Chapter 702 - Storm over Jade Capital, the Unfilial Descendant, Let the Enemy Come in His Own Time - Part 1

When Li Yuan found Lady Yu, she was seated cross-legged on the ninth level of the Tang Sect’s central tower. Her robe, a soft milky white, bloomed around her like a lotus in full flower. Wisps of golden energy drawn from the mountains and rivers swirled in from all directions, converging upon her. The glow spread across her figure, tinting her delicate frame with a faint platinum sheen.

The central tower was a forbidden zone, outsiders were barred from entering. But the moment she heard those familiar footsteps echo through the silence, Lady Yu opened her eyes in relief.

She looked toward the archway at the entrance to the tower level, where a man stood watching her. Her eyes lit up with joy.

“Husband, you’ve finally come out of seclusion,” she said warmly.

Li Yuan eyed the aura surrounding her. She’d improved since six years ago. Her combat power had risen from 320~850 to 350~900. Still, it didn’t quite match the strength he’d possessed when he first stepped into the Lesser Insight Realm.

“Yes,” he replied offhandedly. “I’ve come out of seclusion.”

He sat down beside her. After so long apart, even the lightest touch felt electric, sharp and tingling, a heat curling beneath the skin.

Lady Yu’s chest rose and fell, her robe parting just slightly like a clam shell opening. With a playful twist of her body, she leaned into his arms, her gaze sparkling as she teased, “I thought you’d be holed up for a few more years.”

Li Yuan chuckled. “In that case, maybe I should go find Yu’er instead and come back for you in a few years.”

Lady Yu jabbed a finger at his forehead. “You dare!”

He wrapped an arm around her and gently ran his fingers through her hair, his eyes drifting toward the distant horizon. A quiet sigh escaped his lips.

“What is it, my love?” Lady Yu asked, unable to bear the sight of him sighing.

“I just broke through,” he said. “Thought I’d find someone to spar with. But those juniors outside couldn’t give me a proper challenge, not even close.”

Lady Yu laughed. “I knew it! I figured that commotion earlier had to be your doing.”

“I came to find you,” he said. “I was hoping you’d help me stretch a bit. But I worry I might end up hurting you.”

Lady Yu smiled sweetly. “I’m not that fragile. If it’s a fight you want, then let’s fight.”

She stood up without hesitation, her sleeves flicking behind her as she floated back a dozen yards in a ghostlike glide. Then she extended her right hand with the grace of a master and said, “Please.”

Li Yuan tilted his head toward the window. “Let’s take it outside. And before we start, I’d suggest you go have a word with Xitu first. Might save you some unnecessary bruises.”

Lady Yu’s smile didn’t waver. “No need for all that. You’re underestimating me.”

With that, she raised her right hand, pinching her fingers in the air.

A golden light shimmered and transformed into a glowing feather, appearing between her pale fingers.

She twitched her hand, the fingers flicking outward in a slow, sweeping motion. The golden feather, condensed from Qi, split into countless rays and spread wide, like a giant peacock fanning its tail, dazzling and majestic.

Li Yuan gave an approving nod, though he said, “Still not enough.”

Lady Yu replied with a spark in her voice, “Well then, let’s see, shall we?”

She fixed her gaze on Li Yuan, then called out sweetly, half warning, half playful, “Careful now, husband!”

Her expression shifted into something more solemn, and with a graceful push of both hands, the technique truly began.

Golden feathers unfurled around her in a dazzling display, filling the entire room. But rather than tearing through everything in their path, these radiant feathers floated with uncanny precision, weaving through the air like living creatures. They skimmed walls, glided past furniture, and left every table and chair untouched. Her level of control was simply extraordinary.

Perhaps to highlight the nature of her technique, Lady Yu murmured calmly, “First Phase, Heaven-Sealing Fan, The Peacock Spreads Its Tail.”

The feathers spun toward Li Yuan, but he remained still, making no move to dodge or defend. The dual golden membranes of his Greater Insight Realm had already cloaked his body, shimmering with subtle power.

These membranes were like spiritual interfaces, anchoring his being directly into the natural world, countless metaphysical

USB ports

plugged into the grand chassis of Heaven and Earth.

But Lady Yu’s golden feathers didn’t target Li Yuan directly. Instead, they danced around him in spiraling arcs. When they reached the points where his body linked to the ambient Qi, they flared with sudden violence.

With a jolt, those spiritual connections wavered. The golden membranes that connected Li Yuan to the world thinned noticeably.

But he simply drew a breath. And like a balloon inflating, the weakened membranes plumped up again, seamless and whole. What she’d disrupted, he’d brute-forced back into place.

Strength versus skill. And strength won.

Even so, he now saw clearly what her move had been aiming for. This Heaven-Sealing Fan wasn’t about attacking the body. It was a surgical strike against the target’s connection to the elemental forces, the essence of Qi itself. Sever that link, and the enemy was finished before the fight even began.

To invent such a skill was nothing short of genius. No wonder Lady Yu had been the first in the new era to awaken to transcendent power.

Still...trying to take on a 3,000~30,000 level powerhouse with 350~900 combat power was, at best, wildly optimistic.

And yet, something about her move puzzled Li Yuan.

Normally, his Greater Insight would trigger a

despair backlash

against those who attacked him with lesser power. But it hadn’t activated. Why?

He pondered. Perhaps because the target of her skill hadn’t been

him

directly, but his tether to the natural world.

That...was an interesting idea.

He filed it away for later.

Lady Yu, meanwhile, wasn’t the least bit discouraged that her first skill had been so easily neutralized. She hadn’t expected to win. She just wanted to give her man a bit of a surprise and help him stretch his muscles after years of seclusion.

As her first strike dissipated, she moved without hesitation. The hands that had been fanned wide now swept inward, palms cupping together as if holding a precious offering.

Between her hands, a golden orb began to form, an orb made of hundreds, maybe thousands, of feather-shaped shards.

“Second Phase, Slaughtering Wings, The Flock Returns to the Nest.”

She exhaled softly.

That single breath launched the golden orb from her palms. It exploded into a raging tide of feathers, a blinding current of gold that shot straight toward Li Yuan.

He raised his hand to meet it, prepared this time to block.

In the old era, a move like this wouldn’t have even registered. A strong cultivator could stand still and let a weaker one pound away, unable to scratch the surface of their defenses.

But the rules of power had changed.

But in the new era, there was no such thing as a protective shadow blood barrier. If Li Yuan got cocky and let an attack hit him head‑on, he could very well die from it. Strength didn’t make you invincible anymore.

Still, before he even moved, he noticed something strange. The torrent of golden feathers rushing toward him began to slow.

On the far side of the attack, Lady Yu still appeared calm, but her movements were also slowing, as if she had been dropped into a vat of syrup.

Li Yuan stepped lightly to the side. The feather‑stream curved to follow him.

He took a few more steps. The golden torrent sputtered, wavered...and then simply collapsed in midair, dissolving into drifting motes of light.

On the opposite end, Lady Yu clutched her chest. Sorrow flickered across her eyes, raw, heavy, and overwhelming. She was forcing herself to stay upright, but Li Yuan could see it clearly. The golden membrane around her body was thinning and dissolving.

“One cycle... One cycle...” She whispered the words again and again, but could no longer launch another strike.

After several seconds, she gritted her teeth, eyes reddened, and flung out a final move.

“Heaven’s Melody, Featherborne Light”

She sent another spray of golden feathers toward him. At the same time, she hurled herself backward, fleeing into the distance.

She had once ruled the Tang Sect. She had her pride. She never expected to win, but she refused to lose

this

miserably.

In that moment, she stopped treating the man before her as her husband and regarded him purely as an enemy.

This man is terrifyingly strange!

The thought flashed through her mind.

So she fled.

Li Yuan watched her retreat without rushing, then followed at a leisurely pace. A few effortless leaps carried him outside; another leap took him to the very tip of the central tower, standing atop the pinnacle like it was nothing.

Lady Yu was already partway into the clouds.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, from far in the mist, a streak of gold flashed toward him.

Li Yuan sighed in boredom and raised one hand.

His fingers were like a forest.

He casually brushed aside the golden feathers.

More came. A shimmering fan of peacock‑like plumage trying to sever his connection to the world. A tidal surge of hundreds of

returning birds

. A sly few darts that darted in from impossible angles like a scorpion’s stinger.

Her hidden‑weapon prowess truly was exquisite.

Li Yuan blocked everything with one hand.

But before long, he noticed something wrong. Her attacks were coming further and further apart, ten seconds between each volley, then more. Their strength dwindled, each weaker than the last, barely a shadow of her initial force.

Something was off.

He dispersed his defenses and shot toward her at full speed.

Lady Yu was half‑collapsed in midair. The golden aura around her was in tatters, dim and broken. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She looked ready to fall at any moment.

She muttered, “I feel awful as if I’ve sunk into a grief I can’t escape. If there’s a next life...I want to be a bird. A bird that can soar wherever it wants.”

Li Yuan hurried to catch her.

She continued rambling, voice faint, expression vacant, like she had fallen into a daze, lost somewhere far away.

Li Yuan carried her back to the tower, cradled in his arms. He laid her gently on the bed, sliced some fruit, and fed it to her piece by piece. Only then did Lady Yu begin to come to her senses.

And then she broke.

Clinging to him, she burst into sobs, wailing, “Husband, don’t leave me... Please don’t leave me...”