Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lin Qiye - Your God Has Arrived
The radiant smile on Ji Qinghuan’s face vanished, her delicate brows arching sharply. Three hundred flaming runes surged across her form, fiery lotus blossoms ignited in her eyes, and the very space around her warped under her blaze. She soared skyward, her silhouette elegant and commanding.
Streams of fire transformed into mighty dragons, majestic and unyielding, crashing against the meteors falling from the heavens. One by one, stars shattered, consumed in the atmosphere and ground to cosmic dust, descending toward the Angel Star.
But—
From the sky, millions of meteors tumbled down! Even as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she could not fend off every one, let alone the still-larger stars plummeting towards the Angel Star.
Ji Qinghuan’s brows knitted into her dark hair, worry clouding her gaze.
“I can shatter some of these stars, but I can’t stop them all. Hundreds of millions of people in the Xia Kingdom may perish beneath this onslaught!”
“Is this the great disaster Brother Ye warned me of?”
She bit her red lips in distress, while behind her, the fiery dragons raged ceaselessly, striking meteors and astral debris falling from above.
In mere seconds, hundreds of stars were destroyed.
Yet with the sky collapsing and millions of stars falling, she was like a lone tree in a tempest—her strength alone was not enough!
This was a calamity that even cultivators at the Foundation Establishment could barely withstand.
Ji Qinghuan exhaled deeply.
“I must hold out until Brother Ye emerges from seclusion. Once he breaks through to the Golden Core, he’ll be able to handle this!”
She clung to faith in her heart.
But the citizens and cultivators of the Xia Kingdom had none.
They looked up at the rain of meteors, sweat pouring from their bodies, their hearts quaking in terror.
“Why are the stars falling? Is this truly the world’s end?”
“What a terrifying sight, worse than any nightmare.”
“The streets are crawling with rats and insects, all fleeing in terror, desperate to escape, yet there is nowhere in this world to hide from disaster!”
People trembled in fear, tears streaming down their faces.
But after initial panic, the cultivators gradually steadied themselves.
“We are cultivators! We cannot sit and wait for death. Are there no men among the three hundred seventy thousand cultivators of the Xia Kingdom? Can we bear to watch Commander Ji Qinghuan stand alone?”
“They’re right! We can’t just watch—behind us are our homes, our families, our parents, our beloved. We cannot let meteors strike down our loved ones as we stand idle!”
“Ascend to the clouds and block the meteors! We cultivators fear not the wrath of nature!”
“Do not bring shame to the name of cultivators!”
Though some fled, three hundred thousand cultivators rose to the challenge.
Some even charged toward the meteors with a resolve to sacrifice themselves for the nation, welcoming death as their duty.
“If I fall, please care for my parents!”
“My daughter and wife—please, take care of them for me!”
“We became cultivators, enjoyed blessed lives, all thanks to our Sovereign. Now it is time to repay that debt.”
“The Sovereign is in seclusion, breaking through—we must hold out! Fight for the Sovereign! Fight for Xia!”
The cultivators soared into the sky, like a swarm of bees or a plague of locusts, joining forces to shatter the meteors.
Ji Qinghuan’s eyes swept the scene, her lips curling with a smile.
With three hundred thousand Qi Refining cultivators holding the line, she only needed to focus on the massive stars.
No longer did she need to exhaust herself shattering every meteor.
The burden on her shoulders was suddenly lightened.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Five years ago, Brother Ye spread the Qi Refining Method throughout the nation. Did he foresee this day?”
“As expected of a god—transcending the mundane, making preparations long ago…”
Awe and admiration shimmered in her eyes.
Then—
She raised her gaze to the falling stars and struck with a single fist.
Thousands of fire dragons blotted out the sky as they surged upward.
In an instant, several massive stars were shattered.
Below Ji Qinghuan, two thousand meters down, third-level Qi Refining cultivators strained their power to break smaller meteors.
Further down, over thirty thousand second-level cultivators formed a defensive net.
Beneath them, more than a hundred thousand first-level cultivators stood guard.
The fifth line of defense was held by more than two hundred thousand Sense of Qi cultivators, who had to work in teams of dozens to halt mountain-sized meteors.
Yet, these five defensive layers managed to intercept millions of falling stars!
Still—
The bombardment from the heavens continued, only growing fiercer.
Suddenly, the sky split apart with a massive rift.
A white torrent of spiritual energy poured down from the chasm, like a river of stars.
Thunderous roars shook the world.
And within that torrent—
Beings radiating a terrifying presence emerged: half-human, half-tiger creatures whose roars froze Ji Qinghuan’s spiritual energy in her veins.
She struggled to mobilize her power, her heart sinking.
“Could it be… Golden Core-level beings? Hundreds of them?”
Under their oppressive auras, cold sweat broke out uncontrollably across her skin.
A single Golden Core cultivator could destroy her with a flick of the hand!
A sense of doom grew within her, sorrow shadowing her beautiful face.
“Brother Ye, I fear I will not last until you return…”
With a soft sigh, the lotus flames in her eyes blazed brighter than ever, and three hundred flaming runes circled her.
Dragons of fire bore her slender figure aloft.
There was no doubt—she was now resolved to burn every drop of spiritual power within her, to fight with her life.
At this moment, her mind was clear and undistracted—she would strike against the impossible, buying whatever time she could for Lin Qiye.
Even a single second would do.
But—
Her furious defiance appeared laughable in the eyes of the Divine Tiger Clan, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Loud, earth-shaking laughter erupted from the Golden Core experts among the Divine Tigers.
“So this little world’s strongest is but a Foundation Establishment ant!”
“She wants to fight us? Tsk tsk…”
“Slaughter them all! I care little for humans, and less for this pitiful Xia Kingdom!”
Murderous intent flickered in their eyes, as if recalling past grievances.
Without warning, a Golden Core expert spat forth an icy arrow.
It tore through the void, tracing a white torrent across the endless star river—a mark left by spiritual energy and the arrow’s friction.
It was blindingly fast.
In a heartbeat, it reached Ji Qinghuan’s brow.
She could not evade. She was already pinned in place by the freezing energy, unable even to breathe.
“To die without seeing Brother Ye one last time…”
Two clear tears slid down her cheeks, sorrow and regret etched upon her face.
She could not resist; her shoulders trembled as she closed her eyes to await death.
Below her, over three hundred thousand cultivators were gripped by terror.
“Sovereign! Sovereign, please come save us!”
“You are our guardian god.”
“The Xia Kingdom needs you, Commander Ji Qinghuan needs you—if you do not return, she will perish!”
“Please, Sovereign, return!”
“Please, Sovereign, return!”
“Please, Sovereign, return!”
Three hundred thousand cultivators, driven to the brink of despair, howled up at the sky.
Their cries, hoarse and desperate, shook the heavens and earth.
Where are you, Sovereign?
Your people need you!
Come, save your people!
Come, save your people!
Amidst this wave of desperation and grief, a tall figure wreathed in thunder finally appeared.
He was slender and upright as bamboo or pine, exuding an imposing presence that seemed to hold up the very sky.
With his arrival, an aura of command swept forth, as though no disaster could withstand his might.
At once, the hearts of three hundred thousand cultivators in Xia settled, their anxieties grounded.
Above, Lin Qiye flashed across the sky.
In the blink of an eye, he was beside Ji Qinghuan.
With his left arm he encircled the maiden’s waist, his Golden Core power enveloping her and lifting the crushing pressure from her shoulders.
Then, with his right hand, he reached out casually, seizing the icy arrow as it shot toward her.
It was as effortless as plucking a falling leaf, as simple as snatching a speck of dust from the air.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the arrow back.
Its speed redoubled tenfold.
The Divine Tiger Golden Core expert had no chance to react before his body was pierced, half dissolved in a cloud of blood.
In the next instant, the arrow shot through the chests of three more Golden Core Divine Tigers.
With a single gesture, Lin Qiye slew four Golden Core experts.
His expression remained calm and indifferent as he floated above the heavens.
In his arms, Ji Qinghuan opened her bright eyes, her delicate face alight with joy and relief.
Reflected in her gaze was Lin Qiye—his features refined and striking, even his strong brows etched into her heart.
Her slender form trembled as she clung tightly to him, afraid the scene before her was but a dying illusion.
She bit her tongue, pain grounding her in reality, and finally let out a deep breath.
At that moment, Lin Qiye’s voice rang out—gentle as jade, yet powerful as thunder.
“Your god has arrived.”
“I trust I am not too late?”
Ji Qinghuan nodded vigorously, her smile as exquisite and radiant as if painted by a master’s hand.