The night had already grown deep, and the Tushan residence was silent.
Then, all at once, cold light flashed. A longsword tore through the darkness and drove straight for the center of Tushan Jingci's back.
"Young Lady, be careful!"
By the ti Yueshi turned around, there was no ti left to think. Her wrist flicked, and the long whip at her waist shot out like a spirit snake, its tip wrapping precisely around the blade.
With a twist and a yank, she dragged the sword off course by a fraction. It grazed past her shoulder and slamd into a corridor pillar with a thunk, the blade humming violently.
Yueshi pulled Tushan Jingci behind her and swept her gaze across the courtyard.
"Who is it?!"
A shadow stepped forward slowly.
He was wrapped in black robes, his face covered with black cloth. A short horn on his forehead glimred with a dim light under the moon, and the demonic aura around him was so dense it was nearly solid.
"You dare trespass into the Tushan residence. Do you know what cri that is?" Yueshi asked, gripping the whip tightly, her voice pressed low.
The man in black did not answer.
The next instant, his figure vanished from where he stood.
Yueshi's pupils contracted. Her long whip swept across the air with a sharp crack.
But the man in black was too fast.
Draw.
Turn.
Thrust.
The three movents flowed together in a single breath, and the sword point once again shot toward Tushan Jingci.
Yueshi advanced instead of retreating. Her whip arced through the air, coiling around the man's sword arm. With a violent pull, she lifted him clean off the ground and smashed him hard against the stone paving of the courtyard.
BANG!
Shattered stone flew in all directions. The man's back hit the ground and gouged out a shallow trench.
But he seed to feel no pain at all. Bracing one hand on the ground, he sprang back up, cracking the flagstones underfoot as he lunged again.
Sword light and whip shadows crossed through the courtyard.
At one mont Yueshi's long whip was soft, sliding along the sword blade; at the next it was hard enough to batter the sword point aside.
The two exchanged blow after blow, the sound of clashing weapons falling as densely as rain, especially shrill in the silence of the night.
This could not continue.
Yueshi could feel herself struggling more and more. She forced the man in black back with one lash, then reached into her sleeve with her left hand, drew out a jade bead, and threw it into the air.
The jade bead rose to a height of three zhang.
But instead of exploding as she had expected, it stopped in midair.
It gave off a weak glow, as if it had struck an invisible barrier, and the light was forced back down.
"A spell formation!"
Yueshi's heart sank.
The other side had co prepared. The entire courtyard had been sealed off. The sounds of battle could not get out, and even signaling artifacts were being suppressed. There was no way for her to send a warning.
The man in black seized the mont of her distraction. His sword was already at her face.
Yueshi twisted aside, and the blade scraped across her cheek, slicing away a few strands of hair.
She turned with the motion. The long whip spun in a full circle around her body, then lashed out with the force of her rotation behind it.
This strike landed squarely across the man's chest.
His black robe split open, exposing the bluish-gray skin underneath.
The man in black staggered back two steps, lowered his head to glance at the bleeding wound on his chest, then slowly lifted it again.
His eyes remained as calm as dead water.
He raised the sword once more.
Yueshi tightened her grip on the whip and protected Tushan Jingci behind her as she retreated half a step.
"Young Lady, his formation can only block sound and suppress signaling artifacts. It cannot stop people. Hurry and go! I'll hold him here. Madam will be back very soon!"
Tushan Jingci hesitated, her face full of conflict.
She could not bear to leave Sister Yueshi behind. She was afraid sothing would happen to her.
But she also knew that staying here would only get in the way.
"Sister Yueshi, you have to be all right!"
After one last look at Yueshi, Tushan Jingci hurriedly grabbed Xiao Mo and ran toward the courtyard gate.
Seeing this, the man in black decisively revealed his true form.
He looked like a rhinoceros, and yet also like a water buffalo, with a pig-like head, elephant-like feet, three toes, and a massive belly.
[The Dust-Warding Rhinoceros: a sea beast. It repels dust; if brought to one's seat, no dust will enter, much like a mat woven from the fur of a dust-repelling beast.]
The man brought one foot crashing down toward Yueshi.
Yueshi could not dodge in ti. She could only cross both arms before herself and take the blow head-on.
It felt as if a mountain had smashed into her body. She was thrown backward through the air.
But she quickly climbed back to her feet and revealed her true form as well, three cat tails swaying in the darkness.
Yueshi was no longer an ordinary cat demon. Her bloodline already showed signs of atavistic return, and the direction of that return was toward the Hundred-Voiced Wildcat.
[The Hundred-Voiced Wildcat: shaped like a wildcat, with one eye and three tails. Its cry sounds like a hundred voices. It can ward off evil, and wearing it cures lancholy.]
"MROWL!"
Yueshi pounced at the rhinoceros demon with astonishing agility, her claws leaving line after line of marks across his body.
"ROOOAR!"
The man felt an unbearable agitation rise in him. Catching an opening, he slamd Yueshi aside.
At the sa ti, he lifted his head and spat out a column of water at Tushan Jingci, sending it crashing toward her.
Tushan Jingci stood frozen in place, her mind completely blank.
But before the man had even fully condensed the water column, Xiao Mo had already run toward Tushan Jingci and lunged.
BOOM!
SPLASH!
The sound of the lake exploding upward and the sound of Xiao Mo plunging into the water with Tushan Jingci mixed together at once.
A towering pillar of water burst up from the surface of the lake.
Before the lake had even settled, the man had already gathered a second column of water, preparing to finish them off.
But at that very mont, a snow-white fox tail descended from the sky.
One.
Two.
Three.
Before the man could react, his neck had already been bound by eight snow-white fox tails.
A Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox gained one tail with each realm.
Tushan Xinhua, of the Immortal Realm, stepped down through the air and ca to stand before the man, looking at him coldly, her eyes full of killing intent.
"Who sent you? To think you would not even spare a five-year-old child!"
"Heh heh heh!" the man sneered. "For my lord! What does a re Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox cub amount to?!"
As soon as the words fell, he shut his eyes.
"Not good!"
Tushan Xinhua released him at once and brought forth a scroll painting, sweeping him into it.
BOOM!
A deafening blast rang out as the man detonated his own demon core. Together with the scroll painting, he was reduced to ash. Not even a soul remained behind.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
Only wreckage was left everywhere.
"Hmph."
Tushan Xinhua gave a cold snort, then imdiately turned and hurried to pull her daughter and the human boy out of the lake.
She laid her daughter down on the grass.
Even unconscious, the human boy still held her daughter tightly in his arms.
And because Tushan Jingci had been touched by a male, the cinnabar mark at her brow was gradually fading away, as though it had been washed clean by the lake water.
"Please grant death, Madam..."
Yueshi changed back into human form and knelt before Tushan Xinhua, her face full of self-reproach.
She had never imagined that sothing like this would happen.
Just now, she had nearly failed to protect the young lady.
And now, before the young lady had even reached her sixth birthday, she had been touched by a boy...
"What use would your death be?"
Tushan Xinhua let out a soft sigh. Looking at the two children locked tightly together, her eyes were filled with complicated emotion.
"There was only one day left..."
She crouched down and gently touched her daughter's wet cheek.
"Is this truly Heaven's will...?"
"No matter what, was there no escaping it?"
"But why..."
Tushan Xinhua bit lightly on her thin lip.
"Why... did it have to be a human...?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers