Speechlessness struck Long Di before he finally found himself and responded by saying, “You old thing! You were awake all this time!”

****

[Let me bear this burden for you Key Holder!] The Destiny Scale ascended higher and shone with a brilliant and divine light.

The Destiny Scale didn’t respond to Long Di’s accusation. Whether it was because he was right and it was embarrassed or it was a flat-out lie and it didn’t deign to give an answer, no one knew.

Shing!’

Bang!

The light on the Destiny Scale intensified and before long, the Imperial Divine Edict landed on the Destiny Scale with a deafening blast.

The experts had long retreated with their defences still up, but they were now too far away to see anything.

Of course, the Noble Attendant, the rest of the Sacred Celestics and Yaomu Shou were still able to see everything due to them being at a higher level than everyone else.

Their expressions told the story as they watched everything with astonished gazes.

“What is that thing!?” Yaomu Shou had never seen the Destiny Scale before and was rightfully stupefied that this thing so easily stopped what the best of Long Di had no hope of beating.

She had a kind of blind confidence in Long Di and so she had woefully underestimated the power of the Imperial Divine Edict and overestimated him. She had never seen the Imperial Divine Edict in use until today and as a result; she had only warned Long Di that it could be used to attack him and nothing else.

Its power was far beyond her expectations.

The Noble Attendant felt her heart shudder upon seeing this. A whisper escaped her lips, “The lost ancient desti-”

[Beware of karma child.]

A divine intent echoed in her mind, silencing her.

She fell to her knees, shocking her followers. In her mind, she spoke, ‘Senior, you-’

[Let the descendant know he has come and that they are coming for him.]

‘This junior shall carry out senior’s order no matter what!’ she responded.

“U-Uhm, Lady Noble Attendant a-are you okay?” one of the Sacred Celestics asked.

She soon stood up and nodded. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

The Sacred Celestics who spoke earlier knew there was more to it, but didn’t know how to question her about it without sounding too nosy, so he could only drop it. If she wasn’t willing to say anymore, then it wasn’t good to push it.

They then turned their attention back to Long Di and the mysterious steel stele that emerged to save him.

D-D-D-D-Dum!

Several detonations went off as the Imperial Divine Edict was trying its best to get past the Destiny Scale to wipe Long Di out!

[What Edict!? Break for me!]

As if its prestige had been encroached on, the Destiny Scale erupted with a powerful surge of energy that rippled out in increasing frequency!

The sword that was now the Imperial Divine Edict broke down under its power!

It desperately tried to keep its form but the power of the Destiny Scale was unending in its offensive until…

Boom!

Another explosion (so much of these today) went off that would require a redrawing of the maps.

It shook the sky vault and caused immortals to weep and devils to wail!

The boat that was the nine heavens and ten earths descended into chaos under the tumultuous waves raised by the aftermath of these two superpowers!

It took quite a while, but the explosion finally died down and a scene of destruction greeted all those who survived the blast.

In truth, the casualty wasn’t as alarming as one would expect. The only ones who died were those whose reaction was a bit slower than the rest, which was pitifully few. The rest simply had to hold on and they would live.

They were quite far away, so by the time shockwaves reached them, their lethality was grounded down.

Just like the deathdrink ghost chrysanthemum, the Destiny Scale had disappeared. It didn’t wish for its identity to be revealed just yet.

Long Di’s injuries were still horrendous. Sure, he had his spiritual qi returned to him, but there was no way for him to be healed any time soon.

At least he had a little time to relax since he survived this trial. He looked over to where Yaomu Shou and the others were and sent her a spiritual transmission that everything was all well and good.

[Keyholder, leave this realm now!]

“What?” Long Di was a bit taken aback by the urgency of the Destiny Scale’s request.

However, Long Di was the kind of guy to take action first (when it suited him) and ask questions later.

So even though he was grievously injured he took off at an insane speed.

Luckily, Yaomu Shou and the others had retreated in the direction that led to the Spiritual Bingqi realm’s exit.

‘Uhm Steely, while we need to have a conversation about your going-to-the-store-for-a box-of-milk tendency I’m willing to put that hold so I can let you know that we have like two weeks or maybe one week left until the Spiritual Bingqi realm closes.’

Though Long Di was booking it and was getting close enough to see that Yaomu Shou kept everyone else safe, he still wanted to know why he was running like bat out of hell.

[Look above.]

He then looked skyward, where he could see harrowing cracks that covered the sky mending at a visible rate.

The Destiny Scale then explained, [The laws of the Spiritual Bingqi realm are repairing themselves.]

Long Di felt a great need to run his nose bridge in exasperation, “Don’t tell me…”

[The laws once repaired will wipe you out!] The Destiny Scale confirmed his guess.

“I told you not to tell me,” he sighed as he stared at the quickly mending cracks above. He then asked, “So then, the one-month time period?”

[Because the laws are currently in disarray. You should be able to leave with no trouble. Just go back from where you came.]

“Got it,” he nodded.

“Long Di!”

‘I’m just gonna ignore that since that could be any Long-’

“If you dare ignore me, I will hurt you. I will hurt you in a way that will make your expressionless face cry out in agony, you stiff-faced gnome!”

Long Di’s neck creaked ever so slightly to the right, as if to not make that person think he thought they were talking to him. In that direction, he saw Yaomu Shou glaring at him with an annoyed expression.

‘Eh? I was off course? I’m pretty sure I was heading straight for her.’

It seemed he was so engrossed in his conversation with the Destiny Scale that he didn’t even realise he was off course.

When he was close enough to touch, she stared at him, “Seriously!? You thought I was a stranger again!? How!?”

“You know, the reason why your skin is so ashy is because you’re always so stressed out,” he commented.

A dark amaranthine flush coloured Yaomu Shou’s cheeks when she heard this, “My skin’s not ashy! Have you ever seen skin this supple you-”

“Stick a pin on that,” he directed his attention to Shen Ling and the others and enveloped every single one of them in his spiritual force. Even Lu Pei and Yaomu Baiyin were included in this.

He then looked at Yaomu Shou for a hot minute before he gestured to her arm, stating, “I’m going to need your assistance here.”

“Sighs!”

She bent over, waiting for Long Di to take her up in his arm before he lightly slapped her in the back of her head.

“Ow! What’s that for!?” she asked, rubbing her head.

Long Di pointed to her arm, “Reverse carry. Keep up with me here.”

“Oh!” Yaomu Shou finally understood what he meant.

Shu!

Yaomu Shou grabbed Long Di by the waist before taking off at breakneck speed to get him away from here.

This entire exchange took place in a matter of seconds and its bizarre nature and actions rendered everyone speechless and stunned until Long Di was far gone from them.

“Wait, a minute! Stop!” Jixie Wudongyuzhong nearly forgot that Long Di had the spiritual vein root and considering the latter’s current state, it looked like even the wind could take his life.

Meanwhile, Long Di had long closed off his ears to anyone else calling out for him. Especially the horde of arrogance behind him.

Suddenly, a gentle voice resounded in his mind once more, ‘Hello, fated one.’

Long Di didn’t dare to ignore this voice. This was the voice that saved his life with the advice of the deathdrink ghost chrysanthemum.

Shu!

A swift arrival at his side brought to his attention a beautiful white-robed, white-haired young woman.

She possessed a dao charm that was inexplicable and a soft glow enveloped her. Her smile alone brought millions of flowers to bloom.

“You are the one I’ve been waiting for,” the Noble Attendant said with a smile.

Long Di apathetically looked back at her before responding with, “I’m eleven.”