17. An Artifact, a Mountain View, and a Death

Orval, had returned to the darkness inside the grotto, was still trying to digest what exactly had he just seen. It was a lot to take in. After an unknown amount of time he remembered the gifts he received.

He took out the objects. One looked like a blue crystal piece of paper and the other looked like a seed. As he looked at the two items trying to figure out how to use them, his soul seemed to suddenly know what to do.

He held the blue crystal paper to his forehead and began to refine it. It only took a moment of concentration before it seemed to merge and fuse with his soul. As he concentrated on it, it was like a screen that suddenly popped up in his head. Words began to appear on it.

[...Refining in process...Entering entry stage...Initial refining complete...]

As Orval refined the blue crystal he noticed the screen changed and showed him some information.

[Infinity Screen

Creator: Current Master's level is too low to reveal this.

Master: Orval Emerald

Refinement Level: Entry Level

Master's Level: Level 0 (Rebirth Realm)

Level Up Requirements: Requires Infinity Seeds to level up. Master will gain more power with each seed collected. Each seed will increase the refinement level by one. Current progress 0/1,000,000,000,000]

As Orval looked at the screen, he was surprised that even though he was currently in the Rebirth Realm, this artifact was considering him as a level 0. How terrifying would it be if he reached higher realms. While thinking these thoughts, the little seed he had received suddenly vanished.

When he looked at the screen he noticed the original refinement level went from entry level to level 1 and his progress changed to 1/1,000,000,000,000.

After the the seed was absorbed, he could feel a tremendous amount of energy surging inside of him. It almost felt like he now had an endless supply of power. And this was only level one. If you take into consideration that each seed is equivalent to a level, just how powerful would he be after collecting all one trillion?

He stopped thinking about it and just focused on stabilizing the new power. He also worked on comprehending the karma and calamity he had seen.

Royal Capital Tempest Void City

While Orval was inside the pagoda, the competition continued on. Princess Iris having won her match had a bye for the second round. This was a privilege that was granted to either the participating royal family member or the combatant that defeated the royal family member. Luckily, Iris had won.

This was especially good since, the current Iris was far to shocked to fight at the moment. The fact that Orval was not only fighting using a clone, that clone only had about a quarter of his power and was able to completely overwhelm the competitions favored combatant.

The next ones to enter the arena then was Abel and Orval, they were promptly summoned by the token to the center of the arena. Abel stood there looking at Orval with a look of contempt and arrogance. He smirked and then spoke "I have been waiting ten long years for this you bastard. I will make you suffer so much humiliation you will wish you were dead!" As he yelled and tried to taunt Orval.

Orval found that this taunting was stupid and pointless. It was like a small dog barking at a large dog, but when it came to actually taking action it would usually back down and chicken out. He smiled at Abel. The smile looked friendly on the outside, but it was more of a mocking smile.

As everyone looked on the battle began. Abel could hardly contain his excitement at this opportunity, to finally kill the one who humiliated him. He circulated his qi and executed his attack with a sharp upward movement of his hand. Giant ice spikes shot up out towards Orval, who was standing there motionless.

As the spikes shot up and pierced his body, Orval still did nothing. Seeing this scene, all the onlookers were shocked that the boy who previously showed such amazing power, did nothing at all to stop the attack. Iris who was watching had tears in her eyes, which was absurd when she remembered that Orval was not even there at this moment.

Abel was simply ecstatic see that his attack hit. He laugh a cruel and arrogant laugh before speaking "You know the last time we met you were so arrogant when you were commanding me and the princess around. I tried to scold you and put you in your place as the lowly peasant that you are. But no! That stupid princess just had to side with you and even punish me!" As he spewed out these vile words, a chilling and icy atmosphere began to fill the arena.

Suddenly, a massive pressure pressed down on Abel. He looked up to see his own father floating above the arena. The Duke then spoke in an authoritative voice "You dare say something like that about the princess! How could you talk ill of our Royal Family, who we are to protect at all times! You are no son of mine!" Duke Glacier was fuming to the point that he was beginning to freeze not only the arena, but it also began to spread out to the rest of the Royal Capital.

The Duke, who has always been proud of his position and what his family is tasked to do, was the first to react when Abel was insulting the princess. Even before the Emperor had the opportunity to react.

"Haha! Just because you're too weak and have to cower behind the worthless Royal Family, does not mean I am. I have enough power to kill everyone present so should I choose!" spoke Abel, his voice getting more and more evil and bloody. His aura was slowly changing from the icy qi to a murderous, bloody qi.

At this moment Duke Glacier was stupefied, he could not believe his what his waste of a son was saying. But before he could react a voice sounded out "Is that so? To be honest you still seem pretty weak." The voice came from Orval's clone that was standing in the middle of the arena, with ice spikes piercing its body.

"What did you say? You couldn't even dodge my attack and your calling me weak?" snarled Abel viciously.

"Of course, I mean I am only a clone that has been fighting in this competition. My power was only about a quarter of what the original bodies is. Well, now that the original body broke through again it's more like a tenth or maybe even less. My point is I took this attack because I was curious how much damage you could actually do. It's a pity you're far to weak and should quit." spoke the clone in a very calm and soothing voice.

Everyone was stunned, no longer because of what Abel had said, but because the just found out that the one who has fighting in Orval's place was a clone with a quarter or less of the original bodies power. He was absolutely a monster just think about how strong the original body was. It was enough to cause every single cultivator present shudder at the thought.

Of course, the Emperor knew since Iris had let him know. Abel on the other hand, became absolutely furious. The murderous aura he had received from the wisp so many years ago has begun to break out, seeping out of his body like blood.

As the bloody aura seeped out of him, Abel began to growl. His body started to morph and change. His body began to thin as if all his blood was leaving his body. His limbs began to stretch and his upper body stretched out and his spine began to poke out of his skin. His hair turned grey, while his teeth and nails began to turn yellow. His eyes were bloodshot and he had blood just seeping out of every orifice.

After all the changes seemed to be complete, Abel stood up straight. He was about three feet taller now, reaching close to nine feet tall. He then threw his head back and roared. It was a blood curdling roar, causing everyone to cover their ears. The roar created shock wave that was enough to crack the barrier around the arena.

The Emperor, who has been around a long time, knew what was happening. But how to explain that, Abel who was a human suddenly became a blood fiend, was an impossible task he had never seen. He stood up and yelled " Everybody! Get back and evacuate the Royal Capital immediately! He has transformed into a blood fiend!"

As panic started to stir, the crowd was screaming, and yelling. Suddenly, a voice spoke "So, since you could not fight a weak clone, you had to rely on an outside source for power? That's pretty pathetic." It was a soothing tone that calmed down everyone present, the turned to look and see who was speaking.

It was Orval. Slowly, floated down descending from his floating sect. To everyone present it was as if an angel was floating down to save the day.

Blood Fiend Abel looked up at the descending figure and roared again. Bloody spit was flying out of his mouth as he roared. The blood flew towards the floating Orval, who simply blew lightly, causing the blood to dissipate quickly.

"Duke Glacier, I am sorry but your son, unfortunately will have to die" Orval spoke in a soft but serious tone.

Duke Glacier looked at Orval and said "He has dug his own grave. It is with great sorrow that I will, unfortunately, have to borrow your hand to solve my own son." He didn't feel bad at this point that his son had to die, because that was no longer his son. He only felt bad that he did not see this issue before it happened and caused harm to the Royal Family and all the mortals present.

Orval did not replay again and simply circulated his qi. He had an idea he wanted to try and see if it worked. He used what he just comprehended of karma. Following the lines of karma, he could see a long blood red string stretching across the world. As his eyes followed it, he came upon a certain scene. He could see a more power blood fiend standing atop of a massive mountain peak, looking at a large blood colored egg. Not long after Orval was peering on the scene, the blood fiend seemingly looked at him, as if he could see him peering. But he turned away thinking it was just the bastard Vitrum, spying on him.

'Hmmm, I guess I will have to speak with the Emperor to see if he knows who that is' thought Orval. Since the Emperor seemed to know about the fiends, he might know about this as well. Well, he might as well handle this quick since it seems troublesome.

Orval circulated his qi again and pointed at Abel. He used his technique 'Infinite Art: Universal God of All Chapter: Death Dissipation' as he used this technique, Abel's body began to boil. Then as if his skin was made of ash, his body broke down. It started to vanish from existence. Abel could not believe his eyes, he had accepted the power and should have been strong enough to kill everyone present. Yet, he could do nothing and even lost in one move to that bastard.

"Nooooo! I will not dye like - " Abel began to shout, but before he could finish his entire existence was no more. As everyone watched his body vanish, they sighed in relief. Then they began to cheer for the hero who had saved their lives.

Orval simply waved and then headed back to his floating sect. Iris, after greeting Orval and congratulating him on his advancement, went to speak to her father. She felt this was a very important matter.