Beastmaster of the AgesBeastmaster of the Ages
Back on Gladeus, the eye I got for Wu You was from a decaoptic beast, which Wu You said was among the higher archaionfiend bloodlines. Does that mean this Archaionfiend Eye is from a centuroptic beast? Tianming wondered. Fortunately, his Sky Plundering Eye tethered his mind in place, allowing him to think. Sky plunderers had always been interested in Archaionfiend Eyes. The draw that came from his Fiendsky Arm helped awaken him somewhat.
"The people who fell in here and never emerged probably had their consciousnesses completely fade away thanks to the effects of the Archaionfiend Eye, and eventually perished here!" Dead astral gods wouldn't leave any corpses behind, so the eye seemed incredibly clean.
"Having one's astrons and inner mind invaded like that is truly terrifying." Tianming felt the fear of death. Like a leaf, he gently fell onto the surface of the Archaionfiend Eye. He didn't have any sense of touch right now and didn't know what it felt like. All his Sky Plundering Eye could see was the red glow coming from the countless blood threads of the eye his palm was on. Each darkfiend only had one of those threads at most; they were the things that caused the mesmerizing effect!
"For most other people, they would fall on the eye and slowly disintegrate. Their death would be a slow one, devoid of sense and awareness and they wouldn't feel any pain at all. It's like drifting into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. There would indeed be no dreams, for the Archaionfiend Eye wouldn't let their caeli escape its grasp. Caeli are incredibly crucial for it, after all."
The flowing blood threads looked like countless tiny snakes. They were the only moving thing that Tianming was able to spot.
"If this goes on, nothing will change for hundreds of years. However, I’ll slowly waste away." Tianming could barely handle it any longer, let alone if he had to stay for a few centuries.
"Will I be able to steal this eye and consume it?" Tianming couldn't really feel his fingers, but he could still muster his will to get his Sky Plundering Eye as close to the blood threads as possible.
"Go down! Lower!" That was the only thing on his mind. His field of vision slowly began to shift as his hand moved. Eventually, it stopped, as if something was jamming it.
"This should be the surface of the eye, right? What’s this—a cornea?" With his sharp claws, it shouldn't be a problem. "Let me tear open your cornea!" Tianming's will to live kicked in. Since there was nothing else he could do, he did his best to get closer to the blood threads. The cornea was in his way. Even though he couldn't feel his claws, he was sure that they were still there. As long as he could bring them closer to the threads, there was a chance he could tear the cornea to reach them. He couldn't even tell if his claws were pushing against the eye, but the Sky Plundering Eye could see that the distance between it and the threads was no longer closing.
"I have all the time in the world. I refuse to believe I can't make any progress!" He gave it his all, to the point that he was no longer aware of how much time had passed. His motivation only kept soaring.
"To think that I might perish without so much as a whimper during my first mundus mission. It's such a bummer, I just can't let it end like that!" He wouldn't be able to accept a death like this. More and more, his will strengthened as he roared in his mind.
Eventually, he noticed that the distance was closing! It was slow, but perhaps he had pierced the cornea! It was a sure sign of hope, but he still had to exhaust himself and keep going.
"I'm almost there! Just a little more!" He had no idea how much time all of that took. All he knew was that he had almost touched the blood threads, which were closely bunched together. As long as he touched a single one, that would be enough.
"Got it!" Tianming exploded with joy. "Come inside right now!"
He had absorbed blood threads before, so he already had experience. As long as he was close enough, the Sky Plundering Eye's own mystical powers would automatically absorb them. He watched as the threads entered his field of vision and vanished, as if they had pierced into his own eyes. "Nice!"
More and more blood threads flooded his vision and completely filled it. "They must be going into the Sky Plundering Eye! However, this Archaionfiend Eye has a hundred smaller eyes. I might have to keep digging to reach the rest of them once I'm done with this one."
Tianming kept forging ahead. The sole window he had that tethered him to the physical world was the eye on his palm, so it was quite challenging. He kept absorbing them as he advanced.
"The more threads I absorb, the more senses that my Fiendsky Arm recovers. Not to mention, the force that's blinding my senses should get weaker as I recover!" His sense of control grew better until he could see his blood-red claws through the eye on his palm. "Tear it apart!"
Even more blood threads entered the eye, allowing him to make bigger and bigger moves. All of a sudden, his Sky Plundering Eye lurched forward. Tianming felt that he might have fallen straight into the open Archaionfiend Eye! "This feels great! I'll suck you dry from the inside!"
The soul mesmerization from the centuroptic beast was so terrifying that not even his Order Relic Universal Body had the slightest reaction. Most people would definitely die a slow death, but Tianming was a sky plunderer, the natural predator of archaionfiends. Counting on his arm was the right move.
"Wu You’s absorbed two decaoptic beast's eyes so far. I should be fine after absorbing the eye of a centuroptic beast, right?" Eventually, Tianming absorbed the blood threads in the subeye. His Fiendsky Arm completely recovered once he was done and he could freely move it.