Volume 4, Chapter 133 – Sudden Change (2)

“Heh…”

Zhu Qingluo had completely dropped her “gentle” disguise and was about to sharpen her tongue even further against Bai Xiang.

But just then, a yellow light suddenly shot out from Bai Xiang’s bosom and fell into midair, sending out layer after layer of rippling radiance. It was the little yellow jade, the Order-Preserving Treasure. With quick eyes and quicker hands, Bai Xiang seized it before Zhu Qingluo could.

So this is it!?

Light burst from Zhu Qingluo’s eyes as she stared fixedly at the yellow jade clenched in Bai Xiang’s hand.

At the same time, another crack opened beside the cliff. The old beggar, now dressed in new clothes, came out from inside, sniffling as he stared at the scene here as well.

With a rush, Xiang Xian, Monk Zhuye, Zhu Canghai, and He Xian also emerged from the sea of clouds in an instant. Xiang Xian in particular strode quickly to Bai Xiang’s side, her eyes fixed hard on Zhu Qingluo in open warning.

These people can’t possibly think that bringing a few more bodies over means they can contend with me, can they?

The corners of Zhu Qingluo’s lips curled in mockery.

The old beggar and I may not be able to deal with this white-haired girl, but as for the rest of you, no matter how many come, it still won’t be enough.

Barely two seconds had passed from the sudden accident to everyone falling into confrontation, yet Bai Xiang had no time to concern herself with the others. She was using all her strength to suppress the little yellow jade, confining it in her hand, while inwardly analyzing what exactly was happening.

The little yellow jade only went berserk after Liu Yong absorbed the purple qi, and at the same time it was also a fragment of the primary order.

Did that mean it was acting on behalf of the primary order? Or to put it more plainly, was it acting on behalf of the will of heaven, expressing heaven’s displeasure at Liu Yong cultivating the Path of Qi?

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Would heaven itself really send down a curse to obstruct the union of “heavenly fate” and “the supernatural”?

Before Bai Xiang could sort out the clue, the sleeping Liu Yong suddenly trembled. Golden light burst from the qi pillar above his head, and the aura around his entire body began rising by leaps and bounds, surging upward at an explosive pace.

He had successfully refined qi!

Already endowed with heavenly fate and fortune, and now further nourished by the purple qi, he had directly crossed the stretch of time that would theoretically require ordinary people months or even years, and truly refined the first strand of qi-force that belonged to him!

Rumble, rumble.

Dark clouds rapidly gathered in the sky. The cloud layer pressed lower and lower and lower. Within that thick gloom, countless lightning snakes writhed, and every flash brought with it a tremendous crashing roar.

At first, none of the people in the standoff found it strange.

Monk Zhuye, Zhu Canghai, and the others came from the Void Realm. This sort of thing was far too common in the void, so it was not enough to make them fuss.

And Xiang Xian, because the weather had been unstable and capricious recently, did not think there was anything wrong either.

The disciples doing morning lessons and sword practice in the large and small plazas, and the people below in the city district heading to work or school, mostly just looked up, cursed the damned heavens once, and went on with whatever they had been doing. They were not alarmed.

But something about this… seemed wrong!?

The mountain peak was steep, already close to the sky to begin with, and the group quickly realized what was off. Why did the arcs flashing inside those thunderclouds inspire such terror? Every time they lit up, one’s body instinctively bristled, like an animal whose fur exploded outward under the pull of its natural instincts.

Especially Zhu Qingluo and the old beggar. The former was gritting her teeth, her eyes full of disbelief as she looked at the clouds. The latter simply tore open space and fled at once, not daring to remain here at all.

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As the thunderclouds pressed rapidly closer, a bolt of white-gold lightning split downward, aimed directly at Bai Xiang’s head.

Damn my rotten luck for following her over here!

Grinding her teeth, Zhu Qingluo darted in front of it and flung out a blue-green jade disc, intercepting the lightning in midair.

Everything happened too fast, too suddenly. Even Venerables like Zhu Canghai had no time to react. They only saw a flash of white before Zhu Qingluo, trailing black smoke, was blasted out of the air.

“Kill him!”

Though her appearance was now in utter ruin, her hair as wild as a chicken’s nest, the woman still did not forget to shout toward Bai Xiang.

“That was Primal Chaos Heavenly Punishment Divine Lightning… How did you draw down something like that??”

Kill who?

Was she telling me to kill Liu Yong?

Bai Xiang shot Liu Yong a quick glance and saw that he was still immersed in sleep, unaware of everything.

“Primal Chaos” was not a name one chose lightly. And yet the first bolt had targeted me rather than Liu Yong. At the same time, the little yellow jade had already stopped showing me affection and had instead gone berserk… Was it because the primary order had begun to regard me as a threat?

Could it be that purple qi and heavenly fate were actually things the primary order regarded as its own, and that by accepting Liu Yong as my disciple I had effectively stolen that heavenly fate, enclosing it within my Dao path and the rules I created, which was why it had become so enraged?

If a heaven-fated one cultivated my Path of Qi, did that actually amount to severing his connection to the primary order?

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There was no time to verify that guess, because the lightning was already gathering in the clouds again. The next bolt was about to come!

“Xiang’er!”

Xiang Xian called from beside her. At the same time, Bai Xiang felt a cool touch in her left hand. Xiang Xian had placed something in it.

It was the Jade Phoenix Sword.

Xiang Xian knew she could not help at a moment like this, but perhaps the Jade Phoenix Sword could. At the very least, it could be taken into the body to heal injuries.

Bai Xiang understood the intent, but then something unexpected happened. As she tightened her grip on the Jade Phoenix Sword, a powerful pull suddenly came from both her left and right hands, as though the objects she was holding wanted to merge together.

“Essence-Crystal Jade Soul?”

Zhu Qingluo flashed back over, and when she saw this, surprise appeared on her face.

But very quickly, disappointment followed.

“It’s useless,” she said.

“Essence-Crystal Jade Soul is a universal fusion material. It can neutralize all contamination, and can even help a person better control an Order-Preserving Treasure.”

“But…”

She left the rest unsaid, but Bai Xiang understood the meaning.

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Because the problem now was not one that “better control over the Order-Preserving Treasure” could solve.

Unless she completely took control of this fragment of the primary order, or more simply killed Liu Yong and let all the purple qi on him disperse back into heaven and earth, the thunder tribulation would never cease.

But… a fusion material?

A thought stirred in her mind. Bai Xiang released the binding force in her wrists and let the two treasure jades draw near and cross together. She watched as the white radiance and the brilliant yellow radiance fused into one, unexpectedly forming a short yellow-jade sword of delicate workmanship.

So you’re the one leading the way, are you?

Seeing the yellow-jade short sword start vibrating again, trying to break free of her control, Bai Xiang pressed her lips together and savagely drove the short sword into her own wrist.

And not in any ordinary stabbing motion, either.

She drove it in almost flush with the skin, starting at the wrist and angling it up toward the elbow, until the short sword sank in all the way to the hilt and disappeared completely into the front of her arm.

It was as though time itself froze for a single instant.

A fierce wind swept through, and the gathered cloud layer had already dispersed.

All that heavenly punishment, all that lightning, vanished without a trace.

The entire sky turned blue as though someone had washed it with water, pure and flawless. Beneath the blazing sun, even a rainbow arced across it.