A Life-or-Death Crisis

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, a stunning woman in a qipao, with a voluptuous figure, walked through the air.

With every step she took, a phantom blue lotus bloomed beneath her foot. A single step carried her a thousand meters.

Before she arrived, the lotus came first. A phantom blue lotus rose beneath Lu Siye's feet, forcing back all the icy corpse aura emanating from the burly zombie.

Lu Siye shuddered, shaking off all the frost on his body. He guided the corpse aura that had invaded him into his Dantian, then used his inner strength to suppress and absorb it.

All this took only a few breaths, and the woman had already arrived beside Lu Siye.

"Shorty, your Web wants to lay a hand on someone from my Town Demon Suppression Division. Have you thought about the consequences?" Shangguan Qingxue held a long sword and looked haughtily at the Web member before her.

Lu Siye glanced at Shangguan Qingxue beside him. From what he could sense, her aura was considerably stronger than the shorty's.

"More than twelve hundred years ago, there was a prominent sect in Jiuzhou called the Azure Lotus Sect. Its most famous martial art was a movement technique called the 'Heavenly Lotus Step.'

"Once mastered, the Heavenly Lotus Step allowed one to summon a blue lotus with every step and walk through the air as easily as on level ground.

"The Town Demon Suppression Division has existed for over a thousand years. Surely it has a peerless movement technique like this in its records."

The shorty perched on the burly man's shoulder looked calmly at Shangguan Qingxue, who had suddenly appeared. His eyes showed no fear.

"So what if it does?" Shangguan Qingxue furrowed her brow, looking as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

"You used the Heavenly Lotus Step to imitate a Day Wanderer Envoy's ability to ride the wind through the air, hoping to scare me off so you could save your fellow member of the Town Demon Suppression Division." The shorty suddenly leaned forward, staring straight at Shangguan Qingxue.

Shangguan Qingxue remained where she stood, seemingly unmoved by his words.

"Ha! You're a convincing actress, but your pupils just contracted, and your body tensed up for a moment. You're no Day Wanderer Envoy after all." The shorty slowly sat back, his tone noticeably more relaxed.

"You tricked me!" Realizing she had been fooled, Shangguan Qingxue's beautiful face flushed with anger, and her terrifying aura immediately subsided.

The shorty was right. She had indeed forcibly raised her aura and rushed over, hoping to scare him away.

"At most, you're a Third-Realm Night Wanderer Envoy. Though your strength is about on par with mine, I doubt that brave little fellow beside you can beat my precious zombie!" The shorty leaned against the zombie's head, looking as if he had them right where he wanted them.

Lu Siye's face was grave. The shorty was right: he probably couldn't beat that zombie.

"Little brother, I'll do everything I can to hold them off. Head to the Town Demon Suppression Division branch and get help as fast as you can."

Shangguan Qingxue stepped over to Lu Siye and used True Qi to carry her voice into his ear.

Lu Siye had never learned how to transmit his voice with True Qi. Since he couldn't speak openly, he could only turn to look at her and convey his question with his eyes.

What about you?

"But remember, if you're not back within twenty minutes, you'd better be prepared to collect my body!" Shangguan Qingxue seemed to understand his look and sent him another message through True Qi.

He was reluctant, but Lu Siye knew that only one of his techniques had reached the Night Wanderer Envoy realm; his other techniques were still at the Night Patrol Envoy realm. He was weaker than the other seasoned Night Wanderer Envoys, and staying would only hold her back.

Once he understood the key point, Lu Siye took a deep breath and looked at Shangguan Qingxue with resolve, as if telling her to wait for him to bring back reinforcements.

"Trying to leave? Did you ask my permission?" Somehow, the shorty had realized what they were planning.

He suddenly roared and leaped from the zombie's shoulder, pouncing at Shangguan Qingxue, while the burly zombie quickly closed in on Lu Siye.

Shangguan Qingxue raised her long leg, ignoring the palm striking toward her. Blue True Qi covered her toes as she kicked fiercely toward the shorty's chest, ready to trade blows.

With victory seemingly within his grasp, the shorty naturally didn't want to get hurt. At the last moment, he pulled back both hands to block her kick.

Using the force of the kick, Shangguan Qingxue sprang into the air and slashed a crescent of blue sword energy toward the burly zombie.

The burly zombie roared and instinctively crossed his arms, trying to block the sword energy.

Zombies were naturally thick-skinned. The burly zombie wasn't injured by the hastily launched slash; the tremendous force merely sent him flying.

The shorty saw through her plan and attacked again while she was unable to defend herself.

"Go!" Shangguan Qingxue shouted.

Lu Siye channeled all his blood and qi into the Blazing Blood Blade, unleashed all his strength, and hurled it at the shorty as he went to attack Shangguan Qingxue.

The immense force sent the Blazing Blood Blade spinning rapidly through the air, turning it into a giant red wheel that reached the shorty in an instant.

He didn't look to see how his strike landed. He simply turned and ran without hesitation.

Qingxue, I owe you my life!

As he turned his head, Lu Siye silently vowed that if anything happened to Shangguan Qingxue, he would one day wipe out the Web to repay this debt.

The shorty didn't dare take Lu Siye's attack lightly. Though his opponent was only a First-Realm Night Wanderer Envoy, even a lion used all its strength against a rabbit.

He didn't want to become the kind of brainless villain in a novel who underestimated the protagonist and ended up badly injured—though he didn't think the fleeing Lu Siye was the protagonist.

He gave up the chance to seriously wound Shangguan Qingxue, gauged his timing, and slapped at the body of the Blazing Blood Blade.

Clang!

The sharp ring of metal striking metal burst through the air.

The moment his palm touched the Blazing Blood Blade, the shorty's expression changed. A tremendous force surged through his hand and sent him flying.

The Blazing Blood Blade was also knocked away by the tremendous force. After chopping through two old trees, it plunged straight into the ground.

"What tremendous force. Good thing I'm always cautious." After landing, the shorty narrowed his eyes toward the direction Lu Siye had fled, his hand trembling uncontrollably.

Ignoring the fleeing Lu Siye, the shorty faced Shangguan Qingxue as she attacked again. Black True Qi covered his hands as he charged straight at her.

At the same time, the burly zombie that had been knocked away charged back from a distance, trapping her between them.

Boom!

Shangguan Qingxue stamped one foot down. A wave of blue ripples instantly spread out from beneath her, and both the shorty and the zombie slowed as it passed over them.

The shorty's expression changed. He felt as if he had stepped into a swamp, the resistance around him suddenly mounting.

Shangguan Qingxue wouldn't waste such a perfect opportunity. She poured immense True Qi into her long sword, sending a waterfall-like torrent of sword energy crashing toward the shorty.

The shorty snorted and thrust out both palms. His black True Qi formed a giant ghostly hand that reached toward the sword energy.

The sword energy and the ghostly hand collided, and both vanished in midair.

Meanwhile, relying on his tremendous strength, the burly zombie forced his way free of the resistance and punched toward Shangguan Qingxue's face.

Shangguan Qingxue held her sword across her body to block the blow, but she had underestimated the strength of the zombie's punch. Its immense force sent her flying backward, and she slammed into a tree trunk with a pained groan.

With her back against the trunk, Shangguan Qingxue stared gravely at the shorty and the zombie before her. Her arm trembled despite her grip on the sword.

She had still underestimated her opponent. The zombie before her was already close to the High-Level Evil Ghost realm.

As ghostly claws and a massive fist came at her, Shangguan Qingxue took a deep breath and held her long sword upright before her.

Blue ripples instantly spread outward, and the moisture in the air surged. A giant blue-green lotus bloomed from the ground, enclosing her within its petals.

The ghostly claws and the fist struck just as the lotus closed. A powerful rebound burst from the flower, hurling the two attackers away.

Only ripples appeared across the lotus petals; there was no sign of them breaking.

Shangguan Qingxue's face paled inside the lotus as her True Qi rapidly drained away.

I hope this Heavenly Lotus Body Shield can hold until reinforcements arrive. She took a pill from her robes and swallowed it. Her depleted True Qi quickly began to recover.