Chapter 35: I Want to Ask When Master Can Return (3K)
Whoosh...
High above the Weapon-Refining Grounds, the Xiaoyao Dao Body transformed into countless showers of Dao law light, invisible to cultivators' naked eyes, and scattered down.
After vanishing into thin air this time, he never emerged from the Restricted Area again.
At the same time.
Tan Lin's remnant soul, lurking within a secret place in the Central Region, let out a long sigh of relief at the sight.
If this dragged on for another year, he truly might not have been able to endure it.
But he knew that, at least in this game of hide-and-seek, he had won for the time being.
Next, it would depend on when he went to the Human Emperor Hall in the Central Plains. There, he would face the Undying Daoist and perhaps Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao, who might truly emerge from the Restricted Area, fuse with that fragment of true soul, and fight for his next life.
Worth mentioning was that, at this moment, the Causal Line between him and Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao darkened considerably once more.
In an instant, this line also spawned many black Fireflies. Although such Fireflies would shrink greatly after being refined by the Soul Pearl, they still gave him a small measure of recovery.
Southern Region of Eastern Wasteland.
North of Ancient Yan Kingdom, Vast Mountain Range.
Within the Drill Tower, whose restrictions had collapsed and which had been connected to the outside world for over a year.
At this moment, compared to a year ago, the desolate and deathly area on the first level's small world was now filled with far more life.
Yet bones lay piled up everywhere as well.
Countless cultivators had entered the tower one after another, fighting and tempering themselves here.
Some rose to prominence, and naturally some fell. However, most of those who fell were independent cultivators, while those who "rose" were basically children of great clans, protected in secret by attendants and elders.
Rustle... rustle...
The wind and sand here were as fierce as ever.
Within a forest of weathered boulders, what appeared to be a fair clash at the Other Shore level had just ended.
"Pant! Pant..."
Li Qingjue, who had worn a Bronze Mask whenever she appeared since some day a year ago, was gasping heavily now, a streak of fresh blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
The Dao robe she wore over her inner garments, obtained from looting corpses, was damaged in many places. Numerous fresh wounds were exposed beneath it, bloody and mangled, some deep enough to reveal bone.
Drip...
Blood trickled down as excruciating pain surged through all four limbs and every bone, stabbing straight into her soul.
Yet she did not so much as furrow her brow. Her gaze at the figure ahead was like ten-thousand-year ice, cold and ruthless.
Thud...
Opposite her, a richly dressed young man from a great clan crashed to the ground. Having fought until he was exhausted, he had fainted.
He came from a minor clan in the Northern Region of Eastern Wasteland, yet he was the current generation's King Body of his clan and carried extraordinary artifacts. He was indeed formidable among his peers, and Li Qingjue had not won this battle easily.
Her cultivation was actually a level below his. She had not yet reached the peak of the Other Shore realm.
"Young Master?!"
Almost the instant the youth fell, two furious and alarmed voices rolled in from beyond the boulder forest.
Auras at the Peak Other Shore level descended from the sky with their figures, their gazes locking onto the still-standing Li Qingjue in an instant.
One was old and the other brawny. Both were the youth's attendants.
The old man had white hair and beard and a withered face, but his true cultivation had already reached Peak Dragon Transformation. Though his blood and vitality had somewhat declined, his eyes remained as sharp as an eagle's.
The other was a middle-aged-looking man.
His limbs were thick and highly tempered. Even with his realm suppressed to the Sea of Reincarnation Secret Realm here, faint divine radiance still shone through the bones of his limbs.
Whoosh...
The old man's aura locked onto Li Qingjue, while the burly man immediately checked the youth's condition.
"Young Master is unharmed. He merely fainted from exhaustion..."
Seeing that the youth was indeed unharmed, the old man's expression relaxed slightly, and he sighed.
"Young Master is still too young and hot-blooded. He insisted on tempering himself here alone. Whenever the two of us drew even slightly close along the way, he only gave us cold looks... After this defeat, I'm afraid it may leave a shadow in his heart..."
Before he finished speaking, he gave the burly man a look.
The burly man immediately understood. He rubbed his fists together and strode toward Li Qingjue with a savage grin.
"Young Master Han is the Qilin child of our Tao family. As a King Body, how could he possibly lose? Once Young Master wakes and sees your corpse, he will naturally know that you died from your severe injuries while forcing yourself to hold on at the moment he was exhausted. It was not his defeat..."
Boom!
As he spoke, the burly man suddenly launched his attack.
He threw a punch, divine power surging wildly as the air before him exploded. Divine Marks wove together, and a divine fist as large as a hill came crashing down.
On the spot, Li Qingjue lightly drew a breath.
Having long grown accustomed to the ugly faces of these so-called great clans over this past period, she was not surprised by their reaction. She had naturally been on guard.
The embryonic form of the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art had already been pushed to its limit the moment the two appeared.
At this moment, she brought out the Black Armor Shield she had obtained from Overlord Blood Cang Yuhang. Without dodging or evading, she directly met the hill-sized Divine Mark fist seal.
Dong...
The instant fist and shield collided, ripples of divine power swept outward, making the entire boulder forest shudder violently.
Dust and sand billowed up, engulfing the several figures within.
An instant later, the Divine Mark fist seal dissipated amid the wind and sand, while the divine shield did not budge in the slightest.
The burly man stared at the Black Armor Shield, shock rising in his heart.
She possessed such a divine weapon, yet she had not used it during her earlier clash with their young master despite suffering heavy injuries. She had relied solely on her own strength to contend with him. How powerful was this girl's Dao Heart?
But before he could put away his contempt.
Li Qingjue's hands had already formed an enigmatic seal. Dark light coiled around her fingertips, forming a tiny Formless vortex as she thrust it toward his fist, which had yet to retract!
"Courting death!"
The burly man's eyes gleamed fiercely.
His true cultivation was at the Third Heaven of the Four Extremes. It would have been one thing if she used that shield for defense, but she actually dared to meet him head-on?
A mantis trying to stop a chariot!
He simply added another thirty percent force to his punch and drove it out once more.
Bang...
Yet the moment fist and palm collided, his expression changed drastically!
Although he had not activated any techniques or divine abilities with this punch, the immense force tempered by the Four Extremes still remained. Yet now, he felt his fist force vanish like a stone sinking into the sea.
The divine power surging through his fist and arm was frantically dissolved by the bizarre vortex of divine power at her fingertips!
What horrified him even more was that a cold and sinister force traveled upstream through the meridians in his arm, wildly eroding the divine power and Origin vitality within his body!
"What demonic art is this?!"
The burly man cried out in terror and tried to pull back.
Only then did he discover that his arm seemed stuck to a magnet, making it impossible to break free for the moment.
"What a vicious little wretch!"
Seeing this, the old man narrowed his eyes and no longer stood by idly. Divine power surged within him as he cast a technique to besiege her.
Rumble...
The next instant.
Earthen-yellow Divine Marks instantly sank from beneath his feet into the ground, first sealing off the surrounding space to prevent Li Qingjue from escaping.
At the same time, this divine technique disrupted Li Qingjue's circulation of divine power.
Even as he cast the technique, his body flashed like lightning, and he struck his palm toward Li Qingjue's crown.
The palm wind was razor-sharp, Divine Marks swirling around it as it carried a piercing shriek that tore through the air. He clearly intended to kill her in a single blow!
"Get lost!"
Li Qingjue's voice was hoarse and cold from her prior severe injuries, tinged with suppressed savagery.
Over the past year, she had devoured and refined the remaining Tyrant Blood Origin from Cang Yuhang's corpse. Her Mortal Body had transformed several times and was already nothing like before.
Now, facing two enemies alone, she split her focus three ways to maintain the Black Armor Shield. With her other hand, she formed sword fingers, and a pitch-black sword light condensed from all her essence, energy, and spirit shot forth like a venomous snake striking from its hole, stabbing straight at the old man's face.
The speed, precision, and ruthlessness of this sword were displayed to the fullest within the Sea of Reincarnation Secret Realm. It contained her boundless killing intent and viciousness.
The old man had not expected her to still have strength to spare. In his haste, he withdrew his palm and stood firm as earthen-yellow Divine Marks emerged beneath his feet to block the attack.
Bang...
The sound of metal clashing rang out.
Li Qingjue did not force the issue after failing to land a blow. Then, to the surprise of both the old man and the burly man, she suddenly pulled away and retreated.
Just as the two thought she was truly about to flee.
The next instant.
A heaven-shaking killing aura suddenly erupted.
Boom...
A broken battle spear followed the Black Armor Shield as Li Qingjue brought it out from her Sea of Reincarnation. It pierced through the air in an instant and shot straight at the two men.
"Not good!"
At the sight, both the old man and the burly man went pale, no longer caring about obeying the iron rules of this place.
The burly man no longer suppressed his cultivation. His aura surged higher and higher, surpassing the limits of the Sea of Reincarnation Secret Realm. He then displayed overwhelming combat power and knocked the battle spear down.
Drip...
Li Qingjue's old wounds tore open again, and blood flowed down.
Having activated two extraordinary divine weapons in succession, she was nearly at the end of her strength.
Her body swayed where she stood, but she did not panic. She promptly swallowed a precious medicinal pill. Beneath the Bronze Mask, a trace of color instantly returned to her pale face.
This pill had also come from Cang Yuhang's Feather Artifact. There had originally been three bottles, but she had used all but half a bottle by now. It was clear just how many brutal battles she had endured over the past year.
"You little wretch, you deserve to die!!"
After knocking down the battle spear, the burly man's Four Extremes Secret Realm aura was fully exposed. He suddenly howled toward the sky, bloody tears streaming from his eyes as he shot toward Li Qingjue.
Death already awaited him. Before the killing intent of the formation's laws manifested, he could only strive to wipe out that little girl!
He was fast, but the laws of the small world manifested even faster.
Bang...
A Rule Puppet descended from the sky and slapped him with one hand, turning his soaring body into a puddle of mangled flesh!
Yet strangely, although he had become a puddle of flesh, an aura of Origin still lingered within that mass of blood and meat.
And after killing him in a single strike, the Rule Puppet did not immediately dissipate. It simply stood there silently.
The old man's face turned the color of gold paper. His hunched body trembled like a sieve, and he could not summon even the slightest thought of releasing his cultivation.
He picked up his unconscious young master and was about to leave, but the broken battle spear had already been brought out once more by Li Qingjue.
Whoosh!
The battle spear viciously pierced through the shells and Origins of the old man and the youth.
Blood splashed across the sky.
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