44. Fierce Battle
You will soon meet again in the underworld.
"Amo, Amo, wake up... can you hear me?"
The sound flooded his mind, like a lock that had been rusted for years finally being opened. In an instant, the incoherent thoughts and dull pain vanished, replaced by a wave of exhaustion that swept over his entire body. He was still clutching his head, his lips pale, and he slumped helplessly into the corner.
It's Du Zhijin. What brings her here?
Did he set off fireworks? I...don't remember at all.
As his consciousness returned slightly, he managed to stand up, leaning against the wall. The first thing that came to his mind was: "Huo Qing wasn't possessed by a demon; she orchestrated this whole thing herself..."
“I know, now is not the time to talk about this. How are you feeling? Does your head still hurt?” She interrupted him, reaching out to help him up, but he slumped to the side, sliding along the wall to avoid her touch.
His mind was still a mess. Ying Jianhua waved his hand, signaling her not to speak and to let him calm down.
"Do you...remember when I told you before that I always hear strange noises?"
Du Zhijin was stunned, and asked with a worried expression, "It's appeared again?"
He nodded, closed his eyes wearily, and said in a hoarse, confused voice, "What exactly is it? A demon? No, you said it wasn't a demon, so was it just my imagination? But how could it be an imagination—"
He wanted to say that all his hallucinations were about her, but when his gaze fell on the scarlet full moon behind her, his heart suddenly went emptied.
The once gentle and peaceful moon now transformed into a bloodshot giant eye, thick dark red gushing from the edge of the moon and flowing down the sky like saliva, causing Du Zhijin's face to become somewhat distorted.
Even unfamiliar.
He unconsciously took a half step back, and his foot just happened to kick something. Looking down, he saw it was an unopened fireworks tube.
His heart grew even colder.
If the firework tube wasn't used, how did Du Zhijin find him? Shouldn't she be waiting in Wanze?
He paused for so long that Du Zhijin followed his gaze and saw the fireworks tube. Before Ying Jianhua could stop her, she had already reached past him and picked it up, but what she said next was chilling.
"Whose child is missing?"
The child... left behind? Isn't this something she gave him?
Ying Jianhua's lips twitched slightly, but no sound came out. Her pale face paled by a third, and countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
He didn't recognize many monsters, but he had a particularly deep memory of the Phantom Demon because he had experienced it firsthand.
Phantoms can mimic the voice and even the figure of those close to them, but they cannot imitate their faces. However, this particular phantom is clearly stronger than the one encountered before.
Du Zhijin seemed to realize he had spoken out of turn, and his eyes instantly turned crimson, just like when Jiangwei transformed back into her demon form that day. He immediately spoke up: "It was left by the neighbor's child. You even gave him grapes to eat during the day."
This was both a reassurance and a test. Sure enough, "Du Zhijin" did not rush to reveal his true form but chose to continue the pretense, following his words: "Ah, it's him, what a naughty child."
The word "mischievous" felt like a chilling wind blowing across his neck, sending a cold sweat through him. He subtly distanced himself from it, pretending to fix his hair, and quietly slipped the hairpin into his palm.
The talisman had been blown away somewhere, and he couldn't light the fireworks, so he had to rely on himself.
Ying Jianhua tried to recall how Du Zhijin killed the Illusion Demon, only to find that she couldn't learn it at all. She had vanished with a single sword strike, something he clearly couldn't do.
If we could know what kind of demon the Illusion Demon is, perhaps we could start by investigating its true form. Ironically, Du Zhijin himself said that to this day, no one knows what the Illusion Demon's true form is.
Are we just supposed to wait to die?
When dealing with people, one should have a thousand or ten thousand ways to deal with them, whether it's through intrigue or manipulation, or by winning their hearts and minds. But the one he encountered was a demon, which made him feel once again like "a fish on a chopping block."
The last time I had this feeling was when my mother and father passed away and never returned.
He couldn't help but clench the jade hairpin in his hand.
Why is he an ordinary person? Why does he never have the power to resist? Why isn't he a demon?
His childhood helplessness has persisted to this day; perhaps his fate was sealed from the beginning, and he was destined to be a victim.
The full moon in the sky seemed to hear his heart's voice, and the crimson color began to slowly flow, completely occupying and assimilating his eyes.
He didn't want to be left behind again.
"My legs seem to be unable to move." Upon hearing this, "Du Zhijin" suddenly smiled, and very considerately walked to his side and helped him up.
Ying Jianhua didn't move, his gaze fixed on the side of its neck.
He had tested it, and found a pulse in that area of the Crimson Tail. This meant that even a demon could be killed by a human if it was subjected to an impact.
"Why are you so late?" Her voice carried a hint of resentment and grievance, and she threw herself into "Du Zhijin's" arms. Soon, a cool drop of liquid landed on its shoulder.
The demon paused, then slowly raised its hand, seemingly to pat his back and comfort him. But Ying Jianhua clearly saw from the reflection on the wall that its hands had materialized into sharp claws.
Right now.
With a surge of inexplicable strength, he gripped the hairpin and thrust it fiercely into its heart. A cold glint flashed, and the phantom demon, caught off guard, tried to defend itself, but still heard the faint sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh.
The sound was particularly jarring in the quiet night.
Having landed a successful blow, Ying Jianhua quickly withdrew his weapon and turned to run away without lingering. However, he had only run a short distance when a sinister and cold voice caught up with him from behind, calling his name just as Du Zhijin had said.
“Amo, Amo, Amo”.
At first it was Du Zhijin's voice, then it became his father's, then his mother's. He bit his lip tightly, refusing to turn back no matter how sincere or tender the calls were.
He finally understood why those people couldn't help but turn around even knowing there was a demon behind them. It was because the resemblance was too striking; the person they longed for was right behind them—even just a glance would have been enough.
But he didn't stop, running forward with all his might, not daring to rest for a moment.
Jiangwei is in the West Market; he must have a way to contact Du Zhijin. Besides, Elder Jun is also in the West City; as long as we get there...
My thoughts came to an abrupt halt as I saw the painting frozen in place, the jade hairpin held high in the air.
A cold, cloying voice whispered in my ear, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, laced with a greedy sigh: "I knew I wasn't wrong..."
"As long as I eat you... how can I not defeat her?"
What's the meaning?
His head began to turn backward uncontrollably, and he tried his best to resist this force that was not his own, but to no avail.
The jade hairpin slipped with a "bang," the magnolia mechanism popped open, and poison splattered all over the ground. The phantom demon paused, and just then, the blood-red moon was obscured by a figure.
Then, a fierce sword aura slashed down, and another bright moon rose.
Du Zhijin's eyes were cold and deep, and the tip of his sword remained motionless.
"Let him go."
The demonic creature revealed its true, ferocious nature, instantly enraged by her: "You? Pay with your life—" With that, several streams of black energy erupted from its body, transforming into the likeness of Awakening Moon and piercing backward, the accompanying scorching sword energy perfectly identical. Awakening Moon, angered by these imitations, hummed incessantly in her hand. Du Zhijin understood instantly, forming a hand seal with two fingers and unleashing a sword strike. Pure white light burst from her fingertips, piercing straight through the incoming black energy.
Instantly, blood splattered everywhere, and the phantom demon let out a shrill roar.
The flowing light did not stop there; the instant it pierced through the black mist, it suddenly split apart, like a meteor streaking across the night. The Illusion Demon grinned maliciously, not dodging, but instead using Ying Jianhua as a shield as the sword light drew near.
The buzzing stopped abruptly, but the sword energy didn't have time to dissipate, stirring up the scattered black hair.
Ying Jianhua opened her eyes and found the tip of a sword, gleaming with a cold light, hovering in front of her forehead.
Just one step away.
"Put down the sword, or I'll kill him!" Huan Yao shouted. Du Zhijin glanced at him and actually threw Xingyue to the ground.
"Heh, a swordsman without a sword." It grabbed Ying Jianhua by the collar, showing her that it could strangle him at any moment, and continued, "I know you have a way to seal cultivation, hurry up! Don't try anything funny!"
She did as instructed.
The moon, now fallen to the ground, dimmed inch by inch, as if signifying its master's gradually diminishing cultivation. Ying Jianhua wanted to speak up to warn him, but his throat was bound by the illusionary demon, and he couldn't utter a sound.
He wanted to warn her that this was a cunning demon that had been plotting for a long time, and that she couldn't afford to be careless. But he could only watch helplessly as she dropped her sword and sealed her cultivation, unable to do anything about it.
“I did as you said, what’s next?” she asked.
The demon sneered and rebuked her for her approaching movements: "Don't move!"
Du Zhijin: "What are you worried about? I have neither sword nor cultivation right now, so I can't do anything to you."
"Who knows what other tricks you cultivators have up your sleeve? My brother died at your hands because you underestimated us!"
"Your younger brother?" She frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, "That 'Soul-Extinguishing Flame' phantom demon? It does have some cleverness, but it's too weak."
"But don't be sad." As she spoke, she appeared behind the illusionary demon without anyone noticing, her footsteps as light as the night breeze.
The voice, however, was firm and powerful: "Because you will soon be able to meet again in the underworld."
As soon as she finished speaking, a dazzling white light flashed by. Even though Ying Jianhua couldn't see what was happening behind her, she was still stung by the blood-red light reflected from the sword.
With her cultivation sealed, she didn't have many fancy spells to use, relying entirely on instinct to wield her sword, each move decisive and never at a disadvantage.
The clanging of swords against each other produced a continuous sound, yet the Illusion Demon never gave up its hold on him. It seemed certain that as long as he was there, Du Zhijin wouldn't dare unleash his full power, only using black energy to entangle with her, while its true form remained by his side.
This can't go on.
Suddenly, he saw a pair of fox ears emerge from the shadows in the corner of the wall; it was Crimson Tail.
Huan Yao seemed unaware of Jiang Wei's arrival, focused solely on fighting Du Zhijin, while Ying Jianhua knew her opportunity had arrived.
He winked at him, indicating that the jade hairpin at his feet was usable. Jiangwei hesitated for a moment, then nodded to him.
Another sharp gust of sword wind struck, and the black aura of the Illusion Demon could not withstand it, forcing its true form to retreat as well. Jiangwei seized the opportunity and leaped forward, but just as it was about to touch the jade hairpin, a hand grabbed its throat.
Was that just a hallucination?!
"Heh, another one delivered to my door." Huan Yao slowly turned around and gave Du Zhijin a provocative smile.
"What, are you going to continue?"
Jiangwei struggled and said, "Benefactor! Benefactor, you don't need to worry about me! I... Ugh!" Before she could finish speaking, she was hit hard in the abdomen and could no longer make a sound.
Ying Jianhua, however, has been unable to speak for a long time.
Du Zhijin's expression was cold and stern, her gaze towards Huan Yao devoid of any warmth, as if she were looking at a dead person. Enraged by her gaze, Huan Yao roared, "What makes you so great! I'll make you taste the pain of losing a loved one too!"
However, before he could finish speaking, a crimson sword light appeared out of nowhere, piercing towards the true form of the illusory demon. Du Zhijin's eyes flickered slightly, and then he heard a loud male voice: "Fellow Daoist, I'm here to help you!"
Two sword gusts of wind attacked the Illusion Demon simultaneously, one from the front and one from the back. Unable to dodge in time, it had to concentrate all its attention on defending itself, naturally neglecting the hostage. Taking advantage of the opening, Ying Jianhua grabbed Jiangwei and rolled out of the battle, her hand holding the jade hairpin trembling slightly.
The jade hairpin became lighter, indicating that the poison had been used up.
The man who appeared out of nowhere was swift in his attacks, though his aim was slightly off, and his sword strikes always missed. Fortunately, he distracted the illusionary demon, allowing Du Zhijin to finally unseal herself. Without the threat of hostages, she attacked without restraint, each move carrying a chilling killing intent that swept across the land.
Gradually, the man realized he was superfluous, so he simply withdrew from the battle and joined them as spectators.
Ying Jianhua had never seen Du Zhijin like this before.
Most of the time, she is quiet and reserved, but when she does act, she is swift and decisive, aiming for a fatal blow.
But Du Zhijin was different today. She seemed to have been provoked to kill, wielding Xingyue Sword with effortless ease, one move after another, layers upon layers of sword intent surging out like a tidal wave, carrying with them a surging and overwhelming killing intent.
She was angry.
Without giving the opponent any time to react, pure white sword intent erupted, stirring up countless flying sand. The Illusion Demon was forced back several steps, quickly switching from offense to defense, parrying the meteor-fast attack from both sides.
A sword strike of the water element. The phantom demon's eyes flashed, and it came up with a plan. The dark aura wrapped around its arm, and its movements immediately became swift and decisive, breaking through the source of the attack with the force of lightning.
Du Zhijin dodged, and it seized that brief opening. The Illusion Demon roared, condensing its black energy into a blade, its murderous aura surging forth like a raging flame.
Du Zhijin merely flicked his wrist the instant it slashed down. Huan Yao felt as if autumn had suddenly turned into winter, the air was cold and the ice was solid, his fingers could not bend or straighten, and even the pauses in his breathing became slow and long.
The sky was a pale gray, all was silent, the heavens and the earth seemed to stand still.
Ying Jianhua stared blankly at the person in the center of the battle.
She swung her sword one last time, her eyelashes frosted over.
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