“Not only did you not sincerely run away and hide, you even came back here to your death. You even wish to save someone? How laughable!”
Elder Xiu laughed, his eyes narrowing. Comparing to the Majestic Star, Elder Xiu was much more interested in how this Star Master survived his “Heavenly Lightning Arts”.
He focused his sight on the piece of jade in Shu Jing’s left hand. It was continuously releasing a transparent halo of protective Star Energy around him.
“An Astral Artifact! No wonder Lin Chong would sign a contract with you. I would have never thought you were in possession of a such a treasure!” Elder Xiu revealed a greedy expression.
Astral Artifacts were extremely rare in Liangshan Continent. Even if it was just a common Astral Artifact, only freakishly powerful Stellar Stage cultivators would dare to walk around showing them off, lest they bring fatal disasters upon oneself.
After so many years of cultivating, Elder Xiu had only ever run into two Astral Artifacts. The first was a “Moon and Stars Encircling Bracelet”, which nearly obliterated him when used by a Galaxy Stage cultivator, while the second was Shu Jing.
“Now it’s your turn!” Elder Xiu yelled out excitedly, power streaming into the wooden sword. The sword turned into the shape of a bolt of red lightning, akin to a Flood Dragon leaving sh.o.r.e with its fangs and claws out, roaring furiously. This was the Heavenly Lightning Earthly Fire Sword’s true form.
In but a moment, the fort’s fire blended with the fire lightning released by the sword and covered the entire night sky, dyeing the heavens and earth bright red.
***
Crown Prince Palace
Gou Zi’s personal guard was already scared to death by the star cultivator’s battle. His face and Gou Zi’s paled in fear. A feeling of unease rose up in Gou Zi’s heart. This was the first time he was so intimidated by someone with lower cultivation than himself.
Elder Xiu’s cultivation was at the Nebula Middle Stage. In theory, he should have been able to easily slay a Stardust cultivator like Shu Jing, even if he was the Majestic Star’s Master. What’s more, Elder Xiu was in possession of the Heavenly Lighting Earthly Fire Sword, a terrifying weapon. Even if he was fighting Lin Chong, she would be lucky to escape it.
Gou Zi comforted himself as he turned his eyes toward the girl inside the array.
At that moment, a figure in a green short dress and ponytail appeared. She headed directly for the Palace.
The girl was enveloped in an ethereal halo of green light. Truly beautiful!
“Stop!”
The guards shouted while lifting their spears.
The girl paid them no mind and instead focused on Lin Yingmei, who was inside the array. Her eyes carried with them a hint of envy and at the same time resignation.
The guards stared at her confused, then thrust their spears at her.
Nimble chains made of bronze appeared and pushed back the guard’s spear completely.
“Even though I do not possess any martial arts or magic arts, don’t think you can bully me easily.”
The girl snickered. The chains wrapped around her arms seemed to have their own intelligence, their tips easily cutting through the metal armour like mud.
Indeed, she was the Knowledge Star Wu Xinxie.
Gou Zi’s expression shifted.
Star Knight?
Before, it was impossible for him to even catch a glimpse of a Star Knight, but now there were even two here. What’s more, the new person seemed to be a powerful Star.
Wu Xinxie’s chains flashed, their various tips flew towards various crucial points of the array. Seeing the array’s light growing dimmer, Gou Zi realised she was breaking the array and quickly called out: “Hurry, kill her!”
Several star cultivators threw out their Artifacts.
An invisible barrier in front of Wu Xinxie completely stopped all the incoming Artifacts. She casually leapt up, her bronze chains riding the momentum and slashing right across their necks, decapitating several star cultivators who couldn’t react in time.
Wu Xinxie threw out a series of talismans. The moment they hit the ground, a ma.s.sive explosion resounded, shattering the earth. The Heavenly Cycle Northern Dipper Array completely broke, its halo of light gradually fading away.
When Gou Zi saw the array break, he felt anguish from the pit of his stomach. Just a bit more and then the Majestic Star would have belonged to him. The moment he noticed Lin Yingmei’s chilling eyes turning towards him, the hair on his entire body stood up. He quietly cursed before turning around and running away.
Luckily, Lin Yingmei did not pursue him. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, but she wasn’t able to because she had just escaped the array. This array’s main use was to absorb the Star Knight’s Astral Energy. Now that she had lost seven to eight parts of her energy reserve, there none left to spare.
Only by relying on the Arctic Star Serpent Spear was Lin Yingmei able to stand herself up.
“Lin Chong, can you still fight?” Wu Xinxie asked.
“Did Master tell you to do this?” Lin Yingmei glanced at Wu Xinxie. Her Star Symbol still remained, so at least Shu Jing hadn’t thrown her away.
Wu Xinxie shook her head. She laughed and said: “Xinxie thinks you are too lucky. How many have masters that would come to their rescue despite knowing full well the risks? Isn’t that just too foolish?”
She turned and looked around the fort.
The blazing red fire lightning was like a nightmarish devil with terrifying fangs. Frenzied winds and harsh rains coupled with devastating lightning and thunder had turned the Grand Border Fortress into a destroyed warzone. With each bolt of lightning that flared up, people’s heart grew more and more terrified.
“Master!” Lin Yingmei’s heart ached and her lips bled from her gnashing teeth. She gripped the Arctic Star Serpent Spear tightly, wishing to lend a hand.
This was the first time Wu Xinxie had ever seen the Majestic Star so scared.
Truly, what a lucky man.
Wu Xinxie smiled and supported the falling Lin Yingmei. “If you go now like this you will just distract Young Master!”
“This servant… cannot… just stand and watch!” Lin Yingmei gasped. Her entire body was shaking, her eyes filled with worries.
Wu Xinxie looked at Lin Yingmei while in deep thought.
“Do you really wish to help Young Master? I may have something that you can use…”
She took out a single pill. The pill was golden in colour and was decorated with the symbol of a dragon.
“Star Breaker Golden Pill! In a short amount of time, it will help you return to your peak state. However, there is a side effect. When your body surpa.s.ses its limit, all the meridians on your body will break. From then on, you will become a cripple with no hope of recovery. Lin Yingmei, do you still dare?” Wu Xinxie slowly explained.
Majestic Star that had swept aside thousands of soldiers since ancient time becoming a useless cripple. She would probably prefer death over such a fate.
Lin Yingmei stood there, stunned.
Wu Xinxie smiled secretively: “Yingmei sis, you only have a few minutes left to decide. Young master is not a match at all for that Nebula Stage cultivator. The only reason he was able to hold on until now was due to some special artifact he had on his body, but I doubt it will last for much longer. If you really want to save him, this is the most straightforward method. Of course, maybe Young Master still have some secret killing move.”
A powerful bolt of lightning raced across the sky. Lin Yingmei could clearly sense that Shu Jing was losing ground. She looked at the Star Breaker Golden Pill and immediately swallowed it without thinking further. A sudden stream of Star Energy surged through her meridians.
Wu Xinxie spoke the truth, this pill was indeed effective.
“If this servant dies in battle, please take care of Master from now on.”
Lin Yingmei coldly left those words behind before turning into a streak of light and flew away.
Wu Xinxie smiled grievingly. She waved her feathered fan and sighed: “I lost. I have completely lost.” The scary-sounding side effects she had said about Star Breaker Golden Pill was only to test Lin Yingmei. She never thought that Yingmei would completely ignore her own well-being like that.
Star Knights and Star Masters signed a contract that binds them together and forces them to support each other, but their ultimate goal was still to become the final winner. If they ran into a disadvantageous situation, there had been instances where one would run away on their own. Few were like Shu Jing and Lin Yingmei. One would fearlessly face death, while the other ignore even the possibility of becoming a cripple.
For the past thousand years in Liangshan Continent, this was the first time the Majestic Star had fallen into the trappings of love.