1316 Time Stops & Devastating Beauty
Bai Zemin knew perfectly well that the portal that had just opened at the wrong time and in the worst possible place had to have been opened by the pearl that he had given to Lilith a couple of days ago. This was because while it was true that practically everyone he loved had one of these life-saving pearls, only Lilith could find herself in a situation that forced her to use it.
After all, she had left together with Fire Sorrow toward Oblon World after killing an Archangel and inflicting serious injuries to the God of Heaven.
Unfortunately, his situation was anything but encouraging... even though he had an overwhelming amount of power coursing through his veins and circulating in his blood, the wounds on his flesh were severe and his soul was on the verge of collapse.
Before he lost consciousness, all he saw was a spatial disaster in which the reality in front of his eyes seemed to collapse as the arrow shot broke everything into pieces.
Shangguan Bing Xue watched with wide eyes in shock. The space was broken.
The time barrier trembled as if something was continuously hitting it, causing the arrow trailed by the small blood-red lightning to appear and disappear in different places.
Even more surprising, however...
'I can't... I can't use Ice Maker?' Shangguan Bing Xue was terrified in an instant as she realized that all the atoms and particles that held the information, the records, as well as the energy needed to make up the water element in any of its states, seemed to have vanished from the surroundings.
Akumi's roar full of fear, pain, humiliation, and indignation echoed for an instant before his body was hit directly in the head by the arrow shot by Bai Zemin.
However, just an inch away from piercing the brain of the arrogant and fierce Sixth Order Higher Existence, the arrow froze.
It was not just the arrow that froze but everything froze. Everything stopped.
Shangguan Bing Xue maintained her same fixed position, her beautiful blue eyes fixed on Akumi without blinking.
The broken space stopped collapsing and the broken parts stopped falling, freezing in the middle of nowhere.
The magical energy around the crimson portal stopped abruptly. ... Even the fierce violet lightning storm falling from the firmament froze; it did not disappear, but the lightning froze in place.
Time had stopped, so that nothing could move forward, continue, or recede.... Even more surprising, however, was that time had not stopped only in this part of the universe.
Everything stopped! Suddenly, a silhouette covered in a thin, deep purple veil of light appeared not far away, just above the battlefield.
The shape of the silhouette was definitely identical to that of an ordinary human being; with a head, two arms, two legs, and so on. However, this purple shadow did not appear to have a male or female gender... or at least it could not be distinguished due to the screen of purple light shining around them.
The only thing distinguishable was their size, as whoever it was hidden behind the screen of purple light appeared to be around 15 or 16 years old.
The small purple silhouette slowly approached the golden arrow on which the small blood-colored lightning was still crackling noisily even when everything should have stopped.
The small, almost insignificant, blood-colored lightning was still roaring as if it wanted to break into pieces the barrier that restricted it.
A kind of almost imperceptible sigh sounded in the midst of the frozen chaos. It was a sigh that contained both astonishment and helplessness, incredibly difficult to understand.
The small purple silhouette waved its right hand gently and with a grace absolutely unmatched by any other living being. A moment later, the time that had been frozen for a few seconds started up again, except that a minor but huge change had occurred at the same time; a change difficult for anyone to notice.
At the same time that the river of time ran again, the purple silhouette disappeared without a trace. It did not even give a glance to Bai Zemin, nor to Akumi, nor to Shangguan Bing Xue. It simply came and went as quickly as it showed up after doing what it did.
... In an unknown place. This place was a beautiful bamboo forest. The bamboo-filled forest was not particularly large, only two or three kilometers in diameter at most. However, being small did not mean that it was any less beautiful.
The air in this place was extremely pure and fresh. The breeze blowing through the bamboo was neither hot nor cold, but perfect to the point where one could not help but wonder how it was possible for the climate to reach the optimum point possible for life.
In the middle of the bamboo forest was a clearing of about 500 meters, not very large. There, a lake about 100 meters in diameter whose clear waters occasionally stirred along with the breeze blowing from among the bamboo trees gave the already picturesque scene a new level of fascination.
About 20 to 30 meters from the lake and amidst the pale green grass was a hut which was built using bamboo logs while the tightly closed door was made of dark wood.
The bamboo hut did not look very big either, and although from the outside it was impossible to make out its partitions it was more than evident that a hut of this size could probably not accommodate more than two or three spaces inside.
The only thing that seemed slightly out of place but even so added a different kind of charm was a large cedar tree whose brown trunk reached skyward as if it wanted to touch the stars in the night sky.
This place was undoubtedly a marvel whose scenery, though simple, could hardly find a rival among its kind.
Suddenly, a gust of wind slightly different from the rest blew through the bamboo forest and a moment later, in front of the lake and with its back to the hut, a small silhouette appeared, covered by a screen of deep but bright purple light.
The purple silhouette silently watched the small ripples in the clear water each time the wind blew. About a minute or two later, the purple silhouette whose figure was impossible to distinguish slowly turned on its heels and walked with lotus-like steps in the direction of the bamboo hut.
Just as the purple silhouette reached out its hand and prepared to open the wooden door, its movements stopped for a few seconds.
A slightly husky, mature voice sounded from behind.
"The battle is over. On both fronts."
The purple figure turned slowly and with a grace that was deeply etched into its deepest core, looking silently at the somewhat blurry crimson silhouette.
If Lilith were here now she would definitely recognize the crimson silhouette as she managed to see it once and not even much time had passed since then.
Heavenly Wolf Sirius! It was the ghost of the legendary Heavenly Wolf Sirius!
That wolf form standing on his two hind legs was absolutely unmistakable!
"This is getting out of hand too fast." The ghost of the Heavenly Wolf seemed to smile bitterly as he said, "Although it was only for a brief moment, he unleashed a level of power equivalent to the Soul Transformation stage. It's a complete mystery that his body didn't blow up into a thousand pieces and his soul vanished into nothingness!"
"It was he himself who planned all this back then but it is also he who is bringing his own plan and schemes to the brink of collapse."
"Why did you stop time to help that kid? I mean, I understand that the consequences of her death would have been fatal and all.... But the God of Order Ring in your right hand didn't have much energy left to begin with. Now that you stopped the time of all the Southern Chaos, there's probably less than 5% left?"
"You're crazy, you... If another misfortune happens this time like in the past there will no longer be any chance to try again!"
"Besides, why on this earth would Ragnarok of the Gods have such a big reaction? The entire Golden Domain felt it and the major sects are in chaos right now, talking about treasures and natural disasters! Wasn't the Mutation and Evolution Crystal supposed to have sealed his bloodline well within his spirit? It cracked! It has a crack now! How in heaven and earth is such a thing even supposed to be possible!"
One spoke while the other remained silent. The ghost of the Heavenly Wolf Sirius clenched his fists tightly while the small purple silhouette remained seemingly indifferent, not answering or commenting at all in the face of all his questions and doubts.
After a minute or two of silence, the blurrier and blurrier crimson ghost shook his head and muttered bitterly, "Forget it.... It's obvious that the problem is that lass after all. She's the real irregularity in this whole thing. Who could have thought that he would fall for her to such a degree in less than three years? If she really died after being hit by his attack it probably would have been worse... We can only hope that this time it really will all turn out well, since there won't be any more opportunities."
"..." The purple silhouette turned again and without a word, intending to head inside the bamboo hut.
Suddenly and as if he had thought of something, the ghost of the Heavenly Wolf spoke again. This time, however, his tone of voice was a bit strange: "By the way, you.... Are you confident that you can be his number 1 in the future? I mean, it used to be just the two of you but his current self... You see, he loves that cute little girl so much that he went through this whole mess for her."
The purple figure didn't answer, not even pausing for a second as if it didn't care at all about the question or the subject matter of the question. Opening the door and revealing a dark interior, it was about to step forward when it stopped again.
"Wait! Did you get annoyed by my question? We'll all be family later, no need to worry about such things!"
The purple silhouette paused for a moment, then turned again to face the crimson ghost that was almost completely gone. The purple light covering the silhouette grew weaker, gradually fading away.
"Go back, Sirius. Open your Star Legacy in ten months and wait for him there. As well, remember to give him those three elements if he makes it to the destination point alive. As you said, this is the last one. We can no longer hold anything back. Life or death, success or failure... Whether his soul scatters and vanishes forever or he regains his past glory, repaying both feuds and kindnesses of the past, it will all depend on fate."
The voice of the purple silhouette was bewitching and haunting, yet at the same time bubbly and soothing. This voice was like the sound of nature, full of untold wonders and as precious as the most unattainable divine treasures.
Although this was not the first time the Heavenly Wolf had heard this voice, even if there were not many, he still could not help but be secretly amazed.
He always wondered that, if the voice was already this beautiful, how beautiful could the owner of the voice be then?
Today, that figure that always hid behind a thin screen of purple light revealed her appearance for the first time.
Even after a long time, the ghost of the Heavenly Wolf stood still without moving or speaking at all. The purple silhouette had already disappeared inside the bamboo hut and the wooden door was firmly closed, but it wasn't until much later that he finally reacted.
Only now did he realize how ridiculous his earlier question was when he challenged whether she was confident or not.
How could the woman who led the True Gods to their demise, the cause of the end of the Age of the Gods, be lacking in confidence? What's more... such beauty simply should not exist in the Primordial Chaos.
Because her existence alone was out of scale. If Sirius had the power to go back in time, he would wish he had never seen that face.
A bitter smile appeared on his face. He shook his head and whispered to himself, "You're killing me..."

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