Chapter 572: Defect (4/10, Extra Chapter for 'Ruichi Tian Xia')

"Target..."

"That person just now..."

"There's a feeling of familiarity mixed with strangeness."

Her dark eyebrows furrowed slightly, then relaxed again.

"Understood. Capture the target."

Bai Xiaoya murmured to herself.

At the same time, the iron chains writhing like tentacles across her body spread outward, grasping at more anomalies.

The anomalies, seeing this, turned pale with terror, screamed in panic, and fled from their hiding spots.

Many didn't even make it out of Qingsi County—they were drowned alive by Night Rain halfway, becoming corpses, only to be dragged back by Bai Xiaoya's iron chains.

Like a spider capturing prey, these seized anomalies were quickly drained into blood, flowing into her body.

One anomaly, seemingly possessing considerable intelligence, stared at Bai Xiaoya in fear and confusion, as if unable to understand why she did this.

"Why look at me like that? Do you care how many slices of bread you've eaten?"

Boom! The intelligent anomaly exploded directly on the iron chains into a mist of blood, becoming nourishment for Bai Xiaoya.

Walking through the rain with iron chains draped with anomalies, Bai Xiaoya strolled calmly, seemingly in no hurry to pursue Fang Yue.

Compared to those anomalies completely controlled by that voice, Bai Xiaoya seemed to possess greater autonomy.

But as she absorbed some anomalies and moved forward, she suddenly heard a rustling sound.

That was... human voices.

"Wuuuuh! What kind of anomaly is that! So terrifying! So terrifying!"

"Master Night has fallen!"

"We're finished! Qingsi County is finished!"

"How could this happen? After the Pulling-Coffin Anomaly died, something even more terrifying emerged from the Bone Coffin..."

"Look at her walking through Night Rain like nothing's wrong... Could she be... a Rain-Level Anomaly?!"

"Above, Night Rain; below, Rain Anomalies. Is today the day Qingsi County perishes...?"

A scent of despair spread outward, and Bai Xiaoya inhaled deeply.

What exquisite air.

As Bai Xiaoya's mood turned joyful, she suddenly frowned and turned to look at the iron chains behind her, where the blood of anomalies flowed.

Power... stopped increasing.

How could this be...

Bai Xiaoya, puzzled, continued absorbing anomalies—but indeed, no further power increase occurred.

Has my strength stalled at this level?

A guidance voice suddenly appeared in her mind; Bai Xiaoya frowned, then relaxed.

Whoosh! Whoosh! The iron chains shot into nearby houses and dragged out five people.

All were uniformly dressed in white robes and blue guards.

Among them was Tian Liu, the White Robe, who had once handled paperwork and was promoted to the front lines for his merits.

"No, don't kill me!"

"Help! Help!"

"I don't want to die, I..."

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Five bursts of blood mist—the five men turned to blood, sucked into Bai Xiaoya's body through the chains.

Power... resumed increasing!

But... it's strange. Very strange. Unnaturally strange.

After carefully sensing it, Bai Xiaoya realized her power now carried impurities, no longer pure.

Simultaneously, her body grew tougher and stronger, yet the anomalous portion of her Origin power weakened slightly.

It rose and fell briefly, overall increasing—but still left Bai Xiaoya feeling uneasy.

It was as if... she were some flawed product, not a complete being.

"I—this powerful me—has a flaw!"

Frowning, Bai Xiaoya decided to make further attempts.

She locked onto three people hiding in another building—all sect disciples, two of whom appeared to be a couple.

Without hesitation, the iron chains shot out like ropes of death.

But halfway through, Bai Xiaoya suddenly froze.

She looked up in shock toward the direction of Qingsi Office.

In that instant, she sensed the Origin's aura—the same aura.

As if her missing part lay precisely in that direction.

"What's happening? Why do I feel this stirring?"

After a brief hesitation, Bai Xiaoya surged toward Qingsi Office, retracting the extended iron chains along with her.

Inside the building previously targeted by the chains, Tian Long, Sanyue, and Qiyue remained paralyzed on the ground, trembling violently.

In that instant, all three had felt death drawing near.

"Did she... leave? She really left?"

"I peed myself, bro! That was terrifying!"

"... Sanyue, you really smell like urine."

"Not me—it's Lord Tianlong! Look at his pants!"

"…"

……

Fang Yue was fleeing, fleeing swiftly.

Only when the thunderclouds above exploded would his speed pause briefly, then plummet.

Once the lightning vanished and Qingsi County returned to darkness, Fang Yue's speed surged again.

He glanced back behind him—there wasn't even a shadow of Bai Xiaoya.

"Parchment! Foresees the future!"

【Cannot foresee—still blocked! Their power surpasses mine.】

"... We're both Rain Level, so why can't you beat her? And she might not even be Rain Level!"

【Angry! It's definitely not because of her—she can't possibly be as great and noble as the Parchment Lord!!】

Hearing this, Fang Yue's heart skipped a beat.

No way…

Is there some ghost behind Bai Xiaoya??

Is that even something a human can fight? Just be a person!!

Fang Yue's heart instantly panicked.

"You mean Bai Xiaoya has a master behind her? Immortal Level? Demon Level? Transcendent Level?"

【I don't know—I'm just a cute little Parchment.】

"Then why did you say that just now?"

【I guessed!! The Parchment Lord never admits anyone is stronger than me!!】

Well, well!

Fang Yue's face darkened—he'd almost been fooled. So she just couldn't beat Bai Xiaoya, and her foresight was suppressed, right?

"So unreliable. How's the 【Jin Shi】 absorption going?"

"Absorbing! Sip-sip!"

In his mind, Fang Yue pictured a young girl licking and gnawing on a golden stone like a fool—his eyes filled with contempt.

At this moment, Fang Yue had already rushed into Qingsi.

【Hey?! Aren't you going to seek help from Lord Han?】

As if sensing Fang Yue had taken the wrong direction, the Parchment immediately asked.

This wasn't the way to the hall or Lord Han's room—it led elsewhere.

Fang Yue grinned and said, "No rush. First, let's go to the 【Gong Xun Dian】 and take something."

What if the enemy is too strong? Then become stronger than the enemy—and crush them!

At this moment, Fang Yue's desire to kill Bai Xiaoya—or rather, the strange entity that had consumed Bai Xiaoya's soul—was second only to his urge to kill every Wu Yu tribe member at Gu Yue Cun!

【Gong Xun Dian… you mean to…??】

"Exactly what you think!"

……

If you don't stay up late, you can read ten more chapters tomorrow morning.

(End of chapter)