Chapter Seventy-six: The Academy in Peril

Ming You instantly realized what was happening and raised her palm toward the merged longsword. The sword lost its momentum, halting in midair, unable to advance a single inch closer to her!

Tai Shang Junior Lord, who was desperately enduring the searing pain, suddenly changed his expression. Fearing he might miss a crucial opportunity, he dared not retreat even half a step.

In the blink of an eye, a black ribbon appeared from nowhere, piercing through his back and out his chest!

Tai Shang Junior Lord was momentarily stunned, but seeing himself gravely wounded by Ming You, the corner of his lips twitched into an enigmatic smile.

With a snap, he and the longsword dissolved into pale blue smoke before Ming You, vanishing completely. Focusing once more, she realized the ribbon had merely severed a strand of hair.

Tai Shang Junior Lord had anticipated being discovered and had employed an illusion technique beforehand!

Almost simultaneously with the disappearance of the decoy, Tai Shang Junior Lord’s figure flashed to Ming You’s right, suspended in midair, accompanied by a fiercely burning longsword thrusting straight at her!

“Childish! Such a clumsy trick!” Ming You replied with contempt.

Though she had fallen for Tai Shang Junior Lord’s ruse, it had only allowed him to approach half a step. Ming You instantly raised her other palm, facing the two incoming swords.

Yet, something strange occurred—the swords’ speed did not slow in the slightest, and they were about to pierce her palms!

Ming You was shocked. How could her power fail to stop Tai Shang Junior Lord? She immediately brought forward her other hand, casting protective spells with both palms to shield herself.

Still, the swords’ speed remained undiminished!

Impossible! These swords should not come any closer!

Ming You could not fathom why she could not halt the swords. Her strength rivaled that of the Star Lord of Dao Spirit—how could she be unable to resist the Junior Lord’s mere spell?

And yet, she watched helplessly as the two longswords pierced through her palms. Her heart sank.

But in that instant, the answer dawned on her.

From the beginning, she had sensed a strange disharmony—the swords appeared to burn, yet emitted no heat.

It was this bizarre inconsistency!

There was indeed an intense heat nearby, which had misled her judgment, but it had not come from the right side!

Even as the burning white flames pierced her palms, Ming You felt no heat from the swords.

Neither hot nor cold—it was as if the swords had never existed.

Thus, it was an illusion!

The second Tai Shang Junior Lord on her right was also a fake!

In the flash of a moment, the two attacking Junior Lords—one formed from a strand of hair, the other an illusion.

But where was the real one?

The entire stratosphere was illuminated, yet she could not locate the source of the light!

When the first Junior Lord attacked, Ming You had clearly sensed the awe-inspiring heat, and even now, she could feel the temperature that had incinerated all the surrounding beasts. There was no mistake.

Moreover, Tai Shang Junior Lord emanated immortal energy, which could not be concealed—he was within a few steps of her.

But why could she not see his shadow? Even invisibility would not escape her notice, unless he was hiding behind something.

This vast stratosphere, with prayer lanterns and beasts all burned away, and even clouds unable to survive—where could Tai Shang Junior Lord possibly hide?

Where could he be concealed?

At that moment, Ming You found the “object” behind which Tai Shang Junior Lord was hiding.

The scene before her suddenly twisted strangely, like an immense canvas being shredded and pierced. In a void of air, Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, wrapped in bright white flames, appeared!

It turned out there was a gigantic “curtain” before her!

The curtain was so vast it covered everything before Ming You, seamlessly blending with the greater space around it. All light refractions were cleverly calculated.

The true sky was projected onto the curtain, except for Tai Shang Junior Lord.

Ming You became the sole audience before this screen.

And he, Tai Shang Junior Lord, was hiding behind it.

This explained why she could sense the supreme heat of the Divine Sun Flame and feel his immortal energy, yet could not find his true form!

Just as Ming You’s attention was drawn to the two false illusions, in a flash, the real Tai Shang Junior Lord, with the two longswords, pierced through the screen!

With a sword wreathed in boundless flames, Ming You could not evade!

She instantly felt the supreme heat as if it had pierced through billions of years!

The black ribbon behind her darted toward the two flaming swords as if it had grown eyes. The first ribbon, upon touching the blade, was instantly shredded.

The second black ribbon aimed for the slightly cooler hilt, trying to wrap around it, but was still incinerated by the golden sun flames.

Yet Tai Shang Junior Lord sensed an unfathomable resistance appear in front of him. Ming You was protected by a mysterious barrier, causing Gan Jiang and Mo Xie to slow as if sinking into a mire. If this continued, even if they pierced the Saturn Silk, they would be spent!

Tai Shang Junior Lord dared not be careless. He roared and struck the sword hilt with his right palm, which immediately sizzled, enduring the agony of being burned by temperatures of millions of degrees.

Before Ming You could react, the sword tip pressed tightly against her heart—half a step further and it would pierce her chest.

At last, the golden sun flames pierced straight into the Saturn Silk!

“Golden sun flames, burn away the Saturn Silk!”

Tai Shang Junior Lord poured all his strength into the attack!

Ming You had not expected the sun flames to possess such power. As the merged swords pressed against her heart, even through the Saturn Silk she could feel the astonishing heat crossing the whirlpools of time. Not only that, the temperature was rising swiftly.

A trace of terror crossed her heart—is this the heat that surpasses the yellow dwarf star?

Ming You always believed the temporal whirlpool woven by Saturn Silk was endless. But is endlessness truly without an end, or is it simply unseen from within? Is a hundred thousand, a million years endless?

In the face of the sun’s billion-year flames, could Saturn Silk truly withstand?

If the whirlpool of time were pierced, her future self would be nothing before the sun’s power—even a pinhole would utterly annihilate her!

Perhaps the golden sun flames could truly transcend time, burning away her existence that never belonged to this world!

What would become of her? What fate awaits the mortal realm?

Perhaps, this would not be a bad thing. Since the moment she donned Saturn Silk and descended, she had been like an inverted hourglass.

Born from the future, vanished in the past—a beautiful, romantic ending.

All things in the world are at the mercy of fate, whether good or bad, often beyond reach. Drifting in the river of destiny, even wishing to give up, one sometimes cannot.

Saturn Silk would not hold out much longer, Ming You was pinned by the golden sun flames. Even if she used the technique to shift forms, she would drag the swords and Tai Shang Junior Lord with her, unable to escape.

A vision flashed before Ming You’s eyes—beasts gnawing at infants—and a trace of sorrow passed through her heart. She spoke softly, “I have done all I could, there are no regrets…”

But at that moment, the unexpected happened!

A shadow appeared before Ming You, blocking her from the supreme heat of the Divine Sun Flame!

It was none other than the Black Tortoise Spirit Serpent, now transformed back into human form.

How? She had clearly been pierced by Tai Shang Junior Lord—how could someone else come between them? How had the Spirit Serpent managed to push the sword away?

Or perhaps the sword was never pushed aside! Thinking thus, Ming You grabbed the Spirit Serpent’s arm.

Just as she had thought, the Spirit Serpent, after taking human form, wrapped himself around the perimeter of Tai Shang Junior Lord’s sword. In other words, he deliberately allowed the swords to pierce his own chest!

His body, twisted in agony from the burning, let out a terrible cry. Gan Jiang and Mo Xie burned a deep crimson cavity into him, the surrounding flesh like a candle illuminating his chest in blood-red light.

Despite this, the Spirit Serpent held the blades tightly with both hands, the sizzle of burning flesh constant. His human hands melted instantly from the heat, sticking to the sword. His blood boiled from the golden sun flames.

Ming You cried, “Spirit Serpent, you’ll die!”

Boiling blood sprayed from his mouth, instantly vaporized by the heat, leaving dry stains at his lips. He managed a faint smile. “Lady Ming You, Spirit Serpent remembers when you came to the Tower of Rock every day to speak with me. Though I found it hard to speak, every word you said, Spirit Serpent heard and remembered. Thank you!”

“Spirit Serpent, all for such a small thing! You—”

“Because only you saw… loneliness.”

A hundred, a thousand years of solitude—Ming You understood all too well. Day after day, year after year, sitting atop vine-covered skyscrapers, gazing at this desolate, cruel world.

Ming You wanted to say, the reason I am as I am is because I saw myself in you.

“The moon-controlling technique has been cast. Tonight will be safe. Take care… live on…”

“Spirit Serpent! You—?”

Ming You tried to pull the two longswords lodged in Spirit Serpent’s chest barehanded.

Suddenly, he reverted to serpent form, wrapping tightly around the burning swords, and with a flick of his tail, knocked Tai Shang Junior Lord’s hand away. Then he vanished, disappearing into the sky.

Tai Shang Junior Lord was stunned, immediately meeting Ming You’s eyes, filled with hatred.

“All Ming You has done—just to let humanity endure, to live as human! I only wanted to save people! But why—why must you all hurt me so ruthlessly!”

In an instant, the black ribbon shot like a spear, piercing Tai Shang Junior Lord’s chest and binding him tightly.

He was flung a thousand meters away, dangling like a bodhi seed on a long cord.

Tai Shang Junior Lord spat immortal blood, murmuring,

“This plot… is not as one wishes… Academy in peril…”

He desperately grasped the ribbon piercing his chest, trying to use shifting techniques to escape. But the artifact bound him fast, and the Spirit Serpent’s sudden disappearance gave him a terrible foreboding.

Before he finished speaking, a massive flash appeared above the Dao Academy beneath the stratosphere. The giant Black Tortoise Spirit Serpent had become a ball of fire, and burning upon him was the golden sun flames!

“You hypocritical immortals—taste the bitter fruit you sowed!”

In the flames, the Spirit Serpent’s furious roar echoed, as a blazing meteor crashed toward the Dao Academy!