Chapter 194: I'll Give You Another Chance

Of course.

Lu Yuan realized there was one problem with the Demon-Slaying System’s danger indicator: it had an upper limit.

Once it passed twenty stars, it stopped showing specifics and remained at twenty stars.

Judging from just now, the strength of those two Super Malevolent Deities certainly exceeded twenty stars.

Lu Yuan naturally couldn’t gauge the gap between Gu Qingwan and those two Super Malevolent Deities, and besides those two, there was also Liu Xuanyin.

At that moment, Lu Yuan couldn’t make an accurate judgment, and he could do nothing anyway—his zhenran was locked and he was severely wounded.

The only thing Lu Yuan could do for Gu Qingwan was to put on a show, to try to make Liu Xuanyin lower his guard.

Only...

obviously that wasn’t necessary.

Should’ve said so earlier!

All those expressions he made before were for nothing.

At the same time, the pure, ultimate darkness at Gu Qingwan’s fingertip did not dissipate; it grew even deeper and more contained.

Like a miniature black hole, it slowly spun at her pale fingertip, silently devouring the surrounding light and energy, and even the yin energy and malevolence permeating the cave faintly showed signs of being drawn in and absorbed.

Her blood-red, heavy pupils behind the thin mist refocused on Liu Xuanyin’s pale face and trembling body.

They also swept over the nearby projection, the “Ten-Thousand-Corpses Pollutant Mother,” which was enraged and panicked because its companion had been gravely wounded—its filthy pus secreting madly, its pale mists churning violently.

The cave fell into a terrifying silence.

Only the Dream Demon made a wordless, agonized, fearful psychic shriek.

And from the Pollutant Mother’s filthy sac, due to extreme vigilance, came the gurgling sounds like countless mucus bubbles popping.

Liu Xuanyin felt as if his clothes had been stripped off and he had been thrown into a basin of primeval ice.

From soul to body, every inch trembled violently.

It wasn’t just fear—if that were all. There was also the utter crushing, the merciless mockery, the despair and humiliation of being dominated by absolute power.

He had spent generations of the Liu Family’s heart’s blood and his life’s energy to painstakingly set up this absolute trap, launching an all-out joint strike.

Yet... yet even weakening them wasn’t achieved?

Gu Qingwan’s clear, cold, calm voice shattered the silence again.

Like an ice pearl dropping on a jade plate, it rang cleanly into the deepest consciousness of every presence.

No emotional fluctuation at all, yet it carried a bone-deep indifference and... a loftily superior scrutiny.

“Malevolent... deity?”

Her voice paused, and those blood-red heavy pupils seemed to pierce through all of Liu Xuanyin’s inner calculations.

“Is that all the power a god has?”

Her voice was normal, flat.

But anyone could hear the mockery, the disdain hidden within.

Liu Xuanyin’s throat felt like it had been gripped by an invisible hand; he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

He wanted to say yes, because that truly was the strongest theoretical combination he could mobilize.

But he also wanted to say no, because he still had trump cards—there was deeper power in the Nine Nether God-Refining Array that hadn’t been fully unleashed.

There was also the Blood Spirit Lord outside that could be summoned in.

He even vaguely thought the Hu family might be hiding extra counters.

But under Gu Qingwan’s gaze that seemed to know all and in the face of her absolute strength that had just grievously wounded a Super Malevolent Deity with a casual strike, such words sounded pale and powerless, ridiculous.

Admitting it would be to concede that his trick was exhausted.

Denying it—what then?

Would he unveil a stronger force?

Could he even bring it forth?

Even if he did, what would it change?

Gu Qingwan did not require his answer.

She gently shook her head; the exquisite outline behind the mist seemed to show the faintest hint of... disappointment?

Or rather, a kind of “as expected” indifference.

“If this is your strongest power...”

Her voice remained calm, but what it implied sent a bone-chilling cold through Liu Xuanyin, Hu Huxu, and even the two malevolent deities.

“...then why is it so weak?”

Weak.

One word, like the sharpest ice spike, pierced the last thread of hope and dignity from Liu Xuanyin.

He had poured countless resources into this proud plan—arrays, earth veins, malevolent deities, cunning final blows.

Yet in her eyes, it merited only the assessment “weak”?

No, it was more than an assessment.

It was fact.

Her actions proved that their “strongest strike” hadn’t even lifted a corner of her robe.

There was no trace of disappointment in Gu Qingwan’s voice; it stayed in that absolute calm and indifference.

But the ridicule in it was audible to anyone.

Lu Yuan, standing below, glanced between the moonlit figure of Gu Qingwan and the woman who had spoken, then felt a little... odd.

For a moment Lu Yuan thought the Gu Qingwan before him felt somewhat unfamiliar.

How to put it...

It felt like Gu Qingwan wasn’t the same as before.

He couldn’t find the exact word for the previous Gu Qingwan.

If he had to pick one, it would be stiff.

Emotionless, even robotic.

But today’s Gu Qingwan clearly displayed more feeling.

What she had just said was mocking, right?

Definitely mocking!

Only she had no expression or tone, but her actions were mockery!

If it had been the previous Gu Qingwan, she would have simply killed them outright without wasted words or gestures.

So why was she like this now...

To be honest, Lu Yuan didn’t know.

Maybe after the aversion curse on her body was removed, Gu Qingwan recovered something else.

Anyway...

uh...

This wasn’t bad—after all, she was more like a “person” now!

At the same time, Gu Qingwan slightly raised her left hand and casually beckoned toward Liu Xuanyin and the two malevolent deities behind him.

The motion was slow, indifferent, as if calling a disobedient pet, or as if signaling to her opponents that they could continue.

“I’ll give you one more chance.”

Her voice remained cool, but it carried a condescending, almost charitable provocativeness.

“Try again.”

“Use whatever you can think of or do.”

“Arrays, malevolent deities, secret arts, forbidden magics, or... summon that one you have watching the entrance.”

Her light seemed to pierce the heavy rock and glance at the cave entrance.

There, the aura of the Blood-Skeleton Spirit Lord, though largely isolated by the Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land, could still faintly be sensed.

“All together.”

When her words fell, the cave sank into a dead, stifling silence, even more oppressive than before.

Lu Yuan: “?????”

What the—what’s she doing?!

What does she mean?!

Liu Xuanyin’s face drained completely of color, leaving only a deathly gray.

He stared at Gu Qingwan, his lips trembling uncontrollably, nails digging deep into his palms.

Dark teal viscous blood seeped from his fingertips drop by drop, falling to the ground with a sizzling corrosive sound.

The magic power and spirit within him, even his connection to the Nine Nether God-Refining Array, trembled and went into disorder from extreme fear and wrath.

He had been scorned.

Utterly, ruthlessly scorned.

Lu Yuan watched Gu Qingwan’s casual beckon and listened to her calm words full of provocation and condescension, and felt completely stunned.

What is she doing?!

Just take this Liu Xuanyin down right away!

Lu Yuan was dumbfounded. There was still the old man down there!

Why is she still toying with the enemy?

Giving them one more chance?!

Lu Yuan could not comprehend what Gu Qingwan intended. The earlier incident had already been strange.

They could have taken advantage of the enemy’s momentary paralysis and seized one of them.

Instead she did nothing and only mocked them.

That might be excusable—perhaps Gu Qingwan was just so powerful she didn’t take them seriously.

But why give them another chance?

Lu Yuan scratched at his ears in panic and, ignoring his wounds, staggered two steps forward and shouted up at the moonlit figure:

“Qingwan! Stop playing around!”

“Hurry, take down this Liu!”

“The old man below is still waiting to be saved!”

Lu Yuan’s voice came out hoarse from anxiety and injuries, especially clear in the silent cave.

Gu Qingwan seemed to have heard Lu Yuan. Her left hand, which had been making that casual beckoning gesture, barely paused.

The blood-red heavy pupils behind the mist slowly shifted from Liu Xuanyin to the blood-soaked, anxious Lu Yuan below.

When her gaze fell on Lu Yuan, those eyes that seemed to contain the death of stars and extreme indifference appeared to stir... a faint, almost imperceptible ripple.

It wasn’t a dramatic emotional wave, more like an ancient still pool in which a tiny pebble made barely visible rings.

Among the cold, dignified, transcendent godliness, there seemed to be a whisper of an indescribable, extremely subtle warmth.

She looked at Lu Yuan, at his widened eyes filled with anxiety, worry, and frustration at her unpredictable behavior.

Gu Qingwan’s self-illumination seemed to add a touch of... something else.

Like helplessness, like indulgence, mixed with an almost undetectable hint of fondness at seeing a mischievous child jumping up and down in panic.

Though that word feels jarringly inappropriate for Gu Qingwan.

But that’s exactly how Lu Yuan felt at that moment.

Gu Qingwan did not speak, nor did she nod or shake her head.

She simply “looked” at Lu Yuan, as if piercing through his anxious exterior to see his inner worry for the old man, his eagerness to end this quickly, and his pure desire to rescue a loved one.

Yet in response to Lu Yuan’s pleading gaze, Gu Qingwan very slightly shook her head.

The movement was so small it was almost negligible.

If Lu Yuan hadn’t been staring her down so intently, he might have missed it.

But the meaning of that shake was unmistakable.

Not now.

Not a refusal of Lu Yuan’s plea to save the old man.

Rather, a refusal of Lu Yuan’s suggestion to end the fight immediately.

She still intended to give Liu Xuanyin and company one more “chance.”

Why?

Lu Yuan could not fathom it.

Given Gu Qingwan’s demonstrated absolute strength, she could end this instantly—so why the extra step?

Was she savoring the pleasure of crushing her opponent?

Deliberately tormenting Liu Xuanyin and the others’ minds?

Or... was there some other reason he could not comprehend?

Gu Qingwan offered no explanation. After she very slightly shook her head to Lu Yuan, she turned her gaze back to Liu Xuanyin, who was like a man facing a mortal enemy yet desperately calculating under this “charitable” chance.

Lu Yuan watched Gu Qingwan become cold and indifferent again, as if separated from the world by an invisible barrier, then looked at Liu Xuanyin whose face had contorted and whose eyes flashed with madness and despair.

His anxiety intensified, accompanied by a sense of helplessness.

Lu Yuan trusted Gu Qingwan must have her reason.

Perhaps she wanted to force the Liu Family to reveal all their cards and wipe them out in one sweep?

Maybe she wanted to further analyze the secrets of the Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land and the Nine Nether God-Refining Array?

Or maybe... she simply felt like playing.

Lu Yuan couldn’t understand.

Indeed, Gu Qingwan was different from before, leaving Lu Yuan feeling unfamiliar.

Gu Qingwan did not look at Lu Yuan.

Her light had locked onto Liu Xuanyin below, as if waiting for him to make a choice, waiting for him to seize this “final chance.”

Because of Gu Qingwan’s “waiting” and Lu Yuan’s “pleading,” the cave’s atmosphere grew more bizarre and oppressive.

Liu Xuanyin’s facial muscles twitched violently; his grayish pupils were a frenzy of mixed emotions: fear, fury, shame, despair, and a sliver of desperate recklessness born of having been driven to the brink.

He knew it was a trap, a cat-and-mouse mockery.

But he also knew that if he didn’t seize this “chance,” he wouldn’t even have the slightest possibility of a final struggle or mutual destruction.

So he would gamble everything.

Liu Xuanyin gritted his teeth; dark teal blood spilled from his mouth.

His hands began to frantically form hand seals again, his mouth emitting hoarse, twisted, venomous-sounding ancient incantations.

Simultaneously, a resolute aura began to radiate from him, one that would burn his own root to fully trigger the array and even forcibly summon the Blood Spirit Lord into the core of the Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land.

Gu Qingwan floated quietly in midair, her moon-white qipao fluttering faintly in the black-red mist.

The darkness at her fingertip spun slowly, as if savoring the opponent’s final and most frantic... struggle.