The dark clouds in the sky dispersed with the departure of the lightning spirits, and the bright moonlight poured down. Everyone standing on the rooftop found their eyes drawn to the scene before them.
When all the butterflies surrounding the Devil Archduke vanished, what appeared in his place was a tall girl with blond hair and crimson eyes.
A pair of strange wings grew from her back. She wore a skintight black-and-red leather outfit, her ears were slightly long and pointed, and her slender legs, clad in black suspender stockings and set off by thin, towering heels, looked irresistibly alluring.
There was a peculiar pattern at the corner of her eye, resembling both a voluptuous beauty and a butterfly folding its wings before taking flight, lending her an unusually bewitching charm.
Perhaps because her disguised body had disappeared, the place where the crystal flower had imprisoned her was now gone as well. The flower dissolved into sparkling fragments, almost as though it had become part of her backdrop.
After returning to her original appearance, she knelt before Li Mingxue without the slightest hesitation and begged for forgiveness. "Master, please forgive me. It has simply been far too long since I last saw you, so my memory of you was not clear for a moment. This was my mistake."
"For a devil, eighteen years should be an extremely short period of time, shouldn't it?" Reaching forward, Li Mingxue used the handle of her whip to lift the girl's chin. Gazing into her scarlet eyes, she asked curiously.
"Eighteen years? One hundred and twenty years have already passed in the world I'm from..." Lilith was somewhat frightened under her stare, but still explained the reason.
"One hundred and twenty years? Right. If we calculate it according to the passage of time where you live, then it really has been one hundred and twenty years. So, does that mean you've reached adulthood?" Li Mingxue seemed to have only just realized the reason. She raised an eyebrow, finally understanding.
"Not yet. I'm still three years away from adulthood." Lilith lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling, revealing that her emotions were anything but calm.
"Three years, huh? Then stay by my side for those three years. It'll also give you a chance to familiarize yourself with this world." The moment Li Mingxue heard her answer, she made the decision without caring whether Lilith agreed.
"Yes." Biting her red lip as she answered, the mighty Devil Archduke was as obedient as a kitten before Li Mingxue.
Seeing how compliant she was, Li Mingxue nodded in satisfaction before looking up at the night sky. Meteors were still falling continuously, with no telling when they would finally stop. "Your strength has progressed pretty quickly. When I met you back then, you'd only just broken through Heaven Rank and entered the Transcendence Realm. Now you're already close to touching the edge of a Law. Your talent really is exceptional. What's your ranking among the Devil Archdukes now?"
"I'm sorry to have disappointed Master's cultivation of me. Lilith is only ranked in the triple digits, at one hundred and twenty-seventh. If I want to advance any further, I'll need to comprehend a Law." Whatever Li Mingxue asked, she answered. She concealed nothing and clearly explained the truth.
"Not bad. Stay with me for three years, and by the time you go back, you should have the strength to rank among the top fifty. At that point, you can go wherever you want. But this time, as punishment, you'll stay here obediently." After saying this, Li Mingxue put away her whip, turned toward Chu Lian and the others, and said, "Tonight's farce is over. Everyone go back to sleep."
"Mom, this wasn't a farce! If she hadn't surrendered, we could've won!" Hearing Li Mingxue dismiss everything they had done tonight as a farce, Chu Lian immediately became unhappy and puffed out her cheeks in protest.
"Wasn't it?" Li Mingxue flicked her forehead with a finger and asked in return, "You didn't actually think you had truly outschemed her, did you?"
Seeing Chu Lian's slightly stunned expression, she continued, "Do you really think a Devil Archduke has no way to escape confinement and defeat you one by one from the shadows? You wouldn't have died because I was protecting you, but winning definitely wouldn't have been so simple.
"Every Devil Archduke has lived for an extraordinarily long time. Their survival abilities aren't just for show. Lilith sensed the presence of an enemy she couldn't possibly match, so she decisively surrendered without resisting in order to keep this avatar from being destroyed. It wasn't because she truly had no way to deal with all of you. Just look at the sky and you'll understand."
As Li Mingxue spoke, she pointed toward the meteors overhead and shrugged. "If you're confident, then I'll leave the final meteor to you."
Chu Lian followed the direction of her finger and instantly froze. Mom, are you trying to kill your daughter?!
Nearly all the meteors in the sky had disappeared. Only one remained, a genuine meteorite nearly a hundred meters across, slowly descending with an aura that seemed capable of annihilating everything.
She could sense that if this meteorite truly collided with the ground, the resulting energy would absolutely be beyond anything Sucheng could withstand. In the truest sense, it was an attack capable of destroying the entire city in a single blow.
At that moment, the formation Li Mingxue had created had already vanished. The entire sky seemed to be obscured by the meteorite, and every trace of light disappeared.
The people who had only moments ago been praying for the disaster to pass, worshiping the reappearance of a god, and rejoicing over their survival could no longer say a word.
They simply stood there dumbly, staring at what might be the most dangerous natural disaster humanity had faced in recent years. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions... Before its overwhelming might, all of them seemed like jokes.
No one could be certain they would survive such destruction, much less when the energy unleashed upon impact would sweep away every object and living creature within dozens of kilometers.
Before such overwhelming natural power, humanity was as fragile as a sheet of paper, with nothing to rely on and no way to stop such devastation.
By now, everything happening in Sucheng had already been transmitted through satellite imagery to every place in the world capable of receiving the signal.
Whether they were friendly toward Huaxia or deeply hostile toward Huaxia and its people, everyone fell silent upon witnessing this scene.
Aside from the truly deranged, no one could remain calm in the face of a disaster like this. Perhaps it was only happening in Huaxia now, but who could say where it might happen next?
First, Miami in the United States had been slaughtered by a dragon. Now, an enormous meteorite was descending upon Sucheng in Huaxia. Both incidents showed that supernatural forces were advancing step by step, and no human being could avoid them forever.
Priests prayed beneath crosses for humanity's future. Daoists could do nothing but gaze at the heavens with bitter smiles, while Buddhists were already preparing rites to guide the souls of an entire city's dead onward...
Every corner of the world was watching this scene. From the descent of the meteor swarm, to their interception by the formation, and then to the disappearance of that formation and the fall of the nearly hundred-meter-wide meteorite through the sky, everything was being faithfully recorded.
People had already begun recounting the devil's whisper they had heard when the meteors descended. The words "Falling Stars" sent chills through everyone who heard them. Had powerful supernatural beings begun declaring war on humanity?
The United States, Huaxia, the European Union, and the Soviet Union, the four most powerful nations or organizations in the world, were already contacting one another to discuss how to handle what lay ahead. After all, this was no longer something any single nation or organization could decide. It was a choice all of humanity would have to make.
Although the fate of all humanity was being decided through negotiations among these four great powers, that was inevitable. No matter the era, the weak had no right to stand shoulder to shoulder with the strong. The only thing they could do was submit to being ruled.
"Humanity, the world, the supernatural... The beginning of all of this will truly unfold tonight." Chu Xiao stood at the edge of a cliff somewhere within a research institute built deep in the mountains, speaking softly to the two people beside him.
The direction he was looking toward was Sucheng, where his home, wife, and children were. However, because Chu Xiao knew nothing would happen there, he was much calmer than the two people behind him. Perhaps he had simply experienced too much.
"Master, can I go back?" The one speaking was Zhang Feng, who had disappeared for quite some time. He had originally said he was coming to the Academy of Sciences to cooperate with research, yet somehow he had ended up becoming Chu Xiao's disciple. Fate truly had a strange way of arranging things.
"No need. For now, focus on adapting to this ability. You'll naturally be allowed to leave three years from now. If you ever reach your senior sister's level of strength before then, you can leave early. But you need to understand that the world is undergoing tremendous changes right now. Without strength, you won't be able to obtain anything you want. Understand?" Chu Xiao stood with his hands behind his back. Faced with the young man's expectations, this was his only answer.
"Senior sister..." Zhang Feng turned toward Xu Zhijun and discovered that "he" had absolutely no interest in paying attention to him. He could only scratch his head, unsure what to say.
"Your senior sister is three years older than you, but her strength already places her among the finest of her generation. Although she can't compare to your master's wife back then, she's still a genius countless sects and families could only dream of obtaining.
"Your circumstances are somewhat special, but your talent itself can only be called average. If you want to catch up to your senior sister, either keep trying to die over and over again, or calmly follow my training methods. Trust me. Your strength will increase very quickly."
How could Chu Xiao fail to understand how he felt? Although he knew the boy was utterly devoted to his daughter, how could he possibly tell him the truth? Doing so would crush every bit of his motivation.
Even so, Chu Xiao still thought highly of Zhang Feng's future. After these days of research, they had determined that although Zhang Feng's talent might be ordinary, his potential was not inferior to Xu Zhijun's in the slightest. In some respects, he was even more outstanding. Barring any accidents, his future accomplishments would surpass Xu Zhijun's.
The only troublesome problem was that he could not settle his heart. Just how lovable was his daughter that this boy still could not stop thinking about her even now? And seriously, wasn't he only thirteen? To be like this at thirteen... he was far more impressive than his master had been at that age.
"Master, I want to go to Sucheng." Just as Chu Xiao was silently complaining to himself, Xu Zhijun stepped forward and softly made her request.
"Then go. Come back whenever you feel like it. Just remember, don't provoke that girl from the Ning family again. Otherwise, her father is going to come fight me to the death." Chu Xiao waved his hand, allowing Xu Zhijun to leave at her discretion.
Aside from her occasional tendency to say astonishing things, Chu Xiao was actually very reassured when it came to this disciple...
Do I have to shatter it? The task Li Mingxue had given her might have been impossible for any Spirit Rank, Earth Rank, or even some Heaven Rank powerhouses, but Chu Lian had a feeling that if she went all out, she could definitely do it.
Then I'll give it a try... Reaching up, Chu Lian tore apart the clothes she was wearing without hesitation. She did not care that other people were still present and simply took Downfall of Castle and Country from her spatial storage and put it on.
Then she removed the shoes from her feet and floated barefoot in midair.
"If there's something one punch can't solve, then I'll add the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception..." Her voice was soft, yet everyone could hear it clearly.
The meteorite overhead drew closer and closer. Chu Lian could already make out the patterns across its surface. Its blazing flames scorched her delicate skin as though she were standing beneath the merciless midday sun.
"No matter what happens, this punch will destroy everything..." Her delicate voice carried a resolve no one could ignore.
Her eyes locked onto the meteorite. Suddenly, her pupils turned blue. As azure light blossomed, the girl's aura instantly surged to its peak, an overwhelming presence that seemed capable of slaughtering gods and annihilating Buddhas.
Then the Nice Staff activated. Her floating body grew thirty centimeters taller, her figure becoming voluptuous and curvaceous. Her hair, which had originally fallen to her hips, lengthened once more until it nearly reached her heels.
Her originally pretty, youthful features also matured. The seductive charm and irresistible allure in every glance became more intense than ever before.
Looking at the meteorite in the sky, Chu Lian transformed into a streak of light and shot upward. Even after growing larger, the girl still looked as tiny as an ant before the meteorite. What she was doing seemed no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot, yet it was also unimaginably brave.
Below, ultra-high-definition cameras belonging to several television stations had been pointed at the sky from the very beginning. The girl's sudden appearance was as eye-catching as dawn breaking through the night, as though an immortal had descended to save the world.
Her long hair stood out vividly against the night sky. The dragon-patterned qipao clung to her shapely figure, and as the cameras drew closer, even the girl's flawless profile was revealed beneath the scorching glow of the flames. Everything had happened so suddenly.
At that moment, everyone's hearts rose into their throats. They worried for the girl, yet at the same time desperately hoped she could destroy the meteorite, because if she did, Sucheng would be spared from annihilation in this disaster.
"Let everything disappear like smoke beneath this punch!" The girl's voice was clear and ethereal, like an immortal singing from the highest heavens. Although she was shouting from far above, her voice rang beside everyone's ears, sweeping away the fear and unease left behind by the devil's whisper.
Brilliant blue-green light erupted. The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception locked onto the meteorite's line of death. She raised her right hand before her eyes as blue spiritual power enveloped it. At that moment, she poured every last trace of spiritual power into Ordinary Punch. It was destined to be an earth-shattering blow.
It was like a reenactment of the punch that had killed the dragon in Miami, only this time the spectacle was even more shocking.
Her body shot forward at tremendous speed as she threw her right fist. Wrapped in the Nice Staff's power, her body had no fear whatsoever of the flames formed from magic power. Just like that, her fist struck the meteorite's most vulnerable point of death...
Boom! The tremendous sound of fist colliding with meteorite spread for several kilometers, deafening everyone who heard it.
But it was not over. Chu Lian clenched her teeth and exerted even more force. Her body plunged into the meteorite as though diving into the ocean. Relying on the destructive fusion of Ordinary Punch, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, and the Divine Spirit Art, she pierced straight through the more-than-hundred-meter-long meteorite and burst out from its far end.
RUMBLE!
The sound of the meteorite shattering was even louder than the impact before it, so loud that every other sound seemed to vanish. In countless people's eyes, only the broken fragments of the meteorite remained, along with the girl standing silently in midair as the night wind stirred her long hair.
At that moment, it was as though a Valkyrie had descended into the mortal world...