A Martial Odyssey Book 3: The Stellar Sanctuary – Chapter 26

The Sanctorum Manifesting of the Celestial Alice

Yi Ping piggybacked the Goddess Asura as they went deeper into the interior of the cave. 

The interior of the cave was dry and not too warm or cold with all kinds of luminous crystals dotted along the passage. It was a beautiful sight no doubt but Yi Ping had no mood for it. 

It was because he was on the lookout for any hidden dangers and on the other hand, he was also holding the pulses of the Goddess Asura, transferring his internal strength to her as soon as her pulses were spinning too erratic. 

But these two things were not the most weighted matter in his mind!

It was because he could sniff the light mesmerizing fragrance of the Goddess Asura and could feel her delicate bosoms pressing upon him. Moreover as he piggybacks, he had suddenly noticed that both her pearly white thighs were uncovered and he had his hands on it…

He was flushing and his heart was throbbing nervously as he carried her. It was a lucky thing she was not able to see his face or else he would have to dig a hole and hide himself in it! 

As for the Goddess Asura, she was exhaling deeply as she put on a resistance against the deviation fire. Her heart was pounding hard if not louder than Yi Ping. It was because she was clinging on his back and she could feel his firm build as she inhaled his intoxicating heroic aura…

Even though Yi Ping was already transferring his precious internal strength to help her to ward off the worst of her deviation fire but with him pressing against her, her resolute remained weak. 

There were a few things that were blogging her mind that hindered her ability to focus her efforts on fighting the deviation fire. One was his soothing internal strength that felt weirdly like the Pangu Intricate Energy? She was familiar with the Stellar Sanctuary and could recognize the Pangu Intricate Energy from the other variations of the Universal Force. Her first thoughts were naturally, impossible and I must have been mistaken…

The second thing was on her mind was actually very trivial but she could help asking weakly, “Those maidens that are with you, who are they? Don’t tell me that they are not your sweethearts?”

Yi Ping shuddered lightly as he replied firmly, “You are indeed right. They are my sweethearts. That is why I mustn’t let them come to harm.”

When she had heard his reply, it was like a thunderbolt that had struck her heart. She began to tremble uncontrollably as she muttered woefully, “Oh really…”

She inhaled weakly before asking, “I have thought that you will try to deny it. Even the Goddess Isa and the Goddess Aiel? They have no eyes for anyone else. Are you actually imagining things? Or because you are too embarrassed to admit it is not?”

Once these words were out, she was startled that she would actually be trying to defend him!

Yi Ping stopped in his tracks all of a sudden!

She was secretly glad. Was it because she was right? Or because she had given him a reason to lie to her?

He said melancholy, “Isa and Aiel, alas! They are near perfect. I don’t deserve them. I owe them too much. They have a special place in my heart…”

When she had heard him, it was like a huge boulder that had just dropped into the still water! 

But she soon said coldly, “That may not be the case for them!”

Yi Ping was trembling uncontrollably and as he said hoarsely, “How I wish that is so!”

This time she was stunned by his reply that she could find no more words! 

Just as Yi Ping took another step forward, she muttered icily. “You are nothing but a lecher. It is because only a lecher will think that everyone is his sweethearts.”

Yi Ping began to smile bitterly, “Indeed I am just a lecher!”

Asura was totally shocked by his reply that she held her hands even tighter around him as she muttered incoherently, “Hmph, are you?”

All of a sudden Yi Ping stopped in his tracks again as he unsheathed his sword, “Be careful. We have some company. I am afraid that we have just stepped into the the Iron Formation!”

Asura was startled, “How do you know?”

Yi Ping said quietly, “I have previously stepped into it and I can feel the tingling sensation of this formation. If we continue to move forward then we will surely encounter the Iron Golems.”

Asura was perplexed. It was because she was at the Greater Cosmos Positioning and her hyper sense in detecting hidden formations was naturally uncanny. But today he had actually warned her ahead of her…

Yi Ping said solemnly as he continued his forward march, “It is already too late to turn back now. Behind us is the rising water. Since we are only two, this Iron Formation may not be too difficult for me.”

As he continued the march forward, Asura realized that they were indeed entering the invisible barrier of the Iron Formation! 

She was startled at his uncanny sense of detection. All of a sudden she recalled that the first time that they had met, he had actually detected her. She did not give it a second thought at that time…

She quickly called to him panicky, “No wait. I am an invalid now. It is impossible for you to storm the Iron Formation alone. Leave me here. The full effects of the Iron Formation may not have taken effect yet…”

But Yi Ping had already displayed his swiftness movement skill as he charged forward while saying calmly to her, “Don’t worry…”

Asura gripped his shoulder as she warned hastily, “Yi Ping, I plead with you. You don’t understand this formation…”

But Yi Ping appeared not to have heard her as he had already charged forward with daunting speed. He had only one hand as he needed the other hand to support the Goddess Asura and to protect her. He had remembered a fighting technique from the Goddess Isa when he had met her for the first time and saw how she had countered the formidable Eight Trigram Formless Formation…

All of a sudden there were ten Iron Golems in front of them; five each for Yi Ping and the Goddess Asura!

Asura muttered woefully as she stared blankly at the ten Iron Golems, “I…am sorry…because of me, you have to fight so many at once…”

So what was the fighting technique that Yi Ping had picked up from the Goddess Isa?

He began to muster his Martial Emperor Unifying Force as he charged headlong into the midst of the Iron Golems as he pierced through one with the Ultrapowerful Force as it exploded into smithereens pieces!

Immediately the rest of the Iron Golems began to raise their shields and short swords as they started to hack furiously at him!

But Yi Ping was even swifter. He had empowered the Celestial Alice by imbuing it with the Fatal Masterstroke, which was the first technique of the Flawless Sword Energy Techniques as he slashed a sword arc around him, instantly obliterating two other Iron Golems!

Yi Ping was startled at the power of the Fatal Masterstroke that seemingly cut through these two Iron Golems like tofu but it was also sapping his precious internal energies at an astonishing rate. 

Yi Ping smiled bitterly as he fought off the draining fatigue of the loss of his internal strength with the Divine Revelation, “Alas, I need to conserve my internal strength. Sword energies attacks aren’t my real forte…”

So he quickly switched to his martial power to execute the Heavens Encompassing Strike as he slashed with a thunderous explosion across two other Iron Golems, instantly knocking the two Iron Golems back and shattering it!

While the Heavens Encompassing Strike was not as clean cut as the Fatal Masterstroke, both techniques had the same effect of destroying the same number of Iron Golems given the same amount of time!

But because he had overextended himself, he was forced to take a few hurried steps to the back before he rushed forward again with a great martial shout, displaying the Asper Continuum as he raised hurried strokes as he ripped apart three Iron Golems!

The last two Iron Golems took Yi Ping a little longer as he finally obliterated them after a dozen powerful slashes!

Yi Ping began to inhale breathlessly as he stooped his back, stabbing his sword into the ground as a support!

Asura was stunned at his martial display and could not believe her eyes!

She was thoroughly overwhelmed by his heroic fight; she unconsciously tightened her hands around him as she inhaled weakly, “I can’t believe it…you have actually defeated these Iron Golems? Surely your martial level is on par with the Thirty-Three Heavens now. What are you?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, not understanding her question. But after inhaling a few breaths, he said weakly, “Lucky! They are much more difficult to defeat than the last time that I have fought them.”

Asura said quietly, “That is because of me…”

Yi Ping looked around the debris before he started to walk wobbly forward, “Let us be on our way now.”

Asura rested her head next to his face as she muttered dreamily, “Yi Ping…”

Yi Ping was startled as he looked at her to ask, “Yes?”

But suddenly he had noticed that she had fallen asleep so he continued to march forward, not daring to disturb her rest.

It was not before long that Yi Ping had come to three branching passages. 

He was perplexed as he stared at the three passages for some time as he muttered, “Which one which I take?”

It was because he was worried that one of the passages may take him to the next level of the Stellar Sanctuary, leading him to be further and further away from his main group! 

After some thought, he decided to take the passage furthest to his left as he prayed silently. “Let’s hope that this passage will take us to an entrance outside rather than to another place in the Stellar Sanctuary.”

This passage led Yi Ping to a wider cavern but it was also a treacherous one with small pathways. If he was careless, he would have fallen to the bottomless pit below. 

He prayed as he treaded carefully, “Let hope that this is not a trial and there will be no sudden martial winds.”

Luckily it passed without any trouble and he was soon in another passage with another two openings. Again he picked the left passageway. 

This passage was also wide but it was cold.

The Goddess Asura began to shiver uncontrollably and she was aroused from her nap. She was startled that Yi Ping was again infusing his internal strength to her even though he was also shivering and his movements had also become wobbly!

Asura gasped weakly, “You should have left me alone. Life and death is predestined. If you continued to give me your internal strength, soon you have no more strength left and you will surely perish in the trials of the Stellar Sanctuary. Why are you behaving so foolishly?”

Yi Ping said wearily, “You are awake? Did I disturb you?”

Asura looked at him intently, not knowing what to say to him and was at a loss. 

Yi Ping was startled that she had suddenly gone all quiet so he turned his head around to take a look but there was a knocking sound as he hit her head by accidentally.

“Ouch!”

Yi Ping was startled as he said panicky, “Sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean it…”

Asura smiled weakly at him, “That is alright. Why are you treating me so nice?”

Yi Ping said firmly, “You are Alice’s friend too so you are my friend…”

Asura smiled weakly as she held him even tighter, “We are friends? So I have a friend now?”

Yi Ping dared not look at her because he was too afraid that he would lose his own restraint. It was because he could feel her deviation fire and it was also beginning to affect him. Her wondrous scent, her touches and soft body were all too tempting for him…

All of a sudden the entire chamber began to crackle with soft glowing lights!

Both Yi Ping and Asura gasped panicky! It was because they had unwittingly entered a trapped cavern!

A shimmering black light now blocked the passage behind them. 

At the same time, two pillars of blue light had materialized in front of them as two towering giants with deep crimson eyes began to step forth from it!

Immediately the entire air was filled with a terrifying penetrating malevolent!

Yi Ping gasped as he took a staggering step backward as he had recognized this monster as the boss monster that he had fought on the tenth level of the Stellar Sanctuary, “The Demon Bull King!”

Asura was also gasping as she broke into cold sweat, “It is the Demon Bull King and there are two of them!”

Yi Ping quickly put her down to sit on a rock, giving her his scabbard as a support while saying bitterly. “I am so shameful of myself that I get you into this fix. It is all my fault that we are in this passage. Alas! Even if it meant sacrificing my life, I won’t allow them to hurt you…”

All of a sudden Asura grabbed his hands. She began to tremble as she said melancholy, “I don’t blame you at all. Why should I? You have already done more than enough for me. You must come back, promise me!”

Yi Ping was startled by her enticing expressions as he murmured, “I promise you…”

All of a sudden Asura lowered her head to say shyly, “If you live, I will give my heart to you.”

Yi Ping was startled and his heart began to pound like a hammer as he looked at this enticing heavenly beauty…

But he had quickly regained his composure, “I promise you I will surely come back!”

Then he turned around to face the two Demon Bull Kings as he split the Celestial Alice into two!

Asura lifted her eyes as she looked earnestly at his back, “Never before have I lost my bearings. You may think that I am saying that because I am under the fire deviation but I am not…”

All of a sudden she was startled because Yi Ping had suddenly been thrown off balance as the two Demon Bull Kings had charged at him at the same time! 

Before Yi Ping could regain his balance, a gigantic double handed axe had materialized in the hands of the two Demon Bull King!

Before he knew what was happening; the Demon Bull King had hacked the axe next to him, instantly imploding the ground next to him in a thunderous explosion. This was followed by the other Demon Bull King!

Immediately the entire cavern was shaking tremendously as outburst of thick dust and flying debris began to balloon to all corners!

Asura gasped tearfully as she clenched her bosoms tightly!

A single Demon Bull King was already difficult to overcome. Moreover there were two of them. What was more; these two Demon Kings had even got a hidden weapon and an additional hidden special attack!

She could only see the two black towering figures of the two Demon Bull Kings as they moved to and fro in the thick dust debris, raising their long double axes menacing as thunderous explosion and impact could be heard all around!

She was freaking scared out of her wits for Yi Ping and was about to faint when golden lights began to burst out from within the cloud dusts! 

It was Yi Ping as he raised all his entire martial power as he unleashed the Heavens Encompassing Strike one after another, unleashing six Heavens Encompassing Strikes continuously! 

At the same time a thunderous powerful burst of martial outburst had totally dispersed all the dusts and debris around Yi Ping!

The two Celestial Alices were humming loudly and was being enveloped by a bright golden halo. Also Yi Ping’s forehead was glowing with a wondrous golden light! 

The two Demon Bull Kings seemed to have frozen in place! 

Asura was in a daze as she gasped out, “Is it the sanctorum powers of his divine sword?”

She was suddenly perplexed, “If he can invoke the sanctorum powers of this divine sword, then it means that he is possibly already an immortal being now…that’s impossible…and his forehead, is that really the Seventh Cosmos Positioning? No, I am sure it is! I have seen Alice displaying it too…”

Indeed it was!

The manifest powers of the Celestial Alice had two; the lighter Celestial Antonym Alice had the hidden divine power of increasing the attack speed of techniques while the heavier Celestial Synonym Alice had the effect of enhancing the power of techniques. 

But what were the manifest sanctorum powers of the two Celestial Alices? 

The lighter Celestial Antonym Alice in additional to enhancing the speed of the offensive techniques could also cause a mirror image technique to splitter out! 

The heavier Celestial Synonym Alice was now able to double the martial power of the offensive techniques rather than simply enhancing it. Double was an effective 100% increase, representing a tremendous leapt!

Yi Ping had executed the Heavens Encompassing Strike with both Celestial Alices as he bent the attacking and defense movements of the Perfect Swordplay, slashing ambidextrously at the two Demon Bull Kings at the same time! 

This resulted in six brilliant burst of golden light even though Yi Ping had only executed only four counts of the Heavens Encompassing Strike!

It was because the lighter Celestial Antonym Alice was duplicating an additional count to the visible eyes! 

Yi Ping himself was stunned at his powerful slashes even as the two Demon Bull Kings began to dematerialize slowly next to him!

His entire body was trembling. It was because he had expended all his martial strength in desperation. Because his opponents were too powerful, it had forced his innate defense to take over and he had successfully divine harmonized with the sanctorum ability of the Celestial Alice! 

Just as Yi Ping was about to walk to the Goddess Asura, the two dematerializing Demon Bull Kings had suddenly burst into two brilliant light and in their place, two divine pills began to descend slowly from above!

Yi Ping gasped as he caught hold of the two divine pills. He had recognized it as the Negative Core Divine Pills even though it seemed heavier than he had thought! 

But he quickly cast this trivial thought away and he was suddenly overwhelmed with joyous exultations; it was because the Negative Core Divine Pill was a miracle pill that could even revive the most grievous of the wounded. That could only mean that he had found a solution to cure the Goddess Asura of her fire deviation! 

At the same time the passage in front had also suddenly lit up, revealing a golden passage!

Yi Ping was stunned at the sight. What could possible cause the passage in front to have such a brilliant golden glow?

But he had no time to think of the possible treasures or secrets in there as he stumbled wobbly to the Goddess Asura as he exclaimed excitedly, “Asura! Look what I have got! If I am not mistaken, these must be the Negative Core Divine Pills! I have found a cure for your ills! Aren’t you glad?”

Asura looked at him hatefully but her expressions were also woeful, “So what?” 

Yi Ping was stunned at her reaction! 

He had thought that she would be as delighted as him!

It was because at the moment he had defeated the two Demon Bull Kings, he had noticed she was smiling encouragingly to him. But when he had walked to her with the Negative Core Divine Pills, her reactions had changed all of a sudden! 

He stammered as he gave her one of the Negative Core Divine Pills, “Asura, are you not happy? Is something wrong? Are you alright?”

Asura lowered her glance and said nothing.

Yi Ping began to panic as he hastily extended both Negative Core Divine Pills to her, “You can have it all. I don’t really want it.”

Asura hummed coldly, “If you give me all, how are you going to recover your martial strength? Who is going to protect me then?”

Yi Ping was truly stumped and he thought panicky, “Did I do anything wrongly? Did I say the wrong things?”

At this moment a wobbly Yi Ping was really too weary to think straight!

All of a sudden a thought jolted him as he hastily explained, “I really have no idea that I will be able to merge as one with the Celestial Alice or know the manifest effect of the Sanctorum Relic that I have found…I didn’t mean to cheat your feelings…I really have no confidence of overcoming these two monsters…”

Asura began to tremble as she looked woefully at him, “Not that and not these! Don’t you understand my heart?”

Yi Ping was stumped, “Your heart?”

Asura lowered her glance shyly as she said, “No doubt that this divine pill will be able to remove the ill-effects of my fire deviations, it is also capable of restoring my golden body. But do you know that if my golden body is restored then I won’t be able to give my heart to you?”

Yi Ping stammered nervously, “Give your heart to me? I am not a dark practitioner. I don’t want to eat your heart…”

Asura had a flustered look as she took the two Negative Divine Cores from him as she tossed it gently away, “You silly. I have already given my heart to you, whether you like it or not. Unless you are despising me…”

Yi Ping was startled when she had tossed the two Negative Divine Cores away, “No, I don’t despise you. I have only great admiration for you…”

All of a sudden he was stunned when the Goddess Asura began to slip off her black robe in front of him! 

Yi Ping could feel his throat ran dry as he continued to watch her strip slowly…

Asura murmured shyly as she shuddered lightly, “From now on, I am no longer any Fair Virtuous Goddess. If you don’t despise me, what are you waiting for?”

This time even if Yi Ping was really very dense, he could not miss her hidden meaning! 

The Goddess Asura had many admirers and she knew her alluring charms. She knew that he would not be able to resist her allure if she tempted him. It was because her state of divinity was higher than him and could easily have overwhelmed him with her enticing allure especially at his present state. 

Yi Ping had so many chances to take advantage of her but he had not and he was continuing trying his best to aid her. In her heart, she was already touched by his great gesture and knew that she had no way to repay him. 

Yi Ping lowered his glance, “I am but a lecherous man. I won’t be able to resist this temptation…”

Asura was already in his embrace, “You don’t have to resist…”

Even before she had finished, Yi Ping was already fondling her as he was filled with indescribable fire. 

All of a sudden their passions burst forth with their delighted moaning as they began to entwine together!