novelraw Chapter 273: What does "can't go back to the way it was" mean?
Chapter 273: What does "can't go back to the way it was" mean?
The dragon claw, carrying the sharpness that had just split the sun and moon, fiercely slammed onto the void that had cracked open earlier, revealing the World Tree.
However, after the space shattered, only the original spatial turbulence could be seen.
The World Tree was still beyond the spatial turbulence.
Shion nodded slightly in understanding, and the dragon claw gradually reverted to a hand.
The balance of the three forces earlier had likely triggered some possibility, causing the invisible heavenly barrier—let's call it the invisible heavenly barrier for now—to be broken, revealing a corner of the world beyond. But in reality, it wasn't something that could be torn open by brute force alone to reach beyond the world.
One needed to find the right method. Shion, who had retracted her dragon wings, took a deep breath.
The world beyond the world.
Although she had only glimpsed it for a moment, it made Shion's heart beat a little faster.
This was... the feeling of falling in love.
Love at first sight.How could the decaying, outdated old world of the decaying zone deserve the title of a Great Thousand World? At best, it was a Small Thousand World.
She had arduously cultivated all the way, painstakingly managed her sect, overcome countless bottlenecks, and fought against ancient powerful enemies. It wasn't just to explode in the Xuanhuang Dragon Sea zone and become the War God of Mad Maggots!
The Great Thousand Worlds, the Void Light Sea, the Supreme Plane, the Immortal Firmament Heavenly Continent, the Four Desolate Star Domains, the Seventeen King Realms, the Thirty-three Heavens, the Chaos Universe Sea, the Primordial Universe Sea, Kunxu's Thirty-six Heavens, the Spirit Realm, the Immortal Realm, the Divine Realm, the Longevity Realm, the Tianyuan Realm, the Haotian Divine Kingdom, and the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, the Nine Provinces and Ten Lands, the Immortal Domain, the King's Different Domain Enemies!
Even Concealing the Heavens!
The new world that haunted her dreams!
However, after the space calmed down, Shion regained her composure.
She wasn't in a hurry.
Not to mention whether what she saw just now was real or not, when she swept her Divine Sense across in that instant, she didn't detect anything.
On the other hand, Shion wasn't prepared to go mining yet. Keke at home hadn't been arranged for, and the Azure Cloud Sect had only just begun to expand.
Rushing off to mine like this wasn't safe.
Web novel ancestors mostly arranged matters for the next layer before undergoing tribulation and ascending to a higher realm. She deeply agreed with this point.
And.
Shion glanced around, her gaze falling on the directions from which the Polluted Magic cannon and Pure Mana cannon had been fired.
She certainly knew that both sides had been activated from outside the invisible heavenly barrier. Even Divine Sense found it difficult to trace them.
"Don't be impatient."
But when a voice as majestic as a dragon's roar resounded throughout the cosmos, no matter where those people were, they could hear it.
"I will come find you soon."
A single sentence made the world stir for her.
Then, it fell into dead silence.
Whether it was the Magic Kingdom or the Witch Association of Chongxu, they most likely knew about the World Tree outside.
She would definitely go find them one by one later.
Shion's dragon wings fluttered gently.
The mana of the Witch Association and the Magic Kingdom gradually dissipated into the air, and everything returned to peace.
The sun and moon that had been split apart by a sword had now recovered to their original state, except for the gap on the moon that had been smashed earlier, which hadn't been restored.
This world would forever be without a full moon.
The sword energy filling the sky dispersed, and the many disciples descended. When Bingtang and the true-transmission disciples returned to Beihai, they were greeted with treatment fit for heroes.
Keke and Silver Lotus were also swept up in the crowd, but both of them occasionally looked up towards outer space.
The figure above the sun and moon was almost invisible from below.
And Shion wasn't paying attention to them either. She just expanded her Divine Sense.
The Magical Girl Dragon Lord form contained a flawless Golden Core within. Whether it was the ashen-grey Dregs, the polluted pitch-black mana, or Pure Mana, they were no longer different to her. She could blend them all together seamlessly, fuse them perfectly, and wield them with ease.
Her Divine Sense was also different from before. It was no longer rootless water, a castle in the air that would dissipate not long after being placed in the body, only to be synthesized hastily before battle.
It could move on its own now.
Thinking of this, the Dragon Lord looked down. The space of the entire Beihai twisted slightly.
On one side were the cheering Beihai citizens and the Azure Cloud Sect disciples who had just landed.
On the other side was the disaster-human realm, ready to replace all of this at any moment.
The ethereal mountainous area, the majestic and mysteriously immortal Azure Cloud Sect nestled within the mountains.
The seven Magical Girls imitating the true-transmission disciples, and Ling Mei, who didn't know when she would return, were all wandering around in confusion at the moment.
And this twisted space, the slightly activated disaster-human realm, was currently squirming incessantly.
"It's already activated, huh. Just a little bit more, and it really would have swallowed Beihai and replaced it with the disaster-human realm."
Shion tilted her head slightly and saw the space beside her split open. An Shiyu leisurely walked out from within.
She stepped on the air as if it were solid ground.
"Mùjǐn?"
"Hehehe, it's me." Mùjǐn winked. "Little An is afraid of heights. At this altitude, she wouldn't dare to open her eyes at all, hehe. So, I had to come. This form of yours is so cute. Come here, let me give you a hug."
However, before she could pounce, the dragon tail firmly pressed against her forehead, preventing her from getting any closer.
Only then did Mùjǐn realize the surrounding space had solidified. She couldn't even use spatial manipulation to get closer.
She's gotten stronger again...
But she was just joking around anyway and didn't dare to actually hug her.
After fooling around a bit, she looked down.
Those eight Magical Girls from the disaster-human realm flew out from the mountainous area and could even walk around in Beihai.
It's just that the people in Beihai couldn't see them. Everyone was looking around curiously.
Of course, the most terrifying thing was that the entire disaster-human realm was like a young beast, clinging stickily to the edge of Beihai's space.
"Now is the most troublesome part. It's already activated. You've seen it before, right? World Disaster Beasts?"
Shion's expression shifted slightly. The Curse Realm, the entire world was constructed from a Disaster Beast. After killing it, the entire world disappeared. But obviously, the two were somewhat different.
"According to Central Bureau records, there are several types of World Disaster Beasts. World larvae can also turn into Disaster Beasts after awakening," Mùjǐn's gaze revealed a trace of nostalgia. "I once fought against enemies from beyond the heavens with my companions. That one was an S-class Disaster Beast transformed from a world larva."
"And right now, this parasitic world beast is in an intermediate state after the world larva awakens consciousness. A little more, and it will become a World Disaster Beast. Currently, after the fusion degree becomes too high, if this parasitic world beast dies, it will also cause the world to collapse. However, currently, this parasitic world beast is only fused with Beihai, so killing it would only make Beihai disappear."
"Beihai must be separated from this parasitic world beast, or it will collapse..."
Shion interrupted her, "Alright, I get it. Is this the special repetitive talk of an elderly Great Emperor? Going back and forth."
Mùjǐn's face flushed with embarrassment in an instant, "I'm not elderly! I'm still a minor!"
Shion snorted coldly but didn't refute her further.
Instead, she took another look at Beihai.
Xiao Qi had been collecting her mana all along for this matter, right?
If she had transformed into Shion too quickly back then, she might have really let that guy succeed in replacing the world.
These Full Blooms were indeed very troublesome.
"At this level, wanting to safely separate Beihai from the parasitic world beast that has become the disaster-human realm is almost impossible. The interlocking is too tight. One careless move might destroy the entire Beihai, causing both sides to collapse and be destroyed."
As Mùjǐn spoke, the frivolity in her tone began to disappear. "In other words, theoretically, Beihai is already beyond saving. The people inside Beihai can't get out, and others can't come in either. Sooner or later, they will mutate into Dregs like the old world."
"Oh."
Hearing Shion finally respond, Mùjǐn chuckled lightly. "You're lucky, you know. I, Mùjǐn, have returned. Although it's absolutely impossible for others, for me, Mùjǐn, it's just a trivial matter."
With her back to Shion, the girl's aura surged as she asked:
"Have you seen my peak period?"
Mùjǐn's hair danced in the wind on its own. She stepped forward, and the space of the entire Beihai began to twist beneath her feet.
"A once-in-a-lifetime full-power effort, although it will make my soul completely disappear, but..."
The Magical Girl who had once reached Full Bloom said with deep emotion, "Beihai, my beloved hometown. Being able to live for this extra period of time, I'm already completely satisfied. I've also left the Spatial Heart Image for An Shiyu. Now, let me make my final contribution to my hometown."
Mùjǐn sighed slightly. Returning from a century of military service only to find she had just turned thirteen.
But Shion over there wasn't listening to her at all. Her smooth, jade-like dragon horns shimmered with golden light.
"However, there's still a tiny, little regret." Mujin turned her head, her expression heavy yet expectant. "I've lived this long and never tried what kissing feels like. In my final moments, could you fulfill this insignificant wish of mine? Preferably the kind with tongues... Holy crap, what are you doing?!"
Originally determined to save her hometown once again with her own Full Bloom, even if it meant disappearing, the sight before her eyes scared her voice into distortion.
Shion's beautiful and exquisite little dragon horns suddenly erupted with thousands of threads!
In an instant, they wrapped and enveloped the entire Beihai!
"You're crazy! Beihai will be destroyed!"
Mùjǐn was immediately startled because she could tell at a glance that Shion was actually trying to forcibly tear that world larva off Beihai's body!
This was practically disregarding the entire Beihai!
However, before Mùjǐn could stop her, she discovered that Shion's mana threads were threading needles, precisely controlling every gap and opening between the disaster-human realm world larva and Beihai, weaving a layer of fine fabric within this world!
Mùjǐn's remaining words got stuck in her throat. She just widened her eyes, looking at the scene below in disbelief.
She already had some understanding of Shion's mana control precision.
But the scene before her eyes still exceeded her cognition. Ultra-large scale, ultra-high precision, ultra-long duration, plus mana control under high-pressure conditions. Unless a person could be as precise as a machine.
Even being as precise as a machine might not be enough, because that world larva was constantly squirming, which meant those tiny gaps in between were constantly changing, and changing rapidly.
This didn't just mean manipulating a needle to perfectly pass through an eye with almost no extra space. It also meant ensuring this needle moved along with the changing eye, guaranteeing the needle and the eye wouldn't touch and cause tearing.
Because both the needle and the eye were fragile.
One careless move would cause tearing. Once tearing occurred, it would cause a butterfly effect in both worlds, and who knows how many people would die.
This was why Mùjǐn intended to sacrifice herself. Apart from sacrificing herself and using spatial rules to perform the excision, there was no other way. Even so, Mùjǐn wasn't very confident.
Because she was also seeing a world bubble fusing with reality for the first time, so she felt somewhat unsure in her heart.
This was something only she could do... or so it should have been.
Yet at this moment, Shion's purple mana threads were interwoven between the two worlds, perfectly, bit by bit, completely peeling the world larva off the space above Beihai!
Not a single tremor was produced, to the point that the citizens within Beihai didn't even realize the terrifying danger they had just experienced...
Earlier, splitting the sun and moon with a sword had displayed Shion's unimaginably immense power. Mùjǐn wasn't surprised at all.
After all, from their first meeting, the other party's mana had been roughly this terrifying. It was just a matter of whether she was willing to release it or not.
But this kind of precise and delicate operation right now was far more unimaginable than the previous display of might...
This world larva that had turned into a world beast was very complete. Perhaps it could create a new world in the future.
After Shion stored the world beast within her body, she glanced at the dumbstruck Mùjǐn beside her.
"Did you say something just now?"
Snapping back to reality, Mùjǐn immediately scratched the back of her head. "Ahaha, how could I have said anything? I just came to watch the show."
"You said something about tongues earlier."
"No, absolutely not."
Seeing she couldn't hide it, Mùjǐn shouted, "It wasn't me! It was all An Shiyu!"
Then, she closed her eyes. Soon, when they opened again, An Shiyu was completely bewildered. Seeing herself at such a high altitude, her legs immediately started trembling.
"Huh? W-wait, wait!"
Without Mùjǐn's spatial rules supporting her, her entire person immediately began to plummet downwards!
"Help!"
Before she could finish speaking, a thick, long dragon tail swung over. An Shiyu, as if grabbing a lifeline, hugged the dragon tail with all four limbs, her entire body plastered against it, then started panting rapidly.
Looking down, the altitude of thousands of miles made her limbs go weak. Moreover, the dragon scales were cold and smooth. After holding onto the tail for a while, she felt like she was about to lose her strength.
"What did you mean just now?"
Faced with Shion's question, An Shiyu was stunned for a moment. She looked up at Shion and was momentarily dazed.
Her appearance itself hadn't changed much.
But after dragonification, there was a pair of smooth, attractive dragon horns. Above them were a pair of majestic yet sharp golden-yellow dragon pupils. Translucent dragon scales extended from the corners of her eyes. Her overall dress was black and gold, not only more majestic.
But also carrying an aura of mystery and sinister strangeness.
A completely different temperament from Shion's original form, yet even more captivating...
"What are you spacing out for?"
Snapping back to reality, An Shiyu hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at her anymore. "N-nothing... what did I say just now?"
"Tongues."
"T-tongues?" An Shiyu was stunned for a moment. Then, lying on that dragon tail, her brain heated up, and she actually carefully extended the tip of her tongue, licking the dragon scales on her tail. "J-just wanted to taste... dragon scales..."
Cold, slippery, with a hint of sweetness.
The dragon tail suddenly twitched, as if feeling a bit ticklish, and shook.
The cool, smooth dragon scales weren't easy to hold onto either. With this shake, no matter how hard An Shiyu tried, she couldn't hold on anymore and fell off!
"S-sorry..."
An Shiyu almost cried, regretting what on earth she was doing. Now she was going to be disliked...
But then the dragon tail swung again, coiling around her.
An Shiyu, whose heart was about to jump out from fright, tightly hugged the dragon tail. For a moment, she didn't know if she was scared because she almost fell from a great height, or because she seemed to have been disliked by Shion just now.
"Stop moving around."
Under Shion's command, An Shiyu finally settled down.
Coiled by the dragon tail, An Shiyu felt at ease, looking down at the brightly lit city below.
For a moment, she wondered, could this count as a secret rendezvous? A private moment that Miss Bingtang and Captain Silver Lotus didn't know about...
"How much of the Spatial Heart Image have you mastered?"
Brought back to reality by this sentence, pressing closely against the dragon tail and carefully rubbing against it, An Shiyu then said, "I-I've already mastered a lot. A bit better than Senior Mùjǐn in her current state."
"You're still far from it!"
Suddenly refuting herself—probably Mùjǐn.
Since the two shared one body, it looked like the left and right brains were arguing with each other.
Shion didn't mind, just saying, "Perfect timing. Help me with something."
Hearing this, An Shiyu immediately perked up. "O-okay!"
Dealing with reporters, reassuring the public, negotiating with the Disaster Control Bureau, including apologizing and responding to the Central Bureau.
For Bingtang, there were quite a few things to handle.
Activating the Zhu Xian Sword Formation was also a huge drain for her. She was actually exhausted.
Later on, the backlash from activating the Heavenly Secret Seal also arrived.
Generally speaking, once one reached the Blooming realm, they could activate the Zhu Xian Sword and forcefully suppress the backlash.
But after opening the Heavenly Secret Seal, even those at the Lush Leaves realm couldn't withstand the backlash.
So, after getting annoyed by the questioning, Bingtang, suffering from the Zhu Xian Sword's malevolent energy backlash, finally lost her smile.
"Can we end this now? If not, I'll turn you all into ice sculptures."
Normally, she would never lose her composure like this.
Sigh, it's just that the Zhu Xian Sword Formation's power is too great.
She could discuss with the Sect Master later about how to suppress the malevolent energy backlash. They couldn't let Qian Dao Xuan entangle her and then have Bai Jian Yi cut her down...
Repeating the tragedy of the Azure Cloud Sect's two prodigies.
Although Qian Dao Xuan wasn't suitable to be Sect Master either, and it was even more impossible to suppress Bai Jian Yi in the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling.
While her mind was wandering with these thoughts, when she returned to the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling, she saw a group of true-transmission disciples hiding outside the door.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you going inside? What are you doing here?"
Yumo, Shuangye, Qinghua, and the others were all startled. They immediately turned to look and, seeing it was Bingtang, sighed in relief.
"T-the Sect Master has returned."
Bingtang found it strange. So she returned? Didn't the Sect Master usually return to the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling to train when she had nothing to do?
Not paying it much mind, she pushed the door open and entered.
Then she saw Shion in her Calamity Dragon form.
"However, there's still a tiny, little regret." Mujin turned her head, her expression heavy yet expectant. "I've lived this long and never tried what kissing feels like. In my final moments, could you fulfill this insignificant wish of mine? Preferably the kind with tongues... Holy crap, what are you doing?!"
Golden Core True Lords cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be spoken of! Lower Cultivators seeing them is like directly gazing upon the Great Dao, resulting in Dao transformation and bleeding tears!
"The Sect Master's Polluted Magic is too strong! It's impossible to get close at all!"
Bingtang finally understood why even a lazy girl like Qinghua had run out.
Under this kind of pressure, sleeping for too long might make one vomit black mud.
Shion also glanced at her, then nodded. "Bingtang, how did it go?"
"Everything's been handled, Sect Master."
A chill spread around her, resisting the pressure emanating from the Sect Master.
However, the sound of ice crystals shattering crackled incessantly.
"Sect Master, why haven't you undone your transformation today?"
Normally, the Sect Master would quickly undo her transformation after fighting.
Today, not only hadn't she, but she was also continuously releasing pressure. Even Bingtang felt it was a bit strenuous.
Taking a step forward, she saw Shion reply absentmindedly:
"I can't change back for now."
The true-transmission disciples outside and Bingtang collectively held their breath.
The Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling fell into silence.
"Huh?"