Chapter 540: Don't Let a Single One Get Away

Clang!

A crisp metallic sound rang out.

Yuan Fang watched with his own eyes as a thrusting sword came to an abrupt stop.

A silver hand tipped with razor-sharp nails had seized the blade barehanded.

The swordsman exerted all his strength, but the weapon would not move an inch.

Shock filled his face.

The silver claw flicked.

The long sword whipped backward.

Before the attacker could react, the hilt drove straight into his chest with thunderous speed.

Several drops of blood splashed across Yuan Fang's face.

He twisted his head and watched the assassin go flying.

An assassin that powerful had been defeated without the slightest ability to resist.

The Holy Rakshasa truly was the Holy Rakshasa!

Yuan Fang was overjoyed and shouted, “Yin'er, we can't let them learn you exist! Hurry and kill them all! Don't let a single one get away...”

Then he went blank.

A pair of strange, icy eyes had lowered to look at him where he still clung to her leg.

The next instant—

“Ah!”

Yuan Fang gave a miserable scream.

One kick flung him bodily away, straight into an assassin.

The killer slashed his sword into Yuan Fang.

Yuan Fang's skin and flesh were too tough for the blade to cut through, but the blow still made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

Nor did the sword stop the human projectile.

Yuan Fang crashed squarely into the assassin.

The tremendous impact sent the killer flying as well, spraying blood from his mouth.

The two tumbled across the ground together.

Uncle Chen suddenly noticed that the assassins attacking him had all stopped.

He instinctively looked back.

Before he could see what was happening clearly, all he caught was a sweep of floating silver hair.

Then something slammed into his back.

“Puh!”

Blood burst from his mouth as he was sent flying.

Yin'er had struck him across the back with one sweep of her arm.

Everyone close to her who had been brandishing blades had now been cleared away.

Silver hair drifting, she stood alone amid scraps of grass blown through the air.

The assassins encircling them stared in astonishment.

They had seen her kick Yuan Fang away and then send Uncle Chen flying.

What was happening?

Why was she attacking her own people too?

Every gaze locked onto Yin'er, whose appearance had transformed in the blink of an eye.

Her silver hair flowed like liquid mercury in the wind.

Beneath its spreading veil was a bewitching, sharply tapered oval face.

Silver armored bone covered her forehead and the bridge of her nose.

Sinister, uncanny silver markings spread across her face.

Two pointed fangs protruded visibly beyond her lips.

Beneath the wind-tossed silver hair, both ears tapered to sharp points.

Her hands had become silver claws.

Cold eyes slowly swept across the people around her.

Her entire body radiated an oppressive demonic presence.

The surrounding assassins looked at one another.

None of them knew what kind of monster they were facing.

“Together!”

One assassin suddenly shouted.

Nine killers attacked as one.

Violent protective qi erupted.

Earth and stone blasted apart.

Clumps of grass ripped up by the roots whirled through the air.

One assassin, man and sword together, was swept away by a single arm.

His body folded like paper as he flew backward through the exploding dirt and stone, blood spraying wildly from his mouth.

Another had half his skull smashed flat and was sent flying.

One was pierced through the chest by a claw and hurled away.

Another had his chest ripped open in a single sweep.

One more was slapped into the ground like a nail, half his shoulder gone, choking on blood and barely alive.

The swift, chaotic shadows of claws stopped.

So did the sounds of battle.

One assassin knelt beside Yin'er.

His sword was thrust hard into her waist.

The blade had pierced her clothing, but could not penetrate her body.

Yin'er's five claws, meanwhile, were gripping his skull.

Another assassin backed away as though he had truly seen a demon.

His eyes were full of terror.

Never in his life had he encountered anything this horrifying.

He suddenly turned and fled.

Crack!

Brain matter burst beneath Yin'er's claws.

Her body flashed away, fast as a ghost.

The man whose skull had burst had not even finished collapsing when Yin'er caught the fleeing assassin just as he leapt into the air.

She slammed him back down.

He looked down and saw a bloodstained claw protruding from his chest.

It had pierced straight through him from behind.

In the space of a few breaths, the killers surrounding her were either dead or crippled.

Everyone still fighting nearby stopped.

Every eye turned toward this side.

Niu Youdao, Guan Fangyi, and Yuan Gang were comparatively composed.

Old Six Xu and Old Thirteen were truly stunned beyond belief.

Had the demonlike figure not still been wearing Yin'er's clothes, they would never have believed this could be the same innocent-faced woman they knew.

The assassins had just witnessed something unimaginably terrifying.

Experts like them were being slaughtered as easily as melons and vegetables.

How were they supposed to keep fighting?

Fear finally seized the killers.

“Go!”

The assassin still riding a flying mount overhead shouted.

Yin'er abruptly raised her head.

Cold killing intent filled her eyes.

All of them wore black and covered their faces.

These were the people who had attacked her.

And now they wanted to run?

She flung away the corpse in her hand and raised both arms slightly.

Rip!

The clothing across her back tore apart.

A pair of silver wings burst outward.

Under the setting sun, the wings gave off a silver radiance dimmed slightly by the stronger light of dusk.

The wings moved.

A violent gale exploded outward.

Yin'er shot into the sky.

The Black Jade Eagle above beat its wings frantically, but it still could not escape the speed of the figure coming from below.

The assassin on its back immediately leapt away and fled through the air.

The silver radiance abruptly changed direction.

Like an arrow tracing a curved path through the sky, it struck him and smashed him downward.

Boom!

A crater appeared in the ground.

Yin'er stood within it, wings partly folded.

Blood splashed up around her feet.

“Ah!”

A short, shrill scream came from beneath her.

Her silver wings stirred another gale.

She shot toward the largest remaining cluster of assassins.

Two masked killers flew away spraying blood.

“Down!”

Yuan Gang suddenly shouted.

Yin'er had broken through the encirclement and was now charging toward the three of them.

Old Six Xu and Old Thirteen still assumed they were allies and therefore safe.

Yuan Gang, however, saw something wrong in Yin'er's eyes and urgently warned them.

“ROAR!”

A tiger's roar cracked through the air like thunder beneath a clear sky.

Three-Roars Saber came down violently at Yin'er as she charged straight at them.

Yin'er raised one arm.

Clang!

The blade struck.

Still airborne, Yin'er twisted her wings and swept them across.

Yuan Gang flew away spitting blood.

Old Six Xu and Old Thirteen had not yet understood what was happening.

They had not noticed what had happened earlier to Uncle Chen and Yuan Fang.

The pair of huge wings came crashing across their faces and chests.

Both men were swept away, vomiting blood before slamming into the ground.

The assassins scattered in every direction.

Across the grassland, Yin'er's silver wings became streaks of lightning, flashing everywhere like an eagle snatching chicks.

Not one person escaped.

Not one was spared.

Some merely managed to run a little farther before being caught.

The silver wings made a circuit of the grassland and came back again.

This time, Yin'er charged directly at those who were still standing.

The speed was so great that the targets felt their scalps go numb.

“To hell with you!”

Guan Fangyi shrieked and flipped one sleeve.

A Heavenly Sword Talisman appeared.

She triggered it immediately.

Vast layers of protective force rolled outward like surging waves and lifted her bodily into the air.

She had experience from being struck once before.

This time, she did not dare attack.

Attacking was useless.

She could not stop Yin'er anyway.

Instead, she used the Heavenly Sword Talisman's immense power purely to shield herself.

Boom!

The impact exploded between Heaven and Earth like a thunderclap.

The ground collapsed.

A wall of dirt blasted outward in every direction like a shock wave.

The flying mounts circling above cried out and beat their wings upward to avoid the blast.

Guan Fangyi spat blood and shot out of the collapsing mass of energy like a meteor.

She smashed hard into the ground.

One target down.

Yin'er's wings twisted within the violent gale and changed direction.

Now she charged toward Niu Youdao, who stood with sword in hand.

Niu Youdao's face twitched.

He held the sword horizontally before him, preparing to block, while circulating his cultivation and roaring with all his strength.

“Yin'er! Yin'er! Yin'er...!”

He shouted her name again and again, trying to awaken her.

There was no other option.

Faced with this demon king, he had no power to fight back.

The speed of his counterattack would look like a child's game in her eyes.

Run?

Forget past experience. Had he not just watched what happened?

Every one of those assassins could flee faster than he could.

Which one had escaped?

Fortunately, amid all this misfortune, his voice seemed to have some effect.

The silver wings hurtling toward him suddenly slowed.

Their beats became visible to the naked eye.

Slower.

Slower still.

At last, Yin'er hovered above him, looking down.

Niu Youdao raised his head.

Then he planted his sword in the earth and deliberately emptied both hands to show he meant no harm.

In the same ordinary tone he used when speaking with her every day, he called again, “Yin'er.”

The wings moved gently.

Her body floated downward.

Her toes touched the ground.

Standing before him, Yin'er slowly folded her wings and looked at him with puzzlement.

The cold killing intent had disappeared from her eyes.

She seemed to be struggling to remember something.

Niu Youdao held out one hand and cautiously took a step toward her.

Yin'er gave a slight start.

Her wings spread a little again.

Niu Youdao smiled.

He made the expression as gentle as possible.

Slowly, he moved closer and beckoned softly with his fingers, signaling for her to raise her hand.

Perhaps his mood influenced her.

Perhaps she sensed the goodwill.

Yin'er's wings gradually folded once more.

One silver claw tentatively reached toward him.

One human hand.

One demonic claw.

Amid the ruined grassland, bathed in the fading glow of sunset, they finally touched.

Their hands clasped.

Having dealt with this before, Niu Youdao immediately circulated the Qiankun Art and guided its power into her body, dissolving the violently surging demon power that had erupted from her fury.

Yin'er's expression gradually softened.

Her eyes slowly closed.

Her chin lifted faintly, almost as if she were enjoying the sensation.

Her outward appearance began changing as well.

The wings withdrew back into her body.

Her silver hair gradually turned gray, then black.

The sharp claws began shrinking away...

“Cough... cough...”

Guan Fangyi slowly crawled out of the churned mud.

Experience from being struck once before truly made a difference.

With the full power of a Heavenly Sword Talisman protecting her, most of Yin'er's attack had been absorbed.

Her injuries were not especially severe this time.

She had simply been knocked senseless and needed some time to recover.

A Heavenly Sword Talisman was an enormously destructive offensive weapon.

For Guan Fangyi to turn it into a defensive charm might well have been a first in history.

She shook her head, clearing it a little, and climbed out of the crater her body had made.

Seeing Niu Youdao and Yin'er together in the distance, she coughed and wiped the blood from her mouth.

Then she looked around at the devastated grassland.

Aside from those two, there was not another person standing anywhere.

Everyone had been beaten down.

Suddenly remembering something, Guan Fangyi's face changed.

“Uncle Chen! Old Six! Old Thirteen...!”

She flashed away toward the figures in different clothing scattered across the ground.

Soon she found Uncle Chen lying facedown.

She rolled him over.

His face was covered in blood.

He was unconscious and barely breathing.

Several bones had been broken.

His internal organs had suffered severe trauma.

Guan Fangyi immediately took out a Heavenly Succor Pill and placed it into his mouth.

Then she circulated spiritual power to help him refine it and bring out the medicine's effect for emergency treatment.

A muffled groan came from nearby.

Guan Fangyi lifted her head.

Yuan Fang was rolling around and slowly managing to sit up.

He shook his head hard.

“Old Bear, how are you?” Guan Fangyi called.

Yuan Fang finally came back to himself and looked at her, then at the overturned earth and devastation all around.

His injuries could hardly be called light.

Fortunately, Yin'er had not actually struck him directly.

She had only kicked him away.

Combined with his body being impervious to blades, he had truly managed to pick up his life from the ground.

His gaze settled on Niu Youdao and Yin'er in the distance.

His face crumpled miserably, and his voice carried the verge of tears.

“I told you not to let a single one of them get away. I didn't tell you not to let us get away too!”

[End of Chapter 540]