“Wow, that entrance was pretty cool. I’d give it a full hundred points.”
“That method worked really well. Thank you.”
“Hehe, no problem at all~”
Hearing the chattering voice in her mind, Shucao gave a brief reply before fixing her cold gaze on the black-robed man in front of her.
Earlier, when she had rushed to the outskirts of the village, she was blocked by the blood-red barrier covering Qinglu Village.
As the light screen grew increasingly crimson, Shucao’s impatience had mounted. At that moment, the voice in her mind had said,
“Look closely at the barrier. The color is darker near the ground and gradually becomes lighter toward the top. I think we can fly above the barrier and then drop straight down to break through it.”
“That makes sense, but how do we get up there?”
“Carefully sense the ‘magic power’ flowing inside your body. Then imagine you have wings and concentrate the magic power toward your back.”
Upon hearing this, Shucao immediately began trying.
During her journey here, the voice had already taught her how to sense and control the flow of magic power, so concentrating it wasn’t difficult.
However, the instant she took flight, a powerful force pushed against her back and she shot into the sky at terrifying speed, causing her to cry out in alarm.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
“That’s the basic flight ability of a magical girl! I’m not sure why the speed is so high, but at least it works!”
From high in the air, Shucao spotted Bai Qiushui and the black-robed man surrounded by blood-colored light.
“That looks like the weakest point. Let’s charge straight down!”
“Got it!”
After confirming the location, Shucao struggled to control her flight direction and shot toward Bai Qiushui’s position.
Magic power spilled out from her body and wrapped around her, making her look like a pink ball of light from the side.
Boosted by both flight and the momentum of freefall, Shucao descended like a meteor, trailing pink light behind her as she smashed through the top of the barrier.
This sudden event startled the two Tianqing Sect cultivators who had just arrived as reinforcements. They had been preparing to use high-grade artifacts to tear open the array so they could enter and assist their junior brother.
They never expected someone would directly smash a hole through the top of the array.
Since someone had already helped them, they didn’t waste any time.
The pair immediately activated their flying artifacts and entered the array to search for Peng Yue.
That was how Shucao had arrived just in time to block the attack aimed at Bai Qiushui.
The black-robed man stared at the petite girl in front of him, a sense of unease rising in his heart.
I can’t see through her cultivation?
Under the enhancement of the blood-light array, even the excess blood qi leaking from it had been enough to boost his cultivation to the late stage of Qi Refining.
This was someone capable of breaking through the array. Although the array disk had some flaws since he was only at mid-stage Qi Refining, it had still been refined by a Foundation Establishment leader.
It wasn’t something an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator could break.
He could only think of two possibilities: either this woman practiced some kind of aura-hiding technique, or her cultivation was higher than his own.
Peak Qi Refining?
Or… Foundation Establishment?
Either way, it was better to assume the worst.
He cupped his hands toward the girl and said,
“This one is Lin Han, a member of the Blood Fiend Sect. The blood sacrifice of this place is an affair of our sect. I hope Daoist friend will not interfere and bring trouble upon yourself!”
He decided to use his background to intimidate her.
“Wow, how quickly the attitude changes. How amusing.”
The voice in her head immediately started complaining.
Shucao, remembering how this man had treated her earlier, thought with a sigh,
Having power really does make a difference.
She opened her mouth and spoke coldly.
“Since you’ve done all this… are you prepared to pay the price?”
The moment her words fell, she kicked off the ground and charged at Lin Han.
In the instant she closed in, her small fist, wrapped in magic power, swung fiercely toward his face.
“What?!”
Lin Han immediately tried to use the blood-colored ripples to block the punch.
But the moment the ripples surged forward and wrapped around her fist, Shucao let out a loud shout and shattered the blood-colored barrier.
Her magic-power-enhanced fist slammed solidly into Lin Han’s face, sending him flying backward until he crashed hard into a ruined wall with a bang.
“Ehh, wait a second! This kind of fighting isn’t very magical-girl-like at all. This isn’t the Pretty Cure universe, you know.”
The voice sometimes used words Shucao didn’t understand, but now wasn’t the time to ask for explanations, so she chose to ignore it.
“Is there a proper way for magical girls to fight?”
“While magical girls have many different fighting styles, most rely on a magic wand as their primary weapon, at least in the beginning. For now, gather magic power in your hand and imagine yourself holding a weapon. This way, you can summon your own magic wand.”
Following the voice’s instructions, a pink magic wand appeared in Shucao’s hand. It was entirely pink with a pink gem and silver decorations at the tip.
“Good. Now you can use the wand to guide and release your magic power.”
Shucao channeled magic power from her body into the wand, then gently waved it.
Several magic bullets shot out from the gem at the tip toward Lin Han.
Seeing the glowing projectiles flying at him, Lin Han quickly pulled out his soul banner.
Thick black energy accompanied by shrill screams immediately surrounded him.
When the magic bullets struck, the screaming grew even sharper, as if the black mist itself was shrieking.
Although it blocked the attacks, the black mist had clearly thinned.
“Once you obtain your own magical outfit, your fighting style will become much more varied. Until then, it’s best to get used to using the wand to direct your magic power.”
“Close combat still feels more convenient.”
After replying to the voice, Shucao charged at Lin Han once again.
Seeing this, Lin Han shook his soul banner, releasing even more black energy.
He then mixed it with the blood-colored ripples, forming a black-and-red turbid current that rushed toward her.
Facing the incoming torrent, Shucao pointed her wand forward.
A magic barrier formed in front of her.
Using the barrier as a shield, she fearlessly charged straight into the turbid flow.
However, the powerful resistance inside slowed her down considerably.
It seemed the combination of the soul banner and the array was quite formidable.
Just as Shucao was thinking about how to break through the obstruction, the voice in her mind suddenly spoke.
“Barriers aren’t limited to just one. Create another barrier behind the first one, then detonate the first barrier!”
“Understood!”
Shucao immediately created a second barrier.
Operating two at once put considerable strain on her as a novice magical girl, causing the barriers to become unstable.
Sensing the magic power starting to leak from the first barrier, Shucao immediately released control of it. The uncontrolled magic power exploded, creating a small but powerful blast.
The force of the explosion mixed into the turbid current, throwing the blood qi and black energy into chaos.
The entire flow became unstable and was then torn apart by the shockwave.
With a loud boom, Shucao burst out from the black-and-red torrent as it scattered completely.
“What?!”
Lin Han hadn’t expected her to break through the turbid flow so quickly.
He hurriedly swung his soul banner at her.
The banner, wrapped in a skull’s energy, smashed toward Shucao, but upon closer inspection, the yin energy surrounding it had grown noticeably weaker.
Shucao realized that after several uses, the soul banner’s stored yin energy had been greatly depleted.
“Looks like you’ve reached your limit.”
As she finished speaking, a magic circle appeared in front of her wand, condensing a small point of light.
That point rapidly expanded several times before turning into a powerful magic beam that blasted toward the soul banner.
The pitch-black skull offered no resistance at all. It was instantly erased by the powerful magic beam.
Even the banner itself and the arm holding it were disintegrated under the force of the beam.
Looking at his now-empty right shoulder and then at Shucao standing right in front of him, Lin Han’s legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees.
Shucao raised her wand, pointing the tip directly at his head.
Looking at the girl in the pink-and-white dress, now slightly dirtied but still staring at him with ice-cold eyes, Lin Han trembled as he spoke.
“Shh… Can we talk this out?”
“Go to hell and beg for forgiveness from the people you’ve killed.”
Without hesitation, Shucao condensed a magic beam and pierced straight through Lin Han’s head.
With the death of the array controller, the blood-red barrier surrounding Qinglu Village instantly dissipated.
The starry night sky reappeared before everyone’s eyes.
Bai Qiushui and the other two survivors watched in shock at the overwhelming power Shucao had displayed.
“There’s still one more…”
Shucao murmured. She was about to try flying to search for the remaining black-robed man when three men flew over from the side on flying artifacts.
It was Peng Yue and the two Tianqing Sect disciples who had come as reinforcements.
Earlier, the three of them had located the black-robed man using strange evasion techniques to fight Peng Yue and had jointly suppressed him.
Although the man’s darkness-based escape art was extremely bizarre, he was still no match for three Qi Refining cultivators working together.
They had then rushed over and witnessed the moment Shucao executed Lin Han.
Although the other party appeared to be nothing more than a little girl and they couldn’t sense any spiritual energy fluctuations from her, she had defeated Lin Han while he was enhanced by the array.
It was well known that the cultivation world had many methods to preserve one’s youthful appearance, so the three did not dare show any disrespect.
The leader cupped his hands toward Shucao and said,
“Immortal, this one is Jiang Yuqing from the Tianqing Sect. May I ask for your honorable name?”
“My name is Shucao. Magical Girl Shucao. I have long heard of the great name of the Tianqing Sect.”
After giving a simple reply, she pointed at Lin Han’s corpse and said,
“This man had an accomplice who was previously fighting with Daoist Peng Yue. Have any of you seen any trace of him?”
“That demonic cultivator has already been suppressed by the three of us. We originally planned to bring him back to the sect for interrogation, but he seemed to have some method of suicide. The moment we were distracted, he turned into a pool of blood and died.”
Hearing this, Shucao recalled the background Lin Han had mentioned earlier and realized this incident was far from over. She told the three,
“Just now I heard Lin Han say they belong to a demonic sect called the Blood Fiend Sect. If your sect is interested, you may want to investigate them.”
“Understood. Thank you for the information, Immortal Shucao.”
“Wait!”
Suddenly, Bai Qiushui’s voice came from behind Shucao.
“May I ask, Senior… Did you happen to see a 16-year-old boy outside the village? His name is Mo Yao. He is my extremely important brother. He looks…”
Hearing Bai Qiushui mention her own name and description, Shucao suddenly felt a wave of guilt.
The tips of her ears turned slightly red.
She lowered her head slightly, eyes darting away as she answered,
“I… I haven’t seen him.”
Seeing Shucao’s reaction, Bai Qiushui immediately understood.
She didn’t press the matter any further about Mo Yao.
Instead, she looked at the girl who had descended from the sky and saved her, and asked with a trembling voice,
“Why… why did Senior Shucao save me? I have nothing left. My family, my friends… I’m the only one remaining in this world. Isn’t that too cruel?”
Looking at the increasingly sorrowful Bai Qiushui, Shucao slowly walked up to her.
She gently stood on her tiptoes, reached out with both hands, and pulled Bai Qiushui’s head into her embrace.
In a soft, gentle voice, she said,
“Those family members who died would surely want you to live on happily. As long as you’re still alive, there is always hope. I’m sure your brother felt the same way.”
Hearing these words, Bai Qiushui could no longer hold back. She burst into loud sobs. Above the moonlit ruins, she poured out all her grief.
A while later, once Bai Qiushui had calmed down, she said her goodbyes to Shucao.
Together with the other two surviving villagers, she boarded a small flying boat with Jiang Yuqing and the others and departed for the sect.
As the flying boat gradually moved into the distance, Bai Qiushui suddenly shouted back toward Shucao,
“Senior! I will cultivate hard and become as strong as you! That way, I can protect others just like you do!”
Hearing Bai Qiushui’s words, Shucao simply smiled and waved at her once more.
Then she turned around, clenched her fist tightly, and walked toward the village outskirts.
“It’s time to settle the score with this Blood Fiend Sect.”