Volume 1, Chapter 359 – Apology

Seeing that the war halberd was of the terrifying eight-star grade, Shi Lan could not help being slightly startled.

That level was simply far too distant from her current realm.

The split-off strand of divine sense was far beyond endless space-time, and its connection to her true body had become extremely faint. Only after long intervals would information return.

That strand of divine sense was too weak, and the distance too great. Shi Lan could only let it develop on its own.

After closing her eyes and regulating her breathing for a while, Shi Lan opened the system storage and took out the Scarlet Crow War Halberd.

In an instant, violent gusts swept out in all directions. Boundless baleful qi surged wantonly. What she had sensed through divine sense was nowhere near as clear as facing it directly with the fleshly body.

The annihilating yin-death baleful qi lingered in midair. Even with Shi Lan’s current strength, it made her flesh feel faintly chilled.

Tianbai, who had been napping off to the side, jolted awake. Her instinctive sense of danger made her fur stand on end at once.

An eight-star divine weapon was equivalent to an Emperor-level living being. Its power was impossible to gauge.

Crack!

The bed beneath Shi Lan instantly split into pieces, and the doors and window frames exploded apart right after it.

Shi Lan sat suspended in the air, her eyes lowered, flames flickering in her gaze. Her dark-red hair streamed about her, and a layer of black ice crystals gradually formed over the hand gripping the war halberd.

Looking at the war halberd in Shi Lan’s hand, Tianbai swallowed. A sense of mortal danger flashed wildly through her mind.

After hesitating for a moment, she took two steps back and spread a barrier with her demonic power, wrapping the entire room and isolating it from the outside world.

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Though she did not quite understand what was happening, it was obvious that Shi Lan was not in a state to be disturbed.

Shi Lan’s condition at the moment was somewhat bad. Even though the system had suppressed the vast majority of the Scarlet Crow War Halberd’s power, its artifact spirit was ultimately still awake.

Divine weapons possessed spirits and chose their own masters.

Even with the system suppressing it so that it could not endanger Shi Lan’s life, it was still unwilling to be so easily controlled.

Holding the war halberd, Shi Lan sat motionless in the air. The blood and qi within her body circulated to protect her heart meridian as she allowed the freezing baleful qi to batter her body. The black ice crystals on her hand gradually spread up to her forearm. Several hours later, even a layer of frost had formed on her long lashes.

The sun and moon rose and set, and in the blink of an eye, a full day and night had passed.

The entire room seemed to have fallen into a frozen hell, congealing into a layer of ink-black ice nearly a chi thick.

Tianbai huddled in the corner of the room, standing on tiptoe as she shivered uncontrollably. A thin layer of frost had formed on her white hair as well. She did not know the human method of circulating blood and qi, so she could only endure it with her demonic power.

“Haa…”

Quietly breathing out a puff of cold air, Tianbai hugged her arms and looked at the war halberd in front of Shi Lan, undisguised fear in her eyes.

This weapon was too sinister. If Shi Lan’s aura had shown even the slightest sign of weakening, instead of remaining as blazing as the sun, Tianbai would have been unable to stop herself from going forward to wake her.

Sizzle…

Suddenly, wisps of white vapor rose from above Shi Lan’s head, and the frost around her body gradually began to melt. At first only droplets of water fell, but after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they merged into streams that ran downward.

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The wet, icy water soaked through Shi Lan’s clothes, only to be evaporated dry by her scorching body temperature a moment later.

A short while later, Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. Dark red lingered within them. She glanced at the war halberd in her hand, then casually plunged it into the nearby black ice, nearly a chi thick, rose from the air, and stepped onto the ground.

The Scarlet Crow War Halberd had already returned to calm, and the lingering baleful qi was gradually dispersing as well.

“Your Excellency, this weapon is truly terrifying.”

Tianbai edged over from the side, but looking at the war halberd, she still did not dare get too close.

“It was indeed somewhat troublesome. It will not be like this again.”

Shi Lan glanced at Tianbai, reached out to brush the ice chips from her head, then circulated her true qi to dispel the frost covering her body.

After smoothing Tianbai’s long hair, which had just been steamed dry, Shi Lan turned and pulled out the Scarlet Crow War Halberd.

For an entire day and night, she had been communicating with the artifact spirit. Fortunately, her aptitude was not too poor, and the artifact spirit’s rebelliousness had not been overly intense.

After tangling with her for half the day, the Scarlet Crow War Halberd’s artifact spirit directly sealed off its perception of heaven and earth and fell into slumber, clearly intending to let matters take their course.

The Scarlet Crow War Halberd was forged entirely from Golden Crow Iron, mixed with two types of yang-aspect immortal metal and fused with several Emperor laws. It was a divine weapon of the utmost rigidity and yang.

The baleful qi from before was merely what it had accumulated from endless slaughter. Not even one ten-thousandth of its true power had been brought forth.

Although with Shi Lan’s current strength, she still could not wield a divine weapon of this level or bring out its true might, this war halberd was enough to raise her combat power to an entirely new height.

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With a thought, Shi Lan drew the Scarlet Crow War Halberd into her sea of consciousness.

The nascent soul seated atop the nine-layer Dao foundation suddenly opened its eyes, reached out, summoned the war halberd before itself, and began nourishing it with the power of the nascent soul, strengthening the connection between them.

…

The door had long since been shattered beyond recognition, and even the threshold was pitted and battered. Shi Lan had Tianbai remove the barrier and strode straight out through the doorway.

Looking back at the room, riddled with damage, Shi Lan could not help sighing. This did not seem to be the first time she had wrecked the house.

Not long after the barrier was removed, Shi Tianlu walked in holding a calling card.

“This residence has some age on it. Later, I’ll get you a sturdier one.”

Glancing at the roof, which looked ready to collapse at any moment, Shi Tianlu’s expression remained unchanged as he handed over the card in his hand.

“The Wan family sent someone with some gifts in apology. Have you had some grievance with them?”

“Gifts in apology? Which Wan family?”

“A clan of Yisha Prefecture. A Heavenlord sits within it.”

Shi Lan was slightly taken aback. She took the card and opened it.

“To General Shi Lan,

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I write this letter rashly and hope General will forgive the presumption. The demon chaos that arose in Chengtian Domain the day before yesterday brought calamity upon the living, and my heart was deeply pained. Yet mountains and rivers lay between us, and I was unable to contribute even the slightest strength, which has filled me with shame. Fortunately, there were outstanding heroes such as General and your peers guarding the land, and only thus was our human territory spared from falling into the hands of demons. This is truly a great blessing.

My son, Yuanwu, is young and ignorant. Amid the battlefield, he presumptuously stole General’s battle merit. Only recently did he finally confess this matter. When I heard it, I was greatly enraged and have already punished him severely.

My son did not understand better; this is my failing. Whenever I think of it, I am overcome with guilt. Thus I have prepared a small token of apology and hope General will kindly accept it, allowing me to redeem a ten-thousandth of my son’s offense in his stead.

Respectfully,

Wan Ziyao, Patriarch of the Wan Family.”

Attached behind the calling card was also a list of apology gifts. Shi Lan gave it a rough glance. Most of it consisted of cultivation resources such as spirit stones and medicinal pills, and the amount was quite substantial.

“There was some bad blood. As for the gifts, Father, just accept them.”

The moment she saw Wan Yuanwu’s name, Shi Lan understood the whole story. The Wan Family had sent apology gifts because they clearly wanted to draw a line under the matter.

Stealing a comrade’s battle merit in the midst of war was contemptible. Bai Weiyang had already issued punishment at the time, and now that the Wan Family had also sent apology gifts, Shi Lan could not be bothered to pursue the matter further.

As for why the Wan Family had sent apology gifts, it likely also had something to do with the Heavenly Prodigy Ranking, which had only recently changed.

“Apart from that, someone unknown also sent over an invitation this morning.”

“An invitation?”