Tianyi had a "sure enough" expression upon his face as he detected Lei Jingye entering his illusionary formation. His hands blurred as his fingers flashed through several hand seals. In front of him, the ordinary desert scenery began to distort and even darken in color until a massive black gaseous sphere formed.
"Senior Brother, making such a big scene, isn't this attracting even more attention?" Daoyi couldn't but interject. Rather with the colossal size of the black sphere, it would be harder for people not to notice.
"I'm not too worried about everyone else. Lei Jingye is the greatest threat to me." Tianyi said. He frowned as he made several hand seals, and ripples started to appear on the gaseous sphere as it began to suck in spiritual qi from the surroundings. After creating a sealing formation, he had begun to attack Lei Jingye.
"Why are you so focused on a single person? Although he is a nascent soul grandmaster, he shouldn't be able to defeat you." Daoyi asked. She didn't think it was weird for Tianyi to be wary of people disrupting Mengfei, but she found Tianyi's focus on Lei Jingye abnormal.
Tianyi stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Truthfully, he is a bit special. Do you know the concept of time travel?" Thinking back, Tianyi should have done some research on the concept when he returned from the ruin of the Immortal Court. But he hadn't thought much of it at the time since it was a common plot point in many novels that he just accepted such an extreme concept. If it was such a common occurrence, how come he never heard of it happening before?
"As if physically going back in time or mentally?" Daoyi asked. Tianyi felt his suspicion of her increase. But he could just be overly suspicious, and everything Daoyi said was being affected by his bias. After all, if Tianyi recalled correctly, the concept of time travel was far older than he thought, even if it went by a different term.
"Generally speaking, physically traveling through time would need far more energy than sending your soul through the river of time. But the difficulty remained the same. I heard that a successor to the Spring Autumn Scripture once tried to create a technique to accomplish this act." Elder Meng spoke up, greatly surprising Tianyi. So it turned that people actually had tried time traveling.
"It was during when I visited the ruin of the Immortal Court. I saw a dream. It was about a different version of me called Xi Longyi." Tianyi said as he began to explain what he saw in the dream. "...later, Lei Jingye used a forbidden method to raise his cultivation forcibly. But in the end, he still died under Xi Longyi's saber."
"Senior Brother, that alternate version of you doesn't resemble you at all. He reminds me more of Lovespot." At Daoyi's words, Tianyi made a disgusted face. So great was his lapse in concentration that he momentarily lost control of the formation.
"Don't even joke like that." Tianyi huffed. Just thinking about being as stupid as Lovespot made him want to die. He cast a glance at Daoyi, "That woman that Lei Jingye fought for, her name is Jiang Daoyi."
Now it was Daoyi's turned to be stunned. "Would I have met Lei Jingye if I left the household?" Then her thoughts recalled the night where Lei Jingye suddenly visited her and indirectly confessed to her. "Is that why he came to my room that night? Senior Brother, what was I like in your dream?"
Tianyi shrugged. "Couldn't tell. I only knew the other you after Longyi captured you. You were defiant, never easily complying, and even wanting to ruin your cultivation so as to not benefit him. I'm surprised that you're not questioning that you and Lei Jingye were an item." Tianyi said with a hint of discontent.
Now it was Daoyi's turn to shrug. "The other me is me yet also not me. Perhaps she was shaped by different experiences and thus chose to be with Lei Jingye. But I'm still more surprised at how drastic Senior Brother's change is."
Tianyi glanced at Elder Meng before continuing to speak. "That's probably due to a secret of my birth. Ask mother later. If she allows you to know, you can know." Daoyi was curious but decided to ask her master later. Tianyi was someone who didn't mind sharing knowledge, so if it was something that even he needed her master's permission for, then she wouldn't pry any further, at least for the moment.
Silence descended as Tianyi continued to manipulate the black sphere. Then he began to concentrate as the gaseous sphere began to rumble and thunder as if it was a miniature planet eternally covered in clouds having a fierce hurricane, like a black Jupiter. Tianyi sighed. He hadn't expected the Five Element Annihilation Formation to kill Lei Jingye. After all, he was someone who regressed, a regressor. But he was still disappointed when the formation actually failed.
"Elder Meng, help me watch over the area and Junior Sister, please." After saying this, Tianyi directly entered the gaseous sphere. He didn't leave time for Elder Meng to reject his request.
Elder Meng sighed.
Daoyi thought that the situation would remain unchanged for some time. Who knew that not long after Tianyi entered the formation, a group of several Core Formation Realm cultivators would arrive.
The group of core formation and acupoint opening masters was naturally the Lei Clan's patriarch, Lei De, and the group of elders. It had taken him some time to follow after Lei Jingye because Lei Jingye's speed was far faster, and he tried to search for the missing elders. He wasn't worried for his son because no one could threaten him in the Earthsea Land, especially after he killed and repelled the other nascent soul grandmasters of Paradise Sand City.
But upon seeing the black sphere, Lei De's vigilance increased tremendously. Who wouldn't? And he could feel a great danger towards the black sphere. Looking around, he saw an enchanting young woman in blue standing there without anything beneath her feet. She was a core formation master, yet she should stand on air like a nascent soul grandmaster, making Lei De raise his guard, plus the location was near where the immortal artifact. He began to have an ominous feeling.
"We are the Lei Clan of Paradise Sand City. Dare I ask fellow daoist's esteemed name?" Lei De asked as he and the other elders stopped midair atop their artifacts.
Daoyi smiled, her voice was not loud, but it seemed to be everpresent and whisper into the Lei Clan members' ears. "Surname Jiang, given name Daoyi. A disciple of the Buzhou Immortal Sect."
Once Daoyi's introduction was made, it was as if thunder had sounded next to all of their ears. The Buzhou Immortal Sect was a mythical existence they didn't even have the status to meet a disciple of. There was even some disbelief in their hearts. Why would a Buzhou Immortal Sect disciple appear here? But those who were in the know concerning the immortal artifact, or rather the divine artifact, felt it to be plausible.
"Dare I ask, what your esteemed self is here for?" Lei De asked again, courteously. Even if his cultivation was higher than Daoyi, he still placed himself under Daoyi. That was because all the disciples of Buzhou Immortal Sects were geniuses able to transcend realms and fight those with higher cultivation than themselves.
"Naturally for the divine artifact. Currently, my master is refining it." Daoyi didn't hide anything and spoke the truth.
"Impossible, the treasure hidden is obviously an immortal artifact." One of the elders cried out. When they had first discovered it, they didn't even dare to believe it to be an immortal artifact, much less a divine artifact. Lei De glared at the elder, who blurted out those words.
He internally sighed. He should have taken action earlier, as his son had said. Lei De didn't believe Daoyi's words at face value. For all he knew, she could be bluffing. But he felt a sense of pressure from Daoyi despite his higher cultivation, so he could not help but ask. "Lady Jiang, earlier some of our clan members have gone. Might you have a clue to their location?"
Daoyi didn't hide the information either. "My senior brother happened to meet them earlier. It was from them that he discovered the information concerning the divine artifact. Strictly speaking, my master would have to thank the Lei Clan, otherwise, she would have never known such a treasure was buried here for eons."
Lei De felt his face twitch at Daoyi's words. He knew that they wouldn't dare to leak the news of the treasure since it concerned the survival and prosperity of the clan. That could only mean they used some forceful methods. With a strained voice, Lei De asked, "Might I ask how they are?"
"You don't need to worry about their lives. After questioning them, Senior Brother only trapped them in a formation. They should be able to leave in a few months at most." Daoyi said.
"Then I have to thank your senior brother." Lei De smiled with a smile that was uglier than crying. But there was another question that burned in his mind. "Earlier, there should have been a nascent soul grandmaster who passed here. Do you know where he is?"
"Oh, you mean Lei Jingye." At Daoyi's mention of his son's name, the ominous feeling his heart increased. Daoyi pointed at the black sphere. "He's in there."
Lei De could already imagine why. Perhaps his son didn't believe the girl and attacked, causing her to trap him inside the formation. Since young, Lei De had always been stubborn, never willing to suffer a loss no matter the odds. "Lady Jiang, we'll give up on the divine artifact. All I can ask is for you to free my son. We won't compete and immediately return."
Daoyi smiled strangely at Lei De. "My senior brother is the one who constructed the formation. I have no control over it."
Lei De showed a helpless look, but before he could plead any more, Daoyi added. "Before you ask, I'm afraid Lei Jingye is going to fall today. Over ten years ago, my senior brother and your son met. Your son tried to assassinate my senior brother. Do you think that your son will be able to leave scot-free?"
It was as if something was choking Lei De as he heard the disbelieving news. "Impossible! Lei Jingye couldn't... wouldn't do such a thing! There must have been some misunderstanding!"
"I wasn't there, but I recall my senior brother saying that your son yelling, "surnamed Xi, go to hell!" Even knowing my senior brother's name, what is there to mistake?"
Lei De felt his heart chill. Even if he didn't believe his son would do such a thing, how could he convince her senior brother that his son didn't? "Lady Jiang, is there any way we could talk this over?" He didn't want to fight anyone from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. The risks were too high.
Daoyi shook her head before she pointed her chin in the black sphere. "My senior brother is already inside. Not even I can contact him at this moment."
Lei De sucked in his breath and made a decision. "Attack the black sphere." The other Lei Clan members were wary and objected. But they lowered their stance against Lei De's forceful decision. They didn't attack Daoyi and instead attacked the black gaseous sphere, hoping to crack it.
Daoyi watched this without moving a muscle. She was clearer than anyone else how strong Tianyi's formations were. And more than that, she had confidence in the black gaseous qi, the true qi of chaos, that Tianyi produced. As she expected, all the attacks thrown at the black sphere were destroyed and broken down, even the artifacts used to attack it suffered the same fate. Many elders cried out at the loss of their artifacts, their eyes going red.
Seeing that none of their attacks were working on the black sphere, Lei De turned his eyes to Daoyi. She was only one core formation master with no one else around. She might be a disciple of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, or she may be lying. But against seven core formation level cultivators, the Lei Clan should have a high chance to defeat her and capture her alive as a hostage.
It wasn't that Lei De wasn't willing to give up Lei Jingye for the sake of the Lei Clan. After all, he is the patriarch, and he can't put his personal feelings over the clan's survival. But Lei Jingye represented too much to the clan. He was so young, and he was already at the peak Nascent Soul Realm! Lei Jingye had a high chance of entering the Unity Realm and Transcending Mortality Realm, and he might even ascend to immortality! Then their Lei Clan would have the chance to become a third-rate force!
Lei De also harbored a small hope that Daoyi was lying, that her master wasn't refining the divine artifact, that she wasn't from the Buzhou Immortal Sect, that only she and her senior brother were present. Suppose that was the case, as long as they could be silenced. Dead men tell no tales after all. Even if the Buzhou Immortal Sect found out, Lei De was completely willing to relocate the clan and go into hiding. As long as Lei Jingye became an immortal, all was negotiable. Would the Buzhou Immortal Sect really be willing to offend a True Immortal for two mortal disciples?
"Attack!" Lei De ordered as all seven of them spread out in an attempt to attack Daoyi from every available angle.
Daoyi immediately took out her guqin. The last fight she had was too disappointing as she only got to test one of her techniques. She glanced to the side at Elder Meng. She was surprised at how everyone seemingly forgot the Unity Realm venerable's existence. If Lei De could sense Elder Meng, perhaps he would have long given up.
The moment Daoyi plucked the first string, a soul haunting melody reverberated through space and directly impacted the souls of the seven core formation and acupoint opening masters. Lei De felt his mind slow down as the sound thrummed against his ears. It felt as if his brain was pulsing with each note.
But that wasn't the end of Daoyi's attack; her recital had just begun. With each passing moment, the sound of each note increased in volume. And with the increase in volume, the seven core formation and acupoint opening masters felt as if someone was taking a hammer and pounding their brain with it. Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, Daoyi began the second phase. Her notes became incredibly eerie. All seven of them could hear two sets of notes at the same time, one high and one low.
"AHHHHHHH!" One of the seven, an early acupoint opening master, shouted in pain as he fell off his flying Artifact. Lei De and the other elders didn't have time to care as they all expressed pain. It felt as if someone was shredding their nerves with a jagged and rusty spoon. Only the pain was deeper and originated from their soul.
Lei De had a nasty expression as he realized that Daoyi was a soul cultivator. His experience was greater than Elder Cai, who fought Daoyi previously. He had heard that some powerful sects were able to cultivate soul cultivators at the Core Formation Realm. He was incredibly bitter, but he had already made his choice and could not stop now. His only choice now was to succeed or die.
But the pain only worsened the closer they were to Daoyi. Suddenly, Lei Da spat out a mouthful of blood. The pain to his soul was so painful that he couldn't recognize that his physical body was also receiving damage. His eyes widened, unable to discern how he was harmed.
Daoyi's attack was a three-layered area of effect attack. The first layer was to slow down her enemies' consciousness. The second was to attack their soul. Although it would be painful, it would only serve to hinder their judgment and bodily sense. And the third layer was vibration. By amplifying the vibration of her strings using the air and qi, she would be able to vibrate her enemies' internal organs directly and damage them by matching her vibration with the natural frequency at which the organs vibrated. She could even use this attack to induce a heart attack in an unsuspecting target.
By now, blood was leaking from all of Lei De's orifices, giving him a demented look. He no longer had a choice, no longer able to have the spare thought to bother whether he captured Daoyi alive or not; he activated a forbidden technique that increased his power but came at a high price. Clad in lightning, he charged toward Daoyi with reckless abandon.
Several of the Lei Clan elders actually had the same idea. The others were too hurt and damaged to muster the power. Activating their own techniques that increased their combat prowess temporarily, they either charged or unleashed their strongest technique at Daoyi.
Lei De's eyes showed an ecstatic expression on his pained face as he neared Daoyi, who did not react in time. But his expression froze as he found himself stuck meters away from Daoyi, unable to move. He struggled as he flailed his arms, but the more he struggled, the more he was trapped, and even his limbs became bound, unable to move.
His eyes widen when he saw the glimmer under the sun. Inspecting closely, he could see tiny strings in the air wrapped around him. He was like a fly stuck in a spider's web. How had he not noticed it? No, his opponent deliberately misguided his focus so that he could not spot the trap.
Lei De observed around him despite the pain it caused him. To his despair, he discovered that all the elders still conscious were trapped like him. Some had already fainted, unable to take the pain any longer. But he didn't give up, but he couldn't even reach inside his spatial bag to bring out any talisman or treasure that could save him. Soon, the accumulated damage became too much, and he fainted after coughing one last mouthful of blood. As his mind began to fade into darkness, his last thoughts were of his son. At the very least, he hoped his son would able to escape. Perhaps he could even take revenge for them in the future.
Daoyi sighed when she saw that Lei De finally fall into unconsciousness, but she didn't let her guard down as she continued to attack them for a little longer. Using the dreamsilk, Daoyi bounded all the living core formation and acupoint opening masters and took away all the spatial pouches they had on their bodies.
She wasn't as composed as she appeared. Compared to her fight against Elder Cai, the danger of this fight was far greater. She raised her hand from her guqin to see it shaking. When Lei De and the others activated their forbidden techniques, she had been worried that her dreamsilk defense would not be enough to block them. Furthermore...
Daoyi looked at the corpse of the two acupoint opening masters in the distance. She could not control the degree of her attack for each individual, so inevitably, there would be some who would not be able to withstand her attack for such a long time. Two of them couldn't make it. Daoyi wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure she had liquified much of their internal organs.
This was the first she had personally killed. The feeling was much more intense than she had anticipated. Daoyi wondered how her senior brother felt when he first killed someone. But due to this feeling, she kept Lei De and the others alive.