14. Reunion
Page (1/3)
“The villagers say they see the Ghost Bride here every three days. We’ve been waiting here for three days already, and apart from the oppressive yin energy, there’s been nothing at all... It’s hot!”
Orchid was just about to lift the iron pot from the fire when the heat made her hop from foot to foot.
She quickly pinched her earlobe. She was about to complain a little more when everything before her eyes turned red—and she found herself inside a scarlet bridal sedan.
“The Ghost Bride!”
Orchid was no delicate maiden. She immediately began punching and kicking the sedan, only to discover that it remained completely undamaged.
“Stop making so much noise. The Ghost Bride is incredibly powerful. I’m no match for her either.”
Xiao Rong’s voice came from somewhere nearby.
Orchid brightened. Another person meant another pair of hands—especially when that person was an A-rank expert.
“Where are you? Why can’t I see you?”
“We should be inside the same sedan. I don’t know why I can’t see you either. There’s only enough room in here for one person. There isn’t any extra space.”
Xiao Rong carefully examined every inch of the sedan’s inner walls.
Orchid suddenly thought of something. “Could it be a spatial ability?”
Xiao Rong knew little about spatial abilities and was just about to ask a question when the world before her eyes flashed white. In the next moment, she found herself in an unfamiliar place, seemingly a canyon.
Orchid stood beside her, warily surveying their surroundings.
Xiao Rong’s heart leapt. The Acacia Love Parasite, with which she had lost contact, had reconnected.
A huge swarm of bats descended from the sky and transformed into a young woman in a pale-yellow dress. It was Fei’er Liu, and she was carrying Lang Liu, whose eyes were bleeding.
Fei’er was startled to see the two of them and immediately shouted, “Run!”
“Do you think you can escape?”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman, Ning Tu, was engulfed in blue flames. Though clearly in agony, she had already caught up with them.
Sword light flashed, leaving two wounds across Ning’s neck.
Xiao Rong was astonished. The power behind those two strikes could have shaved a stone flat, yet they had left only two marks on the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s neck.
“It’s you!”
Ning Tu let out a shrill, frenzied scream and lunged forward with both enormous claws, as swift as a gale.
Xiao Rong raised her sword to block the attack, not forgetting to shout at Fei’er, “Get out of the way!”
She gave Fei’er a deep look.
Clang, clang, clang!
Sparks flew in every direction.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman’s skin was unbelievably hard. Abandoning all defense, she poured everything into her assault.
Xiao Rong wielded her flying sword with flawless precision.
The two fought to a standstill.
The Little Orchid had been seized by the Ghost Bride so suddenly that she had not brought her gun. All her martial skill centered around firearms, leaving her unable to help at all.
Fei’er handed Lang over to Orchid, then vanished, waiting for a chance to strike.
“Monster, stay out of this!” Xiao Rong shouted as she soared into the sky. “Venomous-Insect Formation, arise!”
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
Smoke and dust billowed upward. A dense black fog formed from countless venomous insects surrounded Ning Tu completely.
Fei’er retreated, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Xiao Rong sent her flying sword high into the air, then formed hand seals and began chanting. Mysterious formation patterns spread outward from beneath her feet.
Ning Tu tore several enormous gaps through the dense swarm. The venomous insects gradually vanished.
“What a monster. You actually absorbed my insects. It seems my insect venom is useless against you!”
Ning Tu had only a single mouth on her face, making her expression impossible to read. Perhaps she could no longer speak after transforming; she said nothing, merely roaring.
“Careful! She’s coming!” Orchid and Fei’er shouted in unison.
Facing the charging Slit-Mouthed Woman, Xiao Rong merely uttered two words.
“Lightning, come.”
The formation patterns began to spin at incredible speed.
A spark of lightning descended from beyond the heavens and arrived in an instant.
The flying sword came crashing down from the sky wrapped in a massive bolt of lightning!
Only after Ning Tu was swallowed by the radiance did the thunder finally erupt across the bottom of the gorge.
The lightning illuminated Xiao Rong’s figure.
Orchid’s face even flushed.
She was... she was far too cool.
Fei’er was filled with admiration as well. Fortunately, they had encountered such a powerful expert. Otherwise, she and Lang would have...
“I never imagined the cultivators of China could be so formidable... Cough, cough...”
The lightning faded, revealing Ning Tu in human form once more, her body still burning with blue flames.
Xiao Rong’s gaze sharpened at the sight of them. What kind of flames were these? Why would they not go out? If they had not continued burning and devouring the monster’s body, she would never have defeated her so easily.
“If it weren’t for the Flames of Amaterasu...”
Sword light flashed, and Ning Tu’s head went rolling across the ground.
“I lost to the Flames of Amaterasu... not to you...”
“You can still talk?”
Xiao Rong flicked her finger toward the sword, sending it flying forward as though she intended to skewer Ning’s head like a candied hawthorn.
A figure burst from the ground and intercepted the strike. The sword pierced straight through his body.
“Boss, I’m here to save you!”
To Xiao Rong’s surprise, it was Ouyang!
He was dressed in an official robe from the Qing dynasty. Clutching Ning Tu’s head, he ran backward—but his posture was extremely strange, his legs pressed together as he hopped along.
“A zombie? A mere B-rank. Just a clown making a spectacle of himself.”
Xiao Rong paid him no attention. One more strike would be enough to destroy such a creature.
But hope appeared in Ning Tu’s eyes.
“Give me your body!”
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
Ouyang’s head obediently slid from his neck, while Ning Tu’s head hurled itself toward the zombie’s neck.
In their haste, Ning’s head attached itself backward, leaving her face turned toward the zombie’s back.
Xiao Rong’s second sword arrived at that very moment.
With a sharp clang, a string of sparks burst from the zombie’s body. The flying sword left behind only a pale white mark.
Ning Tu smiled faintly, Ouyang’s head clutched in her hand.
“Until we meet again. I’ll remember you!”
With that, she activated her spatial ability and teleported away.
Ning Tu’s original body was reduced to ashes by the blue flames, which scattered upon the wind.
Xiao Rong walked over to Fei’er and pressed one palm against her chest.
Fei’er’s face instantly turned red.
A faint sting pierced her heart. Then she saw a wriggling little insect emerge in Xiao Rong’s palm.
Xiao Rong clenched her hand, crushing the insect into pulp.
Seeing this, Fei’er formed a suspicion. “You put that thing inside Lang’s body? Why would you do such a thing?”
Xiao Rong did not answer. Instead, she walked around Fei’er with evident interest, examining her from head to toe.
Under that scrutiny, Fei’er grew uncomfortable and instinctively took two steps backward.
“Hmph.”
Xiao Rong lifted the unconscious Lang, stepped onto her flying sword, and flew away alone.
“Hey! Hey! Let him go!”
Fei’er transformed into a swarm of bats and pursued them, but somehow Xiao Rong caused her to tumble back to the ground.
Orchid stopped Fei’er as she prepared to chase after them again.
“I know where she’s going. I’ll take you there. Neither of us is any match for her.”
“You young girls remind me of myself when I was little. I used to get jealous and compete with other girls over the boys I liked.”
She helped Fei’er to her feet with a smile.
“But no one can ever predict where matters of the heart will lead.”
Fei’er’s thoughts raced, and she had already pieced together part of the truth.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman, Ning Tu, had originally intended to abduct Lang. Lang had immediately activated the Flames of Amaterasu through his Sharingan. Because his body could not withstand the strain, he had held on until he lost consciousness.
Fei’er had awakened at precisely that moment and fled with Lang, eventually arriving before Xiao Rong and Orchid.
“Who are you? Do you know Lang?”
“Don’t worry. We’re with the military, and we’ll protect you. Xiao Rong and Lang were probably childhood sweethearts. They became separated while evacuating with their school, and she has spent all this time searching for him. Fortunately, she’s finally found him. That fellow probably won’t be so irritable anymore.”
Fei’er’s heart sank lower and lower.
Page (3/3)