Red Lady had not expected someone to ambush her from behind either. Her willow-leaf brows shot up, and her expression turned icy. She slapped her Storage Bag, and a hazy gray gourd flew out.
Chanting an incantation, Red Lady formed gestures and sent seven or eight Hand Seals into the gourd.
The gourd spewed out a cloud of black mist, which spread into a dark curtain behind Red Lady.
Thud, thud, thud!
The three streaks of sword light struck the black mist and instantly seemed to lose their bearings. They flew wildly in every direction, veering around Red Lady.
Then-
An aura of wood-type spell power erupted beneath Red Lady's feet. Green runes whirled, and vines transformed into huge hands that reached up to seize her ankles.
Red Lady frowned. Her hands rapidly formed gestures as she murmured an incantation. Her body turned into a wisp of gray smoke, conjuring several successive phantoms as she dodged the vine hands reaching up at her.
The vine hands caught the phantoms Red Lady had conjured and crushed them, scattering them into wisps of gray smoke that vanished into thin air.
Red Lady dodged repeatedly, retreating several dozen feet away.
Her opponent's spellcasting speed was truly astonishing, and his accuracy was exceptionally high. Had her Ghost Step not been fast enough, she would likely have been caught.
Then...
Whoosh...
Seven or eight talismans whistled toward her, blazing with violent runic light.
In an instant, they burst into red fireballs, crackling lightning, and gleaming wind blades, surrounding Red Lady and bombarding her.
Red Lady reacted with incredible speed. She formed a spell gesture with both hands, and a cloud of yin energy swirled out around her. A piece of cloth covered in blood-red runes formed a blood-black barrier roughly ten feet across in front