Book 4 Chapter 35 – Heavenly Veins Shattered

　　A loud crack was produced as Li Huaibei struck the barrier with his sword. The soul weapon's spirit bellowed and Stagaze's barrier shattered. Before Li Huaibei could escape, the sky was illuminated once again and another barrier was erected.

　　Another crack rang out, and Stargaze began perspiring profusely. However, the light in her irises danced even more vividly. "Just wait a moment…"

　　Two more light cracks followed, but this time it came from within Li Yiming's body; the latter's last two veins were gone. Bing Shuai had a look of s.a.d.i.s.tic enjoyment, his eyelids half-closed as though he was appreciating good music. 'Can a guardian’s talents be frozen and shattered too?' An idea suddenly came to Bing Shuai's mind, and he continued to channel his power.

　　'Yiming…' Bai Ze called out to Li Yiming in despair. She could feel that Li Yiming had lost of his power, and since she was connected to him, she suffered the same fate.

　　As his heavenly veins were grounded to dust, the light that otherwise occupied Li Yiming's body dimmed down. His body began to age and withered down like a plant that has not been watered for too long.

　　'He… He's not stopping… He's going to destroy your talent too…' Bai Ze muttered. As the freezing cold began to invade Li Yiming's consciousness, Bai Ze closed her eyes and felt her senses leave her one by one.

　　"Hear me well, Stargaze… I swear that I'll take your life one day…" After hearing the five cracking noises from the garden, Li Huaibei stopped hacking at the barrier in front of him and began to prepare a powerful attack.

　　"Please… Just one more moment…" Stargaze replied hesitantly as her stare pierced through Li Yiming's body and soul. She was confident that she had not imagined it. There was something within Li Yiming that even she feared. 'His eyes at that moment… The fear I felt was not a mistake, something within him is beyond my understanding…'

　　Tian Yan stood at the edge of the swimming pool. She could see Fu Bo's silhouette within the bubble of light barrier. In her dark world, Fu Bo was light a beacon of light that guided her. However, next to him were two people with abnormally strong heavenly karma, one of whom was even stronger than Bing Shuai's, and Tian Yan did not dare to go close to them.

　　However, when Stargaze pushed Fu Bo away to fight with Li Huaibei, he fell exactly around the swimming pool. Tian Yan resolved herself and crawled toward him.

　　'A restriction seal has been cast over him…' Tian Yan concluded after investigating the flickering runic glyphs that enveloped Fu Bo's body. She clasped her hands together and began to sing softly. She had a simple thougt. 'Fu Bo's been restrained… I have to help him…'

　　Although Tian Yan was powerless, she had her own ways. She had been living in the mansion for more than a decade, and Bing Shuai had put something there tailored to her — runic formations.

　　The stone platform in the bas.e.m.e.nt lit up suddenly. s.h.i.+ning runic glyphs spiraled into the air. A voice which echoed Tian Yan's chanting resonated in the room. The light intensified and the chanting grew stronger and stronger.

　　Suddenly, the light around the stone platform coalesced, and the platform itself turned to dust with a loud crack. Tian Yan raised her head, and two beams of silvery light shot out from her eyes toward Fu Bo.

　　Tian Yan had opted for a simple but effective method. Using the powers of the runic formation, she had destroyed all of the karma threads connecting Fu Bo to the world. With the absence of a power source, the spell cast on him by Stargaze simply fizzled out.

　　As the cold began to slowly overtake his consciousness, droplets of blood rolled down Li Yiming's face. There was no anger and no grievance, but only a strong desire to live.

　　A desire for survival, for everything to not end like this…

　　This was the last thought Li Yiming hung onto.

　　Just as Li Yiming was about to collapse, an orb of light deep within his consciousness flickered to life. Strangely, the way it shone seemed to echo his emotions, and it became a material expression of his sadness and bitterness.

　　The glyph which had appeared where his talent should have been suddenly emitted an explosion of light. The ethereal looking character became well defined and shone like a small sun in Li Yiming's body.

　　At the same time, Li Yiming's veins, which had been frozen to dust, began to regain their glow and to rea.s.semble themselves into one single golden ent.i.ty that coursed through Li Yiming's whole body.

　　Although Stargaze was focusing her attention on Li Yiming, she suddenly frowned and noticed Tian Yan.

　　"What are you doing?" Stargaze shouted out in anger and raised her hand, prepared to stop Tian Yan at all cost. Fu Bo was far more important than her curiosity for Li Yiming, and Stargaze did not hesitate to strike down anyone who dared coming close to Fu Bo

　　Her intervention was cut short by Li Huaibei, who seized the opportunity of the distraction and unleashed his anger. He directed his gleaming blade at Stargaze's back.

　　Clink!

　　Stargaze had turned around just in time and blocked Li Huaibei's attack with her own weapon. It was a crescent dagger with stars and moons carved onto the blade. However, this made her miss the opportunity to stop Yian Yan's machinations.

　　"You…" Stargaze exclaimed in anger. Li Huaibei cut her sentence short with another frantic slash directed at her throat. Stargaze swallowed down her sigh and dove into combat against Li Huaibei.

　　'I did it…'

　　As the white and pure silhouette began to stir, Tian Yan forced out a gentle smile and collapsed on the ground. Even with the aid of the formation, it was still a heavy burden her to forcefully influence the spell of a sage.

　　On the other side of the garden, the sight of Li Yiming frozen into a statue finally gave Bing Shuai dearly missed pleasure and contently. Li Yiming's veins had been destroyed, and with his talent gone, he would never be able to recover.

　　Just as the thought of torturing Li Yiming produced a twisted smile on Bing Shuai's face, Li Yiming opened his eyes.

　　When his eyes met those of Li Yiming's Bing Shuai felt as though he was facing a diabolical beast. Li Yiming eyes contained such a raw outburst of emotions that even through the thick layers of ice, Bing Shuai felt a s.h.i.+ver run down his spine.