I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 31

“This miasma smells a little wrong.” Teng Jingjie raised a hand to cover her forehead.

With her soul power, even if she inhaled a certain amount of miasma, she should not have much of a reaction. But now, she had only inhaled the tiniest bit, yet her head already hurt as though it was about to explode.

“Same here,” Zhongpu agreed.

“Are you all right?” Yan Yu hurriedly checked on Yin Beiqing, who had not spoken the whole time, only to find that her complexion looked even worse than the other two’s.

Perhaps seeing the anxious worry in Yan Yu’s eyes, Yin Beiqing gritted her teeth and said hoarsely, “I’m fine.”

How did she look fine at all!

Yan Yu had also inhaled quite a lot of miasma, but for some reason, she had no reaction at all. However, now was not the time to think about that.

She took Yin Beiqing’s hand. “Let’s leave first. At worst, we can climb Yaochi Mountain later.”

Thinking that Jiwu’s seven-day shedding deadline was about to arrive, and that Yin Beiqing could not afford to wait any longer, she added, “At worst, I’ll go and invite Lin Hegui down for you!”

Yin Beiqing tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Little goddess, can you stop saying things to show off? With those thin arms and legs of yours, you’d probably snap from exhaustion halfway up the mountain.”

“I’m serious.” Yan Yu wondered why this person still did not believe her.

“All right, I know you care about me very much.”

“…” Truly impressive, Yin Beiqing. She still had the mind to joke in this situation.

“Hi.” Without anyone noticing, a voice cut through the heavy night and emerged. “My girls.”

Yin Beiqing frowned and looked up at the person whose way of speaking made her nauseous.

“Who are you?”

Ding-ling—ding-ling—

With light steps, Yu Fusang slowly walked before them and smiled with curved eyes. “You really have no manners. Before asking someone else’s name, shouldn’t you first introduce yourself?”

Hearing this, Teng Jingjie immediately raised her hand and transformed it into the broadsword she used most smoothly, then slashed at her without even a greeting.

Want manners?

Then let her see what true rudeness looked like!

Yu Fusang raised her eyes and watched the blade get closer and closer to her, yet her expression remained perfectly calm.

The wind from the blade split the air around her, and her long hair lifted behind her. Just when everyone thought this beautiful woman was about to spill blood on the spot, she lightly raised her hand and caught Teng Jingjie’s slash, which carried seventy percent of her strength, with her bare hand.

“Too weak, my Jingjie.” Her gaze toward Teng Jingjie carried a few traces of pity. “Remember to diligently practice your physical arts in normal times. There’s no strength in your hand at all.”

“Who’s your Jingjie!” Teng Jingjie was enraged by her nauseating words. She flung her hand, wanting to pull the blade back, only to discover that after trying for a long time, she could not shake this woman even slightly.

“You…” With her physique, she could exchange a hundred moves even under Yin Beiqing’s hands, yet she was restricted by the woman before her until she could not move.

Most importantly, the other party’s relaxed expression made her even more unhappy.

“It’s you!” Zhongpu suddenly spoke. “You’re the person Xueji and I met!”

Yu Fusang’s scent was the same as “Shen Nanxing,” whom they had met before the Sacred Spirit Monument that night.

Only now, they could sense soul power fluctuations from her, while at that time, they had not sensed even the slightest bit.

“You recognized me.” Yu Fusang seemed very happy. Her free left hand touched her own cheek. “This face is much prettier than the previous one, isn’t it?”

“Pah!” Teng Jingjie infused soul power and suddenly pulled the blade back. “If you want to be narcissistic, can you roll farther away? Don’t get in your sisters’ way.”

“Shh!” Yu Fusang glared at her disapprovingly. “It’s because your temper is too violent that you became this ghostly appearance now, Jingjie.”

Teng Jingjie seemed to be reminded of something by her words. Her expression changed abruptly, and she looked at Yu Fusang with a violent, ruthless gaze.

If earlier it had only been simple irritation and anger, now she truly had the intent to kill Yu Fusang.

“Go die.”

She pulled open the tied section on her arm, lightly tugging at the knot. The bandages wrapped around her entire body immediately loosened and piled at her feet.

This was the first time Yan Yu saw what she looked like beneath the bandages. Her arms, thighs, waist, abdomen, even her neck and face were covered in terrifying scars. Yet even so, one could still tell from her excellent features that this had originally been an extremely beautiful face.

The original book had said that before Teng Jingjie awakened her soul power, she had once been a famous performing woman whose name was known throughout the streets and alleys of the Jin Kingdom. Her beauty could topple cities and kingdoms, her dance was moving, and her pipa skills were unparalleled. Even nobles and powerful officials could hardly buy one song from her with a thousand gold.

But when Ruan Yuemin found her, she no longer wore exquisite, beautiful clothes. She had only her last breath left and had been discarded beside a garbage heap, her arms and legs scattered everywhere.

Even in that severely wounded state, she had still used her remaining consciousness to control her runaway soul power, creating wave after wave of sound in the air. It seemed like unwillingness, but she had been only one step away from falling into demonic corruption.

Ruan Yuemin spent an entire month using her own bone needles and blood threads to “stitch” Teng Jingjie back together. Later, because of certain events, the two of them joined Langdie Valley together and took Yin Beiqing as their master.

This matter had always been Teng Jingjie’s sore spot. Touch it, and she would explode. Although she did not know why this unfamiliar woman before her knew so much about her, it did not affect Teng Jingjie’s determination to kill her at all.

Once she made up her mind to do something, no one could stop her. Just like now, Zhongpu wanted to advise her not to get too worked up yet, but before her hand even reached out, Teng Jingjie had already vanished.

“Overestimating yourself.” Yu Fusang still said this with a smile, as if gently scolding a disobedient child.

Teng Jingjie moved very quickly. Her first punch did not smash into Yu Fusang’s face, so she immediately followed with a whip kick. Every move and form was filled with unconcealed killing intent.

Facing her full-force attack, Yu Fusang silently placed both hands behind her back. With only light, wandering steps, she easily dodged attack after attack.

Forget hitting her—Teng Jingjie could not even touch the hem of her clothes.

“When fighting, remember to use your brain. Charging around recklessly like this, how are you different from a mad dog?” Yu Fusang even had the spare time to give verbal guidance. “When kicking, the hips move first. When retracting the leg, the hips return first…”

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Teng Jingjie’s ankle, narrowing her eyes in a smile. “See? It’s because you’re so slow that I caught you.”

Teng Jingjie’s ankle was locked in her hand, and a sudden burst of pain shot through it, as if her bone was about to be forcibly snapped.

Seeing that the situation was bad, Zhongpu immediately stepped forward to help. The three tangled together in battle, countless spiritual arts overlapping until Yan Yu’s eyes blurred from the chaos.

“Stop fighting. Come back!” Yin Beiqing gritted her teeth and ordered the two to stop.

Yu Fusang did not have much killing intent toward them yet. If these two continued throwing hands and feet around recklessly for a few more moves, there was no guarantee the other side would not change her mind.

Yin Beiqing knew that forget Teng Jingjie and Zhongpu, even if two more Beast Arts Masters of the same strength came, they still would not shake Yu Fusang in the slightest.

Teng Jingjie was so angry she was practically breathing fire, but in the end, she still gritted her teeth and obeyed Yin Beiqing’s order, retreating.

Yu Fusang looked toward Yin Beiqing, who had spoken, and deliberately revealed a surprised expression. “You can still hold on?”

“This miasma is different from ordinary miasma. The stronger the soul power, the more obvious the influence. You… should be close to being unable to endure it, right?”

The curve of her lips grew wider, and her smile became increasingly arrogant. “Come, let me see what a Special-rank Beast Arts Master looks like after falling into demonic corruption. When that time comes, I won’t even need to act. The people here will…”

Even though she did not finish the rest, everyone could imagine it. If Yin Beiqing fell into demonic corruption and began slaughtering without recognizing friend or kin, not a single person here would survive.

Her finger tapped idly in the air before finally pointing in Yan Yu’s direction. “Goddess, I’ve been looking for you for a long time. I heard you’re a very interesting person.”

“Don’t touch her.” Yin Beiqing took a heavy breath and straightened, reaching out to block Yan Yu behind her.

“Don’t go up.” Yan Yu grabbed her arm.

With Yin Beiqing’s current state, the possibility of winning against the other party was not high.

Although the woman had not declared her identity, Yan Yu had already recognized her based on her features and catchphrase.

She was the great villain who had cut off Yin Beiqing’s arm and indirectly forced her onto the road of no return—Yu Fusang.

If possible, Yan Yu wished these two would never meet in this lifetime.

“Yan Yu, I told you before. Once you enter Langdie Valley, you must obey Langdie Valley’s rules. Whatever I say, you do.” Yin Beiqing called Yan Yu’s full name very seriously.

Yan Yu met her gaze without backing down. “I also said before that from beginning to end, I never planned to obey that rotten rule you made.”

She removed Yin Beiqing’s hand from in front of her and took a step forward. “Since the person you’re looking for is me, then let them go.”

In the story timeline, by the time Yu Fusang appeared, the original body had long since died. There had been no entanglement between them, let alone any love or hatred. Yan Yu guessed that at most, the other party was only curious about the legendary goddess and wanted to test the truth.

Since she could still say the word “interesting” now, it meant she had not yet developed killing intent toward Yan Yu. Yan Yu stepping forward would at least cost less than letting Yin Beiqing and the others go out to fight.

“Yes, my goddess.” Yu Fusang smiled, yet slowly moved aside. “But your ‘old acquaintance’ seems even more eager to see you than I am.”

Teng Jingjie warily looked behind her. The miasma was too dense, and just now, they had not sensed that there was another person there.

Within layers of black mist, a white figure slowly walked out. It was precisely Shen Nanxing, whose crystal core had already been destroyed and who had dissipated into mist earlier.

“How could she…” Zhongpu did not understand. “Look at her forehead. Why does she also have an eye?”

Teng Jingjie and Zhongpu quickly blocked Yan Yu in front of them under Yin Beiqing’s eye signal. They did not rashly choose close combat again. Instead, they raised their hands and quickly formed several hand seals, casting a coordinated spiritual art.

Blue and green mixed into a dazzling light ball, flying toward the two people opposite them. Just as it was about to hit Shen Nanxing, she suddenly opened her mouth and stretched her jaw to an eerie and terrifying size, emitting waves of sound from deep in her throat.

The light ball was pushed back very quickly. Yin Beiqing rose into the air and raised her hand, blocking the move for them.

But the sound waves from Shen Nanxing’s mouth did not stop. They even seemed to intensify. Suddenly, the third eye on her forehead opened. The all-white eyeball had only a tiny black dot the size of a grain of rice at the center, seemingly serving as the pupil. That eye looked left and right, as if it had finally found the scent of prey, slowly turning toward Yan Yu and the others.

Everyone’s gaze involuntarily followed and looked at it, as though controlled by some invisible force. Their movements and thoughts both became sluggish.

“This is Xueji’s soul-bewitching art.” Yan Yu recognized the origin of that eye.

Thinking of Zhongpu’s earlier report about Xueji’s disappearance, she immediately realized that things were far from as simple as they currently looked.

Shen Nanxing’s resurrection was outside the original plotline, and naturally also beyond her expectations.

But Xueji…

Xueji was the first supporting character beside Yin Beiqing to die on the timeline, and her death had indeed been related to Yu Fusang.

Could this plot point have been moved up to today?

Yan Yu could not help tightening her hands. Xueji, where exactly are you?

The three people whose minds had been controlled were sent flying by Shen Nanxing’s palm in the next second, smashing toward the erected miasma barrier.

Sensing pain, they barely regained consciousness. They were just about to move and stand up again, but their bodies seemed to have been glued in place by superglue, stuck firmly where they were.

“Ah, I forgot to say.” Yu Fusang seemed to suddenly remember something important and clapped her hands. “This miasma is very affectionate. In normal times, what it loves most is being intimate with self-righteous Beast Arts Masters like you.”

“Let go!” Teng Jingjie roared at her. Her right hand transformed into all kinds of sharp weapons, but no matter what, she could not cut through the miasma sticking to her.

Moreover, the strength in her body was rapidly draining away with the intensity of her struggles, as if being sucked away by the barrier behind her.

“Y-you all, look at that tree.” Zhongpu suddenly said in a trembling voice. “Xueji…”

Just now, they had been standing in front of the tree and had not seen the back side. Now, they finally discovered that the person they had been searching for had always been right under their noses.

A hole had split open in the middle of the thick tree’s roots, and wrapped inside that tree hollow was Xueji.

Her body seemed to have merged into the trunk. Only her head was lifted through the tree hollow to face the sky. Her palm-sized face had no trace of blood, and her blue eyes had lost all vitality, like two embedded stones.

Seeing this, the others finally could no longer remain calm. One after another, they used all their strength to struggle. Yin Beiqing even raised the hand holding the Demon-Slaying Blade, planning to clash head-on.

The Demon-Slaying Blade severed the miasma restraining them, finally freeing them from control. Zhongpu’s first reaction was to run toward Xueji. She swung the short blade at her waist and began chopping at the tree.

But there seemed to be a barrier around the outer layer of the tree. The moment the blade touched it, it immediately rebounded, shaking her arm numb.

There was no way Shen Nanxing would simply watch her rescue Xueji. She immediately charged over, but Teng Jingjie tacitly blocked her from the side, using spiritual arts to counter her attack.

Zhongpu continued chopping at the tree nonstop. The force rebounding from the barrier shook her organs until they hurt terribly. But even though the skin on both her hands had been scraped raw, she still refused to stop.

“Xueji, don’t be afraid. I’ll save you!”

Seeing this scene, Yin Beiqing tightened her grip on the Demon-Slaying Blade and walked toward Shen Nanxing step by step. Just as she was about to raise the sword and cut off her head in one strike, the other party suddenly turned her head.

Her body still faced Teng Jingjie, but her neck had forcibly twisted one hundred and eighty degrees. The Soul-Capturing Eye on her forehead stared at Yin Beiqing.

The latter’s gaze was uncontrollably attracted to it. But after only a few seconds of hesitation, she immediately shook her head and forced herself awake.

But when Yin Beiqing raised her head again, she suddenly met Shen Nanxing’s wide-open mouth. Her mouth abruptly spat out a burst of black miasma, all of it rushing onto Yin Beiqing’s face.

At such close range, combined with the lowered reaction speed after just being controlled by the soul-bewitching art, Yin Beiqing inevitably had the miasma invade her body.

This miasma quickly entered her meridians through her seven orifices. Very soon, it spread throughout her body before finally crawling onto the beast pattern on her left arm, dyeing the originally blue mark black.

The hand hanging by Yin Beiqing’s side trembled uncontrollably. She realized that this time, her soul power rampage was more severe than any previous time.

Behind them, Yu Fusang, who had kept away from the battlefield and watched from the sidelines the whole way, raised her hand again. Two fingers pointed toward the sky, and a spiritual art summoned a cloud of mist directly above Yin Beiqing.

Heavy rain poured down.

The raindrops fell, smashing burning marks one after another onto Yin Beiqing’s body. The miasma continued invading, following her meridians to the heart that held the Beast Soul Pearl.

“Ahhhhh!” Amid the severe pain, Yin Beiqing threw her head back and roared, only to see that at some unknown point, the moon in the sky had turned blue.

Rainy night. Blue moon.

The nightmare of her life.

If this were only an ordinary soul-bewitching art, Yin Beiqing would not have become like this. The thing that could make her react so strongly…

Yan Yu had more or less guessed what it was too.

She hurriedly threw herself forward and hugged Yin Beiqing, raising her hand to cover her eyes. “Don’t look, don’t look!”

Teng Jingjie also immediately rushed up and began fighting Shen Nanxing, who had launched another attack.

Losing control of emotions would only accelerate the speed of demonic corruption. She needed to control her anger, but once there were more things to think about, her movements became less agile than before.

Yin Beiqing trembled nonstop in Yan Yu’s arms. She knew she would not be able to hold on for much longer. So she gathered the reason that was constantly testing the edge of collapse and gritted her teeth as she said to Yan Yu, “Go… I don’t want to kill you…”

Yan Yu’s breath caught. She stared at her blankly.

Yin Beiqing wiped the blood at the corner of her mouth and raised her hand to smear it onto Yan Yu’s fair cheek. With difficulty, she pulled open her mouth in a grin. “Sickly weakling, go be someone else’s goddess. You were right. I do have a death tribulation. Unfortunately, I can’t escape it.”

Yan Yu widened her eyes, and tears slid down uncontrollably.

She had thought Yin Beiqing kept her by her side only because of the useful value of the title “goddess.” Once her goal was achieved, Yan Yu could be thrown away at any time like a dirty rag.

But at the point when Yin Beiqing was about to fall into demonic corruption, she still thought about Yan Yu’s safety.

“I’m not leaving.” Her answer had never changed.

Yan Yu forcefully wiped away her tears and forced herself to think.

So what if it was demonic corruption? So what if it was miasma? So what if it was Yu Fusang!

With a determined expression, Yan Yu removed the hairpin from her head, then raised her arm and used it to fiercely cut a long, thin wound across her forearm.

Blood rushed out one wave after another and was brought to Yin Beiqing’s lips.

There were two methods of eliminating spirits.

The first was the literal meaning of “elimination,” referring to using forceful martial means to kill the evil spirit that had been found.

The second was purification. It could preserve the evil spirit’s life while restoring its sanity. In this method, the “elimination” only removed the “evil” from the evil spirit.

But purifying evil spirits was not something just anyone could easily do. Only Healing Masters with exquisite spiritual arts, after systematic training, could attempt it. Otherwise, with one careless mistake, there was a risk of suffering backlash and being corrupted themselves.

In other words, right now, even at the risk of falling into demonic corruption herself, Yan Yu was determined to save Yin Beiqing.

She originally was not someone from this world. Even if she really died, there was nothing to regret. But if Yin Beiqing died, Yan Yu would lose the meaning behind her appearance here.

Balancing the two, Yan Yu calculated very clearly.

“Yin Beiqing, believe me one more time, all right?” Yan Yu held her hand tightly and stared into her unfocused eyes. “I absolutely will not let anything happen to you.”

Purification spiritual arts were the most difficult type of Healing Arts to learn.

They had no complicated incantations and no difficult hand seals, yet they tested the Healing Master’s willpower greatly.

This required sending one’s own spiritual awareness into the evil spirit’s body, traveling through every corner and cooperating with one’s own blood to clear away the miasma inside the other party. One careless moment, and one could be infected by the miasma and fall into demonic corruption together with the other party.

Yu Fusang had originally wanted to stop Yan Yu’s actions. But after thinking about it, she instead became more interested in seeing what the other party could do that might surprise her.

What abilities did the legendary goddess have after all?

Yan Yu had no spare attention for anything else. Her spiritual awareness quickly shuttled through Yin Beiqing’s body. The purification method introduced in only a few lines in the book was extremely simple, so she had already prepared herself for a bitter fight.

But she soon discovered that the miasma seemed to be extremely afraid of her. After feeding only one mouthful of blood, the miasma that had seeped into every part of Yin Beiqing’s body rapidly dissolved at a terrifying speed.

She charged all the way to the tightly closed door of Yin Beiqing’s Soul Domain. Just as she was about to push through in one breath and purify everything completely, she was quickly and heavily bounced away. This collision directly knocked her spiritual awareness out of Yin Beiqing’s body.

“Cough, cough, cough—” Yan Yu bent over and coughed miserably.

“No need.”

Hm?

Yan Yu raised her eyes in surprise.

At this moment, Yin Beiqing’s gaze had already regained clarity. Although her expression still looked somewhat weak, the black mist of miasma had faded from the beast patterns on her body.

“This little bit of miasma, I can deal with myself.” Someone still loved saying stubborn things.

Yan Yu knew that she greatly tabooed anyone entering her Soul Domain. Even when facing her own Beast Souls, she kept the door tightly closed.

However, now that Yan Yu’s blood was still in her body, as long as she did not recklessly court death, the remaining miasma would slowly be expelled.

“Give me the sword.” Yan Yu extended a hand toward her.

Using the Demon-Slaying Blade consumed too much. Yin Beiqing’s current state could not withstand it at all.

Yin Beiqing did not move. “You’ll hold up even less.”

“I’ll do it.” Yan Yu looked at her and repeated, “Right now, you can only trust me.”

Yin Beiqing lowered her eyes and met her gaze. Seeing the seriousness in Yan Yu’s eyes, her expression loosened for an instant.

“This time, you really might die.” If it had been Yin Beiqing at her peak, perhaps she could still fight Yu Fusang. But now…

“I know.”

“You don’t need to do this.” Yin Beiqing shook her head.

“Just treat it as me repaying you for saving me twice.” Yan Yu smiled sincerely. Her brows and eyes softened with that smile, and her entire face became gentle, without the slightest fear of death. “Yin Beiqing, you’re actually a pretty good person. If you had been born in my world, we probably could have become friends.”

Probably because this was the first time she had been issued a good-person card, even Yin Beiqing herself froze.

Yan Yu took the opportunity to reach for the Demon-Slaying Blade in her hand. She could not pull it free. Instead, she was tugged back.

She staggered and stood steady, only for her chin to be pinched and lifted by the other party.

In her panicked vision, she could only see those red lips approaching her. The soft touch finally stopped on the red lotus Beast Mark at the center of her forehead.

Yin Beiqing’s soul power continuously poured into her body through the place where the two touched. Perhaps because she had been forced to eat several large mouthfuls of pills earlier, or perhaps because that prescription had taken effect, her body accepted so much soul power in a short period without hurting so badly she would faint the way she had before.

This counted as a kiss, yet it did not contain too much special emotion.

But the strength with which Yin Beiqing lightly embraced her, and the gaze she had lowered just now, made Yan Yu feel that she seemed to be an existence the other party valued greatly.

Yan Yu told herself there was no need to dwell on the emotional meaning of these tiny movements. Yin Beiqing did this only because this method was more efficient than transferring soul power through the palm.

Once the soul power transmission ended, Yan Yu immediately felt her entire body fill with comfort as if the Ren and Du meridians had been opened. She had never felt her hands and feet be this light before, as if with a snap of her fingers, the huge rock beside her would turn to ash and scatter.

Yin Beiqing took the initiative to release the hand holding the Demon-Slaying Blade and pushed Yan Yu forward.

“I’ll trust you once.”

“Mm.” Yan Yu tightened her grip around the Demon-Slaying Blade.

The feeling of swinging a sword, once experienced, was forcefully engraved into muscle memory. Perhaps because the soul power in her body now came from Yin Beiqing, Yan Yu felt as if she was not the only one holding the sword.

Yin Beiqing’s voice commanded her inside her mind.

“Never let your eyes leave your target.”

“Attack with all your effort. Don’t be afraid of getting hurt.”

“You are the one controlling Jiwu. Jiwu is not the one controlling you.”

That’s right. She was the one in control!

“FU LA VOO.”

Hearing this incantation, Jiwu, who had long been impatient to rush out, finally got her wish. Her compatibility with the Demon-Slaying Blade was perfect enough to ignore any need for tacit understanding.

Yan Yu felt the energy fluctuations from the long blade in her hand and quickly joined the battle between Teng Jingjie and Shen Nanxing.

“Hey! Sickly weakling, what the hell is this thing?” Teng Jingjie had long been close to being unable to hold on. Only after Yan Yu came over and blocked a strike did she finally gain room to breathe and speak. “My arms are numb from chopping, and she hasn’t suffered a single injury. Also, why can an evil spirit control Beast Souls? And a whole pile of them!”

“These aren’t her Beast Souls.” It was difficult for Yan Yu to explain to her that the Shen Nanxing before them was actually only a manufactured puppet and could not be treated like an ordinary evil spirit. She simply said, “Her weakness is her neck. Find an opportunity to cut there. I’ll coordinate with you.”

As she spoke, the wings on Yan Yu’s back flapped rapidly, moving her above Shen Nanxing and forming a two-sided pincer attack with Teng Jingjie.

But every time they were about to succeed, Teng Jingjie would always be affected by the Soul-Capturing Eye and slow down. In the end, forget successfully beheading Shen Nanxing—her own wounds only grew more numerous.

After the two finally coordinated and stabbed her in several places, they discovered that Shen Nanxing had no reaction at all to pain, as if nothing had happened. There was even suspicion that she became braver the more setbacks she suffered.

More and more sweat gathered on Yan Yu’s forehead. At this rate, they would not be able to last long. Teng Jingjie’s stamina had already been greatly consumed in the battle earlier. Although Yan Yu had Yin Beiqing’s soul power supporting her, her physical combat skills were truly too poor. She could only use simple straight slashes and side cuts.

Zhongpu…

Her gaze moved toward the tree.

Looking at it now, that tree should be Shen Nanxing’s energy source.

Xueji’s swollen negative emotions, combined with her own originally powerful soul power, made her absolutely Shen Nanxing’s greatest “assist” at this moment compared with the other Beast Souls controlled by Yu Fusang.

As long as Xueji was still being used as an energy pump, Shen Nanxing would not fall so easily.

“Zhongpu! Destroy the Sacred Spirit Monument first!” Yan Yu actually was not certain. She had only made this decision by instinct.

In any case, under the current circumstances, they could only treat a dead horse like a living one.

Hearing her voice, Zhongpu immediately changed the target of her chopping. Smashing the Sacred Spirit Monument was still very difficult, but compared to earlier, the barrier seemed slightly weaker.

After a few chops, cracks appeared on the Sacred Spirit Monument, but the short blade had also curled at the edge. Zhongpu threw aside the now useless blade, gathered all her strength, directly clenched a fist the size of a sandbag, and smashed it hard onto the spirit monument.

Bang—

The Sacred Spirit Monument cracked in response, and the towering tree behind it also crashed down with a rumble.

At that critical moment, Zhongpu immediately acted and pulled Xueji, whose upper body had been exposed, away from that ghostly barrier.

The moment Xueji left, Shen Nanxing’s body froze in midair, and the Soul-Capturing Eye on her forehead tightly closed as well.

“Teng Jingjie, now!”

The two repeated the earlier pincer attack from above and below. Teng Jingjie attacked from below, while Yan Yu swung the blade from above.

The distance between them grew closer and closer. In Yan Yu’s eyes, Shen Nanxing’s undefended nape was already within reach.

At the moment when success was about to arrive, she forced herself to endure the trembling of every muscle in her body, ensuring that the “target” remained within her attack range.

Don’t go soft. Don’t cut wrong. There might only be this one chance to succeed!

Boom—

Suddenly, a burst of fire flashed before everyone’s eyes. Amid the enormous explosion, their bodies were forcefully pushed in all directions.

Yan Yu flew out like a kite with its string cut and was caught by Yin Beiqing when she raised her hand.

Shen Nanxing, who had still been full of life just now, was the most heavily injured. It seemed that the explosion had not been aimed at Yan Yu, but directly at Shen Nanxing.

Someone had delivered the fatal strike before Yan Yu and the others.

After confirming that none of their own people were missing arms or legs, Yan Yu and Yin Beiqing very tacitly looked together toward the direction the explosion had come from.

“Two Teng Jingjies?”

They did not only look exactly alike. Right now, they were even locked in fierce battle.

Whatever one person’s right arm transformed into, the other immediately followed and transformed the same. If it were only simple disguise, Yin Beiqing could do that too.

But this was clearly not as simple as disguise. The other party was like a copy and paste, perfectly recreating every detail of Teng Jingjie.

Her appearance, her accent, even her spiritual arts.

And now they could see clearly that the explosion just now had been caused by one of the “Teng Jingjies” copying the Youqi tribe’s firearm.

But the real Teng Jingjie definitely would not do this. Among the people present, only Yu Fusang was missing.

In other words, that fake Teng Jingjie was her.

Yu Fusang did not seem inclined to prolong the fight. With a few casual moves, she shook off the entangled Teng Jingjie and charged toward Yan Yu with a determined expression.

Yan Yu was just about to raise her sword to defend, but before her arm could lift, she sensed wind brushing past her ear and a sharp pain at her neck.

Ding-ling—

The sound of the bell had already appeared behind them.

Yin Beiqing turned around, her expression as if facing a great enemy. This person moved even faster than her. In other words, Yu Fusang’s physical arts were above hers, a Special-rank Beast Arts Master.

“I enjoyed watching that fight very much.” Yu Fusang’s tone was like someone who had just watched an artistic performance and was giving an evaluation.

She raised her hand and excitedly examined the blood on her fingertip. Then she extended her tongue and licked all of it into her mouth, narrowing her eyes as she savored it in intoxication.

So this blood… could purify evil spirits?

She turned her head and curled her lips at Yan Yu.

“We will meet again, Lady Goddess.”

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Author’s Note:

The soul power is only borrowed for this moment. Later, it will be returned to Sister Yin. The Beast Soul Pearl too, after Yaochi Mountain. Yan-mei still has to rely on her own strength to grow stronger, although she has many golden fingers…

Yu Fusang is a physical-arts big shot, while Sister Yin leans toward spiritual arts. Once Sister Yin gets back her Beast Soul Pearl, she’ll recover to a level where she can match her!

Xueji is fine! She was saved!