Encountering a King

The Origin Core was semi-transparent, and within it, a miniature world could vaguely be seen.

That was his Origin Core, the seat of his life force.

Once the Origin Core shattered, he would die and vanish from existence.

Fang Yan carefully took out the Origin Core and suspended it in the center of the Footless Bird's cultivation chamber.

Immediately afterward, a phantom separated from his body.

It was an enormous cicada.

Its entire body was bronze-colored, its wings covered in profound law patterns.

Spring Autumn Cicada clone.

Fang Yan's true body opened his eyes and looked at his clone.

The Spring Autumn Cicada clone fluttered its wings slightly, and an unfathomable fluctuation of the Time Law spread outward.

It absorbed the Origin Core into the Spring Autumn Cicada's body.

Fang Yan nodded in satisfaction and turned toward the hatch.

"Little Fox Fairy, let's go."

The hatch opened, and he shot out, speeding toward Wind Abyss Star.

The Footless Bird behind him grew smaller and smaller until it finally became a point of light and vanished from sight.

The instant Fang Yan plunged into Wind Abyss Star's atmosphere, the entire world changed.

First came the sound.

Endless howls of wind surged in from every direction, layer upon layer, without end.

Then came the wind pressure.

Wind Abyss Star's atmosphere was far denser than that of an ordinary planet. Fang Yan felt as if he had plunged headfirst into the deep sea, with pressure from all directions crushing his body madly.

No one below the World Lord realm could possibly survive here.

With a thought from Fang Yan, the G-grade Alloy Inner Armor instantly covered his entire body.

Silvery-white metal plates wrapped tightly around him, leaving only his eyes exposed.

The Wind-Following Wings on his back unfurled, their azure feathers snapping loudly in the gale.

Fang Yan looked up.

Wind Abyss Star's interior was even more magnificent than he had imagined.

There was no land, no ocean—only boundless currents of air.

Those currents formed whirlpools of every size. Some were no larger than a fist and spun slowly; others were large enough to swallow an entire planet, indigo lightning churning along their edges.

Every gust contained incomparably pure wind-origin power.

Fang Yan closed his eyes and sensed the aura around him, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"This truly is... paradise."

He could clearly feel his comprehension of the Law of Wind, which had been stuck at ninety-nine percent, beginning to loosen at a visible pace.

The Wind Origin here was trillions upon trillions of times denser than outside.

Fang Yan concealed his aura and flew slowly along the edge of an airflow vortex.

The Wind-Following Wings displayed astonishing adaptability within this sea of storms.

With every beat of the azure wings, they could draw upon the surrounding Wind Origin, forming a natural protective layer.

The harsh environment where none below the World Lord realm could survive instead became Fang Yan's home-field advantage.

He flew for roughly three days.

During those three days, Fang Yan witnessed countless wonders of Wind Abyss Star.

He personally saw a storm tide sweep from one pole of the planet to the other, swallowing hundreds of small cyclones along the way before finally becoming a superstorm over a million kilometers in diameter.

He also saw a drop of liquefied Wind Origin Essence condense within a naturally formed wind vortex.

The drop gleamed with azure light, emanating an aura that made one's heart tremble.

Fang Yan collected it without hesitation.

This was good stuff. A single drop could equal ten thousand years of painstaking cultivation of the Law of Wind outside.

The instant he put away the essence, a sudden change occurred.

A sharp shriek came from above.

The sound was unbearably grating, like fingernails scraping across glass, only magnified countless times.

Fang Yan abruptly looked up.

A colossal creature was diving down from above.

It was a giant beast over a thousand meters long.

Its body was streamlined and covered in indigo scales, azure radiance flowing across their surfaces.

It had no wings, yet it could freely weave through this sea of storms.

It opened its enormous jaws, rows upon rows of sharp teeth glinting coldly amid the tempest.

Peak World Lord!

With a fierce flap of the Wind-Following Wings, Fang Yan's body traced an arc through the storm, calmly evading the beast's pounce.

Fang Yan smiled faintly.

"In terms of speed, I'm invincible below King!"

The Divining Wind Beast missed, nimbly turning its body amid the storm before pouncing at Fang Yan once more.

This time, Fang Yan did not dodge.

He raised his right hand and lightly drew a line through the air with his fingertip.

Time Shuttle!

A golden shuttle appeared above the Divining Wind Beast's head.

Two seconds.

One second.

The Divining Wind Beast's scales began to grow brittle, its muscles atrophied, and its bones weakened.

The Time Law spread through the giant beast's body at an astonishing speed.

Then came the roar of a storm.

The colossal creature's head shattered, and its body slowly fell through the tempest.

A fist-sized lump of Wind Origin Essence appeared before Fang Yan. After storing it in his World Ring, he clapped his hands.

"First one."

Fang Yan did not stop and continued flying deeper into Wind Abyss Star.

Over the following days, Fang Yan moved through Wind Abyss Star like a fish in water.

This sea of storms was a death zone to others, yet a holy land for cultivation to him.

Relying on the Wind-Following Wings, he traveled through gaps in the storms, hunting Divining Wind Beasts to obtain Origin Essence.

World Lord-level Divining Wind Beasts had virtually no ability to fight back before him.

As for Immortals... if he couldn't beat them, he ran!

(Haven't you heard that heaven never bars every road? ٩(๑^o^๑)۶)

Time quietly passed amid the storms.

One year, two years...

Ten years later, Fang Yan's comprehension of the Law of Wind finally rose from ninety-nine percent to...

Ninety-nine point nine percent.

Only the final sliver remained.

Just as he was about to touch that final barrier, a roar that shook the entire planet came from the depths of Wind Abyss Star.

The sound carried King-level pressure as it swept toward him.

Fang Yan's expression changed.

Fang Yan reacted so quickly that even he found it unbelievable.

The Wind-Following Wings flapped fiercely, and the azure feathers burst a wave of air amid the storm. His body shot backward toward the direction he had come from like an arrow released from a bowstring.

That King-level roar continued to echo from the depths of Wind Abyss Star, carrying endless pressure. Everywhere it passed, the raging storm tides seemed to be snuffed out by an invisible hand, instantly falling silent.

As Fang Yan fled, he cursed wildly in his heart.

Seriously, I only killed a few World Lord-level Divining Wind Beasts. Did that really warrant alarming a King-level old ancestor?

He glanced back, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

Within the indigo Chaos deep inside Wind Abyss Star, a colossal creature was poking its head out from the storm.

That King-level Divining Wind Beast was at least three thousand meters long by estimation.

Its scales were no longer ordinary indigo, but a deep, shadowy blue.

Its gaze crossed the endless storms and locked precisely onto Fang Yan.

"Roar—"

Another roar rang out.

This time, Fang Yan clearly felt the law power contained within the sound wave.

Fang Yan's heart tightened as the power of his inner world surged wildly.