Chapter 26: The Battle of Plum Blossom Pool (Part 3)

The alchemist thrust both hands toward Xu Yuan, and a golden pill the size of a fist, shrieking through the air, shot like a silver thread straight for his face.

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth, frowned fiercely, and adopted a look of utter resignation—as if knowing he couldn’t dodge, he hurled his own golden pill with all his strength.

After launching his pill, Xu Yuan crouched low, twisted his body, and shot sideways with a swift hiss toward a massive boulder.

The alchemist smirked inwardly—he thought he was trying to block and buy himself time to escape.

Too bad—you’re wrong this time, destined to die here!

In an instant, the two golden pills collided in midair between them.

Pop!

The alchemist’s pill exploded, instantly transforming into a short sword—no hilt, just one foot long, with blades at both ends.

At the Seventh Flow, an alchemist can shape their forged golden pill into any form!

He hadn’t reached the Seventh Flow yet, but he’d touched the threshold—barely able to shape it, with sluggish control, so he could only use it as a surprise killing technique, never repeatedly.

Almost simultaneously, Xu Yuan’s pill also exploded.

Xu Yuan’s pill was no bigger than a dragon’s eye, far lighter and inferior in quality to his own.

They’d clashed several times before; this time, with his full power, it was only natural his little pill would shatter.

But then—BOOM!—Xu Yuan’s pill didn’t shatter, it detonated!

A massive cloud of smoke erupted on the spot!

The blast’s force was terrifying—the shockwave slammed into the alchemist’s face, flinging his hair and beard straight backward.

The alchemist was baffled: How could this be?

This feeling… it’s like the explosive shells used in the North Capital’s Divine Mechanism Camp’s artillery!

The sudden explosion blasted the alchemist’s sword-shaped pill clean away, embedding it diagonally into the soil several zhang distant.

It sank deep into the earth, leaving only a narrow, shallow hole.

The alchemist snorted—even if you’ve got some strange trick, it’s only startled me. You’re still dead anyway!

He moved to draw his sword-shaped pill back to slit Xu Yuan’s throat.

But as he moved his hands, searing pain surged through his chest and abdomen!

He looked down—seven or eight tiny wounds, densely packed, oozed blood across his chest and belly.

“Wh-what…?”

He looked up again and saw Xu Yuan hiding behind the boulder—the stone was pockmarked with countless small craters!

The boulder was even farther from the blast than he was.

If the boulder suffered this, and he wasn’t a Wu Xiu, his body was no harder than stone.

“That boy… so it was…”

He grasped it all—but he was too weak to act. His legs gave out, and he crashed backward with a thud, blood gushing from his eight wounds. The alchemist died in bitter defeat.

Xu Yuan had infused the “property” of the explosive pill into his golden pill.

Though small, the pill had been forged from vast quantities of metal ore; once infused with the explosive property, its power surpassed even the artillery shells of the craftsmen.

The tiny fragments after the explosion flew faster than any eye could follow.

Xu Yuan stepped out from behind the boulder, secretly delighted by the explosive pill’s power.

Too bad his explosive pill was too small—he could only use this power three times, and now only two remained.

Xu Yuan looked up—the sisters and the Holy Mother and her maid were still locked in battle by the pool.

The Holy Mother twisted her wrist, reversing the double-headed snake bell, and shook it again—this time emitting a strange clang-clang-clang.

The previous side’s chime had cleared the mind, but this side made Xu Yuan’s soul grow dizzy, his legs stumbling as if he’d collapse.

The water ghost sisters were hit harder—their forms swayed like candles in the wind, growing fainter, their souls seeming ready to be snuffed out.

The Holy Mother rejoiced—after hiding so long, her strike finally landed!

She raised the other hand’s Divine Mechanism Crossbow and fired two shots in rapid succession.

The golden-tipped bolts flew toward the water ghost sisters.

Too dazed to dodge, they screamed as they were struck, then plunged into the pool with a splash.

The Holy Mother chased after them, replacing the crossbow with a red silk lantern, bringing it down to smother the sisters.

“Catch these two water ghosts, and I’ll forge them into yin soldiers…” she told the maid—but the maid suddenly sensed something, her face turning pale: “Holy Mother, retreat! These aren’t yin spirits…”

Too late—the water erupted with a splash, and two yellow shadows shot up, each fox-like muzzle clutching a golden crossbow bolt.

A torrent of water surged forth—the Holy Mother felt searing pain, frantically pressed a spot on her arm, and with a pop, a hundred thousand fine needle-like darts shot from hidden tubes concealed in her shoulders!

A fox yowl, and the two yellow shadows vanished back into the pool.

The maid grabbed the Holy Mother’s sash from behind and dragged her back several zhang in a flash.

The Holy Mother looked down—her chest garment torn, her pale skin carved with deep claw marks, flesh flayed, blood pouring uncontrollably.

“You beasts!” the Holy Mother roared, her qi surging violently, making the wounds bleed even more.

At the same time, she felt dizzy and nauseous, barely steadying herself by gripping the maid.

The maid gritted her teeth: “Their claws are poisoned!”

She swiftly pulled out several pills for the Holy Mother to swallow, while her shadow writhed, hiding several yin soldiers within.

Sure enough, a faint yellow shadow suddenly darted from the nearby bushes—several yin soldiers burst from the shadow and tangled with it.

After several sharp fox yowls, the yellow shadow realized it couldn’t win and shot back into the bushes.

As the yin soldiers moved to pursue, another figure rose from the bushes—mouth open, a dragon of fire surged out, swallowing one yin soldier whole, who let out a piercing wail before vanishing into ash.

Xu Yuan had quietly slipped over and hidden among the bushes.

The maid looked at the boy with a complex gaze, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

She couldn’t help thinking—if that night she hadn’t ignored it, if she’d checked the Holy Mother’s palanquin and found this fellow, they wouldn’t be suffering such heavy losses now.

But who could have imagined—a lowly servant in a back courtyard of a remote village inn could drive her and the Holy Mother to the brink?

A servant—wasn’t he just something any petty nobody could command?

Why not just die quietly? Why fight back so fiercely?

Regret came too late—the maid supported the Holy Mother, then suddenly turned her gaze to the last two figures.

They were Zhao Yong’s final two companions, the “delicacy” the alchemist had reserved for the Holy Mother.

From the start of the battle, they’d hidden at the very back.

Of course, the Holy Mother and others never expected them to contribute anything.

The maid’s sudden stare made them flinch—they were terrified by her gaze, cold and sinister, like… a pair of ghostly eyes!

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(End of Chapter)