As the smoke from the obliterated mountain range slowly thinned, Tang Jiyan exhaled. The destructive glow faded, leaving behind molten streaks of earth and a trembling sky. But before he could refocus on the battlefield, his divine sense violently rippled.
It rippled with the sensation of incoming danger.
His body moved before his thoughts.
He shifted ten steps back—fast, sharp and instinctive.
Then a split second later, the space where he had just stood cracked open like a thin layer of brittle glass.
From the fracture, dozens—then hundreds—of thin strings of Yin Qi slithered out like pale serpents. The moment they emerged, they whipped out in a storm of razor-fast strikes.
Tang Jiyan's pupils constricted.
The first barrage came—
then the second—
then the third.
He barely dodged them, lightning bursting under his feet as he spiraled around the gaps between the strands. Each string cut through space with a shrill hiss, sharp enough to shred flesh and freeze bone instantly. Only his sudden bursts of speed kept him from being torn apart.
He gritted his teeth. "Persistent…!"
He formed a seal mid-movement.
Mists seeped from his pores, curling outward like streams of white fog. They expanded rapidly, twisting, stretching—
Until two figures emerged from the mist.
Two mist clones of tang jiyan.
Both of the clones held a spear of crackling lightning identical to his own.
The instant they fully formed, the two clones charged forward.
Their lightning spears thrust through the incoming yin strings, bursting them apart one after another. Each strike dispersed dozens of strings, clearing the path in front of them.
Tang Jiyan watched as the clones pushed forward, forcing a temporary opening.
However, Seconds passed.
Then minutes.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Yet the Yin strings did not thin.
For every hundred strings the clones destroyed—another hundred appeared.
Not weaker nor slower, it just felt… endless.
Tang Jiyan's brows tightened. Something was wrong.
He scanned the battlefield again, and then—his gaze sharpened.
The woman still stood fifteen kilometers away from him. Her eyes were closed, her expression cold and serene. Around her, hundreds upon hundreds of Yin strings wrapped her completely, like she sat within a rotating cocoon of strings. All the Yin Qi she possessed was being poured into the strings alone.
'So that's why it feels endless. She's not dividing her Qi. She's giving everything to the strings… she wants to end this quickly.'
However, even if he knew the source, the problem remained.
He couldn't reach her.
The strings had completely blocked the space around her—every angle, every direction. No gap existed. If he tried to charge straight in without a flawless plan, the strings would wrap around him, freeze him or shred him until he is nothing but a bloody mist.
His eyes flickered between her—still healing, still trying to recover her almost diminishing Qi—and the clones fighting desperately in the distance.
Minutes ticked by.
Outside the pocket world, the mortals were in chaos.
Some mortals trembled in awed silence, while others leaned so far forward they nearly fell off their seats. Their hearts pounded so loudly that if one listened carefully, the rhythm echoed through the crowd.
"Is Tang Jiyan going to lose..?"
"No… not yet. He still has a chance!"
"It looks hopeless—those strings won't end!"
Inside the pocket world, Tang Jiyan's mind raced.
He stared at the clones, at the woman, then back at the strings.
Then—his eyes lit up.
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
At the same moment, both clones' eyes brightened slightly, as if their awareness synced with his.
Without wasting a breath, the clones unleashed a sudden surge of strength.
They tore down a massive section of the yin strings—hundreds of them—and then charged straight toward the woman.
She sensed the sudden shift.
Her eyes snapped open.
Hatred and fury flashed within them as clear as the summer sky.
Every surrounding yin string redirected instantly to intercept the two clones.
The moment the strings and clones were a mere ten feet away—
The clones accelerated.
Even Tang Jiyan's teammates, watching from afar, gasped. The clones shot into the incoming Yin strings at suicidal speed.
The mortals outside saw nothing—only a flicker—
then the next moment, the clones were completely tangled, held by hundreds of yin strings.
Inside the pocket world, the clones groaned softly as the strings constricted, squeezing them, freezing their bodies. Being made of mist, they froze faster than Tang Jiyan would.
The woman made another hand seal.
The strings tightened.
The clones' bodies rapidly froze from the legs upward, frost spreading like vines.
But just before they fully turned to solid ice—
Both clones' hands blurred.
Multiple seals formed in front of them.
Lightning surged around them.
Their spears instantly dissolved into puddles of condensed lightning, similar but weaker than the one Tang Jiyan himself had unleashed earlier.
The woman's eyes widened.
"Impossible! His clones can use this technique?"
She immediately understood—this lightning wasn't meant to kill her
It was meant to disrupt the flow of the Yin Qi controlling the strings.
Even though it couldn't kill her for being much weaker than the one created by Tang Jiyan, the puddles made by the clones were still enough to disrupt the qi flow of the strings, along with injuring her.
But she realized it too late.
The lightning puddles fused into one and burst outward.
The Yin strings binding the clones shattered instantly, vaporized into nothing by the violent lightning surge. Then the puddle shot forward, racing toward the massive field of strings surrounding the woman.
She reacted instantly.
Her fingers locked into a seal.
Every yin string around her instantly started to coil inward, forming a hardened cocoon of ice, sealing every direction.
Then the puddle struck the cocoon.
Cracks instantly spread.
Within ten breaths—
CRACK!
the entire barrier shattered into sparking fragments.
However, the barrier not only shattered—
the pieces also evaporated into cold mist.
The woman's pupils contracted.
She pushed her weight to the side, trying to flee sideways—but she felt something.
A presence.
She turned to the other side. Her eyes were bloodshot red with anger from what she just saw.
Tang Jiyan stood right in front of her.
Lightning spear aimed straight at her heart.
She tried to dodge, but he was too close.
Desperation surged through her. She conjured a sword of ice instantly, raising it to block.
But then Tang Jiyan did something she did not expect.
He let go of the spear.
Her eyes widened.
Then horror flooded her face.
The spear shrank—condensing—twisting—compressing into a small orb of pure lightning.
The moment her ice sword touched it—
Pressure assaulted all of her senses.
This was no ordinary lightning. If she failed to counter, she would die.
She quickly tried to conjure another defense—
But the lightning orb exploded just at that moment.
The blast quickly expanded—
Five kilometers.
Seven.
Ten.
Fifteen.
And finally stopped at twenty kilometers.
Everything within that radius had turned jet-black.
Charred, melted earth. Shattered stones. A view of pure destruction.
Even Tang Jiyan's teammates, watching from far away, felt their noses sting with the acrid scent of burnt land.
A thousand steps away, the woman appeared—teleportation disk in hand, its glow dimming. She coughed blood violently, her cheeks and arms burned, the skin peeling where the lightning had grazed her.
A teleportation disk was an instrument commonly used by cultivators below the Elysian Stage; it had a teleportation array engraved in it. One could use it for two times at most. The woman had just used one of the two uses.
Outside the pocket world, chaos erupted.
Those supporting Tang Jiyan roared with excitement—though they were fewer.
Supporters of the Spirit Ice Pavilion turned feral, shouting curses.
"Monster!"
"He harmed her!"
"Let me in! I'll die for her if I must!"
Inside the pocket world, the woman's fury surpassed her rational thought.
With a roar, she lunged at Tang Jiyan.
He responded with the same intensity.
Then they clashed—
However, this time it was with neither any techniques nor weapons.
But with fists.
Pure physical strength.
Every punch sent shockwaves ripping through the ground, even rattling nearby mountain ranges. The space between their fists warped, shaking under the force of their blows.
Neither allowed the other even a breath to prepare another large technique.
They looked less like elite Nirvana cultivators and more like two beasts locked in a bloody brawl.
The woman suddenly grew even more desperate.
At close range, she spat a drop of condensed Yin Qi directly at his arm.
Tang Jiyan's eyes widened.
He couldn't dodge.
The Qi hit him.
Instantly, Yin Qi spread across his arms, freezing everything in its path.
In less than a second, his entire arm turned purple and numb.
He quickly forced thunder Qi into it, driving out the invading Yin Qi—
But the arm remained frostbitten and unusable.
His face darkened.
He raised his left hand and formed a seal.
A massive palm imprint of Water Qi appeared and shot toward the woman.
She countered with her own seal.
A palm imprint of Yin Qi blasted outward.
The two palms collided.
The water imprint froze instantly and shattered.
The Yin palm rushed toward him.
Tang Jiyan exhaled sharply and formed another seal.
This time, a thunder Qi palm imprint emerged—surging forward, clashing violently with the Yin palm.
The collision's pressure obliterated every surrounding mountain range, turning stone to dust.
Both palms fought for dominance—
one cold and devouring,
one fierce and crackling.
Tang Jiyan's mind raced.
'I need more power… faster attacks… something instantaneous. To have no gap between my thoughts and action, but… how?'
But then—
His consciousness seemed to waver.
A strange pull tugged at his awareness. His vision darkened at the edges. His thoughts blurred.
Although he was trying to resist it, however, it felt useless as the pressure was too much, something dragged him deeper and deeper—
His mind narrowed until only one thought remained.
'Attack!'
'Kill!'
His eyes stayed open, but the light within them dimmed.
A whisper—quiet yet thunderous—left his lips.
"Kill!"
Instantly, the thunder palm imprint began to change.
The blue lightning shifted—
turning paler—
even brighter—
almost white—
Within five breaths of time, it transformed into a milky-white lightning palm.
Then—
BOOM!
It crushed the Yin palm imprint in a heartbeat.
The palm shot downward, smashing into the earth.
The ground stood no chance.
It tore straight through, collapsing, disintegrating everything in a six-thousand-kilometers of radius. The land vanished, it seemed like it didn't even exist. A massive chasm replaced mountains, plains, and stones.
The woman froze in sheer shock.
Tang Jiyan's teammates stared with wide eyes.
Outside the pocket world—
Even Nirvana cultivators felt chills race up their spines.
Mortals trembled, whispering prayers or backing away, eyes filled with terror.
However, what terrified the Nirvana cultivators was the speed of that attack and the aura they could feel from it. It gave them the same feeling that they get when they see Quasi-Elysian cultivators and above.
Even though mortals couldn't differentiate this difference, the Nirvana cultivators could and some even had guesses on what might have happened to Tang Jiyan.
At the elders' chamber, several elders wiped sweat from their brow.
The Spirit Ice Pavilion elder spoke first.
"That was undoubtedly Dao Immersion, when one is close to comprehending a Dao, they will experience such a phenomenon. It's akin to a state of trance.."
The other elders nodded.
Then the Twin Soul Sect elder murmured, "This kid, Tang Jiyan, was stuck at the peak ninth layer for nearly a hundred years… but to achieve Dao Immersion now… unexpected."
The Spirit Ice Pavilion elder added, "His Dao is clearly the Thunder Dao. Since it's dao comprehension by his own effort, he will have a higher chance of reaching the Peak of Elysian later on. As for Shen Yuan…?"
The Twin Soul Sect elder replied, "That boy is still searching for his path. But he is undeniably a rare genius."
All the elders nodded.
Inside the pocket world—
The woman stared at the crater, trembling.
"What… was that lightning?"
Tang Jiyan's fingers twisted.
His eyes slowly regained clarity.
As he slowly looked at his surroundings with half-lidded eyes, his eyes quickly widened and his pupils shrank as he saw the devastation. Even though he had been in a trance, he retained vague images of what he'd unleashed
The woman seized the moment.
She blasted forward—palm aimed at his heart.
Tang Jiyan jolted back into focus as he sensed her, dodging just in time. However, his reaction was slightly slower, her palm grazed his shoulder, freezing cloth and skin.
The two clashed once again at close range.
Yet Tang Jiyan was no longer wholly focused on the battle.
His mind circled around the strange white lightning.
'What… was that technique?'
Their fists collided once more.
But while the woman fought with everything she had—
Tang Jiyan's attention drifted.
All he could think about… was that strange lightning.