Chapter 36: The Three Domains Collide

The golden spirit cage arced through the air, leaving a shimmering, iridescent trail. It appeared formidable, yet moved with the graceful, playful menace of a cat toying with a mouse.

Shen Zhaoqing’s pupils contracted sharply.

Run!

This was the only thought that flashed through her mind.

She had encountered this contraption back in Qingzhou. Though it looked magnificent, it was insidious, capable of sealing one’s spiritual energy and divine soul. Once caught, it was akin to falling victim to a scam, leaving one utterly helpless and unable to call for aid.

Pushing off with her feet, the muscle memory honed from years of fleeing instantly activated. The steps of Drunken Hidden Evasion instinctively manifested, and she drifted three feet to the side and rear, barely escaping, like a fallen leaf caught by the wind.

“Buzz—”

The spirit cage whizzed past her nose, the accompanying gust of wind stinging her cheek.

Yet, the anticipated restraint never came.

The formidable spirit cage spun in the air before gently floating back, settling securely into the fair hand of the maiden on the tiger’s back.

Yuange toyed with the spirit cage, her amber-gold eyes sparkling with a triumphant smile. A tiny, almost hidden canine tooth peeked from the corner of her lips.

“Little drunkard, your movements have gotten faster, haven’t they?”

Shen Zhaoqing: “…”

‘Oh, how I wish I could pluck all that little demoness’s feathers and fashion them into a feather duster!’

****

“Boom—!”

It wasn’t a sound, but a pervasive sensation.

Sword intent, without warning, descended from the heavens, instantly enveloping the entire street. The air temperature plummeted, and the clamor of hawkers and the haggling in the market abruptly ceased, as if a mute button had been pressed.

Shopkeeper Qian’s fleshy face trembled. His complexion, which had been pale from the demonic aura moments before, now turned a purplish-blue. He felt as though his very blood was about to freeze.

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart skipped a beat as well.

This aura was intimately familiar to her. Every night, its owner meditated in the room next to hers, and their morning sword practice was more punctual than any alarm clock.

Gu Chang’an stood there silently, like an ancient iceberg that had always rested in this spot. Her neatly tied dark hair was immaculate, her gaze, calm yet resolute, fixed upon Yuange across the street.

Her position perfectly shielded Shen Zhaoqing behind her.

The Frostbright Sword on her back emitted a low hum. Fine ice crystals condensed in the air around its sheath, and half its blade was already unsheathed. The chilling gleam it cast made everything else in the vicinity appear dull and lifeless.

“Demon,” Gu Chang’an’s voice was soft, yet it pierced everyone’s eardrums with the precision of countless ice needles. “You have crossed the line.”

Those three simple words carried an undeniable authority and murderous intent.

Yuange’s smile subtly faded as she regarded Gu Chang’an with interest. “The ‘Forgetfulness Sword’ of Qingyun Sect? I have long heard of Sister Gu’s prowess, but I am not here for you today.”

Gu Chang’an’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. The chilling aura around her intensified. “Get out. I will not say it a second time.”

The spiritual energies of ice and wind clashed in the air, emitting faint crackling sounds. The invisible pressure forced the surrounding vendors and cultivators to retreat.

‘Familiar, far too familiar.’

Caught squarely between the auras of two formidable powers, Shen Zhaoqing’s expression was numb. She now harbored only one wish: to perish on the spot, or perhaps transform into a stone.

****

“Crash!”

A crisp shattering sound echoed from the second floor of a three-story tea house nearby.

The carved wooden window facing the street, along with its frame, was pulverized into dust by an unseen force.

Amidst the flying splinters, a figure leaned languidly against the window, propping her chin with one hand. She watched the confrontation below with keen interest.

Long, frost-white hair cascaded like moonlight. Dressed in a simple white battle robe, she exuded an unparalleled, regnant majesty that could not be concealed. She didn’t even consciously emit an aura, yet her mere presence was enough to distort the surrounding light.

Her ruby-like eyes swept over Gu Chang’an, then Yuange. Finally, they settled on Shen Zhaoqing, who was caught in the middle and had already begun contemplating her own epitaph.

A faint curve traced Ling Shuangjue’s lips.

“Interesting.”

She extended her other hand, her slender fingertip lightly tapping the air. A wisp of blood-red Demonic Energy coiled forth like a spirit serpent, carrying an aura of heart-stopping destruction.

“Long time no see,” Ling Shuangjue chuckled. “Care for a sparring match?”

The moment her words fell, an overbearing and unparalleled demonic might, as if threatening to drag the entire world into a bloody abyss, erupted with a roar.

Three distinctly different auras violently collided above the Hundred Herbs Market.

“Rumble—!!!”

The entire market seemed to be seized by an invisible giant hand, then viciously twisted.

With Shen Zhaoqing at its epicenter, anomalies instantly erupted within a hundred-zhang radius!

****

Behind Gu Chang’an, an illusion of a thousand miles of frozen land and ten thousand miles of falling snow materialized. Countless tiny ice-crystal sword blades condensed in the air, each blade contained the ‘Forgetfulness’ sword intent, capable of severing karma, forming a nascent ‘Skyfrost Sword Domain’—chilling, deadly, and repelling all living beings.

Above Yuange, the sky shifted drastically. Dark clouds gathered, and countless spectral avian figures could faintly be seen soaring and shrieking through them. Gale-force winds transformed into azure sharp blades, swirling and howling around her, creating a ‘Hundred Birds Riding Wind’ domain—replete with primal savagery and a hunter’s lust.

Beside Ling Shuangjue, eerie blood-red roses sprouted from the ground, blooming out of thin air, their petals sharp as knives. The earth seemed to transform into a bloody mire, and the air hung heavy with a sickly sweet scent of blood, as a ‘Myriad Flower Demonic Domain,’ filled with the beauty of destruction and death, slowly bared its fangs.

Sword Domain, Wind Domain, Demonic Domain.

At this very moment, the nascent forms of these three great domains engaged in their most direct collision within this small mortal market.

“Crack… crack-crack-crack…”

The sturdy bluestone street, like glass struck by a heavy hammer, instantly fractured into a web of cracks before shattering into dust.

The shops lining both sides of the street, whether built of wood or stone, were torn apart by these three forces. Like structures made of paper, they were effortlessly ripped, twisted, and reduced to fragments swirling through the air.

Countless stalls were swept skyward by the chaotic spiritual energy. Spirit herbs, pills, magic tools, talismans… all flew wildly, as if a multicolored rain of debris had begun to fall.

“Ahhh—my century-old Blood Ginseng!”

“Help! My flying sword!”

“Run! The sky is falling!!!”

The market descended into complete chaos. Screams, cries, and the shattering of magic tools merged into a cacophony. Cultivators could barely maintain their protective spiritual light as they fled in disarray. Meanwhile, the mortal merchants were tossed about by the cataclysmic disaster, their fates unknown.

Shopkeeper Qian, clutching his head, scrambled and rolled to cower beneath his partially collapsed counter. He continuously muttered, “It’s over, it’s over… my shop… my entire fortune… all gone…”

Yet, the three supreme figures, the instigators of this chaos and at the very eye of the storm, remained utterly oblivious to it all.

Their eyes held only each other, and… Shen Zhaoqing, caught between them, who had by now completely abandoned any pretense of composure.

****

Shen Zhaoqing felt as though she was about to crack apart.

In a very literal sense.

Her left side felt as if it had been plunged into liquid nitrogen, while her right side was like being roasted over a barbecue pit. Adding to her torment, a high-powered fan seemed to be blowing directly onto her head.

The immense pressure from these three forces had completely suppressed the spiritual energy within her, rendering it unable to circulate. Her entire body groaned under the unbearable strain, her bones ‘cracked,’ as if she would disintegrate at any moment.

She had no doubt that if these three formidable women exerted even a fraction more power, she would simply ‘pop’ like a tomato squeezed by a mischievous child, ascending to the heavens on the spot.

Damn.

A plant.