Chapter 1033: Return to the Origin

Golden flame hung, unmoving.

Ming, suspended in midair, regarded the boy below once again.

Her attitude remained arrogant and haughty, yet now held a touch of seriousness.

"What have you figured out?"

"You are a fragment, but unlike the Meiyu Xianzi I know—your fragment seems bound to its origin to draw even partial power. Until Tian Shi truly began, you relied on a mortal vessel to interact with us. Only then did your power return. Had I never witnessed Tian Shi, I might have assumed some temporal restriction granted you strength—but now I see: at the moment of Tian Shi, some balance or seal within Qingchuan Jie was shattered, allowing your origin to seize the opening and channel partial power to your fragment."

Listening to Fang Yue, Ming's brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed into a faint, cold smile.

No wonder I chose you as one of my observers—your mind is indeed meticulous.

Between realms, rules clash and repel outsiders like her; to dull this repulsion requires strategy.

She lacks the power to summon her origin for an Advent, and besides—merely a Li Fan doesn't demand such effort; a powerless fragment suffices to resolve it.

Even so, she must pay a heavy price to enable the fragment's Advent.

And once Li Fan ends, how to recall the fragment remains a major problem.

Tian Shi is no trivial matter—it is an extension of the 【Lock Master】's rule-force. Though she is an Immortal, Ming is incomparable to the Lock Master's kind; before such a Ninth-Rank Transcendence, she is not even an ant.

Thus, before Tian Shi is fully complete, she must detach the fragment from Qingchuan Jie and return it to her origin.

This stems from the fragment's nature: to reclaim all it experienced, to truly recover all gained during Li Fan, she must retrieve the fragment.

To avoid detection by some entity, her origin must, at the moment Tian Shi begins, forcibly inject a surge of power through Qingchuan Jie's ruptured fissure into the fragment, enabling it to break through Qingchuan Jie from within and return.

This process sounds complex, but in truth, it simply grants the internal fragment a burst of power within Qingchuan Jie's rule-detection range, using that power to achieve breakthrough.

Thus, the power cannot be wasted—her origin has no chance to send a second surge.

Under this constraint, diverting even part of the power to confront a Rain-level warrior risks jeopardizing the fragment's escape from Qingchuan Jie.

"So what? My power is enough to annihilate you. Are you seeking death?"

"No, I merely warn you—the Heiqing Weird will not let you leave. But if you're willing to spare part of your power to aid me, we can jointly slay this Weird and eliminate all lingering threats."

Fang Yue was lying—he had no idea how the Heiqing Weird intended to treat Ming; he merely sought to pull this combatant into his own camp.

"Heiqing Weird?" Ming's hands clasped behind her back, haughty. "He cannot stop me."

She paused, then turned her gaze to Fang Yue.

"Yet, since we have crossed paths, you have been a benefactor in my Li Fan—I have no objection to granting you a small favor."

Ming's right hand had been devoured by the Blood Infant, then regenerated through Immortal transformation; in that process, she acquired all the Blood Infant's data and information—this data may be the greatest gain of this Li Fan. The Mo Xian Array's concept is truly fascinating.

As for Fang Yue and the others' plight, she cared nothing—so long as they didn't waste excessive power and jeopardize her breakthrough from Qingchuan Jie.

A direct battle with Fang Yue might waste too much power and disrupt her plan, but minor favors are negligible.

She raised her index finger and traced a line downward.

Boom!!

A figure was yanked from the ground.

It was none other than Feng Wang himself!

Yet now, Feng Wang's eyes were vacant, as if devoid of consciousness—like a vegetative patient, utterly passive.

Fang Yue's pupils contracted; he bowed: "Thank you… Miss Ming!"

If she refused to aid against the Heiqing Weird and the King of Wu Yu Clan, helping resolve An Dong'er's issue would suffice.

But Ming quickly said: "You misunderstand—he was not subdued by me. He fell into this state for some reason; what follows, I do not know."

Speaking, Ming ascended further, her target the shattered Blood Moon.

When she reached the altitude of the battle between Heiqing Weird and Qing Wang, her pupils contracted slightly—the power erupting from the battlefield, though weaker than her origin's, was still beyond her fragment's capacity to withstand directly.

Amid the roar of the Guardian Stone Lion, a bizarre and eerie Ming ascended further.

The sky's Blood Moon now bore dozens of fissures; if she followed them, she could break through Qingchuan Jie—her mission would be complete.

Everything was within reach—yet suddenly, her back hairs stood on end, as if watched by something horrific.

With such immense power granted by my origin, how can I still sense such a threat?

Fortunately, the sensation vanished in an instant. When Ming turned back, below her, only the battle between Heiqing Weird and Qing Wang remained—everything else was as insignificant as ants, receding into distance.

No! Wait!

The battle between Heiqing Weird and Qing Wang has ended!

Qing Wang stood atop the Guardian Stone Lion, descending—his hand held high, gripping the severed head of Heiqing Weird!

Qing Wang won? Impressive. This realm truly cannot be underestimated—even a Transcendence-level Weird was slain.

But Li Fan is over. All of Qingchuan Jie is now irrelevant to me.

She shook her head slightly, then plunged headfirst into the Blood Moon's fissure!

Hum!!

In an instant, the Blood Moon shattered into countless mirror-like shards, and Ming herself was already within the spatial rift.

She strained to traverse, locking onto her origin's location, unleashing all her Immortal power to force her breakthrough.

Closer!

Closer!

This is the exit!

Ming crashed through the rift's exit, looked up—and her origin waited there, long prepared.

Two identical figures met at the rift's mouth, synchronously flashing expressions of exhilaration.

"You're back!"

"Success!"

Li Fan returned—crossing life and death!

Yet before her origin could merge the fragment, her expression froze—her pupils contracted sharply, as if witnessing something unimaginable, eyes wide open.

As the clone Ming hesitated, a demon's whisper sounded in her ear.

"Oh… so your true body is in Xinqiang Jie? No wonder you needed to undergo the mortal trial."

Black… Cyan… Weird?!

Impossible!

Even though Tian Shi had arrived, even though the spatial rift had opened, the repulsive force between realms could never allow a Level One Transcendence-level Weird to cross such a vast distance, appear here, and not be devoured by the realm's repulsion!

Feeling the breath against the back of her neck, the clone Ming lost all her former calm; her forehead was drenched in sweat, her breathing ragged.

Having expended all her strength passing through the spatial rift, all she could do now was look beseechingly toward her true body.

But in the reflection of her true body's eyes, she saw… her own body pierced through the chest by the Black Cyan Weird, her entire form engulfed in black flames, consuming her.

I'll continue updating tonight.

(End of Chapter)