Leaping straight over the mountain pass, Simon Stone and Anna Yang dashed forward at full speed.
Behind them echoed the agonized cries of the Skyward Legionnaires. A signal flare shot into the sky, bursting open and releasing a conspicuous cloud of red smoke. In the distance, warships beat their drums and sounded their horns.
Countless figures soared up from the warships, and even more Skyward Legionnaires were rushing in, densely packed like a swarm of bees.
Simon glanced over and saw Anna Yang flying alongside him, her expression weighed down with an indescribable gravity.
Behind her, in the slowly dissipating yellow smoke, six or seven Skyward Legionnaires and generals who were only lightly poisoned unfurled their wings and began chasing after them.
Turning around, Anna Yang fixed her gaze firmly on the six or seven silver silhouettes pursuing them from afar and said in a low voice, "Run."
"What?"
"I told you to run! Use the Concealment Technique Master Subhuti taught you. Don't follow the mountain path—run as far as you can, and whatever you do, don't come back! I'll find you!" Determination burned in Anna Yang's eyes.
She took off her hairband and tied up her sleeves. Her figure slowly rose into the air, and dozens of magical artifacts of various colors appeared around her.
"I'm no good at close combat, but at a distance, these few guys aren't even enough for me to warm up!"
In the next instant, before the Monkey King's startled gaze, Anna Yang soared into the air.
Three pebbles spun up and formed a triangle, a circular shield shimmering into existence above them, etched with a qilin totem.
Her sword slipped from her grasp, instantly splitting into hundreds of slender blades that arranged themselves into a sword array.
A length of rope shot into the sky, swelling rapidly until it transformed into a giant serpent, ten zhang long.
Dozens of beans scattered onto the ground, burrowing into the soil. In moments, tree monsters wielding long vines burst forth from the earth.
A lavish fur rug spun into the air, whirling overhead as a red magic array lit up the ground below.
The white mink fur draped over her hair slipped away, morphing into two white nine-tailed foxes that landed and hissed softly at the ground.
......
Behind Anna Yang, two phantom-like white wings unfurled. She placed a green leaf between her fingers and brought it to her lips, sending a melodious tune echoing through the valley. The magical artifacts she summoned seemed to leap with joy.
A rainbow of light blazed across the heavens.
Even the red glow of the Lotus Lantern behind her grew dazzlingly intense.
At this moment, Anna Yang was like a war goddess descending from the heavens.
This scene made the Monkey King widen his eyes in awe.
"This girl is even more single-minded than her brother, obsessed with vengeance. Erik Yang also seeks revenge, but his path as a cultivator has made that drive his strength. As for her... Her mastery of medicine, formulas, and artifact forging is profound—even I dare not claim greater insight than hers."
Only now did he understand the meaning behind Jade Cauldron's words.
A thousand years of time, a thousand years of war—aside from her cultivation, which could not be improved, Anna Yang had already mastered every aspect of alchemy, artifact forging, and spellcraft along the Path of Enlightenment.
Even in the Crescent Star Cave, not even Master Sage Subhuti could fully predict her next move.
The Monkey King stopped in his tracks, staring in a daze at the spectacle—at Anna Yang's hovering silhouette.
The resolve in this woman's eyes had already been tempered by a millennium of war.
Far in the distance, the pursuing Skyward Legionnaires and Heavenly soldiers were stunned by the sight, slowing down, uncertain whether to advance.