Chapter 310
Fireworks [PART 2]
Space shattered as Li Yao materialized above the falling Guo Zhengming.
Her hands shot out and grabbed him by his robes, and without hesitation, she dove downward where another space crack was waiting to swallow them whole.
But just as she was about to plunge into the spatial rift, she suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure descend upon the area.
“And where do you think you’re going, little girl?” The voice was feminine, and from the aura alone, she could tell that this wasn’t someone she could contend with.
Li Yao detected the presence through her divine sense but didn’t bother to stop. Instead, she activated the talismans.
High above, Luo Yinxin floated beside the Sect Master of the Golden Phoenix Palace.
After failing to enter the Li family sect back then, she had returned and reported her findings to the patriarch who decided to accompany her. But as they journeyed here, they had sensed the deaths of both their saintess and an elder. The sect master was furious and decided to search for the perpetrator first.
Beside her, the sect master who had just spoken was about to make a move against Li Yao when she noticed something, her eyes widening in realization.
“Oh no!” she exclaimed, quickly grabbing Luo Yinxin by the arm. Using every ounce of her cultivation, she tore through space.
The instant they vanished, a thunderous explosion erupted across the landscape.
The explosion was extremely MASSIVE, spanning dozens of miles in every direction. The destructive force was so immense that the entire eastern continent shook violently, experiencing an earthquake that reached every corner of the landmass. Even other continents around the world could feel the tremors, though the effect wasn’t as huge.
Li Yao, within the folds of space, felt the explosion’s shockwaves ripple through.
But she didn’t look back, continuing to move forward. Breaking through space once more, she emerged just outside the sect.
She glanced back toward the distant explosion, seeing the massive mushroom cloud rising into the sky. Even from this distance, she could feel the powerful shockwaves washing over her.
As she stood there watching the destruction, her expression suddenly froze. That overwhelming aura she had felt before – she could sense it again.
“She’s still here?” Li Yao thought, her heart sinking.
Li Yao stood completely still. She had been certain that the aftermath of the explosion would have destroyed all spatial traces, making it impossible to track her here.
She had been too careless.
“What do I do now?”
She couldn’t enter the sect’s protective formation – doing so would expose her senior brother to this powerful enemy. But should she flee instead? What if the enemy didn’t pursue her but went after her senior brother directly?
[Hey, calm down. I…] the Empress began speaking in her mind, but Li Yao could no longer hear her properly.
Every moment of hesitation made the decision harder. Her thoughts began to spiral out of control as panic set in.
Then, a sudden flash of light erupted from her body. Her transformation flickered and failed, revealing her original form as her mind, unable to maintain synchronization under such extreme stress, split apart once again.
“Did you think I’d let you get away that easily?” The sect master’s voice echoed across the landscape as she appeared in the distance, charging toward Li Yao at incredible speed.
The speed was so incredibly fast that Li Yao couldn’t even move. It was as though she was frozen in time.
[Dammit!] the Empress cursed in frustration.
Then, a brilliant golden light blazed forth from Li Yao’s position. Above her, an enormous golden clock materialized.
In an instant, everything went completely silent.
Time had stopped. For real this time.
…
Li Yao stood in complete silence for a long time
The feeling was really strange, when she had been in her complete form, it was as though everything was under control. She had experienced a sense of calm and confidence, as if the entire world was within her grasp and nothing could possibly go wrong.
But now, having returned to her original self, everything felt different. The strangest part was that the previous form was supposed to be her true self, yet this state felt more familiar. She also noticed something else that troubled her, there was a persistent feeling of sadness that she didn’t usually experience.
Was her true self really that melancholy?
[What are you doing? I can’t keep this up forever. Let’s get moving!] The Empress’s sharp voice cut through her musings.
“Oh well, it’s probably not even that important anyway,” Li Yao thought dismissively as she gathered herself and leaped upward, passing through the protective barrier surrounding the sect.
The moment her feet touched the ground inside the formation, her expression shifted. Panic flashed across her face as realization struck her.
“Oh wait, Senior Brother is…” she began, but before she could finish, the Empress interrupted her.
“It’s fine. I already examined the formation, it’s second grade. That Tribulation Realm expert won’t be able to break through,” the Empress explained.
When Li Yao heard this reassurance, she let out a deep sigh of relief.
“That’s good,” she said softly.
Internally, however, she began to wonder what was wrong with her. In this state, she seemed to care about nothing at all. She had almost gotten her senior brother into serious trouble without even thinking. Was this the source of her sadness? Was she mourning the fact that she couldn’t control herself properly in this state and might inadvertently bring harm to the person she cared about most?
As these thoughts swirled through her mind, she suddenly heard a faint sound.
The voice was incredibly soft and weak, barely more than a whisper.
Li Yao looked around frantically, searching for the source of the plea. Her eyes scanned every corner of the sect grounds, but she saw nothing unusual.
“Did you hear something?” she asked the Empress.
[What are you talking about?] the Empress replied in confusion as she finally released the time domain. She thought to herself that maintaining such a powerful technique was truly exhausting – she would need at least several days’ worth of spirit food for this.
The moment the time domain collapsed and normal time resumed, the sect master found herself punching nothing but empty air. Li Yao had completely vanished from sight.
“A time domain?” the sect master thought, her expression becoming more serious. She had initially noticed Li Yao’s overwhelming mastery over space, and now time as well? The situation was becoming far more complex than she had anticipated.
If her suspicions were correct, that girl was definitely the one from the Li family. At the very last moment before the time stop, she had witnessed Li Yao transform back to what appeared to be her true form, and the resemblance to that other girl from the Li family was unmistakable.
She stretched out her hand and pressed it against something invisible in the air.
“This is a second-grade defensive formation. We can’t break through.”
“Second grade? Wasn’t it just third grade a few days ago?” Luo Yinxin spoke in shock. She paused as she remembered something – the formation had actually been fourth grade when she first arrived, and she had watched it being upgraded right before her eyes.
How could these people upgrade formations so quickly?
“If my guess is correct, they have a formation expert here, and an experienced one at that,” the sect master said thoughtfully. “They probably also have attacking formations of the same level. We should retreat for now.”
Luo Yinxin nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, they heard another thunderous explosion echoing across the landscape.
“Are those talismans still going off?” the sect master wondered aloud.
They looked up, noticing the entire sky begin to turn dark in a scene that looked right out of an apocalypse movie.
“What’s happening now?”
Daily (1/2)