Cultivation Through Artifacts

While Khal examined his newly acquired technique and wondered if he should use it to help him escape or not, suddenly the whole landscape began to shake like crazy, threatening the hole which Khal was in to collapse and bury him alive!

TREMBLE!!

"I know you are here somewhere, so stop hiding and come out already. Let's have a friendly talk with each other, shall we?" Old Eye's voice traveled through the air like a breeze, forcing Khal's body to stiffen slightly before relaxing once again as he realized that he was not found yet but simply Old Eye used his essence to help his voice travel far and wide.

However, to think that with his voice alone he was capable of shaking a whole landscape... Just what kind of existence was he and how great was his essence reserve?

'He must be at least a Third Realm existent if not a higher one.' Khal thought in his heart as remained motionless, fearing his movement will be detected by the slight amount of essence focused into the air that just swept through his body.

[He has already reached the Fifth Realm.]

'SAY WHAT?!' Khal screamed in his mind when he heard what Nova just said as he resisted the urge to shout out loud.

[You heard it right. He has already reached the Fifth Realm.]

'Then how come he hasn't found me yet? No, how is that even possible I was even able to punch him?' Khal asked with a deeply perplexed tone.

[Because would you expect to get punched by an ant? It's the same for him. He was caught off guard by your sudden surge of strength and speed that's all.]

She then quickly added;

[However, don't even think for a second you will be able to pull the same trick twice on him. No, I should instead say don't even dream about getting close to him much less touch him, he will kill you under a breath!]

'Yeah, kind of figured that out when you mentioned he was a Fifth Realm existence...' Khal showed a sarcastic smile and quickly asked, 'But then again if he is really a terrifying expert from the Fifth Realm, why did he not find me yet or just blew the whole landscape up if he knows I am here? Is he just bluffing and this is how he tries to force me out of here?'

[Why would he bluff? Again, would you bluff before an ant if you wanted to kill it? Of course not! It is just he cannot just go and blow the whole place up just because he wishes it.]

'But wh...' Khal wished to ask something when another tremor shook the whole place suddenly, causing small rocks to fall down onto his head while a gentle breeze carrying Old Eye's voice appeared.

"So? What will be? I promise if you come out now and do what I ask for obediently, I won't kill you. If not, I will just go and erase this whole terrain together with you! I will give you one minute so think about it!"

[Yeah, this time he is bluffing.]

Khal remained silent when he heard what Nova said, thinking the same as her, however, once 45 seconds have passed, a terrifying presence appeared in the air while another wave of breeze emerged.

"Only fifteen seconds left, kid."

[He is just trying to scare you.]

Bam!

Suddenly, the gravity around Khal grew tremendously, creating deep and wide cracks below his body as it slowly but surely began to sink millimeter by millimeter into the ground!

[He is just...]

BAM!

Next, the temperature grew to crazy heights, to the point where the rock walls around Khal began to turn red and start to melt bit by bit, turning into a liquified state akin to lava!

Luckily, he already changed his Chameleon Armor back into the invisible one, thus the moment the ground below his body slowly turned into a burning hot and bubbling melted rock he was able to avoid being roasted alive.

[...]

'Is he still trying to scare me?' Khal asked with clenched teeth as he resisted the terrifying pressure on his body while also making sure he concentrated with everything he got to make his invisible armor still functional.

[No, he is not. He really will erase the whole terrain from existence! He will turn the whole landscape into a sea of lava!]

'Perfect... Then it seems we have a problem.' Khal thought with a painful grimace and raised his gaze at the small hole in front of him which was the sole entrance and at the same time exit of the den he was currently in.

'I can't move... The pressure is just too great!' Khal struggled to push his body toward the exit, but had to discover it with disappointment he couldn't even lift a finger much less move a whole limb!

"It may seem you have forgotten whose lands you are currently on, so let me teach you a quick lesson to make you remember."

BOOOM!

TREMBLE!

Khal watched with widened eyes as the pressure on his body suddenly vanished while the searing temperature from the surroundings quickly dropped back to normal heights, saving him from dying from both bone-shattering pressure and flesh-scorching heat!

"W-What happened?" finally able to fill his lungs with fresh air as the heat simply made that impossible, Khal inhaled deeply as he blurted out those words with a heaving chest.

However, not even a second later a loud roar sounded followed by a great explosion.

"WHO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Old Eye's voice thundered through the landscape, generating a powerful ripple that cracked the walls around Khal with lightning speed.

'Not good!' seeing as the whole pillar he was under was now truly about to collapse, Khal didn't hesitate for a second and dashed out of the hole, even using his sheer body to escape faster just to avoid being buried alive under hundreds of tons of weight.

In a flash, Khal used his Lightning Step movement technique to appear hundreds of meters away and watched as in the far distance Old Eye stood on top of one of the rock pillars, while high above him a young man wearing nothing but a red robe with golden symbols on it floated in thin air with a seemingly indifferent face.

"Who do I think I am, you ask? I thought someone like you who was a True Everlasting would have more brain cells than that, but it seems I was wrong." the mysterious young man said with a disappointed sigh and as he raised his hand lazily above his head, he continued, "Well, whatever. Before sending you to the afterlife, I will at least answer that final question of yours."

He then showed a confident and proud smile, while saying, "I am the Lord of this Realm, the one who supervises everything happening in the Zero Realm and the one who makes sure no one breaks the rules I have set on this sacred land."

"Lord? Rules?! What kind of crap are you blabbering about! You are no one here to say such pretentious words to me, to a True Everlasting!" Old Eye yelled with anger, forcing many rock pillars around him to collapse just from the terrifying presence leaking out of his body.

"Sigh... You are truly a shame to your race, but whatever. I won't waste my time with the likes of you, Exile."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Old Eye's expression turned ashen when he heard the words of the young man, but even before he had the chance to do a single thing, golden light broke out of the young man's hand, engulfing everything around him in a blinding golden light almost immediately!