Myth Beyond Heaven

Long Qingxuan didn’t waste words.

She moved.

Rip—

Space itself rippled as she crossed the distance instantly, World Ender carving a path of azure annihilation through the void. The sheer force of her swing caused distant stars to flicker as their light bent around the attack.

Ying Wen twisted like liquid mercury, his body coiling around the strike with impossible flexibility. The blade missed by inches – but the shockwave shattered a passing comet into glittering dust.

“Rash,” he mused, reappearing several li away with effortless grace. “But I do enjoy spirited women.”

Long Qingxuan didn’t respond. She raised her sword –

And the void darkened further as azure dragon scales materialized across her body, her draconic aura erupting like a newborn star. The space around her distorted, unable to contain her unleashed power.

Ying Wen’s smirk widened. “Good. Show me your true strength.”

He flicked his wrist.

Space itself convulsed as countless spectral serpents materialized from nothingness, their translucent fangs dripping with venom that corroded reality itself. They lunged at Long Qingxuan from all directions –

She spun, World Ender carving a perfect sphere of destruction around her.

Azure dragonfire erupted from the blade, incinerating the serpents mid-strike. The flames didn’t stop – they raced toward Ying Wen like a living tidal wave of destruction.

The Heavenly Serpent God dissolved into mist, the flames passing through his incorporeal form. He rematerialized behind Long Qingxuan, his fingers elongating into venomous claws that gleamed with a sickly green light.

His strike aimed for her neck –

Long Qingxuan twisted mid-float, her free hand snapping up to clamp around his wrist.

CRACK.

Divine bones shattered under her grip.

Ying Wen’s eyes widened momentarily –

Then Long Qingxuan yanked him forward and slammed her forehead into his face with enough force to collapse a mountain range.

SPLAT!

Golden ichor that passed for blood among gods sprayed from his nose as he went spinning backward through the void.

For the first time, his amusement faded.

“You—”

Long Qingxuan gave him no quarter. She hefted World Ender overhead –

And brought it down in a cleaving strike that split reality itself.

The blade flared with the primordial power of the Azure Dragon, its edge cutting through more than just space – it severed causality, ensuring the strike would land regardless of evasion.

“Ugh!” Ying Wen hissed, his body contorting in impossible angles as he barely avoided complete bisection. The residual force ripped a jagged scar through the fabric of space itself, causing distant galaxies to momentarily flicker in the night sky.

He panted, his golden eyes now burning with genuine anger.

“Fine. If you want to play rough-“

His body stretched, his limbs elongating, his humanoid form shedding like dead skin. In moments, his true form was revealed – a colossal Heavenly Serpent whose coils could strangle worlds, his scales glistening like polished obsidian under the faint starlight.

His maw split open, revealing fangs that dripped with venom capable of rotting cosmic laws themselves.

“Let’s see how you handle this.”

He struck.

Faster than light itself.

Long Qingxuan barely raised World Ender in time –

CLANG!

The impact sent her careening backward through space, her boots leaving trails of fractured reality in her wake. The venom on his fangs hissed against her blade, eating into even the divine steel.

She channeled azure flames to purify the poison –

But Ying Wen was already moving.

His tail lashed out, wrapping around her waist with crushing force.

Her scales groaned under the pressure.

Ying Wen’s massive head loomed closer, his golden eyes gleaming. “Nowhere to run, little dragon.”

Long Qingxuan’s eyes narrowed.

Then—

She released World Ender.

The massive sword floated for a heartbeat before she kicked it with devastating force –

The blade impaled Ying Wen’s tail, pinning it in place against the fabric of space itself.

He roared, the sound vibrating through the void—

Long Qingxuan twisted free, her fist blazing with azure light.

She punched forward—

BOOM!

The impact detonated like a supernova, Ying Wen’s massive head snapping back as several fangs went spinning into the darkness.

Long Qingxuan didn’t stop.

She flipped through the void, grabbing World Ender mid-motion –

And brought it down onto his skull with all her divine might.

The blade cleaved through flesh, bone, and divine essence—

SPLIT!

Ying Wen’s massive form split down the middle, his serpentine body twitching as azure flames consumed him from within.

His golden eyes widened in disbelief.

“You…can’t…”

Long Qingxuan yanked her sword free.

“I just did.”

The Heavenly Serpent God’s body convulsed once before exploding into motes of golden light that dissipated into the infinite void.

Silence.

Long Qingxuan exhaled, her azure scales fading. She hefted World Ender onto her shoulder –

Then turned, her gaze piercing through the cosmos toward the next battlefield.

The war wasn’t over.

But this enemy, at least, was vanquished.

***

The battlefield between Lan Qinghe and Gu Buxiu had become a grotesque garden of death. Countless corpse puppets shambled forward, their rotting limbs twitching with unnatural life.

The Orchid Immortal stood amidst them, her jade-green robes torn, her breathing ragged. Blood trickled from a wound on her forehead, staining her delicate features crimson.

Gu Buxiu floated above the carnage, his skeletal fingers dancing as he manipulated his undead army. His laughter echoed across the ruined landscape.

“Tired already, little orchid?” he mocked. “And here I thought you’d last longer.”

Lan Qinghe wiped the blood from her eyes. Her Wood Law energy was nearly depleted, the once-vibrant flowers around her now withered and black. She had destroyed thousands of puppets—but Gu Buxiu always had more.

“Bloom,” she whispered, forcing one last surge of power.

A single flower sprouted at her feet—pure white, its petals glowing faintly. It was all she could muster.

Gu Buxiu sneered. “Pathetic.”

He raised a hand—

And the earth split open once more, vomiting forth another wave of corpses. These were different—older, stronger. Ancient warriors from forgotten eras, their bodies preserved through Gu Buxiu’s vile arts.

Lan Qinghe clenched her fists.

She was out of options.

The puppets lunged—

Then—

A streak of azure light slammed into the battlefield like a falling star.

BOOOOOOM!

The shockwave flattened the charging corpses, reducing them to dust in an instant. The very air shrieked as space itself warped under the impact.

Gu Buxiu staggered back, his smug expression twisting into shock.

“What—?!”

The dust cleared—

And there stood Long Qingxuan, Dragon God World Ender resting against her shoulder, her azure draconic eyes burning with cold fury.

Lan Qinghe’s breath caught. “Qingxuan…”

Long Qingxuan didn’t glance back. Her gaze remained locked on Gu Buxiu.

“You talk too much,” she said.