Battle

Chen Luo's movements made Lian Ai pause slightly, and the amusement in her eyes deepened.

Lian Ai opened her mouth, and five streaks of white light flew out, transforming into five Mantis Demons. The five Mantis Demons rubbed the blades on their arms in unison before pouncing at Chen Luo.

Chen Luo calmed his mind and focused his senses, pushing Daisong's perception to its limits as he charged straight toward the five Mantis Demons.

The icy blades closed in on Chen Luo's limbs. He shut his eyes and weaved through the formation of blades.

A wooden branch couldn't withstand the blades head-on? No matter. He only needed to use the branch to draw the blades away.

There were too many opponents? No matter. Between shifting forms and trading places, there was always a world of his own.

Marks carved by Blade Qi kept appearing on the surrounding trees. Yet amid that expanse of cold light, Chen Luo's body always dodged the attacks from unbelievable angles while striking back at the same time.

He seemed to be dancing amid the radiance of the blades.

Graceful as a startled swan, winding like a soaring dragon.

"Nine Swords of Dugu—Breaking Blade Style!"

Five consecutive strikes hit the five Mantis Demons. They were sent flying backward and crashed to the ground.

Chen Luo stood where he was, a thin sheen of sweat beading on his forehead. The wooden branch in his hand remained intact. He raised it and pointed at Lian Ai.

Lian Ai glanced coldly at the Mantis Demons lying on the ground and snorted. "They're all useless." As soon as her words fell, strings of blood burst from the chests of the five Mantis Demons. They died instantly.

Lian Ai looked back at Chen Luo and chuckled. "Interesting. Your physical techniques seem to counter Mantis Demons rather well. What about this?"

A flash of azure light flickered across Lian Ai's hand. She casually slashed downward at Chen Luo, and an invisible Wind Blade condensed in her hand before shooting toward him at high speed, carving a mark three inches deep into the ground.

Wind-Splitting Gu!

The Wind Blade was incredibly fast. Chen Luo had no time to dodge and instinctively raised the wooden branch before him. In an instant, the branch was cut in two. A vast spray of blood erupted from Chen Luo's chest. A deep gash ran diagonally from his left shoulder to his right abdomen, and he narrowly escaped being disemboweled!

"Is this the difference in power?" Chen Luo clutched his chest as blood seeped between his fingers. Fighting for his life had become a complete joke.

"I hate the weak. I hate it even more when the weak resist!" Lian Ai slowly walked toward Chen Luo and casually slashed again. A Wind Blade struck Chen Luo's left shoulder, sending blood spraying everywhere.

"Why did you run? Wouldn't it have been better to quietly let me take you back and refine the literary heart out of you? As a reward, I'll turn your body into a puppet and keep you by my side..."

Lian Ai sent out another Wind Blade, slicing open Chen Luo's right shoulder so deeply that bone showed.

Chen Luo's arms hung limp. He was like a man drenched in blood, glaring fixedly at Lian Ai.

"Witch! Don't harm my master!" With a furious roar, Zhong Kui burst from Chen Luo's body. An iron hook shot from his sleeve toward Lian Ai, and a flicker of surprise crossed Lian Ai's eyes. Yet she neither dodged nor evaded the incoming hook, allowing it to pierce through her body. Not even the slightest wound appeared on Lian Ai.

"A mere spirit dares think it can hurt me?" Lian Ai said disdainfully. She turned her delicate hand, and a beam of light shot from her fingertips, striking Zhong Kui. A bewitchingly violet flame ignited where Zhong Kui had been hit and instantly spread across his entire body.

"Zhong Kui!" Chen Luo shouted.

Zhong Kui's voice came from within the violet flames. "My lord, Zhong Kui is useless. Run..."

The flames dissipated, but Zhong Kui had vanished without a trace, as if he had disappeared into nothingness.

"Bastard!" Chen Luo felt as though a piece of his heart had been torn away. Ever since he had come to this world, the first person he had met was Zhong Kui. Yet now, he could only watch helplessly as he vanished...

"I, Zhong Kui, pay my respects to my lord!"

The words spoken at their first meeting echoed in his heart, and Chen Luo's heart was torn apart by grief.

"Master, run..." Another childish voice rang out in Chen Luo's mind. Chen Luo froze and instinctively blurted out, "Daisong! No..."

A black shadow shot out of Chen Luo's body, pouncing at the slowly approaching Lian Ai like a bolt of black lightning. The Black Cat Daisong leaped high into the air and raised its forepaws. Sharp claws sprang from its chubby paw pads as it viciously raked them down at Lian Ai...

Lian Ai reached out and grabbed Daisong by the neck. Daisong struggled in her hand but couldn't touch Lian Ai in the slightest.

"You've got quite a lot of these miscellaneous spirits inside you," Lian Ai said calmly.

Chen Luo's eyes were bloodshot. "Let it go!"

Lian Ai glanced at Chen Luo, then at the struggling Black Cat in her hand. "It tried to claw my face. How could I let it go?"

After saying that, Lian Ai tightened her grip. Daisong exploded with a boom like a balloon being crushed, transforming into wisps of multicolored mist that drifted away...

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

Looking at Chen Luo's bloodshot eyes, the coldness in Lian Ai's eyes deepened. "The fury of the weak..."

Lian Ai flicked her hand. A Wind Blade shot out and struck Chen Luo's left ankle, sending him crashing heavily to the ground.

Chen Luo gritted his teeth and struggled to support himself as he rose.

Another Wind Blade flew over and struck Chen Luo's right leg.

Chen Luo collapsed face-first onto the ground. His limbs could no longer exert any strength.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... How pitiful!" Lian Ai walked up to Chen Luo and looked down at him from above. "You want to kill me? You're no different from a crawling insect now. How are you going to kill me?"

Chen Luo turned his head and glared at Lian Ai's face, as if he wanted to see through the gauzy veil covering it!

Lian Ai spread open her hand, and a Wind Blade condensed in her palm. She said calmly, "I've changed my mind. I've decided to kill you and take your corpse back."

"My master will definitely be able to refine the literary heart out of your corpse."

"That literary heart you swallowed came from exactly this!"

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

"So, die!"

Lian Ai opened her hand and manipulated the Wind Blade in her palm, slashing it toward Chen Luo's neck...

At that moment, a sudden change occurred!

A red cord shot over from who knew where. At the critical moment, it wrapped around Chen Luo's neck and yanked him backward, dragging him away at high speed. Almost simultaneously, Lian Ai's Wind Blade struck the spot where Chen Luo's neck had been, carving a trench roughly a meter deep into the ground.

Lian Ai looked up and saw that the Little Frog Chen Luo had been holding earlier was crouched on a distant slab of bluestone. The red cord was no cord at all, but its tongue.

"Seeking death." Disgust showed in Lian Ai's eyes. She condensed Wind Blades in her hand again, but this time there was not just one—there were nine.

On the other side, the Frog son rescued Chen Luo and brought him to its side before leaping onto his chest.

When Chen Luo saw the Frog son, he said weakly, "Didn't I tell you to run? I..."

"Croak! (Bastard, don't make your last words!)"

"Croak! Croak! (You threw this great lord aside, and that moved this great lord! This time, I'll let you take advantage of me!)"

Standing upright on Chen Luo's chest, the Frog son rapidly formed hand seals with both hands.

At the same time, Lian Ai had already flung out the nine Wind Blades. Wherever they passed, the earth overturned and trees snapped!

Illusory afterimages appeared around the Frog son's hands as it formed seals. In the blink of an eye, it completed eighty-one hand seals.

By then, it could already sense the air currents before the Wind Blades arrived.

The Frog son spat out a mouthful of blood and sprayed it onto its forepaw.

The Wind Blades had already cut into the flesh of Chen Luo's feet!

The Frog son slammed its bloodstained forepaw onto the wound in Chen Luo's chest, bringing the blood on its paw into contact with the blood on Chen Luo's body...

"Soul Merging Art, activate!"

In an instant, centered on Chen Luo, a storm of Demonic Energy rose from thin air. The storm was like a tornado. Soil, shattered rocks, and trees were all swept into it, dancing violently within the tempest.

Even the nine Wind Blades were crushed apart by the storm.

Even from a hundred meters away, Lian Ai could feel the storm's immense suction. The storm continued expanding, and in the blink of an eye its radius exceeded thirty meters.

Suppressing the shock in her heart, Lian Ai entered a state of vigilance and mobilized the Gu power throughout her body. She wanted to see exactly what tricks a cripple and a little demon in the Pure Blood Realm could pull!

The storm soon dispersed. Soil, shattered rocks, and splintered wood fell like raindrops. Lian Ai could finally see the situation within the storm clearly. Yet that single glance left her so horrified that she nearly turned and fled...

It was a gigantic toad demon dozens of zhang tall. Its entire body was pitch-black, yet it was covered in twinkling points of light, resembling the stars filling the night sky. Standing beneath the toad demon was like standing beneath a starry sky, and one could feel an overwhelming pressure.

"Star... Devouring... Toad!" Lian Ai enunciated the name of the toad demon word by word. Her hands and feet went numb, and she suddenly sensed something strange.

"No, this... this is an illusion!"

The mountain-like Star Devouring Toad was actually only an illusion. Only then did Lian Ai see clearly that a human figure was slowly rising within the phantom.

It was Chen Luo.

At that moment, the wounds covering Chen Luo's body seemed to have healed. His exposed skin was covered in the marks of meteors.

Chen Luo felt the surging power welling up throughout his body. His eyes were cold as he looked at Lian Ai as though she were already dead.

The drizzle in Hangcheng was soft as butter, while the late-night writer had already gone bald.

Please send all kinds of votes to commemorate my hair that has drifted away...

The recommendation has advanced~ Shower me with flowers. Everyone, feel free to keep reading and investing...

Mm, the future is bright.