Chapter 577: Long Time No See (9/10, for

"Tian Erjun?!"

"Lord Jun!!"

"No!!"

The crowd cried out in alarm, wails rising in a chorus, agonized screams taking turns to sound, every single person throwing themselves at Tian Erjun like mad, trying to save him.

Yet his brain had been pierced through by an iron chain — he died on the spot, with no room for rescue at all.

You Sisi's pupils contracted sharply, her entire brain humming once, going completely blank.

Tian Erjun… was dead!

Dead right in front of her!

Everything came too suddenly — so suddenly that she hadn't even had time to prepare herself mentally. This elder, who had always guided her forward on the road of life, had been killed by the eerie thing just like that!

Anger surged into her heart. She had just opened her mouth to roar…

Swoosh—

An iron chain, right within her line of sight, at a speed she couldn't react to, came piercing straight through toward her mouth!

Her pupils contracted violently; she couldn't even manage a reaction…

Clang!!

The iron chain was suddenly deflected off course by a slash of a blade, slicing past her right cheek. The exaggerated speed directly tore her cheek open, leaving a blood-colored wound.

But You Sisi paid it no heed at all. Her mouth hung wide open, her attention completely captured by the person who had just drawn a blade to save her.

"Night… Shade?"

"It's me!"

Fang Yue responded in a deep voice, simultaneously bellowing: "Everyone fall back! Get away from this ghost thing!"

Fang Yue didn't know what this thing was called either — in any case, it was like a cocoon made of iron chains, bizarre as hell.

When he had just arrived, he had directly witnessed Tian Erjun being killed by the 【Iron Chain Cocoon】. If he had been one step later, even You Sisi would have been slain on the spot.

"It's Lord Night!"

"Lord Night, Lord Jun he… wuuuuh!"

"Listen to Lord Night! With Lord Night here, we'll be fine!"

The crowd one after another pulled back their distance; only Captain Wu and the others remained at his side.

"Big shot!" Qing Chen said excitedly: "It's great that you're still alive, listen to me…"

Qing Chen quickly told Fang Yue everything he knew. Combined with what Fang Yue himself knew, he roughly understood the situation.

In fact, when he had entered the Qing Division and taken things from the underground vault, Bai Xiaoya had already begun a killing spree in the Qing Division.

Later, when Fang Yue came out of the underground vault, he immediately went to find Lord Han, but by then the battle here had already broken out — he had arrived late.

With things having come to this, even Fang Yue was dumbfounded.

"You're saying Bai Xiaoya devoured Bai Daya?"

"The coffin-pulling eerie… no, it should be said that the Bai Xiaoya who came out of the Bone Coffin did indeed enter the Qing Division for this very purpose. From my observation, the other killings seemed like trivial matters to her. Additionally, one of her targets also includes you, big shot."

Fang Yue's expression darkened. Clang! He intercepted yet another iron chain that flew out from the Iron Chain Cocoon.

Including me? I'm the one who wants to kill her!

Tian Erjun died at her hands. If he hadn't rushed over, who knew how many more would have died by now!

Everyone here was someone he cared about — how could he let them be killed by Bai Xiaoya!

"Xiao Ye…"

Lord Han maintained the ordinary appearance of Xiao Xuedou, but his right side was wrapped in gauze, dripping with blood, yet he still insisted on fighting.

Fang Yue's eyes reddened slightly: "Lord Han, fall back. Leave this place to me!"

"No! I can still use one more time… one more move! Cloud-rank or even higher power — if I go all out, I should be able to lend you a hand at the critical moment!"

Lord Han knew himself just how terrible his own condition was.

But right now, there was no choice but to fight!

If Bai Xiaoya wasn't killed, everyone would die.

Outside was Night Rain, inside was Rain Eerie — no one had a way out! Yet those who could truly step forward, those who could truly play a role in this battle, were far too few!

Fang Yue took a deep breath, held firm, and had Qing Chen and You Sisi withdraw.

Only Lord Han, Captain Wu, and a few White-Robes were left nearby to provide support.

Captain Wu's role was actually limited too, but Captain Wu himself insisted on fighting at the front line.

Because Fang Yue had witnessed Captain Wu's post-death resurrection ability — even more bugged than a vagrant's resurrection!

A vagrant's resurrection was called rebirth — the character was scrapped directly, and could only re-enter the game after 24 hours.

Captain Wu was a "revive on the spot by praying to Brother Chun" — on top of inheriting all abilities, he didn't even need to run a corpse.

This ability made Fang Yue green with envy. He had no idea what kind of heaven-defying talent Captain Wu actually was.

But the man himself seemed completely unaware of this, only saying that if they reached Jingcheng, perhaps some capable person or strange talent there would know the source of this ability.

Yet even Lord Han couldn't tell what kind of power this was. Fang Yue and Captain Wu's Jingcheng trip didn't hold much hope.

Swoosh swoosh!

Just as Fang Yue was thinking this, the Iron Chain Cocoon shot out two more iron chains — and they were coming straight for him.

Fang Yue barely managed two clangs to parry them aside.

Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh!

From the Iron Chain Cocoon's body, hundreds upon hundreds of iron chains suddenly all exploded outward.

Like a peacock spreading its tail, like a horde of demons running wild, the iron chains shot out in all directions — some piercing through human bodies, some slamming into walls, some smashing houses. Most astonishing of all, eerie creatures actually came running from afar, leaping high into the air as if delivering themselves, getting pierced through midair by the iron chains and dragged back.

Eerie creatures kept running toward this place through the Night Rain from all around, converging here.

They seemed utterly unafraid of death; even being drenched to death by Night Rain midway didn't make them seek shelter or flee — they all rushed forward as if gone mad.

The scene instantly descended into utter chaos.

"Enemy — enemy attack!"

"There's something strange! Something strange!"

"All personnel, prepare for combat!"

Those who had originally been driven beyond the iron-chain cocoon's range now took out their weapons and fought the strange creatures outside.

Some Green Guards were even mad enough to charge out under Night Rain to battle the strange creatures — the result was that both sides perished violently beneath the downpour.

The might of Night Rain was something an ordinary Houtian-realm martial artist simply could not withstand!

Amid the chaos, there weren't many people Fang Yue could protect; he was kept busy fending off threats on all sides, shielding the crowd and urging them to withdraw from the area.

When the iron chains' assault finally ceased, all the strange creatures seemed to break free of control at once, fleeing in terror toward various places to take shelter from the rain.

But the scene had already become a complete wreck — the surrounding buildings were mostly destroyed, with only a few still partially standing, leaving a sizable open clearing.

Night Rain poured down without the slightest obstruction, yet now only Fang Yue and Bai Xiaoya still stood upon that open ground.

Everyone else — strange creatures and humans alike — had retreated to sheltering spots farther away.

Beneath the dark night, thunder rolled through Black Cloud, and Night Rain fell in sudden torrents.

Amid the corpses strewn across the ground, Fang Yue stared coldly at the long-haired girl before him.

Compared to before, only her face seemed to be — at once — both Bai Daya's and Bai Xiaoya's, as if the two had fused into one.

In every other respect, she was utterly unchanged from before.

He couldn't say exactly why, but Fang Yue felt… Bai Xiaoya had become more complete, more like a single whole, as if some flaw had been mended, making her more perfect.

Within Fang Yue's annotations, Bai Xiaoya slowly opened her eyes and gazed straight at the person before her.

"Fang Yue, it's been a long time."

……

(End of chapter)