Chapter 264 - 132: Asking for a Beating

Chapter 264: Chapter 132: Asking for a Beating

Jiang Mu barked an order.

Although the female ghosts were full of doubt, they knew this was their chance to escape. They each bowed to Jiang Mu before transforming into streaks of light, rushing toward the massive rift in the sky.

Seeing them freed, Jiang Mu didn’t linger. He turned and sprinted toward the side courtyard.

...

As the last of the female ghosts escaped, Si Rumeng, who had been struggling to hold on, finally reached her limit.

She could no longer maintain her massive tree form and reverted to her human shape in a flash of light. Clenching her teeth, she transformed into a streak of green light and shot through the rift in the sky as well.

「Outside, in the mountain forest.」

Si Rumeng crashed gracelessly onto the leaf-strewn ground.

The woman was a miserable sight. Her long gown was tattered and torn, revealing large patches of jade-white skin marred by wounds.

Combined with her snow-white hair, she possessed a kind of broken beauty.

"Matriarch!"

"Matriarch, are you all right?"

The escaped female ghosts quickly gathered around her, their faces etched with concern.

Si Rumeng lay on the ground, gasping for breath. It took a long moment before she could finally catch her wind and struggle to prop herself up.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings, but she couldn’t find any sign of the man.

"Where’s that guy? He didn’t make it out?" she asked urgently.

The female ghosts looked at each other, all understanding who their matriarch was asking about.

One of them whispered, "Matriarch, that man went to find Xiaoqian. He hasn’t come out yet."

She recounted how Jiang Mu had saved them and then turned back after learning where Xiaoqian had gone.

Si Rumeng was stunned.

She stared at the spatial node, which was on the verge of complete annihilation, a complex mix of emotions in her eyes.

’That detestable hound from the Court... he actually put himself in a fatal situation just to save that silly girl?’

’If the space collapses completely, he’ll be torn to shreds by the chaotic void.’

...

「Meanwhile.」

In the ruins of the collapsing pocket dimension, the small cottage in the side courtyard teetered on the brink of destruction.

Clutching a medicine vial, Yu Xiaoqian was frantically digging through the rubble like a panicked animal, shouting with a sob in her voice as she searched:

"Bookworm! Where are you?"

"Don’t scare me... *sob*... Are you buried under here?"

"I’m sorry... I was too late... *sob*..."

The young woman’s delicate face was streaked with dust and tears, and her once-pristine white gauze dress was torn in several places.

"Hey, crying like it’s a funeral?"

A teasing voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

Yu Xiaoqian’s sobs hitched, and she quickly turned around.

There stood Jiang Mu not far away, watching her with a helpless expression.

"Bookworm!"

Yu Xiaoqian froze for a moment. Her beautiful eyes lit up, only to be immediately veiled by a fresh mist of tears. She rushed over, complaining through her sobs:

"I thought you were buried in here! Weren’t you paralyzed by corpse poison? Why are you running all over the place?"

As she spoke, she took out the medicine vial. "Quick, I stole the antidote. Take it so we can esca—"

"No time to explain."

Jiang Mu looked up at the black hole already collapsing above them and grabbed her hand. "This place is about to fall apart. I’m getting you out."

"Huh? But... how do we get out?"

Yu Xiaoqian’s face turned pale as she watched the black cracks constantly appearing all around them.

"Brace yourself!"

Jiang Mu immediately summoned the Bronze Buddha Lamp.

His Instant Teleportation couldn’t carry a living person, but Yu Xiaoqian was a Ghost Cultivator, and the Buddha Lamp could shelter her.

"In!"

The Buddha Lamp flared with light.

Before Yu Xiaoqian could react, her petite form became a streak of light and was sucked into the lamp’s wick.

The next moment, Jiang Mu’s figure flickered, and he executed a series of Instant Teleportations.

In the final second before the entire world dissolved into nothingness, he shot like an arrow into the spatial rift, which had shrunk to a mere sliver.

Behind him, a deep, muffled roar echoed.

That pocket dimension had been utterly annihilated.

...

「Outside, in the mountain forest.」

Si Rumeng and the other female ghosts stared nervously at the spatial node, their hearts in their throats.

Just as the node was about to disappear...

"WHOOSH!"

A figure shot out from the void.

Jiang Mu landed and stumbled back several steps before steadying himself. He gasped for air, tightly gripping the Bronze Buddha Lamp.

"Whew... that was close. Almost became fertilizer."

Jiang Mu patted the dust off his clothes and let out a long sigh of relief.

Seeing him safe and sound, Si Rumeng’s tense body relaxed. But when she saw that Yu Xiaoqian was not with him, her expression darkened again. She asked:

"Xiaoqian... you couldn’t save her?"

Of all the lonely spirits she had taken in, she was fondest of the simple and kind-hearted Xiaoqian.

The girl reminded her of her younger sister.

She was the softest spot in her heart.

"I brought her out."

Jiang Mu gently shook the Buddha Lamp in his hand.

A speck of light flew out and transformed into Yu Xiaoqian’s charming figure, standing on the ground with a dazed expression.

"Matriarch?"

Seeing the heavily injured Si Rumeng, Yu Xiaoqian cried out and rushed over. "Matriarch, how did you get hurt so badly?"

Looking at the unharmed Yu Xiaoqian in her arms, a glimmer of tears appeared in Si Rumeng’s normally cold, phoenix-like eyes.

She reached out and gently stroked the young woman’s hair, her heart filled with relief.

"It’s good that you’re back. I’m fine."

After a long moment, she raised her head and looked at Jiang Mu, who was straightening his clothes nearby.

Si Rumeng bit her pale lip, gently pushed Yu Xiaoqian away, and adjusted her tattered clothes. She pushed herself to her feet, then gave Jiang Mu a graceful curtsy, her tone sincere:

"Thank you."

This time, if not for Jiang Mu’s timely help, they all would have perished in that pocket dimension.

Although this disaster had been caused by him in the first place, Si Rumeng knew that they were nothing more than disposable pawns in Black Mountain’s game.