บท 168: Death's soft footsteps.
As Liang Chen and Yan Ling made their way deeper into the area dominated by azure lightning, the azure lightning dominion as it was known, they noticed that the trees and grass grew even sturdier, to the point where it would take a strong effort to break them. Liang Chen also discovered another thing, crouching down at the base of one of the trees and placing his hand on the ground.
"The roots are made out of wood, there's also a small sliver of wood still remaining in the very base of the tree. I might be wrong, but there is a chance that all these trees once used to be normal, but suddenly started to change when this area became like this."
Liang Chen could follow the lightning energy inside the trees with his senses, which was what allowed him to discover that not only this tree, but all the trees in the surrounding area still had wood remnants in them, the remnants almost perfectly merged with the crystal and the lightning that the trees had become now.
Lightning and wood were two opposing elements that should not be able to co-exist, much like fire and water. If these trees truly used to normal then they should just have been destroyed when the lightning touched, that or they should have crushed the lightning, a fusion like this should never have happened. Theoretically, it shouldn't even be possible.
Liang Chen stood up and straightened out his body so that they could continue heading for their target, his gaze drifting towards the gargantuan tree that stood at the center of the forest. This was the only tree that was still fully wooden, but it should also be the one enduring the strongest lightning so how come it managed to remain like that? He had only been in this strange forest for around half a day but he already found himself getting increasingly curious about the one who supposedly caused the storm that likely changed this place, the Twin-Soul Thunder Saint.
But as this was an event that took place about 29 000 years ago, he didn't really have a way to get an answer to his questions. As such, he could only toss them to the back of his mind and focus on the task ahead. He turned his head slightly, his gaze drifting towards Yan Ling, who was walking at his side while carrying Lan Yun and shielding her from the elements. The two exchanged a quick smile while walking, their gazes simultaneously moving towards their front as they reached their target.
Standing in front of them was a somewhat crooked and bent crystal tree littered with small holes that allowed the wind and rain to move through it. Its branches and crown stretched up high, acting as lightning rods that greedily attracted any lightning that got close to them. The reason Liang Chen had singled this tree out was the simple fact that the thick trunk of the tree had a large tear in it that hollowed out almost the entire inside of the tree.
The hollowed out trunk was a place very well suited to cultivating while gathering all the various elements in the area. Yan Ling looked at the crooked tree, walking around it a few times before stopping in front of Liang Chen and handing him Lan Yun once again.
"Hold her for a bit, I'll set something up for us."
Liang Chen accepted Lan Yun and watched on as Yan Ling got to work, pulling the crystalline tree she had picked up earlier out of her interspatial ring. She tore the entire tree into smaller pieces and then proceeded to place them in a formation around the entire tree, cutting a wound in her hand and using her own blood to connect the pieces together into a small array.
Liang Chen actually recognized this array, Yan Ling had set it up for him once before after they arrived on this planet, its only purpose was to draw in all the Qi in the surrounding area and focus it at the center of the array. Back then she had used Spirit Stones to set up the array, but now that they were flat out broke she could only use what they had on hand. Luckily, this entire forest was filled with trees that contained highly concentrated lightning energy, using them as a base for the array would somewhat increase the array's ability to attract Qi with the lightning attribute. Yan Ling skipped over to Liang Chen again, pointing at the tree with her thumb.
"Aight, Boss, got er' done fer ya!"
Liang Chen simply rolled his eyes with a faint smile at Yan Ling's bizarre way of speaking, the two stepping into the hollowed-out trunk of the tree. The tree was a little over five-meters thick, so there was plenty of space for the two of them to sit down without having to squeeze in. Liang Chen took a deep breath, the wind and lightning Qi flooding into his body while the water Qi simply brushed past him and headed directly for Yan Ling.
The two locked eyes for a short second after taking their first breaths, both nodding at the other, showing that they were ready. Yan Ling had Lan Yun return to her dantian for a bit so that she wouldn't get caught up in the cultivating, she and Liang Chen both reaching out with their arms and holding hands so that she could more easily share her Qi with him.
Liang Chen closed his eyes and drew upon the energy gathered within his Time Dragon Lotus, time inside the hollowed out tree starting to speed up. Normally he would only be able to increase the flow of time by about four times the normal speed, but thanks to the dense energy in the area, as well as the small array feeding him plenty of energy, he could increase the flow of time to seven times the normal speed. Of course, it was only for himself that he could increase the flow of time by seven times, it was more difficult to use the law of time on someone else so he could only increase Yan Ling's flow of time by four times the normal.
He decreased the sped up time around him to the same as what he gave Yan Ling, making sure that they were on the same page to make the coming cultivating easier. Yan Ling also closed her eyes, drawing in all the surrounding water Qi and mixing it with her own before sending it into Liang Chen's body, where it then fused with his lightning, wind, and time Qi in a very slow process.
Once the fusion was finished, Liang Chen controlled the resulting energy and had it merge with his flesh and blood, finally resuming his proper body cultivation now that he had gotten his hands on the full Ocean God Physique. He had remained at the peak of the Body Ascension realm, the equivalent of the Heaven's Gate realm, for quite a while already, so the strength of his body was starting to fall too far behind his current opponents.
The fused energy slowly disintegrated his flesh and evaporated his blood, taking over their position and role. The only parts of his flesh and blood that weren't evaporated were the countless roots that spread through his body, the roots that connected him to his Dragon Lotuses. Once the strange gray energy that was the fused energy took over the position and role of his flesh and blood, the roots simply dug into it and carried on as normal.
After an unknown amount of time passed, Yan Ling noticed that a small vortex started to extend from Liang Chen's flesh and blood, automatically devouring any wind, water, or lightning Qi that got close to it and funneling it all into his body so that they could fuse with his law of time. It seemed like his bloodline had recognized that it would be beneficial for him to strengthen his body using the Ocean God Physique and was lending him some of its devouring ability to more easily draw in even the water Qi in the surroundings.
This allowed Yan Ling to let out a light breath and pull back her arms, with his bloodline aiding him in devouring the water Qi there was no need for her to continuously channel her own Qi into his body, she could focus on her own cultivation. She crossed her legs, Lan Yun appearing on her lap and obediently remaining quiet as Yan Ling wrapped her arms around her. Lan Yun did her best to copy Yan Ling, somewhat awkwardly crossing her legs and even stretching out her arms as if she was embracing someone, closing her eyes and breathing in a slow and rhythmic manner.
The surrounding Qi started to flow towards the two of them as well, rapidly entering their body and flowing towards their nucleus of power. For Yan Ling, it was her Ascended Tower and for Lan Yun, it would be the Demon Crystal located somewhere within her body, the energy gathering within them and slowly strengthening them. Liang Chen was only a small step away from breaking through in his body and soul cultivation so he quickly entered a nearly mindless state where all his focus was put on breaking through, his body instinctually increasing the flow of time around him as much as it could to aid him.
None of the elements in the area were suited to Yumao, so he remained curled up on top of Liang Chen's head, keeping an eye on the situation and making sure that nothing happened. Time held no meaning when cultivating, so the days and weeks passed in the blink of an eye, Yan Ling suddenly opening her eyes after spending half a year cultivating. For her, it had been half a year, but for the outside world it had only been about a month and a half, it had been even longer for Liang Chen, this was the cultivation advantage that the law of time brought one.
This half a year had actually brought Yan Ling quite the benefit, she finally entered the middle stage of the Soaring Immortal realm after having been stuck at the early stage for quite some time. But now she was forced to halt her cultivation, picking up Lan Yun, who responded by looking at her with a questioning and curious gaze, and placing her in Liang Chen's lap, pinching her nose lightly and smiling at her.
"You be good and wait right here, Maman's going to be right back, okay?"
Lan Yun quickly nodded her head, crossing her legs and grabbing onto Liang Chen's thighs to show that she wouldn't move. Liang Chen didn't move despite the fact that Lan Yun was placed in his lap so he seemed to be in deep cultivation. Looking at how chaotic the energy in his currently was, Yan Ling guessed that he was likely on the verge, or in the middle of, a breakthrough.
Yan Ling stood up and quietly stretched out her body, Yumao suddenly flapping his wings and taking off from Liang Chen's head, flying over to Yan Ling and curling up on her left shoulder. Yan Ling looked at Yumao, who looked uncharacteristically solemn, giving his head a few pats.
"You too, huh? Alright."
Yan Ling looked at Lan Yun one last time and reminded her to stay here and cultivate quietly, making sure that Lan Yun nodded her head vigorously before she finally turned around and walked out of the hollow tree. She quickly walked further away from the tree, swiftly putting several kilometers between herself and the tree, stopping a short distance away from the edge of the area dominated by golden lightning.
She could see a man from the Fiendgod race walking towards her, his body surprisingly short and slim for a Fiendgod. But even though he was smaller than a normal Fiendgod, Yan Ling's expression was graver than it had ever been since they arrived on this planet, the silver tattoos covering his entire body as well as his silver and black eyes allowed her to know exactly who it was that was coming for them.
And looking at his determined and quick, yet strangely soft, steps, it was clear that he had already discovered where they were cultivating, he had probably sensed their location thanks to how much Qi they were drawing in. Yan Ling let out a shallow breath when she saw the man, luckily she had made sure to connect her senses to the surrounding water and wind, allowing her to discover him before he got too close to their location. The man, Qian Liao, stopped a short distance away from Yan Ling, one of his eyebrows rising up before his expression returned to normal and he introduced himself with a courteous bow.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to willingly come to meet me, I expected you to at least attempt fleeing first. Well, whatever, it saves me time and trouble. Greetings, Wolf Queen, I am Qian Liao, Lord of Justice but more commonly referred to as the Embodiment of Death. I have come for you and the Scourge King to take revenge for my friend. I take it the Scourge King is currently hiding back there, no?"
Yan Ling clenched her right hand, her somewhat cracked white sword appearing in her grasp. Yumao stretched out his body and flew down from her shoulder, taking up position next to her and returning to his normal size of a little over four meters. Yan Ling tightly grasped her sword, her eyes cold with determination as she looked at Qian Liao, the Qi within her body starting to seethe and surge.
"I don't care even if you're death itself, I won't let anyone lay a hand on him."
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