Chapter 668: Four Little Fish

Their speed is faster than before.

Golden afterimages trace three arcs in the air, the regenerated claws raised high, and the blades still stained with the Cloud Cavalry's blood.

Three shadows pounce on Qingque from three directions at once, sealing every escape route—above, left, and front.

Qingque lifts her head.

Beneath her brown bangs, those green eyes show not a ripple.

The first core method of Great Void Sword Qi circulates in her meridians, not a surging torrent but a light, faint flow, like a trickle in a mountain stream, silently moving from her heart to her fingertips.

The gray‑haired woman had taught her that the first level of sword heart is called Still Water.

It is not a dead‑still heart, but like a water surface that reflects all things without being disturbed.

When the wind comes, ripples arise; when it leaves, they return to calm.

The water surface remains the water surface.

So this feeling is indeed Still Water.

The demon‑shadow body's claws are less than three feet from her head.

Yet Qingque's heartbeat stays steady, as if before her stand not three demon‑shadow bodies that could crush the Cloud Cavalry like paper, but three unopened Imperial Wall Jade cards.

She even silently calculates the odds in her mind.

Four Little Fish, a flush.

Her finger taps lightly on the jade card, and the jade's resonance trembles in her palm.

Then she draws her hand from the sleeve, spins the jade card on her fingertip, and the warm pale jade glows with a faint lapis sheen under the sunlight.

Qingque's finger gives a light flick.

The jade card flies out from her palm.

The card flips twice in the air, like a fish turning over in water.

It strikes the demon‑shadow body's chest head‑on.

Time seems to pause for a beat.

Then a muffled thud sounds, as if someone were beating a large drum in deep water.

The demon‑shadow soldier's body freezes mid‑air, then contracts sharply as if seized by an invisible hand.

The next second, the jade card explodes.

From within erupts a flood of light.

The lapis light pours out like a breached flood, dyeing the entire street the same hue.

The void cracks instantly.

A massive fish bursts from the fissure.

It is Imperial Wall Jade—Qingque's ultimate technique, Four Little Dark Engraving.

The giant fish is covered entirely in lapis scales, each as warm and translucent as polished jade.

It leaps from the void, its massive body blocking the Giant Tree's light overhead, casting a huge shadow on the ground.

A gentle swing of its tail generates wind pressure that lifts every sign on both sides of the street.

Then it descends.

When the fish's body smashes the first demon‑shadow, its regenerated shell shatters like paper, segment by segment from head to toe.

The golden fragments have no time to scatter before the fish's weight presses them down further.

The second demon‑shadow is swept by the tail; its body flies sideways and breaks into several pieces mid‑air.

The third tries to dodge, but the fish is too huge to evade; when its belly presses down, the demon‑shadow doesn't even have time to make a sound before being crushed into the bluestone pavement.

Boom—!!!

The fish's body hits the ground, and the whole street jolts.

Countless fissures crack the bluestone pavement, radiating from the impact point like a spiderweb.

Lapis light gushes from the cracks, spraying huge splashes of water outward; the droplets land on the Cloud Cavalry, cool as a light rain.

A moist scent permeates the air, dispersing the earlier smell of blood.

After the spray subsides, the giant fish vanishes.

The void fissure closes, as if it never existed.

Only three demon‑shadow wreckage remain on the street, shattered beyond recognition, scattered on the bluestone pavement; their tissues still twitch faintly, but they have completely lost any regenerative ability. The demon‑shadow's feared resurrection power is rendered null before the might of Imperial Wall Jade!

A pale jade card falls from the sky, flipping over, landing precisely in Qingque's open palm.

The card remains warm.

Qingque looks down; the fish on the card still holds its original pose, its scale pattern glimmering with fine specks of light under the sun, as if nothing had happened.

She spins the jade card on her fingertip once more and slips it back into her sleeve.

Then she pats the nonexistent dust from her garment.

Behind her, a dead silence.

The Cloud Cavalry stand behind her, frozen in the sprinting stance, feet planted, mouths open, weapons in hand nearly slipping to the ground.

The squad leader knocked to the ground still reaches out as if to block her, eyes wide, mouth forming a perfect circle, expression as if he had just seen the Marshal himself go out to buy groceries.

When did Miss Qingque become this formidable?

No one can answer that.

Qingque slowly turns, hands clasped behind her, chin slightly lifted.

Sunlight streams down, landing on her, making the small figure glow.

She gives a soft cough, quiet yet conspicuously clear on this mute street.

"Clear the battlefield."

Four characters, the tone was exactly the same as when Fu Xuan in the Tai Bu Si instructed Qingque to fetch tea.

The Cloud Cavalry were stunned for two seconds, then all at once they sprang up with a sharp shiver, as if woken from a dream, hurriedly bowing and nodding, each dashing forward to handle the remnants of the Demon Yin Body.

The squad leader brushed the dust off his armor, opened his mouth to say something, but as soon as he took a step forward, he found that the spot where Qingque had been standing was already empty.

Where is the person?

The squad leader looked around bewildered; on the street only the busy comrades of the Cloud Cavalry and puddles of water remained.

Sunlight fell on the bluestone pavement, and the water puddles reflected a glittering sheen.

The short brown‑haired girl vanished as silently as when she arrived, leaving not even a footprint.

Qingque ran.

Her steps were swift and light, darting through narrow alleys, twisting and turning until the street was left far behind.

She kept running until she reached a scarcely populated alley, where she stopped, back pressed against the wall, gasping for breath.

Her heart pounded in her chest like a drum.

Thump thump thump thump thump, at an absurd speed, completely unlike the calm composure she had shown moments earlier before the Demon Yin Body.

Qingque lifted her hand to cover her face, the tips of her ears peeking between her fingers were so red they seemed about to bleed.

She recalled the words she had just spoken.

"The master is absent."

"Clear the battlefield."

And that gesture of raising her hand and pressing down—she actually did that to a 1.9‑meter‑tall Cloud Cavalry squad leader!

"My god!"