"Die! You can't escape!"
The enormous body composed of countless bones advanced unstoppably through the forest, crushing the earth like a scorpion.
Upon this bone-constructed scorpion, a gigantic, decaying female corpse roared.
] | I { • ------ » « ------ • } I | [
The female corpse was a full ten feet tall, though only half of her body was fused with the bone scorpion. All of her bodily organs were present, but already rotting and peeling, with tiny, blood-colored maggots wriggling within.
Four pairs of arms grew from her back, each arm a full twenty feet long. In her hands, she wielded weapons fused from bones, driving the massive bone scorpion body to relentlessly attack someone.
"You will die here!"
"You will be sacrificed to the Celestial Venerable!"
"Die!! You must die!"
The surrounding towering trees were all severed, countless scarlet substances stirred up by the aftershock. Nothing could impede the monster's advance, and even the red-clad woman fleeing ahead could not avoid it.
At this moment, her face was covered in sweat, and the red clothes on her body were torn by the aftershock. Although she seemed to be struggling to escape, there was no despair in her expression.
She merely gripped her curved blade, a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes.
"Don't let this old lady catch a break. Since I, Hongluan, came down the mountain, I've never suffered such a great loss! I don't even know what kind of ghostly place this is, and there are still people who need things from here," the red-clad woman muttered, wiping the sweat from her face and carefully examining the surrounding environment.
This woman was beautiful, with a rebellious and heroic spirit. She was none other than Hongluan, the female disciple of the Myriad Worlds Sect whom Jiang Wen had encountered in the Qian Manor.
However, compared to then, the current Hongluan was quite disheveled.
Hongluan forcefully dodged the bone scorpion's attacks, avoiding the enormous bone weapons, and using the power of the opponent's bone weapons to leap into the distance. The reason Hongluan didn't fly with her magical equipment was also because this world was quite special. If she exhausted too much energy, it would be troublesome to be tainted by the power of erosion.
She had heard many stories of Life Fire cultivators being corrupted into monsters by the power of erosion after exhausting their mana. There were even Dao Palace True Men who had fallen because of this. She didn't want to become that kind of strangely shaped, mindless puppet.
"Can you stop following me?! I just took a little something from you! Is it really necessary?!" Hongluan was losing her temper from being chased by this monster, and she cursed and complained. She had only taken something from this monster, but the monster had been chasing her for three days and three nights, without even a moment's rest.
If she hadn't brought enough pills with her this time, she might really have capsized here.
Just as she was regretting that she shouldn't have taken that damned mission in the first place, she heard a gust of wind coming from behind. A tremendous force, like ten thousand mountains, came crashing down. Hongluan turned around and used her curved blade to block the sharp bone spurs, but was sent flying after a moment.
She crashed into the rocky cliff like a cannonball, causing countless cracks to appear on the cliff face. As the dust settled, several more bone spurs thrust out, accurately hitting the spot where Hongluan had landed.
"If I don't show some power, you'll treat me like a sick cat, won't you!" Hongluan said angrily, looking particularly disheveled at the moment.
Not only was she covered in dust, but her clothes were also torn in many places.
Holding two curved blades, Hongluan pushed away the several-dozen-foot-long bone spurs. With a leap, she stepped into the air and flew towards the monster.
The twin blades suddenly glowed with a ghostly blue light, and lightning coiled around the blades.
"Soul Severing Sword Technique!"
"Exorcise Evil!"
The lightning on the blade tips flared up, and Hongluan's speed became incredibly fast again. She transformed into a streak of lightning, darting through the numerous bone weapons that were attacking, and slashed at the huge female corpse on the bone scorpion.
→
In an instant, the world was filled with lightning, and countless bolts of lightning spread out from the center in all directions. Every bolt of lightning that swept across the ground cleared away countless scarlet things.
At this moment, the entire valley was shrouded in lightning.
Even more so, in the center of the lightning, a huge white blade of light slashed past the female corpse, and then disappeared behind her.
The female corpse was cut in half, and a scorched smell emanated from the severed body.
The huge corpse collapsed with a bang, crushing many trees as it fell to the ground.
Hongluan stood behind the bone scorpion, her chest heaving, gasping for breath. That move, Exorcise Evil, had almost suffocated even her.
This move consumed too much mana, and it was one of the Soul Severing Sword Techniques that she had not yet fully mastered.
She quickly swallowed a few pills, calming her breath. Looking at the bone scorpion standing still, she breathed a small sigh of relief: "Fortunately, Exorcise Evil can sever it. If that doesn't work, then I'm just unlucky."
Just as she was thinking this, she heard the sound of cracking bones coming from the bone scorpion.
Hongluan quickly looked over and saw that on the severed female corpse, countless scarlet liquids were spreading in all directions, swallowing the corpses and bones around it, slowly restoring the severed female corpse.
In just a few breaths, the female corpse on the bone scorpion had been completely restored. Her flesh became fresh, and her skin was as tender and radiant as a normal person's. The eight arms behind her were even more robust, and the weapons she held were even sharper.
"…" Hongluan swallowed her saliva, and with just one glance, she realized that the bone scorpion had already rushed to her face.
Gritting her teeth, she took out four lightning needles from her storage bag. Looking at the bone scorpion rushing towards her, Hongluan threw them out. Then, without looking back, she ran away, not daring to stop any longer.
The sound of thunder behind her was deafening, several times more powerful than before. However, Hongluan knew that these lightning needles would only delay the opponent's advance at most, and would not have much effect.
Before she could escape far, she heard the thumping sound of running footsteps behind her. The sound of the wind breaking was rapid and sharp. Hongluan looked back and saw that the sharp bone spurs had already arrived in front of her.
"My life is over!" Hongluan thought sadly.
She closed her eyes and waited for the end, but she didn't feel any pain for a long time.
Hongluan then opened her eyes and saw a person wearing a blue and white Daoist robe standing in front of her. The person held a long sword, standing in front of the bone scorpion. With just a gentle wave of his hand, he turned the bone scorpion into two pieces.
"Be careful! This monster can revive!" Hongluan subconsciously reminded him, and then a familiar yet unfamiliar voice reached her ears.
"It's fine, it won't live." The person chuckled lightly, waving the sword in his hand again.
Only the sound of the wind was heard, and all things dared not speak.
When Hongluan blinked again, everything within ten feet of the bone scorpion had turned to dust. Even the bone scorpion was no exception, and no trace of its existence could be found.
"So powerful," Hongluan exclaimed in her heart. She watched as the savior turned around, a smile on his familiar face.
"Long time no see, Miss Hongluan, how did you end up so disheveled?"
"It's you!" Hongluan exclaimed with wide eyes.
