Chương 49: Imperial Magistrate Yue Zhenli (Part VIII)

Xu Duan screamed in rage, trying to pierce through Magistrate Yue's skin with his dagger. More than once, the blade slipped in his grasp, cutting his palms and drawing blood. As if feeling no pain, he continued his relentless thrusts. In his perspective, the world was crimson, and beneath him was the grinning, blood-soaked Liu Tian. He couldn't perceive that Magistrate Yue was the one being hit or how much she was struggling. Having to deal with inner injuries and Qi deviation, the Magistrate's mind buzzed.

Everything had happened too quickly! The backlash had snowballed, the situation out of her grasp. She shouldn't have attacked the Protective talisman and stopped Heaven's Decree without the correct formula. Qi techniques worked through one's meridians to create a Qi flow and unfold to the world. Stopping it abruptly, along with the draining of Qi, ruptured her twelve meridians and made her organs shake under the Qi flow.

Worse, half of her chakra points closed because of the formation draining her Qi, leaving her mind buzzing. Besides, every time Xu Duan hit her, it prevented her condition from stabilizing. Ironically, the shallow stabs didn't help at all, but the slashes on her chest's softer areas caused enough pain to anchor her thoughts, helping her cling to clarity. While this all happened, inside the severed head that had absorbed all three Inspectors' blood, a bat observed in silence.

Lucian could not move freely at the moment, as he was maintaining three Runes simultaneously. The Rune of Sloth sustained his transformation, while the Rune of Greed siphoned blood, converting it into Blood Essence. At last, the Rune of Lust had allowed him to manipulate the Inspectors through illusions, and now, Xu Duan. The situation had not unfolded exactly as planned, as he wanted to use the Inspectors to attack the duo and test the golden lines.

However, when the Inspectors were blown up and the detached head landed so close to Magistrate Yue and Xu Duan without being destroyed, Lucian adapted immediately. Directly attacking Xu Duan had been impossible before, so he attempted illusions instead, not expecting them to work so well. Such a fortunate turn in battle was rare, and Lucian had no intention of wasting it, pressing for more advantages! In seconds, all the blood was refined into Blood Essence.

Lucian deactivated the Rune of Greed, and without hesitation, slipped out of the corpse's mouth, flying toward the duo. The moment sunlight touched him, the bat's skin ignited. Used to the pain, Lucian ignored it and pressed forward, arriving above them. Below him, Xu Duan continued the frenzied assault, hands torn and bleeding. Most of his fingers were mangled, and one was severed. Observing that Magistrate Yue's was regaining her senses, Lucian did not hesitate.

Empowering the bat's claws with Blood Essence, he closed the wings and flew toward her head! Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. First, he pierced her right eye with his right claw, then he tore away the left one. Magistrate Yue had no control over her Qi, and couldn't reinforce her soft body parts with it. A painful scream tore from her throat. Thankfully, the pain and agony snapped her mind fully awake.

Instinctively, she forced the Qi within her body to erupt outward. It was a mistake. The shockwave blasted outward, hurling Lucian away and sending him tumbling across the ground. However, the blast had also hit Xu Duan. Golden lines flared around him, forming a barrier that reflected the force. The Protection talisman, connected by the One-Floor Pagoda Heavenly Formation, was nearly invincible below the Foundation Establishment realm. Any force directed at the protected target could neither harm nor displace them.

Thus, when the Qi shockwave struck Xu Duan, it rebounded entirely back to Magistrate Yue. She coughed up blood as the impact crushed her deeper into the ground, the last remnants of her Qi nearly exhausted. Only her physique, tempered through the Qi Refining realm and special techniques of the Ancient Golden Clan, kept her alive. Nonetheless, the brush with death and the sheer force of the blow were enough to restore her mind completely!

With a single thought, she activated her Movement talisman, and golden lines descended in a flash, making her vanish.

"No!" Xu Duan screamed, consumed by his desire to avenge his fallen friends and elders. Lucian perceived what happened through echolocation and flew toward a house. Where did she go? he thought. The battle had taken place primarily across the northern and central areas of the village. He had entered the same houses more than once while fighting Magistrate Yue, and he currently had no idea where she had gone.

Hiding, he watched Xu Duan for a brief moment before deactivating the Rune of Lust, causing the young man to collapse instantly. As soon as the illusions faded, Xu Duan's mind could not withstand the sudden return of pain. His hands were torn apart, two fingers severed by his own actions, his body drained from the frenzy of trying to kill Magistrate Yue. Lucian looked coldly at him. He could have driven Xu Duan to kill himself, but he chose not to.

As long as Magistrate Yue could breathe and the formation remained active, Lucian felt he needed the young man alive. Of course, he didn't know for sure that attacking Xu Duan directly would drain more of Magistrate Yue's Qi and cause a deeper backlash. He had mostly adapted his strategy to make the young man kill her, or for her to kill him and see what happened.

Because of his lack of information, after confirming that Xu Duan would not die from blood loss, Lucian shifted his focus and began searching for Magistrate Yue, flying through the wooden wreckage. First to the east, then sweeping toward the south in a slow, circular pattern. Amid his search, still in bat form, he caught sight of Wang Chen. The young man was bleeding, carrying an unconscious Bai Xiaomeng. He walked along the edge of the formation, looking for an opening to the outside, and moved toward the east.

They came from the south, Lucian thought. Hidden within narrow crevices and broken structures, he remained undetected as Wang Chen fled. He noted their direction and followed their previous path, going to where they came from. He used debris and ruined houses to move stealthily. Soon, his echolocation picked up five figures. Approaching carefully, Lucian concealed himself among low bushes within the formation and observed them. Magistrate Yue is here, he thought.

There were also three Inspectors and Constable Mu with her. One Inspector, battered and bruised, stood guard, while one lay unconscious on the ground, missing an arm. The last one of the trio assisted Constable Mu, who was driving thick needles into Magistrate Yue's body. They are trying to heal her. Lucian concluded, his eyes gleaming faintly with crimson light. He briefly considered retrieving Wang Chen, using him as both shield and bait.

However, given that Bai Xiaomeng was unconscious, he assumed Wang Chen would be too distracted to be of use. So Lucian discarded the idea and decided. I will kill them all by myself.