, though with three heads and six arms, was the first to clash with Adulam. The instant they collided, the beast's strength was pilfered away. Fist met fist, yet the summoned beast's arm—many times thicker than Adulam's—fractured instead. In the next breath, the entire limb swelled wildly, blew apart, and dissolved into a mist of blood. Right then, a summoned beast wielding a bone blade appeared behind Adulam, slashing its frigid edge toward his neck. Adulam spun around and pinched the bone blade between his fingers. A flash of blade light sliced out from his other arm, severing the summoned beast's neck clean off. Another beam of light shot forward. Adulam swung the decapitated beast around, using its carcass to intercept the blast. Yet more attacks converged upon him. He blocked frantically, but the onslaught was simply too overwhelming. With a thunderous roar, his body was swallowed whole by fire and lightning. "You want to kill me? Not that easy!" "Endless Robbery!" In the next second, Adulam burst out of the explosion. Though bruised and battered all over, his hands firmly gripped ten distinct stolen attacks. Locking onto Yu Xian, he whipped both hands forward. The attacks he had stolen hurled straight toward Yu Xian, crossing thousands of meters in an instant. A flash of white light erupted, and the horrifying blast imploded inward as rapidly as it flared, as though seeking to crush everything at its epicenter to dust. Yet after the blast cleared, Yu Xian sat completely unharmed upon the back of the bull. "How is that possible?!" Adulam cried out in sheer disbelief. Those ten attacks had possessed formidable power, and he had even deliberately augmented them, infusing them with strength he had stolen in the past. Even if Yu Xian had been stronger than him, he should have suffered injuries, let alone when Yu Xian's raw cultivation was clearly below his own. Yu Xian, however, clearly had no intention of kindly explaining why he was unscathed. The next moment, Adulam was swallowed by an even greater deluge of attacks. This time, even if he managed to steal a fraction of their power, it proved utterly useless, for the incoming barrage was an endless, relentless stream. The instant he tried to break out of the fiery detonations, several incoming strikes blasted him right back in. Watching this, Yu Xian's expression remained serene. His choice to sit atop this bull-like summoned beast had been far from random; its abilities were tied to protection, and all of Adulam's previous attacks had been absorbed by it. With the bull's defensive prowess, it could easily withstand several more rounds like that, so Yu Xian hadn't even needed to dodge. Unfortunately, Adulam clearly had no chance of mounting another offense. Under the dense onslaught of summoned beasts, his wounds steadily worsened until even moving grew difficult. Every attack he stole had to be expended immediately to fend off other attacks, which was nothing more than trying to put out a burning cartload of firewood with a cup of water. At this point, the fight was essentially over; Adulam had zero chance of turning the tables. The battle on the other side was equally devoid of suspense. Although Gong Qian had initially fallen into a disadvantage against the Emerald Dragon, once Nora and Niman intervened, the outcome was sealed just as quickly. A day and a night passed in the blink of an eye. Adulam and the Emerald Dragon, both half-dead, were tossed onto the deck of the Aska. Muse promptly suppressed them both, stripping them of any ability to resist. "Speak. Why did you suddenly chase after us? Why attack us again out of nowhere?" Yu Xian asked, looking down at Adulam and the Emerald Dragon lying there like dead dogs. Earlier, Adulam and the Emerald Dragon had clearly only wanted them to leave; they wouldn't have pursued without reason. Adulam glanced at the Emerald Dragon. He hadn't expected the two of them to lose so quickly and so completely. They were supposed to be far stronger than Yu Xian, yet when they actually fought, they turned out to be completely outmatched. "You don't have to answer," Niman said with a sweet smile, "but don't blame us if we search your souls. If you turn into idiots, you'll have no one to blame but yourselves." Hearing this, Adulam and the Emerald Dragon obediently confessed. After all, being stubborn was pointless. Once soul-searching began, not only would their hidden secrets be exposed, but they would suffer terribly in the process. A moment later, Niman was holding the broken triangular ruler. She genuinely hadn't expected Adulam and the Emerald Dragon to pursue them specifically for such a gadget. The triangular ruler's effect was indeed rather remarkable: any object enclosed within lines drawn by it gained an effect of permanence. In simple terms, if you drew a triangle on a stone, that stone became indestructible. For Adulam and the Emerald Dragon, this was clearly a magnificent artifact. The inside of Adulam's robe was covered in triangles drawn with the ruler, which explained why, even though Yu Xian's summoned beasts had beaten him to a pulp and covered him in wounds, his robe hadn't torn in the slightest. "..." Except for Zhang Shou and Gong Qian, everyone present wore rather subtle expressions. Little Nora spoke up naively, "Are you two really Mighty Ones? How are you so poor, chasing us down just for a single tool?" "What do you mean 'just for a single item'?! This is an item endowed with power beyond Mighty Ones! A Transcender must have infused it with their power—it's a divine artifact!" Adulam shouted agitatedly. Little Nora silently reached into her spatial backpack and pulled out a bowl. Then a spoon. Then a bracelet. Then a pair of shoes. Then a bangle... Adulam and the Emerald Dragon, who had been shouting in agitation, still had their discerning eyes even with their power suppressed by Muse. Their shock gave way to sheer, slack-jawed stupor as they watched Little Nora pile up a small mountain of items right before their eyes in the blink of an eye. Every single piece possessed an aura remarkably similar to their triangular ruler. Some, just from their faint presence, were clearly extraordinary. "..." Adulam and the Emerald Dragon fell silent. Just who on earth had they run into? Were these people the illegitimate children of Transcenders? Little Nora, having pulled all the items out, put them back away and asked curiously, "Are normal Mighty Ones as poor as you two?" "..." Adulam and the Emerald Dragon flashed smiles that were impoverished yet painfully awkward, utterly unable to refute her. They too began to feel that they were rather broke, and even started wondering if they were the disgrace of all Mighty Ones. Could they truly be the two poorest Mighty Ones in the Myriad Heavens and Realms?