The High Priest

Zhang Yuanqing immediately sank his consciousness, passing through the sea of consciousness imprint to enter the Ninth Elder's body. In the pitch-black basement, the giant golden clam lay quietly. A powerful, vigorous heartbeat echoed from within its shells. "Thump-thump, thump-thump..." Beat after beat, each stronger than the last. The creature inside the shell was about to be born, but it definitely would not be right now, this very second! Which meant they needed to hold off the High Priest of the God of Light for a period of time. A group of level-8 Dominators resisting a peak level 9—even if Menia, Eriga, and Cynthia were mid- to late-stage level 8, that was still a full level gap. As for Zhang Yuanqing himself, his experience was infinitely close to level 8, while his actual combat prowess was hard to pin down; excluding items, his true combat power was comparable to a mid-stage level 8. Factoring in his numerous sets and high-quality items, he could even clash with a level-9 Dominator. After all, the Thunder God Set touched the threshold of level 9. 'Compared to the Holy See treasury incident, my experience has increased a lot. I can barely sustain the Thunder God Set for three minutes now. If I can disengage during that time to heal my injuries, the usage time will be even longer...' 'I'll act as the main force while the others support me. We have to stall for as much time as possible; the Primordial God is about to give birth...' Amid flashing thoughts, Zhang Yuanqing leaped out of the window, flying toward the whistling golden light. ... Standing atop the bell tower, Eriga had already proactively moved to intercept the golden light the moment it streaked toward Paphos Island. Wooosh... Colossal tornadoes erupted across the sea, their bases anchored in the ocean and their tops piercing the sky. Bloated funnel clouds bristling with countless wind blades rampaged over the water, shredding and devouring everything around them. The combination of hurricanes and wind blades was an Overlooker's strongest offensive capability—known as a mobile natural disaster. Even a Dominator of the same level trapped within would have no choice but to take the damage and continuously bleed health. Eriga's idea was simple: hold the enemy outside the island and under no circumstances allow the High Priest of the God of Light to set foot on it. Amid the apocalyptic scene, the golden light entered the storm zone. Soon, a high-pitched, resonant chant echoed over the sea: "Calamity has arrived. Believe in the light; calm the storm, dispel calamity..." The chant carried an extraordinary rhythm that leveraged supernatural power. The raging sea instantly fell still, and the giant storms connecting sea and sky shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye. The golden light traveled unimpeded through the rapidly subsiding storm zone. A fierce glint flashed in Eriga's eyes, his pupils turning transparent. Cyan air currents gathered above his head, weaving into a materialized crown. The tempest swirled behind him, forming a pair of ten-meter-long wings of wind. His demeanor shifted into complete indifference, his expression ice-cold, like an incarnation of the sky and a vessel of rules, devoid of living emotions or joy and sorrow. This was the Overlooker's passive skill: Sky Dominator! It suppressed all flying creatures active in the sky. The suppression effect depended on the relative levels. Against an opponent of the same level, it suppressed 50% of their current level's attributes. Against an enemy one level higher, the suppression ranged between 10% and 30%, depending on experience points. Like a deity decreeing an edict, Eriga commanded, "Descend!" The meteor-like golden light visibly slowed, as if meeting layered resistance. The weakened hurricanes swelled once more, regaining their terrifying momentum, though still somewhat weaker than before. Eriga snapped his massive wind wings shut. Dozens, hundreds of hurricanes converged from all directions to strangle that stubborn sphere of golden light bent on crossing the ocean to reach Paphos Island. At last, the golden light came to a halt, hovering at the center of the storm. Only then was the High Priest within the golden light revealed. He was an elderly man with white hair and a white beard, wearing a laurel wreath and a pristine white robe. About two meters tall, he was imposing and burly. On his back hung a light brown greatbow accompanied by six arrows forged of pure gold. Pure golden light shone around the laurel-crowned elder, forming a twenty-meter-diameter spherical barrier. Within the barrier, laws were self-contained! The hurricanes carrying countless wind blades crowded outside the barrier, crashing and grinding against it madly, yet unable to shake it in the slightest. The High Priest's flecked-gold pupils stared at the godlike Eriga. He took down the greatbow and nocked a golden arrow. The greatbow was instantly drawn into a full moon. A bowstring hummed between heaven and earth. A ray of golden light shot forth; along its trajectory, storms dissipated, and all spiritual power was vaporized by the brilliance. Eriga immediately erected a wind wall before the arrow's path. Yet in the next second, the wind wall was also purified. The goddess Menia jumped in front of Eriga, plunging her greatsword into the ground before her to erect a brass rampart. The rampart was similarly "melted through" by the golden arrow, failing to impede it. At the crucial moment, a current of electricity leaped from afar, coalescing into a figure clad in lightning armor and wrapped in crackling lightning. Zhang Yuanqing shoved Menia aside. In his hands gathered boundless, blinding lightning as he gripped the radiant golden arrow. Pfft! Without meeting the slightest hindrance, the golden arrow blew apart his hands and punched through his chest, followed by another muffled puncture behind him. Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. Whirling around, he saw that Eriga's chest had also been pierced through, and the golden arrow continued onward into the distance, sailing past Paphos Island and plunging into the sea. Rumble! Hundreds, thousands of tons of seawater were "vaporized" by the divine power of the sun, flashing into steam in the depths before collapsing back into the water with a thunderous roar like an erupting submarine volcano. Eriga opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Golden flames simultaneously erupted from his mouth, nostrils, eye sockets, and ear canals. In just one second, this high-ranking Dominator was reduced to a glowing red skeleton, his soul burned to ashes by the divine power of the sun. Immediately afterward, golden flames also burst from Zhang Yuanqing's facial orifices, but he did not die like Eriga. The Thunder God Set granted him the status of early-stage level 9, and as a Day Wanderer who specialized in the sun, he possessed extremely high resistance. Even so, the searing divine power of the sun still inflicted grievous injury upon him, drastically reducing his wearable time for the Thunder God Set from three minutes down to thirty seconds. He had no spare vitality left to withstand the Thunder God's erosion. This was a peak Dominator? This was what a fucking peak Dominator was!! Cold sweat instantly soaked Zhang Yuanqing's back. He hurriedly opened his inventory, pulled out the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade, and activated its "Sever Form" skill. Sever Form, which ignored all physical defense! Bzzzt... Bright blue electric arcs crackled. Lightning power rushed wildly into his right hand and poured into the blade. "Eat my Super Railgun slash!" Zhang Yuanqing flicked his finger, launching the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade. Boom! A thick bolt of lightning flashed and vanished. The air crackled furiously as electric arcs crawled across half the sky. Empowered and propelled by lightning, the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade approached the speed of light, striking the spherical barrier in an instant. Crack! Bang! The Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade shattered inch by inch, breaking into fragments. The spherical barrier detonated at the impact, and the defensive laws in this area dissipated. Zhang Yuanqing had no time to grieve the loss. Transforming into starlight, he escaped to a spot not far from the High Priest, opened his inventory, and summoned the Seven Stars Lantern Array. Lanterns burning with eerie green candlelight emerged one after another, forming an array that trapped the High Priest within. Turning into starlight again, Zhang Yuanqing escaped into the distance. He immediately deactivated the Thunder God Set, brought out Life Source Fluid, and injected it into his jugular vein. He did not expect the Seven Stars Lantern Array to hold the High Priest for long; buying just a bit of time was enough—enough for his physical condition to recover and reset the Thunder God Set's usage duration. Inside the array, the High Priest raised his head with a solemn expression, staring at the strange floating lanterns he had never seen before. Like a tiger encountering a donkey for the first time. After waiting a dozen seconds and seeing nothing unusual from the Seven Stars Lanterns floating overhead, the High Priest took the initiative to attack, tentatively flicking out a ray of golden light that destroyed one sky lantern. Instantly, sword qi rained down like a tempest, riddling the High Priest like a sieve, leaving him covered in bloody puncture wounds. Golden light flared across the High Priest's body, and all his wounds healed completely. Having instantly gauged the strength of the lantern array, he repeatedly flicked his fingers to fire ray after ray of golden light, detonating bursts of interwoven gold and green flames in midair. 'The High Priest's attack power isn't excessively high, and his physical defense is mediocre. Aside from the terrifying arrows he fires, his normal damage output can't instantly kill me... The God of Light class possesses healing, beast-taming, calming disasters, laws, and archery mastery...' 'There are six arrows in total—six guaranteed kills—and he has already used one...' Zhang Yuanqing rapidly analyzed the enemy's skills, formulating a battle plan in his mind. In less than five minutes, hundreds of Seven Stars Lanterns were destroyed one by one. His physical condition fully restored, Zhang Yuanqing immediately summoned the Thunder God Set, transforming into an imposing Fallen Thunder God wrapped in crackling lightning. The High Priest drew another golden arrow, nocked it to the string, and drew it taut, aiming straight at Zhang Yuanqing.