Chapter 274: The Fisherman’s Profit
"Oops, I yelled a bit too loud..."
Song Jiulai also landed inside the Prosperous Scenery Tower.
She looked at Lü Rufeng’s horrified expression and said with a touch of regret, "How did your junior sister get away so fast?!"
Song Jiulai had just switched back to Song Abao’s face.
Seeing the face from his nightmares, Lü Rufeng erupted in fury. "Song Abao, why are you—"
Unfortunately for him, Song Jiulai was never one for many words.
Without a word, she pulled out the Black Demon Seal, a firm believer in the principle of striking an enemy when they’re down to finish them off.
With her two-pronged Magic Treasure attack, Lü Rufeng—who had already expended a great deal of energy casting his sword technique—instinctively moved to defend. The moment he saw the Black Demon Seal, however, he nearly coughed up blood in fury.
"Song Abao, you... you took my Black Demon Seal!"
Somehow, she had managed to forcibly erase his spiritual imprint from the Magic Treasure.
She had made it her own.
Lü Rufeng’s eyes burned with rage, but Song Jiulai gave him no opportunity to speak.
To make matters even more infuriating, when Lü Rufeng instinctively tried to summon his own Magic Treasure, he discovered he couldn’t!
His Snake Shadow Flying Wheel should have appeared, but at this moment, he simply couldn’t summon it.
Song Abao attacked with both, unleashing the Black Demon Seal and striking with Palm Thunder, flinging them about as if they were free.
As she attacked, she lamented theatrically, "Lü, you can’t blame me for this. Ever since we parted in the Secret Realm, I’ve missed you terribly. Today, I finally got my chance! I felt a little ashamed when I finished off your junior brother and sisters earlier, and now that you’re here, I’m even more ashamed. My tower is almost out of room! Just look at this mess!"
Lü Rufeng was about to cough up blood again.
He couldn’t believe that as Song Abao beat him into a corner, he also had to listen to her spout all this crap.
He saw the corpses on the ground, and his pupils contracted violently. "You killed Lang Yun and the others, too! You—are you an enemy of the Supreme Mysterious Sect?!"
He spoke while frantically dodging Song Jiulai’s Palm Thunder attacks.
The Black Demon Seal continuously drained his Spiritual Energy.
Even though he was at Late-stage Foundation Establishment, he was already heavily injured and had just expended a great deal of energy subduing the Snow Spirit Leopard.
In a space where one couldn’t use Magic Treasures or open a Jiezidai, who wouldn’t despair?
Just as desperate as Lang Yun and her two companions had been before their deaths.
"How could I be your enemy?" Song Jiulai said with self-righteous indignation. "I never make enemies!"
’Have I offended anyone since I got here?’
’No!’
Outside, when Yi Tianhe saw the massive Prosperous Scenery Tower floating in the air, she knew something was terribly wrong.
She had wanted to attack the Magic Treasure to rescue her senior brother.
But the Snow Spirit Leopard hadn’t been trapped by Song Jiulai!
She had been right on the edge of the effect. The moment Lü Rufeng vanished, the Snow Spirit Leopard broke free from his control.
Although it had taken a few sword wounds from Lü Rufeng, the injuries weren’t severe; he hadn’t landed all his strikes.
Seeing Yi Tianhe’s movement, the Snow Spirit Leopard didn’t hesitate for a second and immediately lunged at her.
With Lü Rufeng gone, Yi Tianhe had to face the Fourth-rank Spiritual Beast all by herself.
She broke out in a cold sweat, able only to flee with the Snow Spirit Leopard hot on her heels.
Overcome with despair, she could no longer spare a single thought for the Feiling Fruit.
’Song Abao! How could Song Abao possibly be here?!’
’I can’t believe Senior Brother was right. Not only is Song Abao in the Dragon Frost Swamp, but she even managed to enter the Tang Valley Master’s Secret Realm!’
Yi Tianhe wanted to scream. "Lord of Tang Valley, come out and save us! We are disciples of the Supreme Mysterious Sect! We can’t die here! You are the Lord, you can save us!"
But no one answered her plea.
Though Tang Valley had a master, no one had ever actually seen them.
The disciples who entered had all been warned.
If you got into trouble in Tang Valley, no one would help you.
This was a Secret Realm, after all.
It was full of treasures, but only if you had the life to take them.
When no one responded, Yi Tianhe truly despaired.
Tears of blood streamed from Yi Tianhe’s eyes. "From this day forward, the Supreme Mysterious Sect and Song Abao cannot exist under the same sky!"
She wanted to save her senior brother, but the Snow Spirit Leopard was in relentless pursuit.
It chased Yi Tianhe far into the distance.
Down by the Cold Pool, Lai Cai poked its head out.
’Huh? No one’s here?’
’If no one’s here, I’m just gonna go ahead and pick the fruit!’
Its mother wasn’t around, and now the fruit’s guardian was gone too.
Lai Cai extended a pair of pincers, gripping the Feiling Fruit’s stalk with its tiny claws.
But despite its best efforts, it didn’t seem to be working.
It might be powerful, but apparently not in this particular way.
Meanwhile, inside the Prosperous Scenery Tower, Song Jiulai used her Lotus Birth Kill technique to hunt down Lü Rufeng.
To be fair, Lü Rufeng was on a completely different level than the other three.
Even with his powers restricted, the fight he put up was far more tenacious.
But he was still no match for Song Jiulai, who now held the Black Demon Seal.
’Even though suppressing someone of a higher cultivation level is draining,’ she thought, ’if I can’t finish him off when he’s this badly injured, it’d be a complete waste of my Magic Treasures.’
Finally, after being struck by several more bolts of Palm Thunder, Lü Rufeng collapsed to the ground. His body gave one last violent shudder, and with his eyes wide with resentment, he looked at Song Jiulai and choked out three words: "Song... A... Bao..."
Then, he died, his eyes wide open in grievance.
’Even on his deathbed, I would never reveal my true identity for a single second.’
’It’s only inside the Prosperous Scenery Tower that I can use the Black Demon Seal without worry.’
"Whew—"
Song Jiulai wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.
She had, in fact, hesitated for a moment about whether to kill Lü Rufeng.
After all, the Supreme Mysterious Sect stood behind him.
But only for a moment.
’How could I possibly hesitate when such a golden opportunity was served to me on a platter?’
’I can’t spit in the face of an opportunity sent by the heavens themselves!’
’The Supreme Mysterious Sect and I are already mortal enemies.’
’It’s a life-and-death feud. If I let Lü Rufeng get the Feiling Fruit and refine a Heart Firming Pill—and I’m guessing it’s for healing—anything that benefits him is a detriment to me.’
’It doesn’t matter if my Song Abao identity is exposed one day.’
’All I know is, what if I leave this loose end, and he becomes an even bigger threat down the line?’
It was a pity Yi Tianhe had run so fast. Unless she was a complete idiot, she wouldn’t be waiting outside to get beaten up.
Lü Rufeng was a decent fighter, but Yi Tianhe clearly wasn’t.
She would be even less of a match for Song Jiulai.
After putting away the Prosperous Scenery Tower, Song Jiulai glanced around and saw that the Snow Spirit Leopard hadn’t returned. Yi Tianhe was also nowhere in sight; she’d likely been chased far away.
Seizing the opportunity, Song Jiulai didn’t hesitate for a moment. She snatched the Feiling Fruit, the very one whose stalk Lai Cai had been struggling to snip for ages.
The instant she touched it, the bone-chilling cold of the Feiling Fruit made Song Jiulai shiver.
She immediately tossed the Feiling Fruit into her Sect’s storage, scooped Lai Cai out of the water, and fled without a moment’s hesitation.