Skyfire Avenue

The doppelganger’s face fell as it witnessed their attack coming. It turned to flee its scope.

But at that moment a captivating voice called out. “Take advice from Luo Xianni. A camera is all you need.”

Ka-cha! As the sound of a camera’s shutter clacked, Monarch’s avatar froze in mid air. All the space around it was thick and still, only allowing the light of the Harmonious Swords to pass through.

At the crucial moment the doppelganger called on its enormous power to its full advantage. An explosion of energy erupted from it, and the beast itself was lost in a violet vortex. Luo Xianni’s pocket of frozen space shattered under the hurricane force that was the monster’s power.

No longer a man, the tempest that was the doppelganger was too large and unwieldy to avoid the attack that came at it. However its size was a boon, and the Harmonious Swords could only strike a piece of it instead of its whole form.

When the gold-wrapped power arrived the violet energies around it were quickly defeated. Lan Jue and Qianlin reappeared. Then a marvelous scene was revealed.

A flash of brilliant cobalt blue emanated from their location, quickly followed by a milky white counterpart. The two swelled in strength and brightness until they were interwoven columns of luminescence that rose into the sky.

All of the earth and sky was caught in the splendor, imbued with an unnatural stillness. A magnificent and staggering aura swept through the area before the dual columns of light burst out in all directions.

It was a strange power, once that filled the surrounding Paragons with a sense of clarity in mind and body. They felt cleansed, energetically and spiritually, and empowered. It wasn’t a fleeting sensation, either. The power lingered within them, strengthening them to their core.

Among them it was the Driver who felt it deepest. It was like all the lightning and thunder contained within him was seething, crashing in waves all through his body. More than just his energy, the transformative nature of this power seeped into his very essence.

The violet light in the sky brightened and was interspersed by flashes of gold. They illuminated every minute detail of the world below. In the distance the violet light coalesced to reform the body of the doppelganger. It stared in disbelief at its attackers.

What was this?

Once again the tell-tale ka-cha of Luo Xianni’s camera arose. The doppelganger froze again. What was different this time was that he had been injured by the Adepts’ Harmonious Swords and breaking free of Luo Xianni’s control was more difficult.

As the cloud of golden light expanded above them, nearby aliens fled. They sensed the power in it, and not only refrained from coming close but fled from the area altogether. Whatever birthed that light felt invincible and even beasts would not carelessly throw their lives away.

But could they really elude destruction?

The golden cloud continued to spread, and wherever it expanded scores of aliens fell from the sky. They crumbled into ash before ever reaching the ground. On the earth below, the purple fungus that caked the surface roasted as though beneath an intense heat, eventually withering away into nothing. Even the enormous artery rising into the heavens shook, and a screech of terror filled the air.

A titanic, purplish-black creature lifted itself from the depths of the earth. It looked like an octopus, and heaved itself out of the ground with its tentacles. Its body alone was five thousand meters in diameter, and stretched to ten thousand if one included its appendages. The shadow of the colossus stretched over a wide area.

It belched a poisonous black fog in the direction of the golden cloud. The beast seemed intent on containing the deadly power it emitted. However, before it got to close the mist would burn away.

From the aura the creature exuded, the humans knew it had the power of Nirvana. Precisely as they expected, the progenitor was the strongest they’d ever encountered. They suspected that this was the perfect specimen, the apex of its breed, in order for it to provide for the home worlds as it did.

The two columns of light piercing the clouds eventually merged into one and changed to gold. Everything around it was painted it spectacular light. Locked in the air, Monarch’s doppelganger struggled against Luo Xianni’s bonds.

The Photographer herself appeared among the other Paragons. None of them moved in to fight or take advantage of the marvelous display. The power that flooded their bodies, enervated them, was so intense it locked them in place.

Still it increased, growing with every passing moment. One second was like a full day of rigorous cultivation. The Driver’s reaction was most intense, but it was the Pharmacist who received the greatest benefit in the moment.

She was still channeling her Slaughter Domain, which through conflict had swelled her power to a Reflection of Heaven and Earth. Beneath the light of the golden cloud she could sense its influence flowing through her. Occisus pulsed with energy, and with the addition of this strange power she was surprised to feel her status as a Reflection solidify.

In other words, in just a matter of seconds she had broken through to the next degree of Paragon. Had she held back on her breakthrough to Paragon there was a chance she would have achieved this on her own. However, she did not, and the bridge that spanned the two levels was vast. It was unthinkable that she should so easily rise to the next level.

In addition, her breakthrough also seemed to break another seal holding back Occisus’ power. The runes on its surface flared and two more were added. Its aura swelled and merged with its mistress to where it became difficult to tell what was the Harbinger Faerie and what was the Banishing Blade.

The surprise in the doppelganger’s eyes deepened. The golden cloud actually filled him with dread. It could sense the universal protogenia flowing within it, slowly gathering together.

Lan Jue and Qianlin were finally revealed, kneeling within the column of light and the banishing blades floating at their backs. Both Demortus and Captus shimmered with light, and golden runes blazed on their surface.

Lan Jue sat in stillness, peaceful as a Buddha. Behind him an image had slowly begun to take shape. It was stately and ancient in appearance, from another era. Though it was only a faint outline, the aura it exuded made the onlookers want to prostrate themselves in worship.

Another image appeared behind Qianlin. This one looked exactly like her.

A corona of blue light pulsed within Lan Jue’s chest, growing clearer with each moment. Its influence spread through him until Lan Jue looked like a glimmering statue of sapphire. The air around Qianlin was misty and ethereal and made her seem all the more like an immortal goddess.

Monarch’s fragment sucked in a breath and began to swell. A blinding purple light shot out from it as it called upon all of its power. But just as it was preparing to attack, a deafening peal of thunder stayed its hand.

Brrrrruuuuuummmm. All of the power the doppelganger gathered scattered. The sound frightened it so deeply that it immediately turned and fled. Glistening pearls of light twinkled in the depths of the golden cloud, hints of lightning rumbling within. Just the prospect of it terrified the beast and forced it to run for its life.

The progenitor, until now only threatening violence, shook violently. All of its tentacles dropped. But it could not flee like the Monarch’s avatar! It was rooted here, deep in the earth with no way to extricate itself.

“What is that?” The Pharmacist stared in awe at the golden cloud above them.

It was clear that Lan Jue and Qianlin had chosen to break through right after using their Harmonious Swords. What the Pharmacist didn’t understand was the spectacle they produced. No one seemed to know what the two were doing.

Luo Xianni had been ready to attack, but the thunder had darkened her features. She shook, just like the alien beasts, and her power fell away.

“That is the presence of universal protogenia. It seems to have taken a form similar to tribulation lightning, like in the ancient days.” She couldn’t be sure, either.

“Tribulation lightning?” The Pharmacist said in shock. “How is that possible? Didn’t it disappear with the immortals?”

Before she finished the thought another blast of thunder sounded. A single bolt of golden lightning ripped through the cloud and descended toward Lan Jue. In the same instant – whether it was Luo Xianni, the Pharmacist, the Gourmet or the Pauper – all of them fell from the sky. It was as though an enormous, invisible hammer had come crashing down from above that none of them could withstand.

“It really is tribulation lightning!” Luo Xianni cried out in shock and alarm as she desperately tried to protect herself from the pressure. She simply couldn’t understand why such power would appear now, or what Lan Jue and Qianlin had done to summon it. It was unimaginable, where they even human?

Tribulation lightning was a manifestation of universal protogenia, the most destructive force in all of time and space. How was it that Lan Jue was able to withstand it? Even she and Jue Di would be burnt to ash if they were struck.

It was the first time she had felt it, this fabled lightning. Although it had not be directed at her, the fear that gripped her was so absolute she couldn’t move a muscle much less save her son.