Nine Astra Skies

Boom boom boom!

Those little snakes started bursting into pieces when they touched that fluttering gauze dress. It turned out that the white gauze dress was a spirit artifact too!

Tantai Ling stretched out her right hand. The complexion of her arm was as fair as white jade. With a single wave of her right hand, the trident which floated in mid-air was returned to her right hand. In an instant, energy more powerful than the Winged Serpent was unleashed.

"Amateur trickery! For an ancient mystical being like you, don't tell me that's all you got? Show me what you're truly capable of!" Tantai Ling said indifferently. Her delicate cheeks looked like they were encased by a thin layer of frost, seemingly making it difficult for others to see through her true emotions.

The Winged Serpent was infuriated after hearing Tantai Ling's words. It morphed out six arms from his serpent body. With three on each side, each arm held various weapons such as forks, halberds, and axes. The Winged Serpent then charged toward Tantai Ling.

Boom boom boom!

Clang clang clang!

The sound of fierce collision echoed over the town like a bout of thunder.

The two engaged themselves in a fierce battle. For a moment, the entire place was enveloped in darkness and countless demon snakes were flying in the sky. It looked as if they had descended to the very bottom of hell.

The gray mist kept tossing and turning around Tantai Ling as if it was trying to devour her. However, the light on Tantai Ling's body was as bright as a scorching sun. None of the flying demon snakes was able to touch Tantai Ling as they blew up into pieces within meters of her.

"Take this!" A giant bow appeared in the hands of the Winged Serpent and three arrows were fired toward Tantai Ling.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Three arrows were shot on the Tantai Ling's white gauze dress.

Boom boom boom! The arrows exploded one after another. Tantai Ling remained unscathed and her face still bore that same frosty look.

"Child's play." Tantai Ling held the trident nonchalantly.

Ye Chen scanned the entire place with his Astral body. All the elderly in the town hid in their houses. They had no idea what was happening outside and they were terrified.

To them, this was probably like the end of the world.

Ye Chen looked upward. The black mist and rainbow-colored light constantly intersected. The terrifying energy that erupted from that made Ye Chen feel like he was standing by the sea, facing stormy waves. He started to feel a deep sense of powerlessness.

In the face of such colossal force, it dawned on Ye Chen how feeble he was. No matter the Winged Serpent or Tantai Ling, both could have easily killed him. No, he must make himself stronger! Ye Chen let out a loud growl of frustration in his heart.

Boom!

Along with a loud bang, a rainbow-colored beam of light enclosed the mist and blasted toward one of the townhouses.

Ye Chen's Astral Body scanned through that house and he saw an old couple. They were hugging a little girl who was about eight or nine years of age. They were hiding in the corner of the bed, trembling with fear.

"Grandma, grandpa, what's going on outside?" Amid her fear, there was still a tiny glint of curiosity in the little girl's clear bright eyes.

"There's a warrior outside and he's helping us to get rid of the snake demons. When we wake up tomorrow, we won't have snake demons here anymore." Despite being scared himself, the old grandfather still comforted the little girl by caressing her little forehead.

"Really?" the little girl asked excitedly, "Shall we go and help him?"

"This warrior is very powerful, so he doesn't really need our help." The grandmother looked at her granddaughter lovingly.

"When I grow up, I want to be a warrior too," the little girl said firmly. In her young mind, she already had countless aspirations to be like that demon-slaying warrior.

"Not good!" Ye Chen raised his eyebrows and looked up. The beam of light was approaching closer toward the house. Ye Chen knew better than anyone that the massive destructive power contained in this beam of light was not something that ordinary humans could bear.

At the very next moment, this elderly couple and young child would likely be wiped out by this terrifying power!

In this world, martial arts trumped everything else and every day, many people would die just like that. If it were anybody else, they would surely leave the elderly couple and young child be. Ye Chen's heart was now entangled in a moral dilemma. If he did not save these three lives, he felt that the guilt would surely come back to haunt him in the future.

Perhaps goodwill had no value at all in this world but Ye Chen felt that no matter what he did, he must do it without any guilt at all!

There must be truthfulness and goodwill in everything we do!

Being truthful with a sense of goodwill was the true way of life!

Ye Chen felt the enlightenment in his mind. Celestial Chi around him started amassing rapidly. The Celestial Chi in his Flying Dagger was like a torrent that flung open its floodgates. The Nine Astra circulated and absorbed all the traces of enlightenment in Ye Chen's mind. Thereafter, there was a loud bang at his dantian, which seemed to have expanded by a bit.

The amount of Celestial Chi rapidly increased. Instantly, he advanced from beginner tenth level to mid-Tenth Level. Peak Tenth Level was now closer than ever to his reach. This mid-Tenth Level Ye Chen was no longer an easy opponent for those top Tenth Levels.

Ye Chen opened his eyes and a mystical light gleamed. Ye Chen let out an angry yell and his Astral Body burst out from his body. Suddenly, a flaming gold-armored soldier appeared out of nowhere and charged toward that beam of light.

"Stop!" The gold-armored soldier held a dignified look as he punched fiercely at the beam of light with god-like strength, sending flames of fire into the air.

Boom!

There was a loud bang as the flame collided with that beam of light.

'No way. My strength could not match that of the beam of light at all!'

"No, I can't give up now!" Ye Chen roared, unleashing every ounce of strength from his body.

Along with the loud noise, the beam of light pierced through the gold-armored soldier that Ye Chen externalized using his Astral Body. Ye Chen, who was inside the inn all this time, spat out fresh blood. His plan was thwarted before his Astral Body could complete the externalization. It seemed that the power contained in this beam of light was at an entirely different level than his strength. The dark mist that was encased in the beam of light seemed to have eroded Ye Chen's Astral Body as it gave him an agonizing pain!

It failed!

Following that was another loud bang. The beam of light engulfed the house behind the gold-armored soldier and the house was instantly transformed into a sea of ​​fire.

"No!" Ye Chen growled in pain. In the end, he had failed to rescue the old couple and the little girl.

Among the sea of ​​fire, three painful souls ascended skyward. The faces of the old couple and the little girl could still vaguely be seen. There was a mix of fear and confusion in their expressions as they looked around them. It looked like they were still extremely unwilling to leave this world behind. However, in the end, their souls had dissipated.

Watching their souls dissipate into nothing, Ye Chen felt a painful jab in his heart. Although he had killed someone before, to witness these innocent people die in front of his very eyes was a different feeling altogether. Ye Chen felt like his heart had been sliced and shattered into pieces. He could not help feeling anything but agony.

Why did it have to end like that? They were innocent people!

Especially that little girl. She still had high hopes and dreams she had yet to realize and everything was taken away from her just like that. Are these innocent lives so worthless to these powerful beings? They were people too and they deserved an equal right to live!

The gold-armored soldier faced the sky and let out a roar, one that was filled with endless grief and sorrow. The soldier lunged directly into the sky and his figure became fainter, eventually disappearing out of sight.

In the inn, Ye Chen's face looked as pale as paper as he stumbled down from the bed. At this moment, there was too much doubt, too much unwillingness, and too much sorrow in his heart!

"Squeak squeak." Seemingly able to feel the pain in Ye Chen's heart, Little Tanuki walked to Ye Chen and quietly brushed its head at Ye Chen's cheek.

An overwhelming feeling of sentiment spread out in Ye Chen's heart. That was the harsh reality of this world. With a frail power like his, it was impossible for him to change how this world worked!

"Little Tanuki, I'm fine." Ye Chen let out a long exhale. He did not have time to grief over what had just happened. With that, he quickly circulated his Celestial Chi and his injuries started recovering bit by bit. A decided look flashed before his very eyes as he said, "Little Tanuki, I must become the strongest of all! "