MARTIAL UNIVERSE: The strongest

A figure blurred into being, amidst destruction. Bleeding profusely and shivering. MeiYing, trying her very best to run away from Mo Xie and his Entourage had been attacked from all sides. After taking down her two slaves, she was targeted endlessly and was a victim to their non stop corrosive and demonic attacks.

It'd been 3 hours of non stop running, and the sky had even turned dark. The fact that she had even managed to escape in one piece was a testament to her strength. With her Yuan Power sealed, she was roughly at 50 percent strength, as both Yuan Power and Mental Energy were crucial in utilizing her sword techniques. Despite escaping in one piece, she wasn't unscathed. A gaping wound in her abdomen continually sapped her strength. She reached into her Qiankun bag and took out a red and white pill, which she popped into her mouth immediately.

A grade 4 healing pellet was enough to stop the blood loss, but the demonic Qi lingering within the wound prevented her from healing completely.

Walking to a nearby tree, she took a seat, leaning against its trunk and glared at the moon in the night sky. The moonlight reflected on her pale face and she closed her eyes for a moment. Before she knew it, tears began to flow down her cheeks. He was dead, wasn't he? She wanted to believe that Gojo's craftiness and meticulousness would keep him alive, but the odds were stacked against him.

'I'm confident to go against anyone.'

'Anyone?'

'Well, I might need some prep time if the person has a higher cultivation than I do, but meh..'

Her mind flashed to a previous conversation she had with him and for some reason she found solace in his words. Somehow, remembering his voice and his smirk restored her belief. All of a sudden she felt as if it'd be untoward and out of character for him to die to a simple fiery striped Python in this damned place.

"You better not die, otherwise you'd just be a shameless braggart in my memories.."

Her face was somber when she spoke and she took a deep breath. It wouldn't take long for Mo Xie and his group of heretics to locate her, but she didn't care. She had no plans of surrendering or dying. She just needed to hold on for a while. It'd already been hours. Little snow should be near. She could feel his presence drawing closer and closer..

Right on cue, an explosion of Demonic Qi tore through the forest, carrying with it an earth shaking pressure that reduced everything to dust.

Mo Xie appeared, standing on a cloud of dark red demonic Yuan Power, with a long bony sword in hand. Out of his eight sidekicks, only three now remained by his side, courtesy of MeiYing's brutality and wicked battle tactics.

A crimson mist rolled off his body as his demonic Yuan Power surged, swirling like a furious storm. *Black Yin Palm!!" A hundred feet large demonic palm whizzed towards her location. Mo Xie was going all out. His long bony sword pulsed with a dark glow, thirsting for vengeance. MeiYing, her face unreadable, stood unmoving behind the tree as the massive Black Yin Palm roared toward her, its surface writhing with sinister energy.

She lifted a hand.

"Abyssal Devourer."

A small black void no larger than a tennis ball coalesced at her fingertips. The moment the devastating palm met the Abyssal Devourer, it trembled, its form twisting as if resisting annihilation. But resistance was futile. The swirling mass of blackness consumed the attack utterly, leaving only a few drifting traces of demonic Qi in the air.

Mo Xie's eyes narrowed. 'So she can still use that technique? Even with her Yuan Power sealed?'

A cruel smirk returned to his face.

"You're nothing without your Yuan Power!!" His voice dripped with malice. "And I wonder… how much longer can you rely on your precious Mental Energy before it runs dry?"

Before MeiYing could react, Mo Xie's sword trembled and let out a low, ghostly howl.

"Bone Piercer Slash!"

A curved blade of black energy, brimming with corrosive demonic intent, ripped through the air at blinding speed. The sheer force of it split the ground apart as it carved toward MeiYing.

She stepped back, raising a hand—another Abyssal Devourer flickered into existence. But the moment the attack collided with the void, MeiYing's eyes widened slightly.

It resisted.

The dark blade of energy trembled for a split second before its edges cracked and began dissolving, but not before sending a shockwave of force straight into MeiYing's chest. The impact sent her skidding back, boots dragging deep grooves into the bloodstained dirt.

She clenched her teeth. 'I'm running out of Mental Energy.'

Mo Xie laughed mockingly. "Oh? Looks like you're starting to struggle."

He lifted his free hand, his fingers curling into a claw shape. The surrounding air thickened with a sinister presence as dark mist coiled around his fingertips.

"Demonic Blood Chains!"

With a single swipe of his claw, dozens of crimson-black chains erupted from the ground, their surfaces writhing like living things. They shot toward MeiYing like hunting serpents.

MeiYing moved, her body twisting like a shadow as she evaded the first few chains. But Mo Xie was relentless. With another flick of his fingers, the chains shifted, adjusting their trajectory at unnatural angles.

One wrapped around her ankle.

Another around her wrist.

Before she could react, the rest followed, binding her limbs and pulling her downward with crushing force.

Mo Xie's smirk deepened as he strode forward, his sword gleaming with an eerie red hue. "Let's see you absorb your way out of this."

MeiYing's breathing was heavier now, sweat forming at her brow. She focused, summoning the last remnants of her Mental Energy. The Abyssal Devourer pulsed in her palm, small but dangerously dense. With a desperate flick of her fingers, she sent it spinning toward the chains.

The black void touched them, and—

Snap!

The Abyssal Devourer flickered. The chains trembled but did not dissolve completely.

MeiYing's vision blurred. "No..."

Mo Xie did not hesitate. He raised his sword above her, demonic power surging.

"Soul-Crushing Blade!"

The sword came down.

MeiYing barely managed to shift, the blade biting deep into her shoulder instead of her heart. Pain exploded through her body as blood gushed from the wound, staining her combat suit crimson.

Mo Xie leaned down, his voice a whisper of venom. "I'm going to have so much fun with you!"

And with that, he twisted the blade.

A ragged gasp tore from MeiYing's lips as Mo Xie twisted the sword deeper into her shoulder. Pain, hot and searing, lanced through her body, and for the first time in years, her vision blurred from something other than exhaustion—it was agony.

Her fingers twitched. Her body screamed for movement, but the Demonic Blood Chains tightened further, locking her in place like an offering on an executioner's block.

Mo Xie ripped his sword free with a sickening squelch, letting fresh blood pour from the wound. He took a step back, admiring his handiwork as a smirk spread across his face. "You've killed my men, humiliated me, and yet here you are, helpless. How poetic."

MeiYing gritted her teeth, forcing down a cry of pain as she tried to steady her breathing. 'I can't lose here. Not like this.'

Her gaze flickered to her hands—her only remaining weapon. The Abyssal Devourer was weak now, unstable, its swirling form flickering erratically from her diminishing Mental Energy.

But she had no other choice.

With a flick of her fingers, she sent it flying at Mo Xie's chest.

Mo Xie sneered. "Too slow!"

His footwork was a blur, shifting to the side with ease as the dark void barely grazed his sleeve. Before MeiYing could recover, he countered instantly.

"Netherworld Ghost Step."

His body vanished.

A shiver ran down MeiYing's spine. Where—?!

She barely turned her head before an unseen force slammed into her gut.

CRACK!

Her ribs fractured under the impact. Blood sprayed from her mouth as she was launched backward, the Demonic Blood Chains dragging with her before snapping violently. She crashed into a tree with a thunderous impact, bark splintering as she slumped forward, her vision spinning.

'Breathe. I have to breathe.'

Mo Xie appeared a few paces away, his form solidifying from shadows, his smirk widening. "You're barely standing."

MeiYing forced herself to her feet. Her legs trembled. Blood poured freely from her shoulder wound, staining the ground beneath her. Her breaths were ragged, shallow.

She could feel it.

Her body was breaking.

Mo Xie lifted a hand once more.

"Soul-Draining Chains."

From the earth, ghostly silver chains erupted—different from the blood chains before. These pulsed with an eerie glow, sapping vitality the moment they touched flesh. MeiYing tried to move. Too slow.

The first chain coiled around her neck.

She choked, vision darkening as her remaining strength bled out of her.

More wrapped around her wrists, her ankles—each draining the last remnants of power she had left.

Mo Xie stepped forward, raising his sword one last time. "I could kill you now… but watching you break is far more satisfying."

MeiYing's knees buckled. Her arms felt like lead. Her consciousness flickered but she refused to let go.

Not yet.

The world blurred around MeiYing. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, each one shallower than the last. The Soul-Draining Chains constricted around her throat and limbs, stealing what little strength remained in her battered body.

Mo Xie watched with amusement, his sword lazily resting on his shoulder. "Just collapse already," he sneered. "You have nothing left."

But he was wrong.

She still had one last Abyssal Devourer.

Summoning every ounce of her remaining Mental Energy, MeiYing's trembling fingers twitched. A flickering black void, unstable and weak, formed at her fingertips. It was smaller than before, barely the size of a marble, but it held everything she had left.

With a final, desperate roar, she clenched her fingers and unleashed it.

The Abyssal Devourer expanded violently, consuming the chains wrapped around her wrists first. The moment they shattered, MeiYing forced her arms forward, sending the growing void toward the chains around her throat and ankles.

The chains quivered, resisted, then fractured.

SNAP!

Her body collapsed forward, her knees slamming into the bloodstained earth. The backlash hit her immediately her vision darkened, her consciousness wavered. Too much energy spent.

But she had broken free.

She sucked in a sharp breath, her limbs trembling, struggling to rise.

Mo Xie was silent for a moment. Then he laughed.

A slow, mocking chuckle.

"You really are stubborn, aren't you?" He shook his head, lifting his sword once more. "Fine. I'll put you down for good."

The air around him shook. His demonic Yuan Power surged, the sheer pressure making the ground crack beneath his feet. His sword pulsed, glowing with an eerie, crimson light that twisted and writhed like living fire.

"Hell-Devouring Blade!"

A monstrous crescent of blood-red energy exploded from his sword, tearing through the battlefield like a tidal wave of destruction. The sheer force of it ripped trees from their roots, shattering the very air in its wake.

MeiYing could barely lift her head.

'I can't dodge.' The attack was too fast. Too powerful.

She braced for impact—

BOOM!

A deafening rupture filled the air. But the attack never reached her. Before her eyes, space itself shattered. A wall of broken void erupted before her, swallowing Mo Xie's devastating attack whole. Fractured pieces of reality floated in the air, distorting everything around them.

Mo Xie's eyes widened in shock.

"What—?!"

A/N: Sorry for the late update guys.