Chapter 856
Chapter 856: Jue Di’s Essence
Kang Hui wanted to learn more about what happened, but he knew now wasn’t the time .
“Aye aye! We comply with your orders, Admiral . ” He made no further fuss and cut the connection .
The control room was calm, and the only sound was Lan Qing giving his soldiers orders . The armada began to fall back while maintaining formation . They were heading back toward Angel .
The human forces considered this exchange a victory, but it didn’t come without significant cost . Battle damage reports quickly started crossing Lan Qing’s desk .
Drones from Middle Heaven and Poseidon suffered, with more than two thirds of their total number gone . Both bastions were running on minimum energy because their stores were almost entirely depleted . Poseidon wouldn’t be able to deploy its mecha transformation for at least half a month . It had also run out of all Soft Water bombs .
The greatest loss was the death of Jue Di .
He was the strongest human alive, master of the Infinite . Through his own power and sacrifice he struck down scores of monsters, and kept the alien elite busy while Lan Qing decimated the enemy .
Even Lan Qing did not know Jue Di was planning to give his life in this way . Although, he had felt that Jue Di was on the verge of collapse from the weight of universal protogenia even before making the decision to break through into immortality .
Lan Jue stood in dumb silence . He knew something was amiss when he saw the Compliance Rod of Luo Xianni’s back . Suddenly he realized what that dark and ominous feeling was he had on Monarch .
His father . His father was dead . It was more than he could get his head around .
All his life Lan Jue thought his father was unbeatable – a powerhouse without equal, towering as a mountain . There was no power in the universe that could stop him . And yet it was the power of the universe that laid him low, slain by universal protogenia!
For the first time Lan Jue hated it . He hated the whole universe for what it took from him .
“No, that’s impossible . Dad can’t be dead! I don’t believe it – I can’t!” Lan Jue muttered his rejection but the tears on his face told a different story . His body shook as he confronted Luo Xianni with long strides .
“Mom . . . Dad, he…!” Luo Xianni immediately wrapped him in a tight hug . She shuddered with a painful cry .
With Jue Di gone, the Photographer was the last Infinite-level Paragon left to humanity . But right now she cried like a child, consumed by pain and sadness . This despondency hung over everyone like a fog .
The flows of protogenia around Luo Xianni were rough and intense . So much so, in fact, that Lan Jue worried for her . Universal protogenia was cruel and undiscriminating .
After achieving Nirvana, Lan Jue had become more sensitive to the dangers of that ubiquitous power, though he was not a focus of it yet . His eyes burned with rage and pain . Damn universal protogenia!
He was plotting ways to get back at the universe when a soothing energy descended upon him and Luo Xianni, isolating them . The threat of universal protogenia subsided at it seemed to lose its target . Under that gentle power Luo Xianni’s protogenia stabilized .
After achieving Nirvana, Zhou Qianlin’s ability to sooth and steady one’s powers had grown significantly .
“Ah!” Qianlin gasped, and quickly moved to join the other two . “Aunt, stop crying . ”
Like a petulant child Luo Xianni’s head snapped up . She glared daggers at the girl . “What did you call me?!”
Her face reddened . “Mother!”
Luo Xianni’s head returned to her son’s shoulder and she continued to sob .
Qianlin looked at her, then at Lan Jue . She spoke to them softly . “Mother, please stop crying . Father, he… he may not be dead… “
The Photographer’s body straightened, stuff as the rod on her back . Lan Qing also roused from his morose stupor . Suddenly the eyes of every Paragon were trained on Zhou Qianlin .
“Qianlin . What are you saying? He isn’t dead?” Lan Jue placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to keep the excitement from his voice .
She glanced at her shoulder, caught in his slightly painful grip . She nodded . “Just now I could feel him, just barely . His body is gone but I can still sense his presence, like his essence has become part of my protogenia . ”
The humans gathered in the control room were the peak of human ability . Wordlessly they turned their eyes to the Compliance Rod . If there was anything left of the man it would live in the astrum he’d created .
Luo Xianni deftly reached behind and with a flick of the wrist brought the staff forward .
“Qianlin, now isn’t the time to delude your mother . My heart can’t take it . Now you make sure your father didn’t –“ She couldn’t go on, her body shook and sobs stopped her from completing the thought .
Lan Jue felt hope and anxiety rise within him . The greater the wish, the deeper the disappointment . If there was a chance that some part of his father remained, he would be elated . But if it were not true, the death of hope would be cruel and acute .
Qianlin solemnly placed her delicate hands on the staff . The white light of her Domain spread out and enveloped it . Lan Jue immediately stepped behind her and placed his hands on her back, lending his power to hers . Though their Disciplines were different, Lan Jue’s help amplified both their abilities by several times .
Under the light of the Queen of Heaven the Paragons felt their exhaustion melt away . The erratic pulses of protogenia that emerged from their battered bodies steadied . Those that were close to their bottleneck felt the pull of a breakthrough tugging at them .
Qianlin’s abilities were already near legendary, and their usefulness widely lauded . If she could somehow bring Jue Di back it would be nothing short of a miracle . The faith in her as a goddess would come from more than just non-Adepts .
After ten minutes her white and gold aura slowly receded, then was gone . The look on her face was one of confusion .
“What is it?” Luo Xianni asked, though she feared the answer .
Qianlin looked at her mother in law . “It’s fine . Father had reached the pinnacle of humanity long ago . In a way he’s learned to evade universal protogenia, like the home worlds did by becoming planets . He had his own method, specifically this staff . It has a way to hide him from the universe . Father sacrificed himself, certainly, but he put his essence – his soul – into the Compliance Rod . I can feel him clearly, he’s in there . ”
Luo Xianni’s words were growing more desperate . “Is there a way to bring him back?”
She knew what it meant to speak of an Adept’s soul . So long as her husband’s will remained there remained a chance . Only, even she had been unable to sense him in the staff .
Qianlin explained . “Father sealed himself away deep within the weapon . He had to, otherwise universal protogenia would still be able to find him . I was only able to sense him because my Domain isolated us from the threat . ”
The Pharmacist was the next to speak up . “There is a precedent . In the ancient days immortals were somewhat of a misnomer . Their lives were limited, but lifespans stretched for thousands of years . Three thousand years was typical, I believe – of course, assuming they were protected in an immortal realm . Just as Qianlin said, like the aliens his Majesty Jue Di could have found a way to hide himself from universal protogenia . That should mean there’s a chance to bring him back . Once one achieves immortality reforming a physical body shouldn’t be too difficult . However I imagine it would require a tremendous amount of vital energy . The only way to withstand the power of universal protogenia is to have enough power to match it . ”
Zhou Qianlin nodded in agreement . “I had the same thought, and gathering that vital energy shouldn’t be a problem . In fact we just killed an Infinite-level alien and recovered its crystal . The real problem now is that we aren’t strong enough to contend with universal protogenia . Perhaps, when I break through to the Infinite, we can try . ”
Hearing them discuss the possibility helped Luo Xianni shed her grief . She had experienced the mysteries of Qianlin’s power herself, even going so far as to rely on it to rise to the Infinite . So far it had protected her reliably from the wrath of the universe .
“It would be a miracle if you could bring their father back . Qianlin, thank you . Without you we wouldn’t have known his soul remained, much less have a hope of bringing him back . ”
Lan Jue and Lan Qing openly gaped, and how could they not? Their father was not wholly dead, and there existed a chance to bring him back . They’d found fortune in the midst of tragedy .
Lan Jue’s eyes almost unconsciously turned toward the Pharmacist . “Sister, if we can do this with Father, could your husband…?”
The Pharmacist’s face bore signs of sadness as she lifted her head, and sorrowfully stared at Ultus .
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