The sudden realization and excitement disappeared as Qian Yu calmed his mind. Entering an empty blank slate was something that had been mastered over the last 2 weeks with Bai Jia. Thoughts of lightning filled his mind and he envisioned a world filled with chaotic lightning everywhere.

His body soon felt a change. The time he had thought about snow had given him a chilly feeling but now, a comfortable feeling spread through him as if he was sitting in front of a campfire and absorbing its heat amidst a chilly night.

Without a doubt, the lightning laws were extremely comfortable to him. Though his soul world seemed a little dark and eerie, he felt completely at peace with it. Now though, he felt a small surge in the concentration of the laws he had been so familiar with. Unconsciously, his thoughts wandered away as he became fully focused on the concentrated laws surrounding him. 

‘Master, it was working!? I felt something!’ Tian Xinyi’s words reached him. 

“I know I know!” Qian Yu hurriedly replied as he realized he had fallen out of concentration causing the powerful concentration of laws to quickly disappeared at that exact moment. 

“I’ll try again,” Qian Yu closed his eyes and mentally prepared himself again. Between concentrating on lightning and feeling the lightning laws around him, a delicate balance was needed in order for him to make sure he didn’t lose his inner focus from the distractions outside.

Before long, the laws of lightning quickly gathered in great amounts. Yet Qian Yu continued to stay in the same state. 

“It’s starting to work…” Tian Xinyi muttered to herself.

*Shua!* An arrow of lighting shot out from Tian Xinyi’s horns. Shooting towards the enemy Martial Fighter, a black shield appeared before it reached him. 

Tian Xinyi watched as the lightning bolt hit the shield though, but to no avail, she inwardly sighed as she saw the attack fail to pierce through the shield. 

“Tch, it’s not enough master… I’ll try to buy as much time for you as possible,” Tian Xinyi couldn’t help but look backwards.

As for the outside world, the sudden red hue attack had suddenly created a bunch of chaos as Qian Yu fell unconscious. 

“Qian Yu!” Bai Jia, Zhen Yue, and Zhao Xieren immediately yelled as they ran towards his collapsed body. Jiang Hai too had quickly ran over, but unlike the girls, he wasn’t just worried. Rather, a mixture of surprise, fear, and anger could be seen in his eyes.

“He’s still alive,” Bai Jia pressed her finger against Qian Yu’s neck to check his pulse. 

“B-but what happened to him!” Zhen Yue yelled with tears in her eyes.

“I-I don’t know,” Bai Jia bit her lips until they bled. She was cautious by nature but the sudden arrival of the Martial Emperor from the royal family had caused her to relax a bit. She had seen Qian Yu move closer to the Martial Emperor but didn’t think any harm could come his way. Unfortunately though, she was wrong.

“Can you check for anything else?!” Zhao Xieren had been quiet for a while but she suddenly spoke up.

“Yes, I’ll check,” Bai Jia stopped blaming herself as she started to think of what happened. 

Yet before she could do anything, she froze as she felt tremendous pressure from behind her.

“Move out of the way,” the voice of the female cultivator from the World Congress entered Bai Jia’s ears. 

Yet she didn’t move away and turned around instead, “Why? What do you intend to do?” From her tone, it was clear she didn’t have good intentions for Qian Yu. 

“You! Who do you think you are?” the woman’s countenance instantly exploded as she roared at Bai Jia. 

“I AM THE YOUNG PRINCESS OF THE BAI FAMILY!” Bai Jia didn’t back down however.

Her shout brought a few seconds of silence as well as expressions of shock. 

For Zhen Yue and Zhao Xieren, their shock came from her explosiveness as it had been their first time witnessing Bai Jia so enraged. 

For others though, it was completely different. The young princess of the Bai Family was a term many stronger cultivators were familiar with. It wasn’t because she held a super powerful position and had a chance of becoming the next head, but rather, it was because she was the only female in the current main generation. The rest of Bai Jia’s cousins weren’t many in number, but they were all males. As such, she was heavily doted on by her grandfather, the previous head of the family. 

Even though he had retired, it didn’t mean anything. He was a Martial Emperor and was still alive and kicking.

The woman’s anger immediately died out as she heard that. Nonetheless, she weakly bit her lips as she continued, “I will still need to apprehend him.” 

Her tone had become less sassy and more respectful causing Bai Jia to realize she had lost her cool as well. Still, she didn't give in, “Why? What do you plan to do? What is even going on?” 

Seeing Bai Jia’s stubbornness, the woman sighed, “The World Congress has always been hunting those on the Hunted List. Something we used to identify them is that they release a red aura that strengthens their powers at the expense of them losing control.”

“This Martial Fighter, right here, did exactly that previously,” she then pointed to the Martial Fighter who had collapsed like Qian Yu had. As she said that though, her voice grew serious, “However… one thing we have always been curious about is how the soul world becomes corrupted. It can happen to anyone but we don’t know how or when it occurs. What I just saw right now though… Either it is what we have been looking for or it is a new method that has suddenly appeared.”

“WHAT!” Her words instantly spurred shouts from the three girls.

“No way…” Zhao Xieren fell to the ground and grabbed Qian Yu’s hand.

“Master…” Similarly, tears appeared on Zhen Yue’s face as she started sobbing by his side.

“As such… we need to take him away…Even if you are from the Bai Family, you cannot stop me from doing this,” The woman quietly said. 

“T-then how will you know if his soul becomes corrupted or not…” Bai Jia tightly gripped her hand. Her heart stung as she looked at Qian Yu.

“Naturally, we have our own method of checking. However, if something comes up… we will have to take some action,” she answered. 

“I know...” Bai Jia let out a sigh as her grip slightly weakened. “Please... just give us a bit more time.”

Meanwhile, hours had passed as Qian Yu continued working in controlling the powers and laws of his soul world. Of course, time was nonexistent for Qian Yu who was in this state.

Yet it was a different story for Tian Xinyi as the hours slowly piled up. 

“Damn it… I can’t hold this out much longer,” Tian Xinyi said. Her usually bright eyes seemed a little dim and she couldn’t help but look up towards the sky which had become a bloody red mess. 

Over the hours she had been saving her energy as best as she could. Luckily, her opponent seemed a little idiotic to her. After Qian Yu had retreated away from the battle, the red colored figure wouldn’t go after him as long as she harassed him herself. Nonetheless, she could only do it for so long. 

Suddenly though, Tian Xinyi felt atmosphere changed. Beforehand, lightning had appeared in random areas surrounding her. Now though, a noticeable difference could be seen as the lightning converged into the battle. 

More noticeable perhaps, were the laws in the area. They had suddenly concentrated to a point beyond her expectations and she could feel her blood boil in response to it. 

Her tired eyes returned to normal as she roared with all her might. The clouds in the sky stirred in response and in a matter of seconds, a threatening energy could be felt. Feeling it, the red colored figure immediately assumed the black shield he had been relying on over the course of their fight.

“DIE!” Tian Xinyi’s body grew bright as she channeled all her qi into this attack. 

*SHUAAA!* The heavens replied, sending forth a large purple bolt of lightning at the red colored figure.

*BOOM!* Unlike before though, the attack wasn’t blocked by the black shield. Instead, like a swift arrow, it pierced past the shield into the corrupted Martial Fighter.

As Tian Xinyi watched the figure slowly disappear like dust, she felt her limbs weaken. ‘Master… we did it…’ she whispered into Qian Yu’s consciousness, awakening him from his meditation.