Chereads / Moonfall and Starrise / Chapter 39 - Chapter 39: Spherical Lightning

Chapter 39 - Chapter 39: Spherical Lightning

While maintaining her defensive formation, Guo Xingyue resolutely took out one piece each of top-grade Five Elements Crystals from her storage ring. With a series of hand seals, she set up a small Spirit Gathering Formation within her defensive array to temporarily channel energy into it. She then released her golden sword, preparing for an attack. The energy from the five top-grade Five Elements Crystals was visibly depleting at an astonishing rate, soon nearing a pale white color. Guo Xingyue made her move.

She commanded her flying sword to charge rapidly toward the mirror above the formation. As the celestial formation shifted, beams of white light shot from the mirror to meet the golden sword, forming a dense net of light that aimed to envelop the descending blade. Guo Xingyue skillfully maneuvered the sword through the white light, continuously changing directions to evade the beams while still pressing toward the mirror. Suddenly, a massive beam of white light shot forth from the mirror to intercept the golden sword. The light moved with incredible speed and covered a wide area, effectively blocking all escape routes for the sword. The situation was dire for Guo Xingyue; it seemed that she had no choice but to face it head-on.

In a moment of desperation, Guo Xingyue channeled a surge of true essence into her golden sword, then severed her connection to it. With a swift motion, she dashed out of her defensive formation, landing on her red flying sword and speeding toward the mirror. The beam of white light struck the golden sword with a tremendous boom, sending it crashing down. Although she had cut off the connection, the sword was still infused with her essence, and the blow caused severe injuries to Guo Xingyue. Blood oozed from her mouth and nose, and her Nascent Soul suffered as well. Gritting her teeth against the intense pain, she reached the mirror and unleashed a flurry of hand seals, sending streams of golden light toward the mirror's surface. This temporarily severed the connection between the mirror and the formation. Following that, she executed another hand seal to forcibly store the mirror into her storage ring. With the focal point of the celestial formation captured, the formation instantly collapsed. A massive explosion erupted, and Guo Xingyue was propelled upward, crashing into the ceiling. By the time she fell, she had already slipped into unconsciousness.

Uncertain how much time had passed, Guo Xingyue slowly regained consciousness. As she opened her heavy eyelids, she found that where the mirror had been, a spherical lightning orb was crackling and drifting about, almost like a living creature. Could it be that the elaborate formations were all to suppress this sphere of lightning? Intrigued, Guo Xingyue observed the floating orb, but as she tried to rise, she realized her entire body ached. A scan of her spiritual sense revealed that her Nascent Soul was also languid and weak, clearly suffering significant damage from her earlier attempt to break the formation. Ignoring the drifting lightning orb for now, she reached into her storage ring and retrieved a Returning Essence Pill, swallowing it before settling into a cross-legged position to recover.

After a long time, Guo Xingyue let out a long howl as she emerged from her meditation, standing upright to find the lightning orb still pulsating in the center of the hall. With caution, she approached the orb but did not dare get too close; after all, it had been heavily sealed, suggesting it was of great significance. Stopping about three zhang away from the lightning sphere, she cautiously released her spiritual sense to scan it.

To her surprise, she found that her spiritual sense could not penetrate the outer layer of the lightning orb, making it impossible to discern its interior. Curious, she stepped a little closer to examine it with her naked eyes. Suddenly, the lightning orb shot toward her with remarkable speed. Guo Xingyue quickly dodged to the side, trying to evade the orb, but it relentlessly pursued her. She deftly maneuvered on her flying sword throughout the hall, changing direction rapidly, but the lightning orb matched her speed and agility, making it impossible for her to escape its clutches.

Frustrated that no amount of evasive action or speed would shake the lightning orb off her tail, Guo Xingyue came to a halt. Her golden sword had been knocked away by the celestial formation, and she had no idea if it was still intact. She could only grip her red flying sword tightly and transformed it into the long sword she often used on Pangu Star. With a swift stroke, she executed the "Moonset and Starfall" technique toward the lightning orb. The sword sliced through the air as if it had been in motion since time immemorial, quietly aiming at the lightning orb.

As the long sword neared the lightning sphere, it suddenly unleashed dozens of starlight points, sealing all potential movements of the orb. The starlight illuminated the surface of the sphere as the many sword strikes hit their mark. However, despite the apparent impact, the lightning orb showed no change in speed or direction. Just as Guo Xingyue felt the satisfying sensation of successfully striking her target, the lightning orb was now upon her.

With no time left to swing her sword again, Guo Xingyue was forced to extend her hand and unleash her "Qiankun Hand" technique, channeling her spiral true essence to confront the lightning orb. Normally, this technique was reliable, but this time, when the orb approached her palm, it suddenly sank and adhered to her hand.

Surprised, Guo Xingyue frantically tried to shake off the orb, but it felt as if it had fused with her palm, and she couldn't dislodge it. Not only that, the lightning orb suddenly burrowed into her palm, racing through her meridians, causing her to tremble in pain. Guo Xingyue gritted her teeth against the agony, desperately channeling her true essence to expel the orb, but as soon as her essence touched it, it dissipated like snow in fire. Panic surged through her, and she decided to summon the lightning sphere enveloping her Nascent Soul to confront the one in her hand.

When the two lightning spheres met, Guo Xingyue felt a deafening roar in her ears, as if she heard an explosion, and then she lost consciousness. The two lightning spheres merged, quickly swirling within her body, constantly colliding with her meridians, creating cracks throughout. Yet, the true essence that flowed alongside the lightning simultaneously repaired her damaged meridians. The cycle of cracking and repairing continued an unknown number of times, until Guo Xingyue's meridians expanded several times over.

When she finally awoke from her stupor, the lightning orb had vanished. She felt invigorated, as if her cultivation had experienced a significant boost. Hastily, she inspected her body with her spiritual sense: her meridians were now extremely wide, and her previously three-foot-tall Nascent Soul had surprisingly grown to five feet. She had inadvertently advanced to the initial stage of the Spirit Division during her unconsciousness. The lightning orb, once encasing her Nascent Soul, had now formed a disk-like halo, swirling behind her Nascent Soul's head. When she attempted to channel her true essence, she discovered that both its quality and quantity had increased more than tenfold compared to her previous state. Although the lightning energy could not yet merge with her true essence, she could still manipulate it according to her will.