Chapter 281: You Too
Li Yao felt the overwhelming pressure pressing down on her body and forcing her to the ground. She tightly gripped her void sword, using its powerful aura to help resist the immense spiritual pressure bearing down on her.
"Hmm, that’s quite the interesting treasure you got there kid. Hand it over and I might leave your corpse intact," the voice was feminine.
Li Yao looked up and saw the woman floating above her, gazing down at her condescendingly. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties and had the overwhelming aura of a Void realm cultivator.
Li Yao glanced back at the saintess, who had quickly regained her confidence now that her backup had arrived. She now smiled smugly toward Li Yao, her earlier terror completely gone.
"Elder, she’s the spirit the sect master was talking about. Capture her alive," she said.
The elder seemed to become more serious after hearing this. From her elevated position where she looked down on Li Yao, she stretched out her hand. Instantly, a huge flaming hand descended toward Li Yao.
"So you’re a phoenix too. Then I can’t let you live," Li Yao spoke.
"What are you saying? You need to run!" Xiang Yu urged frantically from within her spiritual sea.
"But they’re after you. I can’t let them get away," Li Yao said, her grip tightening on her weapon.
"No one is after me! They don’t even know me!" Xiang Yu spoke. "Quick, cut through space and escape while you still can!"
"No, it’s too risky," Li Yao said, shaking her head.
"Don’t worry, with the sword, as long as you do it continuously, a Void realm cultivator won’t be able to catch up with you," Xiang Yu said reassuringly.
"No," Li Yao spoke firmly, her voice growing darker. "What I meant was..." she began, slowly drawing her sword from its scabbard.
"It’s too risky to leave them alive," she said.
Instantly, she swung the sword toward the massive flaming hand descending upon her. But just as the blade was about to make contact with the flames, the sword suddenly disappeared.
In the next instant, the flaming hand landed directly on her position. She quickly raised the sword’s scabbard and used it as a shield to protect herself from the impact. Even with this protection, she was violently knocked backward, her body forming a crater in the earth.
Luckily, the scabbard had absorbed all the damage from the attack. She rose from the smoking crater and looked up at her opponent.
"One down," she said coldly.
"One down?" the Void realm opponent repeated in confusion, not understanding what Li Yao meant.
It was then that the elder detected a subtle spatial disturbance.
"Oh no," she thought in alarm as she rushed toward the saintess.
But she was far too slow. Space shattered behind the unsuspecting saintess, and the void sword materialized from the tear, cutting her head clean off in one smooth motion before she could even register the threat.
When the severed head fell to the ground with a dull thud, it was still frozen in her earlier smug expression.
"You...how dare you!" the elder screamed out in rage as she rushed toward Li Yao. Her gaze filled with killing intent. "I won’t let you get away with this!"
"That’s funny, I was just about to say the exact same thing," Li Yao said calmly as she stretched out her hand. The void sword immediately appeared in her grip.
Seeing the weapon, the Void realm cultivator slowed down considerably. That sword was definitely strange - she could tell it was a low-level divine weapon, but it was far too powerful, especially in the hands of someone who wasn’t even in the Void realm yet.
The void cultivator decided to use a different approach, preparing to break through space. But Li Yao anticipated this move and made a swift slash through the air. A space blade shot out toward the elder, completely destroying the space around where her opponent wanted to break through and making the entire area unstable.
...
The elder carefully observed Li Yao from her elevated position. She thought to herself that after exchanging a few blows, she could clearly see that Li Yao wasn’t particularly impressive on her own. It was just that cursed sword that was hard to deal with.
She ascended high into the air and opened her arms wide. She thought to herself that using this on a much weaker opponent was somewhat embarrassing, but she didn’t care about maintaining face anymore. The saintess had been killed while under her protection - she might not even survive long enough to feel the shame if she failed here.
Brilliant blue flames then started manifesting from her chest, beginning as small flickers before rapidly growing and spreading to cover her entire torso area. The fire continued expanding until it enveloped her whole body, transforming her into a floating ball of fire.
"Are you trying to imitate the sun?" Li Yao wondered aloud as she floated upward to match her opponent.
[No, she’s using a domain]
In the next moment, the massive flame ball suddenly expanded outward explosively, consuming everything in its path. Li Yao found herself completely trapped inside a hellish realm made of pure flames. There was molten lava flowing everywhere, and the entire environment was extremely hot with temperatures that just kept rising relentlessly.
She breathed heavily, the oppressive heat was really taking a toll on her body. She looked around desperately, wondering where that woman had disappeared to. She couldn’t afford to let her escape.
As she thought of this, she suddenly sensed a powerful attack approaching her from behind. It was another huge flaming hand, even larger than the previous ones. She quickly raised her sword and managed to block the attack.
But as she successfully blocked that strike, another flaming fist was already coming for her from the opposite direction. Before it could make contact, her scabbard appeared automatically and blocked it.
The Void realm expert thought to herself that the divine weapon was still incredibly annoying to deal with, but it seemed Li Yao would run out of steam soon.
After blocking yet another round of attacks from multiple directions, Li Yao realized that this was getting them nowhere. She needed some means to counterattack.
She forced herself to calm down despite the overwhelming heat and pressure. Then her expression suddenly became extremely serious and focused.
"What is she doing now?" the woman wondered.
Li Yao’s entire body suddenly became surrounded by lightning energy.
"Well, no matter," the woman thought dismissively as she continued her relentless assault.
But the incoming attacks were now being automatically deflected by her two weapons even without Li Yao actively moving to defend herself.
A second later, the brilliant lightning covering her body dissipated, though not completely, revealing her transformed state. She looked noticeably more mature now, with blue hair and eyes. This was her Thunder God form.
Another massive attack came rushing toward her, and the void sword appeared instantly in her hand. She swung it and effortlessly split the incoming flame attack in half.
She thought to herself with frustration that she still couldn’t pinpoint where her opponent was hiding within this domain.
[The domain must be interfering with your senses. Try expanding the Second Heaven domain to negate the effects,] the empress explained.
Li Yao closed her eyes in concentration, then opened them decisively in the next moment and waved her hand. But nothing happened at all.
"Umm, I can’t access the domain"
...
A/N: Yooo, I survived. I’ll go back to sleep now. See ya tomorrow