Liuying looked at the feather in her hand and said to Qiandai, “This feather in my hand fell from the body of the Feather King. It should still contain some residual magical power of the Feather King. Why don’t we join forces and channel all our magic into this feather to activate its power and strike the barrier?”
“Worth a try,” Qiandai agreed immediately. Together with Liuying, she poured all her magic into the small red feather.
“Trying to escape? Hmph!” Tongyun’s cold, mocking voice rang out almost simultaneously with the lightning in the sky. A fiery red light shot from her hand, aiming directly at Qiandai, who was fully focused on channeling magic into the feather.
Qiandai had no time to dodge, concentrating solely on infusing the feather with magic alongside Liuying.
Yun Qingxue, however, silently stepped in front of Qiandai, shielding her and taking the brunt of Tongyun’s attack.
Tongyun’s beautiful phoenix eyes flickered with surprise at Yun Qingxue’s action.
The fiery red light struck Yun Qingxue’s body. Qiandai seemed to sense something amiss behind her and turned her head abruptly, her eyes widening in horror as she screamed, “Mistress!”
The red light pierced through Yun Qingxue’s body without harming her, then passed through Qiandai’s body before finally merging into the red feather, now suspended in midair due to the magic infusion.
With the sudden injection of Tongyun’s originally harmful magic, the red feather emitted a blinding light and struck the solid barrier like lightning.
Almost simultaneously, Qiandai swiftly pulled Yun Qingxue aside, relieved to see no wounds on her.
*Crack… Crash!*
The sound of shattering glass echoed as fissures spread across the once-pristine barrier. Tiny specks of light escaped through the cracks, widening them into a gaping hole.
Tongyun’s eyes flashed with shock—her meticulously crafted barrier had actually been broken by a mere servant of Yun Qingxue and an outsider!
After a brief moment of astonishment, cold murderous intent filled Tongyun’s gaze.
“Mistress,” Qiandai smiled at Yun Qingxue in this dire moment, her expression both tragic and radiant.
“Mistress,” she whispered, her voice so low only Yun Qingxue could hear, “The outside world is fraught with danger. Until you can protect yourself, trust others three parts, but guard against them seven!”
Yun Qingxue sensed something was wrong and reached out to grab Qiandai, but Qiandai pushed her forcefully toward Liuying, shouting, “Go!”
In the blink of an eye, Liuying transformed back into her true form—a giant lark, her body expanding to nearly two meters in size. Her claws seized Yun Qingxue’s shoulders as she soared into the sky.
“Don’t even think of escaping!” Tongyun’s killing intent surged as she leaped into pursuit. Qiandai intercepted her, unleashing a burst of magic directly at Tongyun.
Tongyun paused, countering with a spell of her own.
The two forces collided midair, creating a massive rebound. Qiandai staggered back, coughing up blood.
Yun Qingxue, carried aloft by Liuying, turned back desperately, only to see Qiandai’s faltering figure. Then, from afar, she locked eyes with Tongyun, whose gaze brimmed with murderous intent.
Their eyes met, waves of unspoken hostility surging between them. Tongyun no longer concealed her malice and ambition, while Yun Qingxue, no longer feigning ignorance, burned with clear, towering fury and hatred.
Tongyun’s lips moved as she stared at Yun Qingxue, coldly commanding the guards behind her, “Chase!”
As Tongyun’s murderous words faded, Qiandai, now visibly weakened and blocking their path, was suddenly enveloped in a pink mist. The ethereal haze swirled around her, blurring her form.
Tongyun’s expression shifted at the sight.
Amid the mist, tiny petals seemed to dance and twirl. Without giving Tongyun a chance to react, Qiandai’s voice, filled with fatal resolve, rang out alongside a streak of lightning across the sky.
“Lifebound Attack—Heart of Flowing Shadows!”
With her words, the mist around her expanded violently, countless glittering specks shooting toward Tongyun and her forces.
“Fall back!” Tongyun shouted, retreating swiftly. Though her magic far surpassed Qiandai’s, as the saying goes, the reckless fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the desperate!
A Lifebound Attack was an innate ability of all races in the Xuanling Continent. For instance, the toxic nature of the Dieffenbachia plant was well-known. If a Dieffenbachia spirit cultivated into human form, her Lifebound Attack would be her venom—hundreds of times more potent than usual.
Similarly, vines excelled at entanglement. If a vine spirit achieved enlightenment, its Lifebound Attack would be an entanglement technique hundreds of times stronger than normal.
But such an attack was not to be used lightly. Its power came at a steep cost—draining the user’s vitality and magic a hundredfold. Even at peak condition, a cultivator would be left utterly depleted after one strike, with many flower spirits and demons losing millennia of cultivation in an instant.
Thus, unless facing life-or-death circumstances, no cultivator would resort to their Lifebound Attack.
Qiandai’s use of it now signaled her readiness to die. No matter how powerful Tongyun was, she had to retreat before such desperation.
Tongyun narrowly dodged Qiandai’s suicidal strike, but her guards and maids were not so fortunate. Many were engulfed by the mist or struck by the hair-thin poison needles. Though not fatal, the agony was excruciating.
The air filled with screams of pain.
Liuying carried Yun Qingxue farther and farther away, her grip firm on her shoulders. Yun Qingxue looked back at the shrinking Wanzi Palace, at Qiandai’s increasingly faint figure by the breached barrier…
Until… Qiandai’s human form vanished, leaving behind an oleander bush battered as if by a storm. A faint, pleading voice seemed to ride the wind, whispering gently from afar.
“Mistress… you must live. Live…”
Liuying suddenly halted, turning with Yun Qingxue to hover midair, gazing back at Wanzi Palace and the now-exhausted Qiandai, reverted to her true form.
The oleander branches trembled wildly in the wind, as if waving frantically, urging them to flee—to go as far as they could!
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