Chapter 553: Chapter 553 : (Extras) Strolling Down Memory Lane (4)
A round of panicked screaming ensued.
"What is going on???" A man was heard asking in confusion.
"There is... There was..." A young demoness mumbled in shock as she crawled away from the site of explosion.
"Eldest Sister! Eldest Sister!" The demonesses began crying out for their leader.
Another explosion followed, and the pristine marble floor was reduced to debris.
"Who dares to create havoc in my territory???"
The angry female voice was heard not long after, followed by the silhouette of a female figure, who emerged at the balcony of the uppermost level.
Mist rose from the ground and billowed around the shattered remains. But the figure who had wrought this havoc pushed through, their determination unwavering, as if the mist itself were an insignificant obstacle.
"Demons!" Zhang Mingrui cried out as he charged past the curtain of mist.
"Humph!"
The leader of the Flower Demons, Susu, jumped off the balcony and landed lightly on the ground like an exotic dancer, a blizzard of magnolia petals swirling around her.
When she locked gazes with Zhang Mingrui, her mouth inadvertently fell open.
"Crown... Crown Prince?" She mumbled.
But no.
The young man standing before her was not wielding the Crown Prince’s signature sword.
He might share some distinct physical similarities to the Crown Prince, but his eyebrows were thicker and his gaze as sharp as the blade in his hand.
Susu sucked in a deep breath when she caught sight of the Longjing Palace’s jade pendant hanging from her opponent’s waist.
"You are Supreme General Zhang and Crown Prince’s son," she said after a while.
"So what if I am?"
Zhang Mingrui had little tolerance for demons. He was more inclined towards violence than diplomacy, favoring a beating over an interrogation.
Before Susu could formulate an answer, an attack forced her to retreat three steps before leaping into the air.
"You little tiger don’t have a chance of winning against me!" Susu cried out. "You are a hundred years too early to even dream of defeating me!"
Still suspended in the air, Susu transformed into her original form -- a magnolia tree demon.
Her sisters, the other demonesses, quickly followed suit.
The men standing or crouching close to them let out a chorus of scream when the demonesses shed their beautiful lady facade and transformed into smaller, but formidable tree demons.
The roots shot deep into the ground, their branches linked with each other, forming an intricate structure that no mortals could break through.
Before long, all male human beings were captured inside a gigantic cage, with no chance of escaping.
All they could do was beg for mercy as their life forces were slowly being sucked up by the tree roots and fed to Susu, the leader of the Flower Demons.
"Ahhhhh!!! Hellppppp!"
"I am getting weak! Please helppp!!"
"I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!!"
Zhang Mingrui gritted his teeth, full of indignation.
"What are you complaining about??" He snapped as he began slashing his sword through the roots. "Weren’t you happily spending time with the beautiful ladies??? Now that they want your lives, shouldn’t you happily give them what they want???"
The men broke into a round of wail, no different from small children who were about to get caned by their parents.
"Immortal Lord, we were wrong," the men cried out.
"We didn’t know that they were demons."
Pah.
"Please save me, I have wife and children waiting for me at home!"
Zhang Mingrui rolled with his eyes so hard that his eyes almost fell out of the sockets.
"Now you remember your wife and kids!" He hollered. "If only you remember them earlier, you wouldn’t be in this mess!"
With the human beings trapped inside, Zhang Mingrui did not dare using too destructive spells. He was afraid of killing the human beings along with the demons.
Unfortunately, every spot he cut healed miraculously within a split second, thus rendering his attacks useless.
At this rate, all human beings were going to die before he could free them...
Zhang Mingrui’s heart grew cold.
What to do?
"Junjie!!!" He shouted as he slashed at the roots more frantically. "Junjie, answer me! Are you inside this cage???"
Susu, who was perching atop the gigantic cage, let out a blood-curdling laughter.
"Hahahahaha! It is pointless, young tiger. You won’t be able to break through the cage, unless you want the human beings to die."
As Susu spoke, the men’s fear intensified, their panic mounting with each word.
"Ahhhhh!!! Don’t kill me!"
"Immortal Lord, please help us!"
"I don’t want to get eaten by demons!"
"Junjie!!!" Zhang Mingrui’s cries grew louder.
"Junjie, answer me!!!"
Susu clicked with her tongue.
"What’s with residents of Heavenly Realm constantly dropping by my lair, anyway? Whoever it was, he must have some death wish," she muttered.
But somehow, she heard that name before.
Junjie, Junjie...
Where did she hear that name, again?
The answer came swiftly in form of a blizzard of ice blades that materialized in the air out of nowhere and shot toward her.
"What the hell!!!"
Susu was so shocked that she ended up leaping down from her safe spot.
A split second late, and she would be skewered by the many ice blades mercilessly.
Zhang Mingrui’s eyes widened when he saw the familiar attack.
"Junjie...!!!"
Thanks to Xie Junjie’s attack, Susu lost focus and the cage disintegrated.
The men began crawling out as fast as they could. Some were so in a hurry that they literally trampled over the others.
"You little...!!!"
Angrily, Susu shot out a vine from one of her arms, aiming toward Xie Junjie, who was standing some distance away from her.
Xie Junjie easily deflected her attack one by one, but the hits forced him to retreat backward.
"Do you think that a little tiger and a little dragon can defeat me? Huhh? Huhh??? I am Susu, the leader of the Flower Demons! I have reigned over this area long before your parents were even born!!!"
Xie Junjie was forced to back off against a cliff. Just before one of his feet went over the edge, he turned a somersault in the air and landed next to Zhang Mingrui.
Both young men pointed their swords at Susu’s face.
"Yes, we can," they said in unison.
