Chapter 75: Chapter Seventy-Five: So Skilled

Both are seasoned god-demon walkers.

The white-haired monk before them is not comparable to arrogant newcomers like Ma Qiang and Zhang Wen.

To endure in the deadly poison mist for this long, he must have his own reliance.

Dong Yuan needs information, and also time, so that the poison can exert a greater effect.

Before confirming that the monk before her is utterly incapable, she will not act rashly.

As for why she did not simply sell out Ma Qiang and Zhang Wen, but instead chose to cooperate with Tang Luo, this strong one.

In Dong Yuan's mind, this white-haired monk is not a good cooperation partner. Otherwise, would Ma Qiang and Zhang Wen, having eaten their fill, come to her seeking cooperation?

After all, she still prefers to act alone.

"It seems the people on the pleasure boat were all killed by the benefactor," Tang Luo said, "I do not know why the benefactor struck so ruthlessly."

Dong Yuan's brows and eyes were full of killing intent: "Someone was just asking for death."

The experience on the pleasure boat was a "black history" where she nearly capsized.

Simply put, Dong Yuan, in order to deeply investigate information related to the little matchstick girl,

made contact with someone who still had some influence in Anshan City.

The two parties agreed to meet on the pleasure boat, and then Dong Yuan was set up, nearly being drugged by the other party.

As a god-demon walker, in a fit of rage, she piled up nearly a hundred corpses.

The deadly poison mist spread, killing everyone on the pleasure boat, innocent or not, utterly and completely.

Finally, the drug took effect, leaving her dazed, and she was picked up by Ma Qiang and Zhang Wen, who happened to be passing by—that's the whole story.

Simply saying "someone was asking for death" obviously cannot satisfy the curiosity of the listening sect's Tang Luo.

He asked: "Can you say it in more detail?"

Dong Yuan narrowed her eyes; the other's fearless demeanor made her feel something was amiss.

Originally colorless and odorless, the poison mist suddenly changed, and one could see in the air, beginning to surge with green "wave tides."

This is the manifestation of Dong Yuan displaying the deadly poison mist to its utmost.

Compared to the "colorless and odorless" state, the toxicity is much more intense.

Likewise, the duration is also shorter, and the range is also narrower.

One and a half minutes, adding the earlier time, now the deadly poison mist can only last one and a half minutes.

After doing this, Dong Yuan did not stop; she stretched out her hand and made several complex gestures.

She displayed her second skill—the Delaying Technique.

Before Tang Luo's body, a snail pattern made of glowing lines appeared.

It was imprinted on him, then vanished without a trace.

Tang Luo lowered his head to glance, tried to raise his hand, and a resistance came from all directions.

It was as if he were completely placed in an extremely viscous mire, even moving his fingers met resistance.

"You have no chance left. Speak, what is the function of the skull, for the little matchstick girl, how much do you know?" After doing these two things, Dong Yuan slightly relaxed, and a cold smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

Arrogance will get people killed.

But just as she relaxed, her body immediately tensed up again.

Because she saw, behind Tang Luo, in the surging green poison mist, at some point, a figure appeared.

A thin, small figure.

"Who is it!"

Dong Yuan was greatly startled, and hastily retreated several steps.

That figure paid her no heed, but slowly raised his hand, belonging to a child, timidly, with a hoarse voice that should not have been there, sounding: "May I ask, do you want to buy a matchstick?"

The little matchstick girl!

Dong Yuan immediately confirmed the newcomer's identity.

It is just unclear whether she was asking Tang Luo or Dong Yuan.

The deadly poison mist, whether in color or toxicity, for Dong Yuan, who is displaying it, naturally produces no effect.

She clearly saw that the little matchstick girl lowered her head, her gaze falling, neither on the Xuanzang monk nor on herself.

But on the skull of the chair!

"This skull is indeed related to her……Could it be that killing her counts as obtaining the skull, completing the mission?" Dong Yuan thought to herself.

She did not leave, nor did she act rashly.

Receiving no response, the little girl slowly raised her head, looking toward Dong Yuan's direction.

In an instant.

Dong Yuan's body stiffened, completely seized by immense fear.

Beneath the filthy, helmet-like hair, was a pair of gloomy dark-red eyes, completely occupying Dong Yuan's world.

Not some special ability. It is the instinctive fear produced when the weak face the strong, the subordinate faces the superior, the prey faces a predator that has fully entered the hunting state.

"No!"

Dong Yuan was not vulgar either, letting out a low roar.

Breaking through fear, her stiffened body began to move, and at the fastest speed she opened the door and rushed out.

Impossible!

The mission cannot possibly be to have god-demon walkers kill such a monster; there must be something wrong somewhere!

No matter what is wrong, first flee, first get out—this is now the only thing needed.

Dong Yuan is fortunate.

The green poison mist dispersed, and the little matchstick girl did not pursue her.

Tang Luo didn't go after her.

Dong Yuan was just a "small matter"; the "person" before him was what mattered now.

The little match girl raised her right hand, which remained clenched, the small wooden sticks of the matches exposed at both ends in her cracked palm.

"Excuse me, would you like to buy a match?" she asked again. This time, she was asking Tang Luo.

"Sure." Tang Luo laughed.

The little girl's voice instantly turned delighted as she spread her palm.

Her other hand reached out, took the other matches, leaving only one.

"How much?"

Tang Luo took the match from her icy small hand and asked.

Could the Delay Technique truly achieve what Dong Yuan wanted? It didn't exist.

"No money." The little match girl said, "Can you throw it away?"

"Huh?" Tang Luo was stunned for a moment.

He had already prepared for answers like "your life" or such.

He hadn't expected her to say no money, but to throw the match away.

This operation was kind of interesting.

"Can you throw it away?" Seeing Tang Luo stunned and unmoving, the little match girl urged.

Still the same childish voice, but one could hear impatience, and a final strange emphasis.

It was practically like the prelude to a storm, a barrel of gunpowder about to explode.

"Okay."

Tang Luo followed suit, lightly tossing the wooden stick match to the wallside.

The little match girl instantly turned, lunged toward the match, seized it with her mouth, and returned to Tang Luo's front.

The speed was fast, the movements……very practiced.

Hmm?

Why was it so practiced?

"Again, again." She urged unclearly.

Tang Luo reached out, took the match from beside her mouth—there was no saliva or such, just a feeling of icy cold, and in an instant the match turned into an ice pop.

"Are you a Teletubby?" Tang Luo threw again.

The little girl lunged again, hooked it with her mouth, and brought it to Tang Luo's side: "Farther, farther."

The latter half was full of threat and impatient urging.

It gave a very clear feeling—if next time he didn't throw farther, he'd have his head swallowed whole by the monster before him.

"Okay." Tang Luo flicked his finger.

The wooden stick match struck the closed window like a bullet, shattering it and flying outward.

This wooden stick match was no ordinary thing; such force and speed were insufficient to damage it.

At the instant the wooden stick match vanished at the window's edge, the little match girl also disappeared.

The speed was astonishing, leaving one speechless.

Tang Luo continued sitting motionless, thoughtful in his eyes—this feeling was somewhat familiar.

He wasn't worried the little match girl wouldn't return.

The skull was still here.

Tang Luo felt that although the little girl looked intelligent and could communicate with him,

in reality, her actions were more like following some rule, or rather, instinct.

It was certain that Tang Luo was being closely watched by the little match girl because of the skull.

For him, even her daily "killing," or rather, her match-selling activity, had stopped.

But when truly facing Tang Luo afterward.

Her action wasn't to immediately grab the skull, but to ask Tang Luo if he wanted to buy matches.

This conformed to the match girl's "consistent standard behavior."

This wasn't something a truly intelligent "existence" would do.

More like……

Before Tang Luo could figure it out, a weak cold breeze brushed past.

The little match girl reappeared before Tang Luo once again.

"Farther, you need to go farther, farther!" she said, holding the match in her mouth, her voice growing increasingly indistinct, already taking on a beast-like low growl.

"How far?"

Tang Luo tossed the match up and down, not throwing it directly, but instead asked.

"Farther! Farther!" The little girl lifted her head to look at Tang Luo, her murky dark-red eyes emitting endless killing light.

It seemed that even if he bought matches and threw them away as she demanded, the final outcome would be unavoidable—either having half his body bitten off or being completely swallowed by her.

"Begging someone isn't done with this attitude, little thing." Tang Luo smiled, reached out to gently stroke the little girl's head, then gave a pat.

The little match girl instantly lost her balance.

Her head drove her body, slamming hard onto the floor.

Wood chips flew, the little match girl's head embedded in the floor, half-prone.

The next second, she planted her hands on the floor and pulled her head out with force.

"Roar——"

Only Tang Luo could hear it—a deafening beast's roar.

The little match girl's mouth gaped wide, completely occupying her face, and continued to expand.

Sharp teeth flashed with cold light, and her crimson tongue writhed like a mad snake.

Its shape was not a human mouth, but resembled that of a serpent; and those dagger-like, sharp teeth belonged to a beast.

Facing this blood-filled maw.

Tang Luo finally stood up, and with the momentum, he raised his right leg in a knee strike upward.

His left hand turned into a palm, lifted up, and pressed down from above onto the little girl's enlarged mouth.

The gaping upper and lower jaws had no choice but to come together again.

Air waves surged, making the plates on the table tremble continuously.

He withdrew his leg, and his left hand naturally gripped the protruding mouth of the "little girl." Tang Luo's expression turned uncertain: "Dog... son?"

The little girl struggled wildly, flailing her hands and feet, but could not escape Tang Luo's demonic grasp.

The whimpering sound she made was indeed like that of a canine.

"One Yin, Two Yang—sharpness pierces through, swift!"

Just as Tang Luo was about to study it closely, a clear, ringing voice sounded.

A stream of icy-blue light shot straight toward the back of his head.

Tang Luo turned his head, his right hand forming a sword-finger, and pointed backward.

The icy-blue light transformed into scattered specks of starlight.

But at the same moment, another stream of icy-blue light came from the other side.

Even faster than before!

Tang Luo moved his left hand slightly.

"Roar!" The little match girl instantly erupted with power far greater than before, seizing the opportunity to break free from Tang Luo's restraint and vanished without a trace.

Tang Luo's outstretched palm grasped at nothing.

The icy-blue light struck his chest!