Translator: Deep_Blue Editor: Kurisu

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on the cliff, his long hair billowing in the wind.

His twin sabers were stabbed into the ground on his right, crossed with each other. No one else was around him.

On the river beneath him, several silhouettes were trading blows in a

Lu Sheng knew that it was Wandering Heart Society’s ambush on Scarlet District Mistress. But from the looks of it, Wandering Heart Society’s Deputy Head Chao Hu was at the end of his strength. In merely the first few rounds, he was quickly suppressed by Scarlet District Mistress.

The saber with the shard that glowed red seemed to carry enormous might. Each time it slashed at the single-eyed titan, the titan would dodge cautiously, like he did not dare to take it head on.

As time passed, Wandering Heart Society’s men gradually decreased, until only Chao Hu was left to fight Scarlet District Mistress by himself.

Both of them were fighting at full strength. Terrifying as Scarlet District Mistress’ power and speed might be, they were still a cut below Chao Hu’s. Had it not been for the saber in her right hand, there would have been no way she could gain the upper hand.

With his cudgel broken, the single-eyed titan turned even more ferocious and savage. Every now and then, beams of pale golden light would shoot out from his single eye, forcing Scarlet District Mistress to evade.

Lu Sheng also noticed that she would clutch at her chest from time to time, as if her chest hurt greatly.

“Looks like I can’t rely on Wandering Heart Society… they can’t even defeat an enemy who’s been hexed. They’re just a bunch of brash demons.” Lu Sheng was calm and unsurprised by the outcome of this battle.

To him, whether or not Scarlet District Mistress won this battle, she would not leave this place.

“KABOOM!!”

Just then, another deafening explosion rang out from beneath again.

Large amounts of water exploded into the sky, then dropped like rain.

Scarlet District Mistress’ chest heaved vigorously as she blocked the beam of golden light shooting at her with her saber.

The beam of light had been fired from Chao Hu’s eye. Whenever such pale golden beams hit the river, the water would evaporate into steam instantly. When it hit a rock, the rock would disintegrate, as if it had been sliced into halves by the sharpest blade.

Unlike previously, however, the light beam this time was continuous, firing from his eye without end.

As he continued to fire that golden beam, step by step, Chao Hu edged nearer.

“You won’t have a chance!” He had long since expected this outcome. The name of this golden beam was Light of the Evil Eye—an ability he was born with. After many years of hard work, its might had increased until it was developed into his mutant ability.

“To think that you’d force me into using the Light of the Evil Eye!” Using that attack would decrease his longevity. Hence, unless absolutely necessary, he would never use it lightly.

Little did he expect that the ordinary Black Snake who did not use to be his match now showed signs of stepping into the top three grades of Snake realm.

“A mere tiger demon… yet you’ve pushed me this far…” Chao Hu stepped on the surface of the water, closing in on Scarlet District Mistress.

The golden beam of light turned denser and more blinding.

Scarlet District Mistress grit her teeth and held on. The Scarlet Dragon Tribulation shard on her saber hilt continued to release red glow, resisting the golden light.

Sparks of red light danced in her eyes. Her body had reached its limit. Every inch of muscle and every ounce of strength were being forcibly compressed and channeled into her saber hilt to resist the golden light.

“Sis…” Behind her, umbrella girl’s meek voice rang out.

“I won’t lose.” A glint of light flashed across Scarlet District Mistress’ eyes as she bellowed, “I WON’T!!”

“Spirit Transformation Phantom Shadow!!” Her right arm and saber suddenly dematerialized and turned translucent in that instant.

The dematerialized arm and saber cut though the golden light and slashed down on Chao Hu’s head savagely.

The saber strike was so fast that Chao Hu had no time to react. Before he knew it, he was screaming tragically and stumbling backwards, falling into the water on his butt.

At the same time, a roar of excruciating pain rang out from Scarlet District Mistress. Without a material body, she was unable to block the golden light anymore and hence was struck in her chest by it. The golden beam penetrated her chest, opening up a gaping hole through it.

“HA…HAHAHAHA!! DIE!” Without a care for the giant hole in her chest, Scarlet District Mistress pounced at Chao Hu.

Having been struck by that saber on his eye, blood poured all over Chao Hu’s head as he roared in pain. Sensing that Scarlet District Mistress was pouncing at him, he mustered all his strength and punched toward her.

By this point in the fight, neither of them had any more moves or stances left. It was the most simple, primitive sort of combat with raw power and speed.

Unlike humans with their assorted moves and techniques, most of their combat was simply a match of raw power, speed and, defense. If there were any martial arts involved, they were the most basic moves. To them, intricate martial arts were useless.

Spirit Transformation Phantom Shadow was Scarlet District Mistress’ special mutant ability, like Chao Hu’s Light of the Evil Eye. As Demons, every one of them would be born with a special ability.

These mutant abilities could evolve through the cultivation of different mantras and skills so that they would become more powerful, wider in scope, and even radically transform.

That was the purpose of Demon skills.

Although Scarlet District Mistress’ talent was exceptional, her cultivated mantra was very ordinary. That was why she hungered and thirsted for higher-level mantras.

Chao Hu, on the other hand, had no such problem. The reason why his Light of the Evil Eye was so powerful was because of his mantra. Had it not been for the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation shard, the outcome of this battle would undoubtedly be a repeat of the previous match between them, ending with Scarlet District Mistress’ shameful flight.

Raindrops began to fall. Quickly, the rain grew thicker until it turned into a storm.

They fought on for god knows how long.

By the time Scarlet District Mistress finally pulled her saber out from Chao Hu’s massive body on the river shore, two large wounds opened up on her chest and neck.

Her flesh was doing its best to heal and close the wounds, but a layer of faint golden light prevented it from doing so.

“Hoo… Hoo…. Hoo…”

Scarlet District Mistress landed heavily and knelt on the ground. Raindrops fell on her face and flowed down her body.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her and she immediately looked around searching for something.

“Yingying! Yingying!!”

She hurriedly got up and stumbled towards umbrella girl who was on a nearby stretch on the shore. She seemed to have been hit by the fallout of the battle.

“Yingying, what happened to you?!” Scarlet District Mistress swept her up in her embrace.

“Splat!!”

Suddenly, a bloodied dagger stabbed pencil straight into Scarlet District Mistress’ abdomen.

In that moment, she froze. Then, she released Yingying from her embrace and stared dumbly at her own abdomen.

The blood and flesh was rapidly disintegrating around the wound.

“You…!!” Dazedly, she stumbled backwards away from her. “Yingying…”

“Sis…”

Umbrella girl broke out in tears. Her eyes were dyed in the dark-blue glint of Yin Crane Web. The dagger coated in the jade ring powder was shaking intensely in her hand. With all her might, she tried to toss it out of her hand, but another force in her compelled her to grip it tightly.

She rose to her feet and began walking towards Scarlet District Mistress, step by step.

“Splat!”

The second dagger strike stabbed mercilessly into Scarlet District Mistress’ left shoulder.

It had been aimed for her forehead. But umbrella girl shook her head with all her might and managed to shift it away with all her strength.

But the dagger still plunged deep into Scarlet District Mistress’ body.

“AHHHHHH!!!!”

Scarlet District Mistress roared at the heavens. Her originally snow-white short hair was rapidly being dyed blood-red.

A powerful rebound threw Yingying back, causing her to fall to the ground on her butt.

Quickly, the storm thickened.

A silhouetted appeared silently behind her. It was Lu Sheng, who had been waiting for a long time.

Holding on to his twin sabers, his aura was completely suppressed, as if he were a mere piece of rock. Astonishingly, he remained completely undetected despite standing just right behind Scarlet District Mistress.

‘It’s about time…’ Lu Sheng slowly lifted his sabers.

“Swish!!”

The razor-sharp sabers swung towards Scarlet District Mistress’ back abruptly.

“CLANG!!”

Just then, a figure appeared before Lu Sheng in a blur and blocked the twin sabers.

“Ye Moling?” Lu Sheng arched his eyebrow.

“Swish.”

Ye Moling was pushed several paces back by the unimaginably massive force. A look of incredulous shock surfaced on him.

“It’s you!!?” He was stumped. He had never expected that the person to appear at this moment would be Lu Sheng.

How could the ordinary leader of a mortal organization raise his saber against a Manor Lord-ranked expert in the Snake realm?!

Only then did Scarlet District Mistress sense something was amiss. She quickly spun round and saw Lu Sheng. But no sign of comprehension registered in her eyes. Right now, she was still immersed in the pain of being betrayed by her most beloved.

“I didn’t think you would come as well.” Lu Sheng looked at Ye Moling in mild surprise.

“Why can’t I come? Never would I have thought that you were the mastermind behind all this chaos. You killed the Officiator, didn’t you? And the Emissaries, was it you as well?” Ye Moling said coldly. “And the umbrella girl. It’s all you, isn’t it?”

“…So what if it is? And so what if it isn’t?” Lu Sheng slowly walked nearer. “Do you still imagine that any of you can still walk away from this place alive?”

“Because of you?” Ye Moling sneered.

“That’s right… because of me.”

“SWISH!”

Ye Moling appeared before Lu Sheng in the blink of an eye. His claws shot at Lu Sheng’s head pencil straight.

Just as his claws were about to make contact with Lu Sheng’s forehead…

“BAM!!”

A formless tongue of scorching flame exploded in midair, blocking the flawed hand for an instant.

“A meaningless struggle,” a low growl rumbled.

Copious amounts of dense white smog enveloped them.

With the sound of a slap, a greenish-black arm that looked as if it was covered in a layer of armor broke out of the smog and grabbed Ye Moling’s arm firmly.

“Who can this kind of soft attack kill? Yourself?”

Grabbing on to Ye Moling single-handedly, Lu Sheng slammed him into the ground.

“BAM!!!”

Giant cracks radiated from the river shore. In the blink of an eye, a large pit several meters deep had been smashed into the ground.

The smog cleared and Scarlet District Mistress finally laid her eyes on the present Lu Sheng.

The originally human-shaped Lu Sheng had turned into a monster over two meters tall and covered in a layer of thick mirror-like armor.

Two ox horns, razor-sharp claws, and that thick long tail swinging like a whip behind him…

This greenish-black humanoid monster was covered from top to toe in a layer of thick metallic armor. Black razor sharp spikes protruded out of its shoulders, elbows, and back. It looked incomparably savage.

Its body was extremely streamlined and looked as if there was no inch of unnecessary tissue or structure on it.

Standing there, he exuded a calm and unhurried, elegant yet savage aura.

“KILL HIM!!” With a blood-stained face, Ye Moling leapt up and charged at Lu Sheng.

Scarlet District Mistress glared and shot towards Lu Sheng lightning quick as well.

“BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!”

The two of them combined forces, raining a frenzied torrent of blows on Lu Sheng. Every blow, however, was precisely blocked by Lu Sheng.

“BOOM!!”

In the blink of an eye, Scarlet District Mistress was struck on her head by the flat side of Lu Sheng’s saber and sent flying a great distance backwards.

In midair, Ye Moling blocked Lu Sheng’s slash with all his strength.

“CLANG!!”

A horizontal silver gleam slashed at him, cleaving his arms instantly and almost hacking his body into two halves along his waist. He was plunged into the river, causing huge waves to splash out.