The fish that slipped through the net had to be caught, every last one.
When Qu Xuanqing thrust out her blood-red sword, it carried a viciousness that sank to the bone. She made no probing strike, no feint. Her first attack went straight for the maid's throat, its tricky angle aimed at an instant kill.
Clearly, she had no interest in wasting time on anyone unimportant.
The maid's reaction, however, was astonishingly swift.
She didn't stumble backward in panic. Instead, with an eerie, almost instinctive suppleness at odds with her plain appearance, she suddenly bent her head and upper body backward, nearly folding herself in half!
The blood-red sword grazed her chin, leaving a shallow cut.
At the same time, the shadows beneath the hem of her modest maid's dress suddenly thickened like ink, as though something alive were writhing within them.
Using the force of her backward bend, she pushed off with both feet and drifted several feet away like a gliding jellyfish. The shadows beneath her skirt trailed across the floor in a twisted path, giving off a faint, unsettling aura of chaos.
Qu Xuanqing's eyes turned cold. She stepped forward, and her second strike followed at once.
The maid's figure blurred for an instant, as though briefly merging with the light and shadows around her. She barely managed to twist aside, skimming the sweeping blade. The blood-red sword nearly sliced through her dress, and its gusting force sheared off a few strands of hair at her temple. Terror flickered in her eyes.
As she spun, her pale fingers darted toward Qu Xuanqing's wrist, their tips wreathed in a withered shadow that seemed capable of devouring life.
Qu Xuanqing lowered her wrist, turning her sweeping strike into a downward chop.
This time, the maid didn't manage to dodge