"In that case!"
Quan Juehua wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze locking onto Nora, who had just fired.
Nora also sensed his malice. She calmly reloaded her gun, her eyes sweeping over her surroundings rather than looking down at the weapon.
"Xiao Hong!"
Little Nora gasped at that moment upon seeing Chi Feihong brought back by Feng Mingge.
Right then, Quan Juehua appeared beside Nora in a flash. His long blade slashed toward her neck with blinding speed—so fast that time itself seemed frozen.
Yet Nora moved.
Quan Juehua was truly a terrifying opponent, not only overwhelmingly powerful but also possessing max-level experience.
His strike was horrific enough on its own; landing a hit would utterly slaughter his target and shatter their law chains into dust. Yet he was not content with that alone.
Even as he unleashed lethal power, he also mobilized the force of time.
He pushed his personal flow of time to the absolute fastest rate, then extended his power outward to affect other areas of the Tree Universe, decelerating the flow of time within those spaces.
In fact, before launching his assault, he had already enveloped the Aska's surroundings and slowed its temporal flow, bringing everyone aboard under its sway.
Unless one had extensively cultivated the rules of time, detecting this silent, permeating intrusion was almost impossible.
Nora, however, had not fallen for it. When Quan Juehua executed Chi Feihong, she had already noticed this distortion in speed. Chi Feihong had perished so abruptly precisely because of an anomaly in the flow of time, leaving everyone unable to provide backup in time.
Consequently, she had been continuously modulating her own temporal flow—alternating between fast and slow so that she was completely out of sync with the Aska's time—to counter Quan Juehua's dreadful temporal assault.
In truth, Quan Juehua had targeted Chi Feihong first precisely because Chi Feihong was deeply versed in the rules of time. He and Feng Mingge specialized in time and space respectively; though their progress was sluggish due to mediocre talent, both were genuinely cultivating those two rules.
Quan Juehua had noticed this and thus struck Chi Feihong down before turning to Nora, lest Chi Feihong realize something was amiss with time and warn the others.
Now, however, Quan Juehua had clearly miscalculated.
Though he had slain Chi Feihong, Nora had already detected the temporal discrepancy.
Just as the blade was about to sever Nora's neck, an open umbrella materialized in her hand, blocking the strike head-on. Pivoting sideways toward Quan Juehua, she raised her gun and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
With both parties accelerating time, Quan Juehua saw that his blow had failed to strike a vital spot and instantly retreated the moment he saw the muzzle.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
Nora fired in rapid succession, tracing Quan Juehua's path until his evasive movements grew too erratic to track.
Suddenly, Quan Juehua vanished in a flicker of light, reappearing right behind Niman as his long blade slashed down toward her.
In reality, aside from Quan Juehua and Nora who were operating under accelerated time, everyone else was practically stationary in their eyes. This strike left Niman with no way to dodge.
"Niman!"
Nora's composure finally cracked.
Though she had grown far more composed over the years and had firmly suppressed her grief even when Chi Feihong died, Niman was different. Niman had always cared for everyone like an older sister, serving as the team's pillar. Whenever Niman was around, everyone felt an immense sense of security regardless of the crisis.
*Squelch!*
The long blade plunged into Niman's chest.
Quan Juehua looked at Nora and sneered, "Did you truly believe that relying on a few near-Transcendence-grade items would let you stand against this old man? But... this is even better. You will watch them die one by one while you stand... powerless!"
He tore out his blade and vanished in an instant. Nora rushed to Niman's side, only to discover that Niman's law chains had already been destroyed—even her soul had been shattered by the concussive force of that strike.
"Next!"
Quan Juehua turned his sights to the others aboard the Aska.
Saving Little Nora for last, he picked Zhang Buyao, who was standing beside Niman.
Taking a single step, he materialized at Zhang Buyao's flank, positioning her directly in the line of Nora's fire, and swept his long blade toward her.
All at once, a hand appeared out of nowhere, catching Quan Juehua's blade firmly in its grasp.
That all-destroying, terrifyingly malevolent blade could not even pierce the skin of that hand.
Quan Juehua's expression shifted slightly. Looking up, he was met with a grim, shadowed face. Before he could react, an overwhelming force seized him, and he was dragged away, vanishing instantly from the skies above the Aska.
"Who... gave you permission to lay a hand on my sister?"
"Filthy insect. If you weren't still of some use, I'd crush you to death right now!"
"Still... though you are spared death, you cannot escape punishment!"
Zhang Yao never opened his mouth, yet his voice resonated straight through Quan Juehua's soul, vibrating violently enough to feel as though it might crack apart.
Yet that was not the worst of it.
What Quan Juehua found most humiliating was that Zhang Yao did not pummel him with bone-crushing blows. Instead, he slapped his face—delivering strike after strike across his cheeks in a display of pure, deliberate indignity.
Yet Quan Juehua could not move his body at all. The shock had dislodged his soul from his flesh, leaving both numbed and paralyzed.
At first, he silently counted, keeping track of how many slaps he endured while nursing vicious thoughts. Once he achieved Origin Return, he would have his revenge; even if this man stood at the same level as him, he would fight him until the end of time.
Later, he could no longer be bothered to keep count, for Zhang Yao showed no sign of stopping. The man simply slapped his face with relentless fury, distributing the blows with methodical balance—a slap to the left cheek was invariably followed by one to the right.
After taking an unknowable number of blows, the man finally stopped.
Quan Juehua felt extremely dizzy, a sensation he had not experienced in ages. His vision blurred as he looked at the man before him. He saw him crack his neck and speak: "Remember this. Keep your eyes sharp next time. Now get lost!"
The moment the words fell, a kick slammed into Quan Juehua's abdomen. His body flew backward, stars and galaxies shifting erratically around him, hurling him so far he lost all sense of distance.
The instant he ground to a halt, he concealed his aura.
That single kick had grievously wounded both his flesh and soul. His utmost priority now was to find a place to hide and nurse his injuries.
"That man was terrifying. You really did kick an iron plate this time," Dui Tianji said with a chuckle, emerging from within Quan Juehua's body.
Quan Juehua gritted his teeth. "He is very likely an Origin Returner or a Unity Returner. Once I become an Origin Returner, I will settle this score!"
"Aren't you afraid he might suddenly reappear and kill you?" Dui Tianji teased.
Quan Juehua sneered, "Didn't he say it himself? I'm still of some use. Though I don't know his motive, as long as I can complete Origin Return, no scheme or ploy will matter!"
"I am inclined to think he intends to use you as a whetstone; the Origin Returner might be someone else entirely," Dui Tianji remarked analytically.
Quan Juehua's expression darkened. Finally, he gritted his teeth. "Then let us see who laughs last. After all..."
He had no path of retreat. His Origin Seed had already condensed; between him and his competitors, only one would walk away alive. He would fight to the very end—no matter how many conspiracies and traps lay in wait, he would carve out a path of blood.
Chapter 722