Battle

Chen Luo's movements caused Lian Ai to pause slightly, her eyes then filled with even more amusement.

Lian Ai opened her mouth, and five beams of white light flew out from it, transforming into five mantis demons. The five mantis demons all rubbed their bladed arms in unison and lunged at Chen Luo.

Chen Luo calmed his mind and focused, maximizing Dai Zong's sensing ability as he charged headfirst into the five mantis demons.

As the icy blades neared Chen Luo's limbs, he closed his eyes, twisting and turning within the blade formation.

Wooden branches can't directly resist blades? No matter, I can use them to distract the blades.

Too many opponents? No matter, there's a world of space within my shifting movements.

Traces of blade energy continuously appeared on the surrounding trees, but amidst the cold gleam, Chen Luo's body always dodged the attacks from unbelievable angles, striking back simultaneously.

He seemed to be dancing in the blade light.

Graceful as a startled swan, agile as a swimming dragon.

"Nine Swords of Dugu - Breaking Blade Style!"

Five consecutive strikes hit the five mantis demons, sending them flying backward to crash onto the ground.

Chen Luo stood in place, a thin sheen of sweat beading on his forehead, his wooden branch intact. He raised the branch and pointed it at Lian Ai.

Lian Ai glanced coldly at the downed mantis demons and snorted, "All useless." As soon as she spoke, a burst of blood erupted from the chests of the five mantis demons, and they immediately died.

Lian Ai looked back at Chen Luo and chuckled, "Interesting. Your physical combat style seems to be a strong counter to mantis demons. How about this?"

A flash of green light appeared on Lian Ai's hand. She casually swiped downwards towards Chen Luo, and an invisible wind blade condensed in her hand, shooting rapidly towards Chen Luo, carving a three-inch deep gash in the ground.

Rift Wind Gu!

The wind blade was incredibly fast. Chen Luo had no time to dodge and instinctively raised the wooden branch to block. Instantly, the branch was sliced in half. Chen Luo's chest erupted in a spray of blood, a deep gash opening from his left shoulder diagonally down to his right abdomen, narrowly avoiding being sliced open!

"Is this the disparity in power?" Chen Luo clutched his chest, blood seeping through his fingers. Fighting for his life felt like a joke.

"I hate weakness, and I hate weaklings who resist even more!" Lian Ai slowly walked towards Chen Luo and swiped again. A wind blade struck Chen Luo's left shoulder, splattering blood.

"Why did you run? Wouldn't it be better to be quietly taken back by me and have your Literary Heart refined? As a reward, I'll make your physical body into a puppet to keep me company..."

Lian Ai unleashed another wind blade, severing Chen Luo's right shoulder down to the bone.

Chen Luo's arms hung limply, like a bloodied man, his gaze fixed on Lian Ai.

"Demoness! How dare you harm my Lord!" a furious roar erupted. Zhong Kui burst out of Chen Luo's body, his iron hook from his sleeve shooting towards Lian Ai. A flicker of surprise flashed in Lian Ai's eyes. However, she didn't dodge the incoming iron hook, letting it pierce her body. Yet, there was no wound on Lian Ai whatsoever.

"A mere spirit, and you think you can harm me?" Lian Ai said disdainfully. With a flip of her delicate hand, a beam of light shot from her fingertip, striking Zhong Kui. Where it hit, a seductive purple flame ignited, instantly engulfing Zhong Kui's entire body.

"Zhong Kui!" Chen Luo shouted.

From within the purple flames, Zhong Kui's voice echoed, "My Lord, Zhong Kui is useless, run..."

The purple flames dissipated, but Zhong Kui was gone, as if vanished into nothingness.

"Bastard!" Chen Luo felt as if a piece of him was missing. Since arriving in this world, Zhong Kui was the first person he had befriended, and now he had watched it disappear before his very eyes...

"I am Zhong Kui, paying respects to my Lord!"

The words from their first meeting echoed in his mind, and Chen Luo was heartbroken.

"Master, run quickly..." another childish voice rang in Chen Luo's mind. Chen Luo froze and subconsciously blurted out, "Dai Zong! Don't..."

A black shadow shot out from Chen Luo's body, lunging at the slowly approaching Lian Ai like a black lightning bolt. The black cat Dai Zong leaped high, raising its front paws. Sharp claws extended from its plump paw pads, slashing fiercely at Lian Ai...

Lian Ai reached out and directly grabbed Dai Zong by the neck. Dai Zong struggled in Lian Ai's hand but couldn't touch her at all.

"Your body contains quite a few of these messy spirit entities!" Lian Ai said indifferently.

Chen Luo's eyes turned red. "Let it go!"

Lian Ai glanced at Chen Luo, then at the struggling black cat in her hand. "It wanted to scratch my face, how could I let it go?"

With those words, Lian Ai tightened her grip. Dai Zong exploded like a popped balloon, shattering into wisps of colorful mist that dispersed...

Chen Luo charged at Lian Ai like a madman...

Looking at Chen Luo's bloodshot eyes, Lian Ai's gaze grew colder. "The rage of the weak..."

Lian Ai flicked her wrist, and a wind blade shot out, striking Chen Luo's left ankle. Chen Luo fell heavily to the ground.

Chen Luo gritted his teeth, struggling to support himself and stand up.

Another wind blade flew, striking Chen Luo's right leg.

Chen Luo collapsed onto the ground, his limbs no longer able to exert any force.

"Tsk tsk tsk... How pathetic!" Lian Ai walked up to Chen Luo, looking down at him. "You want to kill me? You're like a crawling insect right now, how can you kill me?"

Chen Luo turned his head, glaring at Lian Ai's face, as if trying to see through the veiled scarf!

Lian Ai spread her hands, a wind blade condensing in her palm. She said indifferently, "I've changed my mind. I've decided to kill you and take your corpse back."

"My master can definitely refine the Literary Heart from the corpse."

"That's how the Literary Heart you swallowed came to be!"

"As for your corpse, I'll use it to cultivate my Gu worms!"

"So, die!"

Lian Ai opened her hands, controlling the Wind Blades in her grasp and slashing towards Chen Luo's neck...

Just then, something unexpected happened!

A red rope shot out from who knows where and, at the last possible moment, wrapped around Chen Luo's neck. With a sharp tug, Chen Luo was swiftly pulled away. Almost simultaneously, Lian Ai's Wind Blades struck the spot where Chen Luo's neck had been, carving a trench about a meter deep into the ground.

Lian Ai looked up and saw the Little Frog that Chen Luo had been holding was now perched on a distant blue stone. What she had thought was a rope was actually its tongue.

"Foolish." Disgust flickered in Lian Ai's eyes. She conjured Wind Blades in her hands again, but this time, there were not one, but nine of them.

Meanwhile, Chen Luo had been saved by his frog son and pulled to safety. The frog son leaped up and landed on Chen Luo's chest.

Seeing his frog son, Chen Luo weakly said, "Didn't I tell you to run? I..."

"Ribbit! (You damn frog, don't talk like you're saying goodbye!)"

"Ribbit! Ribbit! (You threw me away, and it touched this great me! I'll let you have this one!)"

The frog son stood upright on Chen Luo's chest, its hands rapidly forming seals.

At the same time, Lian Ai had already unleashed the nine Wind Blades. Where they passed, the earth turned and trees snapped!

The seals formed by the frog son's hands blurred into an illusion, and in an instant, it completed eighty-one hand seals.

By now, it could feel the airflow preceding the Wind Blades' arrival.

The frog son spat a mouthful of blood onto its front palm.

The Wind Blades had already cut through the skin on Chen Luo's feet!

The frog son slammed its bloodied front palm onto the wound on Chen Luo's chest, making the blood in its hand contact Chen Luo's blood...

"Soul Merging Technique, activate!"

Instantly, centered on Chen Luo, a storm of demonic energy erupted out of nowhere. The demonic energy storm was like a tornado, with soil, gravel, and trees all being swept into it and dancing violently within.

Even the nine Wind Blades were crushed by the storm.

Even standing a hundred meters away, Lian Ai could feel the immense suction of the demonic energy storm. The storm continued to expand, its radius quickly exceeding thirty meters.

Lian Ai suppressed her shock and entered a state of alert, mobilizing all her Gu power. She wanted to see what kind of tricks a cripple and a small demon in the Pure Blood Realm could pull off!

The storm quickly subsided, and dirt, gravel, and broken wood rained down. Lian Ai could finally see the situation within the storm, and with just one glance, she was so shocked she wanted to turn and run...

It was a colossal toad demon, dozens of feet tall, completely black, yet covered in shimmering points of light, much like the vast expanse of stars in the night sky. Standing beneath the toad demon was like standing under a starry sky, and one could feel an immense pressure.

"Star... Devouring... Toad!" Lian Ai uttered the toad demon's name, syllable by syllable. She felt her limbs go numb and suddenly sensed something was off.

"No, this... this is a phantom!"

The Star Devouring Toad, which resembled a small mountain, was merely an illusion. Only then did Lian Ai clearly see a figure slowly standing up within the phantom.

It was Chen Luo.

All the wounds on Chen Luo's body seemed to have healed, and the exposed skin was covered in star-like imprints.

Chen Luo felt a surge of power erupting from all parts of his body. His eyes were cold as he looked at Lian Ai as if she were already dead.

Hang City's light rain is as soft as cream, and the night-owl editor has gone bald from writing.

Requesting all sorts of votes to mourn my lost hair...

Recommended for promotion~ Hooray, everyone can rest assured and follow along with their investments...

Hmm, the future is bright.