Night of Despair

"This ship indeed used extremely precious materials to be so sturdy," Philis said in a deep voice.

"Looks like I need to get serious."

He held his magic wand, and the white Intelligent Spirit beside him sounded the alert once again.

'Level Five Spell Space Blade begins constructing.'

'Spell Base established.'

'Mana filled, activation initiated.'

'High focus mode on.'

A mass of purple-black light emerged beside him, quickly transforming into a slender purple blade.

Swish!

In the next instant, the blade fiercely pierced the Black Black Spirit's door, going in an inch deep.

Then... it fell silent.

Philis's face turned red as he exerted all his efforts to channel mana, but it was futile.

The purple blade trembled violently but couldn't penetrate any further.

"You've been a bit lax lately, Philis," Margaret from behind was already out of patience.

She reached out her hand, and a wave of ice-blue light instantly cascaded down, enveloping the entire safe house along with Philis.

Countless ice crystals appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the Black Black Spirit layer by layer.

Margaret's face was icy as she raised her magic wand with one hand and pointed it at the Black Black Spirit.

This was the Sixth Level Spell Ice Crystal Hell, originally stored in her wand for instant use in case of an attack.

But now, in her extreme anger, she couldn't care less and directly acted.

Countless blue ice crystals began swirling around the safe house, releasing cold air and freezing it.

But inside the house, Yu Hong and Quan He didn't feel any movement.

"Explode!" Margaret suddenly said in a low voice.

All the ice crystals around the safe house simultaneously exploded with a roar like explosives.

Blinding blue light accompanied by intense cold slammed into the Black Black Spirit's shell.

Crack.

Clear cracks appeared on the surface of the main door.

But in the next instant, the entire safe house slowly faded, disappeared, transparent.

The massive Black Spirit ship disappeared right under the noses of Margaret and her two companions.

"Trying to escape!?" Margaret frowned and tapped her wand, and a ripple of invisible waves spread out from her center in all directions.

But bizarrely, there was no discovery.

Her reconnaissance spell revealed not a single trace.

"Dimensional shift, or space-time traversal?" Margaret's expression slightly changed.

She quickly tapped her wand again.

Two extremely intricate and complex silver metal spheres appeared at the wand's tip.

Bang!

One of the metal spheres silently exploded.

The next moment, the invisible state of the Black Black Spirit ship was forcibly shaken, revealing itself from concealment.

Swish!!

In the next instant, a broad pillar of light surrounded by purple hues burst out from the viewport on Black Black Spirit's door.

This pillar of light slammed into the air in front of Margaret, blocked securely by an invisible barrier.

"Useless struggle," Margaret didn't even pay attention to the beam, waving her hand with disdain.

Countless ice-blue crystals began to encircle the safe house layer by layer.

"Such sturdy materials, once brought back, all of it is mine," Margaret's previous explosion had failed, proving the safe house's remarkable durability far beyond her expectations.

Right now, she only lacked the proper tools here, but once brought back to her Light Window, she was confident she could find a way to dissolve it.

With a thought, a layer of temporary teleportation runes began to appear below her.

These runes were silver, expanding rapidly until they enveloped the entire safe house, then stopped.

Clearly, she intended to teleport the whole thing back, people and all.

Inside the safe house.

Yu Hong covered his right eye, just after releasing the Chaotic God.

"I am indeed still too weak. The most powerful attack skill, for the opponent, was effortlessly blocked."

He was somewhat disappointed; on this trip, he had taken action twice, and both times were easily dealt with by the opponent.

"This person's strength is considerable," Quan He stood aside, analyzing, "The power she releases remains around us constantly. Did you see that?"

"This is a very high-level form of Immortal. Similar to what your senior sister used before," Quan He explained, "My sensing spiritual power tells me that this person's energy level is likely beyond Immortal."

Yu Hong looked at the teleportation array patterns continuously appearing beneath the safe house.

He couldn't help but squeeze the token belonging to his senior brother to summon assistance.

He didn't want to use it so soon unless necessary. But unfortunately, the enemy's power level was vastly superior to his.

"I find it strange that Margaret, each time she releases, actually uses limited strength, and not strong. But once released, the impact is enormous. Maybe this is the power level of one stage below Immortal," Quan He frowned.

"What do we do next?" She looked at Yu Hong, seeing him still unusually calm, which reassured her troubled heart.

"What else can we do, call for reinforcements." Yu Hong retrieved the token.

But just at this moment, outside, Margaret's movements suddenly paused; the teleportation array patterns were completed but not activated.

"I'll ask one last time." Her eyes burned with blue flames.

"Where are my goods?"

"I really don't know!" Yu Hong quickly replied, "My ship was repaired and fortified in the Phoenix Eye's place, completely unrelated to your lost items!"

"Then let's change the question, where did you acquire the reinforcement materials?" Margaret asked again.

This was her real question.

From the effects of the recent attack, she felt her goods might not have been enough to fortify the ship to this extent, which was a bit naive.

So, it's very likely, Yu Hong indeed found a source with a large amount of rare and high-strength ore.

"Just beyond the Phoenix Eye, would the Patrol Chief like to take a look?" Yu Hong's voice came from within the safe house.

"Junior Brother, don't be like this. If you've done it, admit it. Lying and quibbling are of no benefit to yourself, and instead, harmful."

Another unfamiliar voice also spoke from the safe house.

"Senior Brother... No, whose side are you on?" Yu Hong appeared slightly stunned, turning to look to one side.

There, in the air, a familiar figure quickly coalesced.

In white clothes, with a sword on his back, half his face was a silver mechanical structure. It was none other than Qinghe Mountain's Bai Sheng.

"Naturally, I'm on your side," Bai Sheng smiled. "But the side paths are not to be followed. One must be sincere within themselves and avoid lies and heated disputes with the world. Only then can one remain calm."

"As they say, with no distractions in mind and a clear conscience, as long as you walk the right path, the sword you wield will always advance, quickest, strongest!"

As he spoke, he walked to the door, turned the lock with ease before Yu Hong and Quan He's astonished gazes and calmly stepped outside.

This move not only stunned Yu Hong and Quan He but also the trio opposite them, including Margaret.

Margaret was just troubled that opening the safe house would take a lot of time, considering its high strength.

Unexpectedly, someone actually opened the door from the inside!?

She couldn't help but curve the corners of her mouth.

"Fool!"

In an instant, numerous blue runes lit up around her.

'Sixth Level Cold Ice Illusion constructed.'

'Sixth Level Heart of Water Source constructed.'

'Sixth Level Frost Hand constructed.'

Dense array patterns and energy characters swirled around her, forming a massive, elaborate 3D composite magic array.

Margaret raised her magic wand, with a magnificent mirror-like ice-blue lake appearing behind her.

'Comprehensive Eternal Freeze Array — Starry Lake, constructed.'

From Bai Sheng opening the door to Margaret constructing the array, no more than a second passed.

It seemed cumbersome, yet the speed was extremely fast.

"Seems you're prepared," Bai Sheng looked forward, revealing a slight smile.

In front of him, the enormous ice-blue Starry Lake, several kilometers in size, was controlled by Margaret, pressing down fiercely towards them.

Beyond the great lake, countless layered water element arrays interlocked, building an extremely grand super-giant magic array.

"Next, I'll attack your left side," Bai Sheng said earnestly.

"Just a..." Margaret's face twisted, she raised her magic wand, about to mock,

But a rapidly expanding shadow made her face drastically change, and swallowed the rest of her words.

Hiss...

That shadow was Bai Sheng gently unsheathing his sword.

The sword disappeared, faded, transparent.

In the next moment, the sky darkened.

Above Bai Sheng, a gigantic silver blade longer and wider than two ships combined appeared, blocking the entire starry sky overhead, silent in its reveal.

The blade, like a floating continent, entirely obscured the nearby star, casting a huge shadow down, covering Margaret's Starry Lake as well as the safe house where Yu Hong and Quan He were.

"I said, next, I will attack your left side." Bai Sheng repeated.

Margaret's face was stunned, what difference did attacking left or right make with a sword like this!? Touching it would obliterate everything, right!?

"Run!!!" Philis shouted, regaining his senses from the shock, immediately activating emergency teleportation.

Swish, swish, two white lights flashed, and they disappeared from their original spots.

Margaret also tried to teleport, but she was held in place by a terrifying gravitational force, unable to move.

The next second.

Boom!!!

The world turned pitch black.

Bai Sheng's sword descended.

No, it pressed down.

The Starry Lake composite magic array first collapsed instantly, exploding like a water balloon, releasing a massive amount of blue lake water.

Then came Margaret's smaller ship.

The entire ice-blue ship was like a paper box, crushed by the giant sword, disappearing from the spot.

Not only the ship, but Margaret also vanished at that instant, gone in the wake of the sword's impact, fate unknown.

"...Your senior brother... has quite a character..." Inside the safe house, Quan He looked at the exaggerated scene outside, uttering a few dry laughs.

A continent-sized sword crashing down... The scene was like clearing everything off a table at once; the ship, Margaret, everything gone.

The view in front returned to an open space.

"..." Yu Hong didn't know how to reply; he could only say, no wonder his senior brother advocated walking the right path. With such an impressive and strong 'right path', who would dare traverse the crooked ways?

"Junior Brother, your opponent actually had power, but just poor execution and bad luck meeting me," Bai Sheng now had his sword turned into a slender form, sheathing it back.

"Senior Brother..." Yu Hong looked at the sword on his back, suppressing the shock in his heart. "When I reach Nascent Soul, will I be as strong as you?"