Chapter 349: Young Girl Nayue

"Teacher Lingyun?" Seeing Lingyun set his sights on Sentomoku Yuma, Xiao Gucheng could not help but become nervous.

"Have I... failed...?" Sentomoku Yuma, who had climbed up from the ground, spoke with vacant eyes.

There was no anger or sorrow in her hollow voice, nor any remorse or unwillingness, as if she were an old person who had lost their purpose in life and was simply waiting for death.

"No, that's not it. Since things have already failed, then you cannot go and do such things anymore. In other words, you have been liberated!" Seeing that Sentomoku Yuma actually had a death wish, Xiao Gucheng hurriedly spoke out loud.

"Re, really?" Sentomoku Yuma's pupils began to slowly focus, looking in the direction of Xiao Gucheng.

"That's right, I'm not lying to you!" Xiao Gucheng hurriedly said loudly.

"Is that so..." Sentomoku Yuma let out a long breath, and her body suddenly relaxed.

All this time, she had lived under the curse of destroying the Prison Barrier to rescue her mother from it. After experiencing this incident, she could finally be liberated.

Behind her was the Guardian, now in a state of utter ruin. Having suffered such a heavy blow, the blue faceless knight presented a tragic, battered appearance. Even if it could recover, it would take a long time for Sentomoku Yuma to fully restore her witch abilities.

"Causing such a huge commotion, and you two still have the leisure to flirt here!" Nangong Nayue looked at the two and spoke slowly.

"Th, this, Teacher Nayue..." Xiao Gucheng rubbed his head with an embarrassed look.

"Alright, now that the matter of the Prison Barrier is settled, you should go back too." Nangong Nayue waved her hand, looking as if she were driving them away.

"No, this is merely the beginning of the matter," Lingyun suddenly said in Nangong Nayue's ear, causing her body to stiffen involuntarily.

"Cang?" Yuma's voice, as she tried to order the Guardian to de-materialize, suddenly trembled, as if she had discovered something ominous.

The blue faceless knight's body trembled violently, its entire suit of armor creaking, like the strange noise made when metal collides with metal. Xiao Gucheng's pupils shrank suddenly; he heard it—this was laughter. Behind the broken mask, the battered knight was emitting an eerie laugh.

"Stop it, Cang!" Sentomoku Yuma ordered in a voice bordering on a scream.

The blue faceless knight ignored Sentomoku Yuma's order and suddenly drew the long sword at its waist. The brand-new long sword flashed with a cold light, emitting a daunting killing intent. Seeing this scene, Xiao Gucheng and Himeragi Yukina flashed simultaneously, blocking in front of Nangong Nayue.

Following that, the faceless knight performed an action that no one had expected: it raised the long sword in its hand and suddenly thrust it into Sentomoku Yuma's body.

"Yuma?" Xiao Gucheng looked at Sentomoku Yuma, who was spitting out a mouthful of blood, with a look of astonishment.

"... Mother... you... would go to such lengths..." Sentomoku Yuma looked at the Guardian in front of her, a trace of despair appearing in her eyes.

"I... have waited long for this moment... just waiting for someone cunning enough to leave no opening to show a momentary lapse!" The blue faceless knight emitted a rusty voice; it was the voice of the witch who had lived through the ages.

"Is this a trap...? To think you would actually use your own daughter as bait; I can only say, as expected of an evil heretic?" Nangong Nayue suddenly muttered, squeezing out a tone of intense contempt.

"What?"

Xiao Gucheng only now discovered that the tip of the long sword did not appear behind Sentomoku Yuma, but had submerged into the Void. He turned his head with some difficulty, only to find that a blood-stained sword tip had appeared in front of Nangong Nayue. A sword blade that had pierced through from the Void had run through Nangong Nayue's chest from back to front. The blue faceless knight had actually used Sentomoku Yuma's body as a Space Gate to attack Nangong Nayue, who was under their protection.

"No, where is Teacher Lingyun?" Xiao Gucheng suddenly discovered that Lingyun, who had been beside Nangong Nayue, had vanished without a trace.

"Crack, crack," the Void suddenly shattered like glass, and along with it, Nangong Nayue's figure shattered as well.

"Only able to hide in the shadows and use such rat-like tactics; no wonder you are no match for Yuejiang!" Lingyun's voice drifted over.

Behind the shattered illusion was the figure of Lingyun, one hand gripping the sword tip. Lingyun's left arm was wrapped around Nangong Nayue's slender waist; the sharp sword tip that had extended from the Void had almost pierced Nangong Nayue's body, leaving a shallow wound on her arm.

Looking at the wound on Nangong Nayue's arm, a flash of golden light crossed Lingyun's eyes, and a wisp of golden lightning leaped from his fingertips.

With a "Bang," the sword tip held by Lingyun shattered into fragments under the force of his two fingers. The golden lightning traveled up along the sword blade, instantly pierced through the Space Gate, and slammed fiercely into the blue faceless knight.

However, an extremely eerie scene occurred: the blue faceless knight, shrouded in terrifying lightning, showed no signs of damage on its body. Yet, from within it, a hair-raising scream was emitted.

"Is it over?" Nangong Nayue let out a soft breath.

Just at this moment, a dark light suddenly rose from her body. The instant this light appeared, a sharp glint flashed in Lingyun's eyes; his right hand tapped Nangong Nayue's forehead, and a golden light flashed and vanished.

After the light dissipated, the figure of Nangong Nayue, who was being held by Lingyun, shrank once again, turning into the appearance of a four or five-year-old young girl.

Seeing her own appearance, Nangong Nayue's expression instantly turned gloomy; she could feel that the magic power within her had vanished completely. As the key to the Prison Barrier, Nangong Nayue was also its hub. Now that she had lost her magic power, it meant that this Prison Barrier constructed from her dreams was about to collapse, the true Prison Barrier was about to appear, and the gates of the Prison Barrier had already been opened—this meant that the magic criminals within could potentially swarm out and stage a mass jailbreak.

Thinking of the consequences if these magic criminals were to mix into Itogami Island, which was currently holding the Oboro Festival, even Nangong Nayue, who had seen countless storms, could not help but have beads of cold sweat overflow on her forehead.

"Lingyun, look at the good work you've done!" Nangong Nayue said to Lingyun with annoyance.

Based on her understanding of Lingyun, if Lingyun hadn't held back just now, the Guardian's sword tip could never have hurt her, and she wouldn't have ended up like this.

"Rest assured, since I did this, I naturally made full preparations!" A smile curled at the corner of Lingyun's mouth. "So this is the power of the Grimoire codenamed NO. 14, the one for inherent time accumulation manipulation? Even though I made preparations in advance, it still stole Yuejiang's time? Forget it, now is not the time to talk about this; let's find a safe place to suppress the abnormality in your body first!"

Lingyun waved his hand casually, and a silver Array emerged from the Void, instantly enveloping everyone present. With a flash of silver light, everyone in the Sanctuary vanished.

After everyone had disappeared, the Sanctuary castle, having lost the support of Nangong Nayue's magic power, could no longer hold up; amidst a huge roar, it crumbled into a pile of ruins.