Chapter 157 – Rouge Immortal Mountain, the Human-Head Lantern, and the Serpentine Brush of Fate - Part 1
Several days later.
A trio of pitch-black crows perched on a gray-tiled rooftop, craning their necks to watch four blackbirds circling overhead. Down below, three figures, no bigger than grains of rice when viewed from above, were traveling swiftly. They were Pang Yuanhua, Pang Han, and Li Yuan.
“There,” Pang Yuanhua said, gazing at the lines of sight coming from the birds in the sky. “Ahead, in that house.”
Without another word, Li Yuan vaulted over the side wall into the Frost Sword Sect’s courtyard. Blood energy surged through him, making his muscles swell and harden far beyond the strength of steel. Gripping his blade with five tense fingers, he unleashed a single slash.
A fierce gust tore through the courtyard, scattering bricks and tiles like a flurry of butterflies. With a sharp flick of his blade, he ripped off the entire roof in one go, exposing a startled female swordswoman inside.
“Who are you? How dare you barge into the Frost Sword Sect?” she shouted, alarmed.
Li Yuan didn’t bother to reply. A crimson bead of boiling blood seeped from the back of his hand, slithering along the blade until it stained the edge a deep, ghastly red. In a blur of movement, he swung again and split the woman neatly in two, revealing a wooden cross-section at the cut.
At the same time, Pang Han lifted Pang Yuanhua’s wheelchair over the wall and joined Li Yuan in the courtyard, both deliberately avoiding the main entrance. Their intrusion caused immediate uproar within the sect. Swift footsteps scurried across rooftops and walkways as multiple figures rushed in from every direction. Before long, the courtyard was surrounded by swordswomen, all of them tense but hesitant to close in.
Some recognized Pang Yuanhua and exclaimed, “Senior Sister, is your illness cured?”
Others cast cold glares. “She’s with the murderer who killed Senior Sister Wang. She is no longer our senior sister.”
Li Yuan gestured at the bisected body he’d just cut down. “Look closely. Is that really your senior sister?”
Everyone turned to see the remains on the ruined floor. Two halves of a body lay separated with no blood in sight—only eerie wooden sprouts, twisting and wriggling from the cut edges, reaching out as if trying to piece themselves back together.