That dead silence was more terrifying than any roar. Like an invisible blade, it hung over Daoist Wu's head, slowly pressing down.
Then, the succubus spoke again.
She let out a tinkling laugh. Crisp and seductive, it was like a string of silver bells swaying in the night wind.
Yet beneath that laughter lay a blade-like chill.
"The grand leader of the Wind and Rain Tower."
Her voice carried both mockery and ridicule. "The mastermind behind an assassin organization!"
She tilted her head slightly, shifting her gaze from Daoist Wu toward Du Yulin in the distance. That slender figure stood utterly motionless, as though she had turned to stone.
"And you actually came to mock a helpless woman."
The succubus withdrew her gaze and fixed it on Daoist Wu's face again, the smile on her lips deepening. "Have you no shame?"
"I'm standing right here."
The succubus's voice abruptly sharpened, all languidness swept away and replaced by an unyielding resolve.
"If you have the ability, kill me first. Then tell the world you're invincible. Then go look for Du Yulin. Then seize that divine sword that was never yours!"
The instant the final word fell, her aura had already climbed to its peak.
That aura was not the pressure of heaven and earth spiritual energy, nor was it the sharp edge of a drawn blade.
It was something more fundamental...
Will!!!
A will that would not retreat, would not compromise, and would rather break than bend.
The dust on the long street gradually settled.
Moonlight spilled dimly over the ravaged street, over the collapsed walls and shattered bluestone slabs, over the crisscrossing sword marks.
Though this was clearly a battlefield of slaughter, it now seemed to have regained a sense of clarity.
An air of peace prevailed.
That peace formed