The entire dimension shook intensely as this overwhelming power began destabilizing its very structure.
The Golden Runes covering the entire dimension shone brightly trying to keep everything from collapsing.
Li Shu and the others outside of the Heavenly Tribulation have shocked expressions on their faces when they felt the entire dimension shaking.
Ripples spread from the Cardinal Sins Goddess as she lifted her hands to look at them. This caused the dimension to tremble even harder, and even the Tribulation clouds up above were on the verge of dispersing.
Only the huge wormhole was completely unaffected.
After examining her body, the Cardinal Sins Goddess felt the power coursing through her and she smiled.
This was the power she wanted, that her original body had, the power of a God.
She raised her head and look at Li Shen as well as Avarice. Her smile instantly widened when she saw their dark expressions.
Turning to Li Shen, she took a step, and the entire world in her vision slowed down to the point of stopping.
Li Shen was looking at her several dozen meters away but suddenly saw her appear in front of him.
Her hand shot out and her fingers easily wrap around his neck, making him hard to breathe.
Avarice tried to move towards them but the space around his body solidified, freezing him in a time lock.
Despite the dangerous situation he was in, Li Shen's face remain expressionless as he met the Cardinal Sins Goddess’s eyes.
“I wonder what I should call you, is it Li Shen or is it Avarice?”
“…”
“I won’t kill you so you don’t have to look so grim.”
Li Shen frowned at that.
“I instead want to extend an offer for you to join me. With the power of Time, I will reach the realm of a Domain Existence and become an Heir, after I will build my kingdom in this Era. It will be grand and I will become the only supreme being in this era with absolute power.”
“Submit to me and give up on comprehending Time. As my subordinate, you’ll of course get to spend this life with your family and your friends as you wish. But refuse…”
The Cardinal Sins Goddess's expression turns dark before she continues to say.
“And I’ll slaughter your family and friends in front of you, including this entire continent.”
“Choose now.”
*Clench*
Li Shen was seen clenching his fists.
The Goddess's hand around his neck loosened and he started to say.
“I…”
But Li Shen paused right there not saying anymore.
The Goddess indifferently looked at him before she said.
“Do you need some convincing?”
Her left hand motioned to the side and Fu Wei’s figure along with little Snow suddenly appeared next to her.
“Huh?”
Fu Wei looked around shocked at where he suddenly was.
Seeing Li Shen he began to say.
“Little Shen-”
But the Goddess simply motioned to him and his right arm along with his shoulder burst into a bloody mess.
Fu Wei groaned and he wanted to clutch the stump where his arm was, but realize his body was frozen.
Li Shen saw this and his heart shook, but he remain expressionless.
The Goddess saw this and said.
“I guess your brother’s life isn’t as important to you as I thought. But how about your God Beast?”
Li Shen’s eyes trembled and the Goddess seeing that smiled maliciously.
“You have to the count of three to submit to me or she dies.”
“1...”
Fu Wei who stopped the blood flowing from his missing limb watched this scene with a heavy heart.
He didn’t know who this woman was or what was going on but he knew that this entire situation was dangerous. Even though he was a Late stage Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator who was powerful enough to suppress thousands below him in the outside world, he was rendered useless in front of this terrifying woman.
He heard her counting and his eyes moved to his brother.
“2…”
Li Shen’s face remained calm but he suddenly heard Little Snow's voice in his head.
‘Master...’
At that, he couldn't remain calm anymore and he immediately went to stop the Goddess.
“Wait!!”
“3.”
“You’re too late.”
Li Shen's eyes became bloodshot and he forcefully tried to break free of her restraint when he saw her raising her finger to kill Little Snow.
Little Snow’s eyes were filled with fear, and Li Shen could hear her cries in his head making him almost go mad with rage.
“Don’t kill her, I’ll submit to you! I’ll even have my emotions erased, just don’t hurt her!”
Despite Li Shen’s pleads, however, the Goddess remained indifferent.
'Master, am I going to die?'
'No you won't Little Snow, you definitely won't die.'
However, despite Li Shen's words, his cultivation was being suppressed and he couldn't call upon any of his power at this moment.
'Was I wrong?'
Li Shen thought to himself as he watched the Cardinal Sins Goddess point her finger at Little Snow.
But contrary to Little Snow dying as a result of that, the power accumulated in her index finger suddenly caused it to crumble.
“Wh-what?!”
The Goddess was shocked at this and like a curse of some sort her entire left arm quickly followed suit.
She let go of Li Shen, who quickly went to catch Little Snow who was released along with Fu Wei.
They all then watched as the Cardinal Sins Goddess back away in horror, her body slowly started to crumble away.
“What’s happening?! This can’t be, I can’t die like this! I-I…”
“You took something that wasn't yours to take.”
Li Shen’s said while he held Little Snow close to his chest.
He knew the moment she absorbed that Time Qi that something was wrong. The Heavenly Tribulation, or more specifically the huge wormhole that was fading away had stopped as if what she had done had interfered with the process.
It was a gamble to buy time hoping his instincts weren’t wrong. But he was glad to see it worked and now he took pleasure in watching her slowly die in front of him.
However, he was trying not to think about what could have happened if he was wrong. Watching Little Snow die while not being able to do anything to save her. He didn't know how he would face Tai or live with himself after.
The Goddess glared at him and if looks could kill Li Shen would have died a million times over.
But that was all she could do as her body completely crumble away. What was left of her was the Time Seed that quickly flew up and entered the Qi Sea up above.
Li Shen watched as his Qi Sea glow with a darker hue. He sensed his cultivation finally entering the Sea Expansion Realm, however, he reined in his aura before retrieving his Qi Sea Projection as well.
On his forehead, the Seven Sins Plum Blossom was visible but was surrounded by a dark circular ring that release black flames. This created an image of multicolored hues inside of the flames.
This flame was slowly dancing within Li Shen's eyes as well while giving off a peculiar feeling.
Looking directly at it one would get the sense that their emotions were being sucked away, or perhaps being sealed away was the right way to describe the feeling.
Li Shen recalled this as well, resulting in him looking no different from a regular person, albeit, his eyes would give one a sense that he could peer into their hearts' inner emotions.
The strength coming from his physical body was noticeable as well, but there was nothing Li Shen could do about this. He didn’t mind though since this didn’t need to be kept as secret.
If he was a Soul Cultivator it would be natural that he would cultivate his physique to compensate for his lack of close-quarters combat.
As these changes took place on Li Shen, the huge wormhole in the sky with the River of Time inside of it finally began to fade.
“Huh?”
However, Li Shen’s attention was drawn to it as he felt something weird.
Just before the wormhole fully fades away he saw what look like a pair of eyes inside staring directly at him. But he wasn’t sure if he saw it correctly.
Turning away from the now clear crimson sky, Li Shen looked at Avarice who was dispersing.
Thoughts about how to prevent him from dissipating flitted across his mind, but Avarice suddenly said.
“You can’t do anything, I’m long past the point of saving.”
Li Shen floated there in mid-air with an array of emotions playing on his face.
But regret was the most prominent one. He wanted to have someone who knew all about him, or in fact was him, to talk to about his reincarnation and understand why it came to be, but he guessed that was just wishful thinking.
As if he knew exactly what Li Shen was thinking Avarice said.
“It’s like I said, lived this life for the both of us."
" I won't be around like I had hoped, but before I go I need to tell you to be careful. Despite her death, the plum blossom can consume you if you’re not cautious. That Soul Art it absorbed was strange, it was the catalyst that gave consciousness to that piece of life essence and it’s extremely compatible with it to be used to channel its powers. Just be conservative of how you use such power in the future, especially the Greed Petal.”
Li Shen nodded seriously and said.
“I will.”
Avarice smiled at that and closed his eyes before fully dissipating.
He was truly gone this time.
Li Shen looked down at Little Snow in his arms before he turned to Fu Wei who was silently looking on holding his missing arm before he said.
“Brother, I’m sorry you and Little Snow were dragged into this. And your arm...”
Looking at his little brother, Fu Wei smiled with a slightly pale face and said.
“Little Shen I’m fine, but I want to know who was that woman? I couldn’t sense any cultivation from her and when she attack me the power she use to destroy my arm almost felt like-”
“...like nothing.”
After pausing, Fu Wei could only come to that conclusion.
“It felt as if she simply waved her hand and then my entire arm was gone. What kind of power was that?”
“It was a high realm of Law manipulation. Every gesture one makes carries the power to change or destroy a world. Thankfully, her way of obtaining it was flawed resulting in her death.”
Hearing this from his brother, Fu Wei didn’t question how he knew that and instead sunk into deep thought. That woman’s casual gesture was replaying itself over and over in his mind.
Li Shen was surprised to see his brother’s behavior.
‘Could he have gained an insight into Law Manipulation from her attack just now?’
However, Li Shen was skeptical.
‘His comprehension is high, no doubt about that, but it's ridiculous for it to be this high. Has it increased more than before?’
“Shen’er!”
Li Shu suddenly appeared in front of Li Shen via teleportation.
However, his gaze quickly turned to Fu Wei, and his face darken upon seeing his missing arm.
“What exactly happened here?”
His voice grew solemn as he spoke.
“Wei’er and Shen’er’s Void Beast suddenly vanish but I sense no teleportation fluctuations. I also felt a powerful presence appearing in the Heavenly Tribulation, explain to me how what happened.”
Li Shen hadn't expected this big mess to occur during his Heavenly Tribulation and he didn’t know what to say to his father. He was hesitant to reveal certain things relating to his reincarnation to any else.
Despite the fact his reincarnation wouldn’t be easily discovered from knowing these pieces of information, the less knew the better.
Luckily he didn’t have to come up with something as Fu Wei snapped out of his thoughts and hurriedly said.
“Don’t worry father, I can have my arm heal with the Life Spring so I’ll be fine.”
Li Shu frowned at this and he realize Fu Wei’s intentions.
“Fine, I won’t ask what happened here as long as you two are alright. But hurry and go treat your wounds.”
“Yes, Father.”
Fu Wei then floated away with Fulong towards the Life Spring, while the other Elders chose to leave to go back to their seclusion.
But not before they all looked towards Li Shen with shining eyes. They too didn’t question what happen inside the Heavenly Tribulation. As long as these two were fine, they from the older generation won’t be meddling in their affairs.
As Li Shen watched his brother go, he suddenly heard his voice in his mind.
‘I won’t tell Father about those two, or your plum blossom since you seemed to not want anyone to know of it for some reason. It can stay between us brothers.’
Li Shen smiled and said.
'I guess he still thinks my Sevens Sins Plum Blossom is from me awakening my bloodline. I'll have him continue thinking that.'
As Li Shen thought that he said to his brother.
‘I thought you loathed me, what’s with the sudden change?’
Li Shen heard his brother's voice hesitate for a moment before saying.
‘I never truly hated you when we were younger, at the very least I never thought I could bring myself to ever harm you. I thought and did some things for the wrong reasons back then that I’m not proud of, but after what you did to me I say we're even. It’s a big brother’s responsibility to love and protect his younger siblings, and despite any circumstances in the future know I’ll always have this mindset regardless of anything.’
‘...uh, Thanks.’
Not expecting such a response from his brother, Li Shen could only respond with an embarrassed thanks.
Though upon remembering something, Li Shen suddenly said.
‘Brother, you need to apologize to Ling’er. She was pretty upset about how you treated her, though it was partly my fault as well and it's been a while, you should comfort her.’
‘Hm, I will.’
‘Oh, and I almost forgot!'
Li Shen felt his mind buzz at his brother's sudden yell.
'I know I'm early since your birthday's tomorrow, but Happy Birthday little brother.’
'Haha, you're being too cheesy for my liking but I still appreciate the gesture.'
'...Thanks, elder brother.'
Li Shen wasn't going to lie hearing his brother's happy birthday didn't cause him to feel a bit happy. He much preferred a protective older brother than one who had him on his potential kill list.
Smiling rather nonchalantly with Little Snow in hand, Li Shen was teleported away with his father.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢