Chapter 76: I'm Here to Save You
Changli was practically furious.
She kindly wanted to enter Mt. Firmament together, yet she was rejected.
Stubbornness rising, she said nothing more and instead walked toward the end of the cave even faster than before.
A transparent boundary lay at the cave's end. Clearly visible beyond it were wild deer and birds frozen motionless due to the time flow effects, along with perpetual ice and snow.
Mt. Firmament, influenced by the Sentinel's power over time, remained forever in a past winter.
When Changli passed through the time flow boundary at the cave's end, an indescribable weight of time pressed down, stabbing painfully into her mind.
Changli clutched her forehead, striving to adapt to the discomfort of truly entering Mt. Firmament. Squinting, she saw Noah beside her acting as if nothing was wrong.
"You... don't feel any headache?"
"No feeling."
Noah glanced down at the Tacet Mark on the back of his right hand, thoughtful.
He switched his role from "Rover" to "Chixia." An indescribable heaviness instantly pressed upon him.
Noah clutched his head and quickly switched back to "Rover," the discomfort vanishing.
He tried releasing his own resonance energy to envelop Changli beside him.
As expected, Changli felt her body lighten, no longer bearing the weight of the time flow. Her eyes shifted, somewhat surprised.
"What kind of ability is this? To actually ignore the time flow effects..."
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to find Jinhsi as quickly as possible."
"Alright—" Changli's words suddenly stopped. She bent down, gently brushing aside a handful of snow from the ground to reveal traces left by resonance energy.
"This is... Jinhsi fought here! Hey, Noah, don't run so fast!"
Seeing the figure rapidly pulling away, Changli stomped her foot heavily, disregarding decorum, and quickly chased after.
Mt. Firmament, another side.
Oscillating resonance energy shook accumulated snow from the surrounding trees.
Hecate's sharp heels heavily dispersed the Sentinel's phantom.
Phrolova sat high on a floating Red Spider Lily chair, looking down at the moon-white dragon-horned girl below, murmuring softly.
"The Sentinel's Resonator—far weaker than expected."
Below, blood trickled from Jinhsi's mouth. Her gaze filled with hatred as she stared fixedly at Hecate approaching with elegant dance steps. Her right hand gripping Ages of Harvest trembled slightly.
She had come seeking traces of the Sentinel, only to discover that the residents of Hongzhen on Mt. Firmament had long been turned into puppets, controlled by the Fractsidus.
"Cough—despicable Fractsidus!"
Jinhsi forcibly urged the last of her resonance energy. White dragon scales spread over her neck and climbed her cheeks. The Sentinel's phantom emerged around her once more.
"Even if I die today, I must seek justice for the residents of Hongzhen!"
Suddenly, the white light on her body flickered brightly and dimly. The remaining energy not only failed to activate as intended but reversed and retreated within her, causing severe backlash.
Pfft.
Jinhsi spat out a mouthful of blood, her body swaying as she collapsed softly to the ground, her eyes gray and ashen.
Phrolova lowered a gaze of pity, waving her hand. The ground-based Hecate halted.
"The residents of Mt. Firmament were turned by Scar using Whisperin Erosion..." Phrolova suddenly sighed. "Never mind, why should I explain further."
Boom!
Mid-sigh, a Fractsidus cannon shell flew out, exploding precisely on Jinhsi.
As the smoke cleared, a layer of red Red Spider Lily protected Jinhsi firmly, but her already critically weak body still suffered from the cannon's shockwave, her breathing growing even fainter.
"Who fired that!"
Phrolova was shocked and furious, her gaze turning to the nearby Fractsidus members.
There, a Fractsidus Executioner casually discarded the cannon barrel, a cold laugh emerging from beneath the mask.
"Overseer Phrolova, your subordinate saw you hesitating and even wanting to chat with our enemy, so I couldn't help but act on your behalf. You won't blame me, will you?"
At his words, the surrounding Fractsidus artisans chimed in support.
"Yeah, yeah! This woman killed many of our brothers! She deserves to die. Well done, Captain."
"Who knows what Overseer Phrolova is hesitating about? We should finish her while she's down."
"Overseer Phrolova, the brothers followed you into Mt. Firmament, entrusting our lives here. You can't let us bleed and cry."
"Overseer wouldn't be thinking of secretly letting the tiger return to the mountain, right?"
Emboldened by the support, the Executioner grew even more arrogant.
"Since Overseer Phrolova can't bear to act, why not hand this Sentinel Resonator to us? We'll do it for you."
"A bunch of short-sighted rats brought by Scar!"
Phrolova's gaze instantly turned icy. Her Red Spider Lily staff was about to swing down when she suddenly seemed to sense something, her arm freezing mid-air.
"Fine then—"
A meaningful smile appeared on her exquisite face, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Since you're all so eager, I'll leave it to you."
Phrolova sneered coldly, her figure and Hecate's dissolving into shattered Red Spider Lily petals.
Seeing Phrolova back down in defeat, the Fractsidus members grew wildly excited as if victorious.
"I've long disliked that woman. We're all Fractsidus, yet she never treats us like people."
"Exactly! We already used Whisperin Erosion to turn Mt. Firmament's people into puppets—such good labor—yet she won't let us use them!"
"The brothers search for the Sentinel's traces daily in this freezing snow mountain, while she just watches that Sentinel Resonator kill us."
The leading Executioner reloaded the cannon barrel, the dark muzzle aimed straight at the unconscious Jinhsi on the ground, his expression beneath the mask dismissive.
"Fireworks contributed by the Jinzhou Magistrate—everyone, keep your eyes wide open!"
Boom. The cold cannon shell streaked out with a flaming tail. The mentally eroded Fractsidus artisans let out excited shrieks.
The shell suddenly halted in mid-air without warning.
"Insolence!"
A gale descended from the sky. A furious roar echoed through the snow mountain. The Fractsidus artisans felt a terrifying and enraged power closing in madly.
Following the sound, they turned in unison to see a golden sword beam swelling against the wind, as if cleaving heaven and earth, slashing straight toward them at a speed that seemed to sever time itself.
The world seemed paused in an instant: snowflakes stopped falling, white gulls ceased flapping—everything lost color except this golden sword beam.
When the concept of time flowed again, several patches of crimson stained the pure white snow, the piercing clamor gone forever.
"No...ah..."
Jinhsi's gaze was unfocused. Her blurred vision fixed desperately on Noah gently supporting her, yet she lacked strength to speak.
But the flickering light in her silver-white lashes clearly conveyed her owner's thoughts.
You... how are you here?
"I'm here to save you. No need to keep staring at me."
Noah unscrewed a special-effect revival spray and carefully fed it to Jinhsi, though his hands trembled uncontrollably no matter what.
If... if he had been even one second later, Jinhsi would have perished before his eyes.