Chapter 21 — Disgraced

"Miss! We're Shushan disciples, and we're with the national security department now. We came to the Alien Skeleton League to investigate—we took you for monsters, so we..." Xiang Hui was deliberately teasing Zhou Chen. He thought: one's wounded, one's out cold; neither can slip through my fingers anyway, so there's no rush to act. Toying with this little girl will be a fine bit of fun.

Zhou Chen suddenly smiled a winsome smile, like a hundred flowers blooming at once; the air around seemed to ripple with a breath of spring, and a languid feeling spread outward. Xiang Hui, Xie Xiaohong, Liu Zhihua, and Lu Hongchen all shuddered, their bones turning soft, their whole bodies going limp. "Your little sister is called Zhou Chen, big brothers all!" A voice like music from heaven entered their ears; their eyes went wide, and a thread of drool actually leaked from the corners of their mouths—a fine set of leering pigs, the lot of them.

"What a vicious charm art. If my Second Primal Derivative weren't a high-grade demon, I'd likely have fallen under it too. Who'd have thought my own disciple would have such a benefit to offer." Even as Zhou Xuan poured his full effort into true fire to purge the Blood Demon Killing Curse the Heavenly Blood Demon had left in his Primal Derivative, he still found a moment to marvel. The Blood Demon Killing Curse was like a clump of viscous blood-colored liquid squatting within the Primal Derivative; Zhou Xuan summoned his Three Flavors True Fire with all his strength, and it fought to a standstill.

"My name is Xiang Hui—he, he, and he are Xie Xiaohong, Liu Zhihua, and Lu Hongchen. We're all members of the Dragon Group. We came to the Alien Skeleton League to pick up some easy pickings. Chenchen, you're so beautiful!" Xiang Hui suddenly gave a start and roared: "Ha! Demons! You dare bewitch us!" He had been drooling freely, and under Zhou Chen's questioning he had spilled out all his own secrets. But Xiang Hui was, after all, a disciple of a great sect, tempered by many years of Daoist cultivation; though Zhou Chen's power had advanced greatly with Zhou Yan's help, she and these four were still much of a muchness. Xiang Hui's cultivation was a shade higher—he bit his tongue hard and came to his senses. Seeing the other three with their foolish faces and streaming drool, and remembering that he had looked the same a moment before, he flew into a rage born of shame and bellowed. His flying sword became a red light several zhang long and chopped straight down at Zhou Xuan's head.

Though Xiang Hui was angered by Zhou Chen's charm art, he could not bear to kill her; he vented all his fury on Zhou Xuan, who was in the midst of healing. The other three, jolted awake by Xiang Hui's shout, discovered their own state and all drew their flying swords together. Xiang Hui hastily called out: "Don't kill! You three, subdue that female demon. Didn't she want to seduce me? In a moment I'll let her seduce to her heart's content!" The words were barely out when the fiery red sword-light clashed hard with Zhou Yan's great seal. Boom! At the point of collision, fists of flame burst forth in clusters; the flames whirled about and swept toward Zhou Xuan. Zhou Zhan was startled—he had not expected his great seal to fail against this fiery red flying sword. He hastily stopped circulating the Second Primal Derivative and tossed out a Water Spirit Talisman; threads of water spiritual energy gathered and formed crystalline curtains of water in the air.

Pff! Pff! Pff! The three water curtains Zhou Xuan had laid down were smashed to pieces by the clusters of flame, and only then did the fire lose its force and vanish into the air. "That flying sword carries heavy fire—vicious indeed!" Zhou Shuo sighed, and secretly tossed out eight jade tablets. The instant the jade tablets left his hand they seemed to merge with the air, leaving no trace at all. Xiang Hui was all the more astonished. This flying sword of his was forged by a Shushan elder from the searing heat of earth-fire magma, infused into the blade by a secret formation; though its quality could not match Supreme Yi Refined Gold, its power was the most venomous of all—the fire-poison on it would melt even steel! And now a single talisman had snuffed it out.

Ah! Zhou Xuan had just tossed out the jade tablets when Zhou Chen was tightly bound in the middle of three sword-lights. Her clothes were slashed in many places, revealing snow-white skin, and the three men leered: "Little demon, your skin's rather white!" "This demon's figure is fine! Tsk tsk!" Zhou Chen's cultivation was about equal to theirs, but lacking a weapon, she was helpless against the sword formation the three had formed. The Shushan way of the sword cultivator was formidable to begin with, and with all three striking at once, how could Zhou Chen hold out? Had the three not been deliberately toying with her, the fight would long since have ended. Seeing more and more cuts on her body, a flash of resolve passed through Zhou Chen's eyes; she made up her mind that even if she had to use the Art of Self-Dissolution, she would not let herself be shamed. Zzt! Another sword-light flew at her, and the outer robe Zhou Xuan had given her was slashed to shreds; the three let out another round of jeering. Zhou Chen glanced at Zhou Jin, gave a sharp cry, and was about to use the Art of Self-Dissolution.

Suddenly! A huge Eight Trigrams diagram appeared in the sky; water, fire, wind, and thunder—four pillars of light condensed from primal energy shot from the diagram and blasted at the four men. How could the four have known such a calamity was upon them? Caught utterly off guard, they hastily summoned all their true essence to block. Boom! The four figures were sent tumbling like gourds rolling on the ground, heads spinning; Zhou Chen too was stunned for a moment by the sudden turn. Zhou Ji caught her hand and said: "Take your sister and run—get outside and find Little Jin!" "Master, what about you?" "I'll be fine! These four can't do anything to me. I'll teach them a lesson and go!" Zhou Chen nodded, scooped up the little fox, and shot away like a streak of shadow.

Over here, 37144670 Xiang Hui was struck by a water thunderbolt—luckily Zhou Xuan's cultivation was damaged and could not bring out the formation's full power, and his flying sword was of the fire attribute besides, so he was unhurt; he merely climbed to his feet, covered in dust and grime. The other three had no such luck; blasted to the ground one and all, lightly wounded, they could not move for the moment. You Cen—Xie Xiaohong—was struck by a fire thunderbolt and was scorched black all over, giving off the smell of roast meat. Xiang Hui saw Zhou Xuan there with a false smile on his face, and his heart burned with fury. From childhood to now, when had he ever suffered such a loss? He bit his tongue and spat—pfft!—a mouthful of vital blood onto his flying sword. The red light blazed; the fiery red sword twisted in the air and in an instant split into more than a dozen sword-lights, each one more than twice the size of the original.

Zhou Jing: "Good! With only mid Qi-Introduction cultivation, to be able to use the Ten Thousand Swords Formula and split off thirteen sword-lights—that's not bad at all!" Hearing Zhou Xuan's tone, Xiang Hui, whose chest was already full of resentment, nearly burst with rage. His face hideous, he cried: "Then go to hell!" The thirteen sword-lights became thirteen pillars of fire that wrapped Zhou Xuan round completely, then came smashing down.