1057 How is he that strong!?

A short time before the death of the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts, Yi Min frowned visibly as she wiped away the stream of blood that came out from her mouth while keeping her attention focused on the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts outside her formation.

Even though she had thought she would be able to hold on for at least a few days, her current situation had started rapidly deteriorating as the situation inside her dantian grew more and more chaotic with each passing second. Making her painfully aware of the fact that she most likely wouldn't even be able to hold on for a single day before her qi went out of control and made it impossible for her to control the formation.

The main reason for this sudden turn of events was not that she had been wrong in her earlier calculations, it was just that she had forgotten to account for the fact that the qi being replaced whenever she used some to sustain the formation was more chaotic and harder to control compared to before.

In the end, this had caused the time she had before losing control over her qi decreasing from an estimated two or three days to a single day… And that was only if things went well, a more realistic estimate might be half a day. Meaning that even if Xuan Hao did show up, she would be far too weak to do anything other than maintain the formation for a short period of time. Far from enough to drive away the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts outside…

"I wonder how long it will take for him to show up. Given the distance between the Iron Sky Kingdom and the Star Shattering Sect, it might take him half a day and that is only if he wasn't somewhere else…" Muttering this to herself as she realized how bad her current situation was, Yi Min could not help silently praying for a powerful demon beast to pass through and get rid of the three.

Even if this would also put her in danger, at least the demon beast shouldn't be willing to wait around after realizing that her formation wouldn't break easily.

"Aaaaah!"

"Huh?"

Suddenly being caught off guard by a loud scream from one of the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts, Yi Min couldn't help showing a somewhat surprised expression on her face.

Did a demon beast really show up and attack the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts?

Thinking about this, Yi Min wasted no time in using her divine sense to check out the situation outside.

"Assassin? Shadow Lotus Sect? Sent to kill the cardinal!?"

As a result of this, she managed to hear what the cardinal said and was more than overjoyed upon learning that it was not a demon beast, but instead an enemy of the cardinal. Far better than a powerful demon beast showing up, as the demon beast might also end up attacking her.

Although there was still a chance that the assassin also attacked her after killing the cardinal, the chance of this happening was far lower than a demon beast.

Swish-!

Not even a second later, the assassin finally made a move-

RUMBLE-!

However, different from the deadly battle she imagined, a terrifying aura suddenly emerged from the cardinal followed by the cardinal easily killing off the assassin with a single move.

Whoosh~!

Only a short time after the death of the assassin, the shockwave arrived at the edge of the formation, causing an enormous pressure on the already unstable formation.

Not only that, but different from the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts outside, who only had to defend themselves, the formation covered a far larger area and had to deal with a lot more of the remnant power contained inside of the shockwave.

Craaaaack~

As a result, the formation began breaking at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even when she went over her limit to tried to stop it from breaking, she could only delay it for a short time-

Boom-boom-boom!

Even worse, the cardinal had already resumed attacking the formation again like nothing had happened. Making it even harder for her to keep the formation from breaking.

At this point in time, Yi Min had already far exceeded her limit and no longer had any chance of escaping from the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts. All she could do was hope that the assassin didn't come alone and one of his companions would show up to finish off the cardinal and the other two Soul Ascension Realm Experts before they had a chance to break through the formation.

"Wha-!?"

It was at this moment that the surprised voice of the cardinal sounded out once again-

Ptsh-!

Only this time around, he didn't manage to react in time and was killed before he had a chance to react. Everything happened far too fast for even Yi Min to realize what was happening before the cardinal was already dead.

"This… Xuan Hao!?"

Seeing the person who killed the cardinal, Yi Min could not stop herself from exclaiming in shock. Never in her wildest dreams having expected that Xuan Hao could show up in such a short period of time, let alone have the strength to easily kill the cardinal. Especially after she had witnessed how the cardinal had just killed off the powerful assassin from the Shadow Lotus Sect.

Although she had no idea how strong the assassin was, she was still certain that it should be above the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.

This… This is definitely not the strength of someone who just recently broke through to the Soul Ascension Realm!

Thinking this to herself as she watched Xuan Hao turn his attention towards the two remaining Soul Ascension Realm Experts, Yi Min felt a sense of relief washing over her.

Even if she had no idea why Xuan Hao was so strong all of a sudden, it was clear that he wouldn't have any problem dealing with the two remaining Soul Ascension Realm Experts.

Ptsh-!

As she realized that she was no longer in danger, Yi Min suddenly threw out a large amount of blood before her consciousness started to fade. No longer able to suppress the damage that had been done to her internal organs and dantian by the chaotic qi.

Even the fact that she had been able to keep herself conscious and in control of the formation after it had been hit by the shockwave just now could be considered a testament to her strong willpower.

CRAAAAAACK-!

Following Yi Min slipping into a state of unconsciousness, she also let go of her control over the formation. Resulting in the massive formation covering the entirety of the Iron Sky Kingdom crumbling.

"Dad! What is that? Is the sky falling down?"

"What do you- Huh!? T-t-the sky is falling down!?"

"The end is coming! The heavens are coming down!"

"Is this the end…?"

"Great Lord, please save us…"

However, the speed at which the formation fell apart was slow enough for the people of the Iron Sky Kingdom to notice, causing widespread panic as none of them had any idea what was happening.

Although Yi Min had used the formation on several occasions to deal with different opponents, there was also a special function in the formation that made it appear like nothing was happening to the people inside. Only when the formation shattered would it briefly become visible to the ordinary people of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Unfortunately for these ordinary people, and the weaker cultivators unaware of the formation's existence, it really did look like the sky was about to fall on top of them.

At least the fragments of the formation that looked like fragments of the sky falling towards the ground soon disappeared-

"Huh? Nothing happened? Where did the fragments of the sky go?"

"It's really gone… Did someone push up the sky and repair it?!"

"Aaaah! We are blessed by the Great Lord!"

Leaving behind a rather confused crowd of people who had been fearfully staring up at the sky only a few seconds earlier.

In the end, these people began coming up with all sorts of stories to explain the unforgettable thing they had just witnessed.

…

At the same time that the people of the Iron Sky Kingdom were creating different story about the collapsing sky, Xuan Hao arrived at the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom just in time to catch the unconscious Yi Min who was about to smash headfirst into the palace below her.

"Looks like she exhausted herself quite a bit. Not only that, but with the current state of her dantian, it will take a few days before she can wake up again." Muttering this to himself as he examined Yi Min's current condition, Xuan Hao descend into the palace below and gently placed Yi Min in what he assumed to be her bed before finding a place to sit down and wait for the Domain Lord Realm Expert he sensed rushing over in his direction.