Chapter 86: The Nascent Soul Elder, Fleeing for His Life

“My trump card…” The slender figure appeared behind him once again. This time, it was not a graceful arc, but rather the fastest straight line—seeking not to kill, but simply to wound.

Unfortunately, he was neither an enraged and irrational big-headed infant nor a novice still at the Foundation Establishment stage. Even at this speed, the protective spiritual energy enveloping his body, together with his tattered spirit armor, was enough to withstand the sudden strike.

The clash rang out just as the dagger, having pierced through the barrier of a Core Formation cultivator, was ultimately blocked by the spirit armor. The formerly delicate-looking young man reached out with his other empty hand, and sword light flashed forth, instantly piercing through the slender figure.

“Tch, your stealth skills are impressive, at least.” As the pierced figure blurred and faded away, he couldn’t help but curl his lip in disdain.

Little Mikoto had already prepared her Railgun, and Qi clenched his fists, closing the distance. The blue-haired woman’s expression was grave, her lips moving in a silent incantation. All three stood poised to unleash their full power.

“You little brats these days really have some temper. Didn’t your elders ever teach you to lie low and play dead?” A sudden voice left the trio momentarily stunned, and then an overwhelming spiritual pressure descended upon them, instantly forcing them from the sky to the ground.

“This aura… a Nascent Soul elder.” Qi’s face darkened, even turning somewhat ashen. So this was their trump card—one that could suppress the entire field.

Previously, when facing Ling Meng or Shui Wuyue, their spiritual pressure had never been deliberately directed at Qi, so he’d thought he could still muster the will to resist a Nascent Soul cultivator. But now, crushed and nearly unable to move, he realized he’d underestimated the might of a true Nascent Soul master. No wonder reaching that stage earned the title of Patriarch—enough to found a sect.

“Heh heh heh, Patriarch, you’re finally here! They’ve slaughtered this grandson’s physical body. You must let me deal with them, especially that baby girl!” A familiar eerie laugh echoed from the demon’s lair. Then the big-headed infant floated out in a bizarre fashion—astonishingly alive, despite its body and head having been smashed to pulp.

“Useless. Two Core Formation cultivators can’t even handle three juniors who haven’t reached Core Formation? Nearly a hundred years of cultivation wasted on dogs.” A short, hunchbacked old man suddenly appeared beside the big-headed infant, raising a hand to shoot out a stream of spiritual light, which the infant swallowed in one gulp.

The big-headed infant instantly looked much more spirited. “Patriarch, it’s not that we’re incompetent, it’s that the baby girl is simply too formidable. You wouldn’t believe it—she’s not a cultivator, yet she can command the purest lightning of heaven and earth. Even my Myriad Infant Soul Banner couldn’t withstand the thunderclouds she summoned.”

The short, hunchbacked old man glanced in mild surprise at the baby girl hiding behind Qi. “Oh? She shows no sign of cultivation… could she be a spiritual being of heaven and earth, or perhaps a great demon or celestial beast?”

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“Patriarch Tong, this junior has already captured the demon sect’s young mistress. Many thanks for saving my life just now.” The formerly delicate man, now restraining the alluring woman, bowed respectfully.

Surrounded by spirit phantoms just now, he’d sensed mortal danger. Had the Nascent Soul elder not arrived in time, he would have lost at least half his life, if not all of it.

“Hmm. This girl is an important bargaining chip against Yang Dingtian. Guard her well—don’t let her escape. As for you juniors, aside from the baby girl, the other three should cripple your own cultivation. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to act myself, and I can’t guarantee your lives.”

Silence fell. Having witnessed the true might of a Nascent Soul elder, Mikoto Misaka no longer impulsively protested, but simply waited for time to pass.

Qi narrowed his eyes, calculating how to break the deadlock. The only way out was to flee to his original timeline, cultivate until he could rival a Nascent Soul, and return to take revenge. But how long would that take? How much soft currency would it cost to pause the flow of time in this world? If he couldn’t return, that would be a disaster.

The blue-haired woman’s face was icy as she lowered her gaze in silent thought, ignoring the Nascent Soul elder’s words. In the cultivation world, crippling one’s own abilities was a fate worse than death; once captured by the enemy, it was no longer a question of life or death, but of a fate where even death was denied.

“What? Must I really bully the young with my old hands and kill you myself?” The short, hunchbacked elder’s tone remained calm, but the spiritual pressure bearing down on them grew even heavier.

It seemed the moment of life and death had truly arrived. Yet in the face of a Nascent Soul elder, none could be certain of escape.

The oppressive atmosphere thickened, pressing ever more heavily on their hearts and bringing them to the breaking point, when the old man sneered, “Don’t think your little tricks can evade my spiritual sense. Still trying to secretly call for help?”

In a secluded corner of the mountain, as the air twisted, the slender figure from before was squeezed out as if by some invisible force, appearing with a pale face and a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.

So it was the black-veiled woman from Lijiang City. Who was she, really? Previously thought to be the big-headed infant’s subordinate, it now seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Liu, run!” the blue-haired woman suddenly shouted, her body erupting with powerful magical force. In an instant, she broke free of the spiritual pressure and fled in the opposite direction from the hunchbacked elder faster than ever before.

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The black-veiled woman, named Liu, did not take to the sky but dashed across the ground at incredible speed. Her figure flickered, moving nearly as fast as the blue-haired woman’s escaping light.

The moment the blue-haired woman shouted, Qi grabbed Mikoto Misaka and flew in a different direction.

“Hurry, Mikoto—use me as a Railgun projectile, or we’ll never get away!” Qi growled urgently.

“But your body? And humans aren’t metal, electromagnetic force—” Mikoto stammered in panic, encountering such helplessness for the first time, even when she’d been at low power levels.

“No time for that. Just focus your electromagnetic force and shoot me out!” Tendrils, soft yet elastic, extended from Qi’s back, binding Mikoto tightly to him. His entire body was then enveloped.

Mikoto sensed something and was astonished to find Qi’s body responded to electromagnetic force even better than ordinary metal. She recalled in her mind how the hole in his chest had rapidly healed.

I am immortal—even if my head’s gone, I’ll grow another.

Blue-violet arcs of electricity exploded, and Qi’s body instantly accelerated to the speed of sound—and continued to accelerate. In the blink of an eye, he reached five times the speed of sound. The friction set his body ablaze.

Although the world around her was a blazing red, Mikoto felt no heat at all. Her small form was pressed tightly against his broad back, unable to move an inch.

(About to enter the next world: Akame ga Kill.)