Sundering Nature Volume 3 Chapter 46

Book 3 Chapter 46 – Xiang Liu’s True Form

"Li Huabei!" Big Beard said hesitantly. Li Huaibei was the only survivor from Eden, and he was level five when he escaped it. After this many years, perhaps Li Huaibei had reached level seven, and even if he did not, he would still be a great a.s.set in the fight against Xiang Liu. 'On top of that, it looks like Li Huaibei has a special relations.h.i.+p with Li Yiming.'

Qing Linglong's eyes also lit up with hope, and she looked at Li Yiming.

"I don't think he'll be able to help us." Li Yiming shook his head in despair when he thought about Li Huaibei's weakened state after showing to him the memories of Eden.

"Li Huaibei has probably already left the domain. Otherwise, he would've done something about Zeng Qian's madness before." Bai Ze wagged her tail and flapped her wings once.

"He left?" Big Beard frowned.

"Yes, most likely. He probably came to this domain for another purpose," Bai Ze answered.

"How could he leave before the ending?" Qing Linglong was surprised by Bai Ze's answer.

"Sage privileges." Bai Ze answered in a discouraged voice. 'Things wouldn't be so bad if Li Huaibei had stayed.'

"Sage…" Big Beard sighed. 'Just as I thought.'

"What now…" Eyegla.s.ses wanted to say something to uplift the mood of the group, but he could not come up with anything.

"If we can't hide, and then the only thing we can do is to fight." Li Yiming's firmed his will. The thirst for combat he had acquired from Bai Xi's illusion and Eden resurfaced in his eyes. He remembered the unshattered resolve of the guardians in Eden, who fought until their last breath. 'Is this the fight destined by the Heavens, or our struggle against our destiny?'

"Fight?" Qing Linglong looked at her sister reluctantly. She was inclined to hiding separately, since there were only two days left after all.

"Xiang Liu is the embodiment of the hate of those who perished here. It's different from the camouflager, whose goal is to protect the domain. We won't be able to hide from the destruction it brings." Li Yiming looked at his friends, "Also, the camouflager and Xiang Liu are fundamentally of the same nature. The collision of two different wills Perhaps we'll have a chance."

"The camouflager?" Li Yiming's words reminded Big Beard that there was someone else who still walked the ruins of Shangbei. He was so focused on Xiang Liu to the point that he had forgotten about the camouflager. The camouflager, with Bai Xi, Ya Yu, his own mech, Bai Ze, and Li Yiming meant that they still had a chance.

"Let's go, we can't waste any time." Li Yiming looked at Liu Meng and walked toward the exit of the shelter. It was a profound glance that contained all of his love for her.

"I…" Eyegla.s.ses said.

"You should stay here and wait until the sun sets." Qing Linglong tapped Eyegla.s.ses' shoulder; it was impossible for Eyegla.s.ses to go out into the radiant afternoon sun.

"Be careful." Eyegla.s.ses was dejected, but this was his burden to shoulder from the moment he decided to take the vampiric serum.

The mecha lifted off with the Qing sisters on its back while Li Yiming and Liu Meng rode on Bai Ze's back. Li Yiming cast down a look at the broken walls, at the craters that covered the ground, and at the remnants of those who were still alive a few days ago. There was nothing left. 'Is this the power of Heaven's Laws? If this happened in real life…'

"Yiming, do you think we'll make it out of this alive?" Liu Meng pushed her back as firmly as she could against Li Yiming's chest. Instead of looking at the living h.e.l.l below her, she tried her best to savour her potential last moment with him.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." Li Yiming brought her face close to Liu Meng's and took a deep breath while wrapping his arms tightly around her. He wanted to become one with her; he wanted to remember her scent and her warmth.

"I'll be happy even if this is the end." Liu Meng smiled and whispered when at Li Yiming's display of affection.

"We're here," Bai Ze said as she slowed down the speed of her flight.

Li Yiming looked forward. He found two silhouettes facing each other in the distance. The woman with long hair was dressed in black and was elegant and composed, while the creature facing her was had a bull's body, a serpent's tail, a tiger's claw and golden scales on its limbs. The camouflager had already merged with both of his summons.

"Fang Shui'er?" Liu Meng was surprised when she recognized the woman in black.

"She's Zeng Qian. They're twins." Li Yiming could tell the difference. 'By the looks of it, Zeng Qian used to be even more alluring than Fang Shui'er. No wonder she broke down back in Ning Village… To possess such beauty and to then lose it…'

"Don't be fooled by her appearance, she's not Zeng Qian," Bai Ze said coldly. She could feel the immense pressure that frail-looking woman generated. 'This is Xiang Liu in its complete form! The monster that terrorized the world in the legendary tales!'

"Let's go." Li Yiming looked at Big Beard's armor, which was hovering right next to him. This was the strongest foe he had ever faced, a foe who was different from what he had seen in Eden, or the gravely injured phoenix he had encountered in Ning Village.

"Oh, it seems like everyone is here. Shall we start the game, then?" Xiang Liu said in a sweet voice that sounded like a TV show host.

"Are you planning to destroy the city?" Li Yiming hopped off of Bai Ze's back and interposed himself between Xiang Liu and Liu Meng.

"You seem to have the wrong idea." Xiang Liu's smile disappeared. She gazed at those around her coldly. "I didn't turn this city into a wasteland. On the contrary, I came because you made this city into a graveyard. You call yourself a guardian, a protector of Heaven's Laws, and yet you are blind to the consequences of your own actions?"

Li Yiming could not say anything back to that statement.

"This is only a trial!" Big Beard's mech landed right next to Li Yiming.

"Ha! You speak the truth now. Only a trial! This is only a game for you. Why should you care about the lives of other people? You're just like Heaven's Laws, full of hypocrisy. All you're doing is playing around with other people's lives and fool the entire world!" Xiang Liu's voice grew angrier and angrier.

'Play around with other people's lives? Fool the entire world?' Xiang Liu's words struck Li Yiming's mind like lightning. A terrible but fleeting thought slipped by his mind.

"You see, everything is a game. It's my turn to make the rules now. Heaven's Laws has picked the players, let's see how long you can last in front of an NPC such as myself. But, come to think of it, I'm some kind of hidden boss, am I not?" Xiang Liu raised her arm and moved her finger. A thread of green light followed her fingertip and her hair spread out and billowed.

'I can freeze her for three seconds.' A voice was heard.

'The camouflager?' Li Yiming kept his poker face. He recognized the voice.

The fastest to react to the camouflager's message was Qing Linglong. She retracted her blades down to her waist and lowered them. A spiral of indigo wind appeared behind her, on the left side; this was the start of a charged attack.

Big Beard was just a bit slower. The two arms of his mecha fused and transformed into a cannon in front of his chest. A faint white glow could be seen inside the hollow cannon tube.

Liu Meng glanced at Li Yiming and split her hands with her palms facing upward. Her hair turned into red, fiery threads. The mark of Bi Fang on her forehead lit up and the temperature around her quickly rose, emitting wave after wave of scorching heat.

Qing Qiaoqiao knew that it was hard for her attack to hurt Xiang Liu, so she wrapped arms around her body and created a barrier that protected Liu Meng and herself.

Li Yiming held his sword in one hand while a purple glow formed in his trembling left hand.

"Oh? A futile attempt before your demise? That's right, show me that I've not come here for nothing." Xiang Liu said nonchalantly, but she was growing more and more cautious of the attack which was soon to come. The green light around her hand shone, and the puddle of water beneath her started to boil, producing puffs of poisonous gas.

Arrgh!

Bai Ze, who had been standing still in front of Li Yiming until now, roared mightily. White light gathered at the tip of her horn. She flapped her wings vigorously and dashed toward Xiang Liu without fear or second though, just like when she launched herself against Heaven's Punishment.

"Pitiful." Xiang Liu, who was about to launch an attack on the guardians, s.h.i.+fted her attention to Bai Ze. She snorted in disdain and waved her right hand. A ribbon of green light wrapped around Bai Ze, bringing with it a pleasant aroma. However, this beautiful apparition was a vine that would wrap around and suffocate its target.

Li Yiming was horrified by the fate Bai Ze was about to suffer while Xiang Liu smiled coldly.

Arrgh!

Another shriek from Bai Ze. The band of light around her splintered. Bai Ze emerged, surrounded by a white and slightly purple halo of light. Bai Ze had ruptured the s.p.a.ce around her with a swipe of her claws.

Xiang Liu's playful smile froze. She could not understand what she was seeing. She dodged Bai Ze's attack, but not before it carried away a few of her hair. As soon as Bai Ze landed after he missed attack, she thrust her tail at Xiang Liu's face like a spear while slas.h.i.+ng at her waist with her wings.

"You've survived Heaven's Punishment?" Xiang Liu was baffled by the purple spark on the tip of Bai Ze's tail. She dodged Bai Ze's attack. Instead of striking back, she tried to s.n.a.t.c.h Bai Ze's wing. 'This Bai Ze… How is it possible that she has survived Heaven's Punishment? I need to capture her alive.'

"NOW!" The camouflager, who had stayed silent until now, suddenly roared. A ghost-like shade burst out of his body and flew toward Xiang Liu. The spirit looked just like the camouflager, but it quickly shrank after emerging and gained a noticeable golden tint. As for the camouflager's body, it remained still, starting at the distance vacantly, as if the soul that inhabited it had left.

Xiang Liu turned her head to look at the camouflager. She put her arm in front of her body and extended the fingers of her other hand. A diamond-shaped barrier that looked like a piece of liquid emerald appeared in front of her.

The golden spirit arrived in an instant and collided against the barrier. However, it pa.s.sed through it as if it was nothing and sank directly into Xiang Liu's body.

"Beast-taming? You're dreaming if you think that you can control me!" Xiang Liu's eyes gradually settled down, and her body went limp, but an angry roar came from her direction.

Bai Ze's wing hit against Xiang Liu's right hand. The blow sent sparks flying around, and Bai Ze used the recoiling force from her strike to jump back.

"Moonshadow Descent!" Qing Linglong swung her daggers, and an indigo crescent flew toward Xiang Liu.

"Light Cannon!" A ball of white light was launched from the cannon tube in front of Big Beard's mech. The giant mech flew back from the recoil of the blast and trembled violently.

"Welcoming Phoenix!" An image of Bi Fang appeared in front of Liu Meng. It was the same firebird with a white beak and blue specks on its body, but this time its wings, spanning more than five meters in length, had turned into those of a phoenix. The bird flew toward Xiang Liu after a high-pitched cry, bring with it fire that melted and ruptured the air around it.

"Thunderous Strike!" Li Yiming had not much time for thinking. He pointed toward Xiang Liu with his left hand and thought about activating his attack. A fissure appeared in the sky above Xiang Liu. On the other side was a huge ball of purple light. Suddenly, a portion of the purple light split away from the main ma.s.s and fell onto Xiang Liu.

Bai Ze turned her head back in midair and opened her mouth. She spat out a purple and light ray of light that was also aimed at Xiang Liu.

The crescent, the cannonball, the firebird, the lightning and the breath of light all struck Xiang Liu at once. First came a blinding light, and then a deafening noise. Li Yiming had to look away. The dirt and smoke that was blown into the sky from the explosion formed a mushroom cloud, and a shockwave spread throughout the remains of the city. The few buildings which were still standing were completely obliterated, leaving behind nothing but a layer of fine grain sand.

The camouflager, whose soul was out of his body, was blasted into the distance. Big Beard barely stabilized his mech after channeling all of the energy her had into the propulsion system, but not without leaving a long mark in the ground beneath him. Qing Linglong sliced the incoming shockwave with her daggers and split them completely. Bai Ze crouched down and s.h.i.+elded herself with her wings. She created a perfectly aerodynamic curve that allowed the gusts of wind to fly by without affecting her. Qing Qiaoqiao's barrier transformed from its circular shape to a triangular one and cut the violent gusts of wind into two.

Finally, Li Yiming, who had lost all of his strength, was about to be blown off by the shockwave when Liu Meng intercepted him. Liu Meng's fire formed a protective barrier around them that clamped both of them to the ground.

Li Yiming's ears was still ringing from the explosion, but he had no time to mind his own unease. He struggled to turn his head toward the center of the explosion. As the light faded away, he saw that where Xiang Liu stood a second ago was completely empty.

'We did it?' Li Yiming was hopeful.

Bai Ze retracted her wings and stood up slowly. The tip of her horn flashed with white light as she sensed the surroundings. "Wait, something's wrong!" She dashed toward Li Yiming.

"Hehe… hehe… hehe… Not bad… You've injured me…" A surprised and angry voice resonated in the sky above Li Yiming. It sounded like several people were speaking at the same time.

The ground suddenly began to shake. The grains of sand melted one by one, turning into a thick, green gas that soon covered the entire city. Li Yiming could no longer see Bai Ze, who was still rus.h.i.+ng toward him, or even feel her through the psychic link he shared with her.

"Yiming, look!" Liu Meng was in a lot better shape than Li Yiming. She supported him and pointed toward the sky.

A shadow emerged. It was a giant snake, about one hundred meters long, with nine heads. Its eighteen eyes shone through the green fog like lanterns, emitting an intense green light as its body wriggled left and right.

Xiang Liu… a snake with nine heads that feasted on humans. The water it spat out was poisonous and leaves behind a desolate land on which nothing could grow. Its immensity allowed it to eat from nine different mountains at the same time. The saliva it spat out created huge poisonous marshes, and it was rumored that the leader Yu had tried to fill these marshes up three times to no avail. Therefore, he turned the marsh into a lake and used the earth he had dug up to build a sanctuary for the G.o.ds in the north of the Kunlun mountains.

This was Xiang Liu’s true form.

This scene with people yelling out the names of their attacks is so anime like xD