V3C33: Seeking the Forgotten Lands

“Your hair?”

“That’s right. It is nigh indestructible, so if you weave it into the gauntlets, reinforce it with star metal, and if I then enhance the two via the Red Shaper’s Touch, it might be the strongest combination of materials that is currently possible to us.”

“Is it also of the metal element?”

She rolled her eyes at the question, “I can just grow it on my own head. In fact, it may be the easiest material to produce, which is why, after I figure out a few more things about it, I’d like to incorporate it into armour and clothing in some way. Make sure to tell no-one what it is, or else one of us will be dealing with far more questions than necessary – and considering the fact that you are the tailor, it will probably be you.”

“Well… fine,” Fu Zan nodded, putting the bundle of crimson strands aside, “I’ve actually made a few things that range between highly practical and useful and mostly practical and somewhat useful. Do you want to take a look?”

“What kind of things?”

“Clothing, two sets of armour, some boots and shoes, a hat.”

“I don’t need the hat, but everything else could be interesting, depending on whether your sense of reason and practicality had truly improved. Even if it useless as armour, having a sort of style that persists across the entire faction could bring people closer together without them even realising it,” Wei Yi theorised, avoiding viewing the items with spiritual perception to let herself be surprised.

Fu Zan remained highly optimistic as he went away for a moment and returned with a human-sized mannequin hidden beneath a layer of thick black cloth, which was just thick and loose enough to obstruct any details other than the fact that it was clothing made for a woman, which made sense considering the individual it was intended to be presented to. He placed it down in front of her, then slowly raised and pulled the cloth away, doing so slowly enough to take a whole minute for it.

What he had decided to show her first was an outfit made of something resembling leather, including a rather short jacket, tight trousers, a thin shirt and fingerless gloves. Despite their appearances, they had a slight metallic sheen and clearly contained a large quantity of metal-type energy within them, meaning that she had been able to make use of the many metals and materials grown through the silver-leaf energy to create something that looked like an entirely different material and substance. Furthermore, although she suspected that this wasn’t an exact match of clothing from his world, it was close enough to be as effective as the real thing could be.

It was also something that she wouldn’t necessarily be against wearing, although it would be unlikely to fit into typical civilized society any time soon.

“This is something that resembles a biker’s outfit,” the otherworldly demon introduced his creation, “At least, I think it does… It’s been a while since I’ve seen this sort of thing, so I had to off of what I remembered from the movies…”

“A biker’s outfit? Mind reminding me of what that is?”

“A biker? Well, they’re people that ride around on loud bikes, wear a lot of leather, and drink beer,” he shrugged, “Again, it is has been far too long, so all I can state with certainty is the stereotype.”

“And a bike… Right, I see. Is this the… shall we say, fetish variant?”

“No, not at all! I have stuck to my new principle of practical sensibility, but I may have altered the design slightly in order to make it more attractive as a whole and to emphasise your body, since it makes sense to look good while you’re saving the world… or something like that,” he muttered the last part, “Could you try it on for me? I need to know whether I remembered the measurements you gave me correctly.”

“Did you not write them down?” she asked as she removed the jacket from the mannequin, examining it closely in an attempt to understand not how it was made – that much was obvious within this world, and likely involved the advanced machinery that the world of Orbis supposedly had back there – but how someone got the idea to create something like this.

“I did, only after I made half of the things here…”

“Hm, I see,” Wei Yi sighed and put on the jacket over the not-so Crimson Robes of the Third Arrival, deciding that it wasn’t worthwhile to keep them in their current state especially if she wanted to establish a new identity in another district, “Tell me, do people in your world actually wear this kind of thing?”

He stared at her for a moment, mostly checking that he had indeed gotten the measurements right, then absentmindedly shrugged, “I’m not too sure. I’ve not lived in an area where this kind of thing was common, but if I saw someone dressed in the whole outfit, I’d not ask any questions.”

“What a strange place your world is…” she said, knowing that he was telling the truth through the memories currently floating around in his head, “Unless you need me to, I’ll take the rest of this away and try it on some other time, perhaps if I ever decide to confuse some otherworldly demon by making them think that they returned to their old world. What would I need to act like in order to suit this clothing? Based on the appearance, I’d assume these bikers to be some sort of dark faction, perhaps controlling an assassin organisation, so they are likely very aggressive and dominant in their approach.”

“… I hadn’t explained the entirety of Orbis’ society and customs to you, have I?”

“Then I was entirely mistaken. Either way, I doubt that this is something that I will actually engage in, so no need to explain,” Wei Yi shrugged and placed the full set of clothing into the prison realm’s underground storage with Yi Shi Ming’s assistance, “You mentioned several outfits, so I’d like to see a few more. Armour, preferably.”

“Armour? Alright, I’ve got a really good one for you…”

He did not explain any further, nor did he give her any hints – other than what was within his mind at that time, but she removed her spiritual will thread from his head by that point to permit him some privacy, amongst other things – and simply returned into the back of the store, where he peeked beneath a few dark cloths before finding what he was looking for and bringing it to the front, placing the mannequin on which it was displayed next to the first, now empty one.

“I know that you can make things like this in an instant, but how many large, dark cloth squares did you make?”

“One for every item of interest, and then a few spare so that I wouldn’t have to make more soon.”

“Right… Go on then, show me what you have created,” she said, curious whether the shape of the cloth was indicative of something or if he had intentionally altered the silhouette of certain items, perhaps forgetting that she could see through all of this in an instant if she wanted to.

As it turned out, when he lifted the cloth and showed her exactly what he had made, the shape was not unusual, but it was hardly telling the whole story.

What he presented to her was something that she couldn’t quite name with ease. Perhaps the easiest to describe was the hat that crowned the costume, long and diamond-shaped with a point in the middle. Beneath that, near the neck, began a cape of something resembling feathers, with it getting wider and thicker the closer it got the ground, ending only an inch above it. The so-called armour itself was a long trench coat, ending at a similar height to which the long boots began, roughly at the knee of the mannequin. The rest was far less attention-grabbing, and all of it was in black.

“I thought you said armour? I hate to break it to you, but this hardly fits the definition.”

“T-This is armour, just… well, it works well enough! The material is tough, the cloak prevents attacks from the back, and if you had a suitable technique, you could probably attack with it, too.”

“I was going to ask about that as well. Where did you get these from – and since you probably didn’t obtain actual feathers, how much time and effort did you need to spend on turning something entirely different into a literal cloak of raven feathers?”

“It might have taken a little longer than the cloth… Significantly longer than the cloth…”

“Looks to me like you aren’t quite out of your impractical phase, or is the overabundant imagination of your world to blame?”

“The latter… Look, it looked great in the game! It was my favourite set…”

“Actually, if the cloak was to be taken out, replaced with something a little more sensible, and the coat was to be padded with star metal or something of the sort, it could work while certainly retaining a sort of presence… Not a fan of that hat, however- Did you say game? Ugh, again? Does that game not have something more sensible to put onto your head?”

“A large cage?”

She felt as if she hadn’t just been stunned in the usual, conversational sense, but as if someone had literally struck her head with something sufficient to be senses even with her cultivation. After a moment, Wei Yi replied, “What the fuck is wrong with your world? Is this why all of you are insane?”

“Well, it doesn’t really protect against frenzy, so…”

“By the heavens, just stop talking and bring out something actually sensible, please. You mentioned something about boots, so bring those out.”

“A-Alright…”

He headed back into the back room and remained there for a while, leaving her to stare at the second set of equipment. Although nothing would ever convince her that it wasn’t made for aesthetic purposes over anything else, it did succeed in looking rather impressive in comparison to more practical items. If she had been an ordinary person living in some distant village beyond Yi City, she had no doubt that if she saw someone approach with such an outfit, perhaps bearing a large cleaver or sword as their weapon, she would be very intimidated.

‘That’s likely what the people of Orbis were thinking when they came up with this. However, if this is the kind of thing that they think is actually usable, then I suspect that the bikers have no connection with assassins after all, if there is any faction that even has an assassin organisation beneath them. I heard that they fight far more with words, so perhaps this is the kind of thing worn to gain an advantage in that…’ she theorised, although if the other clothing of Orbis was to be considered, things like the raven outfit would stand out and look entirely unreasonable, ‘Could they really have created something like this just for a game? The amount of free time and effort that they have, if that is the case, must be immense. I suppose that it is partly what I’m looking to achieve in the future, although I’m not sure how much I’d like everyone to spend their time on such nonsense…’

When Fu Zan returned, he carried a pair of long boots, also all in black, with one feature that immediately jumped out at her.

“Are those heels supposed to be like that?”

“Yes, these are high heeled boots. I… Could you tell me what you think about these?”

“Uh… I’m slightly reluctant to actually wear any kind of footwear, but do let me try these on,” she said, taking the boots from him and placing them on her feet with some effort. They were about as high as the boots on the feathered outfit, but in combination with the high heel, they simultaneously wrapped around an entire half of her leg and raised her height by a noticeable degree.

It took some effort for her to stabilise her footing, and she suspected that she would need significantly more effort to be able to walk with any degree of normalcy, but this somehow inspired her.

“This might actually be a good idea. If I use this to train my own agility and dexterity and become able to fight confidently with this, then I would be significantly more prepared for any battle that may influence my ability to move around, or one that may require me to maintain balance on really small platforms… Also, with the reduced surface area, something like…” she took a moment to scan the inside of the boots before trying any techniques to ensure that the boots would be able to withstand it, finding a layer of star metal that had been used to form the heel and the sole that meant that she could do essentially anything without the possibility of damaging them.

Thus, she attempted to use the Earth-Shaking Step while moving a short distance to the side, and found that although it was rather difficult to achieve, the minimal force that she had exerted was more effective in the boots than with her bare legs.

‘There is a bit of a strange effect on parts of my body, and there might be a risk of minor injuries if I hadn’t had everything that I do have, but I might be able to mitigate this by a certain extent so long as I wear these responsibly,’ she noticed the way in which much of her body had to adjust in order to maintain balance on the high heels of the boots, and decided to begin the composure of another technique, although whether it would turn out to be a modifier or a full-blown movement technique was a matter that she would decide on later.

For now, she just practised a little more with the boots and, deciding that the persistent colour scheme of black was a suitable one for now, released a small quantity of her planar energy that she then infused into the entirety of her robes, changing it into the dark abyss of the Binder of the Dark energy, simultaneously creating the foundation for the second technique of the day.

Both of them would take quite a lot of effort to be complete, but for now, some slight influence over her balance and centre of gravity would do wonders.

“I hadn’t actually considered how you’d become even taller… You could do well in basketball…”

“Assuming that’s a compliment, thank you. I’m actually quite partial to these myself,” she mentioned, having noticed a certain accentuation of the sway of her hips while she walked more casually, “They’re also rather comfortable to wear, much more so than the majority of the things that I’ve worn before. Well done. When you have the time, make some footwear for everyone within the prison realm of a similar quality – without the star metal, of course.”

“Oh, I’m glad you liked it. I wasn’t sure you would, actually…”

“And yet this is what you gave me after my earlier commentary?”

“Ehehe… By the way, you’re not displeased with my usage of the star metal, either? I thought that it may be a bit of a waste, but apparently it is very common for the heel to break in some way, so I fixed it before it could become an issue.”

“Since the star metal is renewable, to an extent, it should be used when necessary, else we may as well not be growing it actively. Since you were addressing a common issue, it is perfectly fine.”

“In that case, I will see if I can find any other uses for it and, hopefully, create a set of perfect, excellent-looking equipment and items! Someday, I will clothe and equip the entire world, and they shall know the wonders of Orbis mixed with the practicality of the Planar Continents! I will hold the first monopoly in the history of this entire world!”

“You… go do that. First, though, make the shoes I mentioned and create a few more variants of these boots, without the star metal, of course. I want to see whether the heel should be higher or lower for optimal movement capability. By the way, why were you reluctant about these?”

He sighed, “On the internet, there were two types of people. The first would shove high heels onto the feet of female characters and ignore the impracticality of it, whereas the other would constantly point this out and proclaim how unreasonable wearing high heels in combat would ever be. Really, the first ones just wanted to make the character look good, and likely have no understanding of combat at all, whereas the second ones ended up becoming annoying after a while, even if they were right…”

“If these were to be presented to most other people, I think that the response would be similar to the second group. However, they are also an excellent opportunity to train and widen my horizons, so to speak, so the impracticality is actually the entire point,” she shrugged, before noting an element of what he had said, “Do certain women and men in your world allow others to place whatever clothing they want onto themselves, or am I misunderstanding some aspect of Orbis society again, just as with the bikers?”

“Well…”

Two figures appeared within the Ning District without anyone noticing. They were garbed in grey, a Ning symbol marking their breast, and had a mysterious aura around them that couldn’t quite be understood nor accurately perceived no matter who looked upon them. Their features were incredibly similar, only a step away from making them twins, but one was male, tall and strong whereas the other was female, lithe and far less physically imposing.

As they walked through the streets together, their movements perfectly matching, all that came near them retreated without being able to comprehend why.

The man spoke, “Ning Fu, I cannot sense a trace of the foul creature. This is contrary to reports.”

“Ning Chao, neither can I,” the woman replied, “When should we report to Testament?”

“Confirmation of the creature’s appearance must be made first. Who is the point of contact with our district?”

“Chen Wuhan, living in that direction,” Ning Fu pointed, “He may know something.”

They nodded together and disappeared from sight. Any who had seen them assumed that they had hallucinated, or that their cultivation had gone awry, for there was no trace of typical movement, nor of their footsteps. It was as if they had been walking on the air, not even touching the dust and dirt on the ground.

On the morning of the seventeenth day, only two days after she had left the Ning District, Wei Yi finally approached a part of the Luo District, or, rather, what was once part of it. From her understanding of the matter, it had been lost only a hundred years ago, if not less, resulting in yet another major area being lost to the wilds, for the Luo family has had no capable warriors to reclaim the land, a task that was made even more difficult by their ardent refusal to use arrays in any but the most unusual scenarios. This increased the costs and difficulty of reclaiming and even just keeping land significantly and made it rather beneficial to them to let that part of the district go without much of a fight.

This was all that was known in the Ning and Yi Districts, so there was a possibility that the information was false to some extent, or perhaps out of date, but what she was able to see so far suggested otherwise.

As she journeyed through the dense woods, she began seeing traces of buildings, roads, carts, carriages and whatever else that people would commonly make use of in their day to day lives, but all of it was abandoned and consumed by trees that slowly got smaller and younger, suggesting that this part of the district had suffered the fate of slowly being abandoned piece by piece, rather than all at once.

It was likely that something made it difficult for them to maintain their talisman-based protections, prompting them to retreat slowly until it was decided that the entire region was too difficult to keep.

Based on the map provided to her, the person she was looking for was in the same direction as the area of the region that was abandoned last, so she was able to observe how the height of the trees rapidly declined until they cleared entirely.

She entered a small clearing, the edge of which was within sight and close enough to be reached within a few minutes of a slow walk, within which there was but one thing of note: a structure with a single floor, flat roof and four large openings on the sides. It had a rectangular shape and lacked any semblance of a trace of human activity, webs, vines whatever else covering it in several dense layers. If she had just appeared here and had to guess where someone would live, she would sooner point towards the trees or ground rather than that structure.

‘The map that I have is drawn from a sufficiently distant perspective to not point specifically at the building – not to mention the fact that this area was previously full inhabited and full of different structures and residences – but if Senior Yi Yi is still here, he should be in that structure, whatever it was originally supposed to be.’

Her spiritual perception was unable to sense anything within the building, nor below, but as she kept on discovering more and more things that were able to elude or trick it, she wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the slightest oddities about the area turned out to be a field of hidden arrays that would instantly attack her with the power of the seventh realm the moment that she took a wrong step or otherwise made some mistake that the creator of the arrays would have intended and accounted for, or perhaps they could imprison her and rapidly move her into some jail to contain her.

Of course, that was unlikely if the person hiding here truly was Senior Yi Yi, as she had decided to call him to make things less confusing between him and Master Yi Yi. Based on his known cultivation rate, he would not be any higher than the sixth realm now, and his arrays would be unlikely to have gone beyond the fourth due to the known bottleneck that he had intended to beat using the combination of the Prime Star and Excellence Arts.

‘So long as every bit of information the world has about that man is correct, I am unlikely to suffer regardless of what he may have achieved in this time, and most of the arrays here are likely to only be obscuring and illusory arrays to hide his presence,’ she thought as she approached this lone structure.

The truth of the matter was revealed very soon after, when the entire rectangular building was suddenly illuminated by countless arrays, all of which turned towards her and released a ludicrous variety of attacks. Beams, bolts, blades, arrows, spheres, serpents, spectres, bricks, brick walls, brick houses – why there were so many of these, or why they were all made of bricks and nothing else, wasn’t a question that she could hope to answer – and many more besieged her simultaneously, all glowing with flaming light and flying, moving, crawling or otherwise arriving at her position from all directions at such a speed that she would be struck by all of them at once.

Her immediate reaction was to activate Endless Calculation to comprehend the nature and weaknesses of this combination of arrays, while mobilising her cosmic energy to prepare an Elysian Yang Storm Burst to target any weakness the moment that it was discovered to shatter this overwhelming attack.

One of the first things she noticed was that while all of the energy was in the fourth realm, the arrays were in the third realm, which immediately made her worry less about the power of the individual attacks and instead moved her focus onto their combined effect, prioritising the dissolution of the overall offensive as it appeared to be similar to an array made from the effects of countless arrays, potentially intensifying their power to a level that would actually require evasion or mitigation to avoid serious harm.

The second fact to jump out at her was that the arrays were actually significantly more powerful than one might expect, functioning at almost six times the effectiveness of the average three-star array, so if these were to combine together into another array of the same quality, the final result would be nearly thirty-six times as powerful as a normal array of that type, and that would most certainly require immediately action if she didn’t want to lose her life right there and then due to an onslaught of brick houses and whatever else.

Fortunately, while the combined array of attacks was still a moment away from striking, she finally uncovered a significant weakness and acted, also infusing Ire energy into her prepared technique.

When it erupted from her hand, the sky seemed to darken as a bolt of gold, crimson and violet tore through the world and struck a particular point within the air where a number of flaming array constructs congregated. For a moment, it seemed as if they could offer up some resistance, but then a series of lightning arcs surged throughout the entirety of the field of attacks, each one changing in colour and each one creating enormous gashes within each planar construct until the last wave, full of pure golden light, completely shattered the vast majority of the constructs. The energy that remained arced towards the origin of the array energy – the small building, and one specific corner of it.

A moment before the golden light impacted the wall, a dense layer of protective arrays appeared before it, absorbing the lightning but doing so only barely, for great fractures within their surface appeared and faded only a moment after the protective layer itself did.

“For being one of their ilk, your knowledge of arrays and their weaknesses is commendable, but I will not allow you to steal my secrets!” a voice emerged from the structure, as did a figure that seemed as ancient and decrepit as the building itself. Webs, vines and random plants covered him from head to toe, with only his face and eyes being uncovered, presumably to assist his sight more than anything else. If he didn’t need that, it was likely that he wouldn’t have bothered to clear that away either.

“Before there’s some misunderstanding, care to tell me who you think I am?” she asked, placing one of her feet before the other and preparing a vast amount of energy to unleash.

“You’re one of Them, of course. I know your kind! When you won the War of Yin, you chased them all down! So many trapped by the white and crimson light…” the man sighed, his voice tired and strained, “My legacy will not fall the same way to your greedy hands!”

“You are wrong! I am not one of them, and you should be able to tell by the absence of anchors around me, as well as the fact that I am not some stuck-up bitch who cannot stand a single negative thing being said about me. I would have certainly attempted to kill you with something like the point beams, or perhaps a force of raw anchor pressure,” she spoke calmly, preferring not to engage in combat if necessary, “Furthermore, if you are the person that I think you are, then I have something from one of your descendants.”

However, he did not appear to listen, energy surging from his body and encasing his entire presence with flame, “You stole their hard work? How dare you, you disgraceful relics?”

‘Watch who you call a relic, old man. I’m only forty-one. And he’s not going to listen to me, is he?’ she understood, releasing more than half of her combined killing will to arrange as many arrays as she possible could within a single moment, although she then realised that her own Spiritual Flow arts were incredibly unsuitable for the control of anything other than spiritual will, prompting her to split the two energies apart and focus the killing intent into miniature Hatred Ire arrays.

“I shall show you why so many remember my name! I am Master Yi Yi, and you shall not leave alive!”

After getting his introduction out of the way, he also created a series of arrays, throwing out his planar energy and solidifying it in the shape of burning circles of great complexity, although it naturally paled in comparison to the array the Truth of the Universe assembled.

Perhaps the primary reason that it proved simple for her to decipher was that they, too, were three-star arrays that were very familiar to her, as they were incredibly similar to what was often created by Master Yi Yi in the Yi District. There were differences, quite a few of them, but it was clear that they had similar origins, amongst other things.

‘The rumours are gaining more and more credence with every single moment, I see. I need to see the truth for myself, however.’

The rumours about Senior Yi Yi’s work originated from the fact that he never created arrays over the third realm or three stars, no matter who he faced or what situation needed to be resolved. With the fact that the Excellence Arts were meant to be developed into the fourth realm, and then combined with the Prime Star Arts, she was already aware that there was a possibility that some of this was true, but the less frequent rumour was that he was indeed capable of creating four-star arrays with his Excellence Arts, but that they were incapable of replicating the same immense quality of his weaker arrays, making them weaker and therefore resulting in them never seeing any use.

Depending on the truth, and how agreeable he was to siding with her, she wouldn’t be opposed to recruiting him and assisting him with the development of a united and superior technique, but thinking about such a thing so early was clearly putting the cart before the horse.

“I shall warn you once, Yi Yi, and only once. If we fight, I may injure you, and injure you very severely. Don’t force me to.”

“You are one of Them! I will never let you touch my legacy!” he shouted in reply, his many arrays finally completing their charging process and releasing vast amount of flaming energy, all of it solidifying mid-flight so that the impact of the many barriers, missiles – more bricks, causing her to ponder whether he had slightly lost his mind or uncovered some kind of fragment of the Great Dao that focused on the shape and nature of the brick – far more powerful.

She met the many bricks flying towards her with a burst of killing will, shattering all of the third-realm attacks with the power of the fifth realm, then activated one of her own arrays to fire the most powerful beam she dared to throw at him.

It struck a brick wall of planar energy and shot straight through only to meet a second and third set of walls, with the third nearing closest to blocking the beam, but much of its power continued through and flew at Senior Yi Yi’s chest, targeting a point that wouldn’t be fatal if it struck but would incapacitate him and allow for a calmer conversation than their previous one.

However, it did not seem to be sufficient for the man to give up just yet. He pulled some of his solidified offensive arrays from his back and used them to block the attack, allowing a number of the arrays to shatter in exchange for withstanding the strike safely. While they broke and their energy scattered, he gathered even more of his power and condensed a new set of arrays at an even higher quality and with a greater variety of effects.

‘Not a single four-star array, however… I’ll try more strength, but if that doesn’t work, I could try a certain kind of persuasion,’ she thought as she shattered some of her own arrays and put their pieces together into a single enormous set of offensive arrays that could fire all at once, and that couldn’t possibly be withstood by such simple brute force, “Remember what I told you, Senior Yi Yi.”

Spiritual will was faster and thinner than planar energy, and it could be activated far faster due to its greater realm. As such, despite his advantage of starting first, Yi Yi was unable to attack her even once before the many points of her array ignited with white light, and countless small beams reminiscent of the Great Families’ point beams shot out. Their speed was superior to her previous beam, and while their strength was lesser, she still made sure to aim every single beam at a non-vital part of his body to avoid any accidents.

She did not recall swearing any oaths to her Master Yi Yi, but she wouldn’t slaughter his ancestor just because she couldn’t be bothered to be a little careful.

“You… I know what you’re doing! You’re trying to make me divulge my secrets! I will never buckle before you, you Gr- trickster!” the elderly man cried out, the aura of flame around him suddenly amplifying by a large degree as the number of arrays around him doubled, with all that were present changing into defensive arrays that focused all of their potential onto his body.

“Look at me, you ancient relic, and understand that I am no member of the twisted families! I am Wei Yi, and I was your descendant’s apprentice and learned the Excellence Arts that he had created. Stop wasting your energy fighting me and just listen to me!”

“Your techniques hold no trace of my or my descendant’s techniques! If you’re going to lie, then make your lies believable!”

As all of his arrays broke and scattered once more, he was able to pull some of that energy back together into some offensive arrays that he aimed directly at her heart and brain, clearly having none of the same reservations that she had.

Senior Yi Yi’s words made sense, so once all of the point beams had fired, she broke the arrays apart and used all of their energy to form something that went against all of the practises that she had learnt over the twenty years that she had spent within the prison realm, as well as everything that she had done since leaving it. She used the specific arrays taught to her by Master Yi Yi and arranged a single defensive array, doing so slowly due to how little practise she had with the Excellence Arts and their derivative arrays.

She finished just as Senior Yi Yi’s attacks came, all of them landing on a translucent layer of blue light.

The moment that it cleared, the ancient man’s eyes widened, and he exclaimed, “That technique is clearly something that my child had begun to work on! How did you obtain it?”

“Were you ever listening to me, old man? I am the apprentice of your descendant! I learnt his techniques! I came here to unite the two arts, and all you do is accuse me of being my greatest foe! Look at what your descendant had achieved!” Wei Yi shouted, not bothering to remain calm as the man finally appeared to be seeing sense.

The great defensive array restructured itself, transforming into a purely offensive one that took inspiration from her opponent and condensed an enormous brick from the blue light of the Excellence Art, the simple presence of which was enough to damage nearby arrays.

Senior Yi Yi understood this as well, and mobilised the rest of his energy into a single rushed array that clearly differed from everything else that he had shown her during their brief conflict. It aligned with his own energy, displayed the might of the fourth realm with four stars, and was remarkably strange in the power that it appeared to contain, for while everything that he had made so far was significantly more effective than usual, this lacked that same aura.

When the brick struck the barrier, it was clear why – his array at the fourth realm paled before anything else that he had previously created.

The gigantic brick pierced this defensive layer and crashed into his, promptly knocking him out.