Chương 329: Truths and Lies (XV)

Dai Xiu felt a bit peeved; Xi Zhao got all the glory of killing that wretched woman so swiftly, while the rest of them just stood about like statues. Though she would never say it, when she saw that ugly man who dared bicker with Master pull the woman back together like he was sawing a broken doll up, and when she saw the woman wake... she was a bit happy. That banshee roar, despite being the worst sound Dai Xiu had ever heard in her life, was also a melody; now, she would have the chance to fight her, too!

But when the shadows began to emerge from the sides, and the woman still remained far up in the sky... she got angry. Though she was strong, she couldn't fly yet! Couldn't even jump half the distance between the two of them! Luckily, she grinned, there were a lot of punching bags that delivered themselves to her. She sprung from her feet to the side, gauntlets already churning with Qi, and punched.

A soft explosion displaced air visibly as her punch tore open a gaping hole in the cloaked figure's chest, the edges flaring up in a strange, multi-colored embossing that continued to eat away at the decaying flesh while the body flew backward and over the edge of the arena, back into the lake.

"Thank you." She turned to the side, where she saw Xi Zhao popping some pills. Frowning, she spat words back at him.

"That was quite an attack. How come you never attacked me with it? Huh?"

"Uhm..." he stuttered; the look in his eyes told the entire story, but his lips never moved.

"Because you'd die and Master would be sad," Light added from the side in her usual, dismissive tone. Dai Xiu felt her muscles twitch, but all she did was shoot the shorthead a dirty look. She felt a dagger from her side, weaving forward for a moment before sending out a punch, squaring off against the shadow's head. A frown on her face deepened; whoever these people were... they were weak.

Per their Qi, they all looked to be between the peak of the Foundation Establishment and the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm, but there was hardly any difference. They all died in one hit, not just from her but Wan Lan, too.

An abrupt burst of golden light startled her slightly, though she quickly realized it was Rayce; she watched hair-thin strands of light shoot off into the distance and saw them latch onto the still-emerging, cloaked figures before obliterating their flesh and ripping it free from their skeletons. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Even she winced at a rather gnarly sight, looking over at Rayce, who had a blissful expression, his lips mumbling words Dai Xiu could understand greatly.

"Master... is really one of a kind..." Just then, she felt something in her... change. It scared her for a moment, thinking it was some trick, but that wasn't it. It came from her Master, she could tell--just like how she felt breathing and cultivating was far easier when next to him, she could tell that this, too, came from him. It was like a knot loosening in the depths of her dantian; even though she remained at the peak of the Foundation Establishment, she felt that the breakthrough would be... different.

Elevated. Greater. She dodged the stab of the dagger and punched out, all while looking over toward the stands; her heart stopped for a moment when she saw several shadows besiege her Master--her weak, frail Master--but she exhaled in relief when she saw him kill them with similar ease to her. Though Master was weak, he wasn't weak. Save for perhaps Senior Brother Tao, only he could match Xi Zhao's singular strike--and only he could likely take it on directly.

Master, though perhaps frail in flesh, had strange and esoteric means of dealing with seemingly everything. No situation, no matter how dire, ever seemed impossible with him by their side. He was still here, too, which meant that there was a chance. She punched out, expecting an easy victory, but felt herself rebuffed, taking a few steps back. Eyebrows arching, she turned toward her opponent and saw that it wasn't a cloaked figure. It was a young man, perhaps Wan Lan's age, similarly wearing a pair of gauntlets.

He had a sunken, gaunt face, and his eyes were bereft of light, as though there wasn't consciousness within but endless nothing.

"Watch out!" Wan Lan voiced, prompting Dai Xiu to look over where she saw Xi Zhao abruptly step back, dodging a bolt of lightning that seared through the arena. She gnashed her teeth and spun herself back over, punching out; this damnable thing that wasn't even human tried to sneak attack her. Their fists met, and they both bounced back a few paces.

"I will rip your skin from your bones!!" that thing up there screeched once more, distracting Dai Xiu for a moment; a flurry of lightning and fire began to merge at her periphery, but it wasn't aimed at her. She stealthily glanced at Xi Zhao and saw him popping pills without being worried, quickly shifting her focus to the strange boy in front of her. He didn't speak; he didn't blink. If she couldn't see air move in and out of his nose, she'd think he was one of those ghouls from the stories, a reanimated corpse.

But he was alive... whatever that meant for him. He attacked, just as her mind wandered a bit too much; she barely managed to twist her body in time to dodge a direct hit, retaliating with a swift jab that hit him squarely in the chin. No--he managed to crane his head back just enough for it to turn from a direct jab to a glancing blow. At the same time, he threw his left fist at her ribs, and as she was already midway through twisting herself, she could only take the hit on and retaliate by swinging at his head.

It happened at the same time the massive pole of flames fell toward them; she felt her bones snap, pain shooting through her like bolts of lightning, but her hit managed to land squarely against his cheek--unlike his, which 'merely' shattered a few of her ribs, hers twisted his head all the way around, snapping his neck in the process and killing him. The body fell rather unceremoniously as she gasped for breath, the pain swelling with each one she took.

Hairs on her neck suddenly stood up as she looked back, just in time for Xi Zhao to draw his sword and be dragged back by it as the array of Sword Qi shot forward, colliding with the dragon-shaped flurry of flames.