Chapter 89: The Smog-Blanketed City

Yoyo suddenly emerged from the elevator, red blade in hand, and walked up beside Pan. “Master has already absorbed your genes. It won’t be long before you break through the bottleneck that has held you back for so many years.”

“Little girl, are you envious?” Pan said. “He taught you himself. No one understands the craving for power better than I do.”

“I do crave power,” Yoyo replied, “but not the power of your bloodline. I want the power to restrain you.”

“Hmph. The world has not seen a power capable of restraining us for a thousand years. What remains is utterly insignificant.” Pan turned to look at her and smiled faintly. “You really want to beat her, don’t you?”

Yoyo said nothing. In her heart, the question had long been circling: why was she so determined to defeat her? Was it because that woman possessed such terrifying strength without needing to strive for it? Admiration, or jealousy?

“Want me to tell you the truth?” Pan paused, then went on. “You can’t beat her. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never surpass her. And no, that isn’t favoritism just because I’m her father.”

Yoyo gave a cold snort and left.

When she returned to General Mountain, she saw the delighted expression on Doctor She’s face and knew immediately that Wu Qiwei was about to break through his long-standing bottleneck. In low spirits, she lay down on her bed.

Unaware of the drastic changes sweeping through Guangzhou, the two who had been sleeping only now woke from their slumber. Du Bin yawned, glanced at the woman sleeping soundly in his arms, and quietly got up to stretch before stepping out of the cave. The moment he emerged, he saw that the entire mountain was shrouded in dense fog. Though puzzled, he assumed it was simply mist caused by humid weather. He had lived in the mountains before, so he thought nothing more of it.

As he inhaled the fresh air, Ye Tang came out of the cave. “Good morning.”

“Morning. How’s your injury?” Du Bin asked anxiously as he steadied her with concern.

“I’m fine. I have bloodline genes, so my wounds heal dozens of times faster than a human’s. I’m basically all right now. I just can’t use my abilities yet.”

“Then don’t worry about your abilities for now. Recovering your body is what matters most. I’ll go see whether there’s a snack shop down the mountain. Wait here for me.”

Seeing Du Bin leave, she hurried after him. “I’m coming too.”

“All right.” Du Bin thought it over and decided there shouldn’t be any problem, so he agreed.

The two of them made their way down the mountain. Aside from the thick fog, everything was eerily silent. By rights, White Cloud Mountain should have been full of tourists, yet now there was not a single soul to be seen; even the local staff had vanished without a trace. Du Bin took out his phone and found there was no signal at all. Both of them felt an uneasy chill at the strange scene.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, it was still silent. Aside from a few crashed cars, there was not even a shadow of a person. “What on earth happened?”

“I can faintly sense a very powerful presence in the city center. Something must have happened downtown.”

“Then let’s fill our stomachs first, and after that we’ll head to the city center to see what’s going on.”

Ye Tang agreed, and the two of them immediately looked for food nearby. Fortunately, they found a restaurant. With no one inside, Du Bin felt as though he were stealing. After dealing with their hunger, he found a car, and they drove off toward the direction of that unsettling presence.

On another front, the three who had returned home not long ago set out without delay to stop the vampires from rampaging everywhere. Against Hu Guozheng’s strength, it was nothing more than a minor hurdle compared with a real foe, yet training through such a life-and-death confrontation gave his power plenty of room to grow.

“Shocking Fracture Heart-Cleaving Slash!”

With a thunderous crack, the ground split apart in crisscrossing fissures. The low-ranking vampire, too weak to evade the shockwaves in time, was torn to pieces. Hu Guozheng looked at his handiwork, rubbed the bridge of his nose, then glanced upward, where Le’er was locked in combat with what seemed to be a high-ranking vampire.

“The Maiden of Light really is formidable.”

The vampire fighting Le’er was a woman in a qipao named Mingyue. With both hands slowly lifting at her sides, she gathered a force in her palms. Le’er sent out several successive sword arcs, but Mingyue did not dodge; she took them head-on.

With a cold cry, the power in her hands surged outward at once, forming a barrier. The sword arcs struck it with thunderous force, and several crisp explosions rang out together.

As the smoke dispersed, the barrier was still intact. Mingyue smiled faintly. She was delighted to have encountered someone who used blade techniques so rarely, and had already begun to withdraw the contempt she had first felt.

“You are skilled with the sword. I can tell you are not one of those ability users. I’m very curious who you really are.”

“Want to know?” Le’er said. “After you’re dead, I’ll tell you.”

“Hmph. Insolent little brat.” Mingyue was genuinely angered by those words. She closed her eyes and pressed her palms together in a prayerlike gesture. Soon a light breeze began to whirl around her, and a crimson sphere the size of a carriage wheel slowly took shape before her. Mingyue then thrust both hands forward, and the red orb roared toward Le’er like a beast unleashed.

Le’er felt the immense power hidden within it. She gathered a light sphere the size of a basketball in her hand. In the hazy, smog-choked city, the sun could not penetrate, greatly weakening the force of light. Le’er knew that light alone was not enough to sustain a prolonged battle; every bit of light she spent was a loss. Electricity had originally been the only substitute, but all electronic devices had been affected and rendered useless. If there had been some self-generating source of power, things would at least not have been so passive.

Le’er dodged the red sphere. It smashed into a building and instantly burst into a roaring blaze, accompanied by gunfire and cannon fire, near and far.

“What’s the matter? Too scared to take it head-on?” Mingyue said contemptuously.

Le’er hesitated slightly, and Mingyue continued, “Your expression makes it look like you don’t think much of anyone.”

“Is that so? But I don’t think you’re a person. I’m worried that if I really have to use my full strength, the next match will become very troublesome for me.”

“You brat, how dare you look down on me!” Mingyue instantly accelerated and flew toward Le’er. She had been waiting for this moment all along; the power in her hands was poised for just such an opening. When the distance closed to within two meters, Le’er drew her blade in a flash. With that demonic sword in hand, she had no trouble dealing with vampires. The blade went straight for her opponent, but just as it was about to land, a layer of barrier suddenly appeared before Mingyue.

The blade struck the barrier with a clear ringing sound. Le’er stepped back and unleashed several more sword arcs, but unfortunately they were all absorbed by the barrier. Seeing that Le’er was helpless, Mingyue switched from defense to offense and struck out with a fierce punch. Le’er blocked with her sword, only to be hurled backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing straight into a tall building.

As the dust cleared, Le’er rose from the rubble. Light radiated from her body. If she had not converted the force of the attack into holy light to protect herself just now, she might have been seriously injured. Facing the other woman’s aggressive pressure, she gripped the hilt of her blade with both hands, the tip pointing straight at Mingyue ahead. Power flowed from her hands into the sword, and soon faint wisps of golden current began to spiral from the blade. When those currents spread, they gave birth to electricity. Le’er raised the sword high above her head, then brought it down with overwhelming force. A colossal crescent of sword light formed within the blade and shot straight toward Mingyue.

The sword light crashed directly into Mingyue’s barrier. The collision unleashed a tremendous surge of air, as though the sky itself were being torn apart. A deafening roar rang out overhead, and barrier and sword light consumed one another. In the midst of the smoke, Le’er slipped through it and closed in. Mingyue was caught off guard and shocked. She thrust out both hands to resist the impact. But Le’er, facing the vampire’s powerful body, did not retreat; instead, she swung Muramasa with unwavering resolve. A beam of golden light flashed by, and Muramasa pierced Mingyue’s body.

“Game over.” As Le’er spoke, a dark force erupted from Muramasa’s blade and rapidly devoured Mingyue’s body.

“Aaah!” Mingyue screamed in agony. In moments, her entire body dissolved into particles and vanished without a trace. The starlike remnants left behind were completely absorbed by Muramasa, which flashed red once before fading away.

Le’er sheathed her sword. Her blue pupils gradually dimmed a little, and she said with calm composure, “Trash like you can’t defeat someone invincible like me.”