Abandon Dragon, Old Mother was a desperate killing move. At the cost of throwing away his weapon, he had pierced two targets at extreme range before the force wrapped around the Heavenly Gang Mace finally reached the end of its tether. It bounced upward, then fell to the ground with several crisp chimes:
Clink, clink, clang...
After that all-out strike, Xie Jinhuan thought the two fragile Gu Masters were surely dead and had intended to check on Lin Wanyi.
But to his surprise, the Ghost Witch who had fled first seemed to have carried a lifesaving Dharma Artifact. After crashing into the hillside shrubs, he sprang back up in an instant, his whole body shrouded in dense black mist. From a distance, he resembled a black cloud roaming through the wilds, moving at an inconceivable speed. He had already escaped nearly a quarter of a kilometer away.
?
That commotion...
At the sight of that black mist, Xie Jinhuan's pupils abruptly contracted. Though the unnamed Demon he had encountered three years ago had made a far greater disturbance as it roamed, the signs were largely the same!
Discovering traces of the Demon he had encountered back then made Xie Jinhuan's heart sink. Seeing that catching up would be difficult now, he whistled:
"Whew~"
Coal Ball, circling overhead, immediately pursued the black mist roaming through the wilds.
Xie Jinhuan flew over to Lin Wanyi to check on her:
"How do I undo this net?"
Lin Wanyi leaned against the tree trunk, bound tightly in the rope net. Her struggles had not loosened it at all; instead, it had pressed grooves into her chest, waist, and legs, making her look as though she were wearing a full-body fishnet stocking. Her expression was rather embarrassed:
"It's an Immortal-Binding Rope made by the Wubei Institute. It melts on contact with fire. You have to burn it."
"Fire?"
Xie Jinhuan felt behind his waist and discovered he had not brought a fire striker, then started feeling around Lin Wanyi's slender waist.
His ghost wife, who had sat idle throughout the fight, popped out again. With her red umbrella over her shoulder, she stood before him and offered guidance:
"Stop using this as an excuse to grope her. Lightning and fire share the same source. Use the Thunder-Binding Sword."
Xie Jinhuan had only been looking for a fire striker. At her words, he picked up the Zhenglun Sword and channeled his qi into it. Blue-white lightning immediately surged over the dark blue-green blade.
Crackle~
Lin Wanyi had already been puzzled by the sword's power. Now, seeing the Zhenglun Sword flashing with lightning, she could not help asking:
"This sword seems to be an evil-suppressing Dharma Artifact of an extremely high grade. Where did you-you-you~~~"
Before she could finish, Lin Wanyi began trembling all over, her voice shaking too.
Xie Jinhuan could not sustain it for long at all. He had brought the sword closer as he circulated his qi, but noticing something was wrong, he hurriedly moved it away. The lightning vanished without a trace.
Lin Wanyi was not insulated, after all. Just that brief contact had left her numb from the shock, her eyes alarmed:
"What are you doing?!"
"Uh... lightning and fire share the same source. I'm helping undo the ropes."
"Who undoes them like that? Will I still be alive by the time you're finished?"
Only then did Xie Jinhuan realize the problem. Lightning was electricity. With Lin Wanyi trussed up tight, if he whipped her with Thunder Magic too, wouldn't that make it bondage and electric shocks?
Starting off with something that intense, given Lin Wanyi's delicate little frame, would probably have her eyes rolling back after two jolts and her panties wet after three...
After a little thought, Xie Jinhuan put down the Zhenglun Sword, slipped his hand between the ropes, and channeled his qi to cast "Palm Thunder."
Tap-tap~
Tap-tap~
This method actually worked, though the results were hard to describe.
After all, casting spells barehanded was like fighting barehanded. No matter how strong you were, it was difficult to maximize your power.
Casting through a Dharma Artifact was like picking up a weapon that suited your hand. The higher its grade, the less qi was wasted and the more concentrated it became. Your cultivation remained unchanged, but the power was much greater.
As an Immortal Artifact, the Zhenglun Sword was rather special. It directly "created something from nothing," drawing an equal amount of five-element qi from heaven and earth while Thunder Magic was being cast, thereby achieving the astonishing effect of "doubling" its power.
In Momo's hands, this sword could easily kill opponents above her level with Thunder Magic, without the slightest regard for reason.
But Xie Jinhuan's self-created, miscellaneous "Palm Thunder" was a bush-league Divine Ability to begin with, with a qi utilization rate of thirty percent at most.
Combined with the eighty-percent loss incurred beforehand by "Upside-Down Candle," his overall qi utilization rate reached an astonishing "six percent"-a standard that would make even a dog shake its head!
Without the Zhenglun Sword's enhancement, what appeared in Xie Jinhuan's palm was naturally just a tiny electric arc, and an intermittent one at that.
Fortunately, slow though it was, it really could melt through the ropes.
Lin Wanyi had not been shocked. Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, she continued asking:
"Where did you find this sword? It's so powerful. Why do I feel like it's the one from Purple Emblem Mountain..."
Xie Jinhuan himself could feel how astonishingly powerful it was. Now, he replied with an air of profound secrecy:
"Heaven's secrets must not be revealed. I'm from the Hidden Immortal Sect. Don't ask about anything else."
"Oh..."
Lin Wanyi nodded, half-convinced. Perhaps finding the situation too awkward, she fell silent for a moment, then searched for something to say:
"You attacked too early just now. You should have waited for the Puppet to charge in before showing yourself."
Xie Jinhuan concentrated on heating the ropes. At her words, he grumbled:
"Are you telling me how to do things? If I hadn't shown myself sooner and the Puppet had reached you, how would you have dealt with it, with footwork that got you tied in a Turtle-Shell Binding in a single exchange?"
Lin Wanyi blinked, looking somewhat bewildered:
"What's a Turtle-Shell Binding?"
"It means being tied up like a turtle."
"Uh..."
Lin Wanyi's expression stiffened. She thought Xie Jinhuan really was a good person, but he truly had no idea how to sweet-talk a girl, so she stopped speaking.
Tap-tap-tap~
Tiny electrical sparks kept flashing beneath the pine tree as the ropes came undone one after another.
Though the disturbance was not great, after a short while, he had consumed even more true qi than he had during the fight.
Fortunately, Xie Jinhuan's sea of qi was unfathomably deep, and he could still sustain it for now.
At first, Lin Wanyi simply waited obediently. But as Xie Jinhuan's hand slowly moved upward, she gradually sensed something was wrong. When the back of his hand reached her chest, her expression stiffened even further.
Xie Jinhuan, hurrying to free her from her restraints, also paused and looked at the rope marks pressed into the front of her clothing:
"What's going on with you?"
Lin Wanyi's face visibly flushed crimson, the color gradually spreading to her ears. Her gaze grew flustered, and she hesitated to speak.
The reason, naturally, was the "Soft Armor" she was wearing.
To cast Palm Thunder, Xie Jinhuan naturally had to channel qi, and that true qi stimulated the specially made breastplate...
Lin Wanyi's body stiffened, and her eyes began to dart away.
Xie Jinhuan had not understood at first, but a moment later, through her thin dress, his gaze suddenly turned strange. He looked at the blushing face before him:
"You're wearing the Soft Armor?"
"You!"
As the saying went, "See through it, but don't say it." Lin Wanyi had hoped to muddle through, but when Xie Jinhuan pointed it out directly, she was instantly mortified. She wanted to deny it outright, but with the facts so plainly before them, how could she argue?
Trussed up tightly, Lin Wanyi could not even cover her chest. She could only brace herself and answer:
"You tricked me into buying it. Thirty taels of silver! I couldn't just waste it, so... so..."
Her voice even took on a hint of tears.
Xie Jinhuan had never encountered this kind of Dharma Artifact before. Instinctively, he tried withdrawing his qi, and sure enough, without the stimulation of true qi, the bodice closed on its own.
He circulated his qi again, and the lotus blossomed once more...
"Xie Jinhuan!"
After being put through that twice, Lin Wanyi had gone weak all over. In her shame and anger, she wanted to beat this rotten man, but she could not do so at all.
Xie Jinhuan hurriedly stopped and continued burning through the ropes:
"All right, all right, I was just testing it. I didn't actually touch you. Emergencies call for bending the rules."
Lin Wanyi was so ashamed she wished she could cover her face and throw herself into a lake. But there was nothing she could do now. She could only grit her teeth and put on an air of composure, silently telling herself:
Emergencies call for bending the rules. There's nothing else to be done...
He went to so much trouble to save me just now. What's a little playing with my boobies through my clothes...
Pah, pah, pah...
Fortunately, this torment did not last too long.
Worried that the Witch Cult's Demon Person might double back, Xie Jinhuan did not linger too long over her honey-peach-like figure. After briskly breaking some of the ropes, he pulled the net off.
Lin Wanyi was already so embarrassed she could hardly breathe. Once freed, she wanted nothing more than to rip off this wretched Undergarment and throw it away. But she clearly could not do that in front of Xie Jinhuan, so she folded her arms over her chest instead and struggled to settle herself.
After making sure Lin Wanyi was all right, Xie Jinhuan intended to pursue the Ghost Witch, only to see that his useless personal maidservant had actually flown back.
?
Xie Jinhuan jolted at the sight:
"You lost him?"
"Coo-coo-"
Coal Ball circled overhead, looking a little aggrieved.
Lin Wanyi had finally managed to calm the little deer bounding wildly across the lake of her heart. Seeing Xie Jinhuan taking his failure to catch the Demon Bandit out on Coal Ball, she hurriedly said:
"Don't worry. He can't get away. Leaving marks is what the Witch Cult does best. He came into contact with the poisonous mist just now, so he has poison on him. Even if he can neutralize it, the smell will linger for quite some time. I can track him down."
"Really?"
Xie Jinhuan's eyes immediately lit up. Grabbing Lin Wanyi, he started running out.
Caught off guard, Lin Wanyi stumbled as he pulled her, even the front of her clothing bouncing twice. She could only run after him:
"Slow down a little! How am I supposed to track him like this? I don't have a dog's nose..."
Xie Jinhuan stopped again and released her wrist:
"Hurry, hurry! Don't actually let him get away. I want this one alive."
Lin Wanyi wasted no more words. Standing in place, she held her hands one above the other, eerie green flames visibly churning without any pattern between her palms.
After observing them for a moment, Lin Wanyi strode out of the mountain hollow...
I just finished revising. Please keep reading! I'm still 2,500 follow-up readers short of qualifying for a launch event or2!
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