The radiant girl, overflowing with flames that surged from every inch of her slender, graceful form, stepped forward. She was like a sun in its full brilliance—a flare that ignited the very air of the cave around her.
Hovering above the ground, with Morse's unconscious body draped over her shoulder, she ventured deeper into the abyss. Her sharpened instincts traced the chilled waves of Yin energy that made the skin crawl, even from a distance.
The path was fraught with peril, but she no longer felt fear. Why should she? She carried the "Power Source" right on her shoulder. If she needed more strength, the System's math was simple: ten minutes of continuous kissing yielded 50 points every 30 seconds.
Furthermore, although she was at the Peak of the Soul Palace realm, her true combat prowess rivaled that of Golden Core experts. To defeat her, one would need a Heaven-grade beast—an entity equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage. Such creatures were rare treasures, found only in the most prestigious lands where spiritual veins ran deep. They were certainly not found in a petrified "Living Moon" that seemed to have long since lost its life.
Ni Ni Layan pressed on until she reached a dead end—a massive green barrier pulsating with ancient energy. Flames erupted from both her hands, engulfing the barrier in an attempt to breach it.
The entire cavern began to shudder. It seemed the Living Moon monster was screaming in agony from within. Ni Ni Layan intensified her flames to their absolute limit, until a hundred-meter radius around her was submerged in an inexhaustible inferno.
AWOOOOOOOGH!
A sharp, piercing shriek echoed through the tunnels—a sound of profound agony. Ni Ni Layan cut off her flames and looked. The green barrier was heavily damaged, but it remained intact. It was a Heaven-grade formation. What kind of expert would place such an array here? she wondered.
It was futile to keep blasting it. If the Living Moon began to crush itself in a suicidal frenzy, they would be in real trouble. She stared at the unyielding barrier, her mind racing. What lies behind this? Treasures? Ancient combat techniques? Or perhaps the tomb of a Martial King? The prospect of a legacy inheritance was too tantalizing to ignore.
Instead of rushing blindly this time, she invoked a new power unlocked after her ascension.
{New Ability Added to Host Profile (Flame Fairies): The host can now manifest them through thought alone.}
As she focused, dozens of fairies appeared before her. They began to follow her movements in a synchronized dance of hands—lifting, lowering, swaying. True Qi began to shape celestial commands and ancient scripts between heaven and earth. Words of "The Emerald Script " shimmered brilliantly, becoming the only light in the world.
{Host Formation Activated... Falling Sky Formation... Array Engaged...}
Ni Ni Layan opened her eyes, gasping and coughing as she watched the glowing energy of the scripts. The fairies were sacrificed, vanishing instantly.
Suddenly, something extraordinary began to happen.
Even the residents of Jian County, living through what seemed like an ordinary day, felt a strange, heavy presence weighing down on their souls. The atmosphere shifted; clouds in the sky began to entwine ominously, as if huddling together to fulfill a divine, celestial will.
A small child stared at the sky where the clouds were congregating in mass. "Look, Mother! Someone is making a giant pancake in the sky!"
The mother looked up at the swirling clouds directly above them; it was a sight that didn't happen every day. "Focus on the road ahead of you," she muttered, though her heart raced.
At the Xuan family manor, one of the Great Elders—a master at the Nascent Soul stage—was mid-cultivation when he felt a mysterious power gathering in the heavens. The sky was saturated with spiritual energy, manifesting into thick, heavy clouds.
Is this an enemy attack? He felt the dense energy centered over the Huanglu Forest, but his senses were clouded. Despite his Divine Sense, he couldn't penetrate the veil of what was happening within the woods.
His curiosity didn't last long before turning into dread.
Before the eyes of hundreds of thousands, the sky turned wrathful. Thunderous drums roared, and the winds howled in a cosmic madness. Strange green lightning condensed around the clouds, which had now turned a bruised, pitch-black.
Over the Huanglu Forest, animals fled like maniacs. The provincial guards struggled to contain the tides of beasts trying to storm the city to escape the forest. Birds migrated in a frenzy, and the very trees trembled. It was a Heavenly Command, and its fulfillment was inevitable.
Death awaited anyone who dared stand in its way.
A gargantuan lightning bolt condensed above the forest—it was colossal. With a force that crushed the very air, its sheer speed tore through space and atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. It struck the earth, splitting the ground apart, piercing through every layer until it slammed into the Emerald Barrier.
The mouths of everyone witnessing this fell open. A massive earthquake shook the very foundations of the world.
The mouths of everyone witnessing this fell open... a massive earthquake shook the area. The earth itself began to dance to the rhythms of the heavens.
These rhythms were so intense and decisive that sheer panic was etched onto every face. In the Xuan family estate, the head of the house stood amidst dozens of soldiers, pointing toward the sky.
"Stop this thing! NOW!" he roared.
The warriors lunged toward the sky, though their hearts were gripped by terror. It was impossible to draw near without being torn apart.
While everyone was paralyzed with fear, the epicenter of the strike was already fracturing. The previous screams of the Living Moon—once so terrifying—were now nothing more than background noise, like an extra in a play whose cries went unheard. It was dead now.
The rocky monster, the serpent from beneath the earth... the formation hidden within it was shattering under the heavy, crushing touch of the Heavenly Lightning.
Crack...
Crack...
The fractures spread rapidly before Ni Ni Layan's eyes. She strained to maintain a protective barrier around herself and Morse, who remained slumped over her shoulder.
Suddenly, the green emerald formation shattered into a million fragments.
With a sharp intake of breath, Ni Ni Layan channeled the lingering lightning through her hand, pulling the residual energy back into her body. Panting heavily, she dispelled her barrier and peered through the swirling dust and sand.
As the thick dust settled, she saw it...
Standing before her was a geometric platform in the shape of a perfect equilateral triangle, rising like a pyramid. Resting at its sharp apex was a gargantuan egg, radiating a raw, powerful Yin energy that felt ancient and magnificent. It wasn't the same as the Yin flowing through her own Phoenix veins, but it was "pure" beyond description.
Ni Ni Layan approached the pyramid. It was forged from a high-grade spiritual iron, standing firm and self-sustaining. She reached out and touched the ornate surface of the egg, feeling its texture. Suddenly, the egg began to pulse, pulling energy from her in a strange, ravenous way. She yanked her hand back instinctively.
{...Detected: Egg of the White-Winged Tiger. Extremely pure lineage...}
{Note: There is a high probability the cub carries the bloodline of the "Sky Invader Tiger" from the Upper Realm. Grade: Sovereign.}
Ni Ni Layan was struck with pure astonishment. Was all of this... because of this egg? It appeared to be in its incubation stage, carrying a living embryo within.
She extinguished her surrounding flames, gently placed Morse on the ground, and picked up the egg. Immediately, the egg began to feast, attempting to drain her specific Yin energy. Looking up, she realized the sky was now visible through the rift. Instinctively, she shrouded her face with a mask of flickering flames to conceal her identity from any prying eyes.
She knew the Xuan family warriors would arrive at any second. And she was right.
They appeared in the sky almost instantly. Using a disguise technique, Ni Ni Layan dyed her hair a crimson red. She looked down at Morse, still lying unconscious on the cold earth, and hoisted him over her shoulder once again—her now-familiar burden.
Dozens of warriors bearing the Xuan family emblem hovered in the air, paralyzed by hesitation. As Ni Ni Layan surged upward, the cultivators instinctively parted, clearing a path out of sheer terror of her aura.
The moment she breached the surface and took to the sky, she ignited her blue flames to blast away.
The Patriarch of the Xuan family narrowed his eyes at the streak of blue fire. The memory clicked—the same flame as the intruder.
"Follow them! Quickly! It's the intruder! Don't let them escape!"
The warriors, bound by the Patriarch's command as he flew alongside them, had no choice but to obey. They took flight immediately, embarking on a high-stakes pursuit across the heavens.
.