Chapter 701: The Victory and Defeat of Time

"Too slow..."

Brand, at the center of the alchemy array, frowned slightly.

Since just a moment ago, the speed of soul collection had been steadily decreasing. The last few tens of thousands of souls hadn't fully returned yet... However, Brand could roughly guess the reason. The explosive growth of souls earlier was because the war had just begun, especially with the large-scale deaths of town residents who hadn't had time to escape.

But now, the refugees had almost all fled into the main city and were hidden away, and the main army had failed to break through the defensive line, causing the soul collection progress to slow down more and more.

Brand cast his gaze beneath the clouds, seeing the chaotic battlefield by the city walls and the large number of Calamities moving through it, and suddenly froze in place...

"This is..."

BOOM—!!!

A loud explosion interrupted Brand’s thoughts.

He looked up abruptly, only to see the super-giant embroidery pattern surging in the sky collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dense embroidery threads turned into grains of sand, like a desert swirling in the wind!

A blood-stained figure flew backward out of the collapsing embroidery, followed closely by a figure in white.

"It seems your body has reached its limit."

Lord Wuji spoke faintly.

He raised his hand in a beckoning gesture, and the sand grains flying in the sky instantly transformed into small metal-like spheres. As they danced wildly in the wind, a massive amount of electric charge attached to them.

The thunderous light surging between the clouds was attracted by this silver storm, all of it wandering and clinging to it, like a massive, rotating thunder tornado!

The thunder tornado brewed behind Lord Wuji. As he pointed a finger, thick bolts of lightning surged like giant dragons, striking Yao Qing’s blood-stained body!

CRACKLE—

Several lightning strikes engulfed Yao Qing, knocking him directly from the sky to the ground, sending rolling dust into the air.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Scarlet blood gushed from Yao Qing’s mouth, splashing onto the ground in large patches. If Chen Ling were here, he would see how similar Yao Qing was to the once-dying Aurora Lord, Yang Xiao.

Yao Qing had been out of the stasis pod for too long; his body had begun an irreversible march toward death...

"Reached the limit, have I..."

Yao Qing looked at his blood-covered hands and muttered to himself.

He was silent for a moment, then his weak hands clenched again. Extremely fine embroidery threads moved frantically within his blood vessels, repairing the aging and damage to his organs as much as possible to buy time.

Back then, the Aurora Lord hadn't lived for more than three hours after leaving the stasis pod, and if not for the Human Embroidery, Yao Qing wouldn't have been able to hold on until now... However, no matter how powerful the Human Embroidery was, it couldn't reverse fate.

"Just a little more, just the very last bit... it’s about to be finished." Yao Qing turned his head and looked toward the direction of Willow Town.

THUD—!

Lord Wuji descended from the sky like a superman, crashing into the ground in front of Yao Qing.

A white research robe emerged from the dust. As Lord Wuji walked, the ground beneath his feet gradually decomposed, transforming into long swords shimmering with silver light, which hung in the air like a forest of sword rain.

"Do you have any last words?"

Yao Qing felt the terrifying pressure radiating from Lord Wuji. His face grew paler, and wisps of blood seeped uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth, but his spine did not bend in the slightest; it remained as straight as a spear.

"It’s too early to discuss last words now," Yao Qing replied hoarsely.

"Not early, because you have already lost."

Lord Wuji paused for a moment, then said calmly:

"Objectively speaking... you didn't lose to me, but to time."

Yao Qing’s eyebrows raised slightly.

"But even if you were restored to your peak, you wouldn't be my match," Lord Wuji added.

"At my peak, who would be the winner? That’s hard to say... but there is one point where you are wrong."

"Where am I wrong?"

"I did not lose to time."

Lord Wuji looked at Yao Qing’s aged body, the blood he was vomiting, and his fading vitality, and shook his head.

"You lost."

"On this battlefield, I have indeed lost..."

The corners of Yao Qing’s mouth turned up slightly. As if he had sensed something, his murky eyes flashed with an unprecedented joy, like a bright red flower blooming in a withered ice field.

"But on another battlefield, I have not lost."

……

Willow Town.

"The Chief’s domain has been pierced."

Bai Ye lay on the ground of the courtyard, pushing up the brim of his cap, his eyes fixed on the distant sky. "It seems the outcome of the Realm War is decided... What a pity."

"Clean up. It’s time for us to work," Plum Blossom J said calmly.

Jian Changsheng, Chu Muyun, and Diamond 10 slowly stood up from the ground, about to change into their funeral attire, when Diamond 10 seemed to remember something and suddenly spoke:

"So, no one from the upper echelons really came this time? What about the Requiem?"

"Didn't come?" Bai Ye pointed to the four [K]s still stuck in the ground. "Then what are these?"

"They all came? But if that’s the case, why haven't they shown themselves?"

"The thoughts of the upper echelons... how would I know?"

“……”

Diamond 10 shook his head. Just as he was about to leave, a strange aura suddenly spread through the void.

At the same time, Bai Ye and Plum Blossom J’s pupils contracted slightly. They stood up from the ground abruptly, their expressions incredibly grave...

"This is..."

The next moment,

The entire Willow Town began to tremble violently.

Outside the courtyard, among the withered willow trees and flower beds, fine embroidery threads shot into the sky, emitting a faint light in the air... An aura of a demigod level rushed toward them.

Ever since they stepped into Willow Town, everyone had sensed the existence of those fine embroidery threads. They were the contingency plans Yao Qing had hidden when Willow Town was born. Now, for some reason, they were all activated, and as if possessing their own thoughts, they sped toward the center of Willow Town!

"The painting! The painting!!"

Following that, Little Jian’s exclamation rang out. The scroll he had been hiding in his arms floated up automatically. The millions of embroidery threads outlining the figure of the Red Dust Lord within it were now trembling as if in joy, and they streaked toward the sky like lightning!!

Thousands of threads intertwined right before everyone’s eyes. Under the pressure of a demigod, no one dared to act rashly; they could only watch as the painting swirled, wrapped in numerous threads, and finally fell into a certain place.

The air fell into a dead silence.

……

Su Residence.

In the quiet residence filled with embroidery threads, a beautiful figure lay in the center of the flower petals. Her breathing was steady, her clothes were neat, and her hands were gently resting on her abdomen, as if she were sleeping peacefully.

Time seemed to have been weakened on her. Even after three hundred years, her long, black hair remained full of vitality, and her face remained cold and beautiful, like a stunning and timeless painting.

Just then, in the void above her head, the outline of a scroll suddenly appeared... It was like a passage connecting to the world beyond. The moment it opened, thousands upon thousands of fine embroidery threads surged out from it!

The eyelashes of that beautiful figure trembled gently.