Chapter 50
Chapter 50: Let Go? Take It!
“Moon Yin Vine Demon?”
Lu Yao murmured it under her breath, her expression tightening into something ugly.
Shao Heng caught it at once. She lifted her chin, curled her lips into a sneer, and let out a soft snort. “Oh? Scared?”
“I have a treasure my Master bestowed on me. I’m not afraid of a Vine Demon.” Wearing Jiang Yun Jiang’s calm, proper face, she spoke with sharp, vicious words. “What about you? If you’re scared, get lost.”
Out in the world, a name was a blade. A First Realm disciple with no backing was easy prey; someone who could claim a Nascent Soul Stage True Lord behind them made people hesitate, even if it was only a threat. Once a big name was thrown out, everyone had to think twice.
Besides, Jiang Yun Jiang had used the Heart-Bewitching Eye to toy with her back when she was still mortal. Now that Shao Heng was wearing a disguise to ruin Jiang Yun Jiang’s reputation, she had no intention of holding back.
“What a nasty girl,” Lu Yao said coldly.
She balanced on her sword, snapped both hands into seals, and a massive palm-shaped mana imprint condensed overhead before slamming down.
Only First Realm cultivators were permitted inside the Mystic Moon Secret Realm—the laws of this small world restricted it. Everything within was sealed to that same realm, demons included.
The Moon Yin Vine Demon had reached First Realm perfection, with intelligence no weaker than a human’s. It feared the death qi lodged in Shao Heng’s body, and since Shao Heng hadn’t struck first, they had remained in a taut, uneasy standoff.
But Lu Yao’s opening strike didn’t just aim at Shao Heng. That palm was clearly going to hit the Vine Demon too.
Did a Vine Demon have no temper?
18 dark-green vines shot out like spears, smashing into the falling handprint and shattering it in an instant.
Lu Yao’s brows tightened. Only now did she realize she’d been provoked into a pointless move.
The sword under her feet shrank and dropped into her palm. She slashed downward, and her mana transformed into a towering sword-shadow that clashed with the dark-green vines.
At the same time, she angled to retreat—only to see that green-robed female disciple had already risen, drawn her bow, and fired.
The arrows came so fast that in a blink it became a rain of ten thousand shots.
Shao Heng’s eyes were winter-cold as she used the barrage to seal off every direction Lu Yao might escape.
Lu Yao wasn’t incapable of dealing with mana arrows, but with the Vine Demon pressing from the front, she couldn’t spare the hands. In an instant, she was pinned in an ugly crossfire.
The Vine Demon spun out layer after layer of dark-green threads, weaving them into a massive cocoon that tightened around Lu Yao and refused to let up.
Shao Heng drew the Thousand-Strike Bow into a full moon. A silver-white arrow condensed from mana on the string, growing denser by the breath. Black qi crawled across it, knitting itself into mysterious patterns as the shot stored power.
Inside the cocoon, Lu Yao’s mana surged and turned into brilliant, multicolored starlight. When 36 stars condensed and merged into the sword in her hand, star runes streaked along the blade, driving her aura to its peak.
“By my decree!”
She pinched a seal and swung, splitting the vine cocoon cleanly in two. Starlight flared. The Vine Demon took the blow head-on, shuddered, and retreated.
Now.
If Shao Heng didn’t fan the flames here, she might as well truly live as Jiang Yun Jiang from this point on.
She loosened two fingers.
The arrow screamed through the air.
With her current cultivation, using the Thousand-Strike Bow was almost effortless. This shot still couldn’t stack to a full thousandfold, but it easily reached 800fold.
In the market, through hustling and scavenging, she had learned a Binding Lock Spell that let her spiritual sense latch onto Lu Yao’s body, leaving nowhere to dodge.
Lu Yao had just forced her mana back together and was caught in that miserable gap where old strength had spent itself and new strength hadn’t formed. The arrow punched through her right chest. Blood sprayed.
“Courting death!”
A vicious glint flashed in Lu Yao’s eyes. The moment her mana surged again, she stepped on the Seven Stars. Starlight folded—
—and she appeared right in front of Shao Heng, slamming a palm toward her heart.
Crimson Jade Armor flared to its limit. Shao Heng took the blow head-on and flew backward. The soft armor webbed with cracks, but it bled off most of the force—nearly 80 percent.
“Explode!”
The arrow buried in Lu Yao’s chest was wrapped in a layer of purple light arts. Even her blood had been sealed, so the shot’s true power had been delayed and hadn’t bitten deep yet.
Lu Yao’s lips twitched, about to mock—
When the black patterns on the arrow stirred like living things. They stabbed into flesh, devouring every shred of life they touched. The Zi Jing art shattered, and the arrow detonated.
Half of Lu Yao’s body vanished in a spray of gore.
The Vine Demon lashed out again.
“So fragrant!”
“I haven’t tasted cultivator blood in 60 years.”
“I want to drink!”
At First Realm perfection, it could naturally speak. Listening to that grating voice, Shao Heng sent a message through the Blood Pact.
“Still not found it?”
“Almost, almost!” Ao Chuan answered quickly. “I’m about to use the Dragon Pupil Art to find where the Vine Demon’s demon core is.”
For Demon Clan cultivators, once they reached First Realm perfection, their mana and blood essence began to condense, forming something akin to the “Yellow Sprout” of Human Clan cultivators. That was the demon core, and it was what every demon cultivator needed if they wanted to step into Second Realm.
Shao Heng could only keep the Vine Demon wary with Frost Under Heaven. It wouldn’t strike at her, but if it devoured Lu Yao and absorbed this female cultivator’s full essence of cultivation, then advanced further, things would get messy.
When Lu Yao came charging, Shao Heng had never intended to let either Lu Yao or the Vine Demon leave.
She triggered the Moonlight Escape Art. In an instant, she slipped behind Lu Yao.
While Lu Yao was wounded, Shao Heng went for the kill. 36 Jade Bee Needles shot straight for Lu Yao’s chest.
“Wait!” Lu Yao’s voice cracked. “Junior Sister Jiang, we only had a small conflict when we first met. It’s not some blood feud!”
She produced a Bronze Treasure Mirror. Under the moonlight, it shone with clear radiance and blocked the incoming Jade Bee Needles.
“Look, neither of us can do anything to the other. Instead of clinging to grudges and fighting nonstop… why not let it go?”
Let it go?
Shao Heng only knew how to take it.
“Chase the soul, seize the spirit, suppress the fire essence.”
“The Sun Palace rules; the star mansions bow.”
She formed seals and chanted, wringing what little mana she had left into fire arts.
A black-feathered, three-legged crow burst into being within three feet above her head. When it spread its wings, it whipped up a torrent of golden Blazing Flame Talismans and slammed toward Lu Yao.
Without trading for this killing-focused lower-grade immortal art before entering the secret realm—the Golden Crow Sun-Embracing Visualization Method variant, Fire Prison Spirit Manifestation—Shao Heng wouldn’t have been confident about killing Lu Yao on the spot.
Truthfully, if she hadn’t dragged the Vine Demon into the situation, the sheer gap in mana would have left her no chance to even injure Lu Yao.
Dirty or not, the advantage was hers now.
And she had learned from Lu Yao that killing inside the secret realm didn’t require worrying about divination. Her intent had already erupted.
The golden-fire black crow pierced through the bronze mirror’s radiance and finally killed Lu Yao where she stood.
At the same time, the Vine Demon had already been drained of most of its mana by Lu Yao. Seeing Lu Yao die at Shao Heng’s hands, its focus inevitably loosened for a heartbeat.
Ao Chuan, who had spotted the location of its demon core with the Dragon Pupil Art, had been waiting for that heartbeat. He unleashed bloodline pressure to stun it, then used True Dragon arts to forcibly seize that demon core.
His mana was lacking. If he fought head-on, he would be dragged into a brawl with the Vine Demon and lose.
But it didn’t matter.
Under Shao Heng’s “teaching,” Ao Chuan—this two-month-old Little Dragon—had learned how to ambush, and he even looked convincing doing it.
That True Dragon heavenly demon art inherited in his bloodline was powerful enough to win in a single strike.
The Little White Dragon landed in front of her, a pale-green round pellet the size of a quail egg clutched in his claw. His vertical pupils gleamed as he looked at Shao Heng in triumph.
Shao Heng’s recovered mana drained again. Weakness washed through her limbs, but she still gritted her teeth and searched this female cultivator’s belongings.
After checking two storage bags, her face lit up with delight as she spread out a thin silk map.
“No wonder she said she wanted me to scout ahead,” Shao Heng murmured. “She actually had a map!”
She had heard that the terrain of the Mystic Moon Secret Realm constantly changed, but this map clearly marked the areas where the Shattered Moon gathered.
“The Star-Inquiry Sect is skilled at divination. Geomancy and feng shui are their specialties too. Maybe one of their elders got this through some method?”
She guessed and reached no conclusion.
And she didn’t care.
“I didn’t expect a windfall like this. With this map, collecting Shattered Moon will be so much easier.”
“Elder Zhao Tang said the Shattered Moon contains not only Tai Yin’s power, but also the power of the stars.”
“I’ve already absorbed moonlight and sun brilliance. If I add the power of the stars too… maybe I can finally uncover the real secret behind my aptitude!”