Chapter 395: Peak Mahayana Realm
In the middle of a vast forest, a clearing stretched for several miles where a fierce battle had taken place.
Li Yao floated high above the battlefield, the ground below littered with the bodies of white tigers. Some lay in their true animal forms, others in their human forms, and others in their hybrid forms.
One thing was certain, if they weren’t already dead, they wouldn’t last much longer.
As she hovered above the carnage, another group of white tigers arrived. They were led by a single girl in her hybrid form, possessing a human body but with white animal ears and a tail. The girl looked at her fallen comrades, and her expression twisted with fury. Dark lines appeared across her cheeks.
“You! How dare you—” she began, but before she could finish her words, Li Yao was already standing before her.
An overwhelming aura burst from Li Yao’s body, sending the other tigers flying in all directions. Only the leader managed to remain standing. Li Yao grabbed the leader’s head and slammed it into the ground.
“Settle down, little kitty,” she said coldly.
Li Yao lifted the girl’s head from the earth. The tiger girl was badly injured, with blood flowing from her mouth and nose. Li Yao studied her carefully, placing a finger to her chin in thought.
“Hmm, you seem somewhat passable, so I’ll take you,” she decided.
As Li Yao turned to leave, she suddenly felt immense pressure covering the entire area.
“Where do you think you’re going, human?” a voice spoke from behind her.
Li Yao quickly spun around, but no one was there. She glanced at her hand and noticed the girl she had been holding was already gone.
“Are you okay?” the voice spoke again, this time not directed at Li Yao.
Li Yao turned to the side and saw a middle-aged woman holding the girl Li Yao had captured before. The woman was using some strange healing ability to treat the injured tiger.
“Children, I’m sorry for letting you suffer,” the woman said softly.
Instantly, a brilliant white light spread from her position, covering the entire clearing. All the fallen tigers on the ground slowly began to recover and stand up. They gathered around Li Yao, surrounding her.
The woman looked directly at Li Yao after setting the healed girl down.
“Who are you? And why did you attack my children? If you don’t answer within five seconds, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
Li Yao looked around at the tigers surrounding her, then smiled brightly.
“I finally caught a big fish,” she said cheerfully. “As expected of Senior Brother’s plan.”
The woman’s expression showed surprise as she wondered what Li Yao was talking about. Suddenly, her face froze with realization.
“Oh no,” she thought, quickly turning around.
“Nothing,” she muttered, almost breathing a sigh of relief. But when she turned back again, she noticed the original Li Yao was nowhere to be found.
Panic filled her mind. As she wondered what to do next, she felt something press against her back. She heard Li Yao’s voice speaking from directly behind her.
|| Hmm, it really worked. I can still remember Senior Brother, || Li Yao spoke thoughtfully.
The woman instantly jumped away from her position.
She stared at Li Yao with suspicion, wondering what kind of monster this was. Li Yao’s power had been only at the early Tribulation stage before, but now it had jumped straight to the peak of the Mahayana realm.
The woman looked at her own trembling hands.
“Why? We’re both at the peak level, so why?” she whispered to herself. “Why do I feel like I have no chance of winning?”
…
The woman tried to calm her nerves. She told herself that she needed to think rationally and not panic. She looked at Li Yao again, but even so, she couldn’t calm down at all.
She reminded herself that they were beasts. As beasts, they had a sharper sense of danger than others – it’s what had allowed them to survive this long. They could always sense when something was prey and when it was a predator.
And right now, she felt as though she was standing before her natural predator.
No, she couldn’t let her instincts take control. She had to protect her children. They were all at the peak of the Mahayana realm, so the difference shouldn’t be that huge, right? She should at least be able to stall Li Yao, right? She needed to act now. The longer this went on, the lower her chances became. She couldn’t let this—
|| What are you thinking about? || Li Yao’s voice cut through her thoughts.
The woman was shocked once again. Li Yao now stood directly in front of her.
“When did she…” No, she couldn’t waste any more time. She needed to act now.
She gathered all her energy and launched an attack. Long, dark nails extended from her fingers as she struck forward. She thought to herself that Li Yao could probably dodge this, but it didn’t matter. She would use this chance to create some distance between them and use her ult.
|| I just asked a simple question, why so fierce? || Li Yao spoke calmly.
This time, the woman felt weight pressing down on her head. Li Yao was balancing on top of her head.
“What are you talking about? You keep saying things that don’t make sense,” the woman spoke in frustration. She grabbed Li Yao’s legs and swung her entire body toward the ground.
But just as Li Yao was about to hit the earth, the ground became soft and squishy. Li Yao landed and bounced back up, now knocking the woman down and looming over her.
“What the hell?” the woman exclaimed.
Li Yao looked at her hands, thinking to herself that this power was really interesting. Maybe with this, she could finally do all those things she wanted to do with(to) her senior brother.
“Focus on the mission,” Xiang Yu’s voice reminded her.
|| Ah, that’s right. I guess I should do what I came here for first, || she said, turning her attention back to the woman she had pinned to the ground.
When she looked down at her captive, Li Yao was shocked by what she saw.
Noticing her expression, the woman smiled wickedly.
“Ha! If I can’t beat you, I’ll at least take you with me,” she sneered.
Li Yao wondered what was wrong with her, choosing to self-destruct so quickly. Well, she was a beast after all, so maybe her resolve was much stronger than that of humans.
|| Why go so far? I just wanted a little something from you, || Li Yao said.
But the woman’s expression grew even more pleased. “It’s too late to beg for mercy now. Once the self-destruct is activated, it can’t be stopped. Even if you’re fast, don’t think you can escape from a Mahayana-level explosion,” she said smugly.
|| Don’t you care about your kids anymore? || Li Yao asked.
“What do you think?” the woman replied, looking directly into Li Yao’s eyes.
In her mind though, she was really worried. “Come on, run away, break through space, do something,” she pleaded silently.
When she had landed on the ground earlier, she had used a heavenly-grade spatial treasure to lock onto Li Yao. This meant she would be dragged along wherever Li Yao went. She was hoping that Li Yao would choose to run away by breaking through space, and her body would follow, self-destructing together with her target.
But now, as time passed, she was getting anxious. She didn’t want her children to die. She looked at the girl before her.
“Dammit, why isn’t she doing anything? At this rate, I’ll really explode here and take my children with me.”
“Come on, come on… 3… 2… 1…”
Daily (1/2)