If facing the wolf demon had been a hopeless impasse with no chance of survival, the arrival of the girl in the black dress had actually kindled a glimmer of hope in Chao Hanbiao.
Though ruthless and decisive, she acted with clear logic.
If she killed merely because people looked at her, the hundred or so of them present would likely have been wiped out completely in that single instant.
As for those dozen-odd guards blown into mists of blood?
In Chao Hanbiao's eyes, they thoroughly deserved their fate. In the middle of nowhere, in the face of imminent death, they had the gall to let their eyes wander straight to the lower curves of such an alluring fairy. Accustomed to acting brazenly based on a meager bit of cultivation, if you hit a tough customer, who else was supposed to die but you?
Having one's life held in another's grasp was no pleasant feeling, but in Chao Hanbiao's experience, when dealing with major figures of this temperament, as long as you kept your head down and behaved yourself, you had a decent chance of surviving.
Yet that hope shattered completely the moment that nightingale-like voice rang out.
"Master."
"Qi dynamic locked on."
Hearing those words, Chao Hanbiao instinctively gripped the waist saber in his hand; only doing so could offer a false sense of security to his heart.
Not daring to lift his head to look, he did not know what was currently happening around him, but he could roughly guess what was about to follow.
Because...
Her words had not been transmitted secretly via internal energy.
Even though he had mentally prepared himself for so much, when truly confronted with death, a smothering sensation like plunging into an abyss still enveloped him.
Instinctively, Chao Hanbiao lifted his head, wanting to say something, wanting to offer everything he had to bargain for his life. But when his eyelids parted, the sight before him froze him in his tracks.
The desert night was quiet—so quiet that time itself seemed to have been put on pause.
Fine web-like cracks fractured the air like shattering glazed glass. The surrounding desert scenery peeled away in fragments. A river of stars poured into the dreamscape, the heavens and earth turned upside down, and in the pitch-black void of the cosmos, golden motes of light resembling a sea of stars lit up one by one.
Chao Hanbiao's thoughts ground to a halt. Before everything plunged into darkness, he saw that white-clad fairy standing in the sky, and heard her clear, beautiful voice devoid of any emotion:
"Which generation of Pavilion Master are you?"
The instant the Dao domain expanded, all hundred-odd mortal martial apprentices on the ground were instantly drained of life beneath that terrifying pressure.
Looking at the golden stars orbiting all around her, a flicker of contemplation passed through Tianye's limpid golden eyes.
This contemporary Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master had actually unfolded her Dao domain right from the start, though doing so was indeed a wise move on her part.
Both she and Tianyuan cultivated the Heaven-Deducing Art. With their cultivation levels comparable, neither could break the other's techniques if they clashed using spells.
Thinking this, Tianye's expression took on a trace of grievance, and she whispered, "Master, your disciple doesn't understand what you're saying at all..."
"..."
Standing in the void, Tianyuan looked impassive. She stared quietly at the familiar yet unfamiliar girl below, her tone as emotionless as before:
"Tianyan does not kill people casually, nor would she ever speak in a tone like yours. And the Heavenly Yan divine soul cannot be possessed. The only explanation is that a Pavilion Master who also cultivated the Heaven-Deducing Art is inhabiting her body."
Hearing this, Tianye curled her lips in boredom and gave a light huff. "I thought you'd at least grieve a little for your disciple. The State of Divine Emptiness truly is a dull secret art. Every generation of Pavilion Master shares the exact same virtue—walking corpses, the lot of them."
Tianyuan showed not the slightest hint of anger at this provocation.
Within the Dao domain, golden stars slowly revolved. She raised a slender hand, taking one of them into her palm. "May I interpret those words to mean you are not a Pavilion Master, but a Saintess who survived from a past generation?"
Tianye slowly rose into the air, her form-fitting black dress fluttering in the wind. She smiled. "So the State of Divine Emptiness isn't completely useless after all. Your wits are quite sharp."
Hearing this, a flicker of calculation passed through Tianyuan's divinely detached golden eyes. She tightened her grip on the golden star in her hand and said calmly, "Surviving as a Saintess means you once cracked the monitoring of the Lingtian Instrument. Yet being discovered by me now means Tianyan is still alive, and you have merely occupied her body temporarily."
Watching her movements, Tianye did not deny it. She beamed enchantingly. "Not bad, not bad. Truly worthy of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master. So, what do you plan to do? Strike directly to strip me from her body?"
*Crack—*
The golden star in Tianyuan's hand shattered, replaced by an invisible blade. Lifting it level before her eyes, her gaze sliced past the edge to look straight at Tianye, her voice calm and cold as snow:
"The Great Tribulation is imminent. She is Tianyan, born to respond to the tribulation. Therefore, she must never be influenced by a traitor like you, nor can it be tolerated that you, a traitor, aid the person suspected of being the Great Tribulation."
"Is that so?"
Hearing that, Tianye's aura also began to climb steadily. "But your dear disciple happens to share that desire to help the Tribulation-bearer right now, you know~ Even if you rescue her and bring her back, she might not necessarily be of any help."
Tianyuan remained entirely unmoved. Inch by inch, she drew forth the blade, the stray sword qi cleaving the desert oasis below directly in half.
"Since you were once a Saintess, you should know the methods of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion."
Hearing this, Tianye froze momentarily, and then her voice took on a faint note of excitement: "You intend to force Tianyan into the fourth stage of the State of Divine Emptiness? Put that way, I suddenly don't really feel like fighting you anymore, do I?"
Yet halfway through, Tianye shifted her tone and sighed softly, "It's just a pity that I promised a certain someone I'd bring the Linlang back. So for now, I can't return Sister Tianyan to you, Pavilion Master~"
With those words, the auras of the two women floating in the void reached their absolute peak. And precisely at this tipping point, Tianye also unleashed her Dao domain.
Heaven and earth suddenly congealed. Within the boundless starry Dao domain, those golden stars oscillating in arcane patterns abruptly halted their rotation!
Seeing this, Tianyuan instantly checked her impending strike, a trace of thought entering her clear green eyes where golden light swirled.
Tianye curled the corners of her lips, looking at this generation's Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master with a bright smile, and murmured, "Decided not to strike after seeing my Dao charm? But to be honest, if you had used that Sword Saint's Dao domain, it really might have been a bit troublesome for me to handle."
Looking at her surrounding Dao domain space, which had been frozen in time, Tianyuan's expression remained as pure and cold as snow, yet she halted her movements.
As the sect-guarding art of a behemoth like the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, the Heaven-Deducing Art was undeniably formidable, yet the kinds of Dao charms that Holy Sons and Saintesses could cultivate were strictly constrained.
And the Dao domain this traitor was currently displaying could only be mastered by a Holy Son or Saintess granted the name Tianyan.
Thoughts flashing through her mind like lightning, Tianyuan asked slowly, "You were also a Tianyan?"
"Does that matter?"
Tianye blinked at her and gave a light laugh. "In any case, the current me is no longer a person of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. Does it really matter whether I was a Tianyan or not?"
"..."
Tianyuan did not reply further. Her golden eyes gave Tianye a deep, penetrating look. Seeming to have reached a decision, her hands abruptly formed a seal.
Tianye's lovely eyes narrowed, and she formed a hand seal simultaneously to stop her, but constrained by Tianyan's body, she could not match the other woman's speed.
In a flash.
The boundless starry Dao domain instantly dissolved, the desert oasis reappearing once more. Tianyuan's fluttering white-robed figure had already vanished without a trace, leaving only a sound transmission echoing beside Tianye's ear:
"I have a general grasp of Your Ladyship's identity. Tianyan's body is temporarily entrusted to you. If you wish to help that Xu Changtian, you may go ahead and try."
"..."
Looking up at the starry sky after releasing her Dao domain, Tianye stood suspended in midair for a long time, letting out a gentle sigh:
"Tianqing was like this, Tianrui was like this... Regardless of how strong or weak they are, every single generation of Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master is truly so clever that it makes one sick to death."
Chapter 636