Chapter 255: Chapter 202: True Man of Locking Dragon

"Helan Shou, playing with cages again, are you?"

From the first word, each subsequent word becomes louder, indicating that the speaker is getting closer to Helan Shou. Arriving with the words are three golden chains!

This strange phenomenon attracts everyone’s attention, except for Rabbit Heroine. This young girl with a big braided hairstyle dances with her sword in the heavy rain, the brilliant light from the sword dazzling Prajna’s eyes!

When Rabbit Heroine lands on the ground, a shower of blood splashes from Prajna’s neck. Like other Helan Family hounds, the outcome of opposing Rabbit Heroine is only losing one’s head!

Yet, Prajna isn’t dead, or rather, his head hasn’t flown off yet. A thin layer of flesh stubbornly connects his head to his body.

It’s not that Rabbit Heroine can’t swing her sword, but from the beginning, Prajna’s head was at the edge of Rabbit Heroine’s attack range.

Just like how Pharmacist’s Wish and Zhong Ji know to use flow to deceive the rain, Prajna, who has acted as the Heavy Rain Messenger for over a decade, how could he not have similar tactics? It’s just that the risk is too great.

If not for the Zen Staff breaking, Prajna wouldn’t have resorted to such desperate measures. The reason he attacked Rabbit Heroine barehanded just now was to deceive her sense of distance—at the moment of stretching out, Prajna had already dislocated his shoulder and elbow, extending his right hand by an extra foot!

This is a yoga technique he learned in the temple and is said to come from the Outer Realm Esoteric Sect’s body cultivation methods. Whenever his blood anger flares up, he would use yoga to regulate his mind and body. Little did he know this method would save his life.

Unfortunately, this was already his limit. Rabbit Heroine’s longsword still sliced through most of his neck, and incidentally cut off his arms. If not for the recovery powers of the Foundation Establishment Token and the blood skin at the back of his neck, Prajna’s head would have rolled on the ground by now.

But he survived!

Prajna roared in his heart, desperately suppressing the chaos in his mind as he sprinted towards the mountain gate.

When Winter Hunting Zhenren didn’t seize the opportunity to shoot Rabbit Heroine, Prajna knew things were bad. But why Rabbit Heroine didn’t chase him spared him the question.

A heaven-sent opportunity!

Now, if he escapes, he can slowly heal the fatal wounds. Winter Hunting Zhenren still needs this hunting hound. He cannot die; the revenge of the Yao Family, the Zhao Family’s survival, the family name of Guzang Zhao Family he bears, and so many tasks left unfinished—he cannot die here—

"Prajna."

Prajna suddenly felt his body sink; unexpectedly, someone was riding on his back. Though the person was light, he felt heavy at heart, like being weighed down by an entire mountain of solitary souls and wild ghosts.

Blood Phase grabbed his bald head with one hand and tightened the grip on the Demon Sword with the other, slicing into his nearly healed neck.

Prajna coughed out bloody froth, appearing to want to say something, but his throat had already been severed.

"Between us," Blood Phase extended his head, gazing sideways at Prajna, "it’s settled."

Slice!

Blood Phase’s Demon Sword brutally slices open the last bit of blood skin at Prajna’s nape, completely ending the life of this Great Guardian!

He turns to glance at Rabbit Heroine running toward Pharmacist’s Wish, then looks upward, his blood claws deeply squeezing into Prajna’s skull.

The remaining Demon Dao members on Shu Dao Mountain, 2 people.

As for Winter Hunting Zhenren, whom Prajna had placed high hopes, he was now stepping into mid-air using his token, dodging the pursuit of the Golden Lock everywhere. His expression was filled with such dread, as if the consequences of being touched by the Golden Lock were ones that even he, a Foundation Establishment Zhenren, could not bear.

Upon seeing the Golden Lock, Winter Hunting Zhenren realized that the meat on Shu Dao Mountain could no longer be his alone. The only thing he can do now is to prevent Rabbit Heroine from gaining this immense opportunity, and moreover, he cannot allow Rabbit Heroine to escape unharmed!

Although he missed Rabbit Heroine’s opening just now, Winter Hunting Zhenren can still gamble again.

He gambles on Pharmacist’s Wish’s life!

He is now aiming not at Rabbit Heroine but the immobilized Pharmacist’s Wish. That’s why Rabbit Heroine gave up the pursuit of Prajna, because the only person on Shu Dao Mountain who can protect Pharmacist’s Wish is her!

As Rabbit Heroine runs to within five steps of Pharmacist’s Wish, Winter Hunting Zhenren knows it’s now or never, it’s this very distance.

This distance must be calculated precisely because Winter Hunting Zhenren’s attack also means the unlocking of the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover. If he’s late, Rabbit Heroine will have enough time to activate the Return Order, and with the absolute defense of the Return Order, protect herself and Pharmacist’s Wish; if he’s early, there’s no need to say—at most, he kills Pharmacist’s Wish, Rabbit Heroine would still survive.

It must be a distance where Rabbit Heroine needs to give her all to reach, leaving her no spare energy to activate the Return Order, and she must arrive just in time to block the Withered Wood Arrow with her body!

But this plan has too many unpredictable factors; the key is that Rabbit Heroine must not hesitate, must not fear, or else the one to die will only be Pharmacist’s Wish... Would anyone really sacrifice themselves without hesitation for another?

Let me see the answer from this young beast.

At the moment Winter Hunting Zhenren releases the bowstring, Rabbit Heroine unhesitatingly leaps forward, using her body to protect Pharmacist’s Wish. Pharmacist’s Wish seems to have just awakened from unconsciousness, desperately trying to move, but it was all in vain.

Only at this moment does Winter Hunting Zhenren unlock the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover, leaving his opponent’s reaction time to no more than a finger’s snap.

I have won the bet, but... you haven’t lost either.

To express my respect, I will bury you together in one place.

But just at this moment, Winter Hunting Zhenren suddenly widens his eyes, as if he had seen a ghost.

He saw Blood Phase kill Prajna earlier; even though he saw it, he didn’t care. The dog-eat-dog action among Demonic Messengers didn’t merit his attention. However, after Blood Phase killed Prajna, he threw Prajna’s head towards Pharmacist’s Wish!

The head and Rabbit Heroine almost arrive simultaneously, both in the path of the Withered Wood Arrow!

Bang!

The head gets nicked by the Withered Wood Arrow first, exploding like an overripe watermelon. But this brief impediment turns a deadly shot into a mirage.

During the maintenance of the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover, the additional powers of the Hunting Bow of Inconstancy cannot be used; thus, Winter Hunting Zhenren’s arrow was simply a Foundation Establishment arrow. While it can pierce stone and iron, it doesn’t have effects like "penetration," "annihilation," "tracking," and encountering obstacles can affect the arrow’s path!

The Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror’s seven-layer defense shatters instantly, the Withered Wood Arrow penetrates Rabbit Heroine’s right chest, taking a massive bite of blood and bones like a savage beast!

Yet she’s not dead; for the Third-Turn Messenger, this is not a fatal instant kill!

"You little brat, I cleared the debt of those two bitter melons you owed me!"

Blood Phase’s voice grows farther away, filled with glee and excitement. By the time he utters the last word, he is already at the foot of the mountain, his escape speed unrivaled on Shu Dao Mountain.

But Rabbit Heroine and Pharmacist’s Wish have no time to notice Blood Phase’s motion because, as the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover disappears, two Golden Locks immediately shoot in from outside, binding the two of them like two well-prepared pythons, swallowing them whole while they’re scarred and battered.

In the mountain opening, a white-haired female with blood-red antlers lightly lands; no one sees when she arrived.

She looked at Winter Hunting Zhenren standing afar on a tree, smiling, "Why run so far? Afraid of making mistakes and getting scolded by your aunt?"

"You just attacked me without reason; shouldn’t you provide a reasonable explanation?" Winter Hunting Zhenren stared at her vigilantly:

"True Man of Locking Dragon... Yao Shi Yue!"