Chapter 946: Unshakable Momentum

That ice blade blotted out the horizon!

After separating from Jing Liu's sword tip, the ice-blue sword qi rapidly expanded in midair, spreading from a thin line into a wall, then from a wall into an ice-blue light curtain that blotted out the sky and sun.

The edge of the light curtain curled into blade shapes—not just one, but dozens, hundreds, layered and stacked within that ice wall.

Qingque lifted her head, and in her dim, bluish-green eyes was reflected that ice-blue heavenly canopy now falling.

Her pupils dilated to the limit, wind howled in her ears, and the air displaced by the descending ice blade formed a downward gust that blew her gray-white hair all backward.

Qingque heard her own heartbeat.

One beat, heavy—as if someone were pounding her breastbone with a fist from inside.

"I don't want to die!"

Those words never left her throat.

Even if she shouted, they would be crushed by the ice blade.

But it exploded in her mind.

It was the survival instinct surging outward simultaneously from every one of her cells.

I don't want to die—I still haven't figured out what comes after that kiss, I haven't apologized to Grand Diviner, I haven't told my parents I love them, I haven't repaid Gui Naifen for that meal, I still don't understand why I turned into a demonic yin body, I can't just die like this, I don't want to——!!!!

The ice blade fell.

Boom!!!!

The huge sound exploded directly.

Dust and ice snow fragments erupted simultaneously, forming a rising gray-white mushroom cloud that swallowed the whole street.

Shards of ice clinked as they struck in all directions.

The dust stung so much one couldn't open their eyes, and ice crystal fragments sparkled within the dust like someone had flung a handful of broken diamonds at the blast's center.

Jing Liu landed on the roof of a low-rise dwelling outside the blast radius.

The thin heel of her white boots touched the tiles without a sound, her white hair and sash flung backward by the blast's air wave, and the silver crescent on her black eye mask remained cold and bright amidst the dust's shadow.

Her posture unchanged, her ice sword pointed diagonally at the ground, the tip still glowing with the afterglow of that strike, condensing a small patch of frost on the tiles beside her feet.

Jing Liu gazed expressionlessly at the center of the dust.

Waiting.

On the roof of a three-story building about forty meters from the blast site, Sai Fei Er crouched on the edge railing, her cat ears ramrod straight, eyes wide round, mouth slightly open to reveal two sharp fangs.

Her expression could be summed up in four words: fully focused.

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk."

Her cat ears twitched lightly with the rhythm, then she jabbed Huo Huo with her elbow, "Did you see that sword? Using an attack of this level on a Xiao Bu Zhe who just fell into demonic yin body, Jing Liu really isn't holding back."

Her tone was full of admiration, even a touch of envy, like an apprentice watching a senior's performance from below.

Huan Long didn't respond to her commentary.

She was busy struggling.

"Sai Fei Er older sister——"

Huan Long spoke in Huo Huo's voice, difficulty making herself heard, her voice broken and intermittent: "Can, can you let me...... down!"

"Huh? Oh oh oh, okay okay okay."

Sai Fei Er lowered her gaze to her, her cat ears happily twitching, then let go.

Neat and decisive.

Just letting go.

Huan Long's face hurtled toward the tiles at free-fall acceleration.

When her nose was about two centimeters from the tiles, Huan Long quickly braced her palms on the ground, her wrist trembling slightly, Huo Huo's little face shifting expression between fright and lingering fear with utter naturalness.

But in fact, she had already run Sai Fei Er's name through the destruction list three times in her mind.

Prioritize.

Expedite.

Cut in line.

Sai Fei Er completely failed to notice that she had just been circled three times in the heart of an Extinction Great Lord.

The cat-eared girl turned back toward the blast site, arms crossed, her cat tail swaying slowly left and right behind her, the corners of her mouth turned up in a gleeful smile of someone enjoying the spectacle.

"Although the dust hasn't cleared yet, to be honest, I think that Miss Qingque is probably done for."

She paused, the schadenfreude in her tone easing somewhat into pure anticipation of the show: "Just how terrifying Jing Liu gets when she gets serious—I've experienced it firsthand today, and this Xiao Bu Zhe holding out this long is already overperforming."

Huan Long straightened her crushed folded ears, patted the dust off her skirt with Huo Huo's hand, moved to a relatively safe spot at the roof's edge, squatted down, and poked half her head out to look toward the blast center.

Her eye sockets were still red, tear tracks still on her face, but those green eyes, viewed through the filter of tears, coldly fixed on the gray dust slowly settling.

She needed an outcome.

If Qingque just died like that, tonight's time would be completely wasted.

An individual who can maintain reason while in demonic yin body form, while also carrying the powers of Abundance and Patrol Hunt, isn't something you find every day.

It would be a shame if they died.

The dust gradually cleared, revealing a faint outline within, like a curtain slowly falling at the end of a stage performance.

Moonlight shone again upon the ruins, dyeing the dust a gauzy silver-gray.

A figure stood there.

Sai Fei Er's mouth corners shifted from the "watching the show" curve to another—surprise, appreciation, and a hint of admiration she wasn't quite ready to admit.

"Whoa."

She said it softly, like adding a line after discovering a new continent: "Cool——"

Huan Long didn't speak.

She squats on the edge of the roof, her fingers pinching the pole of the Command Flag.

Satisfied.

Very satisfied.

The ground at the explosion's center has become completely deformed.

The stone‑paved road spanning a radius of a dozen meters was shattered by that sword, the broken stones and ice shards mingling to form a half‑meter‑high ring of ruins.

In the center of the ruin ring, Qingque stands.

Upright.

White Bubbles float around.

The Bubbles range in size from a fist to a basin, their surfaces coated with a layer of ice crystals that reflect a cyan‑blue cold light under the moon.

The Bubbles slowly orbit her, like a swarm of asteroids circling a star.

The densest cluster of Bubbles hovers directly in front of her, exactly where the Ice Blade struck moments ago.

Above the cluster, the remnants of the Ice Blade are converting into new Bubbles at a visible speed, then silently merging into the cluster; the whole process is quiet.

Around the outer edge of the ruin ring, the shattered stones and ice fragments blasted by the explosion still linger in a splashing pose.

Bubbles cling to the fragments, drifting lightly to the ground as if an invisible hand gently set them down, without a speck of dust rising.

Qingque stands at the center of it all.

Her ash‑white long hair sways gently in the breeze stirred by the Bubbles, a few strands winding around the broken silver chain on her right shoulder.

The dark pattern on the cuff is faintly visible under the cyan‑blue glow of the Bubbles.

The right‑shoulder cuff, cut off at the shoulder, was torn a segment in the explosion, its jagged edge hanging on the outer side of the arm, revealing a slender arm covered with gray‑green vines.

Qingque stands there, like an ancient battlefield statue just unearthed from the ruins.

Dilapidated, yet its aura remains unbroken.

Disheveled, yet its posture stays upright.

Expressionless, but those dim emerald eyes stare coldly ahead through the floating Bubbles, showing no fear, only the composure of one who has just crawled back from the brink of death.

The scene is indeed very cool.

Sai Fei Er claps wildly on the roof, her cat tail flicking behind her with a slap‑slap sound, so eager she could leap off the roof and run two laps around Qingque to show her admiration.

But Qingque's thoughts:?????