Volume 1, Chapter 317 – Lockdown

“I know you have cultivation, but this is my Xuansheng Palace’s business. It has nothing to do with you. Stand down!”

Shi Lan had only just taken two steps forward when Li Canglan, appearing at her side at some unknown moment, grabbed her and blocked her path, his face full of righteous resolve.

Bang!

Expressionless, she raised a hand and knocked him aside. Her true form emerged, the Divine Phoenix Wings unfurling from her back. No longer suppressing the overwhelming blood and qi within her, she let a pillar of blood and qi shoot straight into the sky.

“You…”

Li Canglan stood rooted to the spot, too stunned to speak.

“So there really is a big fish here after all.”

Zheng Tianlun immediately noticed the disturbance on this side. He stopped his slaughter, raised a hand, and summoned a nine-story treasure pagoda, sending it down to suppress Shi Lan.

The pagoda shone brilliantly, a ring of chains of law coiling around it. It had already surpassed the scope of a spiritual treasure. This was a Dao weapon.

“You’ve got a bit of beauty left to you. Surrender without a fight, and I can spare your life, bring you into the Zheng family, and if some young master takes a liking to you and makes you a concubine, wouldn’t that be a meteoric rise?”

With a loud laugh, Zheng Tianlun drove the nine-story pagoda across the sky. Its radiance soared heavenward, like a blazing sun, before crashing down with brutal force.

Shi Lan’s gaze sharpened slightly. Surging blood and qi condensed into armor that covered her entire body. Then she raised a hand and struck out with a Heaven Extremity Seal. The flame divine mark at her brow flashed, condensing a strand of primordial true fire that seeped into the Heaven Extremity Seal.

The palm seal swelled in the wind and in an instant became a thousand zhang in size, wreathed in strands of primordial true fire as it swept across the sky.

Boom!

The nine-story pagoda was blasted backward. The chains of law around it trembled violently and nearly collapsed.

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“You’re not a native of this star!”

The methods of cultivation on Yaoyun Star were quite different from those of Lingyang Realm. The moment they exchanged blows, Zheng Tianlun sensed something was wrong, and shock and fury surged through him.

“What are you doing sneaking in here? Do you mean to make an enemy of my Zheng family?!”

Shi Lan did not reply. A faint crack had appeared in the blood and qi battle armor around her body. After that exchange, she had already gauged Zheng Tianlun’s rough level of strength.

Early Nascent Soul Realm. That nine-story pagoda was a Dao weapon, but it was likely not Zheng Tianlun’s natal treasure. The link between the two was not especially close, so he had not brought out its full might. He was not unbeatable.

“Hah!”

A fierce light flashed through Zheng Tianlun’s eyes as he drove the pagoda once more. Ten thousand streams of rosy light billowed upward.

Shi Lan stepped forward. The Divine Phoenix Wings sliced through the void, allowing her to strike first despite moving later, and she swept out with one leg.

Bang!

The ten thousand streams of rosy light shattered. The pagoda gave a violent shudder, and the chains of law around it directly collapsed.

Crack!

A fissure appeared, and the blood and qi battle armor around Shi Lan’s leg shattered at once. Several cracks split open in her flesh.

With Shi Lan’s current body, directly resisting a Dao weapon was still somewhat forced.

Ignoring the wounds on her leg, Shi Lan sliced open space again with the Divine Phoenix Wings. In the next instant, she was already before Zheng Tianlun, and a huge hand seal came crashing down.

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Zheng Tianlun’s expression turned cold. He summoned another jade stele to block in front of him.

Boom!

The void roared like thunder exploding, bursting apart into countless cracks.

The jade stele was driven back. Shi Lan followed close behind, her hand forming a fist seal. Her fist looked as if it had been coated in liquid gold as she punched out explosively.

Crack!

Shi Lan punched straight through the jade stele on the spot. At the same time, her own fist became a bloody mess, and even the bones of her hand began to crack faintly.

Zheng Tianlun’s face changed drastically, and he instinctively tried to retreat. But Shi Lan had already closed in first, utterly disregarding the cracked bones in her hand as she threw another punch without holding anything back.

“Madwoman!”

Zheng Tianlun was both shocked and enraged. Smashing a spiritual treasure apart with bare hands was simply horrifying. This kind of utterly fearless, life-risking combat left him involuntarily unnerved.

Light flared from his brow, and a nascent soul phantom over a zhang tall emerged. Wary of Shi Lan’s powerful physique, he directly brought out his nascent soul to suppress her.

A flash passed through Shi Lan’s eyes, and she directly unleashed the God-Slaying Flying Knives. Nine blood-colored flying knives shot out and instantly pierced through Zheng Tianlun’s nascent soul phantom.

Zheng Tianlun was only at the early Nascent Soul Realm and had just condensed his nascent soul. His nascent soul power was not strong. It even looked somewhat illusory and insubstantial. Before the God-Slaying Flying Knives, it was as fragile as paper.

“Ah…”

Zheng Tianlun could not help letting out a shrill scream. His nascent soul flew back into his brow, his divine soul already gravely wounded. For a moment, even his mind turned muddled.

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Shi Lan’s gaze did not waver in the slightest. She lunged forward. Either do not act at all, or carry it through completely. That was the principle she believed in.

In a single step she crossed in front of Zheng Tianlun. Her wrist turned, forming a mysterious Dao seal.

The moment the Heaven Extremity Seal condensed, Shi Lan’s essence, qi, and spirit were all pushed to their peak in an instant. Divine light blazed in her eyes, her long hair flew about, and her aura suddenly surged as she struck out with a terrifying divine might capable of collapsing the heavens with a raised hand.

Zheng Tianlun was blasted flying, his body nearly shattered apart on the spot, blood streaming from him as he almost exploded then and there.

Still holding the Heaven Extremity Seal, Shi Lan shook the void and followed up immediately, striking out with the palm seal once more.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A cloud of blood mist burst open. Zheng Tianlun’s body was instantly blown apart, leaving behind only his damaged soul.

“I want you dead!”

Zheng Tianlun finally regained his clarity and roared like thunder. His remnant soul linked itself to that nine-story pagoda, intending to detonate it, while at the same time lunging for Shi Lan in an attempt to drag her down with him.

“Detected soul-form. Capture conditions met.”

The instant his remnant soul touched Shi Lan, the All-Heavens Samsara System suddenly issued a notification. Zheng Tianlun’s remnant soul instantly turned into a mass of pure soul energy and was completely absorbed by her body.

Shi Lan’s heart stirred in surprise. This was the second time the All-Heavens Samsara System had reacted like this.

The first time had been just after she left Tenglong City, when she encountered a female ghost in the wilderness. That was the first time the system had shown this kind of reaction.

Later, when Lunhui revealed its true form, she had thought it was Lunhui protecting her at the time. But now it seemed it might have been the system reacting on its own.

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She had always wanted to awaken Lunhui, but had no idea how to replenish energy for the All-Heavens Samsara System, so she could only leave it aside for the moment. Now that Zheng Tianlun’s remnant soul had caused the system to react, perhaps it had pointed out a path for her.

From the start of the battle until now, not even half an incense stick had passed, and a great cultivator of the Nascent Soul Realm wielding a Dao weapon had already died here, staining the sky with blood.

The nine-story pagoda floated quietly in midair, the chains of law reappearing upon it and shining brilliantly. Shi Lan raised a hand in a light beckoning motion and drew the pagoda into her palm.

A Dao weapon counted as no small gain.

Back in the mining district, Li Canglan still had not recovered from his shock. He stood there staring blankly at Shi Lan, not daring to step forward.

Shi Lan extended her divine sense, found Tianbai, and sent him a voice transmission to come to her side. Then she turned and prepared to leave directly.

“Wait.”

Li Canglan finally recovered and stepped forward to call out to Shi Lan.

Shi Lan turned her head back, faintly impatient.

“There is no way for you to leave this place alone. The entire star has been sealed off by a formation laid by the Zheng family. There is no way in or out.”

Under Shi Lan’s gaze, Li Canglan grew somewhat flustered and hurriedly explained.

Shi Lan frowned. She had already been somewhat worried that the Zheng family might have locked down the entire star. The worst possibility had indeed come to pass.

“Help me save someone. He knows of an ancient transmission formation that can lead to another domain.”