"Who is it?!" Phantylia cried out in shock and anger.
Looking up, her eyes met a gloomy, indifferent man.
"...A Stellaron Hunter, Blade?"
The Stellaron Hunters were renowned figures wanted across the universe. As a Lord Ravager, she naturally recognized him.
"The famous Stellaron Hunter… a wanted criminal of the Xianzhou, actually appearing here in the heavily guarded Shackling Prison, hehe~"
"Leave that girl," Blade commanded curtly.
"Oh? You care about this child?" Blade didn't respond. Phantylia chuckled, "What if I say… no?"
The next moment, with a resounding clang.
The Shard Sword collided with Old Reliable, sending sparks flying brilliantly.
"Trying to use force? Aren't you afraid of hurting this body's owner?" Phantylia taunted maliciously, loosening her grip on the sword hilt, attempting to let Blade's Shard Sword plunge deeper. She was certain he wouldn't dare stab through.
Squish
"?!"
To her utter disbelief, Blade didn't hesitate for a second. His sword pierced through her, simultaneously slashing his own palm, splattering hot blood onto Yunli's body. The next moment, as Blade chanted, raging flames engulfed Yunli.
"Ah!"
Pain searing deep into her soul forced a scream from Phantylia. At the same time, the fractured cracks on the Shard Sword impaling Yunli pulsed with blood-red light.
A terrifying suction force violently ripped her out.
Along with the withdrawn Shard Sword, she was thrown into the sealing formation.
Vibrant blood flowed continuously from the wound on Blade's wrist, gathering into a stream. Under the influence of some power, it surged relentlessly towards the sealing runes confining Phantylia, staining them crimson.
It is said that in the ancient Xianzhou kingdoms, forging swords with blood was a common practice.
This tradition evolved during the age of interstellar navigation into refining Heliobus into demonic swords. However, the method of using blood for swords wasn't discarded. On the contrary, after the Xianzhou natives received Aeon blessings, secret arts utilizing blood imbued with the power of Abundance flourished for a time on the Zhuming Xianzhou.
Only later, when the Abundance calamities were sealed and such practices explicitly forbidden, did this school gradually decline.
But for Blade, a legendary figure from seven hundred years ago and a direct disciple of Huaiyan, a leading figure of the Zhuming, this technique was already ingrained deep within his very being.
Furthermore, due to the special power he carried, this blood-based secret art reached a height unattainable by ordinary people.
"…Yingxing."
Watching the man embrace Yunli and place her gently beside him, the freed Huaiyan looked at his former disciple – the one who brought him immense pride, yet also immense pain – with complex emotions.
"He is already dead."
"…"
The atmosphere grew heavy with silence.
A young woman's voice broke the tension:
"Honestly, seeing your former master, is calling him 'Master' just once so difficult~"
Looking over, they saw [Qingque] in her blue clothes, looking slightly 'disheveled', her attire somewhat messy, yet walking towards them with complete naturalness.
"…He… was arranged by you?" Huaiyan looked at her and asked.
He knew Blade couldn't possibly have set foot on the Xianzhou without arrangements.
After all, his disciple was a wanted criminal of the Alliance.
[Qingque] beamed, "Yup, you could say that~"
"He was just idling around at a friend's place. I figured since he was idle anyway, might as well call him over."
"You knowingly violated the law," Huaiyan said sternly.
"Isn't Elder Yan happy? I thought seeing your former top disciple would make the nostalgic Elder Yan very pleased."
"…I cannot let personal feelings override public duty."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, don't they~"
"Besides, the Xianzhou is in chaos right now. Having one more capable hand is always good~ I imagine Elder Yan, with your experience, wouldn't be bound by rigid rules and doctrines."
"…You little rascal." Huaiyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but couldn't refute her.
Honestly, while seeing Blade like this pained him, for an old man like him, just seeing his former disciple again was already a profound comfort.
In that respect, he was somewhat grateful to [Qingque].
As for her associating with a wanted Xianzhou criminal and concealing the knowledge… would Jing Yuan not feel the same way about Dan Feng or Jingliu?
"Alright, Elder Yan, the front lines are tight. Leave this to me and Blade," the girl said with a smile.
Huaiyan looked at Blade, clearly wanting to say more.
To this, [Qingque] chuckled, "Looks like Elder Yan has a lot to say to his former top disciple… In that case, you should go to the front lines with Elder Yan."
"…" Blade remained silent.
"What, unwilling?"
"…"
The girl sighed, "Such an untalkative man… But you really should go to the front lines. After all, fighting alongside former companions… this might be the very last chance for the High-Cloud Quintet. Are you okay with missing it?"
Blade's expression flickered slightly. He left with Huaiyan.
The latter didn't doubt [Qingque]'s ability to handle Phantylia.
Although Huaiyan felt [Qingque] might still be a bit green – which was why he had been tasked with guarding Phantylia; even among Emanators, only an expert from Zhuming could truly contend with her – now, with the seal reinforced by Yingxing's blood art, its strength, for a short time, was comparable to the forge that imprisoned Flint Emperor.
He no longer needed to exhaust himself guarding it.
After seeing Huaiyan and Blade off, noticing a malevolent gaze, the girl looked towards the massive figure sealed within the formation, smiled brightly, and waved.
"Hi, miss me~"
"You…"
"That's right, that's right~ You got tricked again~" Just as Phantylia was about to say something, [Qingque] cheerfully finished her sentence for her.
This realization infuriated Phantylia immensely.
In fact, the moment she saw [Qingque] appear here unharmed, she knew.
She had been played, again!
"…How did you find me?"
"Want to know?"
"Simple—" Just as Phantylia desperately wanted the answer, the girl playfully said, "You guess~"
"If you can't guess, I won't tell you~ Of course, even if you guess right, I still won't tell you~" [Qingque], completely dropping any pretense, was utterly 'frank'.
Of course, faced with this malicious, mocking frankness, Phantylia undoubtedly wanted nothing more than to tear her limb from limb.
She frantically tried to shake the sealing formation, but it was utterly useless. She could only watch that face she despised so much beam with a smile brilliant enough to drive her mad.
"Hmph hmph, honestly, you still caused me quite a bit of trouble~" [Qingque] scratched her cheek looking slightly helpless and sighed.
Undoubtedly, for Jiang Qiao, identifying Phantylia wasn't difficult, but pinpointing her exact location was not easy.
Therefore, even though he detected Phantylia's infiltration early on, finding her took quite some time because the fragment was so minuscule.
Of course, the bigger problem arose when he found her and discovered she had seized the opportunity to practice the Heliobus's old trick: possessing Yunli.
Discovering this gave him a headache.
After all… being possessed by a Heliobus was truly troublesome.
Unless the Heliobus wanted to leave willingly, forcibly removing it… Although Jiang Qiao had ways, his methods would invariably cause significant harm to the host.
Physical wounds could be healed, but severe mental trauma was a major issue.
Fortunately, the expert he had called beforehand arrived.
For various reasons, Jiang Qiao had summoned Blade from Glamoth. Though Blade's mara-afflicted mind was a bit unstable, Jiang Qiao happened to have some experience in treating such conditions.
And Blade, his mind healed, did not disappoint.
After recovering, he immediately reforged the Shard Sword with Jiang Qiao's help.
The Zhuming Xianzhou often employed techniques to forge Heliobus into demonic swords.
As Huaiyan's top disciple, Blade was undoubtedly a prodigy.
He reversed the process, using the Shard Sword, his former masterpiece, as a vessel to seal the Heliobus.
By plunging it into the possessed person's body and igniting the Karmic Crimson Lotus Flame with his own Blood of Shuhu, he could inflict immense pain on the possessing Heliobus, forcing it into an unstable state conducive to expulsion. For the Xianzhou, achieving this normally required elaborate and troublesome methods to first shake the Heliobus's will.
Refining the body with blood, forging the soul into the sword – through this series of techniques, the unsuspecting Phantylia was ripped from Yunli's body and sealed within the Shard Sword.
If not for this, Mr. Jiang Qiao would have had to resort to his own specialty: competing with Phantylia to see who was the more skilled 'pilot' of 'Yunli'.
Fortunately, Phantylia turned out to be easily fooled.
With a little guidance and a bit of acting, this arrogant Lord Ravager instantly became puffed up with pride, losing all sense of caution.
"…Brat, just you wait! Before long, the Xianzhou will face destruction under the iron hooves of the Legion!"
"You can't hold me for long! I will watch it happen with my own eyes!" Phantylia spat viciously, enraged.
However, to this… [Qingque] merely laughed.
"Ah, yes, yes… The time for destruction has come."
"Perhaps the Xianzhou will indeed face destruction one day. After all, who can say whether doom or dawn comes first…"
"But,"
"You probably won't be able to see it."
"?!"
Sensing the faint killing intent, Phantylia was startled, yet remained dismissive, sneering, "Hehe, you want to kill me? Heliobus cannot die!"
"Indeed… it used to be a bit troublesome."
"However, the past is the past, now is now…"
"Times have changed, Phantylia."
"Inspired by Elder Yan and Blade, I've developed a tiny little doubt about the immortality of Heliobus~"
"…What are you trying to do?"
"Don't come over here."
"Stay away from me!"
Amidst Phantylia's terrified screams, [Qingque] smilingly pressed her hands together.
An illusory forge instantly enveloped the entire space.
Like a giant, invisible hand, it seized her—and refined her in an instant!
"Lord Nanook will definitely not forgive you!"
Though she struggled, it was futile.
Her consciousness faded.
Her self dissolved.
As spiritual, energy-based life forms, Heliobus were supposed to be immortal, only capable of being dispersed.
However… could Heliobus truly not die?
If the will they possessed, the spirit they held, was completely obliterated, then in the end, even if the Heliobus as energy did not perish, as a living being, it would have met its destruction.
And this, precisely, was Phantylia's greatest fear.
---||---
With the fall of the Lord Ravager Phantylia, the tide of the entire Legion offensive turned.
On the eastern Luofu front, after Glamoth joined the battle, Iron Tomb's legion began to collapse, being annihilated at a visible rate, leaving only wreckage behind.
And Zephyro, the strongest Lord Ravager, found himself in an incredibly difficult fight against Brunhilde.
Zephyro excelled at unparalleled, direct destruction. However, Brunhilde, possessing the dual identities of the strongest Propagation Emanator and an Abundance Emanator, was extremely resilient, a super-healer. No matter how sharp Zephyro's attacks were, they had little effect.
At this moment, he was like Tengxiao, slowly worn down by Shuhu centuries ago.
Furthermore, Brunhilde's offensive power was definitely not to be underestimated. Propagation was not a weak Path. Her previous loss to Zephyro was simply because she had been heavily wounded by Lan's arrow, lacked combat experience, and the Path of Propagation itself had been greatly weakened at the time.
Now, she was clearly the stronger one!
On the western Yaoqing front, the opportunistic Denizens of Abundance also suffered heavy losses.
With the High-Cloud Quintet fully assembled, the Cloud Knight forces fought as if under a super buff, practically all mara-struck in their ferocity.
Dan Feng leading the Vidyadhara Cloudhymn users meant the Cloud Knights had no need to fear the mara-struck state. At this moment, the Cloud Knights displayed the full glory of the Xianzhou from their time as the strongest followers of Abundance.
Baiheng leading the starskiff pilots acted like sharp cavalry, piercing through the Legion's defenses.
Blade, arriving on the battlefield, also allowed the Artisanship Commission to exert unimaginable power.
Meanwhile, Iron Tomb and Celenova faced Feixiao (free from lunacy) and Jing Yuan (free from mara), joined later by Huaiyan. With no rear concerns, the three Arbiter-Generals utterly overwhelmed the two Legion Lord Ravagers.
Furthermore, because the Legion was a universal enemy.
The IPC, closely allied with Glamoth, soon joined the war. Their main forces consisted of the Genius Society's legions and IPC fleets led by the Stonehearts Opal and Topaz.
Simultaneously, as a certain cowboy on the battlefield fired a bullet towards the heavens, another faction of the Hunt, the Galaxy Rangers, officially joined the fray.
"Hoho, lackeys of the Lord of Destruction, looks like you're the ones facing destruction in the end," Huaiyan, blazing with crimson flames, mocked the two Lord Ravagers, Celenova and Iron Tomb, his aged voice ringing out.
"All the evil deeds the Legion has sown across the universe will now be repaid in full."
However, the besieged Celenova and Iron Tomb showed little panic. Instead, they sneered.
It was as if the ones facing crisis weren't them, the Legion, but rather everyone present fighting against them.
"Enough talk! Take down these two Legion pawns!" Feixiao raised her axe-polearm, speaking sharply.
Huaiyan, however, remained wary. For some reason, ever since stepping onto the battlefield, he had felt a faint sense of impending crisis.
It was an intuition honed over his long years.
A feeling that had helped him navigate countless life-and-death situations.
Although the increasingly favorable battle situation made him wonder if he was just getting old and worrying too much.
But recalling General Yaoguang's divination, his heart began to pound.
At a certain moment, Huaiyan's heart abruptly stopped.
But it wasn't just him – it was everyone present.
An inexplicable sense of panic rippled outwards, like a precursor to something imminent.
Finally, watching the increasingly rampant smiles on Iron Tomb and Celenova's faces.
The answer finally dawned in Huaiyan's mind.
He trembled, slightly panicked, forcing the name out through clenched teeth, his mouth tasting sour:
"It's… the Lord of Destruction!"