"...How...how can you be this strong?"
The Dragon Queen still felt dazed as she tried to push herself up from the water. She looked up at Bai Fanxian with disbelieving eyes.
Even though she herself had grown stronger because of the incomplete Eternal Myriad Heavens, her strength had crossed her original limits by a full stage! She didn't want to believe this woman was still hiding power.
Bai Fanxian stared down silently. In just one blink, her body appeared beneath the Dragon Queen's jaw. Those slender legs stretched to their limit. A kick packed with devastating force struck upward into her chin. The confused Dragon Queen took the impact from below until even her enormous body floated up into the sky!
CLANG!
The shockwave rang out again. Bai Fanxian's fist drove into her torso until the Dragon Queen's chest seemed to cave in from the force. The dragon full of power just moments ago now seemed like a ball being beaten back and forth by a single young woman!
"Wa...wait a moment!"
The Dragon Queen felt herself overwhelmed for the second time in quick succession. Earlier was in that other world—she'd been beaten by this young woman until she was forced to consume the incomplete pill. But now that she was stronger than before, she was still being beaten by this same woman until she had no way to fight back!
Bai Fanxian paid no attention to the Dragon Queen's voice. Her face remained calm. But her hands and feet didn't stop moving. Each attack was infused with her Intent. The pain the Dragon Queen received grew more violent with each strike!
The Dragon Queen gritted her teeth. Her crimson scales suddenly glowed brilliant red.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion originating from the Dragon Queen consumed an area of several hundred meters. The seawater suddenly evaporated until the seabed was visible, before other water rushed in to replace it, creating a giant wave.
The Grandmaster-level beings still in the area had to quickly respond. If they let these waves crash into shore, the losses would be catastrophic.
Each General launched wide-area attacks. Liu Yianfei swung the sword he always carried just once and the giant wave split in two. Another elderly man who was one of the Generals and head of the Sky Shark unit rushed forward.
His hands clasped together in midair. A massive cold wave spread out from his body.
Frozen Sharks!
Behind the old man, two white sharks formed from qi suddenly appeared. They opened their mouths revealing sharp fangs. When their bodies collided with the waves, the seawater in that area froze at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The white sharks swam in circles as if resisting the waves. In less than ten seconds, they successfully created a wave-shaped ice sculpture several meters tall.
"...I'll leave it to you."
The instant he successfully stopped the damage, the old man turned to look at the one woman among the Generals. She nodded. Her slender body glided to the beach area. Before this ice wave could collapse, she pressed her hands to the ground.
ROAR!
A roar similar to the Dragon Queen's immediately rang out. A brown earth dragon emerged from the sandy ground, along with an earth wall as tall as a building forming in a long line. It blocked the seawater from crashing through and causing damage to the coastal area.
The young woman gasped for breath. Creating walls that were both tall and thick, and creating so many at once, had consumed nearly all her qi.
Bai Fanxian in the sky glanced down for a moment. Seeing there were no problems, she returned her attention to the Dragon Queen who had exploded with power.
When the smoke cleared, it revealed the Dragon Queen's body covered in wounds.
She gasped until hot air floated from her mouth. That move just now had made her body—already injured by Bai Fanxian—deteriorate even more. She stared at Bai Fanxian with incomprehension and fear.
She couldn't resist at all! Even her power that had already crossed a full stage still couldn't fight this young woman before her!
"...Just how strong are you?"
The Dragon Queen asked warily.
Bai Fanxian didn't answer. She was about to move again when the Dragon Queen hastily spoke out in a rush.
"Wait! Wait...I'll talk!"
Bai Fanxian paused abruptly. She narrowed her eyes at the Dragon Queen. Seeing that enormous body disperse all its pressure, she agreed to negotiate peacefully.
"...What do you want to know?"
The Dragon Queen asked weakly.
"...How do you know about that pill?"
Bai Fanxian asked the question that weighed most heavily on her mind. The pill the Dragon Queen called Eternal Myriad Heavens was what she herself had devised and experimentally refined ten thousand years ago. At that time, she hadn't even named it because she wasn't certain of its properties and effects.
"You mean the Eternal Myriad Heavens?"
Seeing Bai Fanxian nod, the Dragon Queen sighed and began explaining.
"I'm not really sure where it came from. But since I was sealed by those humans in that valley, at the center of the extinct volcano, the formula was already there with a pill being refined..."
Bai Fanxian observed the Dragon Queen's manner and tone.
The Dragon Queen wasn't lying.
"So you were sealed there from ten thousand years ago?"
Bai Fanxian asked another question. But the Dragon Queen quickly shook her head in denial and answered:
"Human, though I have a long lifespan, I'm not quite that old yet!"
Her indignant manner didn't make Bai Fanxian change her attitude.
"It was probably only about a thousand years or so?"
Bai Fanxian was surprised by this. This meant the Eternal Myriad Heavens pill the Dragon Queen consumed had only gone through a refining period shorter than the pill she had refined.
"...It wasn't complete yet, was it?"
Bai Fanxian, who perceived the Dragon Queen's increased power, was still surprised even now. From originally having power at the Transcendent level, the Dragon Queen had only developed to Semi-Immortal level—like Bai Fanxian herself ten thousand years ago.
It was power she herself could reach on her own even without beginning to refine the Eternal Myriad Heavens that had now fused with her.
She didn't know what to call her own power level anymore!
"...I think so. That pill's power can still increase much more."
When speaking of this, she made a displeased face.
"But it's because of you that I had to hurry and absorb it before its time!"
Bai Fanxian didn't care about the Dragon Queen's attitude. She merely pondered alone. There was still one more issue weighing on her heart.
"And when you said...you and I are both selfish. What did that mean?"
The Dragon Queen became surprised instead. Earlier she'd been irritated that Bai Fanxian acted innocent. Or did she really not know about this?
"...You truly don't know?"
The Dragon Queen asked in a soft whisper.
Bai Fanxian furrowed her brow. The calm power began surging out again.
"Alright! Alright, I'll explain."
She spoke weakly. This young woman seemed like she'd start beating her again for sure if she kept delaying. At the same time, she began shifting her wings to the side.
"You know well that this world has life force flowing through it, don't you?"
The Dragon Queen spoke while sensing the power currents flowing around her body. Bai Fanxian nodded and answered:
"Yes..."
These life forces benefited cultivators. After they entered the martial world, it meant they understood the power currents of heaven and earth. They would begin drawing natural life force into their bodies to nurture themselves.
Combined with qi generated from within the body, and possibly receiving enhancement from pills or treasures as external factors, their power levels would gradually increase according to time and each person's understanding of the way.
But since Bai Fanxian crossed through eras to the present, she felt that the life force flowing naturally had decreased greatly from ten thousand years ago.
"...Or could it be?"
Bai Fanxian suddenly thought of the Dragon Queen's earlier words. The decreasing level of natural life force, and being told she was selfish.
"You should already know..."
The Dragon Queen nodded.
"That pill...the Eternal Myriad Heavens draws in the world's natural power to refine itself."
"The longer time passes, the more hungrily it devours. You understand what that means, don't you?"
Bai Fanxian trembled at the Dragon Queen's words.
Simply put, this world had limited energy. Cultivators used that power to develop themselves. The world's rate of creating and restoring energy was greater than the amount used, so there was no significant impact. Everything remained in balance.
But this Eternal Myriad Heavens pill became a variable that destroyed this balance. It drew in energy at a rate greater than the world's restoration speed.
This caused the life force in the world that nourished cultivators to gradually decrease day by day. Over time, those with high power at the Transcendent level gradually died off. But with decreasing life force, no one could develop to those levels anymore.
The highest beings in each era thus had power levels that decreased progressively.
Coming to the present era, ten thousand years after Bai Fanxian's time—those with the most power only remained at Grandmaster level, comparable to ordinary disciples found in Bai Fanxian's residence back then.
To the extent that people in this world hardly knew of the martial world's existence!
This was why the Dragon Queen called her selfish.
Her pill refining back then affected everyone in the world. The world's power decreasing not only made cultivators unable to develop further, it also caused various treasures, medicinal herbs, and even some monster beasts living in this world ten thousand years ago to gradually go extinct over time...
She herself who had slept for ten thousand years hadn't perceived this at all...
"...So in your world?"
Bai Fanxian calmed down quickly. Sometimes stories like this might be heaven's will. What she did affected many things, but they didn't die because of her. Ten thousand years was a long period. They all had their own ways of life. Perhaps the fact that people's power levels decreased to the present might even be better.
"That world had less life force than this world from the start."
The Dragon Queen nodded. In that world, besides herself who was affected by the Eternal Myriad Heavens pill, other living things all had power not exceeding high-level Martial Master.
"...I understand."
Bai Fanxian closed her eyes. This journey allowed her to successfully resolve one doubt that had been a knot in her heart. Her mind thus felt clearer, like when she had the goal to rebuild her residence in this era.
Suddenly Bai Fanxian's power that had calmed down exploded out again. The Dragon Queen who was closest actually startled until she almost forgot how to fly.
"Why are you doing this again!?"
"...To kill you?"
Opposite Bai Fanxian who tilted her head in confusion, the Dragon Queen hastily asked in alarm.
"Why would you still kill me!? I already told you everything I know!"
The Dragon Queen didn't understand. How could a lofty being like her end up in a situation where she had to beg for her life like this?
"You're too dangerous..."
Bai Fanxian's words were reasonable. The Dragon Queen had power at a level above anyone else in this world except herself. Therefore, if she let her go or allowed her out of sight, and the Dragon Queen went on a rampage somewhere causing innocent people to die, it would make her feel guilty again.
Because she was still well aware it was her own carelessness that caused the Dragon Queen to escape to this world!
Though she was too lazy to care about others besides her own people, she wasn't the type without responsibility for her actions.
At least she had to clean up the problem she caused!
And killing the Dragon Queen wouldn't have anyone come seeking revenge or cause her trouble like with people in this era either.
"...Something like that."
Bai Fanxian responded indifferently, as if explaining why she needed to go shopping!