Chapter 24: The Battle at Plum Blossom Pool

The nearby Dog-Xiao did not hesitate to charge forward, its front paws lunging and tearing as it opened its blood-filled maw to bite down.

But what emerged was not Xu Yuan, but a Longzhu Waidan.

"Crack!"

The Longzhu Waidan exploded, a large net descending over its head to trap the Dog-Xiao; then the spider web quickly tightened, binding the Dog-Xiao into a bundle before it was slammed head-first heavily onto the ground.

Thud—splash... the Dog-Xiao slid three or four zhang away.

The other two immediately charged over this way, but right after, with a splash from the water pool, another figure burst forth!

After leaping out of the water pool, it immediately opened its mouth and spat: Pfft!

A golden pill flew out and struck the waist of one Dog-Xiao.

Crack!

The Dog-Xiao's spine snapped instantly on the spot.

The Dog-Xiao let out a wail of agony and fell to the ground, its two front paws still clawing desperately, carving two deep furrows in the earth.

The last remaining Dog-Xiao, its ferocity greatly aroused, turned its head and lunged straight at Xu Yuan.

It leaped a zhang high, its mouth opening in an unimaginable way like a snake's, capable of swallowing Xu Yuan whole.

Xu Yuan stood still in place, whether he was stunned by fear or not, no one knew.

Just as the Dog-Xiao reached overhead, Xu Yuan suddenly opened his mouth and blew out a fire dragon.

Whoosh—

The fire dragon rushed into the Dog-Xiao's wide mouth and in an instant burst out from its eyes, nostrils, and rear.

In the blink of an eye, the Dog-Xiao's interior was already burned completely empty!

Splash!

The Dog-Xiao crashed to the ground; Xu Yuan didn't even look, but hurried over to deal with the other two.

One was trapped by the spider web, the other had its spine broken.

Xu Yuan used Longzhu Waidan to smash their heads to pieces, then gathered his things, cleaned up the traces on the ground, and said: "Come out."

The tree hollow appeared once more, and two furry little heads stretched out from inside.

After confirming the situation, the two heads instantly transformed into beautiful women's heads, smiling as they praised: "Little brother is truly amazing!"

The two sisters climbed out, their bodies those of yellow-furred foxes topped with beautiful women's heads, an indescribably eerie sight!

The two sisters pressed down with their four paws and leaped into the water pool.

The girls' delicate laughter echoed again over the water pool; the two sisters spun in the water, and when they emerged again, they were snow-white and plump, with hair like a waterfall and feet like jade carvings.

Xu Yuan, knowing full well their true forms, still couldn't help but glance twice before climbing back into the tree hollow.

The Saint Maiden's group, more than ten li behind the four Dog-Xiao, heard the Dog-Xiao's roars coming from ahead and immediately increased their speed.

But before they could catch up, they heard several screams, and then everything fell silent.

"Something's wrong!" the Rank Dan Xiu's face changed; the Saint Maiden snorted coldly, having never expected a few medicinal beasts to accomplish anything.

They carefully circumvented the stone cliff and saw a water pool.

Deep in the Shenshan valley, ancient trees stood dark green; in the emerald water of the pool, two mermaids chased and played with each other, their graceful forms appearing and disappearing in the water, full of temptation.

Even knowing full well something was wrong, the Rank Dan Xiu and others couldn't help but swallow.

The two remaining assistants of the Zhao Fur Shop were even worse, their eyes staring straight ahead as they unconsciously walked toward the water pool.

The Saint Maiden glanced over; in every man's mind, fat worms were wriggling wildly.

"Hmm?" The Saint Maiden saw her maid; in this dead girl's mind, several robust lust-worms had actually grown!

"Dead as they are, they still want to come out and fight me for food!"

The Saint Maiden snorted darkly.

The water pool was filled with chilling yin energy; even the Saint Maiden, at first glance, mistook the two sisters for female ghosts.

But the Saint Maiden did not rush forward immediately; we came chasing that boy, and then two water ghosts appeared?

The plot to kill with borrowed knives was too obvious.

The Saint Maiden reached under her skirt with both hands, and when she pulled them out, one hand held a Divine Mechanism Crossbow while the other held a two-headed snake bell.

Holding one end of the snake bell, the Saint Maiden shook it gently; the clear, crisp sound of the bell echoed through the mountains.

The minds of the Rank Dan Xiu and others suddenly cleared.

Looking again at the water ghost sisters, although they still found them quite pleasing to the eye, they were no longer affected in their minds.

The Rank Dan Xiu immediately waved his hand and said: "Search! That boy must be hiding nearby!"

His subordinates immediately began searching along the water pool.

In the water pool, the water ghost sisters were no longer playing; holding hands, they floated halfway on the lake surface, their red bean breasts bobbing up and down at the waterline, appearing and disappearing.

They looked darkly at that two-headed snake bell—with that thing present, their charm technique was difficult to deploy.

The Divine Mechanism Crossbow in the Saint Maiden's hand pointed at the two women.

The crossbow bolts on the Divine Mechanism Crossbow shimmered with a pale golden light, like the light of the great sun, specifically effective against yin ghosts.

The Saint Maiden strolled casually to the edge of the water pool and tilted her chin at the water ghost sisters: "Don't move. Once we find the person, we'll leave; if you make any sudden moves, my hand will slip, and I'll take you along too."

The water ghost sisters glanced at each other, did not answer, but remained motionless in the water.

The Saint Maiden was satisfied and looked at the Rank Dan Xiu and others by the water pool.

Besides that old plum tree by the water pool, the only places where someone could hide were several boulders one person high in the northeast corner, with long, tall wild grass growing between the boulders.

The Rank Dan Xiu signaled with his eyes, and his subordinates intentionally or unintentionally began to close in on the boulders.

The tree hollow in the old plum tree, which Xu Yuan could not see before, the Rank Dan Xiu and his group also could not see now.

Several people approached the boulders silently; when they were still about a zhang away, the Rank Dan Xiu made a hand signal, and everyone lunged forward together.

The Civil Cultivator flicked his wrist, sending a calligraphy scroll flying horizontally to cover the boulder above.

The scroll bore what seemed to be the character "Lei Ting," and with a boom, a bolt of Lei Ting slashed down, pulverizing the wild grasses in the center of the boulder.

The other two were Wu Xiu: one wielded a short spear, the other a shield and a single-edged blade; after the lightning strike, they rushed in swiftly.

The tip of the short spear scraped out a deep groove on the boulder with a grating sound!

In the pond, at the instant the thunder exploded, the Water Ghost Sisters plunged deep into the water.

The Holy Mother had been watching them closely and pulled the trigger of the Divine Machine Crossbow without hesitation.

Swoosh—

A flash of Jin Guang shot past, missing entirely—the Water Ghost Sisters moved faster than the Holy Mother had anticipated.

After the Water Ghost Sisters sank, the pond surged violently, rapidly churning up layer upon layer of massive waves that crashed toward the shore.

The water churned fiercely, and within the pond, two enormous dark shadows could be faintly seen thrashing their bodies rapidly.

The Jin Guang arrow skimmed across the water's surface, flew to the far bank, and though it had clearly missed, it twisted eerily, reversed direction, and dove downward to pursue one of the dark shadows beneath the water!

The Holy Mother stepped back; her maid stepped forward from behind her, spreading open a pale gray, void-like barrier that shielded the Holy Mother from the torrential flood crashing down.

The Holy Mother sneered: "Do you think my Divine Machine Crossbow is so easily evaded?"

Before she finished speaking, a sudden transformation erupted!

The ancient plum tree on the shore suddenly shook violently; its dense branches stretched out like a giant hand, snatching the Jin Guang arrow out of midair!

The arrow was about to pierce the water when countless branches seized it.

Jin Guang exploded!

A power naturally hostile to evil and aberrations.

Large swathes of the ancient plum tree's branches and leaves fell off, burned to ash by golden void flames.

But the ancient plum tree was immense; despite losing vast quantities of branches and leaves, it forcibly drained the Jin Guang arrow's power to nothing.

Then, like a giant hand, the tree swept sideways, flinging the Civil Cultivator beside the boulder flying through the air.

The Rank Dan Xiu, of higher cultivation, leapt backward and narrowly avoided the strike.

(End of Chapter)