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Gu Chang’an made a swift decision. Her Frostbright Sword was already unsheathed, ready to unleash her strongest strike to carve out a sliver of hope for everyone.
Ling Shuangjue was even more direct. The demonic energy on her Abyssal Slaughter Sword already boiled, clearly intending a head-on collision to see whether her sword was sharper or the seawater harder.
“No!” Yan Wusheng’s voice, for the first time, carried a hint of urgency. “This is her domain! Resisting will only drain our strength for nothing! Retreat!”
The Heavenly Mechanism Plate in her hand spun rapidly as she desperately tried to deduce a path to survival.
It was already too late.
That colossal wall of water, bearing a terrifying pressure capable of shattering mountains, was now upon them. The shadow of death enveloped everyone.
Retreat?
Where could they retreat to?
Across this sea, from the heavens above to the depths below, the woman’s power had completely sealed off every escape route.
Yuange stared intently at the encroaching darkness, a burning pride and unyielding spirit, inherent to the Golden Crow royal family, igniting within her small frame.
She recalled her Imperial Father’s disappointed gaze, Gu Chang’an’s and Ling Shuangjue’s looks that branded her a ‘burden,’ and, most importantly, Shen Zhaoqing, who was still trapped in Penglai Immortal Palace, awaiting their rescue.
She could not retreat!
Nor could she lose!
Especially not in front of these two rivals in love!
“You’re so noisy, you fortune-teller!” Yuange abruptly turned, flashing Yan Wusheng a brilliant, resolute smile. “The word ‘retreat’ simply doesn’t exist in this princess’s dictionary!”
“It’s just water, isn’t it?”
“Watch me burn it dry!”
A scorching, extreme heat erupted from Yuange’s petite body.
“—Caw!”
A high-pitched, clear cry of a Golden Crow, seemingly from primeval times, pierced the clouds.
Blinding golden light burst forth from her, instantly dispelling all darkness.
Her hair stood on end in golden flames, transforming into burning feathers. Behind her, a pair of magnificent, colossal wings, seemingly forged from pure True Sun Fire, unfurled with formidable power.
In this moment, she was no longer the spoiled, willful little princess, but the ancient divine bird, the Golden Crow, wielding the authority of the sun and patrolling the cosmos!
“Golden Crow bloodline… ignite!”
“Hmph—!”
With a furious roar, her entire being transformed into a golden streak of light, rushing fearlessly towards the world-destroying giant wave!
She used no techniques.
She simply transformed herself into a tiny, yet incomparably radiant sun!
“Boom—!”
The miniature sun collided violently with the sky-obscuring giant wave.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only extreme vaporization!
“Sizzle—sizzle—”
A teeth-gritting sound filled the air.
The towering wave, capable of swallowing everything, was instantly vaporized by the terrifying high temperature the moment it touched the tiny sun.
Billions of tons of seawater transformed into a sky full of white steam, turning the hundred-mile radius of the sea into a gigantic sauna.
In mere seconds.
That water wall, connecting heaven and earth, was forcefully burned through, leaving a massive hole.
Sunlight once again streamed through the opening, illuminating the three faces on the Wave-Breaking Skiff, etched with shock and disbelief.
Having accomplished this astonishing strike, the miniature sun also exhausted all its energy, its radiance rapidly dimming.
A petite figure, utterly spent, plummeted from the swirling steam, landing with a soft thud on the deck.
“Yuange!”
The flames on Yuange’s body had completely extinguished, and her magnificent wings had vanished without a trace.
Her face was ashen, her lips devoid of color, and her entire body trembled violently and uncontrollably, as if she might fall apart at any moment. Forcibly activating her unawakened bloodline origin had exacted an immense toll.
“Hey…”
Yuange struggled to rise from the deck, but she lacked even the strength to move a single finger.
She could only manage to lift her head slightly, looking at the two women still frozen in place, a weak yet incredibly triumphant smile gracing her lips.
“Did you see?”
“This princess is amazing, aren’t I?”
Before her words fully faded, her vision went black, and she completely lost consciousness.
On the Wave-Breaking Skiff, a profound silence reigned. Gu Chang’an and Ling Shuangjue gazed at the unconscious little princess lying on the deck, their expressions complex beyond words.
They had never imagined.
This usually boisterous and seemingly unreliable companion would, in such a self-sacrificing manner, burn a path to survival for them.
****
Deep beneath the sea.
Lan Xi’s deep blue vertical pupils were fixed on the surface, on the lingering, scorching steam.
A look of surprise and deep apprehension appeared on her face: “True Sun Fire… the bloodline of an ancient Golden Crow…”
“Damn it, this generation of demon beasts actually hides such a monster…”
She could feel that the power of that flame was the natural nemesis of her water origin. Although the opponent’s power was still very weak, the rank of that bloodline was terrifyingly high.
Fighting head-on, even if she could win, she would undoubtedly pay a heavy price. It wasn’t worth it for a ‘Dao Source Body’ that wasn’t yet in her grasp.
A flicker of unwillingness and ruthlessness crossed Lan Xi’s eyes. She cast a deep gaze towards the Wave-Breaking Skiff, as if to engrave the image of that boat into her very soul.
Then, with a gentle sway of her slender fish tail, her massive body silently merged back into the endless darkness.
The waves subsided.
But everyone knew.
The Empress of the East Sea had only temporarily retreated.
She would return.
****
Penglai Immortal Palace, renowned as the foremost immortal realm overseas.
The spiritual energy was so dense it could condense into morning dew, immortal cranes roamed leisurely amidst the sea of clouds, and even an ordinary tree here was a spiritual plant worth a fortune in the outside world.
In the eyes of most cultivators, it was a sacred land and paradise.
But beneath Mu Qingli’s feet…
“Bah, what kind of rotten soil is this?!”
Within a small hollow created by three feet of ghostly power, a petite figure with two mint-green pigtails sniffed a clump of soil at her nose, then returned it with an expression that clearly said, “You expect me to eat this?”
‘Flashy but impractical, good for nothing! The spiritual energy all floats on the surface, and the roots can’t even get a drop of nutrients! What else can these alchemist women even do? They’re a disgrace to gardeners!’
Mu Qingli, the last remaining member of the Jianmu clan, was currently wriggling at high speed beneath the ground in an extremely contorted posture.
Her ‘Spiritual Transplanting Shovel,’ taller than herself, cleared the way ahead. Any restrictive spell formations, even solid rock, were silently carved open by its blade.
This was her racial talent; as long as her feet touched the earth, the entire cultivation world was essentially her backyard. She could go wherever she pleased.
This time, she had risked infiltrating Penglai with a very clear objective: to steal.
She had heard that the ‘Longevity Cauldron’ in Penglai held thousands of years of medicinal essence and life origin, making it a perfect tonic for plant-type cultivators.
Mu Qingli figured that if she could ‘package’ that soup and take it away, not only would she recover her original form, but she might even blossom and bear fruit on the spot, perhaps even giving birth to a litter of little Jianmu all by herself.
Plan complete!
As she traveled underground, she relied on her keen perception of spiritual energy to make her way towards the core area of Penglai, where the spiritual energy was densest.
Along the way, she didn’t hesitate to criticize Penglai’s ‘gardening skills.’
“Tsk, tsk, a thousand-year Vermillion Fruit, just planted foolishly by the roadside? Not even a Spirit Gathering Array? What a waste of natural resources!
“My heavens, is that a Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma? How could they let it grow among a pile of weeds? Doesn’t it have any dignity?!
“And this medicinal garden… Argh, argh, argh, where’s the manager?! Come out and get a beating! The ratio of this spiritual soil is practically murder, alright?! Do you understand murder?!”
Mu Qingli was heartbroken.
Heartbroken, truly heartbroken!
She even had an impulse to forget about stealing, simply tie up all these wasteful women, and become the garden master herself.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, The Only Ice Flower is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : The Only Ice Flower
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