A Chaotic World

"Sister Qianxue!" Ruan Ling cried out in shock when she saw that the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist was about to deal the finishing blow.

With a flick of her wrists, Ruan Ling pulled out wooden tablet from her spatial ring.

"Unseal!" Ruan Ling directed her Essence energy into the wooden tablet, causing it to give off an intense light.

This was the life-saving trump card of the Soft Stream Clan, given to Ruan Ling by her mother.

Since it was a one-time use item, Ruan Ling had wanted to find an opportunity to take down as many opponents as she could with it. Unfortunately, the situation had deteriorated so quickly that she could not longer hold back on using it.

The dark figures had done their due diligence before embarking on this mission. When they saw Ruan Ling's actions, they instantly understood what she was trying to do.

"Retreat!" the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist ordered, and every dark figure present immediately dropped what they were doing to back off.

The light from Ruan Ling's wooden tablet came together in the air, forming into a bright silhouette of a man holding a mace. The figure of light gave off the unmistakable aura of an Overlord realm powerhouse as it stood proudly in the air.

With a simple swing of its mace, the figure of light created a shockwave that instantly crushed the twelve daggers heading towards Nanlan Qianxue into mere smithereens.

After which, the figure of light continued to hover in the air, facing the dark figures that had already retreated a fair distance.

The dark figures turned serious when they saw this.

The power behind that mace strike was not something that any of them could even hope to challenge with their current strength. If they had been there in place of the daggers, they would have similarly been killed with a single strike!

However, this did not mean that they were helpless against it.

Since they had come despite knowing that Ruan Ling had this method at her disposal, they naturally had an answer to it as well.

The Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist took out a wooden box without hesitation, opening it towards the figure of light.

Four bolts of lightning immediately shot out from the opening, heading straight towards the figure of light.

These bolts of lightning were extremely tyrannical. Every martial artist present felt their hair stand on ends the moment they appeared, including the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist himself.

It almost felt as though these bolts of lightning were capable of tearing asunder the very fabrics of space, destroying anything and everything in their way!

Against an attack like that, any Origin Core realm martial artist would have no choice but to accept their death.

However, the figure of light was completely unfazed.

It stood firm and swung his mace towards the approaching bolts of lightning, bringing with it a world shattering momentum that seemed to be just as unstoppable as the four bolts of lightning.

Bang-!

The figure of light's mace smashed directly against the lightning, the collision sending out a powerful shockwave that forced everyone back a few steps. The martial artists had to drive their origin cores to forcibly stabilise themselves, just so that they would not get blown away like a leaf.

"How?!" Ruan Ling widened her eyes in shock when she saw that the figure of light was completely locked down by the barrage of lightning.

This was an intent of an Overlord realm powerhouse, and entities at the Origin Core realm should have been swept away with a single swing of its mace!

Despite that, the continuous barrage from the four bolts of lightning was actually able to force the figure of light to stay in place. This meant that the four bolts of lightning were likely equivalent to an attack at the Overlord realm as well!

Nanlan Qianxue walked up beside her. Longshao Wenqin had taken the brief moment of respite before this to free Nanlan Qianxue from the wall.

Now, the two of them could only stand behind Ruan Ling and give her their moral support.

Even though it was through the use of items, this had already become a clash of attacks that were at the Overlord realm, so there was absolutely nothing they could do to help.

"Stop struggling. I know that your Soft Stream Command can only last for five minutes, or ten at most if you expend all of your energy for it. I will definitely be able to keep this up for just as long," the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist said. "Rather than waste both of our energy, why don't you just give up now so we can all go home earlier? Of course, you would need someone to help carry you home!"

Damn it!

Ruan Ling cursed in her heart.

From the looks of it, the dark figures already knew everything about her trump card and had made the necessary preparations for it. Now, they were simply trying to stall for time. Once the energy within her Soft Stream Command as depleted, the figure of light would naturally be gone as well.

At that time, things would once again return to the hopeless situation from before.

If that was really the case, then rather than wait for their deaths, it might be better to just risk everything and launch a surprise attack while the other party was unprepared!

But at this moment, Nanlan Qianxue said with a feeble voice. "Please drag this on for as long as you can."

Her words drew the surprise of both Ruan Ling and Longshao Wenqin, who was similarly considering the feasibility of launching a sudden attack.

"What use will dragging this do?" Longshao Wenqin said with a bitter smile. "It will only exhaust ourselves. At that point, we would lose even the slimmest chance of escaping."

Ruan Ling did not reply, but the frown on her face said everything.

If she expended all of her energy, it was indeed possible to forcibly extend the effect of the Soft Stream Command.

But as Longshao Wenqin said, what was the point in doing so?

Rather than playing this game of endurance, she was much more inclined towards making a last ditch effort instead. That way, there would at least be a chance for a miracle to happen.

"I can't promise anything, but if you guys don't have any better plan, then let's just go with mine," Nanlan Qianxue said before placing her palm on Ruan Ling's back. "I will fully support you with my Essence energy. Even though my cultivation level is low, as long as it can help you delay them for a few extra seconds, it still counts as something!"

With that, Nanlan Qianxue started driving her origin core, sending her Essence energy into Ruan Ling's inner world.

Longshao Wenqin hesitated for a few moments before stepping up to do the same, placing his palm on Ruan Ling's shoulder while replying to Nanlan Qianxue. "I hope you know what you are doing."

Ruan Ling sighed in her heart, but accepted the energy from the two.

Nanlan Qianxue was probably right.

Even though this was just delaying the inevitable, perhaps it was still better than rushing to their deaths.

Who knows?

Someone might actually come along and save them if they delayed for long enough!

On the other end, the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist had to suppress his laughter when he saw what they were doing.

He more than welcomed the idea of drawing out this stalemate until the three targets were completely out of energy.

This might mean that the mission would take longer to be completed, but it was also the most stable progression for them. This stability more than made up for the extra time taken.

The trio might not know this, but the dark figures had already sealed the entire area.

In other words, chances of the trio being saved by a passing powerhouse was as gone as zero!

Now, they just had to wait it out until the trio were depleted of energy before cleaning them up with absolute ease.

As a Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, he was confident in his energy reserve when compared to these juniors. There was no way that he would run out of energy before them, even if they combined their efforts in such a manner!

With the two Overlord rank attacks clashing in the middle, nobody dared to carelessly cross over to approach the other camp.

All of them stood there in place, one side hoping for this situation to last longer, one side hoping for it to come to an end.

As time passed, the colour on the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist's face started to turn pale, proof that he was nearing his limit while controlling the mysterious wooden box. At the same time, the trio were drowned in sweat, all of them quickly approaching their limits as well.

At one point, the figure of light in the air suddenly started to flicker, causing the other dark figures to perk up in excitement.

"They are reaching their limits! Just a little more and it will be over!"

"Hahaha, finally! It's about time to wrap up and return!"

They were not usually this chatty during their missions, but their patience had been drawn thin by the long wait. Seeing that it was finally coming to an end, they could not help but blurt out their thoughts.

Even the pale Seventh Cycle Origin core realm martial artist let out a sigh of relief. He was indeed nearing his limit, so this was definitely good news to him.

On the other hand, Longshao Wenqin let out a resigned sigh.

In the end, he got caught up in something completely unrelated to him, and was about to pay for it with his life.

Even so, he was not regretting his actions.

His fate had been sealed the moment he approached Nanlan Qianxue. And at that point, he would never have thought that they would be targeted by enemies of such a level.

He simply did not have luck on his side this time.

At this moment, Ruan Ling's voice sounded out in their heads. "I can still hold them back for a few more moments, you guys make a run for it!"

She had already given up all hope of surviving.

Since she was dead either way, she might as well used her body as a meat shield for Nanlan Qianxue. That way, at least not all of them would die here.

"No, there's no need for that anymore," Nanlan Qianxue answered, her words drawing a look of surprise from the other two.

They looked at her, only to see that her gaze was fixated on the group of dark figures. In fact, she had been staring at the group ever since the start.

And now, she finally saw what she had been hoping to see.

At the back of the opposing camp, a dark figure at the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm suddenly choked and started coughing. He held his chest and bent over slightly, unable to hold in the pain within.

Just like dominos, the others at the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm started experiencing the same pain, all of them holding their chests in pain as they started coughing non-stop.

"What's going on?" the four at the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm asked while stepping away warily.

However, the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artists were simply in too much pain to answer them. They fell to their knees while continuing to cough, eventually even coughing out blood.

"Argh!" one of the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artists suddenly held his chest. "This...!"

His reaction sparked off yet another chain reaction, as the other three Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artists started coughing as well.

"You... just what did you do?" the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist asked with a sneer. His gaze was as cold as ice as he turned his attention from Ruan Ling to Nanlan Qianxue who was standing behind.