Chen Wentian looked up sharply. The crowd was still clamoring endlessly below but he no longer paid them any attention. It was time. He had finally received the signal. His prized disciple was finally out of her dream.
"Long Yifei is emerging from the dream array!" He announced and floated upward.
He headed towards the small side door that was situated halfway up Lotus Tower. Several Spirit Lords that had come to take part in the festivities followed him curiously but stayed a good distance away. The mob, meanwhile, erupted into cheers and deafening shouts that shook the ground.
He ignored everything and concentrated on his upcoming task. He only had one shot at this. He could not fail. He should have been nervous but he was confident that he would succeed.
Within the secret observation room next to the dream array, a pair of Spirit Kings stood up at that same moment. One face was impassive while the other broke out into a wide smile, overcome with excitement.
"Is it time? Well?" Abbotess Liang asked, her voice quivering.
"It is." Gong Liyun nodded, "Long Yifei has exited the dream array's influence and is now in normal sleep. It went smoothly, there are no issues."
"Hehehe, good, good! Let's not delay. I will take her away at once!"
Gong Liyun nodded and led the way out of the room. They entered the hallway and turned to the sealed door that led into the dream room. The inscriptions that protected the door were powerful enough to resist any attempts to force through them by several Spirit Kings. They could only be opened in a short period of time by the person who created them.
Gong Liyun summoned her spiritual energy and, through a short but complicated effort, unlocked the door.
Abbotess Liang didn't give her companion time to move before she pushed her way into the circular array room. She appeared in an instant beside Long Yifei's bed and peered down with a loving, almost manic expression.
"Wow…" She muttered, "She's even more beautiful up close. I knew it, she's perfect. If I wasn't a woman, I would take her myself!"
"There's nothing wrong with that. Are you sure you don't want to meet sister Qian Lan?" Gong Liyun quipped.
The abbotess snorted, "You're lucky I am in a good mood. I'll forgive you for that disgusting comment."
Gong Liyun rolled her eyes and also peered at the sleeping figure of Long Yifei. She felt an uncomfortable pang and tinge of annoyance, emotions that she should not have had as a venerable immortal. However, she was still a woman. Feeling jealous and threatened by a more beautiful specimen of her gender was simply human nature. She couldn't control it and there was probably no woman in the world who could.
"Can I move her like this?" Abbotess Liang asked.
"Yes."
As soon as she uttered those words, their world turned pitch black!
"Who? What is going on?" Abbotess Liang was the first to scream out.
She could no longer see. She could longer hear, smell, or sense anything either. It was as if she had been plunged into a black abyss, cut off from the surrounding by endless nothingness. It was a fearful feeling that she had never experienced before.
Gong Liyun was under the same spell and felt the same. The two Spirit Kings were only a meter away from each other and yet they couldn't even sense or hear each other. Even if they tried to walk over and touch each other, it would have been impossible as they wouldn't have been able to sense it!
These were the fearsome effects of the most powerful Shadow Realm that Chen Mo had ever cast. The expenditure of spiritual energy from him with each passing fraction of a second was truly fearsome. It far exceeded what a single Spirit Lord could ever hope to generate. If he was still alive, he would have already expended all of his life energy and fallen over dead. He was only able to sustain this domain that was able to hoodwink two Spirit Kings by drawing from every soul in the soul domain.
Even with his best efforts, he knew that he could not hope to contain these opponents for long. After just one second, the two Spirit Kings had already figured roughly what was happening. Their considerable spiritual energy was already being brought to bear and his domain would not last for much longer.
But he didn't need to last long.
Infinite Black Rain!
The most powerful attack within his most powerful domain was launched. It struck down from all directions, seeking to shred the two women into nothingness.
"Insolent!" Abbotess Liang shouted as her spiritual aura exploded.
"Cheh!" Gong Liyun scoffed as she too waved her hands, dominating spiritual energy shooting out to intercept the attacks.
The array room shook as the forces collided. There was a brief stalemate but it did not last. The two Spirit Kings weren't even using their full strength. They were holding back so as to not kill Long Yifei and the others in the dream room by accident. Once they figured out the limits, the sheer difference in power rapidly ate away at the black domain until it was no more. The Infinite Black Rain disappeared as well, doing absolutely nothing like a gentle sprinkle that fell against a steel umbrella.
There was nothing more Chen Mo could do. He could not stop the abbotess from taking Long Yifei. This was reality and Chen Wentian knew it. But he had never intended Chen Mo to stop either Abbotess Liang or Gong Liyun. He only needed to delay them by a few critical seconds!
This was because, at the same time that Chen Mo erupted with his shadow domain, another soul had also leaped into action!
The snow monkey emerged from the Flawless Snowfrost earrings as an avatar of spiritual energy. It picked up Long Yifei's sleeping body and made a mad dash for the exit. Its way was clear through the Shadow Domain that rooted the two Spirit Kings in place. Although the snow monkey did not specialize in speed, it was still a Spirit Lord soul and it flew like the wind.
By the time the Shadow Domain dissipated, by the time Abbotess Liang and Gong Liyun emerged back into the real world, Long Yifei was already gone from her bed. They turned around and watched in pure shock as her body flew out of the adjacent corridor, blasted apart the exterior door, and launched into the open sky!
They had been delayed a mere two seconds but it was enough!
"Shit!" Abbotess Liang shouted and gave chase.
Gong Liyun seemed to realize something and did not follow. She remained in the array room but the abbotess no longer paid her any heed.
Long Yifei, still blissfully asleep, exited Lotus Tower in a beautiful arc and landed directly in Chen Wentian's arms. There was no way he could miss, not when the snow monkey delivered her straight to him. All of his souls were in perfect synchrony and carried out the rescue perfectly.
Knowing what was coming, he rapidly descended, drawing as much distance as he could from the ensuing raging ball of estrogen.
Abbotess Liang soon blasted her way out of the tower and caught sight of Chen Wentian. Her eyes bulged when she caught sight of his arms, inappropriately tight around her prey.
"Thief! Give her to me!" She bellowed and shot down after him.
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