1824 Only Chance

The thought was like a worm, digging into his brain, refusing to move out no matter how much Alex tried to force it.

He had to break through. That was the only chance he had at surviving this all.

"I will break through," Alex said immediately and turned to look at every one. "I will try and break through right now. If I can, we might have a shot at this."

"What?" Hannah asked. "Now?"

Alex nodded.

Liz flew in close. "You are trying to break through? Now?" she asked with a worried look.

"No time to talk," Alex said and immediately flew down to the ground where he began preparing a spot where he could cultivate and breakthrough.

As he did, Hannah landed by him. "Should I try and breakthrough too?" she asked. "If I can breakthrough…"

Alex looked at her. "You don't have any Dao," he said.

"No, but what if I don't need it?" she asked. "I've never needed anything to break through. I just… did."

Alex paused. "But it still took you time, didn't it?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, it took me time for the breakthrough process itself," she said. "But that should be the same for you too."

"Then is your cultivation base ready for a breakthrough?" he asked. "If it was, you should have broken through by now."

"I…" Hannah didn't have an answer to that. Her body hadn't yet told her that she was ready to break through.

Was that because she had still time to stabilize her body before pushing toward a breakthrough, or because she had yet to learn a Dao, she was unclear.

"Don't try to force your breakthrough," Alex said and heard the third bolt of lightning fall from the sky. "Besides, breaking through would mean fighting that, and you don't even have half of your Qi with you right now. It would take your body enough time to gather that."

Hannah sighed. "Fine, I won't break through," she said. "Sit down and begin. I'll protect your area from any outside interference."

"Thank you," Alex said and started settling himself in the circle.

Liz landed right next to them, quickly arriving to their side. "You won't have the time to break through on your own," she said. "Let me aid you. Failure or success, it would be better if you did it quickly."

"Ah, that would be very helpful," Alex said. "Thank you, Aunt Liz."

"Wait," Hannah quickly said. "But if you begin breaking through within slowed time, won't that hamper your Qi gathering rate?"

Alex pulled out a monster core from his Soul Space. "I won't have to worry about Qi," he said and ate the core.

As the core dissolved in his stomach, Alex slowly lost himself to the core's spirit and stopped interacting with the outside world.

As soon as Liz noticed that, she used her Dao of Time Stagnation to speed up everything around Alex such that everything else to him would appear as though it had been slowed to a crawl.

Hannah watched him and saw his body seemingly vibrate from the outside perspective and opened his eyes just as quickly.

'So fast,' she thought. She knew it was supposed to take Alex some time to deal with the monster that appeared in his mind. For him to destroy it and reappear meant that he had dealt with it instantly thanks to her mother's time bubble.

Another lightning bolt fell behind her and she turned around, watching the Emperor deal with that one as well.

4 out of the 9 lightning bolts had fallen onto him and had been dealt with. Now, Alex had just enough time until the Dragon Emperor dealt with 5 more bolts and a few more based on how many Daos he knew.

Hannah could only wonder if that would be enough time for Alex to break through.

As she thought, she sat down as well, calming her body and mind as she began cultivating as well. Her method of cultivation was very simple. All she had to do was want to cultivate, and her body would facilitate it.

This would do nothing for her to break through, but that would let her gather a bit more Qi, and in that time, maybe allow her to gain a bit of her Immortal Qi back.

Was that helpful at all? She didn't know. But there was nothing else she could do more than that.

* * * * *

Many of the people who had been flying away chose to return to the war-torn battlefield where a few of their leaders still stood.

Many of them were soldiers and oathbreakers, but there were a few beasts in there as well who wished to be by their young lord's side.

The golden lion of all was the one that flew to Pearl as soon as he could, and senior Yao was by his side the entire time.

Graham flew back as well, carrying with him Zhou Linfan who had refused to run away as he was already on death's door. If nothing, he wanted to see what happened to the Dragon Emperor to the end.

He did not want to die without knowing what happened to him.

Graham saw Hannah standing in front of a small barrier where Alex cultivated, standing next to whom was Liz. He did not know what was happening there, but he understood he couldn't disturb them.

So, he flew up to the elders that had remained behind there as well.

"What is he doing here? He will die," Qiu Jianhong said when he saw the feeble body of Zhou Linfan that Graham carried in his arms.

"He insisted that he come here since he was going to die either way," he said. "I couldn't let him die without giving him his final wish."

Qiu Jianhong wanted to say something but restrained himself. "I suppose that is fine," he said instead. "I would've done something in the same situation."

There was a tone of relenting in his voice, which Graham could tell the source of.

In coming for revenge on one of his closest friends, he had lost 4 more. This was a devastating time for him and his fellow friends, who didn't even have the time to mourn for those who had passed in this war.

Qiu Jianhong had most likely wondered what his friends would've wanted and wondered if they would choose to do the same thing had they been given the chance. They most likely would have.

"His Majesty is trying to break through," Liang Shufen explained the situation to him.

Graham didn't know whether that was a wise choice or not, but since they had already begun doing it, there was nothing he could do.

He saw the bright light from the lightning strike and heard the sound a few seconds later that came along with a strong gust of wind.

Three of the five remaining elders moved to stop the force from hitting the dying Zhou Linfan who stared at the Dragon Emperor far away.

He could not see him, but he knew him to be there.

'Fail,' Zhou Linfan thought. 'Fail, you evil bastard.'

Zhou Linfan began crying but his body was devoid of most fluid to even produce any tears. He could only remain there, supported by others, constantly cursing at the Dragon Emperor so that he failed.