"Stop them!" Changqingzi cried, his face paling in alarm.
Withered Wood, Violet Frost, and Mystic Brightness drove their Black-Armor Puppets forward to meet them.
But the puppet bodies were sluggish, and they lacked the support of a Nascent Soul cultivator's life-bound magic treasure. The moment the three engaged, a sweeping lash of the Azure Flood Dragon's tail sent them flying backward.
Their breastplates, forged from supreme-grade star-pattern steel, caved in deeply, and all three spat out blood.
The defensive line teetered on the brink of collapse.
At the center of the lone reef, Chen Lin frowned slightly, paying no attention to the approaching sea beasts.
His attention was entirely drawn to the violent tremors coming from the Mountains and Rivers Painting.
Inside the Mountains and Rivers Painting.
White mist so dense with spiritual energy that it seemed solid churned wildly, forming an enormous vortex.
At its center, Yun Sheng sat with her eyes tightly shut, astonishing azure sword intent radiating from her body. Cracks covered the surface of her golden core, and a nascent soul apparition barely an inch tall was struggling to take shape.
"She's about to break through." A flicker of surprise crossed Chen Lin's eyes.
Although the Mountains and Rivers Painting abounded in spiritual energy, it was ultimately a closed miniature world with incomplete laws of heaven and earth.
To truly shatter her core and form a nascent soul, she had to receive the baptism of the outside world's laws.
Chen Lin willed it.
Humm-!
The space above the lone reef warped without warning. The next second, Yun Sheng appeared out of thin air, dressed in white.
Her eyes remained closed as she hovered cross-legged, sword qi coiling around her like dragons.
The instant she appeared, the sky over the East China Sea changed.
An invisible blade