Chef in the Apocalypse

Baran was in the middle of meditation. While Core Formation cultivators did not have access to Divine Sense, those who had particularly strong souls were able to imitate it to a certain degree.

Divine Sense was something one unlocked after reaching the Nascent Soul cultivation realm. It allowed the user to essentially send out a strand of their soul which could host their consciousness.

Strong Divine Senses could spread out for hundreds of kilometers, allowing them to see each and every blade of grass as if it was right in front of them.

So while he could not use it, he could use something far inferior.

Baran closed his eyes in deep concentration, focusing on his budding soul within his body. Only by focusing and amplifying his connection with his soul would be able to use the inferior Divine Sense.

Thus a few minutes passed until Baran suddenly felt an immense sense of danger send a shock through his body. Out of pure instinct he moved his head to the left, dodging the fatal blow.

The sound of the wind being sliced sounded out next to his ear, filling his heart with fear and trepidation before...

BOOM!

"ARGH!"

Baran cried out in agony as he felt a powerful shockwave assault his body. It was as if someone had set off an explosion filling his body with immense and bone-shattering pain.

He felt his vision go hazy for a moment, almost passing out from the pain. Baran was disorientated, yet he could tell that there was a huge wound on his right side where the attack had landed.

His immediate reaction was to try and staunch the wound and prevent himself from bleeding out. However, when he lifted his left arm to his side, his expression fell.

Baran’s arm was missing. Not only that, his ribcage was exposed.

Before he could react, he suddenly heard the same whistle of air heading towards him.

’Not good!’ he shouted inwardly.

The rush of adrenaline had helped to mask the pain, allowing him to fully utilize his speed despite the gaping wound in his body. Thankfully, he was quick enough to evade the second deadly attack that had come his way.

When he turned around, he had expected to see Jayce nearby, ready to pounce once again. However, there was only the familiar forest of the illusion formation.

Baran’s pale face frowned, partly in pain but also in anxiety. If his assessment was correct, this formation must be a higher tier than he had initially expected.

Only tier 7 formations and above had the ability to transport the wielders to anywhere within its confines. This was probably the worst case scenario for him.

If it was a tier 7 formation, he would take at least 12 hours of non-stop calculations to find the core. Whereas if it was any higher, he was not confident in being able to sniff the core, let alone locate it properly.

Not only that, he would have to contend with an enemy striking him from the dark whenever he let down his guard.

Things had just turned from bad to worse for Baran.

He quickly checked on his wound, attempting to compartmentalize and ignore the pain swimming through his body at this moment. With a thought, he sent his Qi towards the wound and staunched his meridians and blood vessels.

Without a word, he produced a longan sized pill and quickly shoved it into his mouth.

"ARGHHH!"

Baran screamed and writhed around in pain as soon as the pill had dissolved. Sweat began to fall from his body, almost as if it was melting. Yet in the next moment his body stabilized.

The muscles around the open wound suddenly contorted, writhing around eerily like something out of a horror film. The space where his arm used to reside trembled before a stump began to grow from within.

Slowly, a green arm sprouted out, followed by a hand and five full fingers.

"F*CK that hurt." Baran cursed, checking out his new arm and moving it around to test its usability.

Despite growing a whole new arm and healing his injuries, Baran actually looked far more pale than he had beforehand. It was as if repairing the damage had sucked out his vital energy, leaving him in an exhausted state.

Jayce had also seen the entire situation unfold in front of him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to attack, but he felt that Baran’s body was filled with such potent energy that he would have exploded if he had struck him.

Thankfully, he had made the right call. If Jayce would have used that opportunity to strike, the backlash would have killed him, if not crippled him.

’He looks like an arrow at the end of his flight.’ Jayce thought, seeing the exhausted figure of Baran in front of him.

The only reason he was able to land a surprise blow on the enemy was because his amazing control of his Qi. The attack he had produced was similar to the Critical Strike he had learned in the forest back in North America.

Unlike the flashy and showy techniques that he had received from Rubick, the critical strike did not require a massive build up of Qi. It relied more on timing and a quick burst of Qi to deliver an explosive blow to the target.

His gaze was trained on Baran who seemed to be sucking in deep breaths, trying to stabilize himself. Jayce could sense the potent energy receding within Baran’s body and felt that the optimal time to strike was nearby.

Yet just as he was about to ready his attack, Baran once again produced a pill from his spatial ring, popping it into his mouth with a small hint of hesitation.

The pill was larger than the last and was glowing an ominous red color. Jayce only caught a quick glance at the pill, yet just the mere sight of it caused goosebumps to appear on his arms.

’What the hell kind of pill was that?’

Baran who had just ingested the pill, gritted his teeth and fell to his knees. He let out pained moans as his body began to transform bit by bit starting from his extremities and moving inward.

His arms and legs which were originally thin, bulged and contorted. The skin seemed to crawl as it adjusted to the added mass that had appeared underneath it. The once pristine green skin had turned pale white after stretching to its limits.

It seemed that even a small scratch would cause the entire skin to split, exposing the bulging muscles underneath.

That wasn’t the end though. The transformation progressed towards his shoulders and chest, leading to another harrowing scream of pain which echoed throughout the illusion formation.

Jayce felt disgusted as he watched on, yet he had to steel his nerves. He had a feeling that if he allowed this transformation to continue, it would ruin his plans of ending this quickly.

There was no need for stealth anymore as Baran was not in a position to counterattack, even if he knew where the attack was coming from. Therefore he decided to use his most powerful move from the start.

He lifted his sword in the air, gathering the Qi within his meridians and circulated them according to the technique. The purple sword glowed with tremendous power after sucking up a considerable amount of Qi.

"Heaven Sundering Slash!"

Jayce yelled out aggressively before slashing down with miraculous power. Once again, just as he was mid-way through his attacking motion, he used the formation disk to transport himself right behind Baran who was keeled over in pain.

He didn’t even react as the slash bore down on his body.

Jayce’s eyes lit up as he watched the attack bite into Baran’s exposed back. He could already envision the moment where the tough adversary was split into two pieces.

However, he could not have imagined what happened next.

The attack landed, yet Jayce instantly felt that something was wrong. Instead of experiencing the feeling of cutting through flesh, it almost felt as if he had hit a bunch of soft cotton.

Jayce’s eyes widened, not believing what was in front of his eyes.

He saw Baran’s back sink in almost half a meter, his muscles wrapped around the sword weirdly. Then before he could register what was happening, he felt his sword being forced back with the same power if not more than what he had attacked with.

It took all of his might just to keep a hold of the purple sword within his hand as he was thrown almost 20 meters backwards, his face turned up in confusion.

"W-What!?" Jayce stammered, looking at the monstrosity in front of him with shock.

Baran was still in the same position, knelt down on the ground. However, his muscles were slowly readjusting themselves back, after displacing his attack.

They eventually snapped back into place before Baran could finally pick himself up from the ground.

"Sorry to keep you waiting..."

His voice had changed, dropping by at least a few octaves. That paired with his grotesque figure sent a shiver down Jayce’s spine.

’F*ck’ Jayce cursed inwardly.