Vol 4. Chapter 164: Long Time No See

"So this is... where the Saint Dragon Heart is located?"

"Y-Yes, yes, yes! This is the forbidden area of Yexinlian Academy!"

The red-haired woman hurriedly answered, her voice trembling with tears and desperate pleading.

"I... I've already brought you here, so c-can you let me go now?! I swear I'll never... Huh?! N-No, don't!"

However, before she could finish speaking, a tremendous force suddenly erupted from the purple-haired girl's five fingers.

Realizing what the other party intended to do, the red-haired woman desperately tried to beg for mercy once more.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Crack~"

Following a crisp cracking sound, the red-haired woman's head shattered under the purple-haired girl's strength, bursting apart like a smashed watermelon.

Her desperate pleas came to an abrupt end, and blood splattered across the ground.

A nauseating stench of blood immediately spread throughout the surrounding forest.

Even her soul was directly torn to pieces by the surging dark-purple Shadow of Silence Power.

After shaking the blood off her hand and casually tossing the corpse aside, the purple-haired girl thoughtfully gazed toward the Forbidden Palace.

A fierce fighting spirit began blazing in her eyes.

Then...

The purple-haired girl, none other than our adorable Miss Pipi, placed one hand on her hip and slowly raised the other, striking an extraordinarily cool and impressive pose.

Following her mother's teachings, whenever Pipi prepared to unleash his power, he would always strike an incredibly stylish pose.

At least, that was what he believed.

In his opinion, such poses perfectly embodied the imposing aura of a "boss."

Of course, while the pose certainly looked impressive, its only shortcoming was that it was somewhat embarrassing.

Especially when performed with his current delicate, feminine appearance.

It was genuinely rather awkward.

However, since almost everyone who had witnessed Pipi striking this pose eventually ended up having their heads smashed to pieces by him, nobody had ever managed to tell Pipi what they thought.

Consequently, a certain Pipi remained completely unaware of this problem even now.

...

"Cangyue Thunder Sword."

The corners of Pipi's delicate lips curved upward slightly as he called out the name of his weapon.

Accompanied by a powerful surge of Shadow of Silence Power and the violent rampage of lightning, a spatial rift suddenly opened beside Pipi.

An oppressive aura filled with death, brutality, and despair poured out of the rift.

The surrounding earth was instantly transformed into a charred, lifeless wasteland, while the red-haired woman's mutilated corpse was reduced to flying ashes beneath the raging lightning.

Facing the terrifying lightning and oppressive aura, Pipi thrust his hand directly into the rift.

From within, he pulled out an enormous, majestic pale greatsword brimming with an aura of destruction.

The blade was approximately three meters long, its entire surface engraved with ancient, unknown characters and sinister-looking dark-purple lightning patterns.

The sword's overwhelming and domineering appearance formed a striking contrast with Pipi's beautiful, slender body.

"Hehe~"

Gripping the sword's hilt and gazing at the magnificent white Forbidden Palace ahead, Pipi gradually revealed a cruel, bloodthirsty expression on his lovely face.

Naturally, the great Lord Pipi had a magnificent plan in mind when he had eagerly rushed all the way here.

And that plan was...

To launch a surprise attack by appearing directly in the center of Yexinlian Royal Academy, storm into the Forbidden Palace, and seize the Saint Dragon Heart!

Then, he would charge into the teaching district, capture that damned Child of Destiny, and kill her on the spot!

After all, Lingluo had gone out today and wasn't at the academy.

That meant there was no need to hold back or worry about anything!

This way, he could accomplish both objectives in one fell swoop!

As for what would happen afterward...

Those foolish humans might wonder how the Sword Demon had managed to bypass the academy's outer defenses and appear silently in its central district.

But no matter how hard they thought about it, they would never suspect this great lord!

After all...

Under ordinary circumstances, this great lord was nothing more than a delicate and adorable "young maid"~

Even if those humans racked their brains until they exploded, they would never associate the mighty and powerful Sword Demon King with a frail, helpless maid, would they?

That's right!

The sole reason this great lord had disguised himself as Lingluo's maid was to prepare for today's magnificent plan!

It definitely wasn't because he'd surrendered to that wicked woman's tyrannical intimidation!

Absolutely not!

Pipi desperately reassured himself.

Although this was essentially self-deception, comforting himself in this manner really did alleviate quite a bit of the humiliation he felt deep down about wearing women's clothing.

...

Whatever.

No point thinking about it anymore.

Time to take care of business.

With that thought, Pipi's pupils abruptly contracted, and dark-purple light emerged within his eyes.

Sinister dark-purple markings gradually appeared across his beautiful face.

An enormous amount of Shadow of Silence Power began gathering toward his arm under his control, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

However...

Just as Pipi was preparing to shatter the forbidden area's four layers of magical barriers with a single sword strike, the purple-haired "girl's" pupils suddenly contracted.

His attacking motion came to an abrupt halt.

At that instant, an unfamiliar aura unexpectedly entered Pipi's sensory range and approached him from behind at an inconceivable speed.

?!

Hmm?

"What... is that?"

Could it be?

Had someone discovered his whereabouts, realized his intentions, and decided to intervene?

Pipi couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

However, he felt not the slightest trace of uneasiness at the possibility of being discovered.

So what if someone found him?

As long as he killed whoever discovered him, wouldn't that be equivalent to never having been discovered in the first place?

It was just like when he'd infiltrated the Ghost Tower to assassinate its Tower Master.

If he simply killed everyone who noticed his presence, wouldn't his whereabouts remain perfectly concealed?

"Court death..."

Without the slightest hesitation, Pipi immediately raised his greatsword and spun around, delivering a merciless slash behind him with the unstoppable force of a thunderbolt.

However...

In the very next instant, Pipi's brows furrowed sharply.

For the first time in nearly a hundred years, a trace of genuine astonishment appeared in his dark-purple eyes.

In the past, countless foolish youngsters had attempted to ambush him from behind.

Yet without exception, all of them had been casually chopped into pieces whenever he turned around to deal with them.

He had assumed that this opponent would be no different.

But this time, the sight before him completely exceeded Pipi's expectations.

Just as he had anticipated, a figure draped in a black robe had burst through the dense forest and arrived behind him.

However, unlike his previous enemies, this black-robed figure wasn't casually sliced in half by Pipi's attack.

Instead, the figure had actually blocked his strike.

And had done so with just one hand...

Seeing the slender, delicate hand emerging from beneath the black robe firmly grasping the blade of his Cangyue Thunder Sword, Pipi's eyes filled with disbelief.

"Whoa..."

The "girl" couldn't help exclaiming inwardly.

Although he hadn't entered his Liberated State yet, and the seals on the Cangyue Thunder Sword had not been released, the power of this attack was already sufficient to utterly annihilate a High Seventh-Tier powerhouse.

Killing a mere "Early Seventh-Tier" "human" should have been effortless!

Yet not only had the opponent survived, but they had actually caught his sword strike with one hand?!

They had even neutralized the sword energy that should have erupted on a massive scale and obliterated the forest behind them?!

At most, the attack had merely created a small crater in the ground with a radius of a little over ten meters.

"Now that's interesting..."

Pipi muttered excitedly.

Seeing his attack neutralized didn't make Pipi angry.

On the contrary, he became thoroughly intrigued.

A surging, overwhelming fighting spirit began raging through his body like a storm.

Fixing his gaze firmly on the black-robed figure before him, Pipi showed no intention of wasting time on unnecessary words.

The veins on his arm bulged as a tremendous amount of Shadow of Silence Power began erupting from his body like a volcanic explosion.

Ferocious dark-purple energy continuously gathered along the pale greatsword, causing the surrounding space itself to gradually distort.

Clearly, Pipi intended to get a little serious this time.

"Let's see how you manage to withstand this great lord's next attack!"

However...

Just as Pipi was about to unleash the vast Shadow of Silence Power that had been suppressed within his body for so long, a soft voice slowly emerged from beneath the black robe.

It was an indifferent, emotionless voice, carrying a bone-chilling coldness reminiscent of the bitter northern wind.

"Don't you think referring to yourself as 'this great lord' is rather inappropriate in your current appearance?"

"Hmm?!!"

The moment that cold yet incomparably familiar voice reached his ears, the purple-haired "girl's" entire body involuntarily trembled.

In an instant, the fighting spirit in Pipi's eyes vanished completely.

In its place appeared an indescribable expression of astonishment, beneath which lay a complicated mixture of emotions.

Under Pipi's slightly trembling gaze, the black-robed figure slowly lifted a corner of the hood.

Beneath it, a pair of deep-blue eyes was revealed, shining like the beautiful, luminous moon.

"I-Is that... you?"

The moment his gaze met those eyes, Pipi felt as though he'd been struck by five bolts of lightning.

His mind seemed to short-circuit, leaving him standing there in a complete daze.

The Cangyue Thunder Sword in his hand slowly lowered of its own accord.

Meanwhile, the destructive power gathered along the blade instantly collapsed, scattering into countless dark-purple particles of energy that dissolved into the surrounding world.

Clearly, the black-robed figure had anticipated the purple-haired maid's reaction.

After letting out a long sigh, the figure slowly stepped forward.

Then, without hesitation, the mysterious person pulled the still-dazed Pipi into a warm embrace.

"Long time no see, my foolish little brother."