Abyssal Awakening

Seeing Hualing suddenly charging towards her, Alice was a little surprised but decided to go along with it. She was here to see how the Vermillion clan generated power in their punches while also interrupting the wedding.

After all, her new would-be drinking buddy seemed distressed so it's only natural for her to crash it.

Taking a single step, Alice gave up on the unfamiliar martial arts that Alyss had learned and instead went with her own style.

A mix of palm strikes and kicks to either neutralise or divert attacks.

*BANG!!!

Palm striking Hualing's wrist to send the punch off to the side, Alice went in for a neck chop only to see the blue halo above her head radiate a luminescent energy.

At that moment, an invisible force crashed back into Alice's body, pushing her palm back and breaking open her guard.

"There!"

Seeing a gap, Hualing grabbed Alice's wrist and went in for a punch against the chest.

"Close but not close enough. What is this thing anyway? That was my own force sent back at me right?" Alice smiled, going into a handstand and using Hualing's arm as a platform.

Tapping the halo with her finger, Alice analysed the flow of energy connecting the two together while Xiao An ambushed her from the side.

Sundering Strike!

Looking to block it with her palm mixed with Void energy, Alice paused in mild surprise before diving into a portal instead.

Exiting the Void not far away from the two, Alice clenched her fist before snapping her fingers.

"Tall one. Does the name Allura ring a bell for you?" Alice called out.

That flow of energy and method of generating power in an instant. It was not part of the Vermillion Clan's martial arts at all!

In fact, it was closer to how Allura punches if anything. Rather than relying on space, it's as though energy was sucked in to reinforce an instant of explosive power.

Not only that, but the way it was stacking… Even if he missed, he would still store the energy within his body. A key sign of the skill that Allura created in the Inverted World. One that Alice wasn't sure if the real one knew or not.

The seven days of execution!

By allowing the target 'seven days' to prepare, Allura is able to unleash a final strike far beyond her maximum power. A ritual that gives the opponent time in exchange for power.

But seeing the confusion in his eyes, Alice figured that was probably not the case. Allura wasn't one to leave the Abyss after all, so it was unlikely for her to visit the east.

Either way, she's already got a rough idea of how the Vermillion clan generates power in the punches. And if she was to be honest, she was a horrible match up for them. Not only could she disperse their power through the use of the Void, but she could also take them out in an instant before they could stack up enough power.

Of course, Xiao An was an exception since his stacking method and generation was weirder than the rest.

Regardless, this kind of fighting style didn't benefit her at all though the stacking function was interesting to an extent.

She had her own idea regarding that though. An idea birthed from the natural phenomenon caused when she was using Duality and Tiamat's power.

The rings of natural energy that acted as amplifiers. If she could manually create one herself, wouldn't that mean she could use amplification without the need for two Abyss Lord Sigils?

However, the main task was still to finish what she came here to do.

Void Steps!

Appearing behind Hualing, Alice was about to go in for a strike when Xiao An appeared in her vision.

*BANG!!!

Catching his fist, Alice tossed him away but a stream of energy acted as a platform for him while Hualing tried to go for a palm strike against Alice's back.

Unfortunately for her, Alice avoided the strike and launched a counter, sending her sliding back several meters before coming to a stop.

The light emanating from the ring was amplified by this strike as Hualing took a sharp breath in from the hit before curling her lips up into a grin.

"Where's the big hit you did against the clan head? Or can you not use that more than once?" She asked, entering an offensive stance while Xiao An tried to ambush from behind.

Tilting her head to the side and grabbing his arm, Alice threw Xiao An over her shoulders before snapping her finger and pointing it above her.

A singularity spun to life, sucking the ambient energy in from around her.

"Who said? I simply wanted to see how you two would fair." Alice chuckled, flicking the half done Void Flux towards Hualing.

Slamming her hand down, Hualing began to control the energy around her before turning it into a guard.

To Alice's surprise, a fully fledged passive zone was spread out from Hualing!

The Void Flux began to destabilize before being shifted off to the side.

Once more, the halo absorbed some of this energy.

It wasn't the state of unity that Jin mentioned but it was still better than most that she's seen. In fact, it was even better than Qiu Qiu!

But despite all this, not much was known about the young lady of the Chi Clan. She wasn't even mentioned as one of the geniuses.

'She probably has her own circumstances.' Alyss theorised as Alice agreed with this sentiment.

"If you can use the next stage of the weapon Domain, how come few know your name?"

"Since when does someone ask so many questions during a fight!?" Hualing shouted back, closing the gap in an instant and went for a grapple.

Opening a portal beneath the girl to destroy her stance, Alice twisted her body and released a kick against Xiao An, pushing him back once more.

"Since the moment I realise I can take it easy against you two. Leisure comes to those that are strong." Alice shrugged with a smirk.

"That and…" Trailing off slightly, Alice slammed her palm down and created a river of blood around the venue!

Both Hualing and Xiao An felt danger and wanted to run but metal chains shot out of the river, holding them in place.

"Why shouldn't I have a quick conversation with a would be drinking buddy? I still haven't tried the Nine Sun's Liquor you know?" Alice modified her voice to match that of her disguise, Ecila.

'Ecila, Alice, really?' Alyss stared at Alice with an are you serious expression.

'What? It worked for the time.'

Hearing about the Nine Sun's Liquor and Alice calling her a would be drinking buddy, Hualing immediately realised who Alice was.

Just as she was about to say something, Alice jumped up into the air before creating a flaming bow.

Pulling her arm back, she curled her lips up into a grin as dark clouds began to gather above.

Resonance!

A white and red dress manifested across her body as the pattern in her eye transformed into that of a spider lily.

Blood converged from below to form a single crimson arrow and she took aim at the sight board of the Vermillion clan.

Flames erupted from the arrow as the convergence of energy caused the tiles in the courtyard to get ripped up from the ground!

Void Flux!

*BANG!!!

Releasing the arrow, a torrent of destruction rushed towards the building. The blinding light caused everyone to avert their gaze while preparing themselves for an explosion.

But everything disappeared as though it never existed.

The killing intent faded away.

The overwhelming surge of energy disappeared and even the earthquake caused by the creation of the arrow ceased.

For a brief moment, they thought that maybe it was a hallucination all along.

But after opening their eyes and turning their gaze to the main compound, they paled upon seeing a scorched earth where the building used to exist.

Miraculously, every worker that was inside found themselves safely transported to the courtyard.

Both Xiao An and Hualing paled when imagining what kind of destruction might've been caused should the arrow be aimed towards them. However, this simply reinforced the fact that the demoness or rather, Alice, never killed anyone during these 'invasions' of sects and clans.

###

Standing in front of the restaurant, Hualing was greeted with the… familiar? The sight of rushing employees and dishes being prepared.

In the restaurant, she could see Alice in her disguise with Jin by her side, enjoying the meals.

"Are you sure she's the one?" Xiao An asked curiously as Hualing hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"I know I didn't hear wrong. She clearly mentioned Nine Sun's Liquor and being a drinking buddy. The only one I talked to that could potentially be a drinking buddy would be Ecila." Hualing furrowed her brows before entering the restaurant.

"Over here!" Alice called out with a grin.

Gesturing at the seat near her, she scanned them up and down before nodding in satisfaction.

"Seems like the two of you are unscathed. That's a relief. I was wondering if I might've hit you too hard." Alice chuckled as the two sat down.

"Aiyo! Just relax okay? I'm not here to fight today nor am I here to kill." Alice waved her hand as they were on guard.

There were many questions on her mind but Hualing only had one that she wanted to ask.

"Why? Why did you attack the sects and clans?"

Scratching her chin momentarily, Alice chuckled.

"Well if I attack with killing intent, they're more likely to show everything they've got right? If I just go for a spar, they'll hold stuff back since they're not under the threat of death."