NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Essence Power
"Nonsense!" Elder Jin retorted, his voice trembling slightly but laced with fury. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Where is my son? You insidious fool!"
The blue-haired man sneered, his icy gaze piercing through Elder Jin's defiance. "Still pretending to be a fool, are we?" His tone dripped with disdain as he flicked his fingers nonchalantly.
In an instant, sharp shards of ice shot forward, crackling with a cold so fierce it could freeze entire cities. Before Elder Jin could reply, the man flicked his fingers. Razor-sharp ice shards shot forward, so cold the air itself seemed to freeze.
"Don't even try," Elder Jin growled.
He was not one to fall so easily. With a powerful gesture, thick shadows erupted from his back, twisting like serpents and slashing through the incoming ice. The shards shattered into glittering fragments, falling harmlessly to the ground. The shadows didn't stop there; they lunged at the blue-haired man swiftly.
Before the attack could land, however, the blue-haired man vanished in a blur, reappearing behind Elder Jin with a sword forged from shimmering ice. "Too slow," he sneered, swinging the blade down in a lethal arc aimed for Elder Jin's neck.
Elder Jin spun just in time, his arms hardening as shadows coalesced around them like armor. The ice sword clashed against the shadowy shield, sending sparks flying in every direction. The force of the impact caused the ground beneath them to crack and splinter, creating fissures that spread outward like spiderwebs.
Unperturbed, the blue-haired man laughed and stamped his foot. Instantly, frost began spreading across the earth, turning the battlefield into a frozen wasteland. Icy spikes erupted where Elder Jin had stood mere moments ago, forcing him to disappear in a flash of movement.
Desperate, Elder Jin slammed his palms together, summoning a swirling vortex of shadows. It roared forward like a black tornado, its destructive potential enough to make most Nascent Soul Realm experts tremble. Yet, the blue-haired man merely raised a hand, unleashing a blinding burst of cold light that froze the very air itself.
A massive glacier materialized above them, crashing down with cataclysmic force. Ice and darkness collided in a deafening explosion, obliterating the valley floor and leaving behind a jagged maze of fractured terrain.
Elder Jin staggered, blood trickling from his nose, but he clapped his hands again. The shattered ice shards darkened, corrupted by his shadows, and reversed course, transforming into a storm of poisoned daggers. Each shard hummed with malevolent energy as it hurtled back toward the blue-haired man.
"Trifling tricks," the man scoffed, snapping his fingers. A wall of mirrored ice rose before him, reflecting the attack with perfect precision. The black shards ricocheted wildly, devastating cliffsides and reducing ancient trees to splinters.
Elder Jin's face darkened. Mie Lin, answer me!He sent the message through his mind, but there was no reply. Did she abandon me?
His face darkened further. Or worse, set him up? Cursing under his breath, he muttered, "It seems it comes to this."
Elder Jin's body erupted with shadows so dense they blotted out the sun. The ground beneath him dissolved into a bottomless pit, and from it rose a thousand titanic figures, each towering over the landscape like gods of destruction. Their fists slammed down with unimaginable force, pulverizing mountains into dust and reversing rivers in their wake.
"You're burning your Nascent Soul?!" the blue-haired man shouted, finally looking uneasy, shock flickering across his otherwise composed features. He thrust his palms skyward, and the clouds above turned to ice. A tsunami of glaciers descended from the heavens, colliding with the shadow titans in an apocalyptic clash. Frozen explosions tore through the land, carving canyons where forests once stood.
Elder Jin vomited black blood, his veins bulging as if they might burst. "DIE!" he screamed, clapping his hands together once more.
The remaining titans merged into a singular black hole, devouring light, sound, and matter alike. The earth itself seemed to scream as chunks of land were ripped upward into the vortex, threatening to consume everything in its path.
The blue-haired man's hair glowed bright blue. "Childish. Let me show you real power."
He stabbed his ice sword into the ground. Strange symbols lit up on the blade, radiating an ancient, terrifying energy, confirming Elder Jin's worst fears—this was essence power, a power exclusive to Heavenly Tribulation Realm Powerhouses.
Pillars of absolute zero erupted beneath the blue-haired man, their chill so intense it froze the black hole itself, encasing it in a crystalline prison. With a casual flick of his wrist, he shattered the prison, releasing a shockwave that flattened mountains a thousand miles away.
Elder Jin collapsed, his body cracking like dried clay. "No… NO!" he bellowed, slamming his fists into the earth. Shadow lava erupted from the ground, consuming the frozen wasteland in molten darkness. Entire continents melted into bubbling seas, yet the blue-haired man remained unfazed.
"You're wasting your time, Against the power of essence, your tricks mean nothing." Inhaling deeply, he summoned a monstrous ice dragon whose wings blotted out the sky and whose breath froze oceans solid. The creature dove headfirst into the shadow lava, freezing hell itself.
With a final, anguished cry, Elder Jin ripped out his own heart, igniting a supernova of darkness. The explosion vaporized mountains, erased rivers, and left a crater so deep that magma gushed forth into the heavens.
When the smoke cleared, the blue-haired man stood unscathed, protected by a mirror of unbreakable ice that reflected the blast. Elder Jin's scorched skeleton knelt in the crater, still clinging to life.
"Pathetic." raising his finger. A spear of starlight ice materialized—a weapon forged from the cold void of space—and pierced Elder Jin's skull. His nascent soul froze mid-scream, shattering into fragments as the ice detonated in a silent, blue-white explosion. The crater transformed into a lifeless glass plain.
"What an idiot," the blue-haired man snorted, his voice dripping with contempt. "Does he really think he can threaten me? If it weren't for fear of the old master finding out, I would have acted myself and erased that worthless family long ago."
Without another word, the man dissolved into particles of ice and disappeared into thin air.
Two hours later, Mie Lin appeared on the desolate battlefield. Her eyes scanned the scene warily, her expression grave.
"What a terrifying person," she whispered, her voice tinged with awe. "A half-step Heavenly Tribulation realm powerhouse?" She couldn't help but take a sharp breath. "I need to inform that man immediately."