The black-robed old man's gaze sharpened, and True Qi suddenly swelled around him. The next moment, he hurtled backward, spectral blossoms pursuing him as flames exploded into a vast brilliance in the courtyard.
But before the heat wave had dispersed, the air surged, and a fierce black-clad figure burst through it. He did not head toward Black Chi, however, but swept straight back toward the rear of the residence.
An Immortal Hunter always traveled with a human. Since it was here, that green-clad girl must intend harm to the [Edict Transmission].
Black Chi pursued hard on his heels, reaching the old man's back in the blink of an eye. Beneath the night sky, the High Priest abruptly drew his blade and twisted around. Under the waning moon, a cold, keen light suddenly appeared in midair.
Like a knife splitting leather, the blade tore a gash through the chi's jade-tough body. Yet the wound did not impede its momentum in the slightest. Amid streaming blood, Black Chi twisted its proud head and clamped its jaws around the blade.
Its determined obstruction convinced the old man all the more that something had happened at the Edict Transmission. Expecting it to coil around him, he raised a hand to seize its body. But that vigorous body suddenly swung far away, leaving only its head gripping the blade. It wrenched hard, opening a gap in his guard.
The old man froze, and before he could react, a streak of jade light swept down from the sky. Pure as the cold night and lustrous as clear rain, it passed through his chest. The shrieking wind billowed his black robes, like an icy thread passing through a sandalwood bead.
The body fell soundlessly. Black Chi returned to cat form, its muscles already drawing the gash shut