"Mercy!"

Almost without any hesitation, the moment the Heaven-Cleaving Axe came down, Fengqin, who had been introducing herself just a second ago, instantly dropped to her knees and kowtowed frantically!

Shion, of course, was not fooled by the other's weak facade. Someone who could be hidden in a place like this, claiming to be the leader of the Dream Incubator-how could they possibly be a simple character?

The Heaven-Cleaving Axe showed no sign of stopping as it continued to cleave toward the other's head!

The ground below, which had only just begun to descend into chaos, now split open with a thunderous roar beneath the axe, shattering back into formless chaos!

Falling, Fengqin desperately grabbed onto a large boulder, then knelt atop it in midair, kowtowing with all her might. "Mercy, mercy! I'm kowtowing to you, really kowtowing! Don't kill me!"

She practically smashed her forehead until it bled.

The axe blade struck her forehead directly.

In an instant, blood flew everywhere and brains splattered!

"Ah!"

The girl immediately screamed, leaped up, and frantically touched her head.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead..." After feeling around for a long while, she finally reacted. Her hands were covered in blood, but she realized the axe was actually pressed against her head and hadn't truly struck down.

The power of that axe strike just now could be said to be enough to split heaven and earth!

Yet in the very instant before it reached her crown, that ant-like girl had steadily controlled the giant axe to a halt.

It was just that the terrifying momentum, in that fleeting moment, had caused Fengqin to hallucinate-

As if her head and body had been split open by that axe, with blood flying everywhere and brains splattering everywhere.

After touching her head for a long time, Fengqin finally realized her head hadn't exploded. Only then did she let out a sigh of relief, collapsing limply onto the ground.

She grinned foolishly for a long while before hugging her head and saying happily, "Not dead, not dead, not dead..."

When Shion casually waved her hand to make the Heaven-Cleaving Axe disappear, she said, "Stand up."

The girl, who had collapsed on the ground, struggled to get up but found her legs too weak. So she simply stayed kneeling on the ground.

With perfect confidence, she said, "I won't."

Before Shion could get angry, Fengqin had already explained herself, "This makes it easier to kowtow!"

Besides, it was more convenient for face-to-face conversation.

"You're the leader of the Dream Incubator?"

Hearing Shion's completely disbelieving question, Fengqin said in a somewhat small voice:

"N-nobody said cowards and rookies can't be leaders, right..."

"Do you know Xiao Qi?"

"Of course, Xiao Qi is a soldier I trained."

"Then you and Xiao Qi are both my mortal enemies."

Fengqin immediately kowtowed again without hesitation, "Actually, Xiao Qi and I have only met once!"

Even Shion found herself momentarily unable to see through the other.

Fengqin crawled on her knees, rubbing her face against the ground without any concern.

So Shion said coldly:

"Leave yourself some dignity."

"Ahaha, dignity." Suddenly, the little bear ornament on Fengqin's head began to laugh. "Please don't joke. When she was little and saw Frieza's battle power of five hundred and thirty thousand, she knelt on her bed and kowtowed to the TV, begging Frieza not to kill Son Goku..."

Fengqin pouted: "After that kowtow, Son Goku really didn't die, did he?"

"What does that have to do with your kowtow?"

"See, after I kowtowed now, I didn't die either. It proves kowtowing works-it really can save lives..."

When Shion gently tapped a stone beside her, both Fengqin and her bear ornament fell silent.

Not only silent but immediately kneeling and kowtowing.

In this chaotic place now, with heaven and earth just opening for the first time, Shion's Divine Sense had already swept through the entire area.

Apart from the girl in front of her, there was nothing else around.

Theoretically speaking, the very fact that this girl could appear here proved her ability and status were extraordinary.

But from the moment she appeared, she had been writhing like a maggot on the ground.

"I have questions for you."

"Speak, speak," she said, kowtowing with every word.

Shion had seen plenty of useless people, but someone this pathetic was truly a first for her.

"Where is this place?"

The girl wiped the blood from her face-as soon as she appeared, her face was covered in blood, and now with her face dragged through the mud, she was too dirty to even look at.

As she wiped, however, it became apparent that her facial features were actually quite good. A cute face that could have been a child star's, ruined by her into something resembling a beggar's.

"This is the interlayer between the new world and hyperspace." When she said this, the kneeling girl's expression finally became somewhat normal, without that cowardly, pathetic demeanor. "It's a protective mechanism to prevent people from the new world from going outside."

Then the little bear ornament on the girl's head also spoke up: "That's what they say, but in reality, even a Full Bloom should theoretically not be able to reach this place. You're the first. So it really scared Fengqin. From just now, she's been begging every god and ancestor she knows, hoping you would leave on your own."

The little bear ornament shook, and a clattering sound came from Fengqin's body. Crosses, Buddha beads, garlic, peachwood swords-an assortment of random talismans and protective items fell out in a heap.

Fengqin didn't feel embarrassed at all, hurriedly gathering her treasures. "What are you doing? They all fell on the ground. What if they don't work anymore after this?"

"When have they ever worked?"

Shion stepped on the Buddha beads.

Fengqin's expression finally changed. She lifted her head and looked at Shion with a serious gaze.

Shion sneered coldly. No one in this world could fool her eyes. How could there possibly be someone so pathetic in this world?

Yet the girl stretched her sleeves long, grabbed them, and carefully wiped the ground beside Shion's shoes. While wiping, she muttered, "There's so much dust on the ground here. I wouldn't want to dirty your shoes. When you lift your foot, I'll pick them up, so I won't stain your soles..."

She really was that pathetic.

There was no flattery, no sarcasm-just as natural as greeting someone.

A born coward.

For a moment, even Shion was left speechless. She lifted her foot and kicked the Buddha beads over. Fengqin, picking up the beads, even thanked her.

Having lost all interest in her, Shion simply asked, "Is there a big net at the end of this place?"

At Nascent Soul Transformation, one can ascend. Ascension requires crossing the bitter sea. Someone once told her that Full Bloom was a trap.

That meant there was a great enemy waiting to collect the net outside after Full Bloom!

At first, Shion thought this little coward was that great enemy, but now it seemed she had been overthinking.

Hearing her words, Fengqin paused while tidying up her things. "A big net? There's no net. This is the interlayer between the world and the outside. After you leave, you can see the World Tree... um, do you know what the World Tree is? I might have to explain from the beginning."

"One flower, one world. One leaf, one Bodhi."

Shion gave a disdainful smile. "It's just a Chaotic Spiritual Root, an Innate Divine Tree. There are three of them in the Forest of No Return. What's so special about it?"

"If it were a Divine King, even its corpse could contain a kingdom."

Fengqin was momentarily stunned. She looked up at the little bear on her head.

"Can you understand?"

"I can't."

Just as Fengqin was wondering if she should apologize and beg for forgiveness, the girl asked again: "Can I raise my status here, build a ladder to grow stronger, and is there any risk of being lost?"

"Or is this just a trap of the Heavenly Dao's ascension? The infinite chaos outside the world erodes the power, will, and soul of those who enter, until they're completely ground down. Are you and the path ahead nothing but illusions?"

"Are there primordial anomalies, dark demons, mountain-and-sea monsters, or other bizarre creatures lurking in the chaos, hunting those who ascend?"

"Are you called Mountain-Sitting Guest?"

"Have you ever saved a Luo Feng on Earth?"

A barrage of questions left Fengqin flustered. "There's not that much stuff, sorry to disappoint you. And my name is Fengqin... Our patched-together world and the outside world are both too ordinary. I'm really sorry I couldn't satisfy you..."

Shion was immediately disappointed. She had thought these Incubator big shots who sealed off the world had some clever tricks up their sleeves.

It turned out she had been overthinking.

But soon she caught onto something Fengqin had said and asked, "Your patched-together world?"

Fengqin gently brushed aside the chaotic, sinking ground.

Shion raised an eyebrow slightly. The chaos she needed the Heaven-Cleaving Axe to split open, this person could manipulate with just a wave of her hand.

Compared to power, it was more like she possessed some kind of Authority.

And when the ground below was brushed aside, the true world came into view.

It was not a complete leaf.

But a patchwork of over a hundred broken fragments.

The broken leaves were stuck together by dense black spots. The black spots overflowed like ink, filling the gaps, connecting the broken edges into a single dark pattern.

At this moment, many of those patterns had already been damaged.

And the leaf surfaces themselves were equally scarred, riddled with holes as if eaten away by insects!

Shion was startled. So this is what it meant to seize the fortune of heaven and earth for a Fruit Position!

Looking at these holes, anyone would think they had arrived at the Immortal Pivot!

Where was the Ancient Sage? Where was the World-Honored One? Where was the Calamity Lord?

And where was my Mysterious Pivot, the Dao Lord of Grasping Change?

Now, on the four largest broken leaves at the center of the patchwork, four massive craters were still expanding, like gnawing worms constantly devouring, making the leaves tremble precariously.

'This new world of ours is forcibly pieced together from worlds that haven't fully died. And Full Bloom drains a massive amount of the world's essence, causing the gaps inside the world to begin expanding.'

Her gaze narrowed again. Inside the leaves, she could see three Full Bloom Magical Girls about to unfold their Mental Landscapes.

So she reached out her hand and pressed down toward the three.

...

Amidst the world's shaking, White Fox reacted first, releasing her mana to destroy the arm!

But that dual-colored arm merged ice and fire, instantly erupting with terrifying destructive power!

And as for the arms that pierced through the chests of the other two Magical Girls, deep purple ice instantly froze them solid.

Their faces still bore confusion and shock.

In the same instant.

The smirking Super White Fox was also reduced to ashes by the three Full Blooms' mana cannons, which had arrived first despite being fired later!

The three clutched their chests. [Water in the Spring], being the most experienced, realized it first.

"Damn Perception Obstruction!"

A sneak attack that even a Full Bloom couldn't detect-what else could it be but Azure Cloud Sect's Shuangye's Perception Obstruction!

But someone who could cooperate with Perception Obstruction...

The three recovered Magical Girls all gnashed their teeth.

What Super White Fox? This was probably another true-transmission disciple of Azure Cloud Sect!

When they looked up, they saw an uncountable number of Qinghua puppets appearing one after another, gradually filling the sky before them!

The three's pupils momentarily dilated. [Water in the Spring] even started drooling.

"Ah! I am Super Qinghua... like hell I am!"

Quickly breaking free from the massive Perception Obstruction's influence, all three violently unleashed terrifying mana!

There was no precision in mana control, no magical rules at work.

Simply releasing raw mana, the sky-covering sea of Qinghua puppets burst like fireworks one after another!

Sitting on her broom, Thousand-Pinweed raised her hand to shield her eyes from the dazzling sparks and glanced at Little Yumo beside her.

Following the Sect Master's orders to unfold their Mental Landscapes and let the opponents achieve Full Bloom, the two had withdrawn from the battlefield and regrouped.

Watching Qinghua's puppets exploding in waves, Thousand-Pinweed couldn't help but feel like cheering on the fireworks.

"Are you sure this is okay? Letting Qinghua fight three Full Blooms alone?"

Yumo carefully took off her hair ornament, wiped it, put it in her pocket, and pressed it gently before saying, "L-let's just watch. She's the Azure Cloud Sect's internal forum's top-tier combatant."

"Prepared Qinghua!"

No sooner had she spoken than the three Full Blooms, who had been mowing down puppets above, suddenly fell like meteors!

In truth, for a Full Bloom, these dense puppets really posed no threat.

Only Qianying had some psychological trauma from her earlier defeat, but in reality, these puppets couldn't cause any trouble.

So the three didn't take them seriously at all. They released their mana to charge through, planning to break out and return to their old world with good news.

Qianying even managed a taunt.

"What use is quantity without quality? Just a bunch of toys!"

Even though she had been beaten black and blue by those "toys" before, now that she knew they were actually Azure Cloud true-transmission disciples, Qianying felt somewhat comforted.

I was going toe-to-toe with an Azure Cloud true-transmission back then!

Just as they were weaving through the puppet sea, they suddenly heard the Qinghua puppets speak one after another:

"Who said."

"That quantity."

"Can't also."

"Have quality?"

"Look."

"Behind you?"

Urged by the puppets, all three instinctively turned around.

A face as delicate as a work of art was right there, inches away. Their hearts stopped beating for an instant.

"Shion!"

Intense fear momentarily caused all three to lose control of their mana!

Three Shions, pressing down on White Fox's, [Water in the Spring]'s, and Qianying's heads, fell like meteors, smashing thunderously into the ground!

Only when the pain from the back of their skulls arrived did the three barely recover from their terror. After calming down, each used their own magic-spring water, Blue Silver Grass, and crackling lightning bolts. They quickly broke free from Shion's grip.

"Don't panic." White Fox calmed down before the other two. "It's not the real one."

"That's right, the power difference is huge!" Qianying quickly reacted too. "No need to be afraid!"

[Water in the Spring] nodded. "Just bootlegs. No matter how many, they're useless."

But when they saw the vast sea of Qinghua puppets above begin to part, revealing wave after wave of Shions appearing,

[Water in the Spring] was dumbfounded. "But there's just too damn many of them!"

White Fox and Qianying also sucked in a cold breath.

The relaxed, vacation-like mindset they had after taking care of Shion was once again tensed up.

"Dear sisters, this is what's called," Qinghua manipulated the Shion puppets, revealing a smile that the Sect Master would never show. It was bright and radiant, like some sweet little girl's. She even blew a kiss. "Quantity leads to quality, you know."

Even in the middle of battle, White Fox and Qianying were momentarily shaken by the charm.

The perfect combination of a powerful mech and a high-level pilot, amplifying the charm effect almost to the level of a magic spell!

Watching from afar, Thousand-Pinweed was dazed for a moment before quickly turning away to calm herself. "Qinghua is way too good at this..."

Yumo tugged at her hood, her eyes fixed on the Sect Master's puppet. "I-it's also the result of hard training in the sect."

Thousand-Pinweed was stunned. "Huh?"

You guys play this wild behind my back?

But before she could ask, the three Full Bloom Magical Girls above all pressed their hands to their chests with serious expressions.

Thousand-Pinweed and Yumo immediately became serious too.

The surging mana expanding their Personal Realities meant only one thing, and they knew it best!

"We don't plan to waste too much time here."

The Full Bloom Magical Girls above said, instantly locking onto them with their mana.

Not only that, but in West China, North China, East China-all the Azure Cloud Sect Magical Girls still lying in wait were locked onto by all three!

Thousand-Pinweed and Yumo heard Lady Winter's voice in their ears. "All Azure Cloud Sect disciples, prepare to draw your swords!"

"Mental Landscape, expand!"

Their Personal Realities expanded wildly. The three Full Blooms' Personal Realities, coming from three directions, swelled almost to swallow the entire world!

All the Azure Cloud Sect disciples, along with all of Qinghua's puppets, were pulled into the three's stolen Mental Landscapes in an instant!

Qianying and [Water in the Spring] exchanged glances. Their Certain-Hit and Certain-Kill magics immediately locked onto the seven true-transmission disciples and Winter!

Just as the Shion puppets began preparing the Fury Lotus and Bingtang was about to forcibly expand her Mental Landscape to cancel out the certain-hit for the disciples,

The sky above suddenly trembled!

Looking up, the sky that the Mental Landscape hadn't covered now showed enormous cracks!

Then Bingtang realized those cracks looked more like the veins of a leaf!

Massive power penetrated through the cracks. In an instant, pitch-black mana that appeared from nowhere dissolved the three Full Bloom Magical Girls' Mental Landscapes into nothingness!

In the silence, Bingtang looked at White Fox, [Water in the Spring], and Qianying, whose Personal Realities had melted, smiled slightly, and was about to say something.

But Jiegeng, wearing her miko outfit on the tallest building far away, had already drawn her longbow fully. The Azure Cloud Sect's signature vulgarity echoed across the sky:

"Stop talking shit. Kill them!"

...

Pulling back her hand, Shion nodded.

Compared to the last Xiao Qi, the three who had achieved Full Bloom through the Mirror Kingdom were actually weaker.

Full Bloom also had its ranks. Xiao Qi was probably at mid-Nascent Soul Transformation, even touching the threshold of late stage.

But these three had weak foundations, thin mana reserves, and relied on external help.

After their ultimate leap, they were only at early Nascent Soul Transformation.

They didn't have complete mastery over their rule power, unable to nearly annihilate a world with a single [Decay-and-Flourish Radiance] like Xiao Qi could.

With their Mental Landscapes destroyed and Personal Realities melted, there was no need to worry about them threatening the Azure Cloud Sect disciples.

She looked again at the leaf that served as the world's outer form. The three holes on it representing Full Bloom had stopped expanding.

Once Personal Reality was melted, Full Bloom's erosion and destruction of the world would also cease.

Beside her, Fengqin and her bear ornament both stared at Shion with wide eyes.

"How did you send mana down there and shatter their Mental Landscapes..."

"By instinct."

"Impossible. Mana here shouldn't be conductive..."

While Fengqin was still incredulous, the bear ornament spoke: "Her Personal Reality is abnormal... Wait, a miracle without anyone's blessing? You, you're not a Magical Girl!"

"Huh?" Fengqin was startled too. "But, but she looks exactly like a Magical Girl?"

Shion glanced at her own tail and dragon horns.

It shouldn't be that hard to tell, should it? That she wasn't a Magical Girl.

Just as she was about to ask what "a miracle without anyone's blessing" meant,

The previously calm world leaf suddenly trembled again.

Shion looked down. She saw the Full Bloom gap in the south at the leaf's center was still expanding, so much so that it touched the black boundary patterns.

The ink that had been filling the gaps was instantly vaporized, leaving only faint vein connections.

Teetering on the edge!

Her golden vertical pupils contracted slightly.

Shion saw the Mirror Kingdom's glass, like a barrier, wrapping around all of South China.

Then, as the largest of the four broken leaves fell off,

South China detached from the new world with a thunderous crash, falling toward the void beyond the world!

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