The spear that broke the night. (3)

Liang Chen's eyes were cold as he swept them over Chen Dairong, the tip of his spear angled towards the ground. He didn't let Chen Dairong's grand words get to him, his mind staying calm as he quickly analyzed the situation, swiftly coming to a conclusion that raised the corners of his lips slightly.

"Could you stop smiling at me like that, you're giving me the creeps. And while you say all that, your powers aren't that simple, or powerful, are they? I've managed to wound you twice, so even the future that your left eye sees, the most likely one, can easily be changed without you noticing. And as for that right eye of yours, just how much of those alternate timelines can you really see? If you and I were as close as you've said, a thought that sickens me, then how come you only used the First Step against me? Why didn't you directly use the Third Step to truly catch me off-guard and heavily wound me?"

As someone who could use the law of time, Liang Chen was rather familiar with it and knew that despite its great strength, it wasn't that easy to manage such a grand feat with it. No law was omnipotent, there would always be a weakness that could be exploited. Chen Dairong didn't deny Liang Chen's words, maintaining her soft and intimate smile.

"You really haven't changed a bit, you were just as icy when we first met in that timeline. But time showed that even your frozen exterior can melt, there is room in your heart for more people. And just like I'd expect from you, darling, you accurately pinpointed the faults. You're right, both visions have their own faults that can be exploited and used against me. But that's why I'm not relying solely on my own power here. The key of the grand array that surrounds this entire planet has been hidden away in my body, using this key I can draw upon the power of the array to restore my own energy and wounds. Tell me, do you think you can outlast the energy of the grand array?"

A vast amount of energy was drawn into Chen Dairong's body the moment she finished her words, all the energy she had expended so far being refilled. Liang Chen didn't show any strong reactions to the scene, he knew something was up the moment he saw her wounds heal so quickly. He raised his spear and pointed the tip at her chest, his mouth twisting slightly.

"You're really fucking creepy, do you know that? That way of talking where you think that you know everything about me is just like a stalker, it gives me the chills. And you're not wrong, there's definitely room in my heart for more people, everyone wants a friend or two after all, but there'll never be room there for you, no matter what sort of twisted shit you've seen."

Chen Dairong suddenly bent forward as Liang Chen finished his words, a few strands of her hair fluttering through the air as they were cut apart by a nearly invisible blade of wind that had been launched without warning. She then quickly threw herself to the side, rolling through the air as a puddle of sweet-smelling emerald liquid bubbled up from the ground and a thick crimson bolt of lightning struck down at her previous position.

She froze time of the air beneath her and kicked off the platform it created, turning her sideways roll into a backflip that sent her several meters back. Black tendrils of mist and a light violet gas rose from the ground and lashed out at her previous position, just barely missing her thanks to her dodging. She landed gracefully on the ground after finishing her backflip, brushing off her robe while smiling.

"You know that sneak attacks like that won't work, so what is it that you're really planning, darling?"

Just like she said earlier, Liang Chen wasn't wrong when he questioned how much of the alternate timelines she could really see. When she first gained this ability, she could at best see a few minutes of a random alternate timeline, unable to decide which alternate timeline she saw and what time period of it she saw. But after sacrificing half her brain to the law of time, she gained a bit more control over it.

She could now just barely control what part of the alternate timeline she saw, and she could also somewhat control what alternate timeline she saw, narrowing it down to only timelines where she and her target shared some history together.

But even though it was still this heavily limited, she could be considered one of the few people who knew quite a bit about Liang Chen thanks to the parts of the alternate timeline she saw. As such, she knew that he wasn't the type of person to launch random attacks like that, he definitely had some sort of plan behind them. Liang Chen's lips were still somewhat twisted due to the way Chen Dairong was talking, but even that expression couldn't hide the faint smirk in his eyes.

"As I said, stop talking like that, it's disgusting. And won't work? I think it worked just fine."

Chen Dairong's blind eyes narrowed slightly when she heard Liang Chen's statement, her senses quickly scanning her entire body to look for any anomalies. And then she found it, a small cut on the back of her neck, a few drops of blood seeping out of the wound before releasing an inaudible hissing sound and turning into a gray mist that vanished into the air.

Her expression sank for the first time, she had been able to see all of Liang Chen's other attacks, but this one tiny wound showed that there was one attack that her future sight hadn't picked up. She wasn't certain if it was because the launching of the attack wasn't part of the most likely future or if Liang Chen had done something to hide it from her future sight, but her instincts warned her that her second guess was correct.

A powerful energy burst forth from within her body and enveloped the small wound, quickly closing it while forcing out a small amount of gray gas. The gas didn't vanish after leaving her wound, it simply blew away with the gentle breeze, its shape never altering. Liang Chen stretched out his arm, the gray gas immediately flying over to him and sinking into his palm. Chen Dairong's expression was somewhat solemn as she looked at him, but Liang Chen opened his mouth with a sigh before she got the chance to speak.

"I ended up being too slow after all."

Liang Chen turned his head slightly, his gaze landing on a small group of people that were currently rushing over. The group didn't contain the two strongest remaining disciples, Senior Sister Chinyu and Senior Brother Lim, it seemed like they were just a scouting party sent out to discover who it was that was currently battling by the dungeon. The group quickly spotted the disguised Liang Chen and Chen Dairong, a burly man in the group quickly calling out.

"Junior Sister Feng are yo... Who are you?!"

The man cut off his own words when he saw the still sleeping guard leaning against the wall next to the dungeon entrance. Liang Chen had disguised himself as her when he entered the dungeon, but he didn't have the time to move her or change his disguise after leaving the dungeon. As such, the arriving group of disciples immediately realized that something was wrong, two of them immediately grasping a paper talisman stuck to their chest. The talismans burst into flames and turned to dust and smoke that vanished to the west, likely sending a message to the two senior disciples that still remained.

The talismans worked far faster than Liang Chen guessed, a loud commotion came from the west a mere second after the talismans vanished. Following the commotion, two figures cut through the air as they rapidly flew over, stopping in the air right above the scout group. One of the two people was a brown-skinned woman with peach-colored hair and black eyes while the other one was a slim man with rough skin, black hair, and brown eyes.

The two people looked at Liang Chen and Chen Dairong with narrowed eyes, a large group of people quickly approaching them from behind. From the looks of it, the man and the woman, the two senior disciples, brought along all the other disciples after they learned about what was going on. Chen Dairong's empty eyes landed on the two flying disciples, a peach-colored token engraved with three chains coiling around a three-headed and six-armed man appearing in her grasp.

"I am Chen Dairong of the Sealing God sect, the person in front of me is Liang Chen in disguise. If you help me kill him you will be rewarded, if you try to stop me then I will activate the grand array and ensure that your sect suffers the same fate as the Storm Wolf sect."

The expressions of Chinyu and Lim changed slightly when they heard Chen Dairong's straightforward words, but both of them knew that they didn't really have a choice in the matter. They both took deep breaths, the disciples arriving behind them also realizing how serious the situation was, all of them looking at the disguised Liang Chen with solemn expressions as they brought out their weapons.

Liang Chen moved his head slightly, his gaze turning completely cold and calm as he looked at the people surrounding him. All paths of escape were blocked, it was uncertain whether or not his speed would be enough to let him flee. But he wasn't completely without options, a plan had already started to form in his mind. He took off the Heaven Altering Mask and returned to his original appearance, his eyes piercing through the Nightshield sect disciples as he spoke plainly.

"Don't interfere. No matter what, I want to live, so if you try to kill me then I will fight back with the intent to kill, please don't force me to show why I got the title of Scourge King."