Chapter 574: Return
The face of the remaining Level 48 Sub-King turned deathly pale, and he backed away instinctively.
Xu Wuyi did not pursue.
He glanced at his terminal. Mission time: 13 minutes, 47 seconds.
Six minutes and thirteen seconds remaining.
But he couldn’t hold on any longer.
Killing three Sub-Kings in a row, especially the final blow that took down the peak Sub-King, had drained nearly eighty percent of his Power of Heart Image.
He had lost too much blood from the wound on his left shoulder, and his vision was starting to blur.
"Martial Artist Xu!" He Yayin’s urgent voice came through his earpiece.
"We’ve secured the Nest Core and are pulling out! There’s chaos inside the Feathered People’s base. The two Sub-Kings left on guard seem to have received new orders and are moving east. They’ve realized it was a feint!"
"Copy that," Xu Wuyi’s voice was hoarse. "I’m pulling out."
"The warp beacon is active. Coordinates are synced to your terminal. You must reach it within three minutes—the beacon will only last for five!"
"Understood."
Xu Wuyi turned, executed his Quicksand Step, and raced toward the beacon’s coordinates.
Behind him, the Level 48 Sub-King hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and giving chase.
At the same time, two grayish-white figures flew in from the direction of the base at full speed. They were the two Sub-Kings who had received the news, abandoned their post, and were now coming to surround and kill him.
Three Sub-Kings were in pursuit.
Without looking back, Xu Wuyi pulled the last two Gravity Shock Bombs from his tactical pouch and threw them behind him.
He detonated them.
BOOM! BOOM!
Invisible gravity waves spread out, distorting the space along the pursuit route and throwing the direction of gravity into chaos. The three Sub-Kings were forced to slow down and regain their balance.
Xu Wuyi used the opportunity to increase the distance between them.
Two kilometers, one kilometer, five hundred meters...
Ahead, amidst a grove of crystal clusters, a silvery-white warp beacon was flashing, emitting stable spatial fluctuations.
But the pursuers behind him broke through the area of gravitational chaos and began to close the distance once more.
"Human! You can’t escape!"
An energy beam shot at him from behind. Xu Wuyi dodged to the side, but his right leg was grazed. His Battle Armor shattered, charring the flesh black.
He staggered but gritted his teeth and pressed on.
Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters...
When he was just fifty meters from the beacon, three attacks descended upon him at once.
An illusionary halberd, the crimson flash of a Curved Saber, and a binding curse—the three Sub-Kings unleashed their full power, sealing off all room to evade.
Xu Wuyi stopped in his tracks.
He turned to face the incoming attacks, his hands cupped together before his chest.
In his sea of consciousness, the great, dark-gold marsh had grown dim, and the flames of the Golden Crow Illusion were weak.
But he still summoned the last of his Power of Heart Image.
Not for defense.
But for... one final attack.
"Abyssal Flamefall."
A dark-gold Seal Platform, just half a meter wide, materialized before him.
On the Seal Platform’s surface, the faint silhouette of a Golden Crow was visible. The flames on its plumage were no longer pure dark-gold, but were now threaded with incandescent white light.
The Seal Platform shot forward.
It collided with the three attacks.
A silent Annihilation.
The Seal Platform shattered, and the three attacks vanished simultaneously.
The shockwave flattened the surrounding crystal clusters. Xu Wuyi was blasted back by the aftershock, landing heavily beside the beacon.
He coughed up blood and struggled to his feet, pressing his finger on the beacon’s activation switch.
A silvery-white light enveloped him.
"The next time we meet, I will have broken through to the Grandmaster Realm." Xu Wuyi looked at the three Sub-Kings who had closed to within a hundred meters and said calmly, "And then, I will come for you."
Space distorted.
His figure vanished into the light.
By the time the three Sub-Kings reached the beacon, all that was left were shattered crystals on the ground and spatial ripples that had yet to fully dissipate.
"We’ve lost him," one of the Sub-Kings said through gritted teeth. "It was a short-range warp. The coordinates are random, with a radius of at least five hundred kilometers."
Another Sub-King looked at the three corpses of their comrades on the ground, his face ashen. "Report this. Xu Wuyi’s strength... it needs to be re-evaluated."
「Under the deep purple sky, west of the experimental base, three transport ships soared into the air, speeding toward the Star Realm warp point.」
He Yayin sat in the cabin, looking at the green indicator on her tactical tablet that read "Nest Core Secured." She then glanced east, toward the Crystal Plain that was receding into the distance.
"Martial Artist Xu, respond if you copy," she said into her Communicator.
After a burst of static, Xu Wuyi’s weak but steady voice came through. "I’m clear and on my way back. Is the mission complete?"
"It is," He Yayin replied, then paused. "What about you...?"
"I’ll live," Xu Wuyi said. "We can talk back at base."
The communication cut off.
He Yayin fell silent for a moment, turning to look out the window.
Deep in the Star Domain, the Energy Shield of the Feathered People’s base was still active, but the inside had descended into chaos.
The feint had not only succeeded in securing the Nest Core, but it had also led to the elimination of three Sub-Kings, one of whom was a peak-level fighter.
The outcome of the battle far exceeded their expectations.
But the price was steep: Xu Wuyi had completely revealed his new level of strength. The next hunting party the Feathered People sent would only be stronger.
"Full speed. Let’s get out of here," she told the pilot.
The transport’s engines roared to full power, and the ship vanished into the light of the warp point.
The N-33 Star Domain fell silent once more. Only the battle scars on the Crystal Plain and the corpses of the three Sub-Kings remained to tell the tale of the brief but ferocious conflict.
...
The transport passed through the Star Realm warp point, and the familiar sight of a Federation Star Domain filled the viewport.
Xu Wuyi leaned back in a Medical Pod, the wounds on his left shoulder and right leg having already received preliminary treatment.
His Battle Armor lay beside him, its dark-gray surface riddled with cracks and scorch marks. The damage penetrated to the inner lining in several places, but fortunately, no vital points had been compromised.
A medical gel covered his wounds, bringing a cool numbness as it stanched the bleeding and began repairing his cells. The dizziness from blood loss subsided, and his vision sharpened.
He looked down at his hands.
His palms were covered in a network of fine burns—the backlash from over-exerting his Power of Heart Image, especially from his attempt to fuse Flame and Gravity.
The meridians under his skin throbbed with a dull ache, but the pain was bearable.
"Injury assessment complete," the onboard medical AI’s steady voice announced.
"Laceration to left shoulder, 2.7 centimeters deep, no damage to the bone. Burns to the outer right leg with partial carbonization of skin and subcutaneous tissue. Multiple superficial abrasions across the body. Power of Heart Image depletion: 78%. Recommended rest period: forty-eight hours, supplemented with a Level 3 Energy Potion for recovery."
Xu Wuyi closed the medical panel.
’These injuries look gruesome, but for an Innate Martial Artist, they aren’t actually that severe.’
’With my body’s self-healing abilities and modern medical technology, I’ll be back in fighting condition in a day or two.’
’What really needs time to heal is the depleted Power of Heart Image and the backlash from that final strike.’
’Abyssal Flamefall.’
’Forcibly fusing the suppressive power of Heavy Water with the incinerating might of the Golden Crow... Even as a first attempt, the resulting power far surpassed my expectations, enough to instantly kill a level 49 peak Sub-King.’
’But the price was a temporary disruption to the structure of my Heart Image.’
’The "breathing" rhythm of the great, dark-gold marsh has been thrown off, and the flames of the Golden Crow Illusion have dimmed significantly. It needs to be recalibrated and stabilized.’
But every crisis was also an opportunity. Xu Wuyi knew that many of his predecessors had perfected their own Heart Images through countless such battles and reconstructions, eventually reaching the Grandmaster Realm.
’Working in isolation might be safe, but it will always have its limits.’