A fight for seconds.

Yin Long's palms felt a bit wet, it almost felt like his sword would slip from his grasp if he wasn't careful. His tongue felt restless in his mouth, his lips dry and cracked. He could feel the hairs on his neck stand straight up, they were brushing against the collar of his robe every time the wind brushed past him. Yes, he was uncomfortable. Looking at the manifestation of Emperor Starblood made him uncomfortable. He wasn't a fool, he understood exactly where this sensation came from.

"It really is different when you have to protect someone else, isn't it?"

He licked his lips as he spoke, brushing down the hairs on his neck. He knew himself well, he knew that he was someone who was rather selfish. He had others around him, but didn't he mostly move for himself? When he went somewhere new, it was to learn more about the sword. When he settled down somewhere, it was to learn more about the sword. When he fought someone, it was because he wanted to learn more about the sword.

It was always the sword, it was always himself. That was why the outcome never really mattered. He didn't learn something new when he moved or settled down? That was fine, he could just consider it as having wasted some time, there was something to learn in that too. He lost while fighting, maybe even died? That was okay, it just meant that this was the extent of what he could achieve, that was the measly height his sword could reach.

"Yes, it's always harder to live while bearing the burden of others. My lord had none of those burdens or hardships, that was why he was qualified to be our sun."

Starblood responded to Yin Long's quiet mutter, evidently not too anxious to instantly make a move. Yin Long mostly ignored him, but he also knew that he was right. Yes, he wasn't alone right now. His older sister, his friend, his lover, they were all behind him. Normally it would be fine even if he died, but right now he couldn't do that. They were behind him, if he died then they would just be next in line. He could die, he was fine with that. But they could not, he would not allow it.

"45 seconds. That's how long it'll take us to reach it. Are you ready?"

Xiao Yin Yu's low whisper reached Yin Long's ears, she had inched closer along with the two others, grasping her sword so strongly that her knuckles were white. 45 seconds. The only thing separating them from the spatial rift that would bring them to the Snow's Muse territory was a measly 45 seconds of full-speed running. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but with a Province Emperor on their tails, it was a completely different question.

"We managed to buy the 30 seconds we needed against Tiankong, didn't we? This time it won't be much different, we just need to buy twice that time."

Yin Long licked his lips again as he spoke. 30 seconds, those 30 seconds against Tao Tiankong had nearly cost them their lives, it had cost Yin Long all his swords. But now they were stronger, he was stronger. Yin Yu's eyes narrowed for a second as Yin Long spoke, she understood the unspoken meaning behind his phrasing.

"...Alright, take the lead. I told that hydra boy where we'd be heading, but I'll send him a quick message as we move. We'll need all the hands we can get."

60 seconds, he was planning on going for 60 seconds. And his gaze was piercing straight through Starblood, the exact opposite direction that they should be running. He had found somewhere else to flee, a place that would hopefully be safer than their original plan. He let out a long breath, it was nice to have someone quick-witted at his side. His gaze landed on Lan Yun as he turned his head slightly, just far enough to see her without taking his eyes off of Starblood.

"I'm sorry. It'll all be over when you wake up."

Lan Yun's expression became bitter when she saw the small curve of his lips, the apologetic smile that could very well end up being the last she ever saw. She bit down on her lips and clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palm and spilling blood, her words stained with more blood than her palms.

"Next time... Next time I'll become someone useful to you, Yin Long."

Yin Long. How long had it been since she last called him by his name rather than just Young Master? He couldn't quite remember, that dear title was simply what she always used for him. But such was the depth of her determination, her anguish. She would become someone useful, not to the Young Master she so loved, but to the Yin Long who would subdue the world. But Yin Long simply smiled at her expression, it was the only thing he could do for her now.

"You already are, you just don't know it yet."

His gaze slid away from Lan Yun and landed on his elder sister, on Lang Ru, who looked confused. Of course she would be confused, even Yin Yu was confused after all. This was something neither of them knew, something they hadn't seen before.

"Tie me up with this. I'm sorry, but you'll... you'll also need to carry me."

Lan Yun didn't help their confusion when she brought out a thick rope and handed it to Lang Ru. She couldn't let herself get carried by Yin Yu, she was too strong so she would be needed as they fled, the same was true for Jin Wang. So Lang Ru was the obvious choice.

She still looked confused as she got the rope, but seeing the light in Yin Long's eyes made her cease any attempts at asking questions, this really wasn't the time for that, even with Starblood taking his time. She quickly wrapped the rope around Lan Yun, restraining her so that she could only move her hands and feet. And then she hoisted her onto her back as if she was a backpack.

"Alright. 60 seconds then."

Yin Long's gaze slid forward as he muttered, Yin Yu tensing up as she knew that it would start now. Starblood still wasn't in a rush to make a move, it suited him just fine that they were taking their time. The Warden of the Wastes was by no means an easy opponent, he was a terrible one even. The more time he got to stabilize the energy he used to manifest here the better it would be for him. His gaze moved somewhat lazily onto the back of the group, landing on the tied-up girl as the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Yes, you really are different from our lord. So caring, so desperate. You'll even tie up the Heavenly Doll meant to slit your throat just to drag her along with you. You will die, Yin Long. And when you do, it'll be because of yourself."

The world was cruel, its only currency and meaning were death. So to be caring was to be suicidal. And from what he had seen, Yin Long was beyond suicidal, a man who truly shouldn't have lasted as long as he did in this world.

"What?"

This was the first thing Lan Yun and the others had ever heard about something like a Heavenly Doll, the first thing they had ever heard that Lan Yun was the weapon to kill Yin Long. They didn't understand it, of course they didn't. But Yin Long did, his gaze dark as he slowly exhaled.

"I am the one who decides who will follow me to the peak, no one else."

The energy around him started to run rampant, black marks in the shape of scaled leaves appearing on the right side of his body. His forehead cracked open as yellow light seeped out, an eerie sensation quietly swallowing the area. One usage of the gathered Netherworld Energy, that was what he had left, one final burst of power to carry him through a tough fight. Now was the time to throw it all away.

Lang Ru suddenly felt Lan Yun stiffen as the energy seeped out from Yin Long, her restrained body trembling as she tried to move. To her surprise, as she turned her head she saw that Lan Yun's eyes were flooded with a verdant and vivid green. All emotion had vanished from her expression, she looked hollow, her empty gaze focused solely on Yin Long as she struggled to move. Yin Long sensed Lan Yun's transformation thanks to his connection with space, but the time to look back had already passed.

"Follow me."

His feet tilted forward and he kicked off the ground, launching himself forward while casting a quick sideways glance at Jin Wang, who growled quietly to signal his understanding. The curved cyan sword vanished from his grasp as he shot forward, the pure golden sword radiating heat replacing it as he swung it upwards.

"Everburning flames!"

Starblood's eyes practically blazed with light when he saw the golden sword in Yin Long's hand, when he saw the golden flames rushing towards him. He was caught off-guard for a second as a result, giving Yin Long time to rush into his bosom and slash down with the sword he had raised.

His sword descended, and then it stopped abruptly. The flames scattered and Starblood revealed himself, his hand raised to catch the blade. The edge of the weapon dug slightly into his palm and the flames sizzled as they licked his hand, but it was far from being any meaningful damage.

"Ah, you really have stolen everything from our lord... even his blessed flames now rest in your hands. You really are trying to make a mockery of his existence, aren't you?"

Yin Long's mouth felt drier than ever before as Starblood spoke. Really, even an energy manifestation of his was this strong, it was suffocating. But he didn't falter here, he couldn't. He stomped the ground with all his might, clutching the sword with both hands as he pushed it downwards, the blade extending into a gleaming greatsword.

Starblood's hand was pushed down slightly as a result, his brows rising in surprise. His brows rose even further when Yin Long pushed his knee upwards, a seemingly cracked silver sword appearing above his knee. The weapon stabbed towards Starblood's chest, flickering in and out from the chaotic space of this land.

His other hand lowered and stopped the blade, the tip sinking into his palm and causing small cracks to spread out from the wound. But once again, the damage was far from meaningful, all it took him was a hand to stop it.

"Left."

But Yin Long wasn't alone. This wasn't like the time he fled from Tao Tiankong and had to do everything on his own. There were others here who could support him.

Xiao Yin Yu appeared at Starblood's right side with a crackle of lightning, her whip-like sword coiled up like a string as wind gathered around it. She stabbed out with the sword the moment both of Starblood's hands were occupied, the weapon crashing into his waist and causing it to sink in somewhat. The damage wasn't meaningful even when she attacked, that was just how dense Starblood's energy was.

But the gathered wind burst forth as the coiled weapon unfurled itself, giving it the final bit of force it needed to lift Starblood off his feet. Both of Yin Long's weapons vanished at the same time, a curved cyan sword appearing in his grasp instead. He moved his wrist slightly, just enough to bring the weapon down, his law of space did the rest.

The weapon multiplied as newly formed dimensions were born around it, supporting its existence as it cut at Starblood from a myriad of angles. All the weapons had one purpose, bursting forth with wind to push aside the adversary. Starblood didn't have contact with the ground so he couldn't instantly stabilize himself, he was just an energy manifestation after all so it felt a bit different for him to actually move his body.

The wind did its job and pushed him aside, opening the path that he was previously blocking. The group didn't waste any time sharing a glance, rushing forward as one, Jin Wang sticking close to and supporting Lang Ru, the slowest one present. Four seconds had passed.

Starblood looked at the sky above as he flew aside, he really was quite a joke, to let his manifestation get blown aside like that. He tilted his head slightly to look at Yin Long's group, his hand stretching out and unleashing a burst of dark silver energy that tore through the air. Yin Yu had been paying close attention to Starblood so she reacted the moment he raised his arm.

"Xue Sha!"

Her finger drew a line across her palm, spilling some blood that quickly grew and twisted into a large two-headed shark. The beast rushed forward and positioned itself in front of the attack, bearing the brunt of it and exploding into a splash of blood as a result. The scattered blood flew back to Yin Yu alongside the weakened attack, sinking back into the wound on her palm while Yin Long blocked the attack by splitting it into a separate spatial dimension that he then erased.

Starblood frowned at the sight, his compatriots really would laugh at him if they saw the state of affairs here. He made up his mind to suffer a bit of a loss and quickly stabilized his body, his feet digging into the ground as his energy burst forth. A bit of blood dripped out of his ears as he unleashed his energy, the Warden had landed an attack on his real body since he put more focus on this manifestation.

His foot stepped forward, the cracked space around him warping as the distance between him and Yin Long's group suddenly seemed to shrink. He arrived right at their side, his fist already raised and smashing down towards Yin Long's head, space around it undulating as the distance shrank unnaturally.

Yin Long was more closely attuned to space here than anyone so he could sense how forcibly Starblood made the space shrink, there was nothing natural or gentle about it at all. The silver sword slashed upwards, resonating with the cracked space to keep it together so that the fist wouldn't just directly appear on his skull.

Purple chains crept out from the scaled leaves that covered his right side when the sword and fist made contact, locking down the space directly above him. The energy unleashed by the fist tried to smash down on him, but it was locked up by those chains so it had to first break through them, chain after chain cracking.

But before the last chain could crack, the others were already moving. Jin Wang had opened his mouth and unleashed a vacuum-like suction force that tugged at both the energy and Starblood's arm. Yin Yu acted at the same time, her sword in its normal state as she slashed out, her blade drawing a crackling line through the air as it mimicked a lightning bolt.

It struck Starblood's arm multiple times in a short moment, Yin Yu using the wind and lightning in a subtle manner so that she could bounce her sword off of his arm and then cut down again straight away without losing too much power. The three-fold defence wasn't quite enough, Yin Long's bloodline emerging as a crimson cloak appeared around his throat.

The hem of the cloak rose as it morphed into a myriad of crimson blades, each one so jagged that they looked like a mixture between broken weapon and teeth. They cut against the arm that struggled to remain in place, finally pushing it aside and dispelling the last of the energy in it.

Starblood's expression had finally become dark, it really was unexpected that they would be able to block even this attack. And since it was unexpected, he was caught off-guard for a second, his other arm a bit slow in its advance as it tried to take over for the deflected arm.

But just as his arm started to move, a sword cut through the air and flew towards him. Starblood's movements slowed down unnaturally as the sword got close to him, it looked as if he had been caught in a mire. Yin Long saw him before he sensed him, the new arrival moved so fast that he barely registered in his senses before he appeared in front of him.

Brown hair that hung down to just beneath his shoulders, yellow eyes that had become orange, mottled brown scales that covered his neck and lower jaw. Fang Yau had arrived right in front of Yin Long and then dashed right past him, one hand holding a sword while the other reached out and caught onto the blade he had thrown.

When he caught the blade, he pushed it down slightly so that it landed on Starblood's wrist with a gentle motion. The motion looked gentle, but it resulted in Starblood's arm moving down, it was done so easily that Yin Long almost felt like his earlier struggle had been a joke. But he knew the truth. Movements were always a bit strange whenever Fang Yau was involved, you had to pay ten times the attention to your own limbs and how they moved, otherwise he'd catch you off-guard.

He didn't do anything other than push down Starblood's arm, resulting in both of his arms being pointed away from Yin Long's group. He knew that this was the best he could do right now, trying to go any further would be ridiculous. But he had done enough to create an opening, Yin Yu and Yin Long quickly acting.

They both stabbed out with their swords, the wind gathering once more as the blades pierced through the air. Fang Yau's Qi moved at the same time, surrounding the swords as well as the arms holding them. Yin Long felt his weapon's speed drastically increasing when Fang Yau's energy surrounded his arm, the speed of his attack nearly doubled. The two weapons reached Starblood almost instantly as a result, the erupting wind pushing him back once more.

"How long?"

Fang Yau's voice was devoid of its usual jovial tone, just the fact that he had activated his bloodline showed how serious he was, and how hurriedly he had rushed here. Yin Long's gaze was pointed forwards again, his feet already kicking off of the ground.

"51 seconds."

The group rushed forward to flee with all their might. 9 seconds had passed, 51 were left to reach safety.