After My Paranoid Act to Woo My Cold Master Failed - Chapter 29

The nine-tailed fox demon folded her fan, and a pillar of dark red light flared up. She split the light apart, and in her hands appeared two curved scimitars, their blades shimmering with a bloody glow like twin blood moons. It was an unknown magical treasure; the fan had actually transformed into twin blades.

Shen Shuheng had never seen such a weapon, nor had she ever fought such a powerful Great Demon. She knew that the Nine-Tailed Fox clan was among the most formidable in the demon race.

In this dark, dim dungeon, a fierce battle intent rose in her heart. Her sword seemed to sense its master’s excitement, its blade humming and vibrating. A wind from an unknown source stirred the hair on her forehead. She cast a glance at her clear, bright sword; the silver steel reflected her composed face.

Shen Shuheng took a step back, raised her sword, and swung—the movement was fluid and seamless. Though it looked slow, as if she had only struck once, she had actually unleashed thousands of sword strikes in that fleeting instant. Her cultivation was indeed lower than the fox demon’s; a single strike obviously couldn’t match her opponent’s. But quantity produces a qualitative change—as long as she layered thousands of sword intents into one, the resulting power was enough to move mountains and fill seas.

The sword light was like a white dragon opening its massive maw, exhaling a bone-chilling wave of snow. Before the sword qi even touched the fox demon, she felt a cold that seeped into her very marrow.

Since her nine-tailed bloodline had awakened, she hadn’t felt this cold in a long time. She loathed the cold; whenever her body felt chilled, she would remember the thing she hated most—and most refused to forget in her life: her weak self in the freezing snow, and the gentle woman who had reached out a hand to her.

Currently, her body was cold, but her heart was feverish, and even the blood in her veins had turned scalding. The sensations of cold and heat merged perfectly within her, just like her feelings for her Master love and hate existing simultaneously.

While the fox demon was momentarily distracted, Shen Shuheng’s sword qi charged straight at her, appearing ready to pierce her brow. At that moment, the scimitar in the fox’s left hand curved eerily into a coil, sweeping Shen Shuheng’s sword qi into its grasp.

Shen Shuheng realized something was wrong; the fox demon intended to use her own sword qi against her. Sure enough, with a flick of the blade, the fox demon hurled the sword qi back at Shen Shuheng.

Meanwhile, Fu Xueke was engaged with another fox clone. They fought with incredible speed, their figures blurring into a dance of red and white afterimages. The fox demon was at the Soul Transformation stage; the disciple’s cultivation was ultimately no match for her.

Fu Xueke was not at ease leaving her disciple to face the fox alone. It was dangerous. But she knew Shen Shuheng wouldn’t want to hide behind her forever; the girl deserved a broader world. All she could do was let go and allow her to struggle, keeping a close eye on her from behind to protect her only when her life was truly at risk. She kept a portion of her focus on her disciple, ready to strike the moment danger appeared.

The opponent’s scimitar lunged fiercely at Fu Xueke, but instead of raising her sword to block, Fu Xueke swung her blade toward her disciple, ignoring the weapon aimed at her own body.

The piercing sword light flew toward Shen Shuheng, clashing with the reflected sword qi and erupting in a massive boom. Snowflakes scattered, drifting onto Shen Shuheng’s body and resting on her lashes. After breaking through the reflected attack, Fu Xueke’s strike continued forward with an icy chill toward the fox demon fighting her disciple.

Fu Xueke’s abdomen was struck. Crimson blood seeped through her white robes, slowly spreading across the snowy fabric like a lonely, tragic winter plum blossom. A faint metallic scent of iron wafted through the air; though faint, Shen Shuheng caught it.

Her brows furrowed tightly, her bright eyes dimmed, and her heart was flooded with bitterness and regret. Master had been injured for her sake. She had never seen her Master injured; in her heart, Master was an omnipotent existence. Now she realized that Master could also be hurt and could also bleed.

Master’s cultivation was only at the Soul Transformation stage. Above that were the Great Perfection and Body Integration stages. She shouldn’t have assumed Master was invincible, forgetting that Master was human facing an opponent much stronger than herself, she too could be helpless, could be wounded, and could bleed.

“Master!” Shen Shuheng’s eyes grew sore, and tears welled up.

Regardless of anything else, she charged toward Fu Xueke, pulling her into her arms and pressing her hand over the abdomen where blood was still gurgling out. “Master, are you alright? It’s all my fault… if only I were… more capable, you wouldn’t have been hurt,” she said, her voice carrying a sob.

While holding Fu Xueke, she used her bizarre footwork so the fox demons couldn’t track them. She had many pills; as long as she found a chance to feed them all to her Master, the bleeding would stop.

Yue Bai and Ye Changzhen saw the situation and quickly moved to their side. Standing back-to-back, they struggled to hold off the five fox clones to buy time for the master and disciple. Yue Bai grabbed a handful of talismans from her bag and hurled them at the foxes—these were “Demon-Trapping Talismans” from the Daoist Sect. While they could easily trap low-level spirits, they certainly couldn’t hold a Nine-Tailed Fox; she could only hope to stall them temporarily.

The talismans formed a barrier, circling the foxes. Ye Changzhen’s back was straight, her green robe fluttering in the sword-wind. Her eyes were clearly black and white, devoid of joy or sorrow, looking down at everything with a heartless yet compassionate gaze like a temple deity. A jade-green brush appeared in her hand. Gripping it with her slender fingers, a pale green light lit the air. She swung the “Spirit-Drawing Brush,” and golden runes began to emerge from the tip.

The dark gold runes rotated slowly under the brush. The charm was complete. “Go!” Ye Changzhen commanded. With a swish, a rain of golden arrows erupted from the runes, carrying the righteous aura of heaven and earth toward the foxes. The dense rain was enough to stall them for a while.

Using the Spirit-Drawing Brush was incredibly taxing on spiritual energy. Sweat beaded on Ye Changzhen’s forehead, yet she drew faster and faster, completely disregarding her gradually drying spiritual sea. For a cultivator, a dry spiritual sea was extremely dangerous; one wrong move could ruin their entire path.

Shen Shuheng’s hands trembled as she scooped up a handful of pills and held them to Fu Xueke’s lips. “Master, eat these. It’s all my fault…” she looked at her Master with guilt.

“It’s just a small cut. Don’t blame yourself,” Fu Xueke said, her lips pale as she forced a smile. A glittering droplet hung from the girl’s lashes it was unclear if it was a tear or melted snow. Fu Xueke reached out, her fingertip catching the falling drop, the cold sensation lingering on her skin.

After taking the pills, the bleeding in Fu Xueke’s abdomen finally stopped. However, the wound had not vanished, the crimson flesh still visible. With a rrip, Shen Shuheng tore a strip from her hem. She slowly leaned down and wrapped the cloth around the exposed wound on her Master’s abdomen.

“Stop being sad,” Fu Xueke said, gently stroking her disciple’s fluffy head.

“We should go help them,” Fu Xueke said, raising her sword and appearing before Yue Bai and Ye Changzhen. Shen Shuheng used her Star-Shifting Step to follow by her Master’s side.

“These are Spirit-Restoration Pills,” Shen Shuheng said, fearing Ye Changzhen’s spiritual sea would be damaged if she continued. She hurriedly had Ye Changzhen stop while Fu Xueke took over the defense. Ye Changzhen thanked her, took the pills, poured them all into her mouth, and sat on the ground to begin absorbing the spiritual energy from the environment to refill her sea.

Yue Bai tucked her own portion of pills away, intending to give them to her Senior Sister later. Shen Shuheng saw this and stopped her. “I have plenty, more than enough. You should take some too,” she said, handing Yue Bai several more bottles.

If it were only one Soul Transformation Nine-Tailed Fox, Fu Xueke alone would have been enough. But they were facing five of them. The fox’s clone technique did not diminish her power; on the contrary, it increased it fivefold. They were facing five opponents at the peak of the Soul Transformation stage.

“Although this ability of the Nine-Tailed Fox is heaven-defying, her clone technique cannot be maintained forever. As long as we hold out long enough, we can defeat her,” Ye Changzhen said.

Hearing this, everyone felt a sense of relief. As long as they could stall for time until the technique expired, they would be safe.

“How about the four of us stand together and keep her at a distance?” Shen Shuheng suggested.

“That’s a good plan,” Yue Bai agreed. She and her sister would use talismans to trap the fox, while Shen Shuheng and her Master would set a layer of sword qi around the perimeter to stall for time.

“You think that will be enough? How naive,” the five fox clones sneered simultaneously, their enchanting laughter echoing in the dim prison. “The real show is just beginning!”

“Open your eyes and look! The ‘Blood Corpses’ are complete. You all shall die!”

“Did you think that with just you lot, you could stop this?”

Shen Shuheng and the others hadn’t noticed the changes in the mortals in the corner. They had been too quiet, which in hindsight was entirely wrong—it made no sense for them to remain silent during such a fierce battle.

At some point, the people in the corner had stood up, but they no longer looked human. Their faces were iron-grey with eerie black patterns, and their teeth had grown into beast-like fangs—long and sharp. Their eyes had no whites left, only dark, hollow pupils.

Shen Shuheng was about to say that a few blood corpses were nothing to panic about, but as she looked behind her, her eyes widened. A dense crowd of blood corpses was walking toward them, surrounding them. They hadn’t even noticed their approach. The entire prison was filled with blood corpses, with even more streaming in from outside like a vast army.

The blood corpses tightly hemmed in Shen Shuheng and the others.

“Do not let those things scratch you, or we will turn into one of them!” Ye Changzhen warned.