Chapter 193: Unexpected Encounter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 193: Unexpected Encounter
Lust's Curse.
This curse, which she had been deeply wary of at first but had gradually forgotten, suddenly reappeared before her eyes, catching her quite off guard.
"Come to think of it, can this debuff be cleared by Sloth's Blessing?"
Xie Bai looked at the "Authority Nullification" status on her interface and suddenly remembered she had Sloth's Blessing to remove negative effects.
Although the description for Authority Nullification stated it "cannot be purified by Divine Artifact effects," it was still up in the air whether the Ring of Seven Curses counted as a Divine Artifact.
The rarity column was completely obscured by garbled code, making it impossible for Xie Bai to determine the ring's specific grade.
Intuitively, it felt like a Divine Artifact or something even higher, but that was merely a guess. She had no idea if there were even higher tiers beyond Divine Artifacts.
However, even if Sloth's Blessing could clear this Authority Nullification, she would have to take a nap first.
But she hadn't even scouted this place yet, let alone found a place to stay. She couldn't exactly just lie down and sleep right where she stood, could she?
Xie Bai looked up at the unidentified behemoths occasionally flying through the sky and immediately dismissed the idea. Sleeping in the wild was bound to be dangerous.
Or perhaps she could sleep while in her Spirit Form?
She tried activating it, only to find that in her Spirit Form, her body felt so weightless and ephemeral that she couldn't fall asleep at all.
If she had known it would be like this, she would have rested outside before coming in.
"Forget it. I'll familiarize myself with this place first. I'll deal with those True Gods later."
Following her usual routine, Xie Bai cast Boundless Floating Light to observe the world's layout in this era.
As expected, the world's geography wasn't much different from the other timelines she had visited.
There was still the Heavenly Mountain and the Supreme Court at the very center, the ice and snow of the Northern Territory, the racial wars in the West, the temperate vegetation of the South, and...
The unified empire of the Eastern Continent: Rolands.
Xie Bai froze for a moment when she saw that name appear on her player map.
This name, which had been replaced or erased in every other timeline, actually existed right before her eyes.
Did this mean that the people whose names she couldn't find elsewhere could be found in this era?
With that thought, Xie Bai zoomed in on the map.
Within the vast territory of the Rolands Empire, its capital was even broader than expected, occupying nearly one-twentieth of the entire empire's landmass.
【Aurelia】
【The Golden City. The capital of the Rolands Empire and the most critical core region for the development of alchemy in the entire world.】
"Hmm... this is the closest. It shouldn't be hard to find a place to stay there."
As for how to sneak in once she found a place, that was a different story.
Although Xie Bai currently couldn't draw upon Void Power to fly, the levitation effect inherent to her Spirit Form was enough to support high-speed movement through the air.
Before long, Xie Bai had covered most of the distance and arrived at the outskirts of Aurelia.
However, it seemed she had arrived a bit late.
In the skies above the outskirts, fleets of warships were suspended in the air, locked in a tense standoff.
"Is this... a rebellion?"
Both fleets bore the same cross-sword emblem; they clearly belonged to the same faction.
Furthermore, in this period, only the sole human empire, Rolands, possessed the strength to manufacture such fleets.
From Xie Bai's perspective, the fleet closest to her was attacking with exceptional ferocity. Unsurprisingly, these were the rebels attempting to seize the capital.
Xie Bai hadn't seen any other signs of war along the way, so she estimated that this rebel force was originally the garrison fleet responsible for guarding this area.
A sudden revolt by the guard fleet so close to the capital had clearly caught the defenders off guard.
"Then again, do I even need to get involved?"
The fleets before Xie Bai's eyes were not something the fleets of the Aodu Empire could compare to.
The Aodu Empire's strongest flagship was roughly a thousand meters long, with enough firepower to level the peak of the Heavenly Mountain.
But in the fleet before her, even the smallest models were of that scale.
The leading flagships had completely transcended the concept of a "ship"—they were circular aerial platforms reaching ten thousand meters in scale.
And the ring in the center looked like some kind of weapon capable of launching orbital strikes.
Unless she directly tore open a Space Rift, Xie Bai couldn't think of any current way to destroy these ships.
BOOM—!!
As Xie Bai was watching the fleets exchange fire, a ship was suddenly destroyed and came crashing down toward her.
Xie Bai didn't dodge as she watched the massive vessel plummeting toward her head; she simply let it pass through her body.
In her Spirit Form, she was practically invincible.
The vast majority of attacks, especially physical ones, had no effect on her. And as for attacks that could affect her, she had yet to encounter any.
As the massive ship passed through her, Xie Bai caught a glimpse of its internal structure.
She saw the bridge, and the people inside it.
"Brandon?"
Xie Bai's brain momentarily stalled when she saw that familiar figure gripping a railing for dear life.
What was he doing in a place like this?
And wasn't he some kind of Legion Commander?
Why was he here with the rebels? And on such an unremarkable ship?
Without thinking too much, Xie Bai instinctively reached out, trying to catch him.
Then she remembered her Void Authority was unusable; she couldn't manifest a force from a distance to grab him.
Realizing this, Xie Bai immediately pulled out Funeral Rites and threw it toward him.
Swish—!
Under Xie Bai's control, Funeral Rites successfully carved out a Space Rift, pulling Brandon inside.
Since Xie Bai currently couldn't communicate with the Void, she temporarily chose the Shadow World as the destination for the rift.
With her "Return of Myriad Darkness" talent, Xie Bai figured she should be able to keep Brandon stable within the Shadow World.
Finally, the ship streaked through the air and crashed into the ground.
Watching the flames erupt, Xie Bai put Funeral Rites away.
"I just got here and I'm already running into this... this era seems complicated. I'll just grab Brandon in a bit and get some answers."
She glanced at the fleets still firing at each other in the sky, then turned and entered the Shadow World.
Hum—!
Contrary to Xie Bai's expectations, she felt a massive wave of hostility the moment she entered the Shadow World.
The Shadow World seemed both surprised and enraged by Xie Bai's sudden intrusion.
Clearly, the Shadow World of this timeline did not recognize her.
In the next second, shadows from all directions lunged at Xie Bai, attempting to surround and kill her.
In response, Xie Bai lightly raised her hand to block the incoming assault.
【Return of Myriad Darkness】
【You can absorb all shadows within your tolerance range to strengthen yourself and upgrade Shadow-type skills. Specific tolerance is based on your base attributes. (Source: Mother of Myriad Dark Forms)】
Xie Bai gave a casual wave of her hand.
A massive amount of shadow essence flooded into her body, converting into a slight increase in her attribute values.
With Xie Bai's base attributes reaching nearly the trillion-level, she successfully absorbed an unimaginable volume of shadows.
In less than a moment, she had literally erased a hole in this corner of the Shadow World.