Chapter 0170

Astrapi walked a couple more kilometers before accepting the fact. She was completely and utterly lost.

It was not surprising, at least to Astrapi herself, why she got lost. Astrapi is one of the spirits of lightning, under the collective known as storm. She belongs underneath the bright blue sky, her power herald by wind and rain.

The earth, little bastard that it is, can withstand or outright disperse the power of lightning. As such, Astrapi was never good with earth. She had acknowledged and accepted it.

“Tempest, what’s wrong?” Bei Ting Mao was the first to notice the change in Astrapi. When they started moving, Tempest’s stride was big and filled with confidence. As time progresses, Tempest began to slow down her stride. The others might not have noticed it but Bei Ting Mao had earth and metal affinities. Combined with earth and metal spirit veins, his senses were much more attuned to his elements.

“I’m lost,” Astrapi answered simply.

The others glared at Astrapi as they relaxed their guard.

“How can you be lost on a straight road? You can forward and you can go back. How can you get lost?” Fenix berated Astrapi. Astrapi couldn’t fault her. There were no forks in the underground tunnel. They could go only one way. There wasn’t a chance for Astrapi to get lost yet she said she was lost. It didn’t make sense. It was also something silly Tempest would say.

“Ask bastard earth and metal over there. He is in his elements. He should know better than me.” Astrapi passed the buck to Bei Ting Mao, her dislike for the earth spirits making itself known.

“There is a block in the Emblemic Mountain Range. I’m not attuned enough to the earth elements to overpower the block.” Bei Ting Mao replied.

“That’s probably Cardis Gourd’s doing. His magic saturated the Emblemic Mountain Range, creating volcanoes from regular mountains. Rumour has it, the Emblemic Mountain Range has a cyclic relationship with Cardis. The volcanoes supplied Cardis with mana and he, in turn, change the nature of the mana to a more suitable one.” Fenix explained. “How much of it is true, I don’t know. Earth mages have reported they have a harder time attuning themselves to the earth elements in the Emblemic Mountain Range.”

“Starm, you explain.”

Starm gave resentful glances toward Astrapi before pouting adorably for a bit before explaining. “Space has been distorted.”

“When?”

“How?”

“Why couldn’t we sense it?”

A jumble of question was tossed to Starm. “We’re mages. We can’t sense nothing unless it hits us in the face.” Starm chose to answer the easiest question first. “As to when, I think the space in the entire area was distorted when the Abyssal Chimera was summoned. Creating a tear into the Primordial Chaos and summoning an Abyssal Chimera isn’t easy. As for the how, space cultivators can do it.”

“Can we break out of the space distortion?”

Starm thought about it a bit before answering. He made sure to express his displeasure known through his hand gestures and disgruntled facial expression. Astrapi ignored it. “The easiest way is to allow time to gradually fix the distortion.”

“It would take too long,” Astrapi said.

“Yeah, it would,” Starm said in a defeated voice. “Whoever summoned the Abyssal Chimera also has the ability to manipulate time. It would take a hundred years for the space distortion to fix itself.”

“We can’t wait that long.”

“I know,” Starm replied while mournfully staring at Astrapi. “Space distortion sends a ripple through space. The Elders in the Eternal Spirit Guild should be heading towards us. We can wait for them to break the space distortion.”

“Give us an option within our ability,” Astrapi ordered Starm. Waiting isn’t an option for Astrapi.

“Beat up the guy who summons the Abyssal Chimera.”

“Again, not an option. Anyone strong enough to summon an Abyssal Chimera isn’t someone we can defeat at our current strength.” Astrapi glared at the token bun. She knew he was mad at her for taking over Tempest’s body when she was otherwise indisposed. The others might suspect but they don’t know what was happening to Tempest, but Starm knows for a fact Tempest wasn’t in control right now. He was throwing a tantrum in protest.

“You can use the power of chaos to create a break in the space distortion. It won’t destroy the space distortion in its entirety but it can create an opening large enough for us to slip through, but you can’t do that right now can you?” Starm challenged Astrapi.

“I can,” Astrapi replied.

“But not without harming yourself.”

“All I need to do is to release the chaotic power I’m trying to convert inside me in its natural state. It will ease the burden my body is going through right now.”

“It’s better to disperse the chaotic inside the body. Big Sis Tempest can utilize the energy to promote her cultivation.”

“The body is too fragile. It is better to slow down the rate of cultivation rather than speeding it up.” Astrapi hinted at the problem Tempest faced. As a True Daughter of Storm, Tempest had to worry about progressing too fast not progressing to slow. The spirits tried to limit the amount of elemental energy they pump into Tempest but they can only limit it to a certain extent. It was up to Tempest to handle the rest.

“So you’re running away.”

“Tactical retreat.” Astrapi clipped response told Starm not to pursue the issue. “Everyone back up. When I discharge the chaotic power inside of me it would run rampant in the surrounding area before I could guide it to a singular point for it to open a crack in the space.”

Everyone backup per Astrapi’s request.

Astrapi closed her eyes and search through Tempest’s body for the chaotic power they were trying to tame. She found the power easily enough. There was only so much space inside of Tempest for it to hide.

Evicting the chaotic power is another story. The stubborn power doesn’t want to leave.

Astrapi trying to kick out the chaotic power is like a landlord trying to kick out a squatting tenant. Not only are they taking something that doesn’t belong to them, over time, but it will also be on their side and they have the law to back them up. It takes a lot of time and effort to kick out a squatter. Astrapi was learning first hand how hard it was.

Damn bums, get the hell out of Tempest’s body. Astrapi yelled at the chaotic power inside of Tempest.

Nah. I like this body. It was made for me.

I will kill you if you don’t get out.

You are going to kill us anyway, so why does it matter?

Astrapi closed her eyes and gathered her power. Astrapi worked differently from Ventus and Mizu. Ventus’ strength increases the more resistance she encounters. The more powerful the enemy, the more powerful Ventus becomes. Mizu increases her strength through apathy. The less inconsequential the consequences are, the more powerful Mizu becomes. Astrapi increases her strength through judgment and killing intent. The more she judges something as unworthy and she has to dirty her hands to fight it or the more she wants to kill someone, the more powerful she becomes.

The chaotic power taunting Astrapi made her want to kill it. The more she wants to kill it, the more powerful she becomes.

“Get out!” Astrapi yelled while using all of her powers to evict the intruder.

The squatter was kicked out of Tempest’s body like trash being thrown out. It raged around Astrapi, making its displeasure known.

Astrapi didn’t care. She gathered the raging chaotic power with her mana and forced it to focus on a single point then used it to cut an opening in the distorted space.

“Everyone in, now!”

Tempest’s group members didn’t need to be told twice. They jumped into the space tear without a moment's hesitation. Astrapi went into the space tear then release her control over Tempest back to the original owner.