A massive explosion thundered once more, vaporizing vast quantities of seawater into a fine spray that billowed upward and condensed into a dense shroud. As the detonations continued in rapid succession, an impenetrable fog—far darker and thicker than before, black enough to swallow one's own hand—slowly spread across the ocean, its borders expanding at terrifying speed until it blanketed thousands of square kiloters of sea.
To avoid being swept up in the blasts, Gongsun Xinlian had retreated several thousand kiloters, all while staying alert to disperse any rogue tidal waves threatening to crash into the Black Cloud harbor. Floating in midair, she watched white light erupt across the distant ocean in continuous detonations, her face drawn with worry.
"I underestimated the scale of their battle. If this continues, the Black Cloud harbor might be consud in the destruction," she murmured.
"Then we'll step in before Lin Hui falls." Her eldest brother, Xie Chang'an, appeared beside her—hands clasped behind his back, robes snapping in the wind—and fixed his gaze on the distant battlefield. "When the ti cos, we act together. I'll stop the fight, and you'll contain the aftershocks. We're still too close to the harbor."
"Understood!" Gongsun Xinlian nodded firmly. "Brother, why are you so certain Lin Hui will lose?"
"Because the Mistborn are undying. It may look like they're evenly matched, but Tuyue hasn't even drawn on her Evil Energy yet. Moreover, the mist composing her body should already be true Evil Mist—she has clearly made breakthroughs over the years. You should know that a true Evil Mist like ours, since the very mont of its birth, can only be damaged by the power of a Mist God or certain sealed contaminating forces. In any other circumstance, no matter how much punishnt it absorbs, it erges entirely unscathed," Xie Chang'an explained. "True Evil Mist can be displaced—never destroyed. This is established law, proven by the Federation Inner Court through years of research."
"If that's the case, Lin Hui is indeed destined to lose. And he's already injured…" Gongsun Xinlian nodded. "Still—to hold a Mistborn to a standstill—he is already the equal of the finest Blood Ancestors alive."
"Truly rare. A remarkable talent. If it were possible—" Xie Chang'an cut himself off abruptly. "Tuyue has lost her reason! She's about to use her Evil Energy!!" His expression changed, and in an instant he was gone.
Without hesitation, Gongsun Xinlian surged forward. Her body burst apart silently, dissolving into pure white particles that blanketed dozens of kiloters of ocean in a single breath. Countless beams of white light rose from the sea like a forest of pale, colossal trees erupting from the deep. Vines of white light coiled from their surfaces, intertwining to form a vast wall that stretched for dozens of kiloters, sealing off the direction of the Black Cloud harbor.
…
"Hahahaha!!!"
At the center of the battlefield, Tuyue condensed her giant spore hand once more.
"You forced this upon yourself!!"
Faintly visible within the giant hand, a massive wheel of dark red flesh and blood pulsed with a deep crimson light. She had never imagined that even after revealing her Mist True Body she still couldn't suppress Lin Hui.
Her true body was undying—it could reconstruct itself endlessly—but for the fight to reach this point, for a Mistborn to be held to a standstill by a mortal who wasn't even a Blood Ancestor, ant she had already lost in every sense that mattered. It was like a grown man wrestling a rat to a draw: no matter the outco, the man had already been humiliated. After today, she would be forever branded as the most contemptible Mistborn in the Federation's history—the weakest, without exception.
She could not endure that. It was unforgivable.
"Then just die!!"
The great red wheel within Tuyue's form began to turn, emitting a clear, bell-like toll with each rotation.
…
At that sa mont, Lin Hui—floating within his tornado—could no longer hold back his internal injuries.
"I've been waiting for this move. Co on, then—let's see if your Evil Energy can shake my law body!!" Lin Hui was drenched in blood, but his eyes blazed brighter than they ever had.
That brightness was not a figure of speech. His eyes were genuinely radiant, flooded with a brilliant blue light. His black hair snapped free of its binding, whipping in the storm, then rapidly bleached to blue—strands thinning into semi-transparent filants of light. Like tentacles, those filants reached silently into the void, drawing imnse power from so unseen source.
Simultaneously, his body began to expand. In the blink of an eye he stood three and a half ters tall, three golden runes hovering at his back, sky-blue markings spreading in broad swathes across his skin.
"Clear Source Law Body—Activate!"
Lin Hui gripped Ruyi once more. The sword felt sowhat short in his massive grip, but he paid it no mind, his gaze fixed on the giant wheel of flesh and blood in the distance.
His wounds were closing rapidly under the Wind Disaster's power. Apart from his shredded robes, he looked as though nothing had touched him. The two combatants faced each other again; a new and more decisive confrontation was on the verge of erupting.
"Enough!!" A sharp shout cut through the space between them.
A giant hand ford from countless layers of erald leaves materialized in midair directly across Lin Hui's path—dozens of kiloters wide, a solid living wall that forcibly divided him from Tuyue.
"My young friend Lin Hui, I am Xie Chang'an—one of the three City Lords of Black Cloud. I ask that you grant
this courtesy." Xie Chang'an's voice resonated directly in Lin Hui's mind. "This place is too close to the Black Cloud harbor. If you continue, the tsunamis could destroy the port—casualties could reach into the millions. And I will be candid: if you keep fighting, Tuyue will grind you to nothing. So long as our Mistborn true bodies—our Evil Mist—remain intact, she can sustain this forever. You are heavily injured now, and I can sense that your mind-spirit is largely spent. Pressing on will only put you at a greater disadvantage. It is wiser to withdraw while you still can. Rest assured: as long as you remain in Black Cloud, we three siblings will watch over your friends and family. This is my word as a City Lord."
Lin Hui said nothing.
Everything the man said was true. His body had been nded by the Wind Disaster Force, but the depletion and damage to his mind-spirit was imnse. Every sword technique demanded mind-spirit to drive it. If he fought on like this, he had perhaps two hours before he was simply emptied of life.
Sensing his silence, Xie Chang'an knew he was wavering and pressed his advantage.
"Moreover, Tuyue already intends to unleash her life-bound Evil Energy. The Longevity Wheel's Life-Span Seizure exerts absolute suppression over every living being below the rank of Mistborn or Mist God. It can strip a year of lifespan from you every second. How do you intend to fight her then? It is better to end it here. We will diate—both sides take a step back."
Lin Hui gripped Ruyi for a long mont, saying nothing.
Only now did he truly understand why the Mistborn had reigned unchallenged at the apex for so long. Such a being was simply too dangerous to kill. rely by manifesting her true body, Tuyue could obliterate all life within thousands of kiloters without effort.
The Nine Eyes at his neck flickered with a pale green glow, prid to activate. In truth, he had long acknowledged the reality: his own mounting injuries and depletion set against Tuyue's perfectly preserved strength. The tide between them was plain. He had planned to use his trump card as a last resort—seal her away. But whether the Spirit-Sealing Array could contain a Mistborn was still an open question.
He had sealed the most formidable creatures he could find from the Outer Mist Zone inside the array—all nine at the peak High Divine Officer level—but against a transcendent being like a Mistborn, success was far from guaranteed.
"Understood. I'll leave it in your hands, City Lord Xie." Lin Hui leveled Ruyi upright and slowly sheathed it at his waist.
Though Xie Chang'an's intervention had always been his intended escape route, reaching this point still left a trace of regret. If only he could have sealed a Mistborn…
In the distance, Tuyue's great wheel of flesh and blood slowly dissipated. She, too, had been persuaded to stop. Soon the surrounding shroud began to lift, the sea wind sweeping through and flattening the surging waves. The ocean settled into calm.
Lin Hui looked up. The vast typhoon cyclone dissolved above him, reverting to the grey, drifting Mist sea it had been before.
"I am deeply grateful to City Lord Xie." Lin Hui returned to his normal form and inclined his head toward Xie Chang'an.
He privately felt that, had they continued, the outco was not as certain as Xie Chang'an believed—he had trump cards the man knew nothing about—but the fact that soone had stepped in to diate when he was visibly at a disadvantage was still a kindness that deserved acknowledgnt.
"No need for formality, young friend Lin. You've co to make your ho in Black Cloud—that makes you one of our people. Having a fighter of your caliber among us strengthens the city against the pantheon of gods. We gain as much as you do!" Xie Chang'an laughed warmly. "If you don't object, just call
Big Brother Xie from now on."
"Then thank you, Big Brother Xie." Lin Hui accepted the overture graciously, a faint smile crossing his face.
…
On the other side, Xie Chang'an's attention was split—his mind-spirit flowing quietly to Tuyue, who had gone still.
"What do you gain by continuing? Even if you kill that Lin Hui, what cos after? You've fought to the point of exposing your Mist True Body—win or lose, the story will make you a laughingstock the mont it spreads. Better to step back now, and let it be known you were rely sparring with a promising junior. Revealing your true body can be recast as showing a young talent the majesty of what it ans to be Mistborn. Everyone walks away with their dignity. Is that not the better outco?" Xie Chang'an's reasoning dragged Tuyue back from the edge of her humiliated rage.
Her thoughts moved quickly. The cold fury in her face thawed, and a graceful smile resurfaced. "Big Brother Xie is truly magnanimous. No wonder he has governed Black Cloud into such a flourishing city. This little sister is sincerely humbled."
"You simply lost your head for a mont—your Evil Energy was stirring and your mind-spirit grew turbulent. Now that you've steadied yourself, all is well," Xie Chang'an said with a smile.
"Since Big Brother Xie is feeling so generous, why not simply return Lin Hui's family to
to take back ho? I'm willing to trade three Blood Ancestor blood essences for them. What do you say?" Tuyue pressed, seizing the mont.
"How could I do that? The Lin family arrived in Black Cloud—they are my citizens now. If I handed them over, it would destroy everything I've built. Here is what I propose instead: Sister Tuyue, you send the remainder of Lin Hui's family and friends from your side—you'd be doing a good deed and satisfying my reputation for benevolence. In exchange, I'm prepared to offer three Blood Ancestor blood essences. What do you think?" Xie Chang'an replied with a broad, gracious smile.
"Big Brother Xie… that is not reasonable." Tuyue's expression shifted.
"No? Then I suppose I'll have to go and collect them myself. I haven't left Black Cloud in so ti, as it happens. I'll plan a personal visit to Tuyue within a few months—"
"Big Brother Xie, you flatter the matter. With your schedule, why trouble yourself personally over sothing so minor? I'll have soone send them over shortly," Tuyue said, her gaze turning evasive.
The Evil Weapon fused with Xie Chang'an was the Infinite Blade. Affable and asured as he appeared now, when he turned truly hostile, he beca a terrifying predator notorious even among the Mistborn. The number of Mistborn who had died at his hands—or rather, been devoured by him—was easily eight or ten. And Mist Gods: at least a dozen, each of comparable standing and renown to Tuyue herself, had perished by this man's hand. Of that she was certain.
"Sister Tuyue's graciousness puts my mind at ease." Xie Chang'an laughed. "Since the matter is settled, you may head back. I have affairs to see to—I won't keep you."
"…Big Brother Xie, why not co to my estate and rest a while?" Tuyue's eyes softened with a liquid warmth. She bit her lower lip lightly, her voice taking on an involuntary note of invitation—placing a lingering emphasis on the words rest a while.
"That won't do. If rumors spread and my little sister misunderstands, it would cause nothing but trouble." Xie Chang'an held his pleasant expression without wavering, and gently declined.
With that, the connection closed.
Tuyue remained in midair—expression dark, motionless for a long, long ti.
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