Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 60 - Part 2

Reaching the barrier between the Water Cultivation Chamber and the Vault, the first thing Chao saw was the domed wall of Tribulation ice segmenting off a larger portion of the room. He then saw the active pylon. Great surges of compressed qi shot up from its base to then fly out the orb at its top. It jumped from the orb at such a speed he could only see a strobe of light.

Even though his barrier he could sense the power in those beams of compressed qi. He wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but Pangfua was holding them back. It was unlike any technique he had seen.

It mattered little. It was common knowledge that standing behind this barrier separating rooms was safe from the defensive array in front of the vault. Chao still didn’t completely believe it. He needed to get past the barrier to examine what was happening in the room with his perceptions if he had a chance to save them.

Glancing back, he saw the collapsing Burning Cage behind them. He considered waiting and stabbing Sage Harnish in the back. It was like something was crying out from inside him, demanding that he make things right. He’d already let such feeling control him when facing off against Daiyu’s murderer. That couldn’t happen again.

With a swipe of his hand, he created a wall of space to shield him and Shoi-ming from any surprise attacks. Pangfua and tens of his fellow disciples were moments from death. How he felt may provoke him to act, but it could also be his enemy, holding him back from doing what he must. He killed all unnecessary thoughts.

The speed of the pylon’s attack wasn’t something he could compete with. Just taking a step through barrier might bring certain death. Stepping out of sight to the side of the entryway, he motioned for Shoi-ming to do the same.

The bulky peak-Sky Realm cultivator was leaning heavily on his sword. He’d exhausted himself holding back the sage.

Once the man was safely out of the way, Chao began to awaken blue lightning serpents. He kept them at the Nascent Realm because their true purpose wasn’t to fight but distract.

Once ten of them were summoned, he commanded them to go. They flew into the next room then spread out in the empty space opposite the entrance and Pangfua. They hissed at the pylon as they went.

There was no time to come up with a better plan or try anything else. He stepped through the barrier, glaring at the pylon. His restrained madness found a new target. It cried out from inside him, but he simply let it howl.

The pylon was like a domineering warrior. One of his lightning serpents vanished from the world. The pylon’s all-devouring qi systematically struck out with no apprehension. It viewed him and his feeble Nascent Realm serpents with the same level of caution. Something about that offended him. The howling inside of him turned to a deep growl.

Even then, he didn’t heed it. His passions pulled him one way, but his mind didn’t falter.

The pylon targeted him. His killing intent hadn’t lessened just because he wasn’t letting it rule him. All reason thundered like an overwhelming anthem in warning. Terror and regret pleaded their case. Yet he stood alone in the storm, unmoving.

He’d been a child when he’d last tinkered with laws that couldn’t destroy him. For more than half his life, facing such danger had been commonplace. They were the games he’d played as a boy. The heavens fascinated him to no end. As he grew, the danger only increased. Sky Realm, Overlord, and even Divine Realm elements had been his recreation and discipline. Then the space laws, and finally the accession of his sound laws had come. Face to face with this hostile power, he held its danger in the highest respect. His respect wasn’t alone. As its qi started to gather, there was a glimmer that shone in his eye.

This compressed qi had the potential to even shatter space. It was a Divine Realm defensive array likely created a Divine Lord Realm cultivator or higher. Divine Lord was the very realm where cultivators could first resist space with their body. He knew the danger, and yet he didn’t want to destroy it, but to make it submit—to study and honor it. If only it wasn’t trying to kill him.

His hand was already moving with certainty that matched the pylon’s own. He swiped from top to bottom. A wall of space appeared between them. It wasn’t his typical created space. Just as when breaking through to the Sky Realm and enhanced the borders of his own inner world, he did the same to his defensive barrier.

The pylon struck out.

Chao had faced Overlords and their ability to create overwhelming force. This was not that.

The flash of compressed qi struck his barrier. Energy, matter—all things—would normally wash over its surface as if it wasn’t even there. This didn’t follow normal laws of nature. The impact rattled his wall of space like a cage.

A rush of cold fear draped over him, challenging his confidence for the first time. It was terrifyingly powerful, which made him want to study it even more.

He reinforced his space barrier, but the pylon changed its target. He realized his barrier would make it impossible for it to find the origin of his killing intent.

Disappointed, he refocused as it destroyed another of his flying serpents. This was the time that he needed. His perceptions flew out, looking for flaws in Pangfua’s wall of ice.

He found what he was looking for quickly. Her technique hadn’t been designed to create a perfect seal from wall to wall. Finding a gap, he made his way in. What he saw left him both relieved and his heart to ache. There were a few elders trying to hold back the cold of Pangfua’s barrier, but some of the disciples had already gone still.

Tearing space, he didn’t look as he lifted Shoi-ming with his qi and dragged him through the space tunnel with him.

The temperature was deathly cold. Chao had much more experience than any Sky Realm cultivator should with Tribulation Realm ice, but that didn’t mean he was immune. His resistance was battered as was his defensive aura. So he did the only thing he could. He treated the wall of Divine ice as the enemy and struck out.

The qi of his inner world gushed out. He didn’t hold back. As if painting the inner wall of Pangfua’s technique with a layer of space, he cut them off from it entirely.

He didn’t need to say anything. Big Sister Pangfua cut off her qi as soon as she felt his barrier appear. She began to fall.

Core Disciple Shoi-ming shot past him and scooped up the sage in his arms before she hit the ground.

Chao blinked at the man’s sudden burst of energy but didn’t lose focus on what needed to be done. Small flames of Sky Realm fire appeared above them, radiating heat. He feared that if they heated up too quickly, even a cultivator’s body couldn’t handle it. He took stock of his own qi. He’d used a massive amount in a short period of time, but he still had two thirds of his total left. He just wasn’t sure how long he could last.

The tunnel he’d created to relieve Pangfua was still in place even if it had been hidden in a space bend in case Harnish decided to retreat in this direction. He was still supplying the barrier protecting it from the pylon qi as well. Two barriers, one tunnel, a bend, and five flames of Sky Realm fire.

Huifen, come quickly.

He turned his attention to his sect elders who remained conscious and tossed them a bunch of pills. They were simply high-level recovery pills. He didn’t know if giving them anything else would do more harm than good.