Shangguan Wan let out a cry of agony and fear as she hugged her head, desperately trying to retain her memory of the Lingxiao Palm. Alas, like sand slipping out of her hands, the more she tried to grasp at it, the faster it slipped away from her mind. “No… No…”
It wasn’t easy for me to master the second stage of the Lingxiao Palm. If I forget the technique and regress to the first stage, learning it all over again would be as hard as scaling the sky! The thought sent her into a panic. While gasping for air, she unconsciously yanked at her hair.
Strands of hair fell out, but she couldn’t be bothered about it, for Chu Liuyue had effortlessly destroyed her memory of the Lingxiao Palm’s second stage with the strange pattern she had drawn.
Once the last line completely disappeared from her mind, Shangguan Wan gradually stiffened. It’s gone… It’s really gone! I’m back to the first stage of the Lingxiao Palm!
No matter how hard she tried to recall the memory, nothing came to mind. She even felt her head throbbing in pain after some time, and she staggered backward, nearly falling to the ground due to her legs going weak.
Meanwhile, Chu Liuyue—whose back was fully drenched—gently exhaled a breath. It had been really tough for her to execute the Lingxiao Palm’s third stage since she was only a fifth-stage warrior. Although it appeared easy, just drawing that pattern had drained a large part of her force, and she couldn’t have done it without the support of the water droplet in her dantian. Thus, it was a good thing that the result seemed to have turned out pretty well.
“It looks like that so-called Lingxiao Palm of yours isn’t all that formidable.” Chu Liuyue smirked.
Those words immediately snapped Shangguan Wan out of her trance. She looked up with glowing, red eyes and a vengeful look and shouted, “Chu! Liu! Yue!”
Each syllable sounded like it was forced out through clenched teeth. There was also deep resentment in her tone as if she wanted to sink her teeth into Chu Liuyue’s flesh and drink her blood.
I thought I could easily finish Chu Liuyue off, but I ended up suffering a double whammy instead! There’s something fishy about her and that dirty trick she pulled earlier! Unfortunately, Shangguan Wan couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong with Chu Liuyue, so she decided to leave it aside instead. Her only thought now was to kill Chu Liuyue.
If I don’t kill Chu Liuyue now, complications will surely arise in the future! Although Shangguan had seen Chu Liuyue as an eyesore a long time ago, she had never taken the latter seriously. But now, she finally realized that Chu Liuyue was much harder to deal with than she thought.
Anger and hatred churned within her as if they were about to explode from her chest at any time. These intense emotions drove her mad and made her features contort, while the flickering dark-green fire in the depths of her eyes made her look like a ghost from hell.
Right at that moment, a cry was heard.
Taken by surprise, Shangguan Wan turned her head to see a furious red-tailed phoenix—which had broken free from the gigantic black net—flying straight toward herself.
Crimson flames surged, and the entire place instantly turned into a sea of fire.
When Shangguan Wan saw the murderous intent in the red-tailed phoenix’s sparkling crystal eyes, she froze. For a moment, she felt as if death was approaching.
She hurriedly got up to escape for her life without any hesitation, but much to her horror, a bolt of fire came sweeping toward her just as she turned.
Whoosh!
In the Third Princess’s hurry to dodge it, she accidentally fell to the ground. When she noticed that the hem of her skirt had caught fire, she hurriedly tried to snuff it out.
However, Tuan Zi was out to kill her this time, so there was no way it would easily let her off.
The flames around the Third Princess burned fiercely as they approached her from all directions.
Shangguan Wan hurriedly cast a barrier around her while running toward the pure gold armor that had been thrown on the ground earlier.
Although the pure gold armor hadn’t officially recognized her as its owner, it still provided her some form of protection when worn. Being at her wits’ end, this was the only method she could think of to protect herself, but a terrifying aura appeared next to her just as she was about to reach the pure gold armor.
Shock—mixed with a hint of fear—overcame her, but black runes appeared in front of her out of nowhere and blocked the attack.
Boom!
The two forces collided.
Chu Liuyue narrowed her eyes when she saw how the black runes blocked the crimson fireball’s attack completely. So that’s Shangguan Wan’s true backer…
With the black runes’ help, Shangguan Wan successfully managed to put on the pure gold armor, its cold and hard sensation bringing a sense of relief to her. Protected by her barrier, she finally had time to catch a breather as she said in her mind, “Thank you, Senior.”
But the other party only snapped coldly, “Useless thing!”
Despite having been scolded, Shangguan Wan didn’t dare to retort or even show the slightest hint of displeasure, for she herself hadn’t expected that she would be driven to this state by a mere Chu Liuyue. “You’re right… It was all because I underestimated my opponent—”
“Even if you did your best and unleashed all your force, I doubt there would be any change in the situation. Don’t forget that you’re nothing but a cripple with a damaged Yuan meridian!” Hints of mockery could be detected in the raspy voice. She might be able to gain the upper hand at the beginning, but she won’t be able to last long. In the end, she would still be defeated by Chu Liuyue!
Shangguan Wan bit her lower lip out of indignation, and a drop of blood oozed out from it. However, this was nothing compared to her bloodstained oral cavity.
“You still need my help in the end,” said the voice.
Mixed feelings arose in her. “Senior—”
Whir!
A strange humming sound was heard out of nowhere. Then, the black runes slowly flew toward Shangguan Wan’s glabella.
As if they had been burned, their edges even curled up slightly.
Before Shangguan Wan could say anything, her expression had a subtle change to it. Emotions faded from her face, leaving behind only cold indifference. Her eyes became even redder, and she exuded a murderous aura.
Chu Liuyue’s heart skipped a beat. “Tuan Zi!”
At her summon, Tuan Zi—who wanted to fight Shangguan Wan head-on—quickly flew back to her side.
The next moment, Shangguan Wan raised her hand and gave a gentle tap in the air.
Boom!
Violent winds blew everywhere as the space around Chu Liuyue began collapsing quickly. Her body then flew forward uncontrollably.
