Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 23
Chapter 23: The Evolving Monster
The fist of an Eighth-Rank Sand Bear was no laughing matter, especially when its eyes were bloodshot and it had entered a berserk state.
Struck square in the chest, Meng Xilou reeled backward, nearly tumbling onto the sand.
Xiang Haikui was absolutely delighted.
Alright, Meng Xilou.
You want to disgust me? Then I’ll disgust you right back.
Come on, let’s hurt each other.
Feigning total blindness to the trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, she cupped her hands like a little begging puppy and pleaded.
“Eldest Senior Brother, I beg you! Just subdue the bear-bear, please don’t hurt it!”
Another bear paw slammed down.
Meng Xilou flipped awkwardly to dodge, wiped the blood from his lips, and flew into a rage!
This little bitch was openly mocking him!
This physical avatar of his had been meticulously chosen—dashing, handsome, and of noble background.
Countless women would throw themselves at him without a second thought.
Not to mention back in the Upper Realm: he merely needed to stand there to attract the covetous gazes of targeted women.
He had always looked down on such advances with disdain.
Yet now, facing a mere mortal woman, he had repeatedly lowered himself to show goodwill and put in so much effort…
Only to be tormented by her in every conceivable way!
To hell with whatever powerful figure was backing her—he was going to kill her!
“Young Master, short-term impatience ruins great plans!”
An elderly voice echoed inside his sea of consciousness.
“You are just one step away from success, do not give up now!”
“You call this one step away?!”
Fuming with rage, Meng Xilou dodged another bear paw, getting a mouthful of yellow sand in the process.
“And what kind of terrible ideas are you giving me? You claimed to have read extensively and possessed boundless experience with women?!”
Just wait till we get back, you’re dead.
“Young Master, there is something you do not realize,” the elderly voice advised.
“That ‘expert’ has already brainwashed her, so naturally she finds you disagreeable in every way right now. Why not turn the tables and do exactly as she asks…”
“Her smile will slowly fade, and she will ask you: ‘Even though you knew I was mocking you, why did you still do it?'”
“At that point, you simply let a drop of blood spill from your mouth, and say with quiet indifference: ‘As long as Junior Sister is happy,’ ‘Since you like the bear, I will give it to you,’ or ‘Whether your love is real or fake, as long as you open your mouth, I will do it.'”
“I refuse to believe we can’t win her over…”
Meng Xilou thought it over: I’ll trust you one last time.
But how was he supposed to fight it without harming it?
This was an Eighth-Rank Sand Bear; he was bound to take serious injuries.
Whatever.
Having come this far, he wasn’t someone who gave up halfway.
Inside its scabbard, Tiankuang quivered with a warning vibration; Xiang Haikui knew he had developed killing intent.
Yet before long, Tiankuang calmed back down, signaling that Meng Xilou had reined it in.
Next, Xiang Haikui watched as he withdrew his sword, summoned a sparkling long whip, and began a round of “wrestling” with the Sand Bear.
Listening to the audible cracks of his bones being battered, seeing his hair disheveled and his refined image completely destroyed, Xiang Haikui was momentarily dumbfounded.
However, Tiankuang soon grew excited inside the scabbard once again.
This was…
It was that giant evolving monster!
No doubt about it—this was the exact same feeling.
Meng Xilou must have sensed it too, which was why he altered his strategy—pretending to fight the Sand Bear earnestly to draw the giant monster closer.
Seeing that her smile had indeed gradually disappeared, Meng Xilou believed the “military advisor’s” words even more, gritting his teeth as he engaged the Sand Bear in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
His internal organs felt nearly displaced by the beatings, but with great difficulty, he finally subdued the Sand Bear and bound it tightly with his whip.
Before he could use the “playbook” taught by the old advisor to “connect” with Xiang Haikui, the sand layer beneath their feet suddenly caved in!
Meng Xilou swiftly retreated from the spot.
Once he regained his footing, he turned back to look, only to see that the Sand Bear had already been swallowed whole!
“Eldest Senior Brother, this trick of using yourself as bait was truly brilliant.”
Xiang Haikui unsheathed the Tiankuang Sword and sincerely gave Meng Xilou a compliment.
His acting was undeniably trash-tier, but the man was genuinely a ruthless piece of work.
To achieve his ends, he was harsh on his obstacles—and plenty harsh on himself, too.
“Wait, no…”
Meng Xilou was completely dumbfounded; he hadn’t taken that beating just to catch some monster.
Bang—!
Xiang Haikui launched the Tiankuang Sword. Knowing that this giant monster moved at an exceptionally fast speed, she immediately split her sword qi.
The sword qi divided into five distinct streams, shooting toward five directions to encircle the sand pit.
This effectively formed a miniature Sword Net Array of the Five Luminaries, capable of trapping the giant monster within the array for a short duration.
“The Five Luminaries Net Array?!”
The moment her array took shape, a rather surprised voice echoed from above.
More than twenty sword cultivators arrived, riding their swords through the air.
They wore uniform attire, and the flying swords under their feet were shaped in a highly bizarre manner—able to glide across the sand’s surface, looking remarkably like skateboards.
Xiang Haikui knew who they were: a sword cultivator sect located near the Silver Sands.
It had a rather peculiar name: “Send You to the Blue Skies,” abbreviated as the “Send You Sect.”
Later, a rogue disciple with a wild and unbridled personality emerged from their ranks, broke sect rules, and was expelled.
After traveling far and wide, that person returned to his roots and opened a demonic cult near his alma mater, naming it “Send You to the Western Skies,” or the “Send You Cult.”
These two factions—one righteous and one demonic—stood as the two largest non-official powers in the border region.
To distinguish themselves, the sword cultivator sect eventually changed their abbreviation to the “Blue Sky Sect.”
Upon arriving at the sand dune where Xiang Haikui stood, the group of sword cultivators stowed away the skateboard-like flying swords beneath their feet.
The young lead sword cultivator stepped forward a few paces. Seemingly forgetting what he had come for, he tilted his head up to inspect the surroundings, completely engrossed in observing the Five Luminaries Net Array.
He didn’t recognize Tiankuang, but merely inquired about the sword array.
“Those who understand this array are few and far between in this world. May I ask who your master is, young lady?”
Master only taught me this array in passing, and I just picked it up casually—is it really that impressive?
Xiang Haikui glanced at Meng Xilou’s expression.
Sure enough, a faint, almost imperceptible sneer curled at the corner of his lips, as if to say, “Bumpkins, hillbillies, clueless mortal trash.”
Xiang Haikui replied, “My master has been living in seclusion for a long time.”
The young sword cultivator asked again, “My sword sect possesses countless prized swords and sword manuals. We are willing to trade them for the key secrets of this array. What do you say, young lady?”
Xiang Haikui shook her head.
“Thank you for the favor, Senior, but no.”
The young sword cultivator’s expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.
Xiang Haikui thought to herself: How amusing. Whether I trade it or not is my freedom. What’s with that look making it seem like I’m being ungrateful for your generosity?
Still unwilling to give up, the young sword cultivator pulled a stern face and began lecturing her.
“Young lady, this Five Luminaries Net Array is a multi-person cooperative array. Using it alone, you can only bring out ten or twenty percent of its true power. You are truly letting it go to waste…”
Damn it.
Xiang Haikui felt she was having a streak of terrible luck today—running into one brain-damaged lunatic after another.
She shut her mouth and ignored him, letting him chatter away to himself.
“Young lady…”
“Martial Uncle!”
A disciple behind him reminded the young sword cultivator, urging him not to delay their primary objective.
Snapping back to reality, the young sword cultivator nodded, regaining his earlier composure.
“Young lady, you are no match for this demon. Leave it to us.”
By this time, Meng Xilou had already tidied up his appearance.
Cupping his hands in greeting, he said, “Senior Fang, this area has always been under the jurisdiction of our Silver Sands City, so there is no need for Senior to intervene.”
Surnamed Fang… Xiang Haikui searched her memories of the dream sequence.
This should be the Chief Elder of the Blue Sky Sect—the Eighth-Rank sword cultivator, Fang Zhiyou.
Rumor had it he was a sword fanatic who usually focused on quiet cultivation and rarely ventured out.
Bringing his disciples out of the pass so abruptly meant this evolving monster likely had a far bigger background than she had imagined.
Furthermore, Fang Zhiyou completely ignored Meng Xilou’s declaration of authority and simply raised an arm.
Behind him, the sword cultivators drew their swords one after another, lined up in formation, and pointed their blades straight at the sky.
Like fireworks detonating, sword qi erupted from the tips of their blades, coalescing in midair to form a massive sphere of light.
Buzz…
Once the light sphere finished gathering energy, it released chains of lightning down toward the sand dune below, penetrating deep beneath the sand layer.
This looked very similar to the lightning ball that had trapped Xiang Haikui back in the Phoenix Garden.
Xiang Haikui withdrew her sword, effectively pushed out of the battle circle, a surge of anger building in her heart.
The sword cultivators of the Blue Sky Sect were far too overbearing.
Before she could even retrieve her Five Luminaries Net Array, they had formed a grand sword array to override her smaller one.
If she hadn’t moved nimbly, she would have been injured by them.
This wasn’t helping out—this was outright kill-stealing.
They wanted this evolving monster for themselves.
What’s more, there was a clear intent to teach her a lesson for “not knowing her place” and to show off that their own sword array was superior.
She could read between the lines, and naturally, Meng Xilou understood it even better—his annoyance flared even brighter!
On his own turf, today people were coming one after another to slap him in the face. If he could tolerate this, what couldn’t he tolerate?!
Fang Zhiyou cast a sideways glance at Meng Xilou.
While his disciples set up the array to capture the demon, he remained still, guarding against anyone trying to snatch it.
However, in this desert, the only person who could surpass him was the Great City Lord of Silver Sands, Xiang Heng—who was reportedly in secluded cultivation.
And there were only two people capable of putting up a decent fight against him: the Sect Master of the Send You Cult, and that Two-Formed Demon Sovereign inside the Demon City.
As for a mere Meng Xilou—a young lord from the Royal Capital—he didn’t hold him in his eyes at all.
Moments later, a low rumble echoed beneath their feet.
The evolving monster hiding beneath the sand layer was blasted out of the earth by the lightning chains, finally revealing its true form.
Xiang Haikui was just pondering how to mess with this group of unreasonable sword cultivators when a pitch-black thing suddenly burst out from the sand pile, startling her into taking a few steps back.
It was spherical in shape, looking remarkably like a sea urchin, covered all over with sharp barbs.
A fissure split open down its middle, revealing serrated teeth as it angrily used those sharp fangs to tear at and bite the surrounding sword qi that was hurting it.
Originally, Xiang Haikui hadn’t realized what it was, but after it hit the ground and rolled a few times across the sand, illumination suddenly struck her!
It wasn’t some evolving beast at all—this was her boss’s Little Black Sphere palace!
A divine-grade magic treasure combining a light-speed engine and a spatial ring’s storage capacity all in one!
No wonder it had suddenly appeared in the Silver Sands; it turned out it had come along with her boss.
And no wonder the Blue Sky Sect was trying to snatch it. Forget about mortals fighting tooth and nail over a treasure like this—even those two high-ranking Netherworld officials hiding behind her probably couldn’t sit still anymore.
Mortals might be clueless, but those two definitely knew this was the boss’s mobile palace, packed with all of his belongings.
Those personal belongings far surpassed the value of the Little Black Sphere itself.
I have to snatch it—snatch it amidst the chaos.
“Eldest Senior Brother,” Xiang Haikui quickly went to egg Meng Xilou on, “this doesn’t seem to be a monster.”
Meng Xilou had realized it too. It was no beast, but a supreme natural treasure the likes of which even he had never seen before.
He hurriedly contacted the old man,”What is this thing?”
The old man replied, “I have never seen it before. I am currently flipping through ancient records.”
Meng Xilou pondered for a moment.
“Send word to the Demon City and the Send You Cult to stall them for now. Also, send a message to the Buddha Cave and have my sister come over.”
“Understood,” the old man answered.
Meng Xilou added, “Look it up as fast as you can. If you don’t know, go ask someone. Before my sister arrives, I want to know every piece of information about this magic treasure so it’s easier for her to subdue it.”
“…Understood.”
Xiang Haikui actually really wanted to notify her boss as well. She wondered whether the Little Black Sphere would still recognize him if he came over in person after possessing a new body.
If he could subdue it once again, Bai Xingxian could carry the boss away in it, allowing them to escape to safety once more.
However, her boss was currently a weakling, and the situation here was far too perilous. To be safe, she should be the one to snatch it instead.
At the critical moment, she would expend all her Madness Qi to transform into a flood dragon, snatch the Little Black Sphere in her jaws, and bolt straight to the Buddha Cave to deliver it to her boss.
Tiankuang hummed, joyfully increasing a bit of Madness Qi—signaling its complete approval of the plan!
Xiang Haikui raised an eyebrow and settled into watching from the sidelines.
She watched the tug-of-war between the Blue Sky Sect and the Little Black Sphere.
Two hours later, as the sky turned pitch-black, Tiankuang hummed loudly while its Madness Qi steadily surged.
Some major powerhouse had brought their crew along and was hiding in the shadows.
Another hour passed, and several more powerhouses seemed to arrive. The progress bar for Tiankuang’s second tier of Madness Realm was nearly maxed out.
Fully charged, Xiang Haikui’s cheeks flushed red with excitement, though she suddenly shivered.
What’s going on… why is that eager, left-behind-child gaze back again?
