Layers of space were opened, and Li Qianxia stood on an OKIS, recalling how she had transformed into an owl in Prague and flown amidst the great flames controlled by her elder brother.
Since they were children, Li Changzhou had always protected her like this, paving the way for her.
If she had been born 13 minutes earlier, and had grown up as the elder sister, what would it be like now?
With Li Changzhou by her side, she felt slightly distracted, even on the battlefield.
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A frozen world, forests of ice pillars.
Within many of these ice pillars, warriors of flesh, cannons of flesh, beasts of flesh, and others were frozen like crimson ice sculptures.
In the center of the ice pillars, Yang Qinglan sat cross-legged, flipping through a booklet of information on flesh organisms.
The Emerald Bee Sword kept transforming, mostly into items like clocks and Rubik's cubes, items that interact with abstract concepts like time and space.
Turning to the last page of the booklet, she looked up—ice could halt the advance of flesh warriors, but it could not freeze the "Flesh Space River"; the space was getting smaller and smaller.
The area had shrunk from the size of a university at the start, to a playground, and now it was only as big as a classroom.
The surroundings were fragmented, so much so that a mere glance could make an ordinary person vomit.
This anomaly might not affect Yang Qinglan, but if the space kept reducing, would it eventually split her apart?
Creak, creak!
She spun around, the information booklet disappeared, the Ruyi appeared in her hand, the small Jade Cauldron whirled around her side, and the skirt of her hanfu embroidered with snow lotuses bloomed slightly before slowly settling down.
A vine grew out of the depths of the space.
Leaves sprouted on both sides of the vine, curling around the edges, reminding Yang Qinglan of a documentary scene where vines climbed large trees.
The Flower Fairy slid along the main vine, zooming close in a flash as if riding on a cableway.
Just as the vine was about to touch Yang Qinglan's nose, it stopped growing, and the Flower Fairy standing at the end of the vine now stood in front of Yang Qinglan.
"Come on up," said the Flower Fairy.
"Thank you," Yang Qinglan replied as a golden cloud floated up under her feet—she wasn't very adept at handling things like OKIS—once she landed on the vine, the Golden Cloud disappeared on its own.
The vine resumed its growth, and the two, as if riding a wooden dragon, zipped away with a whoosh.
The vine passed through layers of space, resembling a journey through a kaleidoscope.
It didn't have the capability to fragment the space; it simply used the "Flesh Space River" as a climbable tree, "stepping" from one space into another.
"Did you only find me?" Yang Qinglan asked.
"You're closest to nature, easier to find," replied the Flower Fairy.
Yang Qinglan felt a bit anxious having taken so long to find just one person. The Ruyi in her hand kept transforming continuously.
◇
"Nonsense!"
The entire world seemed to part, kneeling in the distance.
The crowded space tightly clustered around the boundaries allowed by the Favored Concubine, looking like a shattered large mirror due to its sheer number.
The Green Bird spread its wings, and the oppressed multitude of divine birds seized the opportunity to freely slaughter the flesh warriors.
On the ground, the Turquoise Pool took ordinary trees from the Storage Bag, igniting a Flame with 1000 mana points on a bonfire.
1000 mana points, the entire mana of a Third Level Immortal, were sufficient to boil a large river, yet they burned quietly on the stack of wood.
Huff, huff, the flames seemed to breathe as if alive.
Golden lines traced within the flames, a goddess with black hair emerged, her upper body visible. Even so, one could imagine her perfect proportions.
Hestia, Zeus's sister, once one of the twelve main gods of Mount Olympus.
"Was it you who awakened me?" Hestia looked at the Turquoise Pool, the language of the gods overcoming all barriers.
"It was me," Turquoise Pool smiled and asked, "Goddess Hestia, please tell me, how can I leave this place?"
Hestia's golden eyes shifted left and right, her lips curving into a faint smile.
She looked at Turquoise Pool: "Little girl, that amount of mana isn't enough for me to answer that question."
"The more mana you obtain, the hotter your embers burn, and when they reignite, is that when you revive?" Turquoise Pool suddenly asked.
Hestia and Turquoise Pool locked eyes.
"Are you threatening a god?"
Everything began to burn, birds, flesh warriors, and those edges—the "Flesh Space River."
A draping robe wrapped around Turquoise Pool, shielding her from the divine wrath.
"It's not a threat; I'm seeking cooperation. Since it's cooperation, let's be honest with each other, benefiting mutually," said Turquoise Pool from behind the robe, her face gilded as if she were a goddess flying heavenward.
Hestia eyed her deeply, chuckling meaningfully as the flames cheered jubilantly.
"I like clever and beautiful virgins."
The bodily form of the divine flame suddenly collapsed, all the flames on the bonfire gathered onto a single matchstick.
"Hold this, and before the flame extinguishes, no one can stop you."
'Not even a Saint?' Turquoise Pool thought to herself, her heart beating a bit harshly, facing a god of legend for the first time, inevitably feeling a bit nervous.
Indeed, one must not underestimate these gods; to hold back their wrath, being challenged and still opting to assist her, did they want her to depend on them? To continually use mana to ignite the embers?
With a flick of her finger, the torch flew into Turquoise Pool's white as jade hands, she wrapped in draping robe, protected by a flock of birds, flying upward through the depths of space.
The original, merely retractable 'Flesh Space River,' was being scorched by the torch, burnt apart like a thread of cotton.
After glimpsing the information on her retina, named Abby as the warrior who went down, Li Qianxia had also vanished, fully merged into the deep red, appearing as if she might die at any moment.
Turquoise Pool increased her speed, praying in her heart that Li Qianxia's disappearance was just due to damaged equipment, triggering the "Flame Butterfly" in time.