"Intruders... unforgivable..."

While Heartvoice and Celia Maya were tied down, the rest of the undead surged at us with hoarse, grating howls, like rusted gates slamming in a storm. Curses hissed in the air, and a grave-cold wind crawled over skin like wet silk.

I skimmed their strength with my Sword Intent, a flick of mind like a probing lantern. Most were Overdeity Level, low or mid-tier. A few were high-tier. The strongest scraped the peak. No wonder so many died here; the place reeked of hopeless battles.

Qianji Sister had already slipped over to aid Heartvoice and Celia Maya. Support magic was one of her keystones, a soft hand that steadied the blade.

Tsk. Not the time to drift. I shot a look to Lixue, Lingxiao, and Lingsaki, a spark passing like flint to tinder. I gathered my Sword Aura and let the Sword Qi Storm loose. We weren’t here to wipe them out. We just had to stall them, buy a road through the Necropolis.

A towering whirlwind roared up, Sword Aura howling like a silver dragon. The tidy ranks of undead broke and reeled, shrieking as the gale tore at them. They clawed to break free, but I wasn’t about to let them slip the noose.

"Snow Moon: Icebound."

Lixue struck the opening like winter crashing down. Ice-attribute Sword Aura spilled wide, and in a blink, layers of rime lacquered the ground in pale glass. Pity. With no true bodies, the undead shrugged off most of it, and the Primordial Source’s aura spoiled our added effects.

If Sword Aura won’t stick, then—

"Eternal Night Holy Gaol!"

Light and darkness answered in force, twin Laws boiling up like dawn and dusk colliding. At Lingxiao and Lingsaki’s command, they fell as countless thick vines, black and white like ink and bone. They wrapped the frost-bound horde and clenched into a sacred prison.

"Absolute Sword Formation: Spirit Seal."

Still not satisfied, I drew Sword Aura again. As the gaol snapped shut, dozens—then hundreds—of golden blades flared into being. They orbited fast, a bright ring of teeth. The formation meshed with the prison, and the seal tightened another notch.

Good. We could clear the Necropolis now. We turned to link up with Aunt Saintvoice—and stopped. They still hadn’t broken free, undead swarming like tidewater at their ankles.

Heartvoice and Celia Maya held two each, a blade’s breadth behind in tempo. Thank the heavens for Qianji Sister’s support or they’d be drowning. Aunt Saintvoice fared better; with Wansheng and Wanling at her sides, she pressed her foes down like a millstone.

But the Primordial Source’s aura made the Necropolis’ dead obscene. Stronger, faster to mend. Unless you dwarfed them in power, ending a fight quickly was a fool’s wish.

"Little Emperor, you go first. We’ll catch up! Wansheng, go help Heartvoice and Celia Maya!"

Aunt Saintvoice cut through the noise with a clean call, judgment sharp as a bell-tone.

We wanted to help. But a clash at the Law Realm? We’d only muddy the water, maybe get someone hurt.

"Got it. Be careful, Aunt Saintvoice."

I turned to pull Lixue and the twins out at speed, and suddenly Lingxiao and Lingsaki hugged my waist from both sides.

"Dear big brother, not like this. If we plod along, they’ll catch us again," Lingsaki sang, sugar over steel. The Holy Gaol was already shivering, a drumskin about to tear.

"Teleport’s a no-go. So we use that spell. Big brother, hold tight. Lixue, you’ll keep up, right? Your speed’s vicious."

"No problem. I’ll be on you," Lixue nodded, cool as moonlight on ice.

"Then it’s set."

They shared a look, and light and darkness thickened around us, elements flocking like night birds to a beacon.

"Flash: Dark Feather."

"Ice Moon: Wings."

Black and white wings unfurled behind the sisters, feathers like shadow and snow. A twin-colored halo wrapped us in a tight ring. The air bucked. Wind hammered my ears. The world smeared, then split into trailing afterimages—

"Huh?!"

Clarity hit like cold water. We were already knifing through low air, the speed needle-hot on my cheeks. Lixue matched us wing for wing, her ice pinions flashing like carved crystal.

The Necropolis’s exit should’ve been a long haul. Ten seconds, and the gate was right there, looming like a cliff. Fast. Frighteningly fast.

A twist of feeling snagged me. I glanced at Lixue—fellow Sword Wielder, sky to earth at will, speed at the tip-top. Then at myself—average speed, no flight, no favored battlefield. The thought stung like grit under the eyelid.

"Emperor, what’s wrong? You look... tied in knots," Lixue asked as the gate swelled ahead.

"Nothing."

I shook it off. No way I’ll say I was comparing myself and sulking.

"Oh... not good! Extreme Snow Flash!"

Her face chilled. She pivoted and became an icy-blue sword light, a streak that cut the air with a singing clang.

Clang rang out. Then—boom. A huge form slammed into the ground, kicking a wall of dust into the sky.

"What was that?"

I snapped a sheet of sword wind, and the dust peeled back like a curtain.

"A bone dragon?!"

The bones sprawled enormous, a dragon’s frame etched in white, its eye sockets dark pits flickering with violet-red soulflame. One bone wing was sheared clean off, Lixue’s strike still humming in the air.

"Whoa! A bone dragon, out of legend. Way more of a gut-punch in person," Lingsaki breathed, excitement bright as fireworks.

"If Celia Maya sees this, she’ll be furious," Lingxiao’s tone tightened, a bowstring drawn. "A bone dragon is a spit on the Dragon Kin’s honor. Let’s end it here, big brother, before we go."

If Lixue hadn’t felt it in time, we might’ve been the ones to fall. And it couldn’t take off now. Best time to kill it.

"We can’t leave it," Lixue said, sliding back to us like a shard of winter. "The Necropolis’ exit has a door. Its key is that bone dragon."

"Seriously?"

We followed her point. A massive gate stood there, over twenty meters tall, carved like night-frozen stone. In its heart, a keyhole stared back, a shape I knew too well—exactly like the Soul-Anchor Stone embedded in the dragon’s brow, the magic jewel that tethers a soul to a vessel.

"Dear big brother, look out!"

Heat punched the air. The temperature spiked like a kiln thrown open. The bone dragon huffed a torrent, and searing dragon breath washed toward us in a rolling tide of fire.

The sisters snapped faster, dragging me in a hard swerve as the flame licked past. In the same breath, Lixue dove at the dragon without a hint of hesitation.

"Ice Moon Feather."

...