Facing pairs of astonished eyes, Yi Luoxi didn't speak. She was as bewildered and desperate as they were.
According to the script, shouldn't it be her time to shine now? How did it become… again?
"Again?"
Yi Luoxi was lost in self-doubt.
The elder generation's myth, Hao Ran Sword Saint, was a venerable figure past fifty, a dual-divinity myth who had experienced countless events and possessed keen insight. He quickly sensed something was amiss.
The energy fluctuation earlier did not originate from the young Crimson Empress of Burning Flames, but from another young myth.
Moreover, it seemed to be not a matter of some artifact or hidden power, but…
"Holy cow, what kind of trump card artifact did you Burning Flames Merchant Guild prepare? It's so formidable, it instantly annihilated five seven-star abominations?"
Island Master Shadow was greatly alarmed.
He was surprised that the Burning Flames Merchant Guild possessed such wealth and influence. His own Shadow Island couldn't produce such an artifact! It seemed incredibly difficult, though he had vaguely heard of such things before.
At this moment, Chen Tianxuan also spoke, his voice a little dry, "Is there a possibility that… that wasn't a trump card artifact, but this brother's killing move?"
Island Master Shadow: "???"
But as he looked closer, he noticed a faintly receding, mysterious light deep within Qian Qiu's pupils. Even as this light faded to a mere wisp, it sent an inexplicable tremor of fear through Island Master Shadow who met his gaze.
"You… Big Brother, you, you killed five abominations with just a glare?"
Island Master Shadow had once thoroughly investigated the Burning Flames Merchant Guild, especially the battle where the Master of Hidden Assassins was defeated. His sources were limited, and some information was unreliable. One piece of intelligence claimed that the Master of Hidden Assassins was defeated by a Burning Flames Excellency with a single glance.
This was preposterous!
At the time, he had severely reprimanded the subordinate who brought him this intelligence. However, judging by the current situation, that intelligence might very well be true. If Lord Qian Qiu could, in an instant, destroy five seven-star abominations with the immense power of his gaze, how could he not defeat the Master of Hidden Assassins?
On the contrary, the Master of Hidden Assassins was not weak at all, but far stronger than imagined!
What did Lord Qian Qiu say at the time?
"I also put in considerable effort and exhausted myself to narrowly defeat the Master by one move."
To narrowly defeat the Master of Hidden Assassins by one move, yet to be capable of instantly killing five seven-star abominations? Island Master Shadow immediately elevated his assessment of the Master of Hidden Assassins' combat power by several notches.
He cursed inwardly at how well that fellow could conceal his strength. Fortunately, he had never engaged him in a life-or-death struggle, otherwise, he probably wouldn't have returned.
Hearing the Master of Hidden Assassins' stuttered question, Qian Qiu did not answer immediately. He first caught his breath, then took out a jar of 'Water of Life'. Under Island Master Shadow's envious and pained gaze, he gulped down the entire jar.
Feeling his nearly depleted life energy rapidly recovering, Qian Qiu finally spoke with a wry smile, "Not at all. To kill these five seven-star abominations, I already gave it my all, and even used some clever tactics to finally defeat them."
He did indeed employ some clever tactics.
With his current hard power, facing five seven-star abominations with formidable recovery abilities simultaneously, he could only hold them off to survive, with no chance of killing any of them.
However, dragging the abominations into the Dreamlike Phantom Space was different. He created a one-on-one battlefield in an instant and suppressed the seven-star abominations' recovery abilities.
One versus five? Qian Qiu couldn't.
A series of one-on-one battles? Qian Qiu could!
Hearing Qian Qiu's words and seeing his genuinely exhausted appearance, the myths breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that it was indeed reasonable for him to be exhausted after instantly killing five seven-star abominations… though this was still incredibly unreasonable!
Unexpectedly, among the Burning Flames Merchant Guild, this least conspicuous myth was actually the strongest.
And he hadn't been a myth for long, had he?
"Ahem, I'm just a very ordinary myth in our guild."
Seeing Yi Luoxi's displeased expression, Qian Qiu quickly cleared his throat to change the subject, "It seems there are still myths from the Evil God faction, or assassin-type seven-star abominations nearby. Regardless, we should first escape the Sea of Filth."
"Indeed."
"Quick, let's retreat."
Island Master Shadow and the others really wanted to retort to Qian Qiu's claim of being 'ordinary'.
If this was ordinary, what were they then? Even the genius myth Chen Tianxuan's gaze lingered on Qian Qiu for a long time.
His gaze held surprise, admiration, and a fighting spirit.
He would not concede. Myths all had their respective strengths. He, the Light Sword Saint Chen Tianxuan, excelled in control and defense. He greatly desired to test his mettle against Qian Qiu and Xing Jinglei, but now was clearly not the time for such thoughts. As Lord Qian Qiu had said, they had not yet escaped danger and could not afford to be careless.
Without the five island-sized abominations blocking their path, their breakthrough became much smoother. The Light Sword Saint Chen Tianxuan transformed his sword rain into a conical shape, easily tearing through the tide of abominations. The myths of the Evil God faction, hidden in the shadows, seemed to have been terrified by Qian Qiu's instant annihilation of the seven-star abominations. They remained hidden within the abomination swarm, unwilling to reveal themselves, not daring to obstruct.
Their decision was wise.
Qian Qiu had intended to drag these greater threats into the Dreamlike Phantom Space for one-on-one beatings, but these myths were too cautious, their figures almost impossible to find except during brief moments of surprise attacks.
Qian Qiu could only settle for the next best thing and use his gaze to kill the five most obvious abominations.
Without these seven-star abominations leading the charge, the threat from the hidden assassins also diminished.
Behind them,
The Dawn Demi-god and the eight-star Disaster Source-level abomination, two colossal figures resembling mountains thousands of meters high, were still locked in fierce combat, their clashes shattering the seabed of the Sea of Filth. The myths who glimpsed these 'great gods' battling felt their scalps tingle.
They continued to push forward, and as they gradually moved away from the core of the battlefield, they let out a sigh of relief.
Suddenly,
"Pfft—"
A myth charging at the forefront was as if his entire body had been sliced by invisible threads. His armor peeled away like an onion, fragments twisting and scattering, followed by his skin, flesh, bones, and organs.
"Bang!"
He dissolved into a pool of liquid, scattering into seven or eight small portions that retreated before rapidly re-aggregating. Relying on some life-saving ability, this myth narrowly escaped. Even so, a section of his chest had been sliced off, and he gasped for breath, his face ashen.
"What happened?"
"It's a ritual! A ritual!"
"Abominations don't set up rituals, it must be the claws of the Evil Gods! Damn it, we've already walked into a trap!"
This group, being the fastest to break through, was the first to encounter the ritual laid out on the periphery of the battlefield.
At this moment, the myths diffused their divine senses and discovered twisted black lines scattered all around, enveloping a space of several hundred kilometers.
They sealed off everything, slicing apart anything that dared to pass through.
In the distance, Madam Gong and Elder Nanli, who were breaking through from two other directions, suddenly understood why their previous attempts had gone so smoothly. It was because the Evil Gods' claws had chosen to lay a trap at this source of disaster! The enemy had been prepared. Such a large-scale ritual would have taken considerable time to set up!
They were already enveloped by the ritual, and abominations were continuously emerging. Within moments, several more seven-star abominations appeared within their sight.
The situation grew increasingly perilous!
The myths unleashed their ultimate attacks, blasting at the twisted black lines. Yi Luoxi, forgetting her frustration at failing to show off, unleashed the skills she had just condensed in her hands.
Lightning flashed.
Sword light blazed.
Under the impact of the terrifying energy, the black lines gradually contorted, but only a small portion, less than one ten-thousandth, truly snapped!
While attacking desperately, the myths also had to defend against the surrounding abominations.
"Damn it!"
"We can't break it!!"
In the distance, Madam Gong and Elder Nanli also became ruthless.
Madam Gong commanded the Moonlit Palace, disregarding the damage to this extremely precious artifact, and directly steered it towards the black ritual lines.
Elder Nanli summoned orange flames. His flames were very special; not only were they not weakened by the foul seawater, but wherever they passed, they burned away the filth.
They too became ruthless, burning their mental will and life energy. Madam Gong even threw out two precious artifacts. One exploded into a white light like snow, instantly freezing space and countless abominations, its frost dyeing the black lines white.
The other transformed into a giant deer woven from light and shadow, actually holding back several seven-star abominations.
The myths who were freed up attacked with even greater effort, blasting through one black line after another.
"Ahhh, break for me!"
The situation was extremely urgent, and Yi Luoxi could no longer concern herself with putting on a show.
Her output was very high, but not necessarily higher than Madam Gong's or Elder Nanli's. Moreover, at this moment, all the myths were going all out, unleashing dazzling torrents of energy. No one had the energy to pay attention to others' conditions; they were all attacking with full force, at most occasionally glancing at Yi Luoxi's torrent of lightning with surprise.
The Burning Flames Merchant Guild had not just one, but three myths, and none of them were weak!
The seemingly most ordinary Crimson Empress possessed astonishing burst power.
Under the mortal combat of the wounded myths, the black lines became increasingly sparse. However, at this moment, outside the ritual, a terrifying aura emerged from the distant darkness.
It was a humanoid powerhouse clad in hideous black armor with several arms.
Among the fantasy creature species, there were also humanoids with multiple arms, but upon seeing this figure, the myths understood that this was not some fantasy creature, but a servant of an Evil God!
The seven-armed monster took a few steps forward.
With the first step, his human-sized body swelled to tens of meters in height.
With the second step, he grew to hundreds of meters tall.
With the third step, thousands of meters tall.
With the fourth step, a body of ten thousand meters!
This was an eight-awakening demi-god!
He extended his arm, and with a flash of black light, the terrifying figure grabbed a myth as if crushing an ant, pinching it in his palm and exerting force.
"Pfft—"
Like crushing a bug, the Evil God's servant crushed a myth.
It was as if he had also crushed the courage of many myths, their hearts chilling.
A demi-god!
Among the myths present, many had seen demi-gods, and some high-ranking myths even had the privilege of conversing with demi-god excellencies face-to-face.
However, when the demi-god revealed his demi-god body and form, and unleashed his full power, they realized how insignificant they were before a demi-god.
This was a gap in power.
It was the gap between a being with some divine characteristics and a fully formed demi-god body.
At this moment, this terrifying Evil God servant set his sights on them, and a chilling dread washed over them.
Originally, on the side of the Oasis powers, Lord Dawn was holding back the Disaster Source-level abomination, preventing it from harming those around. However, at this moment, he was being desperately held back by this terrifying abomination.
And the Evil God servant in the distance was about to begin his harvesting.
"This is bad!"
The already unfavorable situation had now worsened.
The Dawn Demi-god's brow furrowed.
Their Ancient Moon Dynasty naturally had more than one demi-god, and possessed other hidden strengths, but it would be too late for them to arrive. The surrounding ritual also had the ability to block communication.
To deal with a demi-god, conventional trump card artifacts were no longer effective.
Unconventional ones, however, did exist!
The Ancient Moon Dynasty stood at the pinnacle of the Shattered Sea, having endured for countless years and surpassed numerous super-Oases, not just through strength, but also through their patrons.
The Red Lotus Empire, the Ancient Moon Dynasty, the Seven Star Alliance – each symbolized a celestial body.
Sun! Moon! Star!
By paying a price, they could obtain the assistance of ancient and hidden entities, a method they might resort to when pushed to their limits!
And now, that moment had arrived.
If more than ten myths were to perish here, the entire Shattered Sea would tremble violently.
The Dawn Demi-god compared several methods and found that only this one had a chance of succeeding in time.
There was no time to hesitate!
He gritted his teeth, crushed a moon-silver pendant hanging on his chest, and began to chant an ancient and mysterious melody.
The melody was melodious and cleansing to the soul.
However, this still required time, at least a few minutes.
In these few minutes, the myths had to find a way to hold on themselves!
…
"Can we hold on?"
"I don't think so… He, he's looking at us!"
Terrible gazes pierced through the dark seawater and fell upon the few myths.
In an instant, they felt as if they were wrapped in black threads, like twisted snakes in the shadows, trying to burrow into their bodies to devour their flesh and souls.
The ten-thousand-meter giant broke through space.
He reached out his hand, which instantly became infinitely large, as if encompassing a world.
At this moment, Island Master Shadow understood why the previous myth had been caught with almost no resistance.
His soul trembled, and he had little will to resist.
He could only run, but no matter how he ran, he couldn't escape the reach of this sky-obscuring giant hand.
"Rumble—"
Lightning and fire spewed out, as if scorching half the world.
The sky-obscuring giant hand paused for a moment, then swept past above them, clearing away tens of thousands of meters of seawater above, creating a vast vacuum. After two to three seconds, the foul seawater rushed back from all directions with a splashing sound.
They were like fleas scrambling to dodge under the feet of a giant elephant.
A single misstep would lead to utter annihilation.
But holding on like this clearly wouldn't last long.
Island Master Shadow and the two unnamed ordinary myths, who could only run, despaired.
"What to do, we're going to die, going to die!"
"Hold on, if we hold on, there's still a chance! The four dominant powers have prepared a mobile support force. If we can last, we'll get reinforcements!"
The old myth, Hao Ran Sword Saint, said so.
But holding on was easier said than done! Myths had limits! These limits could not be changed simply by desire.
They had nowhere left to retreat.
This time, three sky-obscuring giant hands closed in from the left, right, and center.
"We're doomed, doomed, doomed! This Empress hasn't even made a name for herself in the abyssal world yet!"
"Don't despair! Let this lord try to block this giant palm!"
Though he said so, Xing Jinglei wasn't very confident.
But his dictionary had no word for despair. What situation were they in now? Back when he was a mere insignificant abomination hunter before joining the organization, he had faced even more desperate situations and had managed to pull through!
The giant palms descended with a roar.
In the closing, compressing world, time seemed to stretch infinitely.
Suddenly, specks of golden light appeared before Xing Jinglei and slowly… yet quickly, converged.
"This is…?"
"Is this a divine descent?"
Chen Tianxuan asked in surprise.
The power of a divine descent was quite high-level and couldn't be blocked by many rituals, but… what could a divine descent do?
A divine descent avatar was equivalent to the weakest myth, and so was a demi-god's divine descent! It couldn't change the situation at all.
As thoughts raced through the minds of several myths, like a slideshow, the light particles coalesced to form a real figure.
A figure clad in white robes, with his back to them, whose gender was only vaguely discernible, emerged from the golden particles.
He seemed to slightly raise his gaze and glance at the giant palms from all directions.
Then, the white-robed being brought his hands together.
Bang—!
The shadow of a colossal ancient tree appeared behind the white-robed being. This colossal tree shadow seemed to be hundreds of meters tall, perhaps even taller, as if propping up this cramped world.
"But it's useless, even if this is an avatar descended from a high-level existence, it's of no use. He's even more fragile than the myths present!"
Madam Gong and Elder Nanli both glimpsed this unexpected figure.
They paid it no mind, their energy entirely focused on desperately blasting at the black lines of the outer ritual. They only glanced with the corners of their eyes, lamenting for the myths over there, but as they glanced, they began to notice…
Inside the closing giant palms, brown tendrils and verdant sprouts began to grow.
Immediately after, a giant tree that defied description, resembling the World Tree, propped up the ten-thousand-meter giant palms. In an instant, countless young green shoots began to spread across the bottom of the foul deep sea.
Turning the ocean into land, and the land into a forest.
In the center of the forest stood the World Tree, reaching from the heavens to the underworld. And before this infinitely large giant tree, a white-robed figure, enveloped in a faint golden glow and whose appearance was indistinct, stood with his hands clasped, letting out a long sigh.
"Alas…"