Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 58 - Part 2

Pulling the bulk of her joint sect juniors behind her, Pangfua entered the vault’s chamber. Her perceptions landed on the pylon at the center of the defensive array. Even still, it had yet to activate.

She’d already considered worst case scenarios, and knew the best course of action was to fly them across the room into the hall leading to the upward staircase. If she moved fast, even if the array activated, she’d save many. She hated the very idea of having to play games with their lives, but she didn’t have a choice.

There was also the possibility that the defensive array wasn’t the real threat. Harnish might be counting on it to steal her attention. She scanned the wide open chamber as thoroughly as she could for as little time as they had. There was nothing.

She hugged the wall as she shot through the room at a reckless speed that would affect the senses of some of her weaker juniors. It couldn’t be helped.

Reaching the hall’s entrance of the room, she sensed a distortion in front of her even though it was mostly invisible to her perceptions. It was something she’d witnessed before. There was a concealment array at the entry to the hall.

Stopping so quickly wouldn’t harm her overlord’s physique, but her juniors. She gave them as much buffer room as she could as she brought them to a halt. There was more than one groan that came from their ranks.

So the vault’s defensive array hadn’t been the danger after all. Elder Harnish had—

She struck out with her dao as killing intent rose up like a fountain throughout the chamber. It was everywhere, which could only mean multiple arrays were hidden throughout the room. If she had missed them, they'd have to each have their own miniature concealment array.

His Springtime’s Frost was a probing attack. She had a feeling she already knew what she would find behind the concealment array. Her icy qi attack passed right through it only to collide with a wall of energy behind it. It washed over the hidden defensive array’s shield.

The vault’s pylon started to hum with qi. Sage Harnish’s trap had been sprung. She didn’t even know what triggered it. It could’ve depended upon her moving to the far side of the room, or movement itself could’ve been the cause. If Harnish really was a hidden array master, then there were likely multiple trigger based upon circumstance.

That only left her with a final choice to make. Should she remain here and try to force open the array blocking their way, or retreat back the way they had come, for the array wouldn’t into the next chamber as far as the joint sect’s records went. If she remained and tried to crack the shield blocking them, it was certain many would die, and there was no guarantee she could force it open. If there were enough qi crystals, or even more than one defensive array waiting, it would likely delay them enough.

The only way to have a guaranteed chance to save some was if she went back the way they had come. It would require fighting Harnish with her juniors present, but a few should survive—she hoped. No matter the decision she made, her juniors were about to die.

She knew it might be the wrong decision, but she decided to go back the way they had come. If she targeted the defensive array blocking their exit, it was likely the pylon would target her. Then none of them would survive. Such decision were the curse of leadership, but once she had decided, she threw her entire being behind backing her chosen course.

Bursting back through the room the way she had come, she dragged her juniors with her. It was then, halfway through the room that she felt it. The pylon targeted her. It wasn’t something she could outrun. This was a divine realm array. Her joint sect had reliable records of Overlords being killed by this very array.

She cut her qi carrying her juniors. She’d do what she could to block them, even if it took her becoming a human shield. There was no churning of qi inside her. It was like it had been drawn back. The calm before the storm. During her time in the Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects, she had always been amongst the most talented, but never had been given the top spot.

When she was a girl, Quinyuan had another disciple that shone even more brilliant than she did. She called the fairy Big Sister and watched her ascend with the Ice Phoenix Envoy. Then the Fire Phoenix Sect had had a string of talents. She always ended up in second place. There had been times it had wounded her pride, and bitterness had even taken root, but eventually the bad had cracked and shattered, leaving only the good. In her century in the Ice Phoenix Sect, the one virtue she had learned above all else, was that tenacity could win against talent. And even when it didn’t, her betters learned to respect her. To fear, that if they didn’t give their all, she would pick apart their every mistake and make them regret it.

By the time Little Sister Huifen had come alone, her bitterness was decades behind her. She took the girl under her wing as much as competed against her. To have a little sister in earnest was much greater than halving a thousand rivals. But that didn’t mean her competitive edge had died.

The corners of her mouth tilted up. She was aware how rare her smile came, but there was one set of circumstances that always brought it out. The moment someone thought they had her figured out, she reveled in defying them.

Little Sister. Quinyuan. For once, I’m a step ahead.

The icy star inside her inner world ejected qi from its core. Once reaching its surface, it burst in all directions. Exiting her dantian in a instant, her meridians were like highspeed pathways, but half of them were blocked. Only those facing forward and aimed at the angry pylon offered no resistance.

With an even more bloodcurdling, all-consuming force than Ice Phoenix’s Breath, the first technique of the third pillar of the Ice Phoenix Cultivation Tome, Indominable Plumage, was executed for perhaps the first time in battle in Lifestone’s history.

While her Little Sister had been out adventuring and Quinyuan had been dealing with the Aureate Empire, Pangfua had been spending all of her free time in meditation and practice of her sect’s newest technique. After so many decades practicing Ice Phoenix’s Breath, it was simple enough to execute the first step of the technique—unleashing one’s qi. It was the second step that was far more difficult.

How many times had she failed before she got it right? To bring such force and massive amounts of qi under her control the near instant it appeared seemed like an impossible feat, but ice wasn’t simple force. It had laws and concepts that governed its every move. Indominable Plumage wasn’t the manipulation of those laws, but to take advantage of them.

A mountainous glacier rushed out of her, threatening to engulf everything in front of her. It came to a point between her and the pylon and suddenly stopped its forward motion. Just like with any qi, the denser it became, the greater its realm. The frontal layer of her Indominable Plumage didn’t brace against the qi behind it, it waited, welcoming it. Instead of being pushed, it compressed. The force belonged to her. It was guided by her will. As soon as its job was done, it released the gathering wall of ice as if it had just been dragging it behind it all along. By the time her Overlord ice had been condensed to the divine Tribulation level, the remaining force contained in the qi behind it simply pressed further qi into the transcendent defensive structure, increasing its width.

With her arms outstretched and her clothing shredded, she hardly had the qi left to cover her form. Her body faltered. Her grin only grew as she defied her bodies will.

A terrifying pulse of heaven and earth qi echoed through the room. The pylon struck out. Such a condensed beam of qi shouldn’t belong to the lower realm.

The beam struck her barrier dead center. To her astonishment, she was still alive. The surface of her Indominable Plumage had formed tiny cracks. Glancing back, she saw her forty juniors huddled together. A few elders that had been among them were taking care of the wounded and shielding them they best they could against the aura of tribulation ice. It was not something Pangfua could do anything about. She hardly had any qi left. If she stopped supplying it now, her technique would crumble.

Despite standing against almost certain death, Pangfua’s grin widened revealing grit teeth. She expected no miracle, but she’d die as she lived. Stubborn to the very last breath.