A faint rose fragrance filled the air.
The Left Guardian's back was soaked with cold sweat.
"Why aren't you going back to your hideout?"
Lin Qing's voice came from behind the Left Guardian.
He stood frozen in place, feeling as though a bottomless hell lay behind him, as though a monster with bared fangs were lurking there. An evil, terrifying, scorching presence drifted silently toward him from behind.
The Left Guardian had lost even the courage to turn around. Only one thought remained in his mind:
"So this is Lin Qing!"
"So this is what it means to be invincible!"
"But... how did he find us?"
Ever since Lin Qing had learned to sense the "breathing" of the world, ordinary disguises had become useless against him—even though he had never seen the Left and Right Guardians before.
But adults and children gave off different life rhythms.
Lin Qing had sensed something was wrong the moment the Left and Right Guardians approached.
He hadn't immediately summoned Whitesnake to extract the discs and read their memories because he worried there might be other cultists watching from the shadows. If he acted, he might alert them and cause the cult leader to flee.
So he let them collect his blood and followed them from a distance all the way here.
"...You're even more cautious than I expected," Lin Qing said.
The Left Guardian bit down hard on his tongue, using the pain to force back his fear, then drew a short blade from his waist.
On the other side, the Right Guardian had recovered and pulled out a long needle as long as his forearm.
The two raised their weapons and plunged them into their own chests in unison.
Stab, stab, stab!
After three rapid thrusts, six holes had been punched through their