The cracked void was pitch-black, a depth where nothing existed.
Watching that empty darkness draw steadily closer, even Bi Lingkong, who had been sure of victory, felt her heart pound.
She had a feeling she might have taken things... a little too far this time.
The Great Xia Dynasty had swept across the land and restored peace to the troubled Nine Provinces, but it had also caused much once-common knowledge to fade away. In the Warring States era, a saying had been famous among the powerful: do not pick a fight with time and space. When the price came due, regret would come too late.
Time and space meant exactly that. Picking a fight with time was rather difficult; Bi Lingkong, at least, had never met anyone capable of it. Picking a fight with space was much more common. Tearing open the void to cross thousands of miles, or shattering it with a heavy blow, was routine for her.
She was hardly alone. Demon Gods, Immortals, and Buddhas who liked doing the same were everywhere. Yet after all these years, she had never heard of anyone suffering for it.
She had always assumed the saying was a madman's raving or a drunkard's nonsense.
But now, as more and more space shattered around her, its fractures joining into what looked like a cage around her and Di Cangqiong, she began to sense that something was wrong.
Something seemed to lurk in that seemingly empty blackness.
She could not tell whether it was benevolent or malevolent, but it was undoubtedly powerful. So powerful that... if it truly appeared in the mortal world, most people might develop diseases of the heart or brain just from looking at it. They might go mad. They might even die on the spot.
Ancient texts had recorded