Chapter 485 - 483:'Is that him?'

Chapter 485: Chapter 483:“Is that him?”

Deep within Lin Tian’s consciousness.

The old soul residing within his spirit stood confused as he was suddenly cut off from the rest of the world.

One moment he was watching his young protégé avoid a major catastrophe, the next moment his entire world had become nothing but darkness.

Now, naturally, Lin Tian’s subconscious was dark, but this darkness was different. It felt all-consuming. All-present. It felt... ABSOLUTE.

A sudden feeling of unease began sprouting from within as he suddenly felt like an isolated soul.

He tried to speak out, yet before he could voice anything,

HONG!!

The sky within the darkness split open as a bright golden light washed over the place for a split moment before settling down.

Curious, the old soul raised his head, trying to determine what had just happened, yet the moment he laid eyes on what had appeared within the skies, his body froze as an overwhelming fear took hold of him, his eyes locking onto what appeared to be the eyes of something.

He couldn’t make out what they were or what they belonged to. All he knew was that before those eyes, he was nothing.

With one a blinding gold that shone brighter than the sun, yet somehow was muted enough to not overwhelm the darkness, it felt like his very being would be consumed if he dared stare too long into it.

Yet, that eye was far less concerning than the other one.

It felt less like an eye and more like a gate to the beginning and end of all creation and something... something beyond even that.

It was nothing but a swirling nebula of darkness with an impossible number of starlights dancing mesmerizingly within, and the moment those eyes looked at him, he knew the only reason he still stood there, conscious, was because the being behind those eyes hadn’t yet decided if it wanted him dead or alive as it just looked on with the same interest a god would have in an ant...

NONE.

"Is that him?"

Bang!

The old soul’s knees immediately smashed into the conceptual floor of the soul space the moment he heard the voice of the being behind those eyes.

The voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. Yet the moment it registered within his psyche, his knees came crashing down of their own free will.

His face smashed into the ground headfirst as he maintained a subservient bowing gesture, his body trembling violently.

His entire being was screaming only one thing at the moment:

SUBMIT!!!

He knew. He could feel it. The being behind those eyes hadn’t done anything but speak. It hadn’t even released any auras of suppression. Yet his entire being felt it like the greatest blasphemy possible to maintain any posture that wasn’t one of absolute subservience before that voice, and so, he could only oblige as he knelt, shaking and terrified, waiting for whatever verdict was about to be passed over his poor soul.

....

....

A few moments earlier...

I watched in utter amusement as Lady Luo’s expression morphed from the usual indifferent one an overly self-indulgent elder would have, to one of absolute rage and fury.

Some form of dark satisfaction stirred within me as a manic grin began tugging slowly at the corners of my lips. But before it could fully form,

"Master... wait!" A voice cut into the rising tension as all eyes turned towards the person that had just spoken, and it was none other than...

"Hmmm..." The Wuxia world’s MC himself had finally acted. He looked out of breath, like he had just run a marathon, as his eyes were shaky, his attempt at keeping composure failing as he looked at his master.

"Interesting..." I mused internally as I watched Lady Luo turn towards her disciple.

"Did he sense something?" I couldn’t help asking, curious at how timely the intervention was.

I had already felt both Paku and Shulvan getting ready to set this place ablaze the moment Luo Yao had dared to utter another word of disrespect or do anything else that was foolish.

Her first words had only been pardoned because Shulvan clearly felt his master’s enjoyment at delivering punishment, but I knew the crimson-robed fella was already at his wit’s end, and had another word left Luo Yao, then everything here would’ve been exterminated thoroughly enough that fixing it would’ve been a pain for me. After all, the bastard had already tapped directly into OBLIVION, about to make their inexistence a permanent one, and it wasn’t just him.

Yet, this protagonistic character had actually stopped his master from committing her most fatal act yet.

"He didn’t." Shaia interrupted my thoughts as she answered. "He’s incapable of truly feeling anything out of the ordinary since your friends haven’t truly released any intent," she added.

"Then how.."

"It would seem the old spirit within his soul is quite the intuitive one. It must’ve been him that had felt something off. After all, it should be a fairly experienced person’s soul, and with experience comes a great sense for danger. He must’ve been the one to alert your protagonist to a feeling of danger, even if he didn’t know where it was coming from." Shaia deduced in that detective-like tone of hers.

"Hmmm... so you’re telling me some weird old man in a proverbial ring was the reason my fun got botched?"

"Basically, yes."

"Hmmm... alright then. I believe it’s time we pay this party pooper a visit. After all, I’m quite curious about who this soul could be," I decided on the spot. I was already planning on checking out which soul it was occupying this Lin Tian fellow’s consciousness, since Sana already had information on all the notable figures, both of the first Martial Spirit World era and now, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to identify whoever they are.

Now, this new development had just given me the perfect excuse to do so.

"What are you planning, husband?" Terra asked.

"Nothing, my dear, just paying someone a friendly visit."

"Your friendly visits tend to end with someone getting a one-way ticket to inexistence." Sana.

"Well, it’ll all depend on the attitude of the soul now, wouldn’t it?" I replied as a grin grew on my face, eyes locking together with the trembling gaze of Lin Tian as the man turned towards my direction.

He seemed to have felt my gaze on him.

"Well, it matters not either way. The situation hasn’t changed." With a single thought, the entire world froze as I didn’t even let the young man have a word out.

His job was to be the protagonist; his opinions and words weren’t necessary.

"Hmm? Dante? Something up?" Malachi asked as he felt all of reality come to a standstill, the others turning their attention towards me as well.

"Nothing much," I answered. "I just decided to pay someone a quick visit, and I didn’t want events running away from me."

"Hmm? Can we come too?" Salazar asked.

"Nope. Just stay here and wait for me; I won’t be long." Done with their questions, I closed my eyes as I took over the consciousness of Lin Tian, successfully cutting off the soul within him from all of existence, and then,

"Let’s see who you are then, shall we?" I thought in amusement as my eyes opened and fell upon the old figure looking around curiously.

Alerted to my presence, the old soul raised his head and then... froze the moment his gaze met mine.

The fear and terror within his eyes could clearly be seen and felt, yet I cared not for any of that as all I wanted to know was,

"Is that him?"

Bang!

The sound of the old soul’s knees crashing into the conceptual floor of this soul space echoed out as the man smashed his head into the floor as well.

His body trembled like a leaf in the wind as he remained in that deep bow.

A sudden silence fell within the consciousness I had isolated both of us in as I just... WATCHED.

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A/N: I know my bro Chris and some others might comparing about the call back, but like I always say, they’re necessary to see things from the view of both Dante and others, so bear with me... anyways, as always...

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Thanks for reading...