Chapter 333 : Blushing Faces
Yun Qingyue acted without hesitation, her Ice Flame instantly filling the surrounding space, illuminating a vast area around them. Since the Ice Flame was inherently cold by nature, its eruption caused the already chilly temperature of the surroundings to drop even further.
The White Tiger had already stopped in her tracks. Despite her thick fur, she couldn't help but shiver slightly.
Of course, this shiver wasn't entirely due to the cold, but also because of the scene before her eyes—under the illumination of the Ice Flame, the ghostly entities hiding in the darkness were completely exposed. However, contrary to Yun Qingyue's earlier prediction, they weren't being targeted by just one ghost, but by an entire group. Once discovered, these entities no longer concealed themselves, opening their eyes one after another, resulting in pairs of blood-red eyes staring directly at them.
Jiang Mo was actually somewhat afraid of ghosts—after all, which modern person hadn't been traumatized by horror films? Even though she was now in the cultivation world, and even though she knew ghost cultivators in this world were relatively weak, that fear rooted deep in her soul had never completely disappeared.
The originally majestic White Tiger, under the gaze of those ghosts, involuntarily shivered, her fur standing on end.
Yun Qingyue also felt like there were needles at her back, but she clearly wasn't as afraid of ghosts as Jiang Mo. Upon noticing the White Tiger's bristling fur, she was somewhat surprised. However, this wasn't the time for questions, so she merely patted Jiang Mo's back reassuringly before taking the lead, swinging her sword toward those ghostly entities.
As a righteous cultivator, she naturally cultivated the grand and upright energy. Even though her techniques weren't specifically designed against ghost cultivators, this sword strike still carried an imposing power, causing the ghosts who had already witnessed her prowess to retreat one after another.
In an instant, the area swept by her sword light was cleared.
However, due to the sheer number of ghosts, a few were unable to retreat in time and were accidentally caught by Yun Qingyue's sword light. Where the sword light passed, those solidified ghost bodies seemed as if they had been splashed with acid, or like ink dissolving in water, instantly twisting and melting away. The attacked ghosts were clearly not without feeling, immediately letting out agonizing screams.
In the darkness, ghostly wails echoed continuously, making one's scalp tingle. Even Yun Qingyue momentarily felt disoriented.
Humans might fear violent criminals, but ghosts don't—cowardly ghosts are definitely the anomalies among ghost-kind. The vast majority of ghosts, rather than becoming frightened after being attacked, have their ferocity provoked, to the point of fighting to the bitter end.
The ghostly wails were actually a form of sound wave attack. Taking advantage of Yun Qingyue's momentary daze, several ghosts injured by her immediately pounced toward her with ferocious expressions—they had hideous faces, sharp fangs and claws, with black nails that anyone could tell were not to be trifled with. If scratched even once, one would be poisoned and immediately suffer a great reduction in strength, making it difficult to counterattack.
At this critical moment, the bristling White Tiger naturally couldn't watch her Senior Sister fall into danger. With a majestic tiger's roar that resonated through heaven and earth, easily suppressing the ghostly wails, a tiger-shaped golden light burst forth from her body, charging directly toward those ghosts.
Of course, the White Tiger, who had also released a sound wave attack, wasn't idle either. She rushed forward, swiping with her claws and swinging her tail in a devastating assault—the auspicious energy naturally emanating from the White Tiger countered evil forces, so even if she was a timid tiger, her destructive power was not weak at all. With the enhancement of her protective golden light, her casual swipe of a claw or swing of her tail carried the same power as Yun Qingyue's full-strength attack, instantly causing those ghosts to wail even more intensely.
By this time, Yun Qingyue had already awakened from her daze due to the tiger's roar. Realizing she had been affected by the sound wave attack, she grew alert and prepared herself. This time she wasn't affected again, and instead coordinated with Jiang Mo to attack together.
The combined attack power of the human and tiger was formidable, and with their attributes countering the ghosts, they almost completely dominated the fight against these entities.
But this didn't help much, because these ghosts neither knew fatigue nor feared death. They seemed determined to target the two, coming in waves one after another. Despite their powerful attacks, the pair couldn't break through the encirclement of ghosts in a short time. And under the illumination of the Ice Flame, they could see layers upon layers of ghostly entities, too numerous to count.
Yun Qingyue's spirit sword swung continuously without the slightest pause, but her heart gradually grew heavy—it wasn't that her mental state wasn't good or that she couldn't remain steady, but rather that this underground place was not suitable for cultivators to fight. Despite her fierce offensive, her spiritual energy consumption was actually enormous.
The only thing worth being grateful for was probably that she still had the Ice Soul Condensation Pearl as her foundation, allowing her to continuously extract spiritual energy to replenish herself.
But looking at the endless onslaught before them, this was clearly not a long-term solution.
Yun Qingyue quickly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages, and called out to Jiang Mo: "This place isn't suitable for prolonged battle. Let's go!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mo once again struck out with a claw, this time with golden light gleaming, its power ten times greater than before. Where the golden light passed, those fearless ghosts were instantly cleared away. Seeing this, she didn't linger to fight, but turned around, picked up her Senior Sister in her mouth, and ran.
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Ghost entities, though perhaps inferior to Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue in terms of strength, had no physical form and were truly fast when running.
Based on her many years of watching horror films, Jiang Mo knew it wasn't easy for humans to outrun these ghosts' pursuit, and she didn't plan to race them. So after running for a while and confirming they had temporarily shaken off those ghostly entities, she immediately took her Senior Sister into her Innate Space.
The human and tiger entered the Innate Space, though not in the most elegant manner—the White Tiger had higher cultivation, so carrying Yun Qingyue while running was understandable. However, the situation had been urgent, and Jiang Mo didn't even have time to place her Senior Sister on her back. Combined with the instincts of a feline, she had simply picked up her Senior Sister in her mouth and ran. Now, entering the Innate Space, she was still holding onto her clothes with her teeth.
Fortunately, her Senior Sister dressed rigorously, otherwise her clothes might have fallen apart by now.
Even so, Yun Qingyue was now uncharacteristically disheveled, her collar slightly disarranged, revealing a patch of snow-white skin... The White Tiger secretly glanced once, then quickly averted her gaze, even pretendiously raising her paw to cover her eyes.
Earlier, during their escape, Yun Qingyue naturally hadn't felt anything unusual, but seeing the White Tiger's behavior, she inevitably felt somewhat embarrassed. She hurriedly reached out to adjust her clothes, her jade-like face somehow tinged with a slight blush. Fortunately, she was naturally composed, so even though she was embarrassed, it was only momentary. She quickly suppressed her emotions and thanked the White Tiger: "Thank you."
Jiang Mo wasn't pleased to hear her thanks. From a very early time, she had disliked seeing her Senior Sister being so formal with her. She moved her paw away and silently gave Yun Qingyue a look, neither speaking nor responding, clearly expressing her dissatisfaction.
Yun Qingyue naturally noticed this, hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and stroked the big tiger's ear.
Jiang Mo immediately stopped being angry, making "hmph hmph" sounds through her nose, and honestly nuzzled against Yun Qingyue. However, as she was now an adult, this nuzzle was quite different from a cub's gentle, affectionate rub. This push not only touched Yun Qingyue's hand but directly pressed against half her body, with such force that it pushed her back several steps.
Yun Qingyue had no choice but to embrace the tiger's head, patting her head: "Change back now."
Jiang Mo's cultivation had improved, and she could now control her form within her Innate Space. Hearing this, she obediently changed back. Then, either intentionally or unintentionally, she raised her hand to touch her head, right where Yun Qingyue had patted her.
This wasn't particularly intimate, but Yun Qingyue inexplicably felt somewhat uncomfortable, and slightly averted her gaze.
Jiang Mo noticed this, her eyes brightening a little, but she didn't say anything or make any inappropriate moves. Instead, she changed the topic: "Senior Sister, are you alright?"
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue felt an inexplicable relief and shook her head: "I'm fine."
That wasn't entirely true. Facing the attack of so many ghosts, the human and tiger inevitably had some oversights during their offensive. However, the White Tiger had her protective golden light, so those ghosts had no chance to get close, and Yun Qingyue, staying close to her, also received considerable protection from this golden light. The only minor injury was a scratch on the back of her hand from a ghost's claw. She had discovered it in time and sealed it with spiritual energy, preventing the ghost poison from spreading.
Now that she mentioned being fine, she remembered this injury and raised her hand to look at it, then searched through her storage ring. Unfortunately, ghosts were extremely rare in the cultivation world, and she didn't have any pills specifically targeting ghost poison among her regular supplies.
This wasn't a major issue though; it was simply a matter of expending some spiritual energy to force out the ghost poison.
Not finding any pills to counter ghost poison, Yun Qingyue decided to proceed as planned, already gathering spiritual light in her other hand to force out the poison. However, before she could act, her injured hand was suddenly grasped by someone, who then bent down and directly kissed it.
The gathered spiritual light dissipated in an instant, and Yun Qingyue was completely stunned, revealing a rare expression of bewilderment—while she was still in a daze, she felt a soft sensation on the back of her hand, followed by a wave of warmth, causing her heartbeat to suddenly lose its rhythm. Her fingertips twitched slightly, and then she snapped back to reality, quickly pulling her hand back, her face finally unable to help turning bright red in front of Jiang Mo.
"You..." Yun Qingyue put her hand behind her back, wanting to say something but truly unable to find the words.
Jiang Mo had straightened up by now, appearing relatively composed at first. But upon seeing Yun Qingyue's flushed face, a blush quickly spread across her own cheeks, and her entire body seemed about to burn up.
Fortunately, she still remembered to explain herself, pointing at Yun Qingyue's back with a red face: "Your hand is fine now."