Nie Jiuluo’s hand instinctively pressed against the ground, still gripping her blade. Usually, when performing this move, she would use the momentum for a side flip to get up. But this time was different.
With just a slight push, her entire body rose in an incredibly fluid motion. Just as Xing Shen had said, there was no pain at all. Her shoulder had been previously wounded by a White-Eyed Ghost, and her left arm had been injured, requiring constant protection.
All her fighting moves had deliberately avoided relying on her left arm. But now, not a single part of her body felt stiff or hindering—every movement flowed as smoothly as flowing water.
The two Owl Ghosts tried to pounce and pin her down, but their movements seemed as slow as two fools. They weren’t even worth practicing moves with. Nie Jiuluo slapped one with her palm while simultaneously executing a spinning kick toward the other.
She intended to fight both simultaneously, defending on two fronts. However, what shocked her was that these two adult Owl Ghosts felt as light as pears in her hands. One stumbled and fell from her slap, while the other was kicked flying several meters away. She hadn’t even used much strength.
For a moment, Nie Jiuluo felt an indescribable euphoria. The more skilled a martial artist becomes, the harder it is to advance. Only those who have reached a certain level of mastery can appreciate this sensation of their entire body feeling as if cleansed by water. In the past, when watching martial arts dramas, she couldn’t understand Dongfang Bubai’s decision to castrate himself for the sake of mastering a supreme technique—was it worth it? Now she somewhat understood, as an overwhelming sense of superiority and the ability to crush all opponents arose spontaneously.
She turned toward the beacon tower. The battle there had reached its climax, but the outcome was clear: some were being dragged away, while others were howling as they struggled hopelessly in deadly embraces with White-Eyed Ghosts or Owl Ghosts.
Where was Yan Tuo? She spotted him—he was entangled with a White-Eyed Ghost, his body covered in blood stains. The White-Eyed Ghost’s claws could easily tear through the toughest leather. In comparison, human strength and nails were far too fragile.
Nie Jiuluo let out a low growl, her figure moving like lightning. In an instant, she charged over, and in the next second, she was behind the White-Eyed Ghost. Without hesitation, both her hands seized the Ghost’s head and twisted outward.
A crisp sound of breaking bones rang out. Even Yan Tuo himself couldn’t understand what had happened—just a moment ago, the White-Eyed Ghost had been facing him, but suddenly its head was turned completely backward.
The area fell silent for a second or two before Yan Tuo finally recognized her: “Ah Luo?”
Nie Jiuluo still retained her consciousness and could understand speech. She recognized him, but he wasn’t important anymore. Her hands at her sides twitched with excitement, her mind buzzing: Who else? Come on, all of you! Her heart and hands were itching for more.
The death of a White-Eyed Ghost must have released different pheromones, as several White-Eyed Ghosts in the area turned their attention toward her. The two nearest ones immediately released their victims and charged straight at her.
Wow, two at once! A two-versus-one fight!
Nie Jiuluo was so excited her blood was rushing, and she felt like letting out a long laugh to the heavens. She paid no attention to Yan Tuo’s shocked gaze, neither dodging nor evading, but charging straight at the two opponents.
Weren’t you supposed to be fast? Weren’t your movements supposed to be like ghostly shadows? Now they seemed utterly ordinary.
As they came close, Nie Jiuluo suddenly spread both hands, accurately grabbing one throat in each hand, and violently crushing inward. Without losing momentum, she leaped up onto a broken wall before releasing her grip and turning around.
The two White-Eyed Ghosts, nearly knocked unconscious from the impact, fell limply but struggled to get up again.
Nie Jiuluo burst into laughter.
She felt she might have truly gone mad—so this was the meaning of “Mad Blade.” When people go mad, they become an unstoppable sharp blade that can kill gods who stand in their way. But she couldn’t control it: to hell with top predators, who in this underground could deal with her now?
Xing Shen had also been wounded, taking several claw strikes to his chest and abdomen that burned with pain. He had already been in the process of being dragged away, but seeing the situation change and knowing Nie Jiuluo’s transformation had succeeded, his heart leaped with joy. Taking advantage of the Owl Ghost’s momentary confusion, he suddenly sat up and shouted: “Let’s go! Why aren’t you all running while you have the chance!”
His words reminded everyone. Yan Tuo saw people struggling to their feet here and there, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: the White-Eyed Ghosts had seriously injured non-humans like Sun Zhou and Mayi, but for actual humans, although they didn’t go easy, they seemed to focus on capture rather than killing.
This explained why there hadn’t been any deaths among their companions yet—it wasn’t because their side was fighting well, but because the enemy was holding back.
A shadow flashed before his eyes as Nie Jiuluo charged back into the battle formation.
Seeing that his first call hadn’t achieved much effect, Xing Shen shouted hoarsely in exasperation: “Hurry up! Time is running out!”
Everyone finally reacted completely. Yan Tuo went to check on Feng Mi first since they needed her to guide them to the creek.
She had already been dragged outside the beacon tower and lay there limply. When he lifted her, he saw her head and face covered in blood, with a visible wound on the right side of her head.
Yan Tuo’s heart jumped, and he called out involuntarily: “Feng Mi?”
He remembered Yang Zheng, whose fatal wound had also been on the crown of his head. White-Eyed Ghosts seemed to favor this move when dealing with Earth Hawks.
Feng Mi’s eyelids flickered but couldn’t open fully. However, she smiled slightly and spoke unclearly: “It’s nothing… won’t die… for now… I can still… guide the way.”
Yan Tuo had no choice but to grab her arm and wrap it around his neck, then picked up a flashlight from the ground before standing up with her on his back.
As he stood, he caught sight of Nie Jiuluo, who was single-handedly attracting all the Owl Ghosts and White-Eyed Ghosts, fighting many opponents at once. For now, she seemed to be holding her own.
Yan Tuo’s lips moved slightly, but he held back from calling out to her—calling would only distract her.
Meanwhile, Yu Rong stumbled outside the beacon tower and found Sun Zhou: one of his arms had been torn off, and he lay in a pool of blood, but he wasn’t dead yet. His eyeballs could still move, and he was still breathing.
Yu Rong gritted her teeth and heaved his body onto her shoulder: even if he was just a beast, she had trained him herself and couldn’t abandon him, let alone the fact that he had originally been human.
Xing Shen habitually swept his gaze around but didn’t see Mayi—there was no familiar light outline in his vision. Perhaps he had been taken away.
Time was pressing, and there was no time to worry about more. He rushed to Yan Tuo’s side and asked Feng Mi: “Which way do we go?”
Feng Mi barely lifted her eyelids and pointed in a direction: “That way.”
Xing Shen pushed Yan Tuo: “Go, head that way first.”
He shouted again: “Everyone follows! This way!”
Yan Tuo became anxious: “What about Ah Luo?”
Xing Shen turned to look at Nie Jiuluo: “Ah Luo, don’t get caught up in the fight, you need to keep up with us!”
Nie Jiuluo’s combat power would be strongest in the initial stage, then gradually decrease slightly, and after an hour, it would begin to drop dramatically.
Nie Jiuluo heard him, her eyes narrowing as she pressed one hand on an Owl Ghost’s shoulder and leaped out of the battle circle.
Of course, she had to keep up—her purpose was to escort everyone safely to the creek, not to get entangled in combat here.
She kept her eyes fixed on the White-Eyed Ghosts while waving her hand outward, gesturing to Xing Shen and the others: you go first.
Xing Shen understood, relieved to see she could still communicate properly. He raised his hand and shouted: “Let’s go!”
***
Feng Mi was guiding the way, and since Yan Tuo was carrying her, he had to walk in front. However, his heart was anxiously fixed on Nie Jiuluo’s situation, though there was nothing he could do.
Nie Jiuluo seemed to need no help from anyone, but what if something went wrong?
Lost in thought, he heard Feng Mi mumbling on his back: “Yan Tuo, carrying me like this… aren’t you afraid I might do something nasty, like scratch you?”
“Your Uncle Jiang… Jiang Baichuan was scratched and torn by Aunt Lin, and his mouth corner was torn. He was old, his constitution… constitution was poor, low resistance, he transformed… transformed quickly…”
Yan Tuo could feel warm blood slowly flowing from Feng Mi’s head and face onto his neck. Hearing her struggle to speak, he felt somewhat sympathetic: “Save your strength, don’t talk.”
Feng Mi gave a small laugh: “While I can still speak… let me say a bit more. I hate… these people behind us.”
She closed her eyes and took a breath before continuing: “They… deserve to die, but I’m willing to guide you to the creek. Although we’re… enemies, sometimes we can still… be friends.”
They reached a fork in the road, and Yan Tuo stopped, looking back: Nie Jiuluo was indeed retreating in their direction, but she still had a group of pursuers that couldn’t be shaken off.
That wasn’t all—he heard strange calling sounds, very high-pitched, drilling into the endless darkness like an electric drill.
He sensed something was wrong, instinctively feeling this was the White-Eyed Ghosts calling for their companions: the White-Eyed Ghosts attacking them were from two groups, but perhaps there were more than two groups underground. Lin Xirou and her group’s encounter was clearly with another group.
His heart tightened, and he quickly asked Feng Mi: “Did you encounter White-Eyed Ghosts on your way to the creek?”
Feng Mi made an affirmative sound: “Brother… Brother Xiong helped us hold them back, don’t know how he… how he’s doing…”
Just then, Xing Shen caught up: “Why did you stop? Keep going.”
Yan Tuo couldn’t hold back any more: “What exactly did you discuss with Ah Luo?”
Xing Shen answered quickly: “Regardless of what we discussed, Yan Tuo, the only right thing for you to do now is to hurry along. Any delay from you is a waste of Ah Luo’s efforts.”
Yan Tuo had no response to that.
Feng Mi raised her hand again: “Go… go this way.”
***
The subsequent journey was suspiciously smooth: they just kept moving forward, and the group pursuing Nie Jiuluo gradually fell behind until they finally disappeared.
Nie Jiuluo quickly caught up with them, but she didn’t walk with the group—she moved along high places, leaping from one high wall to another pile of earth, her movements incredibly fast as she flew up and down.
This was good in a way, as the high position made it easier to spot anything unusual in the distance.
But something wasn’t right. Thinking of the strange calling sounds heard earlier, Yan Tuo instinctively felt these White-Eyed Ghosts were planning something.
Others had noticed too. Datou spoke first: “Brother Shen, something’s wrong. How did they just disappear while following us?”
Someone quickly agreed: “Are they planning to make their move when we reach our destination? We’re going to the creek to hide, but if we’ve led the White-Eyed Ghosts there, what’s the point of hiding?”