367 Ch 367 - Damn you!
High above the crimson palace, Yino casually held his newly acquired flower girl.
After all, since the Pain Flower's aggro wasn't on him right now, he was way more relaxed than Mei in her dangerous situation.
"You've got three seconds left to choose."
While floating in the air, Yino kept an eye on the crimson nun closing in from below.
The seconds ticked by. At the last moment, Mei finally made her decision—
"Damn you!"
She gritted her teeth so hard her face went red, but she still chose to die with dignity and snarled the curse with all her strength.
Right after that, before Yino could react, she lunged like a rabid dog and bit down hard on his shoulder—
Chomp!
"F@ck!"
The bite caught Yino off guard. Seeing the crimson nun already charging with her thorn whip ready, he quickly tried to throw the girl off.
But Mei was clinging to him like a koala, teeth still sunk into his shoulder. No matter how hard he tried to shake her off, she stuck to him like glue.
In the crunch, Yino just turned sideways and used the girl as a human shield—
CRACK!!!
The thorn-covered vine lashed down like a whip, tearing open Mei's back in an explosion of blood and flesh.
"AHHHHHHH—!!!"
The unprecedented pain hit her nerves. Mei who was biting Yino couldn't help but scream.
The moment she opened her mouth, she let go. Yino immediately threw her down again.
Maybe that whip had hurt enough to trigger her survival instincts.
This time, after being tossed by Yino, Mei immediately steadied herself on the ground and summoned her plum blossom sword at top speed to fight the pursuing crimson nun.
CLANG—
Clang! Clang! Clang!!!
The familiar sound of clashing blades rang out again.
The crimson nun kept up her relentless thorn attacks while Mei had no choice but to fight head-on with everything she had - running was no longer an option.
She'd really been whipped so hard she almost pissed herself on the spot.
Sure, the nun was just a Divine Transformation stage corpse, but in life she'd been one of the original holy maiden of the Condemnation Cult. Now in death, she'd become a guardian statue protecting the Heart...
Her attacks might not be lethal, but her lifetime mastery of suffering techniques could definitely make enemies wish they were dead!
Still, no matter how hard Mei focused and fought, her inevitable defeat wouldn't be reversed just by her will to survive—
WHACK!!!
Another crisp, bone-chilling crack as the whip struck her hand.
"AHHHHHHHHH—!!!!!!!!"
Her unprecedented screams echoed throughout the entire crimson palace.
That thorn whip was like touching molten metal - just one second of contact left half her arm's nerves shot.
Mei just dropped her plum blossom sword.
But right after, before she could even steady herself, several more thorn whips came cracking down one after another—
"Master! Master! Master!!!"
"MASTER, SAVE ME!"
The Full Moon Sect holy maiden who'd been defiant just seconds before finally abandoned all dignity under reality's brutal assault.
She hugged herself with both arms, practically crawling and rolling toward Yino.
Meanwhile, Yino rubbed the bloody bite mark on his shoulder, his cold brow furrowing slightly.
He gave someone beside him a look.
Then, when the next thorn vine lashed out, Liuli immediately raised her hand and summoned several black-gold hardened vines—
BOOOOM!!!!
The crimson shadow crashed into the black vines for round two.
Just like when Liuli had saved Yuyan before, the black-gold coated vines stood immovable even under the peak Divine Transformation stage crimson nun's attacks.
"Senior Sister, remember what I taught you earlier?"
At the crucial moment, seeing Liuli join the battle, Yino still wasn't rushing to fight. Instead he turned to look at Yuyan.
She blinked her beautiful eyes, snapping out of spectator mode, and nodded obediently with a murmur.
"I remember. Don't waste any techniques on the nun. First cut the seven blood vessels around that heart, and pay attention to attack timing and coordination to keep the nun's aggro focused on Liuli..."
"Exactly. Every time a blood vessel gets severed, the heart enters a brief paralyzed state. When all seven vessels supplying the heart are cut, it'll be paralyzed for a full thirty seconds."
Yino nodded calmly, continuing where Yuyan left off.
He pointed at the crimson heart core floating in the deepest part of the palace. "When the heart's paralyzed, the nun will stop moving too. That's when the heart's core is most vulnerable - we can unleash all our attacks then."
"And then it's over?"
Yuyan slowly gripped her sword tighter, still looking uncertain as she glanced at Yino.
But he shook his head with a helpless smile. "That's only half. The second phase when the heart goes demonic is when I step in."
"You step in..."
Though she didn't understand where a Core Formation got this kind of confidence, in this situation Yuyan didn't dare ask more questions - she just obediently listened.
Her instincts told her that Yino was the leader now. She was just a chess piece, better to ask less and do more.
"Yino, take care of yourself."
Yuyan said nothing more, leaving behind words full of concern before summoning her sword and charging into the palace as a white silhouette.
After Yuyan joined the battlefield, things got much quieter around Yino.
He took a deep breath, cracking his knuckles as he walked toward the twin-tailed girl sprawled on the ground barely breathing—
Tap, tap, tap.
When the young man's boots stopped in front of her, Mei felt a bone-deep fear of being completely dominated.
She remembered her bold declarations from before, her curses just minutes ago, even the scene where she'd viciously bitten a chunk of flesh from Yino's shoulder...
Mei struggled to lift her exhausted body and look up, meeting eyes with the white-robed young man who'd bent down toward her.
His expression wasn't as patient as before, but his left hand was still gentle enough as it reached over to caress Mei's cheek.
Maybe feeling guilty about the earlier bite, in this situation Mei couldn't help but bare her teeth instinctively, her blood-colored seductive eyes flashing with vicious demonic light.
"Don't be so scared of me."
"I'm not the righteous cultivator you imagine. In a way, I'm more qualified than you or Liuli to be the Mother Goddess's spokesperson."
"Hehe..."
"I knew you wouldn't believe me."
At this point, Yino smiled faintly, his palm delicately rubbing Mei's disheveled face.
Meeting Mei's wary and confused gaze, Yino began humming that familiar tune from his homeland—
[Hehe...]
[Mother Goddess, please allow me to once again offer you this song of loyalty for the nine lifetimes of debt I can never repay, before the banquet begins!]
The humming with its crazed lyrics drifted over. At the same time, from Mei's perspective, the background behind Yino was suddenly tinted with a terrifying bloody filter.
The Mother Goddess's whispers rang in her ears as countless vines symbolizing "rebirth" sprouted and grew from underground.
In this scene, Mei felt like the white-robed young man surrounded by vines was a singer dancing with the Mother Goddess under the moon.
"You're also a believer of the Mother Goddess—?!"
Mei's eyes went wide. She'd been in the Full Moon Sect for so many years, but had never seen a believer like Yino who could achieve such perfect soul resonance with the Mother Goddess.
Meanwhile, as Yino's humming neared its end, his left hand covered in blood-colored scales had already generated the strongest evil technique through Mother Goddess's aura—
"Mei, don't you understand yet?"
"Even the Mother Goddess is intoxicated by my presence. As her servant, having me plant evil marks in your soul's depths is a rare blessing in your lifetime!"
"Alright~ Close your eyes and savor how Liuli was reborn in my hands!"
As his words fell, the palm bearing evil marks pressed firmly against the girl's forehead.
...
...
...
Ever since Yuyan officially joined the battle from her spectator position, she'd been strictly following Yino's pre-planned strategy.
She had to admit, when she first severed a heart blood vessel, she could definitely feel that massive heart instantly lose power.
Yuyan seized the moment, gritting her teeth to unleash her Frost Holy Physique's full potential.
With both the heart and nun motionless, she could finally charge up uninterrupted and deliver a full-powered Freezing Ten Thousand Rivers technique.
The glacier sword technique erupted from the ground, crashing into the heart suspended in mid-air.
In that instant, the heart convulsed violently, then burst out in agonized wails as the entire crimson palace's floor began spinning and shaking.
On the other side, Liuli wasn't falling behind either. Right after Yuyan, she also unleashed all her attack methods at the paralyzed heart.
Though Liuli wasn't as good at burst damage as Yuyan, this finishing blow was enough to make the already paralyzed heart's situation even worse.
For a moment, Yuyan looked back and met eyes with Liuli gritting her teeth and exerting herself in mid-air.
"..."
Right now, Yuyan felt something indescribable.
When she'd first entered the battlefield, she'd still been somewhat wary of this evil cult demoness as a teammate.
But as the battle heated up and both became seriously invested, Yuyan had to admit Liuli was truly a teammate she could trust to watch her back.
At least, with Liuli responsible for holding the crimson nun's attention, she'd never once made Yuyan worry about sneak attacks, reliably drawing all the aggro to herself.
And more...
What made her feel even more guilty was how she'd so aggressively hunted Liuli before, while now Liuli was bearing far more burden and humiliation than her.
Though it was hard to say, she honestly felt that if they could all make it out alive, she really needed to properly apologize to this evil cultist.
"Look out—!"
At some point, Yuyan snapped out of her thoughts and suddenly shouted in alarm.
Her sword moved lightning-fast, blocking the crimson nun's backstab for Liuli before she could react—
"Be careful! Yino said the heart only paralyzes for five seconds when you cut one vessel!"
"Only when all seven vessels are severed will it be paralyzed for thirty seconds!"