Free Web NovelChapter 184: Chapter 177: Why Does My Junior Sister Look Like an Evil Cultivator?
Meanwhile, Su Ling’er’s battle had reached a fever pitch.
"CRACKLE—!"
Sinister ghost flames and an eerie black Buddhist light clashed madly, devouring one another. Each collision produced a terrifying sound.
Besieged by dozens of cursed wraiths, she moved like a gray phantom. The Wooden Sword in her hand traced a series of deadly flourishes, relentlessly shredding the pouncing spirits.
However, the grotesque old monk was the true threat.
Its every attack forced Su Ling’er to respond with all her might, leaving gashes on her body deep enough to reveal bone.
Just then, the old monk attacked again!
This time, Su Ling’er made a bold move. She abandoned her Wooden Sword. With her palm wreathed in dense ghost flames, she neither dodged nor evaded, meeting the deadly Buddhist light head-on!
"BANG!"
The violent impact made her entire arm groan under the strain.
She used the recoil to retreat rapidly, but her other hand shot out like lightning, fingers formed into a claw that tore through the air!
"PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!"
With a series of lightning-fast strikes, she pierced straight through the chests of three small monk wraiths that had seized the opportunity to leap at her!
Without the slightest hesitation, she forcibly activated the Sword Control Skill, drawing the pure ghostly energy and resentment from the shattered wraiths into her body as material to forge her sword.
The impure resentment gnawed at her meridians, tearing at her sanity.
Every time she circulated her Cultivation Technique, it felt like red-hot iron sand was being poured into her veins.
The intense pain caused her vision to blacken in waves, but two powerful techniques desperately guarded her last shred of clarity, keeping her from descending completely into madness.
"Senior Sister!"
Wang Xiedi’s anxious roar came from behind her.
In a lull in the fighting, Su Ling’er glanced over to see him frantically holding up several light screens from an Array, protecting the mother and son who were frozen in terror.
The woman was holding her hands tightly over her child’s eyes, but she peeked through her fingers, her gaze a mixture of terror and bewilderment as she watched Su Ling’er fight on, drenched in blood.
It was then that Wang Xiedi noticed the increasingly terrifying scene unfolding on the stage!
Every time "Shen Gang" chopped "Shen Jieye" to pieces, the aura emanating from the re-formed figure grew a shade more sinister and cold.
At first, it wasn’t obvious, but now the venomous, resentful aura was almost tangible, making the very air feel thick and viscous.
Even the old monk wraith besieging Su Ling’er subconsciously glanced toward the stage during a lull in its attacks, its movements betraying a hint of... reverence that it didn’t even seem to notice itself.
Wang Xiedi’s heart sank. He screamed at the top of his lungs,
"Senior Sister! Watch out for the one on the stage! We have to stop it! Its aura... it’s getting more and more unnatural!"
"I know! But I can’t break free!"
Su Ling’er roared back, feeling just as anxious and powerless.
Before the words had left her mouth, the rhythmic "THWACK, THWACK" of chopping from the stage came to an abrupt halt.
The entire area fell into a moment of dead silence.
The next second, an aura that soared to the heavens erupted from the stage!
It was no longer an aura of resentment or ghostly energy, but spiritual pressure of a higher order!
"BOOOM—!!!"
A terrifying shockwave swept across the battlefield like a tsunami!
The sheer force of the aura blasted the embattled Su Ling’er, sending her flying backward as she coughed up blood.
The several Defense Arrays she had previously set up instantly shattered into pieces!
Wang Xiedi’s expression changed dramatically. Without a second thought, he threw out all the low-grade defensive artifacts the sect had given him.
"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"
Amid a series of crisp cracks as the artifacts shattered, the screen of light wavered on the brink of collapse, but he just barely managed to protect himself and the mother and son behind him.
’That aura... There’s no mistaking it!’
’It’s the Core Formation Stage!’
’Are you kidding me...’
’How are they supposed to fight an existence at the Core Formation Stage?!’
Amid the ruins, Su Ling’er struggled to her feet. Drenched in blood, the ghost flames around her leaped wildly, threatening to spiral out of control at any moment.
The searing pain nearly tore her mind apart, but she just stared intently at the terrifying figure solidifying on the stage.
"ROAR—!"
She let out an inhuman roar and, transforming once more into a streak of gray-black light, charged at Shen Jieye!
However, the gap between Foundation Establishment and Core Formation was as vast as the one between heaven and earth.
Faced with this desperate, do-or-die attack, Shen Jieye, still on the stage, seemed to show a hint of confusion.
She didn’t seem to understand why one of her own kind would attack her.
She simply gave a careless wave of her hand.
"BAM!"
An irresistible force slammed into Su Ling’er.
She felt as if an invisible sledgehammer had shattered her spine. Every bone in her body screamed in protest.
Su Ling’er was sent flying, leaving a trail of blood drops that splattered against a distant stone wall before she tumbled to the ground.
"COUGH... PFFT!"
She spat out a mouthful of scalding fluid mixed with fragments of her internal organs.
’It’s not over...’
Her right ear was deaf to all but a constant, high-pitched ringing.
Her vision began to blur, the figures of Wang Xiedi and the mother and son splitting into countless overlapping images.
’I’m the strongest one here, and I’m only at the Foundation Establishment stage...’
’I... I can’t fall yet...’
Relying on her last shred of resolve, she forced herself to stand once more!
The Sword Training Skill frantically wrung out the rampaging ghostly energy, resentment, and death qi in her body, injecting these "materials" into her flesh, which was already on the verge of collapse.
Roaring, she charged forward again!
Even if this was one of her own kind, Shen Jieye was getting tired of such insolence.
She didn’t wave her hand this time. In a flash, she appeared right in front of Su Ling’er.
A pale, swollen hand shot out, ready to put a final end to this persistently provocative "kin."
Just then, a figure violently shoved Su Ling’er aside.
It was Wang Xiedi.
Using every ounce of his strength, he stood in front of her.
In that moment, it was as if Su Ling’er’s consciousness was pulled from her body.
She could only watch, helpless, as the pale hand thrust clearly toward Wang Xiedi’s forehead.
Time seemed to stretch on for an eternity.
’It was all about to end...’
Just as she was about to give up completely, as her senses began to shut down, it was as if someone had hit the mute button on the entire world.
DONG!
Meanwhile, Wang Xiedi had closed his eyes, bracing for the first and last death of his life.
The chilling touch of death was already upon his forehead.
Endless regret flooded his mind.
’Why... why didn’t I train harder?’
’Eldest Brother clearly passed that supreme technique on to me. If I hadn’t wasted so much time on pointless trifles, maybe... maybe I wouldn’t be so useless right now...’
’I can’t even protect Senior Sister...’
’Oh well... At least I’ll die before Senior Sister does...’
DONG!
A deep, yet incredibly distinct THUD rattled everyone’s eardrums.
The expected death never came.
Trembling, she cracked open her eyes. And then, she saw... a foot.
A foot, clad in a black, cloud-patterned boot, was planted nonchalantly on the ghost’s wrist, holding it completely still, unable to advance another inch.
A lazy voice, accompanied by a yawn, drifted down from above.
"Aaaah... Haaa~"
"Ahem, I was busy playing cards... ahem, I mean, busy with sect planning. Came a little late... Hmm?"
Su Ling’er’s gaze traveled slowly up from the boot.
She saw the familiar black hem of his robes, saw the face that always looked lazy, yet seemed to see through everything.
’Is that... Eldest Brother?’
’Is this... a hallucination before death?’
’This isn’t a hallucination...’
In that instant, without even realizing it herself, the nerves that had been stretched taut finally relaxed.
’He’s here.’
’And deep within that sense of relief, a feeling she herself despised began to grow... a flicker of gratitude...’
’So... in the end... he really came...’
Lin Qingfeng glanced at the trembling Wang Xiedi, then down at the wraith beneath his foot.
Finally, his gaze landed on Su Ling’er in the distance. She was standing soaked in blood, her eyes crimson, with ghostly energy pouring from her body.
The corner of Lin Qingfeng’s eye twitched violently.
"Holy shit! Why does my junior sister look exactly like an Evil Cultivator right now?!"
