The space within the Temple was completely sealed by the Black Geometric Killing Formation.
There was no roar of magic, no light effects of energy.
The [Spirit of Pride: Azure Dragon] on the throne had not even risen, merely propping up his cheek lazily and casually flicking his fingers at the air.
In an instant, thousands of floating black prisms turned into a silent rain of steel, carrying a terrifying aura that tore through space itself, crashing down on the four of them from above!
"This density... Are you the reincarnation of a hedgehog spirit?!"
Lin Xiyue complained with her words, but her actions were as fast as lightning.
"Sis, Su Wan, Xia Lian! I'll test the quality of this knock-off's 'Absolute Defense' first! Get ready to deliver the finishing blows!"
With their previous experience, everyone's mindsets were extremely stable.
They all knew that conventional attacks would likely only scratch the surface, and this was just a routine test conducted in the hopes that the BOSS was foolish.
"Got it!"
"Be careful!"
Lin Xiyue suddenly lowered her shoulder, and on the surface of the heavy [Blackstone's Protection] in her hand, a Golden Rune Barrier rose towards the sky.
"Golden Parry!"
She swung the giant shield, drawing a dazzlingly golden arc of light in front of her!
CLANG!
A thunderous sound that shook the entire Temple erupted, the sound waves so sharp that they almost tore through their eardrums.
The Perfect Parry, strong enough to block a force of ten thousand tons, withstood the first wave of the Black Prism's baptism head-on.
The Golden Holy Light Runes flowed wildly across the shield's surface, completely deflecting the destructive attack and reflecting it back the way it came!
"It worked!" Xia Lian's eyes lit up.
However, the next second, everyone froze.
Those black spikes that had been perfectly parried and carried the BOSS's own power simply dissolved without a trace the moment they touched the invisible force field around the throne.
Like ink drops sinking into the sea, they didn't even stir a single ripple.
The woman on the throne didn't even lift her eyelids.
She even yawned, her expression of utter boredom as if she were watching an extremely clumsy circus performance.
"What the hell?"
Lin Xiyue's hand trembled violently, her beautiful large eyes filled with disbelief.
"Even the reflected attacks are useless? It's immune even to its own attacks? This is fucking unreasonable!"
"Logically consistent, but behaviorally extremely rogue."
Su Wan's voice was calm yet carried a hint of gravity.
"Its rule is probably not the kind used by doormen, like 'immune to imperfect attacks,' but something more absolute, 'reject being harmed by itself.'"
While speaking, Su Wan's staff tapped lightly, and the already-chanted Extreme Cold Spell, serving as the second round of tests, instantly erupted.
"Frost: Seal!"
Three translucent ice crystal spears condensed in the void, spiraling toward the solitary figure on the throne, carrying an absolute zero that froze the soul.
At the same time, Xia Lian had already drawn [Dark Night Starwhisper] to a full moon.
"Windwhisper: Cloud Piercer!"
Three arrows imbued with armor-piercing magical runes, using the ice spears as cover, silently shot toward the BOSS's brow in a triangular formation.
Facing the pincer attack, [Spirit of Pride] didn't even bother to move the hand propping up her cheek.
Both the ice spears and arrows came to a sudden halt just three inches from her obsidian-black skin.
An invisible force forcibly decomposed them.
Without any warning, they were reverted to their most primitive particles.
The ice spears turned into steaming water vapor, and the arrows became fluttering wood chips.
[Spirit of Pride: Azure Dragon] on the throne didn't even activate a shield.
Because there was no need to.
"Alright, the test is over."
Lin Xiyue spat out a mouthful of saliva and concluded, "This thing is even more unfair than that security guard at the entrance."
"Too weak."
The woman on the throne sighed gently in a tone full of compassion for all living beings.
"Dust, how dare it touch the Divine Body?"
"Such inferior material does not even have the right to enter my sight."
There was no anger in that voice, not even contempt, only an exhaustion and disappointment that could be described as boundless.
"Is this the limit of mortal struggle? Truly... so boring it makes me want to slumber forever."
Those obsidian eyes fixed on Lin Xiyue, who was struggling to hold her ground below, and the woman raised her hand again, pressing its palm downward in the air.
The number of floating black pyramids instantly doubled, rearranging themselves.
This time, their points were aimed at the gaps around Lin Xiyue's legs that her shield could not protect.
Lin Xiyue's expression changed as she could only passively shrink behind her shield, supporting herself clumsily under this airtight onslaught.
"Alright, the performance ends here."
The woman shook her head, her compassionate expression making one's blood boil.
"Let this world return to its rightful purity."
Right in the midst of this utterly hopeless suppression, an extremely untimely snort of laughter suddenly echoed through the center of the temple.
"Pfft."
This laugh was too abrupt, carrying the same disgust one would feel when seeing rotten vegetable leaves at a market, forcibly tearing a hole in that inviolable, divine atmosphere.
The [Spirit of Pride]'s tyrannical black eyes instantly locked onto the pink-haired woman in the center of the party.
Lin Qingyue was not frantically attacking like the others, nor was she fleeing in panic.
She had even put away her staff, crossing her arms and tilting her head, sizing up the figure on the throne with an expression one would use for looking at something filthy.
"It's this kind of logic again: 'If I don't let you hit me, you can't hit me'."
Lin Qingyue shook her head, the pity in her eyes a hundred times more intense than the BOSS's earlier expression.
"Seriously, don't you think these lines are so tacky?"
"'Dust', 'Divine Body', 'Worthiness'... Aren't these lines the exclusive vocabulary of third-rate villains from twenty years ago?"
The air froze for a moment.
The [Spirit of Pride]'s hand, which was about to press down, stiffened in mid-air, its obsidian pupils shrinking slightly, seemingly unable to immediately process this word.
"Tacky?"
"Yeah, tacky as hell."
As Lin Qingyue spoke, she even took two steps forward, completely ignoring the storm of black spikes before her.
"And then there's your look."
She raised a finger, pointing and critiquing the figure on the throne from behind Lin Xiyue's Holy Light Shield.
"Who taught you to pick these colors? All black, and a greasy, highly reflective glossy black at that?"
"Big Sister, what year is this trend from? Do you think this is called 'Dark High-Cold Aesthetics'?"
"To me, it just looks like a pile of asphalt models made without imagination, forcefully coated in a layer of polish."
"If you think forcing a pile of oil waste into long legs and breasts counts as 'beauty,' then I can only say your aesthetic tastes are probably stuck at the single-cell organism division stage."
She took another step forward, the terrifying pressure surrounding her completely unnoticed.
"Don't think you can just sculpt a face, change your look, and pretend to be the Azure Dragon! Does the Azure Dragon even know she has this jet-black, knock-off version? If she did, she'd probably go to the Godly Trademark Bureau overnight to sue you for infringement!"
"Shut up!!!"
The perfect expression on the Spirit of Pride's exquisite black face finally crumbled.
"You glib-tongued brat!"
Fury.
An ultimate fury, the kind born from being insulted at her very core by a lesser being.
You could hit her, curse her, or even try to kill her.
In her eyes, that was all just the impotent rage of the weak, a badge of honor.
But you could never question her aesthetics!
She was perfect!
Her very existence was the definition of "Beauty"!
"In this domain, my rules are absolute."
Her voice was no longer elegant, now carrying the sharp screech of metal grinding on metal.
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant you... your wish, in your own taste."
"I'll rip your tongue out and preserve it as a specimen!"
The previously playful assault suddenly turned savage. All the black spikes pivoted, locking onto Lin Qingyue with lethal precision.
Faced with this certain-death situation, Lin Qingyue showed no fear.
On the contrary, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes flickered with the fire of a hunter who had just spotted rare prey.
A BOSS who was immune to physical and magical attacks, possessed a rule-blocking aura, and refused to be reasoned with... anyone else would have already started writing their will.
But for her, this meant only one thing—
It was time to try something new.
"Rules?"
Lin Qingyue smiled.
That smile was full of excitement, and even a hint of malicious anticipation.
"Since you look down on conventional methods, I'll use something you won't even understand."
She swiped her palm through the empty air, and a card shimmering with the mysterious black and white light of the Yin and Yang appeared between her fingers.
"Since you want to talk about grand gestures, rules, and style..."
"Then I'll take the trouble to teach you what true—"
"Oriental Aesthetics is."
Lin Qingyue recited in her mind.
"System, Yixuan Character Card, Activate!"
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Spy-Unrelated note, am Dropping daily uploads to 1. Got too many fics going on and having this at 2 chaps a day makes juggling difficult.