Chapter 309: How About We Team Up and Take Her Down First?

Under the night sky, in the outskirts of Hua City, scattered snowflakes silently descended into the quiet mountains.

“Whoosh-!”

Accompanied by the howling wind, two figures swiftly traversed through the mountain ravines, hidden beneath the dense forest. The gusts of wind sent a flurry of dry leaves swirling in all directions.

The newcomers were a man and a woman. The man, dressed in black, had a pale complexion and a somewhat gaunt frame. His vacant eyes gave him an air of listlessness.

The woman wore a white dress, and her legs, visible beneath the hem, were long yet not frail. The faint outline of muscles beneath her fair skin silently spoke of the formidable power they possessed.

The two raced to the mountain peak, overlooking the base below.

At the foot of the mountain, the toll station on the Hua City section of the Chun Jin Expressway was brightly lit. However, with nightfall, the staff had long departed, leaving the toll station deserted.

In fact, as nights grew longer, highways worldwide began witnessing bizarre phenomena-ghostly white figures chasing vehicles, sudden dense fog, or pedestrians appearing out of nowhere, leading to horrific accidents. As a result, few dared to remain on highways after dark.

Thus, nighttime toll stations became obsolete, having turned into leisurely nine-to-four jobs two or three years ago.

After observing the toll station from afar and confirming no barriers blocked their path, Shu E breathed a sigh of relief. “Fortunately, The Midnight Watchers Society hasn’t taken action yet, and the Hua City barrier hasn’t been activated. We can still enter from here. If we were any later, it might have been too late.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Ms. Rabbit behind him. His gaze lingered on her face, not classically beautiful but pure and ethereal like a first love. He hesitated for a moment before quickly averting his eyes.

Noticing Shu E’s odd behavior, Ms. Rabbit frowned, crossing her arms. Unable to hold back, she asked, “Hey, do you have something to say? Just spit it out, don’t play games.”

Throughout their journey, she had sensed Shu E’s constant observation, his gaze like a persistent shadow, making her uneasy. She feared he might suddenly turn on her with a deadly betrayal.

Now, as they were about to enter Hua City’s domain, with a life-and-death battle against the Dusk Maiden looming, she felt it necessary to eliminate any risk of betrayal from her ally.

“Uh, well…” Shu E was caught off guard by her question, stammering for a while before weakly asking, “Actually, I’ve always…”

Hearing his tone, as if about to say, “Don’t blame me for being captivated by you,” Ms. Rabbit’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly interrupted, “Wait a minute! Think carefully before you speak. I’ve always considered you my best partner.”

And a human-shaped psychic energy emergency reservoir… Ms. Rabbit added in her mind.

“No, no! You’ve got it wrong,” Shu E quickly denied. “I just noticed you’ve advanced into a haunting related to the Rabbit King She-Jia, and being female, I was a bit worried for you.”

“…” Ms. Rabbit pondered briefly, then asked, puzzled, “Worried? Worried about what?”

“Have you ever heard the legend, ‘There are no male rabbits in the world; female rabbits conceive by gazing at the moon’?” Shu E asked.

Ms. Rabbit was baffled. “What on earth?”

Seeing her lack of response, Shu E continued, “This legend is related to She-Jia. It is said that after the Rabbit King perished in the fire, Buddha guided him to the moon…”

At this, Ms. Rabbit looked up at the sky. Through the clouds, a crescent moon slowly peeked out.

“On nights of the new moon, rabbits would gather in open spaces on mountaintops…” Shu E went on.

Ms. Rabbit glanced around. This mountaintop did seem quite open.

“There, they would gaze at the Rabbit King, or She-Jia, praying for offspring, and then…”

“Stop right there!” Ms. Rabbit interrupted, unable to hold back. “How can anyone believe such baseless legends?”

I’ve only acquired part of She-Jia’s power, not the ability to create a rabbit harem… right? Ms. Rabbit thought to herself.

“That’s a relief! That’s a relief!” Shu E nodded, exhaling in relief. “I was worried the whole way here. What if you suddenly gave birth to a little rabbit?”

Ms. Rabbit’s eyes flickered slightly, her voice softening as she asked, “And what were you planning to do if that happened?”

Hearing this, Shu E’s dull eyes brightened. “Of course, I’d take it back to the Council of Elders! A haunting giving birth in such a miraculous way would be incredible…”

Before he could finish, Ms. Rabbit rolled her eyes, shook her head, and with a shimmer of light, her form twisted and vanished, reappearing dozens of meters away.

“Hey! Why are you leaving? Wait for me!”

From a distance, Shu E’s voice called out, but Ms. Rabbit seemed not to hear, focusing solely on speeding towards the center of Hua City, with Shu E struggling to keep up.

A few minutes later.

The green hills faded into the distance as Ms. Rabbit, standing atop a dilapidated building on the city’s edge, gazed intently towards the city center, a faint mark on her forehead glowing softly.

Though Ms. Rabbit had undergone several advancements, the influence of the Dusk Maiden on her had weakened considerably, yet their subtle connection had not been entirely severed.

Once within a certain range, they could sense each other’s presence.

And so, upon reaching this point, Ms. Rabbit felt it.

“Whoosh-!”

With a gust of wind, Shu E landed behind her, puzzled by her hesitation. “Why… why have you stopped? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted to do?”

Ms. Rabbit smiled slightly. “You’re right, this is what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Yet even I didn’t expect that when the moment truly arrived, I would still feel afraid, she thought.

The fear the Dusk Maiden had instilled in her was profound, so deep it had become a sickness. Unless the Dusk Maiden was hunted and completely eradicated, this ailment would never heal.

Meanwhile, not far from Xingfu Community, on a long street, Gu Qianqian confronted the Dusk Maiden.

In the midst of eerie silence, crude words broke the stillness.

“Damn! Who the hell are you, hag? Do you have any idea how serious it is to offend our Lady Witch?”

The Dusk Maiden remained silent.

Gu Qianqian also remained silent.

Both turned towards the source of the voice, only to see an eyeball bouncing vigorously on the ground.

Beside it, a denture clamped tightly onto the eyeball, attempting to drag it away, stretching the pale tissues long, yet it seemed welded in place, immovable.

“Brother Eyeball, stop talking! You’ll get us killed! Do you know who that is? That’s the Dusk Maiden!” a hairball warned in a deep voice.

“I don’t care who she is. Such trash, we don’t even need our Lady Witch to handle her. We can take care of her ourselves!”

“You?” the Dusk Maiden looked past the eyeball down the empty street, tilted her head slightly, and a smirk began to form as psychic energy fluctuations spread out, her gaze growing colder.

Feeling the overwhelming psychic energy that almost lifted it off the ground, the eyeball struggled to look back, its movements abruptly stiffening.

Behind it, the horde of hauntings had already vanished, leaving behind a few figures poorly hidden and surrounded by several Black Cloak Men, shivering in bushes under Meng’s protection.

Eyeball fell silent.

The next moment, a flash of silver light condensed in the palm of the Dusk Maiden.

The psychic energy that Jiang Li used to seal her remains had also decayed when she awakened and escaped, condensing into the silver long blade in her hand, glowing with a crimson light, slashing towards the eyeball.

A piercing scream erupted.

From Gu Qianqian’s hand, a metal rod swung forward, blocking the trajectory of the long blade.

“Clang-!”

The harsh sound of metal clashing rang out, and the metal rod and long blade separated upon contact.

“With the power of the goddess, earth-shattering!”

Seeing the Dusk Maiden flying backward, Gu Qianqian seized the opportunity to fully unleash her Spirit Pattern, with a wave of thick earthy yellow light rippling around her. She stepped forward, wrist twisting, and the metal rod in her hand nimbly traced an arc, slashing downwards.

This time, the swing of the metal rod was suddenly faster and more powerful.

The Dusk Maiden failed to dodge in time, her long blade lifted in a desperate parry, the clash of psychic energy causing the air to explode with a loud bang.

“Boom-!”

In an instant, the asphalt beneath the Dusk Maiden cracked, and a tearing pain shot through her hand.

Seeing this, Gu Qianqian didn’t allow her any chance to breathe, stepping forward and leveraging her light rebound to sweep again.

One blow followed another, like beating a drum.

The screeching of metal and the explosive friction of psychic energy continually erupted. The Dusk Maiden retreated in disarray, while Gu Qianqian pressed on, her movements fluid, effortlessly wielding the metal rod.

The Dusk Maiden kept retreating.

Once, twice, three times…

The more she tried to avoid, the clearer she felt the brute force and psychic energy fluctuations emanating from the metal rod growing more terrifying.

It seemed that from the moment she first started to retreat, Gu Qianqian had already taken control.

She felt as though she was facing an avalanche, and as time passed, the collapsing tons of earth and rock grew more imposing.

But.

Avalanches eventually stop… the Dusk Maiden mused.

The moment such a thought flashed through her mind, her blade collided with the metal rod, and she distinctly felt the force lessen, followed by a sly smile curling at her lips.

After all, it’s just brute force; battles among hauntings are not so simple, little sister! thought the Dusk Maiden.

Seizing the brief weakening of Gu Qianqian’s psychic energy fluctuation, she suddenly summoned all her strength and swung her blade fiercely forward.

“Clang-!”

Gu Qianqian’s seemingly powerful attack was repelled as if it was the last arrow in the quiver.

She staggered back, stabilized her stance, and was about to advance again when suddenly, the system’s exclamation rang in her ears.

“Gu Qianqian, don’t move!”

But it was already too late.

“They were once buried alone on a hillside blooming with wildflowers…”

As the Dusk Maiden whispered softly, wildflowers quietly bloomed under Gu Qianqian’s feet. By the time she noticed them, following the system’s warning, her toes had already touched one of the flowers.

The touched delicate flower trembled slightly, causing the entire patch to shudder as well. Petals fell and wilted at a visible rate, turning into a pool of crimson blood the moment they touched the ground.

“Ah-!”

A scream like that of a girl being brutally murdered suddenly burst in Gu Qianqian’s ears, forcefully penetrating her mind with intense negative emotions.

For a moment, it seemed as if a slanted sunbeam appeared before her eyes, the light quickly intensified, and her world turned into a rosy hue.

“Ding-ding-!”

The sharp sound of metal dragging on the ground came to her ears, covering the approaching footsteps. The next moment, a cold chill enveloped in a bloody scent appeared head-on.

In the dead silence of the Dream city.

After Lu Yibei received a reminder from the power leveling, she hurriedly checked on her two familiars after she left.

Having missed the chance for a haunting transformation at sunset, she felt that sharing strength and perception with her familiars in the Dream was the most reliable way to help them avert crisis.

Rushing over to support them and wondering whether she would make it in time, and if they couldn’t undergo haunting transformation, it would be a two-for-one deal.

She briefly checked and found that Du Sixian, instead of sleeping late at night, was staying up to tally the rental income from the previous day. Aside from the risk of literally counting money to death, there seemed to be no immediate danger.

Suppressing the joy of sharing the sensory experience of counting money, she immediately turned her attention to Meng.

“Cough cough! Testing testing 123! Hey! Meng, can you hear me?”

After waiting for a moment, Lu Yibei heard Meng’s response, “Master, I’m here.”

Relieved to get a reply, Lu Yibei asked anxiously, “Are you in danger over there?”

“Danger?”

On the other side, Meng observed the Black Cloak Men who initially resisted but then gradually joined in the Dream she had woven, playing happily. She seemed puzzled.

“Reporting to Master, there’s no… Oh no!”

“Huh?” Lu Yibei was taken aback.

How did things suddenly go wrong while they were talking?

With a sense of foreboding, she quickly followed the “Familiar Operation Guide” provided by the power leveling assistant, focusing her will on Meng, forcefully sharing her psychic energy and perception.

In an instant, the two psychic energy fluctuations, subtly connected in the void, merged into a phantom vortex, frantically absorbing her psychic energy.

Her consciousness felt as if it was being pulled by some force, detaching from her body. After a dizzying sensation that made her head throb, her vision gradually cleared.

This feeling was somewhat like the legendary out-of-body experience, attaching to Meng? And with psychic energy, no less… Lu Yibei mused while experiencing this strange sensation.

Then, as she took in the scene before her, she suddenly realized her vision was fixed in a particular direction, much like the many times she had glimpsed hauntings through Dreams, with the image slightly yellowed.

Could it be that the scenes she had seen before were shared with her by someone through some method?

This thought flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind, but before she could delve deeper, she saw Gu Qianqian lying motionless not far away, with a pool of crimson blood beneath her, and her heart tightened.

“What happened here, Meng? Is Gu Qianqian done for?” Lu Yibei asked urgently.

As she spoke, she quickly noticed two women standing off against each other not far away. One was dressed in red, exuding a bewitching aura, the same “poisoning” woman she had seen in the Dream not long ago.

The other wore a white dress, her face somewhat familiar, as if seen somewhere before.

The two stood together, confronting each other from a distance, evoking a “white rose versus red rose” vibe.

However, Lu Yibei didn’t like roses; she preferred chrysanthemums.

Uh, cosmos flowers…

“Master, Miss Gu is not in serious trouble. She was defeated in battle and temporarily lost her ability to move, but her vital signs are stable,” Meng replied to Lu Yibei’s query.

“That’s good, but…” Lu Yibei nodded, “How did you two get mixed up in this? What are you doing?”

“Reporting to Master, we…”

Meng was about to answer Lu Yibei’s question when suddenly the two women who had been facing off turned their heads towards Meng’s direction, their eyes briefly flashing with panic before revealing murderous intent.

Lu Yibei, “…”

What on earth?

You two keep fighting, why look over here!?

Could it be that you have a bloody tradition of sacrificing onlookers to the heavens before a duel?

As Lu Yibei pondered, Meng, feeling the dual psychic energy suppression from Dusk Maiden and Ms. Rabbit, weakly said, “Master, in this situation…”

“…”

Lu Yibei pondered for a second or two before saying, “Don’t worry, leave it to me!”

Ms. Rabbit appeared just as the Dusk Maiden was dragging her long blade towards Gu Qianqian.

The psychic energy fluctuation of the traitor had approached so closely, yet she had almost failed to notice it. The Dusk Maiden felt a chill of fear for her oversight.

The task of slaying Gu Qianqian was promptly cast aside.

Following the direction from which Ms. Rabbit’s psychic energy fluctuation emanated, there was no exchange of pleasantries, no sudden ambush, not even a chance to speak. The Dusk Maiden was startled to find that Ms. Rabbit, now many times stronger than before, had suddenly appeared before her.

The blade, intended for Gu Qianqian, was slowly lowered.

Thus.

In the uncertainty of each other’s true strength, the former master and servant faced off like mortal enemies.

Until a wave of psychic energy, which made them both feel threatened, emanated from Meng, drawing their shocked gazes.

Dusk Maiden: “…” So that’s what they call Lady Witch? Seems like she has some power.

Ms. Rabbit: “…” How did this ghostly thing appear out of nowhere? This complicates matters.

As they pondered, Meng cleared her throat and spoke earnestly, “Ahem, ladies, I’m just an onlooker, with no intention of meddling in your feud. Why don’t you… carry on?”

Dusk Maiden, Ms. Rabbit: “…”

An onlooker? Who would believe that?

A high-tier haunting, secretly observing, likely has ulterior motives and might ambush during the battle.

Perhaps we should team up and eliminate her first?

While the Dusk Maiden and Ms. Rabbit secretly plotted to remove Lu Yibei as a threat, a remark that caught their attention floated into their ears.

“Speaking of which, do you know what she says about you behind your back? Tsk tsk, it’s quite unpleasant. If it were me, I wouldn’t stand for it!”

“…”

In the silence, the Dusk Maiden and Ms. Rabbit almost simultaneously turned to look at each other.