Shen Yu's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and he bellowed with all his might, “Retreat!”
But before his voice could even fade, the world changed color.
A deafening explosion roared, followed immediately by a scorching wave of heat that swept forward with the force of a tidal wave.
Tongues of fire spewed out, debris flew in all directions, and thick smoke billowed. The Zhenbei Army's formation shattered in an instant, and the soldiers were sent flying by the shockwave like kites with severed strings.
Shen Yu felt as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss. It was over.
He had calculated every possibility, yet he had never expected Zhang Xun to hide in Black Wind Stronghold on Cang Mountain, much less that the man had actually learned the secrets of gunpowder from Luo Daoqing.
The moment this thought flashed through his mind, all surrounding sound abruptly vanished.
Shen Yu instinctively tried to look up, only to find himself pinned to the spot, unable to move even a finger. What was even stranger was that in his peripheral vision, the sparks flying through the air, the exploding bamboo huts, the soldiers flying backward... everything had frozen in mid-air, turning into a static painting before his eyes.
Amidst this absolute silence, a pale gold lily of the valley drifted down gently from the sky. The moment it touched the ground, it transformed into thousands of glowing spheres, tightly shielding everyone inside except for the bandits, who were left outside with their sinister sneers frozen on their faces.
Before anyone realized it, the time freeze was lifted.
The fiery waves of the explosion slammed violently against the golden barrier of light. A dull hum, like the tolling of a distant bronze bell, reverberated as ripples spread across the barrier's surface. Yet, it remained as solid as a rock, completely unbroken.
The people inside the glowing spheres looked up in a daze. Seeing themselves enveloped in protective golden light, they realized they were all completely unharmed!
“The Divine Lady! It must be the Divine Lady!”
“The Divine Lady has saved us!”
“The Divine Lady is merciful and compassionate!”
“Thank you, Divine Lady!”
The Zhenbei Army soldiers prostrated themselves toward the sky. Even though there was no sign of the Divine Lady, their eyes were filled with fanatical devotion.
Shen Yu also knelt on the ground. He was about to speak when he felt a dull, sharp pain in his chest. Suddenly, he covered his mouth and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Mr. Shen, are you alright?” Qiao Yue asked, her eyes filled with worry. She assumed Shen Yu had sustained internal injuries during the fight.
Shen Yu gently shook his head. “I am fine.”
As he spoke, he slowly closed his blood-stained palm, putting on a calm front as if nothing had happened.
He suffered from a terminal illness. Even with Lin Xun's superb medical skills, it was incurable; at most, medicine could only prolong his life by a few years. However, he did not want too many people to know about this. He was afraid someone might take it upon themselves to plead on his behalf before the Divine Lady.
If there was a way to live, no one would choose to die. But if his survival meant causing trouble for the Divine Lady, he would rather die.
Zhang Xun and his men had long been dumbfounded.
“There... there really is a Divine Lady in this world...”
“No, this is impossible!” he muttered to himself. “Luo Daoqing was a fraud, so how could there be a real Divine Lady?!”
He could not accept that gods truly existed in this world. If the Divine Lady's believers worshipped a true deity, then his actions would undoubtedly lead him to a dead end with absolutely no room for redemption.
The Divine Lady would never forgive him!
“An illusion! It must be an illusion!” He tried to convince himself that everything he saw was just an illusion.
But how could such a divine miracle be a mere illusion?
【Qiao Yue Shock Value +100】
【Wei Laosan Shock Value +100】
【Zhang Xun Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 10,006,600】
The invisible Yun Shu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that combining the time-freeze skill of the Mirror of Retrospection Set with the protecting the mountain's creatures skill of the Mystic Sound of the Nine Heavens Set had successfully saved everyone within the explosion's range. She then instantly switched to the Heavenly Balance Set, perfectly achieving the miracle of changing three outfits in a single second.
During this brief window, she had even used the Dream-Entering Bell of the Floating Dream Set and the Poet Immortal's Brush of the Cranes by the Inkstone Set to pull all the pre-selected targets into a dream. Now, she only had to wait to activate the Crime and Punishment skill of the Heavenly Balance Set and have the system link their dreams.
Her hand speed remained absolutely peerless.
No matter how many small maneuvers Yun Shu performed behind the scenes, whenever she appeared before the public, she was always perfectly composed. The magnificent special effects deeply shook everyone present.
The crowd looked up in a daze.
Dark clouds blotted out the sun as the Divine Lady descended from the heavens.
She wore a black and gold, wide-sleeved long dress. The cloud patterns embroidered with gold thread on the hem shimmered with flowing light.
A black jade dragon-patterned belt was clasped around her waist, and she wore gilded cloud-stepping shoes. Atop her head was a twelve-tasseled imperial crown, its hanging bead veil obscuring half her face—indifferent, majestic, and too divine to look upon directly.
“Hell is empty, and the demons are on Earth,” she declared, looking down upon the crowd from above, her voice sounding like clinking jade.
The little fox also raised its furry head, its amber slit-pupils reflecting the dark-gold figure suspended in mid-air.
Its foxy eyes were filled with the same reverence and worship that shone in the eyes of the surrounding Divine Lady believers.
When the gunpowder exploded just now, it had been powerless to stop it. It had even prepared itself to watch them get blown to pieces. Yet, Yun Shu had arrived just in time to save everyone.
At that moment, it suddenly understood—its host was never a fake; she was a true goddess!
Before, it could not understand why the refugees became so utterly devoted to Yun Shu just because she gave them a bowl of white porridge.
At the time, it had thought those people were rather foolish. It was just an ordinary bowl of white porridge; why go to such lengths?
Only when it faced an insurmountable crisis and Yun Shu descended from the heavens to easily resolve it did it truly understand how those refugees felt.
When one was in the depths of despair and fortunate enough to glimpse a ray of light, anyone would instinctively do everything in their power to grasp it.
And its host, Yun Shu, whether in her past life or this one, was the light in many people's hearts.
Moreover, she was so gentle, so powerful, possessing an unyielding soul and noble ideals...
It thought that anyone would follow her, and the system was no exception.
Because they lacked the protection of the golden spheres, many bandits were blown to pieces on the spot, but some still survived.
They repeatedly prostrated themselves, begging for mercy.
“Divine Lady, have mercy!”
Seeing that Wang Meng and Wei Laosan had both knelt, Zhang Xun had no choice but to follow suit and kneel among the crowd.
He was much cleverer than the others, knowing how to use the people in front of him as cover to lower his presence.
The little fox saw through Zhang Xun's petty tricks.
Immediately, it leaped into the air and landed on Yun Shu's shoulder, whispering in a voice only she could hear, “Host, that shifty-eyed scholar with the vulgar face was the one who ordered the gunpowder to be lit! You must not let him off!”
“The crimes you have committed are unforgivable.”
Yun Shu's icy gaze swept over Zhang Xun and the others. Not only did they cultivate Soul-Enthralling Flowers and traffic Five Minerals Powder, but they had also brutally tortured and killed the outstanding scholars she had personally nurtured.
She would not let a single one of these people go. Furthermore, she would make them experience the exact same torment.
Otherwise, her hatred would never be appeased!
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