Chapter 160: The Duel of Day and Night -1

Boom!
All the carriages were instantly torn into countless fragments by the immense force swung from the Mountain Strongman’s palm, disintegrating into a myriad of mental energy fragments that scattered in the air.
Yet, the few of them were completely unharmed.
Yang Zicang rushed to the window, astonished to see pieces of another train bursting and falling from the sky below.
“Ring of Bloodline… Twins?”
He had never even seen a first-ring bloodline, let alone a fifth ring—this was information he had never even heard of.
At that same instant, their own actual train had already soared over ten li into the sky, tilting sharply downwards.
The carriages that had just shattered were copie bodies suddenly created by Zuo Feixian.
“Are you okay?”
Yang Zicang looked at Zuo Feixian, who had instantly become nothing but skin and bones.
Judging from Qin Meng’s condition, using such an ability in an ordinary human body placed a tremendous burden. And he looked even worse off than Qin Meng was then.
Zuo Feixian forced a weak smile as he leaned against the stone:
“I… I’m not doing so well. I need some good food to recover.”
Little Liu supported him, smoothing down his gaunt chest with his hand: “Alright, alright, when we get back, I’ll make you something delicious. How about braised spare ribs?”
“I… I want to have two helpings.”
“Fine, fine, two bowls it is.”
Zuo Feixian’s lips tugged slightly. His eyelids slowly drooped, and his chest heaved like a bellows as he said:
“Go back. Star Miao said… there’s enough now… There are more of our divine stones over there.”
“Got it!”
Once they entered the corridor between platforms, the speed would be incomparably faster.
[I will spend 1N principal to activate the Midnight Train.]
[Next stop of the Midnight Train: Wang Chong Station.]
The carriage was about to begin an ether-space shuttle.
Boom! The carriage was overturned once more as the enormous blanket came down over them. Rings of light appeared in the massive man’s eyes, and dust coalesced from his thick fingers, mingling into a giant spike the size of a millstone.
Facing this unavoidable strike, the people inside the carriage showed expressions of horror and despair.
{Sigh.}
A soft sigh.
This sigh resounded for dozens of li around.
All the divine stones inside the carriage flickered in unison. The mountain force in the sky changed expression.
Swoosh! The conical spike, attached to who knows how many magnaseconds of force, came flying over. At the same time, the blanket stood upright like a sailcloth, tracing a semicircular arc in the air, turning around, and fleeing into the distance at extreme speed.
Yang Zicang suddenly felt a hand, like a jade-hard skeleton, rest gently on his shoulder in a fraction of a millisecond, and countless indescribable energies surged into his body.
{I wish to sign a temporary domination agreement with you.}
[Xingmiao wishes to sign a temporary domination agreement with me.]
{Hero from afar, please accept.}
[I have accepted the agreement, duration 100S.]
Yang Zicang instinctively raised an arm, pointing into the distance just like Zuo Feixian had done before.
This straight, upright arm remained unwavering, unaffected even by the violently tumbling train.
No matter how much the train turned, his fingers firmly locked onto the distant figure.
[I have obtained the proxy rights to Xingmiao’s Stellar Nodes.]
[I have received an additional investment of Void Zero Chronos from Xingmiao.]
[I have been granted the temporary lending rights to Xingmiao’s Throne.]
[I feel the liberation of my bloodline.]
[I have obtained the temporary usage rights to the Canjing bloodline.]
In the psychic communion, all this was accomplished in an instant.
[Additional Throne manifested: Ten-thousand-rank, Throne suppression successful.]
[Deploy.]
Whooom~
The high-speed incoming crimson flame rock spire veered slightly, crashing into the ground.
[Throne manifested: One-rank.]
[Additional Throne suppression: Ten-thousand-rank, Throne suppression successful.]
Boom!
The earth trembled violently, cracking open into a chasm as if mountains had shattered and the ground had split apart, countless fragments flickering as they shot toward the heavens.
The flying carpet that had sped away into the distance suddenly veered in an arc, turning back.
Whoosh! Countless dark golden ripples spread from the far reaches of the vault of darkness, as if someone had cast a stone into the sky, stirring golden ripples through the dark clouds that blanketed heaven and earth for millions of leagues.
Amid such overwhelming might, a female voice cold and clear as ice sounded out.
{You have already broken off one of my fingers, Xing Miao. Do you truly want to do this?}
All across the land, everyone looked upward, hearing this divine mental voice.
Sunny gritted his teeth as the rug hurtled toward the train; he leaped from the stall, slamming into the ground with a resounding boom.
Like a tarp whipped by a fierce gale, the rug crashed into the tumbling, plummeting train, flapping with a loud rustle.
The levitation ability it still held eased the train’s descent slightly.
The glittering ripples at the horizon shimmered and faded away.
“That voice… she’s the chief editor?”
Yang Zicang struggled to control his emotions; an almost tangible oppressive pressure had been bearing down on him just moments ago.
{Indeed.}
The voice emanating from the Divine Stone echoed within the train car.
{Take this flying carpet as my thanks. After all, this train likely won’t be fit for the living to ride from now on.}
The broken skeleton of jade turned its body, raising its only remaining left arm—in an instant, the flying carpet appeared within the car and automatically wrapped itself around it in layers.
Crimson, white, and dark gold lights shimmered as magical runes flickered and vanished. The large carpet then fell gently, like a gossamer veil, upon the train floor.
“So, just like that, he’s been released from that guy’s control over his treasure?”
Zuo Feixian was utterly stunned. In his understanding, for orbed meters being controlled, the only ways to reclaim an artifact were through manual un-binding—spending one’s time sequence—or the death of its holder.
No wonder she was such a formidable existence. He couldn’t even guess how many facets her model had. Could it be that legendary fivesides, or even six?
The decrepit skeleton figure picked up the gossamer, speaking softly:
{This was once my master’s shawl—that’s why I could un-bind it.}
Yang Zicang only glanced at it. This wasn’t the time for such discussions.
“Ma Chao, can you still hold on?”
He had already consumed one coin to replenish the train’s temporal sequence.
{I’ve… shortened, and I’m very weak.}
“Hang in there—while I still have time, let’s go retrieve that divine stone we left behind. We might even get hold of other pieces.”
{Ah…}
At that moment, the train sensed the mysterious aura within itself. Though severely wounded, it had also touched upon a higher level of power, which was highly beneficial.
Whether it could carry people was never a concern.
Without hesitation, the train turned around and shuttled back toward the shantytown they had previously fled.
With the skeletal remains within its body, it sped up and appeared behind the convoy that had already begun to escape.
The ripples on the horizon flickered once more. This time, that female voice uttered not a single word, but countless energy waves surged like a tide toward the east, where a faint glimmer illuminated the horizon.
{Not good.}
Rumble…
The train instantly materialized into a solid form and crashed into the wilderness, like a derailed locomotive churning up a long dust trail, carving a track nearly a hundred meters long across the ground amid a thunderous roar.
Xingmiao, floating inside the carriage, immediately raised an arm, pointing it at her own illusory head made of rubble and dust. At that moment, a piece of broken bone hovered near her head.
With her directing the gesture toward her temple, the faint glimmer that had just lit up in the east dimmed once more.
The world plunged back into midnight.
The crowds scattered across the land boiled over with astonishment.
How could they not see that the divine-like, ethereal female voice that had spread across the entire Lost Frequency Domain was in a contest with another force, their battle determining the appearance of day and night across the horizon.
“Xingmiao must be the one who turned day into night!”
The questioning voice, rippling across the sky’s dome, had already imprinted the name “Xingmiao” into the heart of every living being on the ground.
Now, they were all talking about who this so-called Xingmiao was, and how the First Party Freight Team had managed to find such a supremely powerful entity, even drawing out such a terrifying opponent in the process.
“Does the First Party Freight Team know who Xingmiao is?”
“Of course! That guy is definitely working for Xingmiao!”
“God, this must be a battle between gods, right?”
Among those still scrambling for the divine stones, at least half immediately cut their losses and fled.
When a power is within one’s cognitive range, even if it’s a new concept, it’s something one can try to engage with. But when it is clearly separated by a chasm of difference from one’s own abilities, such a contest becomes laughable.
Many who had tried collecting the divine stones gave up outright, some even tossing them into the wilderness, terrified of having any connection at all to these two mysterious entities whose faces they had yet to even see.
The luxury fleet sped across the open plains, far slower than trains or flying carpets.
But every time the Phantom Train was about to catch up, a dawn-like light would surge forth from the horizon. As if a gap were lifted in the dark curtain, the high-speed train would instantly crash down into the wilderness.
“It’s no use, we can’t catch up, and the agreement’s time is almost up.”
Xingmiao sighed softly:
{You go ahead!}
A lightweight gauze scroll suddenly swept across the ground, actively wrapping forward toward Yang Zicang ahead.
Enveloping the young man, it burst through the phantom train, then unfolded with a whoosh, spinning out into a massive floral blanket the size of a house.
The giant blanket caught the falling Yang Zicang and quickly sped toward the convoy on the horizon ahead.
Ripples on the horizon spread and flickered again.
At the center of the ripples high in the sky, amid the spreading hazy white waves, two halos of darkness and gold pulsed into existence, like multiple diverging rings of light.
A blurry white figure with a tight curve slowly descended from the very center of those halos.
Raising an arm and pointing, she said,
{Get back.}
An undisputed soundwave stirred up a ferocious gale in the spiritual world.
Yang Zicang looked around in panic.
The land instantly turned into a ghostly realm, with countless sandstorms flying wildly, and images of broken humans and cities appearing. Tens of thousands of people with mutilated bodies, gnashing claws, hovered and charged over to encircle him.
Starshimmer seemed to appear by his side just as Yang Zicang was about to fall into it, snapping him awake. It was only an illusion.
Boom! Surging waves of air destroyed all anomalies within a few hundred meters nearby.
{First, eliminate the pen ahead.}
On the distant vehicle, hearing that devil-like mental voice, Cadre Hu, with her small lips tightly shut, turned her head to gaze at the floating black dot in the distance.
In the sky, the drifting blanket that had paused and swayed was now accelerating.
She turned to the driver and said, “Faster, go faster.”
“Cadre Hu, being watched, we can’t break through the ether wall and enter the sub-ether field.”
“Then, like the mountain warrior, abandon the vehicle… Stop quick, I’m getting out!”
An immense pressure bore down on them.
The driver’s expression shifted: “No, there are too many spirit remains in the car. It must never fall into its hands, or Chief Editor will…”
The flying carpet was approaching rapidly.
“Forget it!”
Cadre Hu’s face betrayed a look of panic.
The young girl’s gaze shifted from the flying carpet to the cars behind.
“We split up and run!”
Biting her small tiger-like teeth, she raised the secret treasure cube in her hands, aiming it at the sky.
Boom!
Before her eyes could flash with light, a cataclysmic ripple surged in, engulfing the convoy in a sudden explosion. Several divine-stones wrapped in golden chains scattered all over the ground.
The cube flashed, nullifying the incoming wave of energy, and the girl spat out a mouthful of blood.
The brown-yellow, gloomy wilderness erupted with a thunderous roar and a massive explosion sending dust and smoke high into the air.
A single heavy black car, its lights flickering, lurched out of the smoke and sped into the distance, while the rest of the vehicles were completely destroyed.
The flying carpet dove toward the ground, but just before impact, it slowed and landed gently.
The pact period was over.
YangZicang felt the immense power within him being drained, leaving him with a sense of emptiness, and he nearly collapsed. Forcing himself upright, he activated his Crystal Perception, greedily drawing from the void a certain energy to repair his form. After two deep breaths, he managed to open his eyes, looking at the divine stones scattered around, still wrapped in chains.
Two small glowing orbs descended.
{Bravo, a badass Yang.}
{As expected of a big shot with double perfect scores!}
Yang Zicang looked at the sky; the ripples had vanished. The sight he had just witnessed might have been a real descent of an imaginary entity, or perhaps just a mental attack targeted at him. If it were the former, he wondered if it was one of the pens controlled by the editor-in-chief.
Regardless of which, that phantom had already been resolved by Xingmiao’s power.
He stepped out from the large blanket.
All the cars here were completely destroyed, reduced to debris, yet the divine stones sustained little damage.
“One, two, three… four, five. They’ve collected five divine stones! Phew~”
Thanks to the chains wrapped around them, it took no effort to identify these stones and gather them together.
YangZicang felt much more relieved; this had saved a great deal of time.
The train that had arrived from behind now “staggeringly” came to a halt, scraping marks across the ground.
Several clumps of light hovered in mid-air, gazing down below.
Inside the screen wall of the Hub Town.
A small fraction of the screens were broadcasting the ghost train that had carved long trails along the ground, much like a news report of a car accident.