Chapter 282: Return (Happy New Year)

The vast world had twisted and deformed, and within it, a new world had been born. In this new world, birds sang and flowers bloomed, a scene full of vibrant life. However, lurking within it was an enormous creature made entirely of ice, radiating dazzling light under the sun’s rays. This colossal ice creature continuously spewed endless mist. The mist permeated and nearly filled half of the Three Thousand Worlds, yet miraculously, it could not touch any cultivators. It was a low-level Hunyuan lifeform—the Frost Nightmare Envoy.

“Where are the cultivators? Where are they?” The Frost Nightmare Envoy seemed quite agitated. It specialized in ice-based and some soul-based techniques, but this time, the cultivators kept their distance, even enveloping it within a terrifying array.

“Three Thousand Worlds. Heaven and Earth Killing Intent.” A clear, cold voice suddenly rang out.

In an instant, billions of sword lights appeared within that world. Countless sword lights spun rapidly like gears, making the array’s coordination even more profound and its power sharply escalating, becoming so immense that it drove the low-level Hunyuan lifeform, the Frost Nightmare Envoy, to despair.

“No—!” The Frost Nightmare Envoy watched in despair as the torrent of sword lights surged forward, ultimately tearing apart its body and cleaving its core. Before such absolute power, it was utterly defenseless. Its mangled corpse slowly fell. At this moment, Di Qing appeared and, with a wave of his hand, collected the massive body. Although the sword lights had sliced the corpse, the body’s own damage was minimal, still allowing it to be sold at a high price.

“Impressive,” Luo Feng also appeared nearby, praising, “Brother Di Qing, you are much more decisive than I am. And this Three Thousand Killing Array... it’s far more profound than when we sparred back on the Origin Continent.” When they sparred on the Origin Continent, Di Qing had also used the Three Thousand Killing Array, but that array was nowhere near as intricate as it was now.

“I brought a secret treasure array diagram,” Di Qing explained with a smile. “This array diagram cost me five million Hunyuan crystals; it’s a half-Hunyuan level diagram. With it, the Three Thousand Killing Array can exert greater power. Our ability to defeat the Frost Nightmare Envoy this time was just due to a fortunate counter.”

Luo Feng nodded.

After all, Di Qing was an enlightened one who had one foot in the God-Emperor mid-stage, with deeper cultivation. With a suitable secret treasure array diagram, the power he unleashed was indeed superior to Luo Feng’s.

“Boom—”

Vast lightning flashed wildly, roaming everywhere. Luo Feng’s World Incarnation struggled to entangle it, but this terrifyingly massive lightning bolt didn't engage Luo Feng in combat; it only wanted to escape. It forcefully pierced through the edge of the Three Thousand Worlds and vanished in a flash.

“That was my mistake,” Di Qing appeared beside him, shaking his head and saying, “Luo Feng…”

“We both tried our best,” Luo Feng had also gained some insight. It took the combined use of Forbidden Curses and Elemental Collapse Art to force a lightning bolt, hidden within a cloud mass, to reveal its true form: a seemingly small beast—a Thunder Mink. However, the Thunder Mink's life-saving ability was clearly extremely strong; even after being stunned and disoriented, and enduring Di Qing's full-power array attack, its life form could still shed ninety percent of the damage and forcibly escape from the Three Thousand Worlds array.

“It’s a pity,” Di Qing also seemed quite helpless, “though this Thunder Mink is only a low-level Hunyuan lifeform at the God-Emperor early-stage, the lightning profoundness it embodies is quite extraordinary, valued at around three million Hunyuan crystals. But it’s simply too difficult to kill.”

Luo Feng nodded. Low-level Hunyuan lifeforms are born outside the cage, possessing many special talents. Some with extremely unique talents can even quietly infiltrate cities like Yulan City, which are jointly protected by numerous elders and hall masters. Therefore, cultivators are occasionally ambushed by low-level Hunyuan lifeforms within Yulan City. However, these low-level Hunyuan lifeforms also don't dare to act too recklessly, as ambushing cultivators within the city could at any time provoke a group of elders to intervene.

Luo Feng and Di Qing hunted together, their cooperation becoming increasingly seamless. Luo Feng's Karma Incarnation, employing the ‘Heavenly Absolute Curse’ in conjunction with Elemental Collapse Art, was highly effective, usually disorienting low-level Hunyuan lifeforms at the God-Emperor early-stage, giving them a brief window to execute killing moves. Luo Feng was responsible for close-quarters combat and entanglement, while Di Qing used the Three Thousand Killing Array for encirclement and slaughter. The power of the Three Thousand Killing Array was more than ten times stronger than Luo Feng’s Heaven and Earth Incarnation combined with World Projection. In this manner, one low-level Hunyuan lifeform after another, at the God-Emperor early-stage, was hunted by the two of them.

“Whoosh.”

The black flying boat moved silently, and Luo Feng’s bionic Extinction Eye opened on his forehead, carefully observing their surroundings. Di Qing also employed his detection method; their secret detection techniques were different and each had its strengths. At this moment, not far from the black flying boat, there was a colossal creature integrated into the void. This behemoth was like a part of the void itself, possessing tens of thousands of dense, long limbs. These countless limbs wove the void like a loom, transforming an endlessly vast area into a 'web' of its creation. Luo Feng and his companions' black flying boat had already flown into this 'web'. At this moment, Luo Feng and Di Qing were still unaware, meticulously probing their surroundings.

“Buzz.”

The void began to weave, and layer after layer of the web enveloped them.

“Something’s wrong.” Di Qing suddenly frowned.

“What is it?” Luo Feng was still completely unaware; his spatial perception was significantly inferior to Di Qing’s.

“Hurry, leave!”

Although Di Qing couldn’t ascertain the exact situation, he vaguely sensed a massive, terrifying threat in the void. He immediately controlled the black flying boat, pushing its speed to the limit. Just as the black flying boat abruptly shot out—

Layer upon layer of the void web fully materialized in the heavens and earth, encasing the black flying boat.

“It’s a Void Weaver.” Both Di Qing and Luo Feng recognized it. Seeing the Void Weaver’s aura erupt, its enormous size, and terrifying aura, they deduced its approximate strength.

“A Void Weaver at the God-Emperor late-stage.”

“Run!”

Luo Feng and Di Qing didn’t hesitate. Faced with such a powerful Void Weaver, even enlightened ones at the God-Emperor mid-stage would flee without hesitation; naturally, neither of them had any intention of fighting. Di Qing put away the black flying boat, as it was clearly useless at this point. Luo Feng’s Time Incarnation then took Di Qing into the 'future timeline'.

They fled for their lives within the future timeline. Luo Feng and Di Qing had long discussed various escape methods. Since Luo Feng carried relatively inexpensive treasures, was resilient, and specialized in close combat, it was natural for him to cover their retreat and try his best to protect Di Qing. After all, the secret treasure array diagram, black flying boat, and life-saving items Di Qing carried were worth over ten million Hunyuan crystals combined. Moreover, their spoils from this hunt—the corpses of six low-level Hunyuan lifeforms—were also temporarily held by Di Qing.

“Hmm.”

While fleeing in the future timeline, the Time Incarnation and Di Qing noticed that strands of void silk were infiltrating the future timeline, enveloping them.

“This Void Weaver not only controls the void but also profoundly influences time.”

Luo Feng had no choice. His Time Incarnation's talent as an ‘Ultimate Realm strength Hunyuan bloodline creature’ allowed him to travel simultaneously through the past, present, and future. Cultivators who reached the God-King Second Stage in the Dao of Time possessed similar abilities. For cultivators unfamiliar with the path of time, Luo Feng's escape ability was formidable. However, low-level Hunyuan lifeforms, after all, exist beyond the cage; as their strength grows, they can naturally manipulate and influence various aspects, including time and causality.

“Heavenly Absolute Curse. Elemental Collapse Art.”

The Heavenly Absolute Curse, a forbidden move of the Dao of Life and Death, when wielded by the Karma Incarnation, also affected the Void Weaver. Before grasping a complete Grand Dao, Luo Feng’s mental will had already reached the God-Emperor level, and after cultivating for long years in the Dream Realm, his mental will even surpassed the Origin Continent’s limit. Later, he successively comprehended the Daos of Life, Destruction, and Life and Death. His mental will was elevated repeatedly, unconsciously reaching the God-Emperor late-stage. This was the fruit of his enlightenment.

Of course, for God-Emperors, as their cultivation accumulates, their mental will gradually reaches a limit. To break through further requires the mental will to leap beyond its confines, reaching a level comparable to high-level Hunyuan lifeforms. This mental breakthrough is more difficult than any previous bottleneck. Therefore, even outside the Source World, where billions of world powerhouses gather, those whose mental will can reach the level of high-level Hunyuan lifeforms remain extremely rare.

“Boom.”

The Heavenly Absolute Curse accounted for thirty percent of the power, and Elemental Collapse Art for seventy percent, causing the Void Weaver’s pursuit to slow down slightly.

“Whoosh.” This brief delay allowed Luo Feng's Time Incarnation to swiftly carry Di Qing far away in the future timeline, moving beyond the Void Weaver's pursuit range. After all, the Void Weaver’s influence on time wasn't too profound.

“Next, I need to figure out how to escape.”

Di Qing had successfully escaped. Luo Feng looked at the majestic and enormous Void Weaver, let out a roar, and his World Incarnation split into three. Each World Incarnation possessed a hundred times its energy reserves and was sufficiently strong, charging in different directions.

“World Projection. Heaven and Earth Unification.”

“Heaven and Earth Passage.”

“Kill!” The three majestic World Incarnations were incredibly brave, attacking the Void Weaver.

Inside the black flying boat.

“How was it?” Di Qing looked at Luo Feng.

“The Void Weaver is too powerful,” Luo Feng shook his head gently, “Only my Heaven and Earth Incarnation managed to escape amidst the chaos.”

It was only through the frantic struggle of his Karma Incarnation, World Incarnation, and Skyglow Incarnation that the Heaven and Earth Incarnation had a chance to escape. The Heaven and Earth Incarnation covered a wide area, and once it moved, it could escape extremely quickly. The Heaven and Earth Incarnation had escaped, carrying Luo Feng’s sole secret treasure, a glove.

“I lost a lot of energy reserves,” Luo Feng felt a pang of distress. Such a large amount of energy reserves would take hundreds of epochs to absorb on the Origin Continent. In Yulan City, although the energy here was more abundant, without the assistance of a miniature universe, the current absorption speed was even slower. Perhaps when his realm was higher, the absorption speed would increase.

“Only because you covered my retreat could I escape,” Di Qing chuckled, “and I didn't even have to use my life-saving item.”

In the River of Nine Winter Realm, powerful individuals generally highly valued life-saving items. Especially those powerhouses from billions of worlds who lacked incarnations would spare no expense on such items. These life-saving items even offered a chance to escape from entities at the half-Hunyuan level. Of course, the cheapest life-saving items cost at least a million Hunyuan crystals, with no upper limit on the price for more potent ones. Some naturally formed secret treasures and life-saving secret treasures exchanged from the Boundless Spatial Vault were even more incredibly valuable.

“Your loss of so many incarnations and such extensive energy reserves will be accounted for as five hundred thousand Hunyuan crystals,” Di Qing said. “This time, the six Hunyuan lifeform corpses we acquired are valued at approximately six million five hundred thousand Hunyuan crystals. For this hunt, you will receive three million five hundred thousand Hunyuan crystals, and I will receive three million Hunyuan crystals.”

“Alright,” Luo Feng nodded.

Before forming the team, they had set certain rules. Spoils were to be divided equally, but if a crisis arose and they needed to escape while preserving the spoils, the party incurring greater losses would be compensated first from the shared spoils. Luo Feng’s loss of several hundred times his perfect divine body’s energy reserves was a minor issue; he could recover it with a few hundred epochs of cultivation. However, if Di Qing had used his life-saving item, it would have cost two million Hunyuan crystals. Of course, Di Qing only had this one life-saving item; ultimately, he was a Source World lifeform with the art of incarnation, and he was unwilling to spend too much on life-saving items.

“We’ve had a good haul; it’s time to head back,” Di Qing said. “The more prey we hunt, the more likely we are to encounter unforeseen dangers.”

Although low-level Hunyuan lifeforms at the God-Emperor early-stage constituted the vast majority, frequent hunting still made it easy to encounter formidable opponents. This time, it was merely a Void Weaver at the God-Emperor late-stage; what if they encountered one at the God-Emperor peak stage? Whether Di Qing could escape with his life-saving item, valued at only two million Hunyuan crystals, remained uncertain.

“It’s time to go back,” Luo Feng nodded. His incarnations were greatly depleted, and his strength had significantly decreased, so it was indeed time to return to Yulan City. Of course, his incarnations within Yulan City still had ample energy reserves.

“With over three million Hunyuan crystals, I should also thoroughly study the exchange options in the Boundless Spatial Vault when I return,” Luo Feng thought. Since he had grasped the Dao of Life and Death, the Boundless Spatial Vault would naturally offer him higher rewards. “Whoosh.”

The black flying boat carefully returned.

On their return journey, the closer they got to Yulan City, the more likely they were to encounter cultivators attempting robbery. Di Qing, being very experienced, piloted the black flying boat in a wide arc, coordinating with Luo Feng’s bionic Extinction Eye for observation. They narrowly avoided being robbed and successfully returned to Yulan City.

“We’re back.”

As the black flying boat flew through the city gates, Luo Feng and Di Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Tomato wishes everyone a Happy New Year of the Snake. May you all be happy and have your wishes come true in the new year.

During the New Year period, Tomato will also be visiting relatives and taking a break.