In the dead world, Cao Yun was observing the eight desolate palaces floating high in the sky. The one closest to the temples he was in had almost exploded. Several pieces of wood fell to the ground all over the black plains. A few pieces of wall even collided and crushed one of the giant abominations. Although it was one of the biggest Cao Yun had seen, with a strength between a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior and a 1st-grade Spiritual Warrior, the creature got completely destroyed in an instant.
Up in the sky, the palace was not destroyed but an entire part of a wall had been blown away.
Even by using all of his mind cultivation to try and strengthen his senses, Cao Yun had a hard time making out the shape of the human figure. On the other hand, he was able to clearly see the pursuer. Once more, this was a giant skeleton. Well, the word giant was too little for that thing. The biggest abomination Cao Yun had seen on the ground was less than a hundred chi. That monstrosity was ten times bigger, at the very least.
The first thing that popped into Cao Yun's mind was the image of a giant whale. Indeed, that creature looked like one titanic spine with ribs forming a complex and large cage. And as it was flying in the air, it truly looked like a whale. But the rib cage was way more complex than that. The ribs themselves had several ramifications with some pikes here and there. As they were connected to the spine, it also caught Cao Yun's attention. All over the back of that flying titan, there were bone spurs almost as long as Cao Yun was tall.
Thanks to the human figure, Cao Yun was able to have a rough idea of the proportions. And the spine was full of those bone spurs with various exotic forms, but all seemed dreadful and lethal in some capacity.
All along the creature, there were ribs with various sizes. Sometimes they became shorter before being big again just behind. And here and there, some kinds of joints were visible. On those, very tiny limbs, compared to the impressive body of course, were attached on the sides. Among them, there didn't seem to be any rule pertaining to their exact location. Some were high, almost attached to the vertebrae, while others were so low they were almost under the skeleton itself.
And each limb looked like a bigger versions of the limbs from the giant abominations Cao Yun had fought against.
Finally, Cao Yun could see the skull of that thing. Once again, it was a titanic version of the heads the giant had. However, this creature had only one head. And on that head, there were spikes coming out of the top of the skull. Right away, Cao Yun guessed that this was some kind of crown. Maybe it could indicate that that thing had some authority on the other bone creatures. Or maybe it was just a symbol of strength and power. Another possibility came to mind. The other bone creatures seemed to develop more and more intellectual capacities as they were bigger. Maybe that flying titan was the equivalent of a Spirit Warrior for those bone monsters. And in that case, maybe was he cultivating a more developed mind through those spikes.
Not knowing exactly why, Cao Yun thought that this hypothesis was the most likely. And thinking back on what he had seen, it made sense.
Those bone creatures were cultivating just like humans. The first stage were those crows which either were produced by the rotten grass, produced it themselves or merely used it. Then, after absorbing enough bone dust, they could become humanoid like figures. Through even more absorption of bones, and probably Evil Qi and Death Energy, they were transfigured into the giant abominations. Finally, they could maybe ascend to the stage of that flying titan up in the sky.
Anyway, Cao Yun decided to observe the scene without exposing himself. Hopefully the flying titan would not notice him at all, he was so small compared to it.
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Up in the sky, Huang Liyue was flying away from that thing she had decided to call a Bone King due to the crown it had engraved in its skull.
She had known that trying to infiltrate the celestial palaces would be risky, but she had to try and find a way to get out of this dead world. Since her arrival, it had been nearly four months already. Despite her exploration, she had found no trace of either Gui Bei nor any form of life. The only thing that appeared alive at first glance was the rotten grass, but it was in fact dead. Only the Evil Qi within made it look a bit alive.
The only place she had not been able to explore in those plains was up in the sky. The celestial palaces held possibly a clue as to how to get out of this world, or what this world truly was.
However, she discovered that the palaces also held many threats within them. Even with her great stealth, she had unwillingly attracted the attention of the giant monster coiled within the celestial palace she had entered. In this world, her stealth was compromised because, just like Cao Yun, she also needed to repel the Evil Qi. Although she was a middle Spirit Warrior, she was not immune to the corrosion by Evil Qi. Despite her best efforts to both protect herself from it and stay stealthy, she had finally been discovered.
The titanic crowned spine had been coiled around some kind of red ornamental gate right in the middle of the palace. There were three arches with oblique beams supporting it on each of its four vertical pillars. Over the entire structure, there were incredible sculptures that Huang Liyue had never seen before. But it resonated with her somehow. She thought that maybe it was linked to some kind of knowledge, maybe a martial art or something even more profound.
Because it was so gigantic, the monumental rib cage of the creature was coiled several times around each of the four pillars. And its skull was on top of the gate itself.
No matter how stealthy Huang Liyue was, as soon as she entered the inner palace, all hell broke loose. In an instant the entire spine woke up and flew toward the intruder.
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'Bright Dawn Wheel'.
From Huang Liyue's spatial ring, thousands of iron fans appeared in a blue light and immediately turned into fiery discs. Right in front of Huang Liyue, there were now several wheels of fire protecting her. However the creature was so powerful and massive that almost half of them got demolished in the first impact. Under the force of the shock, the creature was pushed back a little and Huang Liyue was sent flying away from the temple.
Contrary to Cao Yun, Huang Liyue was able to literally see the Qi in the air. Besides, she also had spiritual senses. As such, she was able to determine right away that this creature was as powerful as a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. On its skull she could also see six horns that looked like a crown while a seventh one was slowly growing. All around those horns, she could see an accumulation of Death Energy that had taken physical form. In fact, the Death Energy, that was corrupted Po, had almost turned back into a form of soul. That creature had no soul yet, but it was slowly rebuilding one apparently.
Many thoughts came through Huang Liyue's mind. At first she was hesitant to fight. Maybe there was something that could help her in that temple and she didn't want to damage it. But she had seen no concrete proof in the short time she had been in there so she wasn't going to risk her life for something hypothetical. To get out of this world, she first had to stay alive after all. And now that she had seen what kind of monster was in that temple, she feared that others loomed into the seven other temples. If that was the case and they were to wake up, she would have no way of surviving.
For now, it would be a better idea to just fly away and think of a strategy.
'Dance to the Burning World'.
Huang Liyue had fully mastered the 'Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'. As such, she was able to fuse all the moves in each of the three forms to push it to the ultimate pinnacle. All around Huang Liyue, flames appeared and formed four wings as well as a feathery tail. In her heart, she had also activated her five True Fiery Drops. They were all burning within her own chest, like five joyous True Fiery Fenghuang.
'Wheel of Searing Beauty'.
All her iron fans swirled around in the air and formed a myriad of various wheels. Among them there were no two identical ones. Each wheel had its own pattern, but they were all vibrant and full of complex geometrical drawings.
From the ground, Cao Yun was able to discern something as well within those wheels. They were forming some kind of array formation by the way they were arranged.
From the wheels, a bright light rained down upon the giant monster. But it was not just light, there was also an intense heat within it and some kind of spiritual pressure as well. Since the skeleton had only a semblance of a soul, it would probably not be able to resist long against a direct attack against his soul. And indeed, the skeleton was writhing in what seemed like pain. Obviously Cao Yun was absolutely unable to see through the light but Huang Liyue was.
Still, she did not relinquish her resolve to fly away. Even if the fight seemed to go well for now, she felt something ominous. And as a bodyguard, she had learned to trust her instincts at all times. Those instincts were not always right, but they usually were. In a world she knew nothing about, trusting her guts was paramount to her survival. Moreover, other abominations could also appear from the floating temples in the distance. Just like Cao Yun, she had witnessed firsthand the solidarity of the giant skeletons on the ground. What if there were several titanic rib cages ready to intervene in order to protect their brethren?
Instead of pressing the attack, Huang Liyue pushed her 'Dance to the Burning World' to the limit. A literal cone of flame remained behind her as she flew faster than sound. That wasn't a speed she could keep very long, but hopefully she would gain enough distance to reactivate her stealth and disappear. Most likely, there had been some kind of array formation she had not been able to detect in the palace. Considering the lack of spirituality of her enemy, it was impossible for it to have detected her on its own.
The next instant, she was proven right. It had been a good decision to fly away and not attack anymore.
From the bright and warm light, thousands of bones pierced in all the directions. With a powerful movement, the titanic rib cage spun on itself. It became just like a whip and completely dispersed the light. All around it however, there were now thousands of weapons made of bone that had appeared out of nowhere. Maybe this was something close to Qi Manifestation. Cao Yun wasn't sure, but Huang Liyue was. With her spiritual senses, she clearly saw that those weapons were made from Death Energy and Evil Qi. Some of it had been extracted from the air, but most of it came from the creature itself.
Since he had stayed within the temples, Cao Yun had not been able to properly feel it but the concentration of Evil Qi and Death Energy in the air was slowly receding. As the skeletons had been fighting, they had also been absorbing it, just like humans could absorb Qi. But unlike in the Hongchen Kingdom, apart from the black rain, there was nothing to replenish the Evil Qi and Death Energy when it was absorbed.
Now that such a massive creature was extracting even a tiny portion of it, there was almost none left and the last skeletons on the ground were all going back underground. It was hard to say whether this was by fear of the fight in the sky or just because of the lack of resources.
High in the sky, the weapons all flew toward Huang Liyue. Since they were smaller, they flew way faster than the monster and were even able to exceed Huang Liyue's speed for a split second. This was enough to completely surround her with weapons.
Once more, she pushed her 'Nine Chambers of Life Fire'. All five of her True Fiery Drops got brighter and brighter. One of them even left her chest and turned into a True Fiery Fenghuang half as big as she was. From her spatial ring, she took out another iron fan. It was different from the others. All the iron fans she had used until now were made with Incandescent Phoenix Paper. Every one was absolutely identical and they were in fact part of a set called the 'Myriad Inferno Feathers', very similar to flying swords.
The iron fan in Huang Liyue's hand right now was entirely made of metal with no paper or tissue at all, the 'Ironclad Wheel'. At the same time she opened it, the True Fiery Fenghuang opened its own tail as well, forming a beautiful wheel of multiple colored flames.
'Peacock Displays a Firestorm'.
Huang Liyue threw her 'Ironclad Wheel' and the True Fiery Drop manifested before her spit out a literal firestorm accompanying the flying weapon. Many colors were mixed and intertwined with each other. In the middle of the attack, this was hell. But on the ground, it looked like the most beautiful painting Cao Yun had ever seen. Blue and red flames were clashing and coiling around while green ones flashed here and there. This was fascinating and seemed to come from another world.
'Ironclad Wheel' was bathed in this firestorm and when it got close to the encircling weapons, it used it to amplify its attack. From the ribs of the iron fan, tongues of fire went in all the directions and burned hundreds of weapons to ashes. Even the Death Energy and the Evil Qi were burned away by the heat of the attack. And when it was literally in the midst of the bone weapons, 'Ironclad Wheel' caused a giant explosion of colors.
As all the weapons were blown away, Huang Liyue pushed her 'Dance to the Burning World' once more and flew through the hole in the encircling. Passing through, she also retrieved her 'Ironclad Wheel'.