Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Chapter 591: Three v. One

As Bai Xue and Li Xiang closed in on Shue Yinyue, Hui fell back. Although we do need to defeat the blood clone here in front of us, nothing we do will cause lasting damage. About the only thing I can think of that could actually harm her true form… would be to implant a heart demon. The problem is that I don’t know her very well, and so far, she doesn’t seem like the type who’s easy to provoke. Aside from liking to explain her attacks, she’s not very prone to any obvious tropes or mistakes.

Hmm… maybe a heart demon isn’t the route to go with this Shue Yinyue. After all, she’s a demonic cultivator through and through, which though it does make her more prone to heart demons and qi deviations, it also means that she’s seen a lot and been ridiculed often… in other words, she surely has heart demons, but it will be harder to break through and prod at them than it is to prod a righteous sect leader’s proud heart.

Ah… something about that… seems… a bit off? Am I… perhaps… specialized in giving righteous cultivators… heart demons?

No, no! No, that can’t be it. No, it’s merely that I’ve often fought righteous cultivators who held hypocrisy in their hearts, making it easy to give them heart demons! Yes, yes. A true black-hearted demonic cultivator like the one before me, and a true righteous cultivator like Li Xiang—those are the ones I struggle to inflict with heart demons. It’s not that righteous cultivators are easy to give heart demons to, it’s just that I’ve faced off against many ‘righteous’ cultivators! Hui nodded to himself. Right, right. That must be it.

Fire splashed over the crystalized blood bubble. The beam of sword light deflected away. Within, Shue Yinyue laughed raucously. “You can’t break through. It’s hopeless. Wait there while I send more men to fight you. In the end, my victory is inevitable. I merely have to wait you out!”

Bai Xue raised his hand, lip twisted in disgust. Fire burned in his palm. Opposite him, Li Xiang took another sword stance, her expression as serious as ever.

“Elder Sister, Elder Brother, please… if small cultivator could?” Hui asked, stepping forward, one hand timidly raised.

Bai Xue and Li Xiang rounded on him.

Hui coughed, not quite comfortable with suddenly being the center of attention. “Er, small cultivator… has a minor talent in breaking realms. Surely I can also break this barrier of hers?”

“You… what? You have a talent in… what?” Shue Yinyue asked from within the orb.

Li Xiang stepped back. She gestured for him to move forward.

Bai Xue tossed his hair and nodded at Hui.

“Small cultivator is grateful, thank you, thank you,” Hui said, scurrying forward. He put his hand on the crystalized shell and closed his eyes.

That hand technique is too energy intensive for this. Instead… I’ll have to apply good old-fashioned realm breaking techniques to shatter it directly!

Exploratively, he sent his qi inside, feeling out the shape of the qi that formed the crystalized shell. Very little qi met his fingertips. He pressed deeper, and there he found some qi, hovering just outside of the shell. Hmm… interesting. The structure itself is just ordinary blood, that has been reformed by qi but is no longer being maintained. Truly, I’m up against a formidable senior! She recognized the melting technique I used against her, and immediately adapted to create a barrier to combat it. However, the qi just on the inside…

Hui pressed his hand hard against the barrier, sending a miniature version of his wave attack at the shell to disrupt it.

The qi waiting inside the orb instantly darted forth and repaired the barrier.

Hui nodded. Good, good! This is a wonderful barrier technique. A hardy, stable, physical outer shell, with a self-repairing qi layer on the inside. Qi-disruptive techniques like the melting hand can’t get past the physical outer layer, while physical-focused attacks are stymied by the self-healing factor. I should adapt my own crystallization technique to use this method!

Though what it means is that I can’t break through on my own, since I don’t have powerful physical attacks. Nor can Bai Xue and Li Xiang break through on their own, since they only have powerful physical attacks. But the two of us together…

Hui nodded. Turning the orb, he searched it for its weakest point, then turned that part upward. He stepped back and nodded at Bai Xue and Li Xiang, indicating the weak point. “Bai Xue, Li Xiang, could I trouble you to focus a single penetrative attack right here?”

“It’s worthless. You can’t break through. Not before more attackers get here!” Shue Yinyue shouted.

“Elder Sister, please, you can stop bluffing. You can’t have brought an entire force through the barrier mountain. It isn’t possible,” Hui said, sighing. Internally, he watched the orb closely. Is she bluffing? Let’s see how she responds!

Shue Yinyue laughed. “We got through. Surely we can send more?”

Hmm. The way she responded… I would guess that Eight Tiers Palace has a relatively stable route through the barrier that surrounds the Southern Sect Conference. However, it sounds like they don’t have anyone else on this side right now. Although Shue Yinyue can definitely call more men eventually, for now, we should be safe. At least for another few minutes.

Hui nodded at Li Xiang and Bai Xue. “We have some time. Let’s crack her barrier now.”

Li Xiang drew back her sword. Sword light built up on her blade.josei

Bai Xue swirled his hand. A dark red stone condensed at his fingertips, a stone that seemed made of condensed flame. He smirked and tossed Hui a wink. “Xiao Hui, you should ask me to penetrate more often. It’s a specialty of mine.”

“Eh, Elder Brother,” Hui said, startled. In the middle of rescuing our children, you’re still worrying about phrasing?

Li Xiang and Bai Xue exchanged a look. Bai Xue’s expression instantly turned serious. They darted forth, clashing into the blood red orb.

Hui held his breath. Come on… come on!