STNS: Chapter 484 (Patreon)

Wu Meiying pursed her lips. The atmosphere was stifling. Zhou Xie’e was not doing anything, not releasing any chi emissions or killing intent, and yet, she felt like she was being strangled by his presence. She could not sense his cultivation, nor could she look into his timeline. He was the worst possible opponent for her.

“I’m not going to ask you again.” Zhou Xie’e was still smiling, but the atmosphere around him became darker, more ominous. His smiling face looked like a demon’s. “If you do not come with me willingly, I will kill everyone here and drag you back with me.”

Before she could say something, two people stepped forward--Luo Feng and Lan Xiu. The young core disciple of the Crimson Blades kept his sword in it's sheathe, but Lan Xiu slowly drew her single-edged blade. It was a thing of intricate beauty with numerous seals etched upon its surface, glowing a soft silvery-blue. The chi pouring off it also let everyone know it was a powerful profound weapon.

“I’ve heard of you. Zhou Xie’e, the young genius of the Zhou Clan,” Luo Feng said with an intense glare. “They say you’re one of the most powerful members of the young generation. You must be close to your clan leader. What does he want with Wu Meiying? Why are your people attacking our sect for her?”

While they were talking, Wu Meiying was traveling through the timelines. She could not see Zhou Xie’e, but she could see everyone else here, even if their timelines were a little muddy thanks to his presence. Most of what she saw was death and destruction. There were very few timelines where they survived. Almost all of them ended with the people here dying and Zhou Xie’e taking her.

All but one.

“You want to know? That's unfortunate since I have no intention of telling someone who’s already dead our goals.”

“Excuse me?”

“MOVE!”

[Time's Flow]

Wu Meiying released one of her techniques, causing everything around her to slow, just as Zhou Xie’e disappeared--or seemed to. The moment she activated her technique, he reappeared exactly where she had predicted. Wu Meiying was in front of him within seconds. She deactivated her technique and activated another one as she swung at him.

[Time’s Severance]

Her blade did not glow. There was no ethereal fire from the power of her technique. However, Zhou Xie’e seemed to know better, for he evaded her technique instead of attempting to block it. Time had already reverted back to normal, ad Luo Feng, whom she stood protectively in front of, was gawking.

“W-what just happened?” he wondered out loud.

“Do not let your guard down and listen to all my commands from here on out if you want to live,” Wu Meiying commanded. “We only have one chance at getting out of this. If you do not listen to me, we will all die here.”

Her words had an immediate affect. Everyone present stiffened as their faces grew tight. Wu Meiying had earned her reputation as their oracle. If she said they would all die if they didn’t listen to her, they would believe her. That was how established she had become within the Heavenly Sword Sect.

“I see you can use Time’s Flow,” Zhou Xie’e said, impressed. “Even I struggle with that one, and I’m clearly far stronger than you. I guess you really are the goddess our master has been searching for.”

Wu Meiying ignored him and began directing the disciples. She had most of the disciples who had come with them retreat to a safe distance. Only Lan Xiu, Lei Jin, Gao Shen, Lup Feng, Mei Ling, Wei Ying, and Zhe Fēnglì. Húndàn Wang also wanted to fight, but he was nowhere near strong enough. She asked him to protect the weaker disciples. He did so, though not without great reluctance.

“Lan Xiu, attack him with Azure Strike. Gao Shen, defend her. Wei Ying, attack from the rear.”

The three quickly moved in to assault Zhou Xie’e.

Lan Xiu, her blade already out, raced across the ground like she was gliding. Ice appeared underneath her feet and left a trail of silvery blue in her wake, which she used to skate across the ground. It allowed her to move far faster than she could simply running.

[Azure Strike]

Beautiful icy flames erupted from her sword, then quickly condensed into a fine layer of chi; these flames were cold instead of hot. They freezed the atmosphere around her. She swung her sword in a beautiful arc that seemed to freeze the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the attack did nothing to Zhou Xie’e, who blocked it with his hand. Lan Xiu’s eyes grew wide.

Zhou Xie’e continued smiling as he moved to strike her, but he was unable to continue with his attack when Wu Meiying used Time’s Flow around his hand to freeze it in place. At the same time, Gao Shen had reached Zhou Xie’e and raised  his massive blade. It was not a greatsword like the kind Wu Jian used. Instead, he wielded a zhanmadao. It was known as a horse-cutting saber because of its extremely long blade. Before the era of cultivators, this sword was used as an anti-cavalry weapon and its main function had been to cut down horses at the knees during battle.

[Mountainous Strike]

With a roar, Gao Shen swung his zhanmadao in a downward strike as though attempting to cleave Zhou Xie’e in two. The air howled at the power of his attack. However, Zhoue Xie’e did not even appear to register it. A second later, the zhanmadao went straight through the young man, but something was obviously wrong, for there was no blood.

“What the--”

Gao Shen reacted quickly when he saw his attack miss, but he wasn’t fast enough. Zhou Xie’e’s palm slammed into his chest. Blood surged through his throat as he was pushed back, sent skidding along the ground. Zhou Xie’e might have followed up to inflict further damage, but Wei Ying appeared at that moment.

[Cleaving Shadows]

Unlike the others who used a sword, Wei Ying wielded a dao dao, otherwise known as a war cleaver. It was designed specifically for combat, featuring a broad, heavy blade similar in shape to a kitchen cleaver but significantly larger and built for durability and letha efficacy in combat. The blade had a slight curve to enhance its cutting ability.

Darkness settled around the blade as he swung it horizontally at the ground. He did not attack Zhoue Xie’e directly but instead sliced at the man’s shadow. As the shadow was cut in half, a small wound appeared on the man’s skin where the shadow was cut. Zhoue Xie’e narrowed his eyes as he spun on his left foot and slammed his right into Wei Ying’s face. The attack was so powerful that the young man was sent sailing through the air in a corkscrew spin and slammed into the ground hard enough to leave dents in the bridge.

“Zhe Fēnglì, I need you up front. Stall for time. Ten seconds is enough,” Wu Meiying said.

“Something tells me even ten seconds is asking for a lot, but I’ll do what I can.”

Zhe Fēnglì slid his feet across the ground, bent his knees, placed a hand on his sword, then vanished. A loud clashing sound echoed around the bridge as he reappeared again. He had already swung his sword, but it had been blocked by Zhou Xie’e who, like always, merely used his hand to defend himself. The attack was powerful enough that he was pushed back. However, that was all Zhe Fēnglì’s attack amounted to.

“You’re quite strong. I hear you’re something of a prodigy as well.” Zhou Xie’e smiled. “Let’s see which among us is the better prodigy.”

Zhou Xie’e immediately went on the attack and it was all Zhe Fēnglì could do to defend himself. The man was not only fast, but his limbs appeared to disappear whenever Zhe Fēnglì tried to block, and then he’d be attacked from another direction. He raised his sword to block a punch at his face, only to receive a palm to the torso. An attack aimed at his chest suddenly turned into a strike to his legs. Zhe Fēnglì had hardened his body with chi to withstand the blows, but each attack was enough to rattle him. His legs were already shaking.

Gao Shen quickly moved in to defend Zhe Fēnglì from further assaults, but even with the two of them combined, it was not enough to even land a proper blow on him. Lan Xiu fell back on Wu Meiying’s orders. They couldn’t afford to have too many people attack. Fights became more chaotic when more people joined and they might get in each other’s way. However, Wei Ying continued to provide assistance. He attacked Zhou Xie’e’s shadow whenever the opportunity presented itself, though sadly, Zhou Xie’e had already wised up to the young man’s ability. While it was impossible to completely avoid Wei Ying’s attacks due to their nature, so long as Zhou Xie’e struck first, he was able to fend off the other man’s assault.

Zhou Xie’e proved his strength by not only fending off their attack but launching several powerful strikes that severely injured his opponents. Gao Shen received a blow to the chest that shattered his armor. He wore extremely durable profound spirit armor that could protect him from the strongest attack a Seeker Realm cultivator could launch, so the fact that his armor shattered in a single hit was telling. The only reason he avoided death was because Zhe Fēnglì defended him before Zhoue Xie’e could land a killing blow.

With Gao Shen too injured to continue, Luo Feng took his place. The young man used the quick-draw technique of his faction. Crimson flames erupted from his blade and seemed to cut through the very fabrics of the world when he drew it and swung. The attack was so fast most people would have only seen a flash of bright light. However, his blade passed through Zhou Xie’e like the young man wasn’t even there. He would have received a strike to his side, but Zhe Fēnglì had correctly judged the situation and intercepted the attack with his blade. Sadly, the attack this time was so powerful that his sword snapped in half.

Wu Meiying had closed her eyes and begun stringing together hand seals as the battle went on. The technique she wanted to use was one that she used to be able to do without hand seals, but that was only possible when she had been the Goddess of Time. She lacked the power to do that now and needed assistance from the leylines. The hand seals she strung together helped her draw in chi from the leyline to fuel her technique.

There were several different hand seals. The most common one was based on the zodiac symbols, but the one she was using now were called jiǔzìyìn, or Nine Syllable Seals. They were a series of gestures and associated with mantras that contained mystical powers. She used Lin to invoke power and authority, Array to organize and structure the chi she was taking in, Slay to destroy or remove evil, and All for universal application and balance. Wu Meiying repeated these seals nine times, then clapped her hands together.

[Freeze the World in a Single Moment]

Time completely stopped, or so it seemed. The leaves that had been swaying ceased, the shadows that had been moving stopped, and even the breeze seemed to have become frozen. Zhou Xie’e also ceased to move. Even his expression remained unchanging.

“What is… this?” asked Zhe Fēnglì, looking at the world around them in wonder.

Sweat beaded down Wu Meiying’s forehead as she answered. “This is… my strongest technique right now. It’s a form of temporal manipulation that involves freezing the flow of time around me. What I do is create a field that completely halts the progression of time for all those within it. It is normally indiscriminate. If I had complete mastery over it, you and everyone else would be frozen as well. The reason you’re still moving is because I don’t have the power needed to invoke this on a full-scale.”

“So I see…”

This technique was also heavily reliant on chi. It pitted her chi against another. If someone had more chi than her, this technique would not be able to freeze them, but she was currently using the chi from the leyline to fuel her technique, which was why she had been able to trap Zhou Xie’e into it.

“Since he’s frozen in time, this means we can kill him, right?” asked Luo Feng.

Wu Meiying shook her head. “I have completely frozen his time. No attack will reach him. All we can use this technique for is to recover and prepare ourselves.”

“How long do we have until he’s free?” asked Mei Ling.

“How long? Why, I’m already free,” said Zhou Xie’e. Everyone turned to see the young-looking man smiling at them. His cold eyes were hard as he gazed at them. “That was a good attempt, but not even using the leyline to fuel your technique was enough to grant you more than a few seconds. Now, then, I’m going to kill the rest of you quickly. I’d rather not waste anymore time.”