Chapter 627: The Final Obstacle

Rain poured down on the beltway. Drifting fog hung like gauzy curtains, only to be sliced apart by streaks of brilliant light and figures sent hurtling backward. It closed again, only to be torn apart once more.

Deafening explosions, shrieks that ripped through the air, low roars, furious howls… all echoed along the deserted highway.

The Shuishu Shou (Water Savage Beast) galloped wildly, the dense pounding of its iron hooves drumming against the asphalt and leaving behind streaks of deep-blue lightning that lingered for a long time.

At the same time, Lu Yibei and Huá Sāng drove their psychic energy to the limit. Psychic energy fluctuations spread from them and condensed into faint auras of flame around their bodies.

“Boom—!”

A Fiery Crimson Flame amplified more than twentyfold exploded against a graceful figure whose entire body gleamed scarlet-gold.

Amid the roar, Lu Yibei emerged from the sweeping crimson blaze. She held the flame-wreathed Pure Lotus Sword as her pink-white hair streamed behind her. After hanging in midair for an instant, she lightly tapped the toe of one foot against an inky shield that silently appeared beneath her, bent her knee, and sprang forward. Her speed abruptly surged as she thrust the Pure Lotus Sword one-handed.

Taihe Gentleman Sword—Heavenly Symphony!

Ahead, the hunched figure in a goat-bone mask waved a serpentine staff entwined with lightning and raised a green barrier.

Ignoring the premonitory thoughts flashing ceaselessly through her mind, Lu Yibei struck three times. Bright white sword light swept down again and again, slamming into the green barrier with deep, heavy reverberations.

“Bang—bang—bang—!”

It was like an egg shattering under a heavy blow.

At the third muffled impact, the green barrier exploded. Green crystals condensed from psychic energy shot in every direction.

Seizing the instant the barrier shattered, Lu Yibei unleashed the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon she had long been gathering in her left palm, pouring its full force into the hunched figure.

Beneath a wash of brilliant white light, a gilded serpentine staff fell to the ground.

The next instant, Huá Sāng launched herself into the air, swept past Lu Yibei, and collided with the black gale roaring toward them.

“Boom—!”

Amid the violent blast, Huá Sāng borrowed the force to retreat and flew toward Lu Yibei.

With less than half a meter between them, their eyes met. Time seemed to freeze for half a second—then suddenly accelerated once more.

Huá Sāng touched a toe lightly to Lu Yibei’s outstretched palm and flew backward. Raising both arms in midair behind her, she spread a broad expanse of inky shields and shut out the incoming attacks.

Then both women descended almost simultaneously, landing securely on the Shuishu Shou’s back just as it appeared below them. They paused for only an instant, and then…

Continued forward.

Throughout the entire exchange, they barely spoke a word.

Perhaps it was because they had once experienced their five senses being exchanged when the Pure Lotus Sword resonated with its fragment—and because the sword and its fragment were now close to each other.

The two women could faintly sense each other’s intent. They had found their rhythm in an astonishingly short time, their attack and defense flowing together seamlessly.

It felt as though they were comrades who had fought side by side for countless years. The slightest shift from one would draw the perfect response from the other at precisely the right moment.

Lu Yibei: “…”

So this is what it feels like to attack without restraint?

Just like the damn chief disciple of the Fengling Yueying Sect1. This is incredible!

Huá Sāng: “…”

So this is what it feels like not to worry about losing control of my Spirit Pattern?

It was as though she had been imprisoned for untold years in a tiny, airtight dark room and had finally seen sunlight and breathed the air of the real world. It felt wonderful!

…

From afar, one could see cyan and crimson shifting lightly and nimbly through the rain-veiled haze beneath the dense fog—advancing, dancing, crossing. Phantoms of tortoise and serpent locked in battle flickered in and out of view amid the crimson fire of explosions.

A streak of deep-blue lightning wove between them, always appearing at the right moment where the two halos converged, giving the women a brief respite—one to clear away the effects of night erosion, the other to replenish her psychic energy.

They were clearly fighting, clearly dealing death, yet the sight created the illusion of two butterflies with magnificent wings dancing gracefully amid thunder and flame, bloody shadows and flashes of steel.

Cyan light flowing like ink wash. Crimson fire erupting like a volcano. Deep-blue lightning lingering on the asphalt. Blood infused with the Calamitous Corruption’s power and spraying out as Pink Fluffy Bunnies…

Colors bright and somber piled together in great swaths, dreamlike and unreal.

…

Many of those figures possessed psychic energy fluctuation levels close to those of Lu Yibei and Huá Sāng, likewise ranging from Class A to Class A+.

But in an ordinary battle, none of them would ever fight as madly as Lu Yibei, abandoning every possibility of retreat.

Nor did they possess what Huá Sāng did: psychic energy saturated with night erosion that had accumulated within her for more than a decade, and defensive techniques she had spent just as long perfecting—techniques that put the Great Pure Palace’s many elders, and even Zhang Huainan, to shame.

When those figures met the two women, it was like healthy adults facing a powerfully built brute who felt no pain. They might be capable of fighting back, but defeat was their only possible end.

Looking back…

Wounded figures and shattered objects lay scattered everywhere the two women had passed.

At last, only two enemies remained ahead.

One was a tall man wearing a ragged fur coat.

A vicious scar crossed his dark face like a twisted centipede, stretching from the corner of his mouth to the corner of one eye.

He held an iron hook in his left hand and a black fan in his right, while a fire pot spewing dark-green flames hung from his waist.

This man was Zhang Shuo. Lu Yibei had seen him in the intelligence supplied by the haunting chat group. The three objects he carried were three of the legendary Five Pestilence Artifacts, corresponding to the three Spirit Patterns he controlled.

Lu Yibei was even more familiar with the other man.

Tall and straight, dressed in white purer than snow, he had a warm, jade-like face, an aloof cast between his brows, and a trace of frost at his temples. Sword in hand, he stood poised to strike.

Who else could it be but Qing Ji?

More precisely, an elderly Qing Ji.

“…”

Expressionless, Lu Yibei looked at the two men. Then her gaze slowly moved to Hu Chuan, now almost within reach. He looked rather comical, yet radiated an intensely unsettling aura. Her eyes darkened.

Things had become troublesome…

Some of those who had blocked them earlier might merely have been there to make up the numbers. These two, however, would be extremely difficult to deal with even one at a time.

Either of them might even be harder to handle than Hu Chuan, who had already transformed into a gigantic Pink Fluffy Bunny, Lu Yibei thought.

The next moment, something completely unexpected happened.

Zhang Shuo suddenly stepped aside. At the same time, the iron hook in his hand plunged into his own chest with a wet squelch. A crazed smile spread across his face as he said in a muffled voice, “Go. Kill that bastard.”

He… wounded himself deliberately? What kind of move was that? Confusion crossed Lu Yibei’s face, but Zhang Shuo’s next words made everything clear.

“This may be my only chance to escape. Either he dies, or you die and I go on suffering endless torment.”

He knew perfectly well that even in his current state, Hu Chuan could sense such an act of betrayal. If Lu Yibei failed to kill Hu Chuan, Zhang Shuo would suffer even crueler torment afterward.

But this truly was his only chance to find release.

“All right…” Lu Yibei replied evenly and stepped forward. The Pure Lotus Sword in her hand began to tremble the next instant.

Qing Ji stood in her way, a meaningful smile appearing on his face…

Footnote:

• Fengling Yueying Sect(风灵月影宗): “Fengling Yueying” is the Chinese name of a well-known game trainer, making the “sect” a joke about playing with cheats enabled.