Chapter 61: A Desperate Gambit and a Timely Rescue

This time, they held nothing back. Their blades, each strike lethal, wove into an impenetrable net of light that descended upon Su Qinghan, who stood at the center of the courtyard.

Her situation instantly became fraught with peril.

After her previous evasions and the exertion of casting spells, her spiritual energy and physical strength were all but depleted. At most, she had enough left for a single technique.

Jiu Li awoke with a startled cry.

“Wow, why is it always so thrilling every time I wake up? The ‘spiritual energy’ I’ve refined isn’t enough! Wuwu, this fox doesn’t want to die yet! Quick, think of something!”

Su Qinghan knew her own spiritual energy was critically low. She needed a spell of immense power, one capable of deciding the entire confrontation with a single strike!

She had no time to hesitate. Just as the assailant on her left closed in, his blade poised to cleave down, Su Qinghan swiftly raised her right hand to her lips and, without a moment’s hesitation, bit into the tip of her index finger!

A crimson bead of blood immediately welled forth. A surge of pain coursed through her, yet it sharpened her mind with an unprecedented clarity.

Using her blood as ink and her palm as paper, she swiftly etched a complex rune onto the center of her left palm, moving so fast that her hand seemed to blur!

“Lightning Art—Palm Lightning!”

The instant the rune materialized, a destructive aura erupted from her palm with a resounding force!

“Die!”

The black-clad assailant on her left had already reached her, his steel blade descending with a vicious shriek that tore through the air!

Su Qinghan neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, she raised her left palm, adorned with the lightning rune, and thrust it forward, directly confronting the deadly gleam of the blade!

Her movement was as swift as lightning! Before the blade could sever her neck, that pale, slender hand, now streaked with blood, pressed firmly against the black-clad assailant’s chest!

“Perish!”

A single, chilling word escaped Su Qinghan’s lips.

Boom!!!

A deafening roar! A blinding flash of lightning abruptly exploded from the black-clad assailant’s chest!

The sinister grin on the black-clad assailant’s face instantly froze, replaced by an expression of boundless terror and bewilderment. He couldn’t even manage a scream as an irresistible force blasted him backward!

While still airborne, his entire chest cavity burst open, leaving nothing but a mangled, bloody mess!

Thud!

His heavy corpse slammed violently into the osmanthus tree behind him!

Crack!

The osmanthus tree, thick as a bowl, snapped with a resounding crack! Wood chips and gore sprayed everywhere! With a single palm strike, both man and tree had been utterly annihilated!

The other black-clad assailant was utterly terrified by this horrifying spectacle! Yet, his forward momentum was too great; there was no time to retract his blade. He could only gamble that she wouldn’t be able to unleash a second strike!

The gleaming blade, still carrying its inertia, chopped down vertically towards Su Qinghan with the force of Mount Hua being cleaved!

Having unleashed that overdrawn palm strike, Su Qinghan’s spiritual energy and physical strength were completely depleted. Her vision blurred, and she felt too weak to even sit upright.

Facing a life-or-death crisis, she mustered her last ounce of strength and slammed her hand onto the armrest of her wheelchair! Using that momentum, her body flew clumsily from the wheelchair!

This time, there was none of her previous lightness or composure. She lost her balance in mid-air, her body tumbling uncontrollably, before she crashed heavily to the ground, rolling several times to dissipate the force of her fall.

Thwack!

The uncontrolled steel blade missed its target but viciously cleaved into the already battered wheelchair! With a sharp crack! The wheelchair, crafted from fine wood, was cleanly sliced in two, utterly reduced to a pile of shattered scraps!

The sole remaining black-clad assailant stumbled to a halt. He stared at his brother, now blasted into minced flesh, then at the shattered remains of the wheelchair on the ground. Finally, his gaze fell upon the woman sprawled on the flagstones, disheveled and gasping for breath.

Fear, rage, and a sliver of survivor’s relief—’thank goodness that last attack wasn’t aimed at me’—intertwined within his heart. ‘This woman, she must be a demon! A demon who, even from a wheelchair, could summon lightning and blast a living person to smithereens with a single palm strike!’

“What… what a venomous witch!” His voice was hoarse, and the hand gripping his blade trembled uncontrollably. “You killed my brother… Damn you! Die!”

His towering rage finally eclipsed his fear! Gripping his blade, he advanced step by step towards Su Qinghan, who lay utterly drained of strength.

Su Qinghan lay on the cold flagstones, her entire body aching, unable to move even a single finger. She turned her head, observing the approaching killer, and a weak smile touched her lips.

‘Truly… what a miscalculation. I overestimated that clumsy idiot’s ability to count her steps. Who knew she couldn’t even keep track of numbers? And I underestimated the ruthlessness of these people, resorting to murder at the slightest disagreement. It seems my downfall was in treating these individuals as simpletons.’

The black-clad assailant now stood before her, his steel blade raised high, its tip aimed directly at her throat. “Demoness, go to hell and keep my brother company in his grave!” He roared, bringing the blade down with all his might! The blade, glinting in the sunlight, traced a deadly arc!

Just at this critical juncture! An incredibly swift red figure, like a phantom, flashed in through the gates of Master Qian’s manor!

“Stop!”

The blade, imbued with the aura of death, descended! Su Qinghan had expended her last ounce of strength. She could even feel the chilling air parted by the descending blade and imagined her old master waving at her. ‘Oh, wait, her master was still alive. Well, that was awkward; sorry for dragging you into my death-flashback. This time, my showboating truly landed me in a bind.’

In that fleeting instant, quick as lightning! Whoosh—! An incredibly sharp whooshing sound, like air being ripped apart, shot forth from the direction of Master Qian’s manor gates! The sound was faster than the blade itself!

“What was that?!”

The black-clad assailant, who had raised his blade, felt a sudden blast near his ear, but he had no time to react.

Clang!!!

A deafening clash of metal echoed through the courtyard! The steel blade in his hand was struck by an irresistible, colossal force! The webbing between his thumb and forefinger instantly tore, sending blood spurting! The steel blade that had accompanied him for years flew from his grasp, spinning horizontally before clanging as it embedded itself in the distant ground, its hilt still quivering.

A long sword, still spinning from the impact, now stood embedded in the courtyard! The blade hummed with a chilling, palpable killing intent!

The black-clad assailant’s blood ran cold, freezing in his veins. He stiffly turned his head, following the trajectory from which the sword had flown.

At the wide-open gates of Master Qian’s manor, a red figure stood silently. Long black hair, fiery red garments. It was none other than Lu Hongzhuang!

‘Damn it, I need to get out of here!!!’

The primal instinct for survival overwhelmed all else! The black-clad assailant scrambled, not even daring to glance at the sword embedded in the ground. He turned and fled frantically towards the courtyard wall, expending every ounce of his strength.

Lu Hongzhuang, however, did not pursue him immediately. Her figure blurred, leaping over the embedded sword, and in an instant, she appeared beside Su Qinghan.

“Su Qinghan!”

Her voice held a tremor she herself hadn’t noticed. She crouched down, gazing at the woman lying on the ground, her face ashen and her breathing shallow. Lu Hongzhuang’s heart constricted painfully.

“Are you alright?!”

Su Qinghan turned her head, looking at Lu Hongzhuang’s anxious face, and managed a weak smile. “I won’t die… cough, cough…” She coughed violently twice, a trace of blood appearing at the corner of her lips. “You idiot, you finally decided to show up.”

“I…” Lu Hongzhuang opened her mouth, but no words came. Seeing Su Qinghan’s disheveled state and the unrecognizable corpse in the courtyard, her heart was seized by both dread and guilt. “Don’t mind me!” Su Qinghan interrupted, raising her hand with a surge of her remaining strength to point at the black-clad assailant who was already scrambling over the courtyard wall. “Go after him! I need him alive!”

Her voice was faint, yet it carried a reassuring certainty. “To deal with that fat fox of a magistrate… we’ll need a witness!”

No sooner had the words left her lips than Jiu Li’s anxious, indignant loli voice echoed in Su Qinghan’s mind. ‘Hey, hey, hey! Can you two please find a different adjective?! This fox has been tolerating you for ages, and I’m genuinely offended! What’s wrong with being fat?! And what did foxes ever do to you?!’

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