Chapter 67: A Forced Alliance

Shen Zhaoqing froze, her back suddenly propelled forward by a gentle yet irresistible force.

At the critical moment, Gu Chang’an had astonishingly forgone blocking with her sword. Instead, she chose to push Shen Zhaoqing away with all her might, leaving herself utterly exposed to Yuanchao’s sharp claws.

Simultaneously, Ling Shuangjue’s incredibly swift, blood-red sword light arrived, striking before its wielder.

Pfft!

A muffled thud of a blade piercing flesh echoed.

The arm Yuanchao had extended toward Shen Zhaoqing was severed at the shoulder by the Abyssal Slaughter Sword.

Shen Zhaoqing stumbled from the push. Turning her head to look, she froze completely.

A claw mark, deep enough to reveal bone, had appeared on Gu Chang’an’s chest.

Blood gushed from the wound, instantly staining the pristine white sword robe on her chest a vivid crimson.

“Senior… Sister?” Shen Zhaoqing’s voice was a barely coherent tremor.

Gu Chang’an looked at her, a hint of relieved tenderness flickering in her usually cool eyes.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Ling Shuangjue, having severed Yuanchao’s arm with a single strike, was about to deliver a fatal blow. Yet, when she saw Gu Chang’an collapse, and the panicked expression on Shen Zhaoqing’s face…

Her raised sword, as if by some strange impulse, paused for a fleeting instant in mid-air.

It was this momentary hesitation.

It granted Fen Yu, who was struggling to crawl out of the deep pit nearby, a perfect opportunity.

“All of you… go to hell!”

Fen Yu let out a shriek filled with extreme malice and madness. She abruptly opened her mouth, spitting out her burning Innate Demonic Core.

She intended to self-detonate.

The self-detonation of a Soul Transformation Realm great demon possessed enough power to flatten everything within a hundred-mile radius!

It was over.

This time, it was truly over.

Shen Zhaoqing’s mind had completely ceased to function.

Who should she… save?

A blood-red sword light, however, reacted faster than anyone else.

It did not move to block the self-detonating Demonic Core, nor did it attempt to slay the dying enemy.

Instead, with almost instantaneous speed, it swept horizontally, scooping up Shen Zhaoqing, Gu Chang’an, and the unconscious Yuange from the ground, vanishing from the spot in an instant!

It was Ling Shuangjue. In the final moments, she had made her choice.

She abandoned slaying the enemy, abandoned confronting the self-detonation head-on. Instead, she chose to flee, taking her most cherished ‘possession’ and the two bothersome ‘accessories’ with her!

Boom——!!!!!!!

The next second, a brilliant blue-green sun erupted on the northern snow plains!

A terrifying energy storm engulfed everything.

An unprecedented alliance of four—a slacker and three madwomen—was forcibly formed in this desperate situation, in a way no one could have predicted.

Though this ‘alliance’ began by sending away two critically injured individuals, plus a mascot nearly scared to death.

****

Boom——!!!!!!!

The blue-green sun exploded in Shen Zhaoqing’s vision, instantly devouring all light and sound in the world.

The terrifying energy storm, like an invisible giant hand, flattened, churned, and evaporated the ice plain for a hundred miles around. The apocalypse itself might not have been much louder.

Shen Zhaoqing felt as though she had been crammed into a high-speed tumble dryer.

A blood-red light barrier tightly enveloped her, Gu Chang’an, and Yuange, like a tiny boat tossed amidst raging waves. Even so, the horrifying shockwave that penetrated the barrier dislocated her internal organs, bringing a sweet taste to her throat, and another mouthful of old blood spewed out.

“Cough… cough, cough…”

She lay sprawled on the ground, feeling as if she were about to fall apart.

“I was too hasty, truly too hasty this time,” Shen Zhaoqing panted, struggling for breath on the ground.

“Shut up. Save your strength.”

A cold voice descended from above her head.

Shen Zhaoqing laboriously lifted her gaze to see Ling Shuangjue, her face also somewhat pale. Clearly, escaping the core of a Soul Transformation Realm self-detonation with three burdens (two of whom were critically injured) was by no means easy for her.

The blood-red glow of the Abyssal Slaughter Sword swirled around her, completely isolating them from the external energy currents that could tear even Void Refinement Realm cultivators to shreds.

“Are you… alright?” Shen Zhaoqing asked, almost instinctively, looking at her.

A subtle flicker of emotion passed through Ling Shuangjue’s blood-red pupils, but a mocking curve played on her lips. “What? Concerned about me? Perhaps you should worry about your good Senior Sister, who shielded you from that blow, first.”

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart skipped a beat, and she sharply turned her head.

Gu Chang’an lay not far from her, the deep, bone-revealing claw mark on her chest a shocking sight. Blood had already stained her azure sword robe a grotesque purplish-black.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her breathing faint. If not for the slightest rise and fall of her chest, she would have appeared no different from a cold corpse.

Yuange’s situation on the other side was no better; the wound on their right eye remained gruesome. Although the wine mist from the Gui Niang Hu had sustained their life, the damage to their Divine Soul was not so easily healed.

Good heavens.

Shen Zhaoqing surveyed her surroundings: one severely wounded, one on the verge of death, plus a Demonic Venerable who had just unleashed a powerful move.

“Roar——!!!!” A roar filled with boundless malice and madness erupted from the center of the energy storm, piercing the heavens!

As the dust settled, a charred figure with one fire wing broken on its back staggered out of the deep crater.

Bi Fang, Fen Yu.

She had actually survived!

Although the self-detonation of her Demonic Core had severely diminished her cultivation and left her aura extremely weak, the overwhelming hatred within her had forced her to endure.

“Golden… Crow… bastard…”

Fen Yu’s single eye was fixed on them, specifically on the unconscious Yuange. Her voice was hoarse, like two pieces of rusted iron grating together.

“And all of you… must die!!!”

“Tsk.” Ling Shuangjue let out an impatient click of her tongue, raising her sword before her. “What an unkillable nuisance.”

“Senior Sister…” Shen Zhaoqing’s mind was in turmoil as she looked at the dying Gu Chang’an.

“Can she still move?” Ling Shuangjue asked without turning her head.

“Huh?”

“I asked if that Qingyun Sect disciple can still move?” Ling Shuangjue’s tone held a hint of irritation. “If she’s crippled, you take care of that demon, and I’ll handle this alone.”

No sooner had she spoken than a muffled groan, suppressing pain, sounded.

Gu Chang’an, leaning on her Frostbright Sword, had actually staggered to her feet.

Her face was as white as snow, yet her lips were bitten bloody. Her eyes, like cold stars, were fixed on Ling Shuangjue’s back as her voice rang out, clear and resolute: “No need for the Demonic Venerable’s concern.”

She stumbled a step to Shen Zhaoqing’s other side, facing Ling Shuangjue from a distance, forming a strange pincer formation that protected Shen Zhaoqing and Yuange in the middle.

“…”

“Heh.” Ling Shuangjue chuckled lightly, the derision in her blood-red eyes unconcealed. “Quite the tough bones. I hope your sword is as hard as your mouth.”

“My sword only slays the demons it ought to slay,” Gu Chang’an retorted coldly.

“Perfect, then.” Ling Shuangjue licked her lips, a bloodthirsty smile spreading across her face. “Let’s first tear apart this noisy firebird before we settle the score between us and see who truly deserves to be slain.”

Caught in the middle, Shen Zhaoqing listened to the pre-battle trash talk of these two formidable figures, feeling a pounding headache.

What a time for this! Couldn’t they just unite against the enemy for now?

Fen Yu, however, wasn’t waiting for them to finish their chat.

“Die!!!”

Accompanied by a shriek, Fen Yu’s figure transformed into a remnant streak of fire, charging with the madness of mutual destruction.

“Here it comes!” Shen Zhaoqing’s heart tightened.