Chapter 68: Zhuo Mulan
“This is bad!” Xu Xiaoyan, perched atop a hipped-roof building, looked towards the commotion in the distance.
The situation was chaotic, but one thing was clear: Shi Hao was facing a formidable opponent and couldn’t escape.
Although the Huo family was wealthy, they shouldn’t be able to hire a mid-rank expert, let alone a high-rank one.
Even a sixth-rank expert could easily become the leader of a large gang.
Such experts wouldn’t become mere guards for hire unless they were serving one of the four great barbarian families.
The Yuan Dan Huo family wasn’t powerful enough for that.
Yet, judging by his movements, Shi Hao was being forced into a desperate retreat.
Xu Xiaoyan tried setting a fire to create a diversion, but the expert wasn’t fooled.
She jumped down from the roof, the stolen Heroic Deeds Blade strapped to her back, and slipped away, her face still covered.
She intended to circle around and find a way to help Shi Hao from the outside.
Suddenly, a fragrant scent wafted towards her, and she froze.
A young woman in a beautiful Daoist robe emerged from around the corner, blocking her path, “Little thief, I’ve finally caught you.”
Xu Xiaoyan smiled, “And who might you be? Another Chongxian Sect prude?”
It was Du Yuejiao.
She held her sword, its tip pointed at the masked Xu Xiaoyan, and sneered, “Where do you think you’re going?”
The wind blew strongly, carrying sparks from the fire in the distance. Du Yuejiao’s beautiful face and colorful robe, illuminated by the firelight, contrasted sharply with the thief’s black attire.
“Who said I was running?” Xu Xiaoyan giggled, leaping into the air. Her soft whip snaked out from her sleeve, a swirling blur of black, coiling towards Du Yuejiao.
Du Yuejiao, her face cold and impassive, her eyes sharp, flicked her wrist, her sword splitting into three shadows that intercepted the whip – the Three Talents Sword Technique.
Du Yuejiao had already mastered the Divine Orchid Technique, and as an inner disciple of the Chongxian Sect, she had access to ample resources.
After Shi Hao left, she had requested the necessary ingredients and refined the seventh-rank Immortal Formula. Having harmonized her internal and external elixirs, she had now reached the seventh rank.
Their figures intertwined in the firelight and shadows. Xu Xiaoyan’s attacks were swift and relentless, her whip a blur, her movements like lightning.
Du Yuejiao, however, was steady and precise, her footwork following the principles of the Nine Palaces formation and divination, her swordsmanship elegant and adaptable. She would often change her technique mid-move, a hallmark of high-level Daoist swordsmanship.
Xu Xiaoyan had intended to capture her and create a diversion for Shi Hao, but she couldn’t break through Du Yuejiao’s defenses, and more martial artists, alerted by the commotion, were approaching.
She quickly retreated, took out the Void Traversing Brick, slapped it against the ground before her, and jumped in.
Du Yuejiao’s sword flashed, a swirling galaxy of light, but her attack missed. The female thief had vanished.
She slowly sheathed her sword, snorted, and turned to leave.
Unbeknownst to her, the doll sat on a nearby roof, its black gemstone eyes gleaming as it watched her, its gaze unsettling.
Shi Hao leaped and dodged, using the crowd as cover to evade Zhuo Mulan’s pursuit.
Occasionally, a lone martial artist would try to attack him, but he would use their own momentum against them, changing direction and making Zhuo Mulan’s attacks miss.
Despite her sixth-rank cultivation, she couldn’t catch him.
He leaped onto a watchtower, quickly dispatching the surprised archer, and kicked off the platform, his figure a blur in the darkness, soaring over the estate wall.
A sword light, like a coiling dragon, shot upwards from below.
Shi Hao tucked his legs, his body curling into a ball in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the attack.
He landed on the wall, his body unfolding.
Two martial artists tried to block his path. He swung his sword between them, and a strange force seemed to pull them together.
Startled, they pushed against each other, breaking free from the invisible pull.
Shi Hao slipped through the gap between them, leaped over the wall, and escaped the estate, disappearing into the forest.
Suddenly, a wave of sword energy, dense and inescapable, enveloped him.
Shi Hao, sensing danger, quickly turned and blocked the attack with his sword.
A clang echoed as their swords met. He had blocked the attack, but the force of the blow, her cultivation being higher than his, sent him flying backwards.
He crashed into a tree, snapping its trunk.
Zhuo Mulan emerged from the darkness and landed gracefully.
Although the saying went, “Don’t pursue a desperate foe,” she knew this villain’s strength.
He used a sword, but his techniques were more like a saber’s, and although his methods were bizarre, his foundation was only seventh-rank.
Having harmed her disciple, she wouldn’t let him escape.
She wore a green Daoist robe embroidered with bamboo and peonies, symbols of peace and prosperity, with crimson trim, the bamboo in light blue, the peonies the same pink as the trim.
A wide belt and a Daoist sash were tied around her waist. Her hair was styled in a “heaven overturning seal” bun, similar to a twisted bun but more formal, a hairpin securing it.
She was only twenty-eight, her figure curvaceous. Having leaped from a rooftop to pursue him, her breasts heaved slightly as she landed.
“Villain, die!” She saw the young man with the hooked nose stagger after blocking her attack and crashing into the tree, assuming he was injured.
She pressed her attack, her sword light swirling around him like a net, intending to kill him and avenge her disciple’s humiliation.
The young man, however, quickly recovered, his sword flashing as he deflected her attacks, retreating step by step.
Zhuo Mulan was surprised.
Although the difference between the seventh and sixth ranks seemed small, it was a significant gap in power.
Below the seventh rank, projecting true energy externally was difficult, and even if achieved through special techniques, it couldn’t be sustained. But at the sixth rank and above, it became effortless, allowing for more advanced techniques and greater power. Even previously learned techniques were significantly enhanced.
And she had just attacked with her full strength. He shouldn’t have been able to block it so easily, let alone without any apparent injury.
She didn’t know he possessed two types of internal energy, which he was rapidly switching between, one for defense, one for attack.
And his defensive energy was a high-level, orthodox Daoist technique, even more profound than hers!
Every time her energy penetrated his defenses, he would quickly neutralize it with his Daoist true energy. Although only seventh-rank, it was enough to deflect much of her attack.
It was as if her energy had to first break through his Unfettered Demon’s Boundless Art defense and then his Gathering Essence Flowing Pearl true energy before it could truly injure him.
And high-level Daoist true energy had healing properties. Although his internal organs were slightly shaken by the impact, they quickly recovered.
Zhuo Mulan, unaware of his dual cultivation, was surprised that he seemed unharmed despite clearly being unable to withstand her attack. She assumed he was using some kind of demonic secret technique.
The demonic sects had techniques for suppressing injuries, even temporarily enhancing their power through self-harm.
But such methods couldn’t be sustained.
Within the Huo estate, the villain had used the crowd as cover to evade her attacks.
Zhuo Mulan, unwilling to harm innocent people, had held back.
But now, in the forest, she no longer had such concerns. She unleashed her full power, her left hand grabbing the horsetail whisk at her waist, her right wielding her sword, attacking simultaneously.
Shi Hao saw the whisk and sword shadows coming at him from all angles, a dizzying array of attacks. He felt like a rat trapped in a cage, surrounded by sharp needles, with no escape.
Fortunately, during his last visit to the Primordial Grotto Heaven, he had studied Daoist techniques with Ye Zi Yin. He quickly realized that her seemingly random attacks followed a pattern based on the Nine Palaces formation.
Du Yuejiao had used similar footwork, but it was clearly inferior.
Shi Hao, as a transmigrator, was a quick learner. Although he had only briefly studied such techniques, he had absorbed much.
Gritting his teeth, he retreated, his sword flashing, using the Violet Vortex Blade Technique to counter her attacks, following the principles of the Nine Palaces formation.
The Violet Vortex Blade Technique, combined with the Unfettered Demon’s Boundless Art, created invisible spatial distortions, like traps. Although Zhuo Mulan was stronger, she felt her movements being strangely disrupted.
She snorted, relying on her superior strength, and abandoned her intricate swordsmanship, opting for a direct, brute-force approach, her sword clashing repeatedly with his.
Finally, after dozens of exchanges, the young man coughed up blood and was thrown backwards.
Zhuo Mulan was elated. As she suspected, he was relying on some demonic technique to suppress his injuries. His foundation wasn’t strong enough.
She saw him roll on the ground, then stagger to his feet and try to escape. She leaped forward, her sword flashing, a streak of light aimed at him.
However, Shi Hao wasn’t truly injured. Using demonic energy for attack and Daoist energy for defense, although weaker than Zhuo Mulan, he could still withstand her attacks.
He continued feigning weakness, rolling on the ground again. Her sword sliced through the air above him, felling two trees—
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