Chapter 454 - 397: A Cry for Help
Jiangxin Ferry Pier.
Dust-Cleaning Slave let out a piercing shriek. Desperately circulating his remaining Primordial Qi, he threw himself toward the Silk Lady, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines.
His only hope was that the Silk Lady would intervene. Even if she only delayed Chen Li for a single moment, he might be able to create some distance and find a sliver of a chance to survive.
However, in the very next instant, just as he threw himself toward the Silk Lady with all his might...
The figure in the lotus-root pink palace dress seemed to have anticipated his move, acting even faster than he did.
She didn’t move forward to help, nor did she try to intercept Chen Li. Instead, her figure flickered, and she drifted backward and to the side, instantly putting dozens of yards between them.
"Didn’t you tell me not to interfere?"
"Can’t you handle it yourself?"
"What are you coming to me for?"
"Get lost!"
Her face openly displayed her derision, and her cold, clear voice was like a series of ice picks.
"You...!!"
Dust-Cleaning Slave couldn’t catch his breath. His vision suddenly went black as stars burst before his eyes, and the already chaotic Primordial Qi in his body instantly went on a rampage.
A mouthful of blood surged up his throat, but he forced it back down.
’This crazy woman!’
’What the hell is in her brain?! Is it shit?!’
’What fucking time is it to be arguing about this?!’
’Can’t she see our opponent is a Dharma Powerhouse?!’
’Can’t she see that I’m about to be beaten to death?!’
"If you don’t act now, we’re both going to die here today! You idiot! You bitch!"
Despair almost drowned Dust-Cleaning Slave.
But cursing was useless.
He couldn’t count on that madwoman, the Silk Lady. ’The hostage! Right, there’s still that little girl.’
In this desperate situation, a crazed, vicious look flashed in Dust-Cleaning Slave’s eyes.
He bit his tongue hard, forcefully changing his direction in mid-air and charging toward Jiang Nanyue, who was further away, still supporting Chen Shouyue.
If he could just grab Chen Shouyue—with that girl in his hands, Chen Li would surely hesitate to act for fear of hurting her. This was his last and only chance for survival.
"Jiang Nanyue! Quick! Give me that woman!!"
He roared hoarsely, burning the last of his Primordial Qi as his figure transformed into a gray blur, pouncing straight at Jiang Nanyue.
He was just about to reach her.
Suddenly, Jiang Nanyue looked up, a strange, apologetic smile gracing her lips.
"Lord Dust-Cleaning Slave, you previously instructed me to guard the Chen Family’s Third Miss well, and that no matter what happened or who came, I was absolutely not to let go."
"And I have remembered your instructions perfectly."
Before her voice had even faded, before Dust-Cleaning Slave’s horrified eyes, Jiang Nanyue deftly moved with Chen Shouyue, instantly drifting over a dozen yards away to the side and rear.
"You fucking..."
Dust-Cleaning Slave was completely stunned. His mind went blank, with only that single curse echoing wildly within it.
His desperate lunge had been a final, all-or-nothing gamble.
Seeing his target retreat into the distance, his vision went dark. The mouthful of blood he had been suppressing could no longer be contained, and he spat it out in a great spray, mixed with endless frustration, rage, and despair.
’Do these two women have fucking normal brains?!’
He never would have imagined that the ever-submissive Jiang Nanyue would deal him such a fatal blow at this critical moment.
Of these two women, one watched coldly from the sidelines, waiting for him to die, while the other played dumb only to stab him in the back.
’What the hell are they thinking?!’
’Just to see me make a fool of myself?!’
’Or have they been colluding with the enemy all along?!’
Anger, despair... in an instant, they devoured what little reason he had left.
And in that same instant.
The sound of rushing air from behind was already upon him.
The Qiankun Ruyi Staff struck true, a solid, unadorned blow, smashing into Dust-Cleaning Slave’s unguarded back.
"Ah...!!!"
A blood-curdling scream erupted, only to be cut short abruptly.
BANG!
Dust-Cleaning Slave’s body, like a meteorite, smashed straight into the hard stone ground of the pier.
BOOM!
A cloud of dust shot into the sky, and shattered stones flew like raindrops.
A crater several feet deep and about ten feet wide was blasted into the ground.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread out wildly from the center of the crater for dozens of yards.
At the bottom of the crater, Dust-Cleaning Slave’s body had been reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.
His physical body was almost completely destroyed.
His life force was fading rapidly.
"HUMMM!"
A dim, pitch-black speck of light suddenly shot out from his body.
It was Dust-Cleaning Slave’s Primordial Spirit!
Although his Primordial Spirit was also heavily injured, it hadn’t lost its ability to fight.
As long as the Primordial Spirit remained, there was still a chance of survival.
The Primordial Spirit shot Chen Li a venomous glare and, without hesitation, transformed into a streak of black light, fleeing toward the large ship on the Lishui River at an astonishing speed.
"Trying to escape?"
Chen Li sneered. He, too, unleashed his Primordial Spirit. Raising his left hand, he gently pointed at the streak of black light that was about to disappear into the dark surface of the river.
"Silk Lady! Do something! Save me! If you don’t save me, I’m really going to die!!"
Dust-Cleaning Slave’s Primordial Spirit let out a desperate roar, completely devoid of its previous cold arrogance.
However, the voice that answered him was the Silk Lady’s, even colder than before and tinged with a hint of satisfaction. "Apologize, and then I’ll act. Otherwise, you can forget it."
’Apologize? Apologize my ass!’
Dust-Cleaning Slave was about to explode with rage.
’At a time like this, a matter of life and death, this woman is still hung up on this?’
However, he had no more time, and no more opportunity, to curse her.
"Annihilation."
It was silent.
There was no earth-shattering power, no dazzling, brilliant light.
There was only a faint wisp of gloom, one that seemed capable of swallowing all light.
Dust-Cleaning Slave’s Primordial Spirit shrieked, desperately trying to turn and accelerate.
But it was all in vain.
Chen Li’s Primordial Spirit’s fingertip gently pressed forward.
"Hngh...!"
Dust-Cleaning Slave’s Primordial Spirit twisted and fluctuated violently, looking as if it might disperse at any moment.
Immediately after, fine golden runes materialized from the void.
They wrapped around it in layers, binding it, and finally transformed into an imperceptible streak of light that was dragged back into the shattered body at the bottom of the crater.
Only after all this was done did Chen Li slowly turn around, his gaze falling on the beautifully dressed woman in the distance who had been watching from the sidelines the entire time.
Chen Li had long been aware of their Cultivation Realms.
Spirit Realm Seventh Level, a Grandmaster Guiyuan.
With her strength, had she joined the fight from the beginning, Chen Li knew he never could have wounded the other so cleanly.
If she had gone straight for the unconscious Shouyue and used her as a hostage, he would have been forced to hold back, and the situation would have become far more difficult and dangerous.
But this woman in the palace dress had just watched quietly.
Her eyes were indifferent, her posture detached, as if it had nothing to do with her.
’What on earth is she after?’
Thoughts raced through Chen Li’s mind. The reason for her inaction was truly baffling.
The silence lasted for several breaths.
Chen Li broke the silence, his gaze locked on the Silk Lady. "Two paths. Death, or submission. Choose."
"What do you mean?"
Facing Chen Li’s chilling killing intent and immense pressure, the Silk Lady showed not a trace of fear. "You two were fighting. That was your business. What does it have to do with me?" she asked.
Her expression was completely matter-of-fact. "It was a grudge between you two. You should settle it yourselves."
She paused, as if remembering something, and added, "Oh, right. Since your thirty thousand bolts of silk have been loaded onto the ship, I’ll consider that part of the deal fulfilled. Remember to prepare another thirty thousand bolts as soon as possible. Then I’ll consider taking action to help you reconnect your daughter’s meridians, which were severed by Dust-Cleaning Slave. Also..."
"Your dear daughter just ingested a little gadget specially made by my Xiang Sect. Without the exclusive antidote, her meridians will rupture within seven days, and she will die. The antidote... isn’t expensive. Just bring another forty thousand bolts of silk in exchange for it. Remember, forty thousand bolts. If you’re short by even one, you can just wait to collect her corpse."
Chen Li fell silent.
He looked at the Silk Lady’s face, a picture of "it’s only natural" and "extortionate demands," and for a moment, he was speechless.
All his previous speculations and deductions about some ulterior motive... vanished completely in that instant.
’So... I really was overthinking things.’
’This woman isn’t some deep-scheming, patiently plotting mastermind.’
’She’s just crazy and completely unreasonable!’
There’s no reasoning with a madwoman.
The last shred of Chen Li’s intention to probe her motives completely dissipated.
He said no more. The right hand gripping the Qiankun Ruyi Staff moved without warning.
It was another simple, direct, unadorned sweep.
The staff carried the terrifying power to shatter mountains and split seas as it swept toward the Silk Lady’s waist.
Where the wind from the staff passed, a deep trench was plowed into the ground. Debris and dust were swept up by the Powerful Qi, forming a raging, earth-yellow dragon.
"You... you actually dare to attack me?!"
The smile on the Silk Lady’s face instantly froze, replaced by astonishment and outrage.
’I already stated my conditions so reasonably. He should be going to prepare the silk, how can he be so irrational and just attack?!’
She was both shocked and enraged, letting out a sharp cry.
Brilliant silver light suddenly burst from her lotus-root pink palace dress.
The hem, the cuffs, the sash... countless silver threads, as fine as hair but glinting with the cold light of metal, shot out from her body in an instant.
"Heaven and Earth Net!"
With a sharp cry from the Silk Lady, the silver threads instantly intertwined and wove together in front of her, forming a massive, multi-layered, impenetrable silver net.
BOOM!
The Qiankun Ruyi Staff collided violently with the Heaven and Earth Net.
A deep, muffled boom.
Then came a rapid succession of sharp snapping sounds.
The silver threads were forcibly snapped and torn apart.
Countless broken threads flew and scattered through the air, shattered and utterly disintegrated by the force of the staff.
"Pfft..."
The Silk Lady’s delicate body shuddered as if she had taken a heavy blow. An unnatural flush spread across her face, and as her lips parted, a jet of blood shot out uncontrollably, staining the front of her dress red.
She staggered backward, sent flying, her gaze toward Chen Li now filled with horror and... a sliver of madness from being utterly infuriated.
She was wounded in a single exchange.
The gap between them was far greater than she had imagined.
"Jiang Nanyue!"
The Silk Lady, a mix of fury and alarm in her voice, shrieked, "Kill his daughter for me! Right now! Immediately!"
As she shrieked, her silver threads danced wildly.
This time, she held nothing back, her vast Primordial Qi pouring out without reservation.
"A Thousand Threads, Ten Thousand Strands, Heaven and Earth Net!"
Innumerable silver threads surged madly from all over her body, even from within her magnificent palace dress.
The threads crisscrossed, forming an impenetrable barrier. Each one was imbued with a sinister, feminine Primordial Qi that could slice through anything and entangle life force, and they descended upon Chen Li’s head.
At the same time, several lengths of White Silk, like venomous dragons emerging from their lairs, struck out with cunning and bizarre trajectories toward Chen Li’s vital points.
Her intention in this all-out attack was obvious.
She would use the Heaven and Earth Net to temporarily trap Chen Li, creating an opportunity for Jiang Nanyue to kill Chen Shouyue. She wanted to make this man who dared to ruin her deal pay a terrible price.