A Narrow Escape

Wu Qi reached out a hand to grab the mass of thunder. But, the hair on the back of his neck bristled suddenly and he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. Reflexively, he transformed himself with a sway into a beam of blue light and shot into the air, regaining his human form in the sky. The thunder missed him by inches and fell into the Yellow Springs. In the next instant, an enchanting groan rang out across the void as the yellow water within ten thousand miles, as well as everything within, vanished completely amidst a twitching rainbow light.

Time, space, the water in Yellow Springs, souls, Yaksha, and all the power of the Heavenly Dao…everything within ten thousand miles vanished without a trace.

Wu Qi swallowed a lump in his throat, horrified. He gave the hemispheric gleaming hole in the Yellow Spring a glance, then squinted up at the person shrouded in rainbow light atop the mountain. He was certain that the person was the fiend who had forced him to flee in panic in the Chaotic World. Besides, judging by the subtle aura leaking out of the person, he was most probably a real Ancestral Fiend born and raised in the Chaotic World.

Only existences eligible to start a brand-new race could bear the title 'Ancestral'. Ao Buzun was one such figure. He was addressed as Ancestral Dragon because he was born with the power of destiny. He was eligible and had the ability and obligation to create a brand-new race. On the other hand, Lord Yuan Ling—Wu Qi's predecessor—did not have such power. So, he was destined to live a lonely life, and was eventually killed by a group of Chaos Fiend Gods with no offspring beside him.

Wu Qi could sense a strange aura from this fiend, which he had sensed from Ao Buzun before, and that made him certain that he was a real Ancestral Fiend.

A figure like this was not easy to deal with. Usually, they possessed absurdly queer and powerful innate divine abilities, such as Ao Buzun's mighty ability to reproduce. He was literally a dragon-shaped male reproductive organ who sowed his seeds wherever he went, and anyone who mated with him would certainly give birth to some brand-new, unique race of dragons.

The massive hole in Yellow Spring slowly disappeared as water poured over to fill it. Fixing his eyes at the mass of rainbow light, Wu Qi smiled wryly and said, "I'm just passing by and have no intentions of intruding your territory. I hope fellow daoist can let me go."

Wu Qi was now in his guise of Imperial Advisor Seven Killing. Although his facial features had only changed slightly, given his current cultivation base, no one could see his true look. So, neither the mass of rainbow light, Kṣitigarbha, nor the other laborers could relate him to the man who had intruded Nether World, abducted every monk from Buddhist League's Nether Branch, and used them as scapegoats to hold back the Ancestral Fiend.

The mass of light flickered rapidly as a pair of delicate palms reached out of it. It was a pair of beautiful palms—flawless, fair, and smooth, with a hint of healthy red shining through every fingertip. Even every line on the fingers looked so perfect! Waving gracefully in the void, the palms quickly conjured three runes that were shaped like gemstones and flashing with a blue gleam.

When they took shape, the runes slammed inwardly against each other. Wu Qi heard a faint cracking noise, and in the next instant, the void around him blew apart. Terrifying distortion of void twisted and pulled at his body, trying to rip his flesh, divine soul, and everything else into the tiniest particles, eventually aiming to turn him into nothingness with some mysterious force. It reminded him of a force called 'obliteration', a force usually found in some perilous places in Chaotic World where even Chaos Fiend Gods dared not to visit.

He snorted and threw out his arms. The muscles across his body bulged and rippled like waves as a mighty force rushed out of them, pulling the shattered void back around him. Then, he sealed the void with his enormous divine sense, stopping the force of obliteration to cause further trouble. While fuming, he took a step and came in front of the light, kicking it with one leg fiercely without using any of his divine abilities or magic.

In ancient times before the world was created, Chaos Fiend Gods never used divine abilities or magic when they fought against each other. Apart from the ancient stars still in their embryonic stage, the Chaotic World of that time contained no laws of Heavenly Dao, and thus no one could use divine abilities or magic. So, they fought with their mighty fleshly bodies and smashed their opponents with anything they could grab near them. Wu Qi's kick was rather similar to the fighting style of Chaos Fiend Gods, which was to use his strong body to bully others.

The pair of delicate palms slapped toward Wu Qi's sole in a similarly barbarous way. As he was born in Chaotic World, the fiend was considered a kind of Chaos Fiend God as well, and it was his instinct to fight with muscles too.

The foot and the palms clashed together. No shockwave was produced, not even the sound of an explosion; all of the force was borne by Wu Qi and the fiend. Wu Qi grunted as he staggered backward dozens of steps, the sinews beneath his foot almost shattered. Meanwhile, the fiend let out a furious roar, his palms crushed like rotten tomatoes with pieces of bones and flesh mixed into a messy paste.

Apparently, Wu Qi, who was only a fourth-tier Dao Breaking expert, had an overwhelming advantage in terms of physical strength.

Amidst the fiend's angry roar, a stream of rainbow light swirled around the palms, healing them in the blink of an eye. Then, a white flower shaped like a lily but with extremely long and thin petals suddenly appeared in the palms, swaying gracefully as if it was made of smoke. Holding it like a hammer, the hands lifted the palm-sized flower and brought it down at Wu Qi's head.

Wu Qi snorted coldly and opened his mouth. Yuan Ling True Flame, which he had just refined and not yet cultivated to its maturity, spurted out in a stream of faint white smoke.

The lily caught fire as it struggled to smash down toward Wu Qi's face like a meteor plunging through the atmosphere while Yuan Ling True Flame crept along the fiend's palms and arms into the mass of rainbow light. In no time at all, the brilliant mass of light was ablaze, exuding an exotic aroma that could dazzle one's eyes and ravish one's mind. All the bodhisattvas and arhats in the surroundings, including Kṣitigarbha, immediately sat cross-legged down, locked their hands in incantation gestures, and struggled to guard their souls against the scent. All of a sudden, pale fingers of flame emerged out of nowhere around the legs of some weaker arhats who had inhaled the aroma and burned their bodies into ashes in the blink of an eye.

The rainbow light was burned off, revealing the fiend within.

Right then, the lily struck Wu Qi in the face. The flower was not heavy, and it crumbled into pieces at the impact with his tough face. However, it sent a dreadfully evil power with a terrifying chill that could wipe out all spiritual things into his spiritual ocean, rushing straight for his divine soul.

Wu Qi shuddered and quickly converted the Primal Purple Energy in him into Yuan Ling True Flame. Raging flames spread across his body and filled every part of him. The evil power and the flames devoured and dissolved each other, and in the span of only a few breaths, over seventy percent of his magic power was consumed.

He gave the fiend a quick glance in great astonishment, then ripped apart the void and stepped into it without uttering a single word. Wu Qi was confident that he could turn this fiend to mere smoke and ashes if he had the cultivation base of his predecessor, Lord Yuan Ling. But he did not, and his present cultivation base was only at the fourth tier of Dao Breaking realm. There was a huge gap between him and the fiend, and any carelessness of his would cause his root to be shaken by her bizarre fiend technique. So, it was better for him to flee as soon as possible.

Yes, the fiend was a 'she'. Shrouded in the mass of rainbow light was a beautiful girl in a translucent suit of armor that looked as if it was carved out of colorful crystal.

The armor was more revealing than any of the bikinis Wu Qi had seen before, with its upper part barely guarding her pair of ample bosom and its lower part barely covering her private part. Most of her fair skin was exposed. However, she had a head of long hair that shone with dazzling rainbow light circling around her. So, apart from her fair arms and pretty naked feet, the rest of her was only visible every now and then.

At a glance, she looked thirteen or fourteen years old. But, instead of the naivety and kindness of ordinary girls, her deep eyes were filled with evilness and menace that made Wu Qi's skin creep.

A thin sheet of Yuan Ling True Flame enveloped the girl's palms, her skin and flesh crackling while burning. As if the pain was too much for her, a drop of dark-red tear fell from her left eye. Then, she shook her head slightly with her face twisted in pain and the tear flew lightly away, arcing through the void and striking Wu Qi in the back.

He grunted. He had just stepped into the void and was about to leave Nether World when the tear landed on his back. The force that came with it was simply astonishing; it struck him with a deafening boom and knocked him flying straight away.

The location where Wu Qi ripped apart the void and returned to Pangu Continent happened to be a blessed site with beautiful scenery and rich natural energy. Hundreds of Heaven Immortals and Nascent Divinity cultivators were fighting fiercely against each other for the place's ownership, while nearly thirty thousand cultivators below the realm of Nascent Soul were fighting one another beneath them. The cultivators of the two sects, in their black or white daoist robes respectively, filled the void with sword beams and shook the heaven and earth with magic. The battle was an intense one, with cultivators constantly falling from the sky.

Wu Qi darted out of the void as the drop of tear knocked him in the back, and he slammed through the two groups of Heaven Immortals.

It was as if a steel-clad chariot had rammed into a hen house, and those Heaven Immortals were the eggs in the nest-boxes. A dozen Heaven Immortals exploded into clumps of blood mist as Wu Qi flew past them. Immediately after that, the fiend chased out of Nether World, unwilling to give up.

The cultivators of the two sects were utterly shocked when Wu Qi rammed through the battlefield. But, before they could see how he killed their Patriarchs, they saw the fiend speed out of the void, shrouded in a rainbow light. Reflexively, they threw their flying swords and magic all at her.

"Annihilate!" The fiend cried softly as she crooked a finger. A very fine beam of rainbow light fell from the sky and lightly landed on the top of the main peak in this blessed site, and then a ring of rainbow cloud rapidly spread out in all directions with a melodious tune, looking as beautiful as the morning glow. Shockingly, wherever the cloud passed, all the cultivators vanished without a trace, but the flowers, grass, and even the tiniest insects were not hurt.

Off in a far distance, Wu Qi coughed up a mouthful of blood as he fled in a flurry.

Alone, the fiend girl hovered over the blessed site as she narrowed her eyes and smiled evilly.

"You are fast, but I will find you! No one can hurt me and get away with it!"

Wu Qi felt a burning sensation in his back as a dark-red, bizarre-looking rune emerged on his back with wisps of flames. His skin and flesh crackled with the burning.

Astounded, he clenched his jaws and cursed under his breath, "Damnit!"