Chapter Fifty-Six: The Rescue

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The earth qilin detonated its own heart, an act that caught Zhu Yan completely by surprise.

But what astounded him even more was that as the earth qilin’s heart exploded, a terrifying, hidden vitality surged forth from within—a force identical to, yet even more advanced and pure than, the earth qilin’s own source of life.

This was the earth qilin’s final trump card, one it would never deploy unless facing death itself—not even if its body had been shattered would it resort to this.

Yet the earth qilin knew that even with this last resort, it was no match for Zhu Yan, who already had one foot planted in the realm of the grand demon.

So as it detonated its heart and unleashed its final card, it simultaneously triggered the ascension tribulation. In that instant, it clamped its jaws tight onto Zhu Yan, using its body to lock down the claws that Zhu Yan had stabbed into its flesh.

With a furious roar, Zhu Yan unleashed a shockwave at close range, shattering the earth qilin’s scales and flesh.

His crimson tail, as sharp as a blade, repeatedly pierced the earth qilin’s body and skull. His other talon slashed, slicing open the qilin’s flesh.

But now, an endless stream of that higher-order earthen vitality surged through the earth qilin, rapidly healing its body again and again, preventing it from being slain outright.

Though small, once the earth qilin resolved to fight with everything it had, its ferocity was astonishing.

It ignored its own safety, determined to drag Zhu Yan down with it.

“How interesting. At last, it’s coming,” Lin Qingyun thought with delight as he watched the earth qilin, crazed and desperate, pulling Zhu Yan into the tribulation with it. This was exactly why he’d joined this combat trial.

He could once again use the power of the tribulation to temper himself, and perhaps seize the chance to save the earth qilin.

This little creature was crucial—if it survived, not only would humanity be spared a formidable foe, but certain events could be delayed.

Thunder rumbled overhead.

The thunderclouds had begun to gather, the power of heaven and earth’s tribulation locking onto the earth qilin. Though only the qilin had forced the ascension, Zhu Yan was so entangled with it that the thunder tribulation began to shift in nature.

The one who had once suppressed the qilin and held absolute control—Zhu Yan—was finally starting to panic.

Yet in this situation, escape was near impossible.

To interfere with another’s tribulation—no matter how strong you were—would only incite heaven’s wrath to destroy you. In the old days, this was seen as opposing the will of heaven, an affront that would not be tolerated.

In modern terms: to meddle in another’s tribulation was to challenge the heavens themselves.

With a cry of rage and frustration, Zhu Yan, helpless and unwilling, began to unleash his full power. Having reached his peak nearly a century ago, and having devoured much of the earth qilin’s vital blood and even absorbed some of the power from its heart, Zhu Yan’s life force was swelling.

With his deep foundation and surging vitality, ascension was but a thought away.

Thus, with no other choice, Zhu Yan also began to undergo tribulation. At least this was better than fully interfering in the qilin’s ascension tribulation. At least he, too, was facing the tribulation. As for what would happen when two beings intertwined underwent the tribulation together—he had no idea.

Perhaps no one ever had.

Thunder rumbled, the clouds converging and lightning flickering, the oppressive might spreading wider and wider.

“Hurry, run this way!” someone shouted.

At that moment, Nangong Lingyue was already urging a flying treasure to its utmost speed. Any survivors still hiding in the ruins would now be desperately rushing toward her.

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Zhen Qiang, Chi Ziyang, Song Yichen, and the others had caught up, each using their own methods to flee at full speed.

Taking advantage of the earth qilin’s desperate struggle with Zhu Yan, they’d managed to escape several miles. But as the site of the battle transformed into the center of the tribulation, the thunder’s area of effect, once only slightly larger than usual, suddenly began to change.

This change was shocking, even bizarre.

Fear drove them to flee with all their might. Not only them, but the beasts that managed to escape the ruins were now stampeding outward in terror. The defensive formations here were utterly insufficient to withstand such a beast tide and soon collapsed.

Outside, teachers and leaders from every academy, along with the military and the forces under the Wind King’s command, rushed to join the fight.

Even General Qin and Feng Shouyi began to take action, slaughtering the monsters.

Against the beast tide, there was no such thing as a fair duel between experts. The terror of the beast tide lay in its sheer numbers and diversity. Even if a few powerful fighters could hold their ground, the area was too vast, and countless beasts slipped through.

“Desert Storm!”

Just then, Nangong Aoshi, who had only just stopped the anomalous disaster, returned.

He unleashed a desert storm spanning hundreds of miles, sweeping through the war zone from three directions. If he’d focused on a single area, he could have slain tens of thousands of beasts in a single blow, even those as strong as the Cloud Soaring rank.

But the beast tide was too vast—the area too broad. Even he needed time to attack them all.

In that time, hundreds of thousands, even millions of beasts could scatter and escape.

So Nangong Aoshi chose to use a wide-range attack—not strong enough to kill the most powerful monsters, but sufficient to trap them within a single area.

“Space is stabilizing. We have a signal—they’re gathering and heading out—”

“Wait, the signal is unstable—they’re breaking out on the left—”

“The tribulation clouds—those two are undergoing tribulation, and the clouds are mutating—what’s happening? Damn it, the clouds are expanding—”

Inside the command center, reports poured in.

With space stabilizing and communications restored, they could quickly locate every survivor.

Especially when they saw the top scorers on the battle rankings converging and making a break for the exit, even the techs couldn’t help but exclaim. But as the thunderclouds formed, anxiety returned.

Such updates were immediately relayed to Feng Shouyi.

“General Qin, I’m counting on you here.” At that moment, Minister Feng, usually as jovial as a smiling Buddha, stopped slaughtering monsters.

He shot into the sky, then, with a dizzying turn, darted into the war zone with impossible speed.

Though the space inside was stabilizing, it was still turbulent.

With countless beasts rampaging, Feng Shouyi, charging in alone, faced attacks from all sides and the crushing pressure of the unstable space.

If he unleashed his power too fiercely, the spatial turbulence would worsen, possibly even causing tears or collapse—an event that would be fatal even for one as strong as he.

Yet, astonishingly nimble for his size, Feng Shouyi sometimes even plunged down among the monsters, using the chaos to shield himself from the attacks of the stronger demons.

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Thanks to Feng Shouyi’s cultivation, he was able to enter without fighting. Meanwhile, Nangong Lingyue and the others were rushing out and soon spotted him.

Thunder rumbled.

The tribulation had mutated, its range growing enormous. Many monsters, unable to escape, were caught up and incinerated by the flickering lightning before the true heavenly wrath even descended.

This was why the beasts were fleeing in such wild panic. And now, Nangong Lingyue and her group were nearly overtaken by the rapidly expanding tribulation clouds.

If the clouds enveloped them, they would likely be attacked as well.

“Damn!” Feng Shouyi stopped weaving through the monsters and shot straight into the sky, smashing through flocks of demon birds.

Nangong Lingyue, Zhen Qiang, and Chi Ziyang were all accompanied by a number of other survivors—new students who lacked the strength or tools for flight.

These were the lucky few who had just escaped the ruins and managed to reach them. Even though Nangong Lingyue didn’t slow down, she continued to rescue others along the way. But since they weren’t Cloud Soaring experts, their speed was a drag; they were about to be swallowed by the tribulation clouds.

At that moment, Feng Shouyi had to rein himself in.

Even getting close to the tribulation clouds caused lightning to crackle around him, and because of his power, the mutated tribulation darkened further—flames began to rise.

The ground below ignited. Once more, the apocalyptic vision of heavenly thunder and earthly fire appeared.

“Lingyue, Wind Wings.”

Just then, her father’s voice sounded in Nangong Lingyue’s mind, and a high-grade spiritual treasure descended upon her.

She couldn’t even activate the artifact, but now it seemed to move with a will of its own—translucent butterfly-like wings enveloped her, rapidly expanding.

“All of you, over here!” Nangong Lingyue called, gathering Chi Ziyang, Zhen Qiang, and the others.

With a beat of those wings, their speed soared, and as lightning streaked toward them, they burst through the cloud’s edge.

A second beat, and they appeared before Feng Shouyi.

“Go!”

As they reached him, Feng Shouyi’s wide robe flew out, wrapping them all up and accelerating toward the exit.

With a thunderous crash, he smashed through countless beasts. Blows rained down on the robe, but with Feng Shouyi shielding them, Nangong Lingyue and the others within were safe.

Only moments before, even with all their trump cards revealed and risking everything to save others, those who tried to join or follow them had not all survived.

Even Nangong Lingyue, Song Yichen, and the others were battered and on the verge of collapse.

Now, after surviving by the slimmest of margins, they finally let themselves go limp, utterly spent.