Chapter 739: A Big Wave Is Coming

But as the spear tip pierced the Light Screen and struck toward Qingque's head, that gray‑white figure vanished from where it stood.

Qingque instantly teleported to a point directly above the monster's head, looking down at its Heavenly Spirit Dome.

She extended her right hand, spreading her five fingers downward, and her fingertips simultaneously glowed with a lapis‑blue light.

A circular rune coalesced beneath her palm, its diameter expanding in a fraction of a second from the size of a palm to cover the entire size of the monster.

The rune's surface was densely etched with formation diagrams and a mixed pattern of jade‑tile Mahjong suits; at the center of the circle was a huge cylinder, surrounded by concentric layers of trigrams.

She pressed her hand downward.

The rune collapsed.

Carrying an irresistible gravitational law, it slammed the monster straight down from midair.

Under the rune's crushing pressure, the monster's body began to deform; the shoulder spines buckled with two cracking sounds, the arthropod‑like branches were pressed flat against its back, immobilized, and an inverted‑triangle dent appeared in its carapace.

The air beneath its feet could not bear the transmitted force, producing a visible shock‑wave ripple in the sky that spread outward in concentric circles.

While suppressed, the monster lifted its head, its vertically‑slit pupils that filled its entire face locking onto Qingque above.

At that moment, the monster reacted, thrusting its right‑handed long‑handled blade upward at an incredible angle, the tip precisely piercing the exact center of the rune.

The golden‑red light membrane on the blade's edge collided with the rune's lapis‑blue radiance, emitting a harsh metallic tearing sound.

The rune was pierced straight through its center; cracks radiated outward, and in the next instant the entire rune exploded into countless shards of light.

A spear then thrust out from the rune fragments; its tip split the instant it emerged, one becoming dozens, each tip trailing ultra‑fine golden threads whose ends opened into a needle‑sized aperture, the rim lined with delicate teeth.

They intertwined, weaving in the air into a seamless spiked net that enveloped Qingque.

Qingque merely tilted her head back slightly.

Just enough for the spear tip's point to graze the area above her.

She then clenched her right hand toward her palm, the five fingers contracting together.

The rune fragments scattering outward suddenly lit up in unison.

They did not vanish.

Each fragment had already adhered to the spear's surface when shattered, each spot coated with lapis‑blue fine dust invisible to the naked eye.

Now, as she clenched, those fine powders activated simultaneously, transforming from attached state into Corrosion.

Then, with the spear only a few centimeters from Qingque's throat, the threads froze mid‑air just before winding around her wrist.

The entire spear, from tip to tail, was enveloped by a lapis‑blue membrane that contracted, squeezing the dark‑golden shaft and emitting a fine hissing sound.

Qingque waved her hand again.

The spear, together with the powdered section of its blade edge, emitted a whooshing sound.

Solid turned to liquid, liquid to foam; the entire murderous spear transformed within a few breaths into a hovering cluster of lapis‑blue Bubbles.

The Bubbles rotated slowly, reflecting the chaotic light of the battlefield.

Qingque pressed her hand down again.

The Bubbles flipped upside down and slammed directly onto the monster's body.

At the instant the Bubbles touched the carapace, they burst, and the shattered Bubbles re‑condensed into a membrane that enveloped the monster's upper half.

The hissing intensified, and at the membrane‑carapace contact points rose fine lapis‑blue smoke; the dark‑golden carapace began to dissolve from the edges under the Bubbles' Corrosion, the red pupils' surfaces turned cloudy gray‑white, the branches behind the shoulders withered rapidly, their spines falling off one by one into the sea.

The monster's movements visibly slowed to the naked eye.

It tried to raise its arm; the membrane on the arm stretched and deformed but did not break, its body flickered once but the membrane pinned it in place, the Bubbles' speed outpaced its healing.

From the carapace cracks seeped not golden light but a viscous dark‑red liquid, which was instantly broken down and absorbed upon contacting the Bubbles.

The newly sprouted branches that had been writhing on its body ceased growing entirely, the withered stems drooped, snapping onto the surface of the Bubble cluster with a pattering sound.

It could no longer hold.

Qingque exhaled, turned her head slightly, her gaze passing over the towering figure being engulfed by Bubbles, toward the distant tree trunk.

On the trunk, beneath the crater blasted out by the koi, numerous large holes had further split open.

Each hole was a perfect circle, its edges curling outward with golden wooden fibers; the interior was pitch black, yet red eyes reflected within the darkness.

One after another, row after row.

Identical towering figures emerged from those holes.

Shoulder bone spines, vertically‑slit eyes, long‑handled blades; some wielded a pair, some carried a heavy golden bone shield and a stout chain‑mace, others unfurled a full row of wing‑like branches on their backs, slowly rising.

Their numbers rose from one to ten, ten to fifty, fifty to nearly a hundred within a few breaths.

Nearly a hundred boss‑level monsters detached from the trunk simultaneously, densely arrayed before it.

Their combined aura shook the remaining Bubble cluster on the sea surface into violent tremors, the air thickened like slurry from the Abundance aura they emitted.

Nearly a hundred pairs of vertical pupils simultaneously locked onto Qingque.

Qingque inhaled softly.

She raised her hand, her long ash‑gray hair fluttering behind her in the wind, her emerald eyes reflecting the towering monster array that blocked the sky.

Jade tiles materialized around her.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand.

Countless jade tiles formed concentric rings around her, layer upon layer.

Each emitted a faint lapis‑blue glow, its pattern slowly rotating within the light.

She drew her hands from behind, extending both forward in a card‑dealing gesture.

"Looks like a big wave is coming," she murmured, the curve of her mouth deepening a few degrees.

Perspective shift.

The Star Chariot glided through the clouds, the cabin silent save for the engine's low hum.

Several members of the Cloud Cavalry squeezed into seats on one side of the cabin, bodies rigid, the lining beneath their armor soaked with cold sweat clinging to their skin.

They dared not look directly across; they only scanned with peripheral vision, seeing a girl on the opposite seat with her head tilted, brown‑black twin tails hanging before her shoulders, a black ribbon tied to her hair swaying gently with the Star Chariot's slight sway.

The round, smooth face looked especially harmless in sleep, lips slightly pursed, breathing even, appearing no different from any ordinary Diviner at Tai Bu Si who is goofing off and dozing on the job.

But several senior brothers of the Cloud Cavalry were well aware.

That aura just now.