Myth Beyond Heaven-Chapter 2814: Crisis (4)

Long Qingxuan spun, World Ender moving in a blinding arc to deflect each strike—

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sparks of temporal energy sprayed from the collisions.

Kai Xuan's expression finally shifted—a flicker of surprise. "You can see temporal strikes?"

Long Qingxuan didn't answer. Her draconic eyes—inherited from the Primordial Azure Dragon—could perceive even the distortions of time.

She countered.

"Azure Sunder."

Her sword flashed, its edge cutting not just through space, but through the flow of time in its path.

Kai Xuan dodged—

But a lock of his hair floated free, severed by the residual edge.

For the first time, his calm wavered.

"Interesting."

He raised his free hand—

And time itself stilled.

The wind froze. Dust hung motionless in the air. Even the light seemed to pause mid-wave.

Lan Qinghe remained trapped in her bubble, her expression locked in silent fury.

Only Long Qingxuan and Kai Xuan could move within the frozen time.

"Let's end this," Kai Xuan said.

He lunged, his sword aimed straight for her heart—

Long Qingxuan couldn't dodge. Time was shackling her movements.

So she did the only thing she could.

She let go of World Ender—

And grabbed Kai Xuan's wrist as the blade pierced her shoulder.

Blood sprayed.

Kai Xuan's eyes widened slightly. "You—"

Long Qingxuan's free hand clamped around his throat.

"Got you."

Her God Mark of Light erupted.

Pure white radiance exploded from her body, flooding the frozen time with cleansing energy. Kai Xuan hissed as the light burned his temporal manipulation away.

The frozen world shattered back into motion.

Kai Xuan wrenched free, his sword leaving her shoulder with a wet shlick. He retreated several paces, his gray robes singed.

Long Qingxuan caught World Ender as it fell, her wound already sealing.

They stood panting, facing each other across the ruined battlefield.

Kai Xuan's lips curled into a cold smile as he studied Long Qingxuan. "Interesting," he mused. "Decisive. Ruthless. But..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "That's all."

BOOM!

Black chaotic energy erupted from his body, swallowing the light around him. The air itself screamed as time distorted under his power. His sword pulsed with dark energy, its edge now shimmering with temporal fractures.

Long Qingxuan tightened her grip on World Ender, her azure scales flaring brighter.

Lan Qinghe, still recovering, lunged forward—

Kai Xuan didn't even look at her.

A flick of his wrist.

"Get lost."

SHUNK!

"Argh!" Lan Qinghe's right arm flew from her body, blood spraying in an arc. She gasped, stumbling back, her face pale with shock.

Long Qingxuan's eyes burned with fury.

"Qinghe!"

Kai Xuan was already moving.

His sword phased through time—appearing in front of Long Qingxuan before the swing even began.

She barely blocked, the impact sending her skidding back.

Kai Xuan pressed forward, his movements flawless, his strikes weaving through time itself. Each swing came from a different moment—past, present, future—forcing Long Qingxuan to defend against attacks that hadn't even happened yet.

Her arms trembled under the onslaught.

Then—

"ROAR!"

A thunderous roar shook the battlefield as the colossal image of the Primordial Azure Dragon materialized behind Long Qingxuan. Its azure eyes blazed with divine fury, its presence enough to make mountains crumble.

Kai Xuan paused—

Then laughed.

"Aspect of your ancestor? Cute."

He charged forward, completely unaffected by the dragon's pressure.

Long Qingxuan met him head-on, World Ender clashing against his temporal blade.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Each collision sent shockwaves rippling through space. But Kai Xuan was relentless. His sword danced like liquid shadow, slipping through her defenses with impossible precision.

A misstep.

A single instant of imbalance—

Kai Xuan's blade lanced forward.

PUFF!

The black sword pierced Long Qingxuan's abdomen, bursting out her back in a spray of crimson.

"Ugh!" She gasped, her grip on World Ender faltering.

Kai Xuan leaned in, his breath cold against her ear.

"Delicious."

He licked the dragon blood dripping from his blade, his golden eyes gleaming with perverse satisfaction.

Long Qingxuan gritted her teeth, her vision swimming. She grabbed the blade embedded in her stomach—

"Burn—"

Kai Xuan yanked the sword free before she could react, then kicked her to the ground.

"AH!!" Lan Qinghe screamed, dragging herself forward with her remaining arm—

Kai Xuan flicked his fingers.

"Stay down."

SHING!

An invisible temporal slash severed both her legs at the knees.

Lan Qinghe collapsed, her blood pooling beneath her.

Long Qingxuan roared in fury, forcing herself up despite the gaping wound in her abdomen. Azure flames erupted from her body as she released the full might of her dragon bloodline.

Kai Xuan merely watched, amused.

"Struggle all you want," he said. "Time always wins."

His temporal blade pulsed with dark energy, still dripping with her azure dragon blood.

"Enough struggling," he said, his voice smooth as frozen steel. "You're coming with me."

With a flick of his wrist, space itself twisted around Long Qingxuan, forming chains of condensed time that bound her limbs. She thrashed violently, her dragon flames flaring—but the temporal shackles absorbed her power effortlessly.

Lan Qinghe, bleeding profusely from her severed limbs, let out a guttural scream. "NO!"

Kai Xuan didn't even glance at her. He simply raised a hand—

And the world froze around Lan Qinghe, locking her in a temporal prison where even her blood droplets hung motionless in midair.

"Tell Yun Lintian," Kai Xuan said calmly as he lifted Long Qingxuan's unconscious form, "if he wants his woman back, he should come alone to the Haven."

Space ripped open before him.

"Any companions," he added with a cruel smile, "and I'll return her piece by piece."

Then he stepped through the rift—

And vanished with Long Qingxuan.

The temporal prison shattered.

Lan Qinghe collapsed forward, her remaining hand clawing at the blood-soaked earth where Long Qingxuan had lain moments before. Tears of fury and helplessness mixed with the dirt as she screamed into the void—

"QINGXUAN!!"

Then—

Laughter.

Dark, mad laughter that made the very air tremble.

"Ahahaha... How pitiful."

Gu Buxiu emerged from a swirling portal of corpse energy, his tattered robes flapping despite the absence of wind. His missing arms had been crudely replaced with rotting limbs stitched from different corpses, their fingers twitching unnaturally.

"The mighty Orchid Immortal," he sneered, "reduced to a limbless worm."

Lan Qinghe tried to summon her wood energy—but nothing responded. Her meridians were empty, her divine power drained from the battle.

Gu Buxiu loomed over her, his breath reeking of decay. "Don't worry. I'll make good use of you. A True God's corpse... especially one as pure as yours..." His tongue slithered out to lick cracked lips. "You'll be my finest puppet yet."

His stitched hands reached for her throat—

Then—

The world turned white.

A blizzard descended in an instant, so sudden and violent that Gu Buxiu's rotting flesh cracked from the abrupt temperature drop...