“Shucao sister, be careful! That guy is really strong!”
Seeing Shucao about to face the Cold Water Flood Dragon, Bai Qiushui said.
Shucao simply waved her hand, signaling that she didn’t need to worry.
“I’ll win.”
“Roar!!!”
The Cold Water Flood Dragon roared while climbing out of the rubble. It stared fixedly at Shucao. From the previous strike, it knew that this suddenly appearing enemy posed a much greater threat.
“These demon beasts all have really hard bodies.”
Watching the Cold Water Flood Dragon that had taken her sneak attack yet could still get up, Shucao recalled the Sharp-Horned Demon Spider she had encountered in the old mine and couldn’t help but sigh.
Unlike before, however, Shucao had read the notebook left by the person who had raised the Cold Water Flood Dragons here. Although she didn’t know how many generations this one had inherited from, it was definitely not much different. Thus, she muttered.
“But now I know everything about you. You dared to try hurting Qiushui while I wasn’t around. Have you thought about how you’re going to die?!”
With that, Shucao’s figure shot forward. At extreme speed, she charged once more toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s head.
The Cold Water Flood Dragon’s eyes flashed blue again. It opened its large mouth and condensed a deep-blue water orb inside. The surface of the water orb in its mouth suddenly froze, as if wrapped in a layer of ice ball, with ice spikes growing out from it. In the next moment, countless ice spikes shot toward Shucao together.
“Although your Cold Poison is powerful, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t hit!”
Her extremely high speed and agility allowed Shucao to directly change her flight direction and evade the incoming ice spikes. At the same time, she quickly closed in on the Cold Water Flood Dragon.
“Take another punch!”
Her petite fist, reinforced by magic power, struck the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s open jaw from below. It directly deformed its jaw and once again blasted its entire body into the rock wall beside them.
The Cold Water Flood Dragon’s Cold Poison required it to channel its own spiritual energy into its mouth before releasing it in other forms. A second-rank Cold Water Flood Dragon could even spew Cold Poison as mist breath to affect a wide area of opponents. This was also recorded in that notebook. However, the one in front of Shucao couldn’t do what the book described because its realm was insufficient.
“Then I just need to make sure it can’t open its mouth, right?”
This was the tactic Shucao had just thought of. Although she could dodge the flying ice spikes, to avoid any other accidents, she decided to shut its mouth first.
“Although I don’t know the internal structure of that Cold Water Flood Dragon’s body, punching it like that should only dislocate its jaw, right? Wouldn’t that make it unable to close its mouth?”
After learning Shucao’s plan, An Qianhua said helplessly.
“Aiya, little Shucao’s education level is a bit low. That’s why reading more books is the most correct thing to do. Otherwise, when magical girls fight monsters, they won’t even know some useful little facts. We can’t lower the cultural level of us magical girls!”
“Is that so? I only read some books in the village school when I was little. In our village, being able to read was already quite impressive.”
“When we have time later, I’ll still tutor you.”
The Cold Water Flood Dragon that climbed out from the rock wall again had its mouth slightly open. It seemed a bit dizzy as it stood up.
“It definitely can’t take having its head hit so many times. Hurry up!”
“Mm!”
At An Qianhua’s reminder, Shucao directly took out her magic wand and aimed it at the wound on its head that Zhang Huaiyu had made earlier. Magic power gathered at the tip of the wand. Then a pink beam of light shot out from the wand and rushed straight toward that wound.
Although the Cold Water Flood Dragon was somewhat dizzy from the heavy blow to its head and sensed no spiritual energy aura from that beam, it still instinctively felt danger. Its entire body’s scales emitted blue light. A layer of deep-blue outer armor directly appeared over those scales.
Jade Water Armor!
This was a manifestation of the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s water-attribute divine ability. When facing a strong enemy, they could simultaneously activate the spiritual energy stored in their scales to form a set of outer armor on the outside of their body that combined toughness and flexibility. It could directly deflect attacks landing on it while also absorbing most of the damage.
Of course, this was also something Shucao had seen in the notebook, so she knew where this divine ability’s weakness lay!
That was the soft areas on its abdomen without scales, which couldn’t generate armor! Although the armor could shift across the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s body to cover some areas where scales had been shattered, it was limited to places that had scales or had once had scales.
The moment this layer of armor appeared, an even thicker layer of armor also formed over the wound on its head compared to other parts.
But it was useless.
Because the chaos from the heavy blow to its head earlier prevented the Cold Water Flood Dragon from crouching on the ground to form the absolute defense turtle tactic of the Jade Water Armor.
“Take a look at the results of my three days of practice outside!”
Shucao said. She then reached out and snapped her fingers.
Of course, Shucao didn’t actually need to snap her fingers for what came next, but An Qianhua had strongly insisted on adding it because it looked cool.
Snap!
After the snap, the beam shooting toward the wound suddenly split apart into several smaller beams. At the same time, they drew a graceful arc in the air, directly bypassing the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s head and rushing toward its soft abdomen.
Rumble!
The light cannon that struck the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s abdomen instantly exploded, blasting out clouds of blood mist from its white, soft belly.
The Cold Water Flood Dragon, struck hard in the abdomen, suddenly stiffened. The Jade Water Armor on its body directly dissipated. Then, accompanied by a huge crash, its massive body collapsed just like that.
Seeing this, Shucao fired another light cannon. It directly pierced through the wound on its head and into its brain, ensuring it was truly dead.
She then flew up. Using magic power, she extracted its demon core from the hole in its head and shook it toward Bai Qiushui and the others. With some pride, she said to them.
“Looks like I’m still the stronger one.”
Zhang Huaiyu had never imagined that the Cold Water Flood Dragon they had fought for so long without being able to take down would be killed just like that by a mysterious loose cultivator who had suddenly appeared, dressed strangely, and had not a single trace of spiritual energy fluctuation on her body. Although they had inflicted many injuries on it and there was also the factor of the opponent’s earlier sneak attack, this was still far too understated. How many moves had the other party used in total? Two punches and something that looked like a spell. Just like that, she had dealt with a top-tier first-rank demon beast.
“We can’t make an enemy of her!”
This was Zhang Huaiyu’s first thought. Although the three sects had rules allowing them to seize and utilize loose cultivators who entered the Taiqing Secret Realm with Spirit Purification Tokens, this person in front of her didn’t look like someone who could be seized no matter how she looked at it.
“Her attack power is strong, and her speed is also very fast. If she can maintain this speed the whole time, none of the disciples our sect sent into the secret realm can catch up to her. If we can’t catch up to her, then even if we have more people it’s useless. If she gets away, then it might be her robbing us instead. It seems using Bai Qiushui’s connection to get close to her and trying to form an alliance with her is the better choice. At the very least, it can make her not cause trouble for us Tianqing Sect disciples.”
Thus, Zhang Huaiyu rubbed her hands and smiled at Shucao.
“This fellow Daoist is truly remarkable! May I ask if fellow Daoist can now tell this one your name?”
After hearing Zhang Huaiyu’s words, Shucao suddenly realized she still hadn’t given her name earlier. She lowered her head, took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the shame in her heart, then raised her head again. She made a V-sign with one hand, closed one eye, and with slightly red cheeks said.
“My name is Shucao. I’m a magical girl yo~⭐”
“Hahahahaha!!!”
Before the others could react, An Qianhua in the Heart Realm had already started laughing loudly.
“That’s right, that’s right, it has to be like this. Completely a magical girl. Super cute hahahaha!”
These actions and poses were of course taught to Shucao by An Qianhua. Although Shucao didn’t understand their meaning, she still did them.
The reason was that An Qianhua felt Shucao’s self-introductions were always too stiff and didn’t look like a magical girl.
Looking at this An Qianhua and the seemingly stunned Bai Qiushui trio, Shucao immediately felt her face burning hot.
“Sister Qianhua… have you ever introduced yourself like this before?”
“Eh, I haven’t.”
“You haven’t, yet you made me do it!”
“Because I’m a senior. If a senior did something like this, it would feel a bit lacking in dignity. But some magical girls really like doing it.”
Shucao now wanted to find a hole to bury herself in. In this moment of silence, Zhang Huaiyu was the first to speak. She smiled and said.
“Q-quite an individualistic way of speaking. Hahaha. Very much in fellow Daoist’s own style!”
Although she didn’t quite understand, complimenting the other party at a time like this was the best choice. Cultivation wasn’t just about fighting and killing. What cultivation cultivated was human relationships and worldly affairs!
“This one is fellow Daoist’s already acquainted Junior Sister Bai. And this one’s name is Quan Xiao Si. He is my fourth junior brother. We are all disciples under Fang Yuling of the Tianqing Sect. At least Junior Sister Bai is slightly different. Strictly speaking, Junior Sister Bai was accepted as a disciple by our sect’s Tianqing True Person. She should have been our master’s junior sister and our martial uncle. However, because her cultivation is still shallow, she personally asked us to call her junior sister.”
“Thank you all for taking care of Qiushui.”
Shucao cupped her hands. She then said to Bai Qiushui.
“Qiushui, are you happy in the Tianqing Sect?”
Hearing the topic suddenly turn to herself, Bai Qiushui was stunned for a moment, then said.
“H-happy. Master, senior sisters, and senior brothers all take good care of me. I also successfully broke through to mid Qi Refining, even faster than Lü Yang and the other two. And after learning about what happened that night, senior sisters are all willing to help me investigate that Blood Fiend Sect.”
“Is that so? That’s great then.”
After hearing Bai Qiushui’s words, Shucao smiled with relief. Like she wanted to do before, she reached out to pat her head. But after slightly extending her hand, she realized the distance between them was too far.
Thus, Shucao flew in front of the three.
“Qiushui, I found some clues related to the Blood Fiend Sect over here. Let me tell you first.”
After telling Bai Qiushui about the array disks she had found earlier and the matter of the blood qi eroding the Sharp-Horned Spiders, Bai Qiushui also thought for a moment, then said.
“When senior sisters left the sect, they also discovered some villages where the villagers had been drained of blood qi. However, our sect isn’t good at array dao, so we didn’t find anything similar to that array disk. I’ll tell senior sisters when we go back.”
“Mm. Thank you.”
After exchanging information with Bai Qiushui, Shucao looked toward Zhang Huaiyu again.
“Fellow Daoist Zhang, how do you plan to handle this Cold Water Flood Dragon? Although I killed it, you all inflicted many injuries on it too, so it can’t be counted as my achievement alone. Let’s split the spoils a bit.”
“Eh!?”
Zhang Huaiyu had never expected Shucao to share the materials from this Cold Water Flood Dragon with them. After being stunned for a moment, she immediately said.
“To be honest, this Cold Water Flood Dragon was something our master requested us to kill and bring back materials from. The purpose is to help Junior Sister Bai refine an artifact. However, two late Qi Refining cultivators from our team haven’t arrived yet, so it turned into the current situation. If it weren’t for fellow Daoist, we probably wouldn’t have been able to obtain this Cold Water Flood Dragon’s materials either. It would be more appropriate for fellow Daoist to handle it.”
“I see.”
Shucao pretended to think for a moment, then said very straightforwardly.
“Since the purpose is to refine an artifact for Qiushui, and Qiushui and I know each other, then I’ll just give the whole thing to you.”
After hearing Shucao’s answer, Zhang Huaiyu simply couldn’t believe her ears. She had originally thought mentioning Bai Qiushui’s name would make the other party give them a bit more materials. She had never expected the other party to directly give them the entire thing. Thus, she quickly said.
“R-really?”
“Really. Just make sure to refine a perfect artifact for Qiushui.”
“Thank you, fellow Daoist! Thank you, fellow Daoist! Fellow Daoist can rest assured. Master said Junior Sister Bai’s artifact will be personally refined by Tianqing True Person. That’s a Golden Core stage expert. There definitely won’t be any problems.”
The excited Zhang Huaiyu, after finishing speaking, quickly called Quan Xiao Si and ran straight to the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s corpse to start harvesting the materials.
After seeing Zhang Huaiyu run off, Bai Qiushui also bowed to Shucao and said.
“Thank you, Shucao sister, for being willing to give us this flood dragon’s materials. And thank you for saving me again.”
Looking at Bai Qiushui’s lowered head in front of her, Shucao couldn’t help but reach out and pat it. After savoring the familiar feeling, she said again.
“It’s fine. As long as you’re happy cultivating.”
Feeling that small, delicate palm brush over her hair in a somewhat familiar way, Bai Qiushui also said.
“Mm. I will definitely cultivate properly, then become strong. After that, I’ll go avenge the village and punish the demonic path, just like you, Shucao sister, helping others.”
“Hehe. Is that so? Then you have to work hard.”
A while later, Zhang Huaiyu, who had finished dissecting, ran back and said to Shucao.
“Fellow Daoist Shucao, there’s one more thing. That is, I don’t know if fellow Daoist is willing to travel together with us. After all, since fellow Daoist could enter this secret realm, you must also know the three sects’ attitude toward loose cultivators. We’re fine, but if you encounter people from the other two sects, you might run into some trouble. If you travel with us, fellow Daoist will definitely have it much easier. Moreover, all the things fellow Daoist collects will belong to you.”
Hearing the other party’s very sincere tone, Shucao couldn’t help but smile and said.
“Then your sect won’t have any objections to this loose cultivator of mine?”
“Us!? Aiya, how could we attack the benefactor who helped our sect’s disciple? At that time, I’ll announce to all our sect’s disciples in the secret realm that fellow Daoist is our good friend!”
Listening to Zhang Huaiyu’s words, Shucao once again felt like laughing. Thinking that she had already collected the Dragon Blood Vine and some spirit herbs that looked very precious, and that Bai Qiushui was also here, she said.
“Forget it. Then I’ll travel together with you. It’s just that sometimes I might need to leave for a while. You can’t stop me then.”
“Of course, of course. Welcome, fellow Daoist!”