Chapter 148: Four Against One

Chaoter 149: Four Against One

Her wrist flicked. BANG!

Lemo was blown backward like a ragdoll. He smashed through three massive boulders, his body carving a path of destruction down the slope before he finally stopped.

"Lemo!" Estelle cried out.

Her hands moved in a blur of seals. "Ninefold Gale Prison!"

WHOOM!

Nine pillars of screaming wind trapped Lady Jade Serpent in a rotating cage. The air pressure was high enough to crush iron.

The woman simply glanced at the wind. Then, she played a single, haunting note on her flute.

FUUUUU—

Emerald Qi seeped into the ground. Suddenly, the mountainside came alive. Massive, thorny vines burst from the rocks, thick as tree trunks.

CRACK! CRACK!

The vines lashed out like whips. Estelle turned her wind into a storm of blades, shredding the wood, but the vines grew back the moment they were cut.

HISSSSS!

An emerald snake lunged from the tangled roots. Estelle twisted her body, the fangs grazing her collar. Before she could counter, dozens more emerged from the soil.

Lady Jade Serpent played another note. The snakes didn’t just attack—they moved with military precision, weaving through the rocks to find her blind spots.

A vine snapped around Estelle’s ankle. Another coiled around her throat.

BOOM!

Vaelric appeared, incinerating the snakes with a burst of superheated white fire. "Stay close! Don’t let her separate us!"

His eyes turned silver. [Kinetic Command.]

The four leaders felt a pull on their souls. Their heartbeats slowed. Their breathing synchronized. Lemo returned to the line, blood dripping from his mouth, while Roan’s golden sword hovered in the air, humming with power.

Vaelric. Lemo. Estelle. Roan.

The four pillars of the Great Families stood together.

Lady Jade Serpent watched them, her eyes sparkling with cruel delight. "Better. Now show me a real struggle."

Roan stepped forward, his golden Qi flooding the sky. "Golden Heaven Sword Formation!"

BOOOOOOM!

The clouds were replaced by a canopy of golden blades. Hundreds of sword-shadows rained down in a terrifying bombardment.

Lemo’s lightning shot through the gaps. Estelle’s wind accelerated the blades. Vaelric’s white Qi added a crushing gravity. Four high-level powers fused into a single, apocalyptic strike.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The mountain valley turned into a crater of golden fire and dust.

Roan breathed heavily, his eyes fixed on the smoke. "Did we hit her?"

CRACK.

A golden sword shadow shattered. Then another.

BOOM!

The entire formation blew apart. Lady Jade Serpent walked through the fading sparks. Her emerald robes were immaculate. Not a single hair was out of place.

She lifted her flute. FUUUUU—

The sound was quiet, but it vibrated inside their skulls.

"Protect your minds!" Vaelric roared.

Too late. The emerald snakes struck. Lemo was slammed into a cliff face. Roan was hit by a poisoned palm that sent him crashing through the bedrock. Estelle was blown out of the sky by a wave of green mist.

Vaelric caught her, both of them skidding down the mud.

He looked at his companions. Lemo was bleeding. Roan’s sword was chipped. Estelle was gasping for air.

Lady Jade Serpent hadn’t even broken a sweat. The gap was a chasm.

Vaelric’s eyes turned cold. "Stop attacking her individually. We aren’t strong enough."

"Then what?" Lemo spat blood.

"Attack through me," Vaelric said, his white Qi roaring. "I’ll be the lens. You be the light."

Estelle’s wind poured into Vaelric. Lemo’s lightning followed. Roan’s golden Qi joined them last.

RUMBLE...

The white Qi formed the foundation. The wind gave speed. The lightning gave the edge. The gold gave the weight.

"Kinetic Command!" Vaelric bellowed.

BOOM!

They vanished.

Vaelric struck first, his white Qi locking her in place. Estelle appeared above, wind chains binding her arms. Lemo struck from the left with a lightning bolt that pierced her barrier. Roan slashed from the right with a golden blade.

Four techniques. One singular rhythm.

Lady Jade Serpent’s emerald aura flared. BOOOOOOM!

The mountainside exploded. For the first time, she was forced back. One step. Two.

Her vines were shredded. Her snakes were pulverized. Her poison was pushed back.

She was actually defending.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive cloud of dust swallowed the entire slope.

Silence.

Then, a golden sword emerged from the fog. Roan stepped forward, his shoulder soaked in blood. Lemo and the others followed. All four were wounded, but they were standing tall.

Across from them, Lady Jade Serpent stepped out of the dust.

A small cut was on her cheek. She touched the blood, looked at it, and let out a soft, chilling laugh. "You finally learned how to use your numbers. I’m impressed."

She raised her flute to her lips.

Behind her, the mountain itself seemed to rise. RUMBLE...

A colossal serpent phantom emerged from the fog, its head piercing the clouds, its golden slit eyes looking down at the four humans like they were ants.

She smiled. "But... you still haven’t made me serious."

FUUUUUU—

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The valley tore apart. They couldn’t win—but they had to hold.

——————————

[Back in Sector Three]

In the shattered ruins of Sector Three, the air didn’t just feel heavy—it felt predatory.

The Ancient Being inhabiting Jules’s body looked at his blackened, lightning-scarred hands with a cold, aristocratic curiosity.

"This vessel is weak," the Being murmured, his voice echoing like grinding stone. "But it will suffice until I reclaim what was stolen."

Qing Lian stepped forward, her emerald robes fluttering amidst the dust. She bowed deeply, her silver fan held tight. "Lord, the Core—your Heart is in the chamber directly above us. Sector Four."

"Then let us not delay," the Being said. He didn’t walk; he simply glided forward.

Asher raised Myriad Forge, the blade screaming in warning. "You aren’t going anywhere!"

The Being didn’t even turn his head. He flicked a single finger.

BOOOOM!

A shockwave of black-silver lightning detonated. Asher was sent flying across the room, his golden Metal Qi barely preventing his bones from being pulverized. The Argon sisters were blown back into the rubble, gasping for air.

"Sister!" Arvessa cried out, but the pressure in the room was now so high that standing up was a monumental task.

The Being looked at the ceiling of the chamber. With a casual wave of his hand, the reinforced basalt above them—metaphysically hardened stone that could withstand a mountain collapsing, simply dissolved into fine gray ash.

"Come, little serpent," the Being said to Qing Lian.

The two of them shot upward into the darkness of the newly opened vertical shaft, heading straight for Lothe’s location in Sector Four.

"Wait!" Seana shouted, her Crimson Blood Qi erupting. She prepared to launch herself into the air to pursue them, but the Palace had other plans.

KRRRRRR-KRAAK!

The Palace’s "Integration" phase suddenly spiked. The walls groaned and shifted violently. Massive slabs of stone slammed down from the ceiling, creating a wall of debris that cut the chamber in half.

Asher and the Argon sisters were pinned on one side, fending off a swarm of black-crystalline Harvesters that had just emerged from the side doors.

Seana was left on the other side, standing in a long, narrow corridor that had been isolated by the shifting architecture.

Silence fell over her section of the hall.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of calm, measured footsteps echoed from the darkness ahead of her.

Seana didn’t turn back. She slowly raised her dark red sword, the crimson glow of her Qi illuminating her strikingly beautiful, unmasked face.

The familiar Qi signature coming along with the footsteps already told her who was coming.​