Book 5 Chapter 29 – Golden Wok
Eyeglasses left Lianyun City.
He hesitated and wavered, but Li Yiming's pleas were enough to convince him to reconsider his cemented opinion about the righteousness of Heaven's Laws, which was an achievement in itself for someone who could have been called a veteran guardian.
Liu Meng held Li Yiming's arm and slowly rested her head down on his shoulder. The two waited quietly as the barrier became closer and closer to being shattered.
Li Yiming did not try to convince Liu Meng to leave. He knew from the moment Liu Meng sacrificed herself in Shangbei that she would never agree to abandon him and let him risk his life alone. But if there was any regret Li Yiming had about his decision, it would be to have dragged Liu Meng into the affair.
The ground trembled rhythmically like a massive drum. The giant rainbow-colored eagle had flown headfirst into the meteor shower, and with every flap of its wings, bolts of lightning obliterated the rocks around it in a giant explosion. However, there was not a hint of the meteors stopping as they formed a never-ending waterfall of fire from the sky.
Deep in the mountains to the south of the city, a shriek was heard as the giant trees were uprooted and thrown into the tornado that raged on. A shadow slithered and twisted in the middle of it, preventing it from nearing Lianyun City by a single inch.
As ripples continued to form on the golden barrier, Li Yiming appreciated just how strong the golden barrier was. With every explosion came a small tremor, but the barrier would recover right away. The golden light emitted by the wok continued to intensify, and it brightened to the point where it became painful to look at.
'This feeling… rage?" Li Yiming raised his head, looking at the platform on which the wok was set. 'This wok… it's feeling anger? But why am I able to capture its emotion?'
For a moment, Li Yiming almost lost control of his own emotions. 'Wait… there's something wrong …' He glanced at Liu Meng, who was somehow able to notice the influence the object had on Li Yiming's mental state.
Li Yiming focused on the wok and suddenly realized that he was no longer affected by the blinding golden light. Instead, he could see its rustic design in its entirety.
Ding!
Li Yiming thought he heard a chime somewhere in the distance.
'This…' Li Yiming knew that he was onto something important; the runic glyph that had saved his life twice already lit up once again, only flashing for a moment, but Li Yiming was sure that he did not hallucinate.
"Stay here for a bit, I'm gonna go have a look." Li Yiming said to Liu Meng and activated Thunderflash.
"Oh? He's going to do it?" Stargaze looked at Li Yiming, who had reached the top of the stage, right where the wok laid. The latter had given her too many surprises already.
The golden wok looked just like a worn out piece of kitchenware one would find in any home, but Li Yiming felt a strange connection with the object, as if it was somehow his sibling, just like the first time he met Bai Ze.
Li Yiming lifted his arm hesitantly and grazed the edge of the giant wok.
The next moment, Li Yiming sank into a place of total darkness. He pulled back his right hand, terrified, but the golden wok was no longer there. Instead, he was now facing a rather short man dressed in grey robes who stared blankly at him.
"Mr. Kong?" Li Yiming cried out. Standing in front of him was Mr. Kong, the man who had started it all.
Li Yiming's call did not provoke any kind of response. Instead, Mr. Kong continued to look at him.
"You told me that you wanted to battle the Heavens and slay the gods, and I've followed through with joy, through pain and danger, and then…" Mr. Kong slowly closed his eyes and said in a hoarse, trembling voice.
"The only time I didn't listen to you… I regret it… I don't…"
Li Yiming suddenly felt an unbelievable sadness, as if his heart was being stabbed at, and his Heavenly Vein was being ripped apart.
"He looks just like you… I thought you came back to me… and I believed everything he said…"
"But he wasn't you… "
"What more can I hope for? I am only a broken husk of what I once was, a splinter of the soul I once possessed, so I had to give up…"
"I wanted to stay by that conviction until the end, until it vanished…"
"But I was wrong once again."
Mr. Kong suddenly reopened his eyes and stared at Li Yiming. Those eyes were unlike any Li Yiming had ever seen, and they glittered in the darkness like gemstones. Li Yiming felt as if Mr. Kong's stare pierced his entire being.
"To exchange your body for a fresh start, and to split your soul from it… You've been more decisive than me." Mr. Kong said with a smile and moved his boney hand toward Li Yiming's chest.
Li Yiming's first reaction was to dodge, but he found himself unable to move. When Mr. Kong's hand touched him, his body convulsed violently and he lost consciousness.
Liu Meng looked at Li Yiming worriedly as he climbed the stage and reached the wok. The moment Li Yiming touched the giant golden wok, it suddenly broke down into dust and Li Yiming fell from the stage.
"Yiming!" Liu Meng cried out and dashed to catch him.
"What did he…?" Stargaze was completely baffled. The wok even she was unable to touch was shattered into a million pieces the moment Li Yiming laid his hand on it.
However, as the object broke, so did the barrier which protected the city.
The giant eagle in the skies emitted a painful shriek and attempted to retreat, but a sudden intensifying of the meteor shower nailed it to where it was. As the magnitude of the tremors increased, the homes in Lianyun City began to collapse, and the residents ran toward the streets. For the first time in their lives, the people of this city felt terrorized.
In the south, the tornado spun more and more violently. All of the vegetation and the earth had been ripped away from the mountainous rocks, and even Teng She was to be unable to hold the violent gusts of winds at bay for much longer.
"It's our chance!" A frenzied roar was heard. The next moment, hundreds of flashing lights rushed toward the city gate, each being a bloodthirsty guardian.
Liu Meng put Li Yiming down and calmly stood up against the hundreds of people in front of her as flames wrapped the entirety of her body: she had no second option.
"Those who dare enter will die!" An angry shout was heard. A giant sword suddenly fell from the sky and left a cut a giant ditch right in front of the Eastern Gate.
"Li Huaibei?" Liu Meng was overjoyed at the seeing the man who floated above her.
Li Huaibei looked at the guardians below him with a stern expression. A silhouette was seen inside of the giant sword shadow behind him: it was Di Jiang, his sword spirit.
"A sage…" Li Huaibei's blow had been enough to intimidate the guardians, who knew very well the saying that "sages cannot be defeated with numbers alone".
"What is he trying to do?" Stargaze was unable to grasp the situation. 'Is he… trying to fight against Heaven's Laws?'
"Li Huaibei? Ma Dafang would be proud of you… He can rest in peace now." A calm voice came from the guardians' side. A tall but skinny man, with his hands behind his back, walked out.
"Yun Yiyuan…" Li Huaibei frowned when he identified his opponent. 'Yun Yiyuan… the Spear That Pierces the Clouds… He's being talked about with Bing Shuai and Stargaze… And rumors has it that he defeated Bing Shuai with three moves…'
"I've heard that there was a sage inside the city… I didn't think it was you Did you break the formation? But what are you going to do now? Go against the Heavens?" Yu Yiyuan approached the furrow Li Huaibei traced in the ground and kicked a pebble into it rather nonchalantly.
Li Huaibei stayed silent. He slowly raised his sword in Yun Yiyuan's direction.
"Oh? Seems like you've inherited Ma Dafang's temper at least. Let me see how you measure to him…" Yun Yiyuan's voice turned cold, and a silvery spear appeared in his hands as he leaped toward Li Huaibei.
Right as the two sages made contact in the sky, a ripple traversed the sky, engulfing the two behind it.
"Boundary… I wonder how long Li Huaibei will last…" Stargaze said to herself, and then looked at Liu Meng. 'Is she… thinking about doing the same?'
"Little girl, are you also with him?" As the two sages vanished, the rest of the guardians looked at Liu Meng, simultaneously amused and curious about Liu Meng, who had chosen also to fight against them, which was not something one could see every day. The guardians decided to take their time with Liu Meng before attacking the people in Lianyun City, who were nothing more than ordinary citizens. Moreover, Li Huaibei's demise was only a question of time against Yun Yiyuan, who was considered to be the strongest guardian in the world.
Well, I guess Li Yiming did something incompetent again…