Limitless Cultivation: I Can Master Every Profession!-Chapter 247: The Last Reckoning (2)

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The power released from Yun She's cultivation base was by no means small, yet it was contained with a mere flick of a hand.

The sight left the three emperors speechless, each wondering just how strong this newcomer was.

Could he really have reached the final stage of the Spirit Realm? If so, why had they never known of such a force existing in the continent?

And more importantly, could he truly be the First Human Emperor?

If so, why was he only showing himself now? Where had he been all this time?

Questions ran through their minds, but none would be answered, for the other party had no intention of wasting time on them.

For Zhu Rong, eliminating the greatest threat to the three was the minimum he could do; as for the rest, that was their problem.

The emperors were indeed injured, but for beings like them, a brief moment of rest was enough to recover part of their strength, sufficient to handle the horde of corrupted beasts they had been fighting.

Zhu Rong closed his palm, and with that simple gesture, one that seemed to cause no difficulty or strain, he brutally suppressed the other's cultivation, enveloping it in what seemed like an impenetrable energy barrier.

Yun She felt his cultivation being crushed and soon found himself trapped within the sphere.

It made him nervous, he was strong, no doubt, and although he couldn't defeat the other, being repressed like that was a hard blow for him too.

He repeatedly tried to shatter the energy sphere that contained him, but failed.

It left him astonished, but even more, it made him angry. At this point, he was certain of the other's identity, and after this display of power, he realized that the opponent's strength had likely fully returned.

It surprised him, but no matter how much he wanted to know how it had been done, he had neither the time nor the means. The only thing he knew for sure was that he could not allow himself to be captured.

For a moment, he hesitated, but his gaze soon hardened. He lifted his eyes to the figure of Zhu Rong in the sky, gritting his teeth as he cursed, a strange vibration seeming to resonate through his body.

Black veins began to spread across his skin, his irises turning dark with a subtle, almost hidden gleam. Even more, his aura started to change: what had once carried just a trace of corruptive energy now brimmed with it, intensifying by the second.

Zhu Rong could sense it all, yet his expression remained unchanged, as though it posed no real problem for him.

The sight irritated the other, who, now fully immersed in this energy, had lost some control over his emotions.

He smiled and said,

"It's surprising that you've recovered so much of your power so quickly. But do you really think I've been idle all this time? Let me show you the full extent of my strength."

His voice carried a hint of madness, a stark contrast to the calm composure he had maintained all these past years.

His aura exploded, engulfing almost the entire area inside the energy sphere.

But it wasn't just his aura that changed, his cultivation base, already at the peak of the third stage, began to surge further. Already close to the fourth stage of the Spirit Realm, he quickly reached it, officially breaking through to the next stage.

As this happened, the energy barrier trembled visibly, struggling to contain the being inside.

It was clear that Yun She intended to use every card in his hand to avoid falling into the enemy's grasp, and this move in particular was one of his most powerful, a measure that could protect him from nearly any threat in this plane of existence.

At least, that's what he thought…

"Hm? Why… why can't I break it yet?" he wondered, taken aback as he realized how well the energy barrier was holding against his strength.

It only panicked him further, forcing him to question the level one would need to reach to perform such a feat.

Someone at his current cultivation stage could never achieve this.

Even someone stronger, halfway through the fourth stage, would struggle. That left only the peak of the fourth stage, but that should have been impossible.

From what he knew, the amount of Qi in this plane of existence was already insufficient; surpassing the second stage was difficult, let alone the third. So how could this individual unleash power at the peak of the fourth stage?

Could it be a legendary artifact? No, absolutely not.

Finding one in this plane was nearly impossible, and even if it existed, the barrier was created purely by the other's Qi.

There was no way an artifact could have done it.

Seeing Yun She panic, Zhu Rong, whose expression had remained emotionless, floated toward the energy sphere now hovering nearby and fixed his gaze on the other.

Then he shook his head, made a simple gesture with his hand, and instantly, the corruptive energy inside the sphere seemed to sense something, it calmed for a moment before vanishing completely within seconds, leaving no trace behind.

Even Yun She's transformation was reversed, and soon his normal appearance returned, slightly pale, clearly struggling to maintain control as his cultivation base and corruptive energy were no longer under his command.

This made his eyes widen in horror as he looked at Zhu Rong, murmuring with a strained voice,

"Y-you… what did you do?"

"What did I do? Even after all this time, you're surprised by something like this?

It seems you've wasted all these years," Zhu Rong said, his voice now tinged with anger and disappointment. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Your talent has always been limited, yet even so, with perseverance you could have reached the peak of the Spirit Realm over all these millennia.

Yet you chose the easier path, betraying your own kind and trying to wield a power you can't even comprehend. It's a miracle you've managed to survive for so long.

I saved you countless times in the past, yet you didn't hesitate to betray me and everyone else. For what? This meager power?"

Yun She's entire being trembled under that gaze, a primordial fear rising from deep within, even overshadowing the terror he felt when in the presence of that other being.

Zhu Rong paid no mind and raised his forearm, placing his right hand on the other's head.

"It's time to end all this.

Your existence has been useless, to yourself and to everyone around you.

But don't worry, I'll make your death serve a purpose for someone," he said.

Before the other could react, a wave of energy invaded his mind, and before he could even form a thought, his soul was engulfed.

The only thing he could perceive amidst it all was a force that shook his body while relentlessly devouring his very existence, in every sense of the word.

Yun She's entire being collapsed, and with it, his existence ceased to be.

Zhu Rong released the energy barrier he had formed and took the time to process his opponent's soul.

Thanks to the Nascent soul within his demon core, he could absorb enemies, processing both their power and their souls, becoming stronger in cultivation and spirit by assimilating the existence of his victims.

He sifted through Yun She's memories and exhaled, as if confirming something, before turning his gaze toward the distant horizon, where the sky hung dark and eerie, completely tainted by that energy.

Although the source of corruption was still far away, its influence had already reached this point, not far from the mountain range. Clearly, over all these years, that entity had wasted no time and had already achieved a significant portion of its goal.

He glanced at the three figures below, seeing them slowly recover. Wasting no more time, he stepped forward, and in the very next instant, vanished from his spot, heading straight toward the source of this disaster.

He had lost the first battle against that entity due to many variables, partially outside his control.

He was at the same level as that creature in strength, but for beings of their caliber, cultivation alone was ot enough, many other factors needed to be accounted for, and that had cost him dearly.

This time, however, it would be different.

He had not wasted all this time standing idle, both before and after his reincarnation, and now the fruits of his efforts were about to be put into use.

A dangerous gleam appeared in his eyes as he covered the vast distance in an instant from where he stood to where the enemy was, reappearing seconds later at the heart of the disaster.

He fixed his gaze on the titanic figure before him, as tall as a pillar connecting heaven and earth.

But his eyes did not linger on its massive form, only on what lay at its center,

The enormous spiral-shaped deformation in the bark, cradling the glowing, dark purple crystal at its core.