"What are you-" The Grand Elder of the Immortal Sect watched in shock as his hand pierced through that boy’s chest.

What ticked him off was the complete absence of blood and the fact he couldn’t grab onto a heart!

Soon, others noticed the abnormality as well. They had previously ignored the lack of blood whenever he was cut and attributed it to his strange abilities.

However, no one could ignore that a hand was passing through his chest, and yet not a single drop of blood was seen. After all, it was right where his heart was supposed to be.

Only the Elder knew that not only was there no blood, but he had felt no resistance whatsoever.

’No heart, no ribs... just what is he!?’ He racked his brain, but couldn’t come up with an explanation.

He had lived for too long and had seen everything this Realm had to offer. But even for him, Ozul now seemed like an enigma.

Meanwhile, Ozul took advantage of his confusion and pushed himself away using the Purity.

"Ugh!" He grunted. Despite not having a heart or internal organs like the rest, he still felt the same pain.

At the place of the Elder’s hand, there remained a gaping hole. However, he quickly covered it using the Purity on both his chest and back.

Breathing heavily, he tried not to let the pain show on his face, however, his frown couldn’t help but betray his emotions.

His body swayed as he took a few steps back. However, it was far from over.

Before the Elders could come out of their shock, he gritted his teeth and went back into action.

Like a tornado, the Purity began to revolve around him with blinding speed.

’No more mistakes... I will lose consciousness if I take another strike like that...’ Ozul’s mind raced to keep himself awake, his senses expanding to keep him safe from another blind attack like that.

If only he weren’t also involved in the battle of others, he might have seen the Grand Elder sneaking up on him.

’No... he was simply too fast. It is a hopeless situation...’ Ozul shook his head, denying any possibility of leaving unscathed when facing so many Sages at once.

For the first time since the start of this war, he was considering the possibility of death being real.

Would he die if he lost consciousness, or would his head have to be destroyed as well? Such questions began to assault him as he warily guarded against the Sages.

Slowly, the battle resumed its earlier chaos.

Raven, Blaze, and Zier tried their best to somehow help him; however, with their strength, even distracting a single Sage was too much work, much less 5 of them at the same time.

"Let me see how long you can bear it, you monster!" The Grand Elder shouted as he lashed out at him with a multitude of attacks.

Normal cultivators began to flee the area as their battle began uprooting the earth, even threatening to destroy the dome protecting the city.

Ozul dodged a close slash by the saber, only to be immediately surrounded in a hailstorm targeting him solely.

Although he blocked most of it, his movements were even more sluggish than before.

What troubled him most, however, was the Grand Elder. He was the strongest among the Sages of the Immortal Sect and was alone enough to defeat him.

Each strike of his jolted his entire being every time he blocked it.

"Do you need help!?" Rai shouted from afar.

But his voice was quickly drowned by the clanking of the attacks with the Purity.

’Was this the bad feeling I had?’ He thought bitterly. It appeared that even gaining the strength of a Sage wasn’t enough.

Just then, the Grand Elder smirked once again. "Got you!" He shouted as a streak of concentrated Spiritual Essence slipped past his defenses.

Although Ozul sensed the attack, his reaction was a tad bit slower as the shining light cut through his shoulder like a hot metal from paper!

"Hiss!" He hissed, the blinding pain

’Now wreathe in agony!’ The Elder internally gloated. That attack was laced with a special poison that could even kill a peak Sage if not treated quickly.

Ozul didn’t need to touch his shoulder to feel that yet another hole had appeared in his body.

He put a patch of the Purity over his shoulder as well, but the pain remained.

The searing sensation of burning assaulted his brain like it had never before!

’It... hurts...’

He was helpless. It had been a while since he had been holding down the fort. Yet, there was no sign of help from Ember or the Celestial Phoenix.

Instinctively, his eyes darted around him in a daze.

’Where is she...’ That black cat with heterochromatic eyes.

He was looking for Jinx. Many times, on the brink of what he felt like death, she would appear and save him.

Yet, there was no sign of her. Even if she was observing from afar, he couldn’t sense her presence.

Wherever his eyes went, his allies were fighting their own battles. The only advantage they had was among the Transcendents, but even that couldn’t give them an edge.

As his entire body ached in pain, Ozul wondered if it was time to run away.

Not only was that too a difficult task in this plan ground, but if he did run away, the pressure would shift entirely to everyone else.

He didn’t care much about the others, but he didn’t find the idea pleasing - the thought of anyone among Raven, Blaze, or Zier dying now.

’Well... Death might not be so bad.’ And that was his last option out of this pain. A hopeless man like him could only give up when faced with such a situation.

If Ozul had reflected on his thoughts at this point in time, even he would’ve been a little surprised. Considering he thought himself selfish, giving up his life for others should’ve been a strange idea to him.

Little by little, however, he had changed.

He had come to care for things other than himself.

Sadly, that also became the root of his struggle.

He wanted to give up, to get himself rid of the glaring pain in his chest and his shoulder.

Yet, something in him kept pushing him. If it was him before, having found no solution to his predicament, he might’ve really chosen the easier way out.

He was different now. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The Grand Elder from the Immortal Sect watched in shock as things again went against his expectations.

Ozul didn’t scream in pain, didn’t fall down, and his body didn’t convulse in unimaginable agony.

The Elder didn’t know that the poisonous element in that attack had actually become nourishment for Ozul’s body. It would’ve hurt him more if there was no poison.

"Even if this wretched city does not fall today, killing you would be enough to avenge the Sect!" The Grand Elder’s sight blurred in anger.

They were all convinced that this boy needed to die today or the next time they fought, even though they might not be enough to kill him!

Ozul, on the other hand, didn’t know why. But something pushed him to struggle till his last breath.

Unconsciously, the Purity had started to wrap closely around him. His entire body was aching, and the Purity provided some relief to that.

’That should work...’ He thought as he decided to fight just like that.

A dense layer of the Purity around him would act as a permanent defense.

Before absorbing that Sword Sage’s body, he didn’t have enough of the Purity to fight and still had something like that on him.

The 5 Sages didn’t sit still; they eyed one another and silently agreed to finish it right there and now.

Standing on the ground, Ozul watched as the 5 of them hovering over him swooped down at him with full force.

’I should’ve taken more naps...’

The Elders combined their attacks, and their opposing Spiritual Essence all collided, combining into one amalgamation of destructive forces.

Something like that could only be blocked by an Empyrean.

It wasn’t flashy, it all happened in split seconds, but the suffocation was felt by all around them.

On the ground, Ozul brought forth all the Purity he had, unsure if even that could block it.

The sky crackled as they collided!

Following a blinding light, a deafening sound silenced everything on the battlefield.

*Boom!*

Everything shook.

Rai and the others gasped in horror as they felt the shockwaves from afar.

The force behind that attack was not something they could survive either.

Raven watched with a painful expression, tears streaming down her cheeks. She would’ve rushed to him despite everything, but two Transcendents were surrounding her.

Blaze hadn’t ever felt so powerless.

’Master... You have to survive!’

Zier couldn’t put his feelings into thought. Everything he had was owed to that man, and yet he could only watch in despair.

The combined attack of those Sages was so strong that it didn’t just stop there.

The barrier protecting Phoenix City was also hit, and it shattered like glass!

As the dome fell, the soldiers of the coalition all roared in victory and fought with newfound spirit.

The Grand Elder smirked once again. Under the watchful eyes of other Sages, he descended to the ground to check up on that monster.

Where Ozul had stood, there was now a deep crater, big enough to be considered a cave.

Ozul exuded no Spiritual Essence, so the Elder waited for the dust to settle to confirm the boy’s death with his own eyes.

"Urgh..."

It was faint, but he was able to hear someone’s groan.

Immediately, the Elder’s face darkened. He couldn’t believe that the monster had survived.

It didn’t make any sense. He was weaker than him, and yet 5 Sages including him weren’t enough to kill him?!

His eyes burned in fury as he walked toward the source of that sound.

"You will die!"

A sharp aura of Spiritual Essence enveloped his hand. He was curious to see if that boy could still survive with his head severed.

The dust had yet to settle, however.

Dizzy and unable to focus, Ozul still felt the nearing presence of the Grand Elder.

He wasn’t able to stand on his own but still had enough will to use the Purity to pull him up and take him out of the crater.

The Grand Elder immediately followed after him, ready to strike him down at last.

But just as he reached for the surface, a suffocating aura enveloped him.

’Who is it?!’ he wondered, rushing to the top.

The dust settled slowly, and Ozul was seen huffing on the ground. He was losing consciousness.

The remaining 4 Sages were surrounding him, their expressions twisted. None of them liked what they were seeing.

The Grand Elder’s confusion quickly turned into hostility.

Another figure had appeared beside Ozul.

It was hard to see yet, but that man couldn’t be one of them.

Unfortunately for the Elders, they all regretted explicitly showing their hostility as that man’s face became visible.

It was Old Gu.

After running away from the Celestial Phoenix, leaving Lan Duo to keep her busy, he came straight here!

The Grand Elder’s thoughts spiraled to the days when he too had thought Old Gu was just an eccentric Sage who their Sect Leader favored.

Knowing his identity and power now, he felt afraid. He hadn’t exactly been kind to him during those days.

"All of you can leave," Old Gu’s voice descended with a tone of finality.

The Elders glanced at each other, reluctant to leave now that Ozul was almost dead.

The Grand Elder couldn’t keep it within him, he spoke with frustration, "He needs to die-"

*Zz*

With a hum, a pressure so great fell on all of their shoulders that they were sent thrusting into the ground face-first!

Despite how he usually behaved, Old Gu wasn’t a kind man with patience.

Ozul lay sprawled on the ground, unable to understand what was happening around him.

His body was rapidly fixing itself, but the pain was too much for him to focus on anything else.

Having dealt with the Elders, Old Gu watched over Ozul with complicated expressions.

He was a boy who reminded him of his old friend, the Wise Seer. They were both apathetic to worldly affairs but not cruel, ruthless but not unjust.

Coming closer to the boy, Old Gu sighed loudly.

With a flick of his hand, a black cube appeared, floating above his palm.

It was an object he had taken from the Heavenly Emperor’s treasury, an item created by the Emperor using his own life essence.

There was no one alive other than the Emperor and Old Gu who knew of its use. Even the latter had only learned of it from the Wise Seer.

Feeling an enormous source of pure energy, Ozul struggled to open his eyes.

The black cube exhibited such density that the space around it appeared to warp and twist.

"I will not ask for your forgiveness. I do not deserve it..." Old Gu muttered, coming near him.

He placed the black cube on Ozul’s body.

Ozul heard him, but could not focus to understand what was happening.

’I really need a nap...’

Old Gu finally flicked his wrist, and a streak of Spiritual Essence was shot into the black cube.

"Farewell..."

The black cube spun and expanded.

The five Elders, sprawled on the ground, could only watch in fear as the black cube enveloped Ozul’s body and contracted again.

At this time, Rai and Blaze had freed themselves and found an opportunity to run here. They, too, witnessed the scene in sheer horror as Ozul’s body vanished!

It did not, however, stop at its original size.

The black cube shrunk to the size of a bead!

Just like that, Ozul was gone.

Miles away, a black cat gazed in their direction with unreadable thoughts. As Ozul disappeared inside the black cube, she finally turned away.

Meanwhile, Old Gu sliced his hand in the air, and a spatial rift opened.

He grabbed the bead and threw it inside the rift.

Noticing the rage-filled eyes of Blaze approaching him from a distance, he sighed loudly and disappeared as well.

The least he could do now was stop this battle.