“Seal!”
Meng Duo’er’s slip had let Meng Wanyue seize her chance.
In such a short span of time, she could only form a single barrier. Baili Weisheng understood this perfectly, and without sparing a thought for Meng Duo’er, he lunged instantly toward Xuanyuan Lige.
But he was too late.
He hadn’t guessed wrong — what Meng Wanyue meant to seal away wasn’t him and Meng Duo’er, but Xuanyuan Lige.
Even as Baili Weisheng’s hand reached toward Xuanyuan Lige, who lay collapsed on the ground, his fate unknown, Meng Duo’er made no move to stop it.
The barrier had already formed — she had trapped Xuanyuan Lige completely.
Unless she died, no one would ever be able to free Xuanyuan Lige.
With that worry off her mind, Meng Wanyue had no wish to waste any more time on Baili Weisheng and the others.
Casting a cold glance over the stunned Meng Duo’er and Baili Weisheng, whose face had finally darkened, Meng Wanyue laughed with easy composure. “Baili Weisheng, where did you find the nerve to come after me single-handed? Heh, did she give you that courage?”
As she spoke, her gaze flicked toward Meng Duo’er, and she couldn’t help but burst into mocking laughter — she had long since stopped regarding Meng Duo’er as any kind of threat.
Meng Duo’er, after all, was still green, far too inexperienced. Seeing this, she grew so anxious she nearly cried, feeling utterly useless — no matter how quietly hard she tried, she simply couldn’t break that barrier.
Baili Weisheng turned and looked over coolly, showing no anger at all — instead, his smile stayed lazy and careless. “An old hag pushing eighty, comparing yourself to a girl not even twenty — have you no shame? What took you a whole lifetime to achieve, she’s already got at her tender age! If you’re jealous, just say so!”
“You—!” Meng Wanyue choked with rage, clearly struck at a sore spot.
“What, did I hit the mark? Let me think… what were you doing at fifteen or sixteen?” Baili Weisheng pretended to ponder. “Ah, right — you were still stuck on the Lone Isle, weren’t you, plotting to run away from home? Just look at her, go on, take a good look.”
As he spoke, Baili Weisheng pointed at Meng Duo’er, drawing closer as he went on. “Can you even compare to her? Oh, and by the way — she actually learned the instant sealing technique before you did!”
This, without question, was the one thing Meng Wanyue cared about most, the one thing she could never accept in her entire life.
Hearing this, Meng Wanyue felt as if smoke might pour from every orifice in her fury. Her eyes, fixed on Meng Duo’er, gradually began to gleam with murderous intent.
A cold smile flickered in Baili Weisheng’s eyes as he pressed on with his provocation. “You’ve worked at it your whole life, endured hardship and bitterness for decades, and still you can’t match what she picked up in a month or two. What do you even have left to be proud of? How pathetic can you get?”
“Shut your mouth!” Meng Wanyue suddenly roared with fury, raising her sword and lunging straight at Meng Duo’er.
Baili Weisheng’s heart leapt with satisfaction, and he immediately moved to intercept and block.
“Get out of my way, or I swear I’ll kill her today!” Meng Wanyue’s emotions had completely spiraled out of control, and she hacked at Baili Weisheng like a woman gone mad.
Fortunately, Baili Weisheng had his Golden Scale Phantom to shield him — otherwise, given how frenzied Meng Wanyue had become, it would have been a miracle if he escaped unharmed.
As Baili Weisheng blocked her, he kept up his provocation, drawing every scrap of Meng Wanyue’s attention onto Meng Duo’er.
If Meng Duo’er’s sealing arts couldn’t overpower Meng Wanyue’s, then their only option was to outwit her — otherwise, they truly would have come here to die.
Baili Weisheng and Meng Wanyue were once again locked in fierce combat, but this time was different from the earlier struggle over Xuanyuan Lige.
Baili Weisheng focused far more on defense this time, putting most of his effort into his tongue instead.
He had no idea how long he could hold out, but he knew he could last at least until Meng Duo’er was ready to strike.
The more he blocked and mocked her, the more Meng Wanyue wanted to kill Meng Duo’er.
His goal was simple: provoke Meng Wanyue until Meng Duo’er was the only thing she could see.
In other words, he wanted to turn Meng Duo’er into Meng Wanyue’s sole target, so obsessed with killing her that she’d forget everything else.
Once Meng Wanyue fell into a frenzy, her emotions beyond her own control, her reason would inevitably fail her as well.
And if, at just such a moment, Meng Duo’er offered herself up and moved in to help, Meng Wanyue’s attention would fix entirely on her, ignoring Baili Weisheng completely. Only then would Baili Weisheng have any chance of a surprise strike.
A contest between true masters came down to a single move, a single instant. Baili Weisheng even calculated in his head exactly how long the exchange of barrier arts between Meng Duo’er and Meng Wanyue would take.
He had to ensure his surprise attack would come in time to save Meng Duo’er’s life.
Meng Duo’er’s amateurish combat skills would never hold up on their own — only her sealing arts could keep her afloat. Baili Weisheng’s calculations were precise, and Meng Wanyue had indeed been provoked into a complete fury.
But even as every one of Meng Wanyue’s strikes turned lethal, even as Baili Weisheng found himself barely able to hold on, Meng Duo’er behind him still hadn’t made her move! Baili Weisheng had truly overestimated her — the girl had no idea what he was trying to do at all!
At that moment, Meng Duo’er stood off to the side, weighed down with guilt, straining with all her focus to stay alert, still watching to guard against Meng Wanyue using her sealing arts on Baili Weisheng.
Good heavens — did she really think Baili Weisheng’s venomous tongue was nothing but empty talk?
By now, Meng Wanyue had descended completely into a frenzy, wind blade after wind blade slamming into Baili Weisheng’s Golden Scale Phantom. She hadn’t even spared a thought for her sealing arts, driven purely by instinct to charge straight at Meng Duo’er.
Such a perfect opportunity!
Baili Weisheng himself was in no position to spare a glance back to signal Meng Duo’er, but even so — Meng Wanyue wasn’t a fool. Surely she could see through it.
For him to keep provoking Meng Wanyue like this, under these circumstances, obviously meant he had some purpose in mind.
“Get out of the way! Move, or I’ll kill you!”
At last, Meng Wanyue exploded with fury, her double-edged longsword slashing through the air, purple light bursting forth.
“Break!”
Meng Duo’er cried out sharply, focused with every ounce of her attention. Her earlier slip had made her demand of herself, absolutely, that she would never falter again.
In an instant, she shattered Meng Wanyue’s still-forming barrier.
With her barrier broken, Meng Wanyue grew even more enraged. She cast another seal and charged straight toward Meng Duo’er. “You insolent girl, today I’ll see for myself just how gifted you really are!”
Meng Duo’er didn’t advance. Instead, Meng Wanyue ignored Baili Weisheng entirely, her attention now fixed wholly on Meng Duo’er, unleashing seal after seal.
“Break!”
“Seal!”
“Break!”
Meng Wanyue’s speed grew faster with every strike; Meng Duo’er’s voice grew colder and sharper with every cry.
Hm… though this wasn’t quite how Baili Weisheng had planned things to unfold, the result was exactly what he wanted.
Silently, he slipped aside, out of the space between the two women’s battle. In an instant, his right hand suddenly clenched into a fist.
Suddenly, golden light flared across his fist, and the scaled phantom armor abruptly swelled larger. In the midst of this transformation, with Meng Wanyue too occupied to notice, Baili Weisheng gathered every ounce of his strength and drove a punch straight into her abdomen.
This was the one spot on a person’s body least able to withstand a blow — a single punch here would surely shatter every organ inside her, sending them straight up through her mouth.
The scheme had gone so smoothly — but who could have known that the moment the punch landed, Meng Duo’er would cry out, “Don’t—!”