"Impossible… This isn't real! It can't be real!!!"
Baimei fell into utter despair.
For all these years, he had been at Prince Qian's side. He had listened as the prince laid his plans, step by step. He had watched as he devised his grand strategies. He had believed that Prince Qian was a wise and brilliant ruler, and that he could become a founding minister of the prince's new dynasty.
He had intended to use Prince Qian to destroy the Li family, and in doing so, rise to a position second only to the emperor.
But…
Li Wei's words had destroyed the last of his inner defenses, bit by bit.
The man he had followed was no brilliant ruler with a demonic intellect, but a pathetic wretch who had fallen into a trap forty years ago—a puppet played in the palm of the Li family's hand!
He suddenly realized.
The Li family of today was no longer the clan that could be so easily annihilated in an instant.
This clan had grown, steeped in conspiracy and ambition. They had become the new Tian Xing—and they had even surpassed him!
"We still have Skynet!" Baimei shouted, unwilling to accept defeat.
Skynet had become his last hope. At the very least… at the very least, he would make the Li family accompany him in death.
"Yes, there's still Skynet! Even if you know Skynet exists, they will still strike at your family!"
"Skynet?"
Li Wei scoffed. "That's why I said you are no match for Tian Xing. You don't even understand how powerful the real Tian Xing was. It's like the spirit artifacts my Yaotie refines—you have no idea how truly terrifying they can be."
"For more than forty years, we have been assimilating everything that belonged to Tian Xing."
"At first, we were surprised that Skynet even existed. But later…"
Li Wei recalled the day in the Ancestor Space when his clansmen had first heard of Skynet. Amidst their solemn expressions, he had seen the unmistakable glint of eagerness in their eyes.
Before him, information about his clan appeared on the semi-transparent panel.
[Your clan has devoured the fruits of Tian Xing's ten-thousand-year scheme, along with all of his avatars. Clan Trait Acquired: Tian Xing Immortal Clan.]
[You have inherited the bloodlines, special physiques, techniques, and martial arts of all of Tian Xing's avatars. All are available for your clansmen to choose from. Your people have begun a great transformation in their traits, physiques, and cultivation methods. All clan attributes +100%. Cultivation speed +100%. Innate aptitude greatly increased…]
Li Wei taunted Baimei, "The agents of Skynet and Prince Qian—just like you, none of them have any idea what they're truly up against!"
…
Back in the Azure Cloud Region, Feng Chunlin stood frozen in place, his eyes filled with utter astonishment.
Before him stood a figure, one he almost didn't recognize—his own niece, Li Changyao!
The surrounding area had been carved into a massive crater by a surge of immense Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi. Li Changyao stood atop the only remaining pillar of earth in the center of the crater. Beside her was a quiver, still holding more than a dozen arrows of various colors.
Every one of these arrows radiated the aura of a supreme-grade spirit artifact. Each arrow had a different effect, and a single shot was equivalent to a peak Nascent Soul cultivator unleashing a Mystic-rank technique with their full power.
Attacking the Divine Soul, devastating grand formations, freezing enemies solid… she had arrows with all of these powerful effects, and more.
And now, dozens of spiritual formations had already materialized beneath Li Changyao!
He hadn't seen his niece fight in over forty years. Seeing her unleash her full power now, Feng Chunlin was left utterly speechless.
The hundred or so cultivators from Eternal Sun Prefecture who had been pursuing them had all been slain by a massive pink bow Li Changyao had just brought out—a low-grade Dharma Treasure!
His niece possessed incredible archery skills, but she was also a formidable Formation Master and Talisman Master. Her formations and talismans provided her defense, while her bow and arrows gave her a powerful means to slay her foes.
Feng Chunlin was certain that if Changyao's true strength were revealed to the world, she would have a place on the Nascent Divinity List!
[Your descendant, Li Changyao, has acquired spoils of war from one of Tian Xing's avatars.]
[Acquired the Essentials of the Dao of Formations and the Dao of Talismans from Tian Xing's avatar.]
[Trait Acquired: Eyes of Delusion-Shattering. Her eyes can perceive Divine Souls and see the flaws of any opponent no more than one realm higher than herself. They are exceptionally effective at breaking through formations, talismans, and enemy techniques.]
[Trait: Acquired Divine Strength. Her physical strength is 200% greater than others at her level, and it increases as her overall power grows.]
[Earth-rank Cultivation Method: Sacred Strength Dharma-Shattering Art, a body cultivation method…]
[Techniques…]
[Your descendant, Li Changyao, has obtained a large number of artifacts.
Received: A low-grade Dharma Treasure longbow forged by the Ancestor of the Heavenly Light Sect at the request of Li Yaotie.
Abilities: Enhances the spiritual power of arrows, can store double the user's spiritual power for combat, and is inscribed with eight different techniques, allowing the bow to cast spells to slay enemies.
Name: Farewell.]
[Your descendant, Li Yaotie, has forged 18 types of supreme-grade spirit artifact arrows for Li Changyao. Using this bow and arrows, your descendant Li Changyao has created a Mystic-rank technique: The Eighteen Styles of Farewell.]
That massive pink bow, and the figure who drew it, had become a nightmare for the pursuers from Eternal Sun Prefecture!
SWISH!
With the hiss of a final arrow, the last pursuer trapped within the grand formation burst into a brilliant firework in mid-air.
Only then did Li Changyao let out a long breath. The Farewell Bow and the eighteen arrows hovering in the air around her returned to her quiver, then dissolved into a stream of light and vanished into her body.
She whipped her head around and grinned at her dumbfounded uncle.
"Uncle, you can tell your old friends from the Azure Cloud Region to turn back now. I told you before, even if another thousand or so of these guys showed up, it wouldn't be enough for me to kill."
"..."
Though she was clearly boasting, Feng Chunlin looked at his niece, who had handled the battle with ease, and silently engraved a message on a sword-talisman, telling the reinforcements from Azure Cloud to stand down.
As Li Changyao was collecting the corpses from the ground, she suddenly froze.
In the distance, a wretched figure was crawling toward her. It was none other than Nangong Yazhi.
The woman, who had been driven mad by torture, had her face covered in blood. With the stubbornness of a demon, she crawled toward Li Changyao, reaching out a mangled, bloody hand and roaring, "I'll kill you! I'll kill every last one of you from the Li family!"
Swish.
Without a moment's hesitation, Li Changyao put an arrow through Nangong Yazhi, killing her instantly.
In truth, the most wicked member of the Nangong family wasn't Nangong Yazhi, nor was it the family head, but their ancestor, Nangong Xianliu.
Years ago, Nangong Xianliu had told Nangong Yazhi that he would teach the Li family a lesson. But the very next day, he had sent Nangong Yazhi to the Li family as a peace offering.
Nangong Yazhi was filled with rage, but in truth, she had never escaped her fate as a 'cultivator kite'.
"Perhaps in the entire Nangong family, only Nangong Yazhi truly lived up to the name of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, genuinely working for her clan's sake, only to become a sacrificial pawn."
Li Changyao let out a sigh of regret as she collected Nangong Yazhi's corpse.
Even though the Nangong family was now being used by her own clan, Li Changyao was still grateful. She was glad to have been born into the Li family, with clansmen who would sacrifice for one another, and not into a family like the Nangong's, who would sacrifice anything—and anyone—for their own gain.
Afterward, Li Changyao and Feng Chunlin ascended into the sky. The Farewell Bow reappeared in her hands. To Feng Chunlin's utter bewilderment, she bombarded the battlefield a hundred times over, turning everything to ash until the flat ground had become a basin. Only then did she depart with him.