Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 426 - 397 Battle Ends

Chapter 426: 397 Battle Ends

My flames surged towards Ying Lingyun via paths imperceptible to normal humans, and as expected, the flames encountered an invisible obstruction.

It wasn’t Ying Lingyun’s power of restart, but rather the giant luminous azure hand that clearly detected my actions and intercepted my power midway.

Ying Lingyun seemed to understand that this was a life-and-death decision for him, and the remnants of the resurrection array in the distance appeared to be manipulable by his consciousness, its metallic silvery lightning all rushing towards me.

The target of the attack was solely me, excluding Ming Zhuo; evidently, Ying Lingyun was well aware of who most wanted him dead in this setting. Nonetheless, this degree of desperate struggle is futile. I unleashed flames all around, completely submerging and dispelling the metallic silvery lightning rushing in.

This was my second encounter with this lightning, achieving an effortless victory once again. This time, I finally detected something unusual. Initially, when I simply overwhelmed this lightning, I thought Ying Lingyun was just an ordinary person unable to wield this lightning’s full might. Now, however, I discovered the truth wasn’t so simple—regardless of the energy density of this lightning, it seemed incompatible with my mana.

Specifically, this lightning was restrained by my flames, and thoroughly so.

The last time I encountered such overwhelming restraint was during a battle with the Water Navy Xuanwu; it’s just that last time, I was the one being restrained, and this time, it was my turn to suppress others’ mana.

I have mentioned before that such overwhelmingly suppressive relationships do not typically emerge in mana conflicts unless both parties utilize powers within the same ideological framework. If my flames are based on the Liangyi inheritor’s framework, then those being restrained by me must certainly be another Liangyi inheritor.

In the interdependent and contradictory relationships among gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, many might assume "fire" restrains "wood" because fire can burn wood, but that’s not the case. "Wood" is subdued by "gold," whereas "fire" restrains "gold."

The Four Symbols beast associated with "gold" is the White Tiger, corresponding to the color white and symbolizes slaughter.

And this metallic silvery lightning consists of countless sharp and aggressive minute sword qi. Despite its destructive essence, when met with my flames, it couldn’t demonstrate any mastery in slaughter, only symbolically struggling a few times before being easily resolved like a kitten.

Could this possibly be the "Gold and Killing Power" I’ve heard of in the past? If so, then Ying Lingyun, capable of wielding this power, would be the White Tiger Inheritor among the Liangyi inheritors?

I sense this is not the case because Ying Lingyun doesn’t give me the impression of possessing mana inherently; he relies on external tools to manipulate power. If he had the White Tiger Seed, his power should originate from within his body and soul, not from the resurrection array in the distance.

He likely just obtained a large amount of White Tiger Magic Power from somewhere and relied on devices to put it to use.

As for the precise truth, I certainly can’t extract it from his mouth.

Because I am about to kill him.

The giant luminous azure hand that captured Ying Lingyun not only thwarted my attempt to channel flames into Ying Lingyun’s body but also erupted a surge of mana, directly severing my thermal energy connection with him. It seemed I couldn’t strike at Ying Lingyun again.

However, it’s not my first time having my thermal energy marker with Ying Lingyun adjourned, and I am well-prepared for this. Within the thermal energy inside Ying Lingyun’s body, I set up pre-programmed instructions in advance. Should the connection break, it would automatically transform into an explosive force.

At this moment, Ying Lingyun’s already shattered body exploded on the spot. The suddenness of the event seemed to catch even the giant luminous azure hand off guard, and Ying Lingyun appeared utterly unresponsive.

Such paltry tactics were still insufficient to kill Ying Lingyun; the automatic defense mechanism of the power of restart was engaged again, attempting to resurrect him. Meanwhile, I seized this moment of vulnerability to reestablish the connection with flames produced by the explosion. Ying Lingyun’s severed head glared angrily in the air; I paid it no heed, focusing on directing the flames towards his heart instead.

This still-beating heart floated in the air, with a Divine Seal Fragment embedded in it.

My flames are my spirit; as soon as the flames make contact with that Divine Seal Fragment, it is equivalent to me personally touching it. I will automatically bind it and can reclaim it within my consciousness, preventing Ying Lingyun from resurrecting using the power of restart generated by that fragment.

Since I could kill Ying Lingyun this way, there was actually no need to preset an explosion command into the thermal energy within him; I could have directly triggered the explosion. At that time, however, I wasn’t planning to establish immediate contact with the second Divine Seal Fragment; I wanted to kill Ying Lingyun slowly.

But the situation is different now. I am well aware that increasing the number of Divine Seal Fragments bound to me may also augment the paths through which the Master of Divine Seal threatens me, introducing life-threatening risks for no good reason. But right now, my sole thought is not to let this prey, Ying Lingyun, escape from the palm of my hand; I must claim the victory I deserve.

Thinking of fleeing? Dream on!

My flames touched the prey’s heart.

In that instant, the Divine Seal Fragment automatically linked with me and transferred into my consciousness.

The power of restart vanished without a trace, and Ying Lingyun’s eyes lost all brilliance, his body shattered by the explosion, incapable of reassembling for restoration.

The life of this delusional madman met its end here.

Ying Lingyun, deceased.

Seeing the target of its rescue die so abruptly before its eyes, the giant luminous azure hand seemed to rage, tossing the fallen limbs into a spatial rift and reaching towards me.

Currently, I am too late to unleash "Eclipse," but even if I did, it would likely be futile. "Eclipse" could only cause minor injury to Ming Zhuo, and although this hand was not the body of Taoyuan Village Master, even my estimate of causing damage to it wouldn’t make it significant.

It seems I have no choice but to avoid direct confrontation, but as soon as I had that notion, the mana of the giant luminous azure hand preemptively surrounded me. The space around felt like extremely sticky mud; I was a living being submerged in it, struggling to even wave an arm.

Suddenly, two enormous mana fluctuations erupted from afar. A pure white torrent of light and a gigantic ice spear resembling a towering high-rise pierced through the walls on either side of the colossal metallic room, simultaneously striking the giant luminous azure hand.

Almost simultaneously, the concentrated force in Ming Zhuo’s hand also discharged, transforming into a transverse swirling vortex of black and red that slammed into the giant hand.

The three Impermanence kill strikes hit simultaneously, pushing the giant luminous azure hand back behind the spatial rift in an instant and then devastatingly exploded. Most of the explosive energy remained inside the spatial rift, while the spillover radiated externally, shattering the sturdy colossal metallic room and radiating outward to distant locations.

Ming Zhuo and I were swept up in it; such radiating force obviously couldn’t harm us, and Changan was protected by the flames I wrapped around. According to my perception, nearly thirty percent of the Human Bureau’s area was destroyed. This was due to the aftershock radiating in one direction; had it radiated in all directions, just this part would obliterate the entire Human Bureau multiple times.

Fa Zheng and Divine Light appeared simultaneously beside Ming Zhuo and me.

The floor was destroyed; we could only stand in mid-air. The spatial rift still hadn’t vanished on the opposite side, and through it, the giant luminous azure hand was no longer hand-shaped... Stating the hand was not hand-shaped seemed odd, precisely speaking, what’s opposite was just a small lump of flickering twisted azure light that survived.

This small lump morphed, transforming into a singular azure eye, first scanning others, before settling its gaze on me.

Let alone Fa Zheng, the fact that Divine Light had arrived surprised me; I recalled he should have been maintaining the teleportation door between the independent reality space and the outside world.

"Retreat, Taoyuan Village Master," Fa Zheng said lightly. "Retreat now, and I can pretend I didn’t see you here."

The azure eye glanced at Fa Zheng.

"What, not leaving?" Fa Zheng said, "If you really wish to do something here... then it’s best to send your real body here. Otherwise, relying solely on such a crude avatar, you gain nothing here."

"..."

The eye seemed to make a choice, gradually fading and blurring in place.

And the spatial rift, like massive eyelids, closed and disappeared before us.

Then, tremors began to manifest around us.

It’s not an earthquake, as we are all floating in the air; whether the ground tremors or not is indiscernible. This is tremors occurring in space itself, and it’s a phenomenon I’ve encountered before. The independent reality space is collapsing.

It seems the independent reality space was sustained by the Divine Seal Fragment that Ying Lingyun personally held. Since I took it away, the independent reality space could no longer persist.

Now I understand why Divine Light left his post; although most of it was likely due to sensing the presence of Taoyuan Village Master, he was moreover maintaining the teleportation door outside because the independent reality space’s self-repair mechanism would eliminate the door. Now that the independent reality space couldn’t continue to exist, the self-repair mechanism surely was obliterated.

Fa Zheng looked back at the areas marred by the aftershock, let out a sigh, and then composed himself.

"The battle is over, fall back," he said.