Void Cultivation-Chapter 156- Wind Monarch

The chase did not last long. The two rainbow arcs behind them closed the distance with frightening speed, their brilliance cutting across the vast sky like twin comets. Each pulse of light left rippling trails in the air, distorting space itself. Waiyu’s expression darkened as he glanced over his shoulder. His breath was heavy, his control beginning to falter.

Fatigue gnawed at his limbs. Even his aura, once sharp and vigorous, now flickered unevenly like a candle in the wind. Though his cultivation was at the peak of the Qi Accumulation Realm, he was nearing his limit. Flying at such speed was never meant for one of his level.

Under normal circumstances, only experts who had stepped into the Foundation Establishment Realm could fly freely through the heavens. For them, flight was as natural as walking, an effortless extension of their will. Spirit energy flowed in harmony with the wind, requiring little exertion.

But for Waiyu, every heartbeat spent in the sky was a battle. His body resisted the strain of the winds tearing against it, and his spiritual reserves dwindled rapidly. The technique he was using was not meant for prolonged flight, it forcefully bent the laws of nature, burning away spirit energy in exchange for temporary defiance of gravity. Every sudden burst of acceleration cost him dearly, and each time he used it, his reserves thinned further.

Behind him, a powerful voice echoed through the sky, warped by the rushing wind:

"No matter how far you flee, Waiyu, you cannot escape!"

The words reached Grey’s ears as faint, distorted fragments, muffled by the roar of the gale. Still, the emotion within them, cold confidence and unyielding pursuit, was unmistakable.

Waiyu’s jaw tightened. A vein pulsed on his forehead as he suppressed a curse. He could feel the trembling within his spiritual veins, the dull ache of overexertion creeping through every fiber of his being. His hands trembled slightly as he maintained the energy barrier around Grey’s body.

Then, a flash of grim determination crossed his face. His eyes hardened like tempered steel.

’If icontinue like this, I’ll burn through all my spirit energy and fall from the sky...’ He thought. ’Better to face them head-on than die fleeing like a coward.’

With that thought, his aura flared violently. Waves of turbulent spirit energy surged from his body, rippling outward in jagged patterns that distorted the clouds around him.

"Curse all of you!" he roared, his voice carrying a feral edge. "If it’s a fight you want, then come and die!"

In an instant, his body twisted mid-flight. The winds screamed as he reversed direction, hurtling back toward the two pursuing figures like a storm given human form. The rainbow arcs hesitated only for a fraction of a second before adjusting their course, diving toward him with equal ferocity.

From within the body Waiyu carried, Grey could only watch in silent astonishment. The air around them shimmered, trembling under the clash of three overwhelming auras. Every breath tasted of ozone and spirit energy. Even through the protection of Waiyu’s power, the body Grey’s mind was inhabiting could feel the oppressive might of the approaching cultivators, each one radiated strength far beyond anything he had ever sensed before.

As the three figures sped toward one another, the horizon itself seemed to bend. Clouds tore apart under the pressure of their spiritual force, and streaks of lightning flickered within the turbulence of their combined energies.

The two rainbow figures drew closer, and for a heartbeat, Grey caught a glimpse of their faces, one male, one female, both radiating serene confidence. Their eyes gleamed with light that mirrored the heavens themselves, calm yet unyielding.

And then, the collision was inevitable.

The collision came with the force of thunder splitting the sky.

When Waiyu and the two rainbow-clad cultivators met, the air itself seemed to scream. A single heartbeat of stillness preceded the impact, and then reality convulsed. The world erupted in blinding light and deafening sound.

A storm of spirit energy burst outward, sweeping through the heavens like a tidal wave. The very clouds disintegrated, torn apart by the sheer magnitude of their combined force. Winds howled across the sky, twisting into spirals that could shred stone into dust.

From a distance, it would have looked like three shooting stars colliding and exploding into a sea of color, a brief yet awe-inspiring spectacle that scarred the heavens themselves.

Waiyu roared, his body glowing with a fierce crimson light as he forced every drop of spirit energy from his core. His aura expanded violently, forming a storm of blazing wind around him. The technique he cultivated, one that should only have been used as a last resort, ignited his meridians, burning his vitality to temporarily elevate his strength.

Across from him, the two rainbow figures met his power with effortless grace.

The man raised a single hand, and his aura flared in shimmering blue, calm yet boundless like the ocean. The woman beside him followed with a motion so fluid it seemed to dance with the wind itself. Her power coiled around her in spiraling currents of emerald and gold.

Their combined pressure pressed down like a divine judgment.

"Waiyu," the woman’s voice rang, clear and cold, "you’ve gone too far. Hand over the mortal and surrender. You cannot win this."

Waiyu bared his teeth, his face twisted with defiance. "Surrender? To the likes of you? I’d rather die!"

He thrust both palms forward. Two scarlet arrays bloomed before him, pulsing violently with unstable energy. They expanded in an instant, shooting out twin torrents of burning light toward the two pursuers. The attacks screamed through the air, tearing open trails of fire and distortion.

The male cultivator responded with a calm wave of his hand. A vast, translucent barrier formed before them, not a shield of energy, but a wall of condensed wind, so dense it glimmered like crystal. The fiery blasts struck it head-on, exploding into a rain of sparks and fragmented energy that scattered across the sky like falling stars.

The shockwave of the collision hit with enough power to shake the land far below. Trees bent and broke under the invisible pressure, rivers rippled, and the ground itself groaned in protest.

Grey felt his body, or rather, the body he currently occupied, being flung violently backward. If not for the protective cocoon of energy still surrounding him, he would have been torn apart instantly. Even so, his mind swayed, his consciousness flickering as waves of chaotic spiritual force surged through the Grey heard the voice say in a low whisper.

"So this... is the might of Qi Accumulation cultivators?" He thought, stunned. "No, immortals are... they’re beyond that. This is something else entirely."

Through the haze, Grey’s senses sharpened. Every shift of the wind, every vibration of the air resonated with his spirit. He could feel the dance of energies in ways he never had before, chaotic yet harmonious, destructive yet filled with life. It was as if the heavens themselves were whispering their secrets through the storm.

And beneath it all... something ancient stirred.

A faint breeze brushed against his consciousness, gentle, sentient, and familiar. It whispered a name he had not heard since his attempt to comprehend the Wind Dao back in the Misty Mountains.

"Wind... Monarch!"

The whisper sent a shiver down his soul. For a fleeting instant, the chaotic storm before him froze, every droplet of spirit energy, every spark of lightning, every wisp of wind pausing in reverence to that unseen presence.

Neither Waiyu nor the two rainbow cultivators seemed to notice, but Grey felt it clearly: the faint pulse of an ancient power resonating within him, as though the heavens themselves had turned to look his way.

Then, time moved again.

The rainbow-clad man’s expression hardened. He extended his hand, and the world responded. The winds around him screamed, coalescing into a massive vortex that swallowed Waiyu’s flames whole.

Waiyu tried to resist, shouting defiantly, but his exhausted body trembled. His meridians burned with pain, and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

The vortex expanded, engulfing him completely. The explosion that followed shook the heavens .A shockwave that split clouds, turned the sky white, and sent Grey spiraling through the air like a leaf caught in a tempest.

For a long moment, all he could hear was the wind.

Then... silence.

Grey’s vision blurred, the world fading into muted colors. His consciousness wavered as the mortal body he inhabited began to lose awareness. Yet before darkness took him, he heard a faint voice, soft, solemn, almost divine, echoing within his mind.

"The path of the Wind is not destruction, but control... Remember this, inheritor."

And then, everything went still.

**☺️😉**