Top geniuses like Anwen were, of course, highly knowledgeable and experienced. Even so, legends of the Grand Magnums had been carved deep into everyone’s heart—each of them came with a fantastical story that would be circulated forever. These young experts had more or less seen a magnum in action, but this was the first time they had come face to face with one. Additionally, this was the most famous one among them, the Red Spider Lily.
The blooming and wilting of the other sh.o.r.e flowers would always be followed by the withering of life.
Even Anwen couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine. Despite being highly knowledgeable, he had no clue about the Red Spider Lily’s mechanism, nor why a life would wither whenever a netherworld flower bloomed. He was crazy about research, but not dumb enough to yearn for the chance to study the Red Spider Lily first hand.
For a moment, the Evernight experts forgot about fleeing. All they could think was, “Why would a red spider lily appear here?”
Basil reacted the quickest and the least sensitive. He broke into a peal of laughter that shocked everyone.
He pointed at the red spider lily and laughed. “How can a grand magnum appear in the Great Maelstrom? You guys must be seeing things, yes, it must be an illusion! A small flower managed to scare you all silly?”
Seemingly noticing Basil’s roaring laughter, the little flower swayed about angrily and began to wilt!
Eden gasped, Edward flashed ten meters away with a single sidestep, while Anwen frowned as a faint radiance emerged from his fingertips, forming a honeycomb wall made up of countless hexagons between him and Basil.
In the blink of an eye, there was no one left beside the arachne.
Basil’s hair all stood on end, his mouth agape. Then, he fled with a miserable scream!
He had no idea why he was running, but his intuition told him that he had to escape immediately, even though it was useless.
Basil’s long limbs moved rapidly, but his body didn’t shoot forward as expected. Instead, his ma.s.sive frame remained in place while a disorderly ma.s.s of golden threads weaved into existence.
At this moment, the flower of the netherworld river had withered, and all life had turned silent.
Basil suddenly lost his voice and could do nothing but stare in terror at his ma.s.sive spider body. A crisp crack was heard as several fissures appeared at the tip of one of his limbs.
The arachne exoskeleton was known for its hardness, especially their limbs. Bai Kongzhao’s cleaver, made from the limb of an arachne duke, was enough to intimidate many people. Basil was highly talented, so his limb blades were stronger than his peers.
Even the strongest place was also the weakest place. The limb would be temporarily crippled once the outer sh.e.l.l had been shattered, and all he could do was recuperate slowly.
Basil collected his thoughts and stared fixedly at the crack, not daring to move in the slightest. He waited an entire three seconds to make sure the fissure wasn’t extending before heaving a sigh of relief. He was drenched in sweat by that time.
The arachne suddenly realized that the others were looking at him with strange expressions. They were scanning every part of his body with malicious intent, and even Twilight was no exception. She kept staring at his vitals, hoping to figure something out.
The prideful Basil was absolutely furious. Not only did these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds not help him, but they were all looking at him with punishable expressions.
Basil said with a clear voice, “That’s all a small flower can do!”
Everyone looked at him like an idiot. A single flower had broken one of his limbs, yet he had the audacity to say that was all.
What if a couple more of them appeared? Basil would most likely lose all of his legs and an arm as well.
In addition to the schadenfreude, everyone was stunned by the power of the Red Spider Lily. It was even more terrifying than legends would have it. Just a single flower had injured an outstanding young arachne. Just how had Ge Situ taken a shot from the magnum and escaped with his life back then?
Basil laughed loudly but found that no one was following along, their expressions fluctuant and restless. He was just about to spout more taunts when Twilight said with a weird expression, “You said that’s all a small flower can do?”
Basil was startled and felt that something wasn’t quite right, but since he had spoken, there was no way he could take it back now.
He nodded proudly, saying, “I did, so what?”
Twilight’s expression turned even weirder as she pointed silently at Basil’s back.
The arachne was somewhat angered. As he saw it, Twilight was a minor character he didn’t even need to care about. Did she think she was equal in combat strength just because she was relatively good-looking?
Fortunately, he was a peak character among the younger generation of the arachne race. Quickly realizing something was wrong, he glanced back and immediately felt his hair stand on end.
A sea of red flowers was appearing before him—the netherworld flowers were swaying in the wind, ready to wither at a moment’s notice. This flower field contained countless flowers, hundreds if not thousands of them!
A single red spider lily had broken one of Basil’s legs. The sea of flowers before the arachne was enough to kill him ten times over and still have the power to spare. He was completely stunned.
The red spider lilies could bloom and wilt at a single thought. Basil fell into despair, knowing he could neither escape nor defend against this. On the contrary, he reached acceptance and sighed. “Why is it me again?”
“Because your mouth is vulgar…” Twilight mumbled to herself, but of course, she wouldn’t say it out loud.
Gazing at the sea of netherworld flowers, even those who had certain ideas didn’t dare to move carelessly. This included arrogant fellows like Edward.
The Red Spider Lily’s special characteristic was clearly displayed on Basil. No one knew when the flowers would bloom or when it would wilt. The injury it produced was formless and unavoidable. Everyone retracted their auras, hoping the wielder of the magnum would not notice them. Otherwise, their lives would be in someone else"s hand just like Basil.
Anwen was gazing at the sky all this time. “Has Miss Ruoxi arrived? Why not make an appearance?”
A clear, gentle voice echoed in the sky, “Did you want to lure me out and kill me just because I have no origin power?”
Anwen shook his head. “Of course not! I promise, in the name of the demonkin young lord…”
Before he could even finish, a young girl appeared in the air and looked down at him with an expression of mockery. “Your promise is meaningless, but can you kill me even if I do appear?”
The girl hovering in the air was so beautiful that it was stifling, but her features were shrouded in a faint layer of mist that made it impossible to see her clearly. For some reason, Anwen turned away subconsciously and couldn’t look straight into her eyes.
Anwen only noticed his own action after looking away. Surprised, he looked back at the girl, and this time, he was prepared enough to not avoid her face. It was just that the mockery in her expression was now clearer, and that made Anwen’s face turn hot.
Zhao Ruoxi looked down at the Evernight experts from above. Although there wasn’t a shred of origin power about her, she had completely suppressed her opponents in terms of momentum. Just those flowers around her were enough to dissolve all untoward thoughts these proud geniuses might have had.
Zhao Ruoxi’s appearance made the atmosphere heavy. Edward, Basil, and Eden exchanged glances, but neither of them could find a good solution.
According to hearsay, the current wielder of the Red Spider Lily was frail and devoid of origin power. She had to travel with escorts because she would be completely drained after a single shot. That was why no one had imagined they would see her in such an environment, and no one in the crowd was intent on proving the legends now that she had appeared.
The situation at hand became rather subtle. The countless red spider lilies before them would turn into a death trap at a moment’s notice.
“Are we going to get wiped out in one go?” Eden transmitted a message to Anwen.
“No, there are too many red spider lilies. Some of them must be fake. The intelligence reports never said the magnum would be this powerful.” Anwen had regained his calm.
“Then what’s she waiting for?”
“Perhaps?” A thought popped up in Anwen’s mind.
Zhao Ruoxi neither pulled the trigger nor said anything more. No one knew what she was thinking. The young Evernight experts hadn’t lived long enough, so they naturally wouldn’t act hastily, lest they get targeted. Most people had the same idea as Eden and Anwen. They didn’t think Zhao Ruoxi could kill them all in one go, but there was no doubt that the single unlucky person she wanted to kill would die.
This deadlock lasted for some time before Zhao Ruoxi’s eyes lit up. “Found you!”
She hadn’t even finished speaking when more than half of the red spider lilies around her withered. A m.u.f.fled groan echoed in the air, sounding both surprised and pained—it was the Demoness.
A speck of radiance lit up in the distant void as countless motes of light flew toward Zhao Ruoxi like fireflies. Every mote of light would absorb the surrounding origin power and grow bigger along the way. In the blink of an eye, those countless specks of light had converged into a deluge of radiance flowing toward Zhao Ruoxi!
This was the ultimate move the Demoness had used against Zhao Jundu back then. The flow of light wasn’t as majestic as the attack back then, but it included more variations. The motes of light could gather together in one place or spread out, making it difficult for anyone to catch their trajectories.
Under the ethereal guise of irregularity was a terrifying power that no one could contain.
This was a showdown between the Demoness and Zhao Ruoxi, so the other vampires and arachne made no move. For some reason, Anwen also held back from a charge. He only stared at the battlefield, not willing to miss a single detail.
Eden was the only one taking out his firearm, but his expression changed rapidly afterward. He soon discovered that he couldn’t quite take aim at Zhao Ruoxi. She looked to be within reach in the air, but Eden knew that there was nothing there.
The demonkin was first startled. He wanted to fire a round first and see, despite knowing that this shot would probably have no effect.
This fight was a duel between Zhao Ruoxi and the Demoness… but could the latter really contend against the power of the Red Spider Lily?