Chapter 253
Chapter 253
Feng Xianqiu took a step toward me.
Snow Phoenix let out a low cry and shot into the air, spreading her wings to shield me.
She beat her wings with all her strength. The temperature around us plummeted, and a flurry of ice crystals and snowflakes swept toward Feng Xianqiu.
All the while, smoke curled from Snow Phoenix’s feathers. Sparks even seemed to flicker across parts of her plumage.
But despite that, Feng Xianqiu struck out with his palm. Snow Phoenix was sent flying again, slamming hard into the cave wall before sliding down and collapsing to the ground.
Snow Phoenix was only a fledgling, after all. Her feathers were already being scorched, and against an opponent as powerful as Feng Xianqiu, she could do nothing but take the beating.
Feng Xianqiu sneered. “You don’t know your own limits!”
With that, he stepped forward again.
I saw the burns on his skin splitting open and oozing fluid.
So he couldn’t withstand the searing heat of the Nirvana Fire either.
All I had to do was stall.
The longer I dragged this out, the worse his condition would become, and the weaker his attacks would be.
But… I could afford to wait. Snow Phoenix couldn’t.
I instinctively glanced at her and found that she had already taken human form, though feathers still covered the top of her head.
Her head bowed slightly as she reached for the three crest feathers there.
I didn’t know why she was touching them. Could they somehow unleash some hidden power?
But when I saw that Snow Phoenix seemed about to pull out those three feathers, I rushed forward without hesitation and stopped her.
Crest feathers were incredibly important to a Phoenix. How could she just rip them out?
She was staking everything on one desperate gamble!
Snow Phoenix cried out, overcome with emotion, “Sister, I told you! This time, even if it costs me my life, I’ll get you out of here!”
“Big words,” Feng Xianqiu said disdainfully. “How did the Snow Phoenix Clan produce such a rebellious brat? Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll grant your wish first!”
With that, Feng Xianqiu gathered force into his palm once more.
Before he could attack Snow Phoenix, a sharp whistle pierced the air. The Golden Copper Coin shot straight toward the spot between Feng Xianqiu’s brows.
Feng Xianqiu reacted with astonishing speed, redirecting his palm force to meet the Golden Copper Coin.
The instant the Golden Copper Coin collided with his attack, the Red Thread spread out like a woven snare and wrapped around Feng Xianqiu’s palm.
More than ten Golden Copper Coins unfurled across the net.
The Copper Coin Net was just about to envelop one of Feng Xianqiu’s hands. With one more maneuver, I might have been able to twist it until it broke.
Unfortunately, I had underestimated Feng Xianqiu’s strength. The instant the Copper Coin Net closed around him, enormous black feathers punched through it. A violent burst of palm force followed.
The Copper Coin Net was torn apart just like that!
When the Golden Copper Coin returned to my hand, another hairline crack had appeared on its surface.
My heart ached at the sight. Liu Junyan had given it to me for protection. Now that it was damaged, wouldn’t he suffer the consequences too?
Besides, the Copper Coin Net had been incredibly powerful the previous few times I’d used it. Why did it seem so much weaker against Feng Xianqiu?
Was Feng Xianqiu simply too powerful, or did the environment here weaken the connection between Liu Junyan and the Golden Copper Coin?
Worse still, the instant the Copper Coin Net was torn apart, my left hand, which was gripping Longbow, jerked violently.
Then the bowstring snapped.
Longbow broke into two pieces as well.
My heart plummeted. This Longbow was no Fengwu after all.
I didn’t know where I was bleeding from, but blood welled from the palm clenched around Longbow and dripped steadily to the ground.
The sensation of ten thousand insects gnawing through my body suddenly intensified, and my entire body began to tremble.
“Sister…”
Snow Phoenix looked at me anxiously.
Feng Xianqiu strode toward me again.
This time, he seemed to have lost what little patience he had left. His hand shot out and closed around my throat.
“Why can’t you just behave?” Feng Xianqiu snarled through gritted teeth. “Do you really think you can stand against me? Nirvana Fire is nothing. There are over a hundred members of the Snow Phoenix Clan I can drag down with me. Ah Li, if you want them to die even sooner, then keep struggling!”
He truly was insane.
Still gripping my throat, he growled as he forced me backward until my back struck the stone door behind me.
My feet were almost lifted off the ground. I could only stand desperately on tiptoe to keep my balance, but his grip still left me unable to breathe.
Feng Xianqiu’s towering body loomed over me, trapping me in his shadow as he stared down with contempt. “I don’t even mind that you’re no longer a virgin. Why are you still provoking me, Ah Li? Was the lesson I taught you back then not harsh enough?!”
His hand suddenly moved upward and tore the mask from my face. He shoved one side of my face against the stone door, seized my jaw with his other hand, and fixed his gaze on my right cheek.
“Look! Take a good look at how hideous you are, Ah Li!”
“With that revolting, festering cheek, who could ever sincerely accept you? In all the Three Realms and Six Paths, I’m the only one willing to marry you!”
“Stop making trouble and come back with me. I’ll marry you at once!”
As he spoke, his expression abruptly changed.
A strange, predatory gleam entered his eyes.
The next instant, he grabbed my collar and tried to rip it downward. “I nearly forgot. A betrothal is nothing but a worthless scrap of paper. Only after we join as one will we truly be husband and wife. Ah Li, there’s no time like the present, is there?”
With that, he yanked hard.
I grabbed his marauding hand.
Lunatic!
A moment ago, he had been acting as though he bore some bitter blood feud against me. How had his mind suddenly jumped to this?
It was utterly incomprehensible.
“How dare you bully Sister!”
With a crash, the teapot shattered, scattering shards of porcelain across the floor.
Snow Phoenix was still clutching what remained of it, while blood streamed from the left side of Feng Xianqiu’s head.
He paid no attention to the wound and continued tearing at my clothes.
I was calculating the best angle to drive my knee up and cripple him in a single strike when a muffled rumble suddenly came from behind me.
Boom!
For some reason, the stone door behind me — the one whose mechanism I had been unable to find and which had refused to open — suddenly opened on its own.
A wave of scorching heat blasted out from the opening.
I heard Feng Xianqiu scream. He released me at once and stumbled backward, throwing himself against the wall and rolling frantically to put out the flames.
The moment the heat wave struck, the roots of the Cangwu Nether Seal swiftly wrapped around me, encasing me in an egg before rolling me straight through the doorway.
I heard Snow Phoenix cry out in despair, “Sister! Sister…”
Unfortunately, I only heard her call twice before the stone door boomed shut again.
I could feel myself falling continuously. The temperature around me climbed higher and higher, and even the inside of the “egg” glowed crimson.
“Ah Li…”
Just as panic overwhelmed me, I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice.
The moment it spoke, an image of Fengwu appeared in my mind.
Not in the form of the Longbow, but… in human form…