Welcomed by the sight of scorched earth, burnt air, and distinct silence, Wei Wuyin's heart stirred with turbulent emotions. The stark contrast of circumstances and utter absence of life on Blueglow left him with one thought: "Where is she?"
Before leaving for the Battlefield, Bai Lin had accompanied him to the planet. However, he was unaware that organic beasts were disallowed from entering the Battlefield until after he obtained Jing Jiu's memories. Supposedly, only certain beasts refined through unique spiritually tethering cultivation methods, so-called Spirit Beasts, were allowed.
However, these types of beasts were strictly limited to those with outrageously powerful Spiritual Strength or cultivators that have delved into the Spiritualist path.
Panicked, he lifted his head and sent his spiritual sense hurling upwards towards the sky, intending to sweep the entire Dark Void to the limits of his range. No longer requiring his four Astral Souls to be sealed, he had a monstrously powerful spiritual sense alongside his spiritual strength.
Boom!
His closed eyelids fluttered as his expression changed. A deep sound resounded from above, causing the sky to ripple out ceaselessly as if a pebble had crashed against a watery surface.
"An array? A sealing array?!" Wei Wuyin immediately realized that the entire planet of Blueglow had been enveloped by a thick spherical array that prevented the passing of spiritual senses or physical bodies. This array was extremely complex. Furthermore, it was mystic-level, so he was unable to immediately sense it's presence. If he had his Celestial Eyes, or even his eyes available, he would notice the crisscrossed net of golden light enveloping the entire planet.
Just as Wei Wuyin was about to test out some things, a clarion cry resounded that shook the fixed space and caused the entire planet to quake uncontrollably.
KREE!
A smile of delighted surprise formed as his head shot downwards, feeling the presence of Bai Lin! Her aura was as clear as the solar stars in the night sky. He was startled that he was unable to sense her presence initially but pleasantly surprised that she was still here. If something happened to Bai Lin because of his reckless decision to breach the planet, he would have…
It's best to not think about it.
He stood where he was as the earth cracked and faint scarlet-gold flames erupted outwards. They were Nirvanic Flames! These flames swirled about him and emitted no heat towards himself, yet the environment suffered from its intensity. Its ability to distinguish from friend and foe, transitioning between gentle emissions and burning heat, was as terrifying and miraculous as he remembered, knowing they each wisp and flicker was similar to Bai Lin's own flesh and blood, fully within her control.
Boosh!
From a few tens of meters away from him, a geyser of scarlet-gold nirvanic flames burst out from the earth. The clarion cry of Bai Lin resounded once again, filled with jubilant emotions and traces of exhaustion. This caused Wei Wuyin to frown for a single moment, but his expression eased into a smile as Bai Lin's figure came into his senses.
She escaped the earth and the flames gathered together until her white and golden feathered body manifested in its entirety. Wei Wuyin was startled to realize that he could not to accurately view Bai Lin's Fire Phoenix Form with his spiritual sense despite its power. This was the first time this had happened, and he was once again reminded how immensely essential his Celestial Eyes had been to his cultivation and perception of the world.
With it, even unseen divinities were unable to escape its gaze.
When Bai Lin fully manifested, her twenty-two-meter-tall body of grace and beauty landed next to Wei Wuyin. "You're back!" She sent a mental transmission. When she landed, her legs were somewhat unsteady, but she still moved her head towards Wei Wuyin with undisguised joy.
Wei Wuyin walked forward and caressed her head, moving downwards to her neck and eventually pressing his hand against her chest. The feathers that brushed against his hand felt slightly different. He didn't hesitate to integrate his spiritual sense into her physical condition.
"You're injured?" Wei Wuyin's voice went down a few octaves.
Bai Lin didn't try to hide anything, immediately complaining: "Those bastards tried to remove me from the planet!" She lifted her elegant neck upwards, and her golden eyes flickered with animosity and violent killing intent. It was so intense that the surrounding fixed space shook a little.
Wei Wuyin frowned, interfacing with Mark of Eden within his heart. Instantly, strands of lifeforce were extracted, sent into Bai Lin's body, and the damage she suffered had almost instantly been repaired. Her nirvanic flames immediately grew more radiant, and her golden eyes emitted a brilliance of nirvana.
To injure Bai Lin, a cultivator must be at the Demi-Mortal Lord Phase or use an extremely powerful formation or array.
Kree!
Bai Lin released a cry of enjoyment as her body began to rapidly refine the lifeforce given to her. As a Genesis Beast of the Fire Phoenix Bloodline, injuring her was difficult, but she could use the Nirvanic Flames to refine lifeforce or other essences to convert into lifeforce for herself. That stockpile of refined lifeforce was how she triggered her next Nirvanic Transformation.
However, even if Wei Wuyin gave her endless lifeforce, she still needed sufficient power to survive the Nirvanic Transformation as well, so pushing forward without restraint could produce disastrous and eternal consequences.
"Tell me what happened," Wei Wuyin said as he felt deeply relieved. Bai Lin's injuries were not minor. She had suffered severe internal damage to her true body, her blood energies were not just drained but overly stimulated, and she had hidden herself away.
Bai Lin's eyes flashed with pure violence, but she soon calmed down as she lowered her head and body, expediting the healing process. "When you left…"
—–
Two days prior.
The cylindrical pillar of cascading light reversed, taking Wei Wuyin to the Battlefield, and leaving Bai Lin alone on the ground, fissures permeating where she had just crashed. There was a forlorn look in her eyes. She sincerely hoped that Wei Wuyin had received her final words telling him to be safe.
Bai Lin lifted herself upright, staring at the boundless sky and the Dark Void beyond it. She let loose a soft, gentle cry outward. This was the first time she was genuinely unaware of where Wei Wuyin had gone off to. Even in the Myriad Yore Continent, when she spent almost a decade alone, she had always known where Wei Wuyin was or where he could be.
Now?
She was ignorant; worries and concerns for his well-being sieged her heart. While she was confident of Wei Wuyin's abilities, she had just been introduced to the world of Ascended beings. She was fully aware that Wei Wuyin was currently like an ant before these existences. While he had his means, his life could be forfeit before these beyond Mortal Limit beings.
All she could do now was wait. So wait she did.
However, the forces of Blueglow had been alerted by their imposing descent. Due to Wei Wuyin's pressing urgency to not miss this opportunity due to further delays, they shattered the planetary defensive array guarding Blueglow. The weaker forces were appalled by this, instantly sending messages to the strongest force on the planet—Skytaint Mystichall.
Their reactions were extremely rapid, with the Mystic Star Phase cultivator, Exalted Skytaint, overseer of the planet and leader of the Skytaint Hall, descending imposingly upon the area. The sightings of a white and gold feathered beast was reported, and he had the means to scour the entire planet with his spiritual sense.
He quickly discovered Bai Lin with relative ease. When he arrived with his entourage of combat-type Skyships fitted with all sorts of weapons that might give cultivators at the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, Soul of Mysticism Phase, issues, he didn't hesitate to surround Bai Lin.
He first lobbied out questioning announcements towards Bai Lin, even attempting to find the cultivator who owned this beast, yet Bai Lin gave him a brief and dismissive glance before she returned to waiting with her eyes closed. Meeting repeated failures in his attempt to sound out Bai Lin's purpose, he decided to draw out the owner.
"Fire upon that beast!" Exalted Skytaint ordered. The skyships powered up, fueling their ships with high-end astral stones and launching beams of destructively blue light. They pierced through the air and caused the environment's hue to gradually become more blue. The sound of these beams was far lighter than the deep, thrumming sound of Mystic-level Cannon, indicating their inferiority.
Suuu! Suuu! Suuu!
Bai Lin's response was simple: She batted her wings towards those beams, using her small body to crash against those thick beams of light. Her actions were met with ridicule by those who launched the attacks, feeling as if Bai Lin was bound to be obliterated. However, the next scene caused their jaws to drop to the floor!
Bai Lin deflected the beams of light with her wings covered in scarlet-gold flames, sending them curving like an arc into the distance! After her swift reply, she gave them a soft, disdainful cry and went back to patiently waiting. Several loud explosions erupted out, and a few of these beams landed in populated areas hundreds of miles away, causing untold devastation.
The chaos and mayhem caused made the crew and Exalted Skytaint as pale as ash. An Ascended beast?! Exalted Skytaint's expression became slightly ugly, but he realized this beast was far beyond his means to deal with, and if its owner was similarly terrifying, this situation could lead to disastrous consequences. For fear of his life and authority, he unhesitatingly sent a message up the chain, immediately contacting the Spirithall responsible for this planet—the Spiritwalker Hall.
And this action led to an escalation far beyond anything they could've ever imagined. An escalation that would lead the once lush and bright planet of Blueglow to become scorched and barren.
