Chapter 710: Chapter 548: Kill_2
What’s even more terrifying is that in the woman’s forest world, there were no teleportation points to use, not even a mirror, or a piece of glass, or a puddle of water left for him to utilize.
The power of the Human Bone Staff had been taken away, which made it impossible for Yang Xiao to detect the position of the enemy. The Ghost Lantern couldn’t be used either. A white fog filled the Dead Tree Forest, and now he was completely lost in this forest.
Many times, Yang Xiao had called out in his heart for his dear sister to save him, but it was as if the other party was dead, or perhaps asleep, not making a sound.
"Calling you time and time again to no avail, what use is there in praying to you?" Yang Xiao cursed silently in his heart, not daring to speak aloud.
Suddenly, a whooshing sound arose from behind him. Before Yang Xiao could turn around, he was struck by a tremendous force and flung into a tree, where he finally stopped.
The blow had dislocated his left shoulder. If Yang Xiao could have looked in a mirror at that moment, he would have seen that his left shoulder was hanging lower than his right. The woman stepped out from behind the tree, stepping on the soft rotting leaves as steadily as if she were on flat ground.
Struggling to his feet, Yang Xiao understood that if the opponent hadn’t been worried about losing the Soul-Capturing Mirror in this world had he died, the blow wouldn’t have been to his left shoulder—it would have directly broken his neck or shattered his head.
"Auntie, I think I’m starting to like you a bit, too. Want to hear why?" Yang Xiao said, feigning calmness to stall for time.
But his opponent didn’t give him the chance, raising her hand and striking with the Ghost fishing rod again. This time, Yang Xiao couldn’t avoid it, and pulled the woman into the Mirror World. Maintaining this world had already drained most of his spiritual power, leaving him completely unable to resist. In the last moment, he saw through the mirror that Qu Muzhi’s attack outside had taken shape, which allowed him to escape from the Mirror World. Almost simultaneously, the two of them returned to the hospital garden.
After a stumble, Yang Xiao steadied himself, preventing a fall. Every muscle in his body ached.
But it was all worth it, at that moment in Qu Muzhi’s hands, the long spear underwent an unimaginable transformation—a strange, blood-red power seemed to be repairing the damaged spearhead.
Moreover, this power continued to extend. A cold spear tip seemed to have an invisible line stretching out, firmly locking onto its target at the other end.
The target was marked by a red dot, the woman’s heart!
And the cost of this strike was visible to the naked eye. Qu Muzhi’s skin was paler than before, the pallidness of blood being drained away. Some more white hairs were now visible in his originally grey-white hair. It seemed this strike was sucking out his life force.
At this moment, the woman felt a terrifying degree of unease in her heart, completely losing the desire to attack, focusing only on defense.
More than a dozen dead trees erupted from the ground to shield the woman. Numerous withered barks spread out from her chest, causing her body to appear increasingly hunched. Layer after layer of tough bark enveloped her chest, and even the fishing rod was raised in front of her as a triple defense, all to block this one attack.
Qu Muzhi’s eyes reddened, the dense blood vessels within almost bursting, accompanied by a roar. The strongest strike from the Demon Rakshasa finally erupted, a blood-red spear was thrown with unmatched ferocity, easily piercing through the defense made of over a dozen dead trees, snapping the thick trunks in half. The fishing rod raised to block it was no challenge either, instantly being knocked away. The spearhead pierced through the layers of bark, acting as if it had a rending force applied to it, making the bark layers collapse. With a vast expenditure of spiritual power, the bark surged out faster than the woman could repair, and the spear broke through several layers of defense, its blood color gradually dimming.
From Yang Xiao’s perspective, he could only see a fierce conflict between the blood red and grey-brown forces of the bark, the forces intertwined in an intimidating scene.
Finally, the spear pierced through the bark defenses, exploding a burst of blood on the woman’s chest, also blasting open a large portion of her left side, blood and flesh scattering everywhere. At that moment, the spear also exhausted its last bit of blood energy, reverted to its previous headless form, and deeply impaled the woman’s chest.
At that moment, a cheeky and rather fitting voice echoed in Yang Xiao’s mind, "Who says you can’t kill a person without a spearhead?"
Exhausted, Qu Muzhi’s body swayed a few times, no longer able to hold himself up, and he fell backward completely rigid.
Looking at the unmoving woman in the distance, Yang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could check on Qu Muzhi’s injuries, he suddenly remembered something—his Human Bone Staff and Ghost Lantern were still in an unusable state, meaning the suppression from the ghost fishing rod was still in effect.
The woman... wasn’t dead yet?!
"Stab—"
The next second, Yang Xiao witnessed a terrifying scene. The woman lifted her right hand, slowly pulled out the long spear that had pierced her chest, and threw it on the ground. The spear was soaked in blood, and the blood-formed spearhead was already shattered. The woman now sustained severe injuries; half of her body was blown open, and the rotting flesh in her chest even faintly revealed a beating heart.
"Thump."
"Thump."
So close, it was so close!!
Yang Xiao’s eyes were bloodshot, and the feeling of shattered hope left him in despair. Qu Muzhi was now unconscious, and even if he woke up, it would be useless; his spiritual power was exhausted, and he was no better than an ordinary person now.
"Step."
"Step."
The woman stepped towards him, each step leaving a thick blood footprint behind her. The venom in her eyes was almost solidifying.
"Damn thing..." Blood spurted from the corners of the woman’s mouth, speaking each word was torture for her.
Although the woman was severely injured, the fact that she could still barely maintain the suppression ability of the fishing rod meant she wasn’t at her last gasp yet. Qu Muzhi had done everything he could. After all, he had sustained grave injuries when using that strike, and his spiritual power had been massively drained in the earlier fight, reducing the strike’s power from its peak potential.
Indeed, the road ahead would have to be walked alone...
The woman stopped, staring provocatively at Yang Xiao, "What, do you want to... want to try again?"
The next second, Yang Xiao’s figure suddenly vanished, reappearing not far behind the woman. He had spotted the mirrored shards in the flower bed there long ago. However, the woman was faster than him and didn’t hold back this time. Before Yang Xiao could close in with his saber, the fishing rod pierced right through his abdomen. The bark on the woman’s body writhed, constantly repairing the huge wound and stopping the bleeding, making her appear more like a monster.
"Is this the strength that troubles the Wounded Door? Truly pathetic..." Looking at Yang Xiao, whose body was gradually slumping, the woman said with a scornful gaze. If it weren’t for wanting to retrieve the Torturing Life Saber, she would have killed him already.
Just as the woman turned to check on Qu Muzhi, the fishing rod in her hand suddenly trembled. She turned back sharply, only to see an astonishing scene—Yang Xiao, ignoring the fishing rod piercing his body, clenched his hand around a kitchen knife and charged at her with the rod still skewering him.
"Still not giving up?" The woman raised her hand, calmly waiting for Yang Xiao’s knife to fall, planning to snatch it barehanded.
But in the next moment, her pupils suddenly constricted. The hand she intended to use to snatch the knife, along with half of her arm, dissipated. More precisely, it was obliterated, splashing blood and flesh onto her own face. At the last moment, Yang Xiao had switched his kitchen knife for the Ghost Duster, catching the woman off guard. This horsetail whisk strike also completely broke down the woman’s protective defense.
Not giving the woman time to react and with almost all his spiritual power exhausted, Yang Xiao decisively discarded the Ghost Duster, switched back to the kitchen knife, and cleaved open the woman’s head.
