169 – Nine Lives Cat (II)
A heat, that came from G.o.d knows where, rose from her body in gas-like strands. The sense of weight of the ma.s.sive body makes the surrounding air turn heavy.
Xihe, who appeared in her true form, stared at Asura"er with a fierce expression on her face. Her mouth twisted, and quiet beast cries escaped her mouth intermittently. This is an instinctive threat coming from a beast. However, the purple eyes twinkling with dim light are still calm and clear, without a trace of wildness.
The Nine Lives Cat, shining silver under the moon, is both beautiful and daunting.
A fantasy beast of legend.
Anyone who witnesses Xihe"s true form will hold their breath in the first moment.
Even Xue Qilin is no exception. She was absentminded for a brief moment.
However —
“True form? It"s interesting, real interesting! It"s been a long time since I"ve fought a martial demon who displayed their true form!”
Jialan clapped her hands happily, like a child who found a fun toy.
Then, she crossed her arms, closed one eye, and glanced at Xihe with the other eye, perplexed.
“However, why are you showing your true form?”
“Why?”
The silver Nine Lives Cat narrowed its eyes slightly and took a step forward. The wind seemed to stagnate for a moment.
“Because this is my proper, original, and true posture.”
A foggy white breath gently shot out from the cat mouth full of sharp teeth. Nine tails swept gently across the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
“I"m more used to this form.”
“Ah…”
The voice is hoa.r.s.e, as if the throat is dry.
“Things seem to have gotten fun.”
A scorching breath came out from between the slightly opened pink lips. Jialan grabbed the sides of her face and leaned forward a little.
“The heart… beats fast, the face is hot…”
Suddenly, Jialan wiped out all emotions from her face.
“However, I am curious, can you bite me?”
Watching Jialan, who doesn"t seem to be on guard, Xihe kept quiet. She didn"t gave Jialan an answer, nor does she intend to strike first.
Seize the initiative — this kind of tactic is meaningless in front of a Grandmaster.
However, it may be that Xihe has noticed Xue Qilin"s actions and deliberately talked to Jialan to stall for time.
During the time Xihe talked with Jialan, Xue Qilin scattered talismans. Regarding this, Jialan, who seems to be unaware, didn"t stop Xue Qilin"s actions.
Is she really unaware, or is she being dismissive? Xue Qilin, who thinks the is the latter answer, feels wronged, feels that she is not being taken seriously by the other party.
However, this does not affect her casting.
While chanting an incantation, Xue Qilin is treading according to a wonderful footwork and printing glowing footprints one after another on the ground.
These footprints seem to correspond to the talismans scattered around Jialan. Every time a footprint appears, a talisman is activated and emits light.
Countless fire debris appeared out of thin air and, as if stirred by someone, formed a huge flame vortex in the air. The speed of the vortex accelerated with Xue Qilin"s movements. The center of the vortex expanded, until it eventually distilled into red light of destruction.
During this period, the rapidly rising temperature evaporated the water of the nearby river. The diffused water vapor obscured everyone"s vision.
“Hmm?”
Jialan, who seems to finally have noticed the development, looked up in surprise.
The sky is burning red.
A huge blazing sun-like fireball is imprinted in her eyes.
“Burn everything, Heavenly Fire!”
Time stopped still momentarily.
Then, the moment when time resumed —
A sunset.
The huge fireball suspended in mid-air turned into a torrent of destruction, as if to devour everything.
The color of fire covered all other colors and filled the scene.
As if the sounds have been burned away, the whole world is silent, leaving only Jialan"s sigh.
“What a grand sight…”
Jialan raised her right hand and spread her fingers, as if intending to block the torrent of fire with her bare hand. However, even though she is a Grandmaster, if she is. .h.i.t by this attack, she should come out be unscathed.
In the end, Xue Qilin was dumbfounded.
Because Jialan really blocked Heavenly Fire.
As if it hit an exceptionally hard invisible wall, Heavenly Fire stopped in front of the small palm raised high, issued sounds similar to the whistling of a kettle, and raged violently in the air, but could not hurt Jialan.
“How is this possible…”
A murmur of disbelief escaped Xue Qilin"s mouth.
However, what surprised her even more is yet to come.
“Not enough… still not enough!”
The dark red eyes, illuminated by the fire, became bright and shiny.
Jialan slowly closed her hand.
With only in this, Heavenly Fire, as if pinched by an enormous invisible hand, deformed.
The moment when Jialan"s hand was completely clenched into a fist, the rush of fire split apart, and eventually vanished like smoke into thin air.
Like a torrential rain, fire debris filled the sky and floated down.
Jialan stared at her right palm and shook her head in disappointment.
“I gave you so much time to prepare…”
The tone of the gold la.s.s is that of sorrow, as if she"s dejected by unrequited love.
“Why can"t you respond to my expectations, and let me –”
The voice stopped abruptly.
The land under Jialan"s feet suddenly shook violently up and down, making her feet unstable and shaking her body.
Blinking her eyes vacantly, she tumbled to the ground.
Then, her figure disappeared rapidly from Xue Qilin"s view.
The land around Jialan lifted high as if to surround her. In the blink of an eye, a conical prison made of rock formed and confined Asura"er.
The one responsible for this was not Xue Qilin, but Xihe.
Xue Qilin is not good at earth magic. She cannot make such a solid rock prison without a.s.sistance within a short period of time.
“Xue Qilin, think of something. I can"t trap her for long.”
The silver Nine Lives Cat came to Xue Qilin"s side at some point in time. Aware that this is a critical situation, she spoke quickly.
“If you can"t break Imperishable Vajra Body, then no matter how formidable your attacks are, it"s all meaningless.”
Xihe"s voice is still clear and cold. But it is not in tune with her current giant beast body. This disharmony produced a strange feeling that made Xue Qilin a little uncomfortable, and she gawked.
Seeing Xue Qilin gaze at her in amazement, without making a sound, Xihe poked the other party in the nose with a tail.
“Xue Qilin, are you listening to me?”
“I am! Stoke poking!”
With a “slap”, Xue Qilin swatted Xihe"s tail away and sniffled.
Then, she showed a thoughtful expression.
“Heavenly Fire” is one of her most powerful spells. Nevertheless, it was still easily blocked by Jialan. Similarly, Qimen Dunjia, which once seriously wounded Hua Tianji, might not be able to deal with her.
Of course, she could still use the spiritual qi acc.u.mulated by Phecda to increase the power of her magic. However, seeing how Asura"er could easily receive “Heavenly Fire”, even if the power of her magic is doubled, it may not be able to break “Imperishable Vajra Body”.
In theory, it is not impossible to break through Imperishable Vajra Body.
By using Phecda"s spiritual qi, Xue Qilin is able to make a strike close to — even equal to — the Grandmaster Realm.
However, Asura"er is a Grandmaster herself, and her Imperishable Vajra Body appears to be a martial skill leaning towards defense. In this case, even if Xue Qilin makes a strike that can rival that of a Grandmaster, she isn"t sure if she"ll be able to break through Imperishable Vajra Body and hurt Asura"er.
Despite this, Xue Qilin can only give it a shot.
Only when Asura"er is hurt, will she and Xihe have a chance to escape.
If “Imperishable Vajra Body” is considered to be an extremely firm armor, then a spear is more likely to penetrate it than a mallet or a blade. After all, the former can effectively concentrate the force.
In other words, what is needed right now is not destructive power, but pure penetrative power.
If she uses “Alkaid”"s specialization, coupled with the a.s.sistance from a domain, Empyrean Universe may be able to break through “Imperishable Vajra Body”…
Naturally, Xue Qilin isn"t certain that it"ll succeed. But she still decided to adopt this most likely to work solution. This will be a gamble.
The rumbling of rocks smashing into the ground sounded.
The seams of the rock prison suddenly radiated gold light.
Along with the sound of rocks cracking, the cone-shaped rock prison collapsed.
Jialan stood there, unscathed.
Xue Qilin locked her eyes on Jialan, who has just “broken out of the ground”, and spoke to Xihe in a low voice, “Xihe, I might be able to break through Imperishable Vajra Body. But I need your help.”
“Okay, how can I help?”
“Tie her down! I need time!”
Xihe turned her head and looked at Xue Qilin, silent.
After a brief silence, she took a step.
“Be quick about it. I can"t last long.”
With that, Xihe rushed out dauntlessly and darted towards Jialan.