Chapter 948: Bloom

She lifted her head.

Those crimson eyes pierced straight through the gaps in the Bubbles, precisely locking onto the gray‑white long‑haired figure behind the Bubbles.

And Qingque successfully made eye contact with Jing Liu through the frozen Bubbles.

That gaze sent a chill down Qingque's spine to her toes instantly.

Jing Liu's crimson pupils shone extremely bright in the moonlight, red beyond any human hue, cold as a base tone, bright as a blade's edge!

Moreover, those eyes held no emotion that Qingque could discern—no Rage, no killing intent, no disgust, nothing at all.

Only cold.

Jing Liu stood for a moment in front of the Bubbles; white hair drifted quietly in the night wind, crimson pupils meeting Qingque's dull emerald eyes through the transparent ice crystals.

Although the Ice Sword in her hand had already been swallowed, her presence there felt more oppressive than when she wielded the sword.

The sword can be re‑formed if lost; the resolve to kill the Abundance Offspring needs no sword!

Qingque stared back expressionlessly.

It wasn't that she wanted to act cool.

It was her face that was stiff.

The facial muscles of the demonic shadow body were not under her control; inside, she was screaming at a deafening volume and breakneck speed, yet her face was as if nailed to an invisible board—corner of the mouth unmoving, eyelids unblinking, not even a flutter of eyelashes.

To onlookers she seemed like "General Cold Noodles calmly meeting the Sword Leader's death stare," but inside she thought: "Help, help, help! She removed the Eye Mask—Is she about to go all‑out? She was already fierce with the mask on; what will happen now without it… Ah! Bubbles, move! Move quickly! It's frozen! What do I do now? Run? If I run, will she catch me? Fine, just run—"

Yet her legs also froze.

And on a distant rooftop, Sai Fei Er's cat tail spun behind her like a propeller.

She stood at the railing's edge, both hands gripping it, cat ears thrust forward to the limit, radiating the excitement of "watching the year's best action movie in a theater."

"Bubbles! Bubbles are frozen! Did you see that!"

She turned to Huo Huo, speaking so fast it sounded like reciting lyrics, "Jing Liu threw the Ice Sword and then removed the Eye Mask, and her eyes are red! So red! Just as I imagined! No, even redder than I imagined!"

She turned back to the battlefield, began clapping wildly, cat tail whipping up, "Brilliant, brilliant! Too brilliant! Is the next scene about to face a massive blast? I can't wait! I want to see rivers of blood!!!"

Huan Long had silently shifted about half a meter to the side.

Each time Sai Fei Er turned to look at the battlefield, Huan Long moved a bit; each time Sai Fei Er turned back to speak, Huan Long halted, feigning a terrified, pitiful expression.

After several moves, she had shifted from Sai Fei Er's side to the opposite end of the roof beside a chimney, her back tucked behind it, only half a head and a drooping floppy ear visible.

She silently updated her assessment of Sai Fei Er in her mind: this cat is insane.

And she herself seemed completely unaware.

Such a person on the battlefield is the greatest uncertainty.

Huan Long tucked her chin behind the Command Flag's cloth, her green eyes calmly scanning the battlefield under Huo Huo's innocent little face.

Jing Liu removed the Eye Mask.

She understood the meaning of that action; the Sword Leader finally became serious.

To force Jing Liu to be serious, Qingque's potential exceeded her initial estimate.

The conversion efficiency of the Bubbles' ability was astonishingly high; if Qingque could fully master it, it would become a rare combat power.

Of course, it's too early to speak of this now, after all the Bubbles are frozen.

At that moment, Jing Liu suddenly stepped forward.

And Qingque remained where she stood, expressionless, appearing unafraid.

Huan Long's mouth corner lifted slightly behind the Command Flag, her appreciation rating for her rising from six to seven points.

Maintaining this posture against a serious Jing Liu truly required willpower.

In reality, Qingque stood still because her leg truly could not move.

Suddenly, Jing Liu halted again; her crimson eyes swept over the frozen Bubbles surrounding Qingque, and at the densest spot of the Bubbles she saw a flower.

A golden flower, glowing.

It hovered quietly in the gap of the Bubbles, its petals emitting a gentle light, like a tiny sun trapped in amber.

It was not the withered flower branches standard to Qingque's demonic shadow body.

This flower was alive.

Jing Liu's crimson pupils locked onto the golden flower.

Her expression changed for the first time.

Abundance's contamination.

Patrol Hunt's blessing.

The two forces coexisted within this demonic shadow body, neither overriding the other.

She had slain Abundance Offspring for centuries, and this was the first time she saw such a situation.

Qingque followed Jing Liu's gaze downward and also saw the golden flower beside her, finally noticing a change in her demonic shadow body.

She just didn't know when the flower had emerged.

Perhaps when the Bubbles converted the Ice Sword earlier, a warm current surged outward, inadvertently bringing the flower out?

And at the third alley east of the street where Qingque and Jing Liu faced each other, a metal trash can lid had been pried open a crack.

A pair of violet‑red inverted‑cross pupils glowed faintly in the darkness.

The system was inside the trash can, a palm‑sized data panel perched on its knee; pale blue cold light made her ceramic‑like face appear even more pallid.

A tuft of hair poked out from the lid's crack, swaying lightly in the night wind like a tiny radar antenna.

Upon hearing the distant thunderous clang of an ice blade striking the ground, the tuft's tip quivered.

Then an image appeared on the data panel.

Qingque stood at the center of the ruined circle, gray‑white hair fluttering in the night wind, surrounded by frozen Bubbles.

Jing Liu stood less than ten steps before her, white hair hanging to her shoulders, crimson pupils coldly locking onto Qingque through the gaps in the Bubbles.

The system's inverted‑cross pupil narrowed slightly, and that golden flower, the match result, popped up after three seconds:

Highly concentrated Abundance‑blessing tangible residue interwove with Patrol Hunt light arrows.

A living Patrol Hunt flower blossomed on a demon‑yin body.

This contradiction is quite interesting.

Then she sent an encrypted message to Heimu.

"Madam," she lowered her voice and said a line to the panel.

"The situation remains within controllable range."

Heimu's voice came back through the data panel, its tone even more Calm than hers: "Keep your eyes on it, don't let any large anomalies appear. If they do, notify me promptly, and I will handle it."

"Understood!"

As the words fell, the system suddenly stiffened.

Because her ears caught a sound.

The sound came from the other end of the alley she was in.

Footsteps, rhythm chaotic.

Speed extremely fast.

The alarm made her, within a fraction of a second, perform the following: fold the data panel, snap the trash‑can lid shut from inside, curl her body down so her knees pressed against her chin, clasp her calves with both hands, and pull the stray hair into the bucket.

Her violet‑red eyes, in the darkness, peered through the narrowest possible slit at the edge of the trash‑can lid, quietly watching the direction of the alley entrance.

A Black Shadow suddenly swept past the alley mouth.

Speed extremely fast.

The hem of the black trench coat flipped at the alley entrance, like a huge bat swooping through the light.

The golden eyes' reflection flashed for an instant in the darkness, then was swallowed by the next alley.

The system narrowed its eyes slightly.