Chapter 708: Calm

When Qingque ran, Luofu's sky had already broken in half, like a glazed tile struck by a stone, cracking from the center outward in countless veins.

Each fissure's edge glowed with a dark‑gold light; the cracks kept widening, and for every inch they expanded, more golden branches squeezed out from the back of the split.

The screams on the street had become directionless.

A middle‑aged man clutching a rolled blanket burst out of the teahouse, the blanket scattering on the ground; he didn't look back as he kept running.

Two Cloud Cavalry soldiers erected a golden Barrier at the street corner, but the Barrier lit up for less than three seconds before a golden branch falling from the sky shattered it; fragments and embers exploded outward, the two were blown away by the shockwave and slammed into the teahouse's door panel.

Qingque tried not to look at the sky, because each glance made her legs go weak for half a beat; the outline of the colossal tree behind the fissure grew clearer, so massive that even the crack couldn't contain it, and a portion of the trunk had already bulged out from the widest part of the fissure, its surface covered with closed‑eyed golden faces.

She forced herself to look only ahead, only at the road beneath her feet, only at the backs of those still running forward.

Stay calm.

Stay calm.

She repeated a mantra in her mind; though meaningless, the chanting itself was useful, at least keeping her breathing steady.

The sky fell, and a tall figure held it up; that's the truth.

Luofu wasn't dealing with the Abundance Envoy for the first time; Tengxiao General had once repelled Shuhuo, and now the sky truly collapsed. Though General Jing Yuan was unconscious, Master Fu Xuan remained, as did the Acting General, the Head of the Tai Bu, the most decisive figure in all Luofu right now.

Qingque was clear about her role: she was a Diviner, good at slacking off, good at playing cards, and everything else she did was not very proper.

Faced with a disaster of this scale, her greatest contribution was to avoid causing trouble for the Cloud Cavalry and then hurry to report to Master Fu Xuan.

Whether after reporting she was sent to the Tai Bu Office to activate the Exhaustive Observation Formation or to the rear to help evacuate civilians, either was fine; in any case, it's better than standing on the street as a human target.

But the surroundings were just too chaotic.

A golden branch as thick as an arm pierced the ground less than five meters to her left; the stone slab road was punctured like paper, and shards of stone splashed onto her shoulder.

Immediately, a three‑story high vermilion wooden shop was bisected at the waist by a branch extending from the fissure.

The sound of wood snapping drowned out all the surrounding shouts; the overhanging eaves snapped in the middle, glazed tiles fell like shaken leaves, striking the street and shattering into countless emerald‑colored specks of light.

Smoke and dust billowed from the shop's wreckage, enveloping half the street in a hazy fog.

Qingque halted at the edge of the smoke, raised a hand to shield her mouth and nose, her eyes narrowed to slits from the dust stinging them.

Then she saw a figure burst out from the opposite side of the smoke, wearing standard Cloud Cavalry armor; the face under the helmet was excessively youthful, probably only a few years older than Yan Qing.

The young officer, upon seeing her, grabbed her arm and pushed her aside, the force calibrated so she wouldn't fall yet couldn't be refused.

"Retreat! Don't stay here!"

After speaking, he released her, turned, drew his sword, the blade flashing ice‑blue light as it slashed into the depths of the smoke.

The smoke burst, and a golden filament extending forward froze into an ice pillar, temporarily blocking that side's attack route.

Qingque staggered a few steps to steady herself, opened her mouth toward the officer's back, intending to say something, but he had already plunged back into the smoke.

She clenched her teeth, turned, and kept running.

A military Star Chariot skimmed over Qingque's head, its flat hull leaving a gray afterimage in low altitude.

The energy turrets beneath the hull unfolded, their muzzles glowing incandescent white as they aimed at the massive branch extending toward the southwest in the sky.

Charging complete— the turrets fired in unison, two incandescent beams striking the side of the golden branch, exploding into a blinding white flash.

After the Light Orb dissipated, only a shallow, charred pit remained on the branch's surface, its edges still wisping faint smoke, yet the branch itself didn't quiver at all.

The Star Chariot immediately ascended to prepare another charge, but the blood‑red eyes on the branch all turned toward it.

A finer branch shot off the main trunk, arcing in the air and lashing the Star Chariot's left engine like a whip.

The engine erupted in a spray of sparks, the hull instantly lost balance, dragging a trail of black smoke as it fell, crashing into a distant alley, the muffled impact echoing across several streets.

Qingque's peripheral vision caught it, and her steps instinctively halted.

But she quickly refocused, staring toward the Divination Office ahead, her footfall rate quickening a few more beats.

She couldn't stop.

Stopping would make her start thinking—whether anyone was inside the Star Chariot struck by the branch, whether the Cloud Cavalry battling the Offspring could hold out, and when the tree on the other side of the fissure, still swelling, would finally come through.

She couldn't contemplate those things now.

Thinking wouldn't help.

She was merely a Diviner of the Tai Bu Office, not a general nor an Envoy; she had no tactical plan against the Abundance Offspring, and only a jade token in her sleeve that could, in a dream, strike a lapis‑blue vortex—yes, that was in a dream.

In reality she had just used that jade token to smash three demonic shadows, but was that a dream?

Or also reality?

She couldn't even tell which it was now!

The street ahead suddenly widened, the buildings along it shifting from dense shops to scattered residences.

Qingque recognized the area; after two more blocks she would see the Divination Office.

Then she saw a mother and daughter appear ahead.

Fox People.

The mother looked about twenty‑something, long light‑brown hair flowing behind, fox ears pressed tightly to her head from fear.

In her arms she cradled a girl no more than three or four years old; the little fox girl's ears were still the round, fluffy, unopened bun shape, one standing upright, the other half‑drooping.

The mother, clutching the child, stumbled through the crowd, her light‑colored skirt stained with mud and unknown blood.

Her left leg seemed injured, each step veering left, yet the hand holding the child stayed firmly wrapped between the girl's back and knee, showing no sign of letting go.

The little fox girl's face was buried in her mother's shoulder hollow, her tiny hands clutching the mother's collar button tightly, her mouth mumbling.

At the instant Qingque saw them, a grotesquely thick golden branch was descending from the sky.

The cross‑section diameter was at least ten meters, its surface covered with unopened eyes and half‑formed golden faces; the patterns on its skin quivered slightly under the high‑speed fall.

It fell at an angle that perfectly covered the mother and daughter's position, casting the surrounding half‑street into shadow.

The mother also saw the rapidly expanding shadow on the ground; she lifted her head, her fox ears folded back to the limit, and the little girl in her arms was lifted with her, revealing a pair of eyes still not fully understanding what was happening.

Qingque's brain raced in that instant, her hand already reaching into her sleeve.

Her fingertips touched the warm jade— the Jade Token— and at the moment she drew it, she thought clearly, using the previous method, focusing her spirit, channeling power into it, letting the fish fly out to strike the branch, or at least push the mother and daughter out of the impact zone.

The demand isn't high; it's not to strike Shuhuo, but to push aside a branch.

When she killed those three demonic yin bodies, she casually tossed something that blew up an entire street; pushing aside a branch should be more than enough.

Now we only need to do the same thing; even if we can't completely smash it, as long as we can shift its angle a little, just a little, that's enough!