Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!-Chapter 189: The Preliminaries! 6
A pure and spotless white light blossomed from within the orb that was soft and gentle, somewhat like fresh snow under morning sun.
This resplendent light washed over Li Ling’s face, over the stage, over the first few rows of competitors, making their complexions seem glossy.
The crowd blinked in utter confusion this time, because what they were seeing was not what they expected.
"...White?" someone finally muttered, unable to suppress their puzzlement.
"Er... that’s not in the ranking, is it?"
"I thought it started from violet?"
Murmurs sounded outward as the people of all levels, even the learned sect elders, were completely flabbergasted.
"Is it... a null reading?" A Path Saint asked with hesitation.
"Did the orb break?" A Core Disciple suggested with interest.
On the uppermost platform, Ming Yue’s golden brows twitched faintly, but he said nothing as his gaze sharpened to a knife’s edge.
Li Ling himself raised an eyebrow slightly. "White, huh?"
The white light flickered once like a weak bulb about to go out, then it rapidly darkened into another, more familiar color; Violet.
The lowest color on the scale flashed in the Pure Soul orb for only a single instant, dim and almost embarrassed, before the light changed once more into Indigo.
Gasps sounded as the crowd were truly flummoxed this time, because changing colors was not a thing.
It was as if the damned Pure Soul Orb, an item so powerful that only it could perform this role on the entire continent, was confused about what it was seeing.
"Wait, it’s changing again!" Someone in the lower sect noted, capturing attentions once more.
The indigo color deepened, then brightened, then shot upward in terms of hue, achieving the color of blue!
"Is he... climbing the whole ladder?!" Another disciple astutely pointed out, causing many eyes to narrow with suspicion.
No one could look away at this point as the orb’s glow pulsed like a heartbeat, each throb shifting the color higher on the continental ranking.
Naturally, next was the color of green, the fourth in the scale and the direct middle point where one could be called an elite of sorts from here going forward.
But given the talent Li Ling had shown this far, could it possibly stop here? Immediately, the color shifted to yellow, the strong golden radiance swallowing the previous hues, now showing some backbone.
The enemies of Li Ling felt sweat on their foreheads, secretly praying that this was it, that surely it would stop at yellow, right?!
Unfortunately for them, the heavens were cruel and unfeeling. The Pure Soul Orb’s light intensified, becoming richer on the scale and hitting the penultimate rank of orange!
People sat up involuntarily because for most, this was already a lifetime’s dream in which they would be willing to sacrifice anything for... but the orb wasn’t finished.
The orange light condensed, darkened, then shifted into...
Red.
This time, the spectators were truly shaken because this was the third time in a row, and this red color was the brightest of them all!
A thunderous roar of voices crashed together.
"RED!"
"As expected!"
"The Twin Monsters and The Karma Killer, all red... who could believe it!"
Up on the high platform, several sect elders exhaled slowly, some in relief, some in grim satisfaction. Red was a terrifying talent for sure, but it was within the realm of expectation for someone Like Li Ling and could be generally accepted.
Then, just as the cheering reached its peak and Li Ling was about to take his hands off, the light went out!
The Pure Soul Orb, which had been blazing like a miniature red sun a moment ago, suddenly turned dead and dull, its surface a flat lifeless gray color even worse than it base inactivated state.
It sat lazily on the pedestal like a stone, as if nothing had ever happened and as if it was deadweight.
The cheering crowd were like chickens that had been grabbed by the neck, their voices unable to escape as their faces became red with exertion and shock.
"...Huh?"
"Did it... burn out?"
"Did he break it?!"
"Is that allowed?!"
Unease and worry rushed through the crowd like an infectious disease, unwilling to take back their support for Li Ling and think of him as... trash!
Even the competitors who had been secretly bracing themselves for a blow were left staring blankly, unwilling to believe that the mountain in their hearts was going to turn out to be a mere hillock.
In the Path Saints’ area, all six of their faces hardened and their emotions became unstable.
Path Saint Zhang Luo’s dainty eyebrows furrowed deeply. "That shouldn’t be possible."
Path Saint Zhen Mingshen agreed. "The orb is fed by the sect’s main formation and buffered by three layers of suppression. Even a Fourth Realm expert can’t overload it like that."
Path Saint Sha Ren’s eyes narrowed. "Unless..."
They trailed off, unwilling to voice certain guesses, while on the middle section, several Path Elders elders shot to their feet.
"Check the veins! Is there a problem with the formation?!"
"Did someone tamper with the orb?!"
The Divine Deva Overseer himself furrowed his brow, stepping slightly closer, his spirit sense flickering out to examine the artifact.
With a grim expression, he opened his mouth to speak, but he never even got the chance.
BOOM! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
It was not a thunderous sound, that shook the world but a certain unspeakable pressure that was essentially a sudden explosive expansion of power as the dead orb sprang violently back to life!
Light poured out of it in a tsunami, and not a single color this time, but all of them at once!!
Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, every hue of the rainbow burst forth, not one after the other, not in a cycle like some LED lightshow, but rather mixed and merged!
Combinations of color shot upward into the sky like a multi-colored pillar that pierced the firmament, painting the clouds above the sect’s tournament grounds and the entire Holy City in seven radiant stripes.
The Pure Soul Orb itself became impossible to look at directly, as if a small but furious rainbow sun had been born on the pedestal.
For a moment, everyone was stunned into silence, then the lower sect exploded with murmurs of bafflement.
"W-What is this?!"
"Is that even a grade?!"
"Did it malfunction?!"
"Did Heaven’s Will descend?!"
Unfortunately, the middle sect disciples weren’t much better in this regard, with everyone from Core Disciples to even Path Elders sharing the confused state.
"Rainbow...? What does rainbow mean?"
"Is it... above red?"
"I’ve never heard of it..."
Heck, even the Path Saints were frozen, their eyes wide like copper bells while their mouths hung open in an ’O’ shape as they stared at the impossible phenomenon!
Yet despite all this bamboozlement, it was only the upper sect understood the consequences of what had just occurred, and their extreme reactions showed it.
"IMPOSSIBLE!!" One of the Grand Elders at the Nihility Realm roared, veins bulging at his temples as if worms were trying to crawl out. He stood up to forcefully that the armrest of his seat splintered under his grip. However, he didn’t have time or the frame of mind to care about this.
Another Grand Elder’s eyes went bloodshot in an instant, tiny vessels bursting as he staggered to his feet. "HOW CAN THIS BE?!"
A third Grand Elder clutched his own hair and tore a handful free, scattering white strands in the wind as he laughed hysterically like a madman. "RAINBOW! A RAINBOW-GRADE SOUL! IN A DEMONIC SECT? HAHAHAHA!"
One Seven Sins Demon Sect’s Grand Elders who accompanied the young True Inheritors as a protector, usually known for his calm composure, suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, eyes locked on Li Ling as if he’d seen an Immortal descend upon the earth.
A True Inheritor of the Six Paths Demon Sect in dark robes gripped the railing so tightly that his fingernails tore, blood dripping down unnoticed as he continually muttered one word as if it was his lifeline. "Impossible... Impossible... Impossible...!!"
Even the perpetually serene Ming Yue had lost his languid posture. He was now standing up while even floating in mid-air, golden eyes blazing with fervor while his handsome face contorted in a rare expression somewhere between ecstasy and terror.
"Rainbow! A Rainbow Soul Talent in my sect! Hahahaha, the heavens are truly not unfair! Hahahaha!" He roared with crazed laughter, his joy even making those who were confused smile despite themselves.
For a few breaths, the platform where the members of the Upper Sect resided looked less like a collection of aloof immortals-in-training and more like a nest of madmen who were howling and screeching like they were in a madhouse.
The sheer intensity of their reactions sent a chill down the spines of everyone watching below, wishing they could also understand the magnitude of what this rainbow color meant for their top echelon to lose composure like this.
"If even the Sect Master and the Grand Elders are losing control, what kind of monster did that orb just measure?" Path Saint Hei An, who had not spoken the entirety of today, finally asked in a soft yet echoing voice.
