Covering the Sky: The Years I Was the Empress's Strictest Master

He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth; his face remained pale.

But his eyes remained as still as a deep pool of cold water, calm and undisturbed, even more profound than before.

Within him lay the Dao injury left from his creation of methods and enlightenment in previous years, where he forcibly deduced methods and principles beyond his current realm to predict the future.

Indeed, after "activating" the spiritual treasure array diagram, engaging in cross-realm combat with Di Que, frequently triggering divine restrictions, and unleashing peerless killing moves such as the Five Fingers Fist Heart Sword, he finally lost control and experienced a backlash.

This wound originated from his Dao and Dharma.

It is already rooted in his own nature, and ordinary elixirs and divine objects cannot cure it. It can only be made up for by slowly nurturing and refining it himself, or by thoroughly perfecting and modifying the "Ten Thousand Self Sutra".

As the saying goes, once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. This path of creating laws and scriptures, once begun, has caused a tremor in the heavenly order of this place, and cannot be abandoned halfway.

If this happens, it's tantamount to denying one's own path, and the consequences and outcomes will be even more severe. Therefore, one can only follow this path to the end.

However, although the Dao injury that erupted just now was dangerous, the blood that was spat out did indeed contain fragments of Dao essence.

But for him, it was not unbearable, nor was it as serious as outsiders perceived or imagined.

However, he looked rather depressed at the moment, and his breathing was indeed much weaker.

shuh...

After catching his breath, his deep gaze swept over Shao Hanyun's worried face.

Then he glanced at Chi Yao, who was unusually moved and tightly clutching her sleeve in the distance, and Chi Xuan, whose eyes were blurry with tears and who was being held tightly by her. Finally, he looked at Li Qingjue, who was unconscious and being supported by a ball of divine light.

hum!

at this time,

Perhaps it was as if they sensed something.

Li Qingjue, still unconscious, had her long, butterfly-wing-like eyelashes tremble almost imperceptibly.

Her beautifully arched eyebrows were now slightly furrowed in a tiny curve.

Even in the depths of unconsciousness, she seemed to sense the pain and changes of the person most important to her, and instinctively wanted to wake up.

And this subtle change, so close at hand, was noticed by both Tan Lin and Shao Hanyun.

Tan Lin's eyes flickered slightly, a strange feeling passing through his heart.

He sighed silently, truly worthy of being the only woman of all time. Even in such a severely injured and unconscious state, this disciple from his previous life still possessed an incredibly sharp spiritual sense.

Beside her, Shao Hanyun felt a slight chill in her heart, and her invisible "fear" of Li Qingjue deepened.

The ferocious aura emanating from the opponent, who had devoured the essence of various cultivators in the Five Domains of the Big Dipper to nurture himself, spread several years before she was brought into the Big Dipper Cult.

Years ago, she betrayed the Big Dipper Cult and fled into space, where she had heard many of the legendary deeds of this Devouring Demon.

As a descendant of an ancient, unusual species, she, like those with special physical constitutions here, always kept her distance from such people before her cultivation and combat power were fully developed, and would not rashly become their enemy.

Actually, she had never met him before, and had always been skeptical and dismissive of the rumors about Li Qingjue.

Seeing that the other party had survived the bombardment of the Supreme Artifact and witnessing her unusual reaction while unconscious, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly, realizing that this woman was indeed beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

If she manages to reach the Divine Forbidden Realm before the Great Sage Realm, and her ambitions are rekindled, wanting to compete for the "Daoist Position" in this life, then this woman will definitely be a formidable rival.

Of course, she is self-aware; undeniably, she is far from having the ability to compete with them...

“Someone’s here, it’s time to leave.”

Tan Lin suppressed the churning blood and qi within his body and the discomfort brought on by his Dao injury. He transmitted his voice to Shao Hanyun, his voice now steady.

Through the [Perspective of All Causes], he vaguely sensed a slight disturbance in the forbidden zone.

"Come with me."

He said lightly.

Upon hearing this, Shao Hanyun nodded without hesitation, helped Li Qingjue up again, and took Tan Lin's arm with her other hand.

The opponent she had met earlier appeared weak and frail, a sight she had never seen before, which made her heart tighten and she dared not be careless in the slightest.

Immediately, Tan Lin ignored the various thoughts and expressions of the heroes in the distance, and did not even look at Chi Yao and the others.

He mustered his strength, and with a blink of his eyes, he scanned the somewhat dilapidated star field once more before taking a decisive step forward.

Hey!

next moment,

The firefly within the eighth deep crimson light spot "burned," and the Soul Bead of All Causes miraculously activated, opening the dual states of [Reverse All Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier].

In an instant, a layer of crimson mist, invisible to anyone in the arena, rippled around him. Then, he led Shao Hanyun and Li Qingjue...

Their figures suddenly blurred, and then, like bubbles, vanished without a trace before everyone's eyes.

"They're gone?!"

"The spatial fluctuations are very weak, have they fled far away?"

"It must be! His injuries have flared up, and he urgently needs to find a place to stabilize his condition. Otherwise, it would be common for his cultivation level to drop. That Devouring Demon is also seriously injured and on the verge of death. How could he dare to stay for long?"

"Damn it! I was so intimidated by his earlier ferocity that I didn't act rashly and missed a golden opportunity!"

"If we had known he was already beyond saving, we should have..."

"Chase him! His aura is unstable; he must be at his last gasp. This is the perfect opportunity to eliminate that Devouring Demon!"

"Excellent! And the immortal elixir on that indestructible golden body—now is the best opportunity to seize it!"

"He definitely can't activate the spirit treasure array diagram anymore. Fellow Daoists, if we don't set off now, when will we?!"

boom!

The sudden disappearance of Tan Lin and his two companions did not diminish the greed and murderous intent in some people's hearts; on the contrary, it was like a spark falling into a pot of oil, instantly igniting it!

Whoosh!

Swoosh... Swoosh...

In the distant sky, dozens of figures, long hidden and exuding a powerful yet obscure aura, burst forth almost simultaneously from the shadows.

They all burst forth with astonishing speed, chasing after the direction in which Tan Lin had disappeared.

Some people, without making a sound, used secret techniques to try to track the faint spatial fluctuations.

Seeing this, many people around immediately called their friends and followed suit.

However, most of these people had ulterior motives, and the one who initially shouted the loudest was actually in the middle to the back of the crowd.

in place,

A cold glint flashed in Chi Yaoqing's eyes, and the folding fan in her hand shimmered with light. She wanted to follow, but hesitated because of her lack of strength.

At this moment, she was filled with complex emotions and mixed feelings.

Never before had she felt that her cultivation speed was too slow, and that her realm, cultivation level, combat strength, and everything else were so "poor" that they were useless at crucial moments.

Compared to her relatively calm demeanor, Chi Xuan beside her was much more impulsive.

In response, she and Song Canghai stopped the other party again, and said in a deep voice:

"Xuan'er, calm down! Your brother always plans carefully before acting, so don't worry too much."

"If we chase after them now, not only will we not be of any help, but we may also get involved in unnecessary conflicts and become a burden..."

"Your sister is right, Xuan'er, don't think that Fellow Daoist Tan is truly at his last gasp."

If that were truly the case, why would those who were so determined to obtain the divine artifacts from Fellow Daoist Tan and the Devouring Demon be making such a grand display?

As he spoke, a glint of light flashed in Song Canghai's eyes.

He did indeed believe that Tan Lin's coughing up blood and departure were partly due to the flare-up of his injury.

But it's a bit too "coincidental" and "logical".

Although he had never truly known him before, he had gleaned some insights into the young man's style of conduct from his past deeds.

This meeting made him realize even more the depth of the other's thoughts and the breadth of his schemes, surpassing even his own, a long-lived rogue cultivator, in many ways.

Having just swiftly and decisively killed Di Que and obliterated the Supreme Artifact, how could he truly place himself in a desperate situation without leaving any backup plan?

After saying this, Chi Yao sighed inwardly.

As she gazed in the direction where Tan Lin had disappeared, she inexplicably felt that perhaps nothing was destined to happen between her and that person in this lifetime…

Unable to find it, Chi Xuan gently bit her lip.

She understood that Song Canghai's words made sense, but the worry in her heart surged like a tidal wave, difficult to quell.

"Let's go, let's leave here first. Fellow Daoist Tan is a lucky person, he will have his own way of dealing with this."

Song Canghai took in the two women's contrasting reactions—some deliberately restrained, others clearly revealed—triggered by a certain person's mishap.

He sighed silently, knowing that his two sons were probably destined to have no future with the Chi family's twin lotus blossoms.

Finally, he took the reluctant Chi Xuan, the complicated-looking Chi Yao, and the Song Qiwen brothers, and they vanished in a streak of light.

This place has become a hotbed of trouble; it is not advisable to linger here.

While various forces either pursued, retreated, or remained in the shadows to observe,

No one noticed, and no one thought of it.

Beneath the faint ripples in the void, crimson mist enveloped Tan Lin and the other two.

In fact, right under everyone's noses, they disappeared into the deep, dark tunnel leading to the Demon Emperor's tomb.

They appeared silently inside the tomb, and at an astonishing speed, without leaving a trace, they headed towards the depths of the tomb, towards the additional hidden tomb unknown to the outside world, the one where Chi Xuan had previously been searched.

This was not a deliberate act of hiding something from the public.

This Demon Emperor's Tomb is indeed special, possessing a field that obscures the secrets of heaven and can block deductions, thus saving Tan Lin a great deal of effort.

Of course, in reality, everyone, including the pursuers, did indeed fall into the trap of habitual thinking at that moment.

Everyone assumed that Tan Lin would take the heavily injured Devouring Demon and flee into the starry sky to find a secluded place to heal.

But no one could have predicted that he would do the opposite, leading his men back to the eye of the storm.

They returned to the depths of that tomb raider's tunnel.

However, as time goes by, the outside world isn't stupid. Unable to find any trace of the three, they will surely realize what's going on.

Even under the dual states of [Reverse All Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier], the Supreme Being himself might not be able to find any results.

……

wow...

The tomb robber's tunnel was deep and winding downwards, as if leading to the deepest hell.

Ancient and powerful patterns remain on the cave walls on both sides. Some of them were damaged in the previous battle, while others still shimmer with a faint light and exude a mysterious aura.

Deeper,

At the end of the tunnel, behind the tomb chamber where the divine coffin forged from the elixir of immortality was originally placed, there were many restrictions, and a chaotic aura was faintly emanating from it. The oppressive aura of the imperial power would occasionally burst out from it, making people feel suffocated.

whoosh...

With Shao Hanyun supporting Li Qingjue, and guided by Tan Lin, they skillfully avoided some remaining dangers and restrictions.

"You... you planned to come back here all along? And you seem so familiar with this place, have you been here before?"

Upon reaching a secluded spot, Shao Hanyun couldn't help but ask telepathically, her beautiful eyes flashing with doubt in the darkness.

Tan Lin did not answer immediately, but coughed lightly again, a trace of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, which he silently wiped away.

His gaze was deep and unfathomable as he looked ahead at the increasingly dense chaotic energy, and the faint outline of a tomb chamber visible behind it.

He then slowly spoke, his voice weak but still clear:

“Outside, due to some unavoidable reasons, and given that this is a great era of enlightenment, some ‘beings’ have already begun to notice me. There are too many people who want to capture me and kill me…”

This is the quietest place for now.

"and……"

He paused, glancing at Li Qingjue in his arms, whose brows were slightly furrowed.

"The place she needs for healing happens to be here, and for you, this place might also be an opportunity..."

Upon hearing this, Shao Hanyun did not ask any further questions.

She chose to believe Tan Lin.