The beautiful young woman waved her hand, peeling off the human skin mask from her face to reveal her true appearance. She enunciated each word clearly: "How can! We save him!"
"What you should be asking now is how to save..." Tang Lingkui leaped forward, drawing a long blade from his waist, "yourself!" A flash of cold light, and the short blade was already before Mu Yumo's face. Mu Yumo leaned back swiftly, then waved her palm, sending the black spiders leaping onto Tang Lingkui's legs, which immediately burst into flames.
"Fire-Marked Spiders?" Tang Lingkui swung his long blade, sweeping all the spiders off his legs onto the ground.
Mu Yumo paused slightly, surprised: "Among the Tang Sect, there are those skilled in blade techniques?"
Su Muyu drew his sword from his waist: "This is the Tang Sect's Chief Slayer Blade. Only the master of the Head Chopping Hall is permitted to practice it—the sole blade technique passed down within the Tang Sect."
"The Su Family head is indeed well-informed." Tang Lingkui moved with astonishing speed, appearing behind Su Muyu mid-sentence and slashing downward. Su Muyu turned swiftly, blocking with his sword.
"Oh?" Tang Lingkui raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Still accustomed to ambushing from behind as your first move." Su Muyu remarked coolly.
Tang Lingkui froze: "We've fought before?"
"Many years ago, we met in Jincheng." Su Muyu walked slowly to Mu Yumo's side. "I'll hold him off. You take Tang Lingyue and go first."
Tang Lingkui frowned in thought before saying, "That person back then was you."
"It was me." Su Muyu stared impassively at Tang Lingkui. "Looking back now, I should have killed you then."
Tang Lingkui threw his head back and laughed: "What a pity. You didn't kill me back then, so today, it's you who will die!" With a flick of his left sleeve, a King of Hell Summons shot toward Su Muyu's face. Su Muyu deflected it with his sword, but Tang Lingkui's Chief Slayer Blade was already descending upon him. Su Muyu unleashed three rapid strikes, the crisp clang of metal ringing out as the two passed each other.
Su Muyu said gravely, "You were holding back the past two days."
"Among the Five Heroes of the Tang Clan, since I stand equal to Tang Linghuang, you shouldn't underestimate me." As he spoke, Tang Lingkui unleashed a volley of plum blossom needles, which Su Muyu dodged with lightning speed. Most in the Tang Sect excelled only in hidden weapons, with few skilled in close combat. Yet Tang Lingkui had mastered both hidden weapons and the Chief Slayer Blade technique—a truly formidable opponent.
Meanwhile, Mu Yumo had reached Tang Lingyue's side. She reached out to grasp his shoulder, intending to carry him away, but the moment she touched him, a piercing, bone-chilling cold surged through her. Instinctively, she tried to pull back, only to find her hand stuck fast to Tang Lingyue's shoulder. Frost gradually spread across her right hand.
Tang Lingkui glanced over and sneered: "It seems you know nothing of the Icy Moon Silkworm, daring to touch Tang Lingyue's body directly."
Mu Yumo's face twisted in pain. Tang Lingyue, now covered in frost, seemed to twitch his eyebrows slightly."Yumo," Su Muyu called sharply, his long sword sweeping out like a tidal wave of sword energy that forced Tang Lingkui back against the window. Until now, Su Muyu had been holding back, trying to stall Tang Lingkui to create an opening for Mu Yumo. But with Mu Yumo in danger, he could no longer afford to restrain himself. Su Muyu leaped to her side, where her entire right arm was already encased in frost. Frowning, he said, "Yumo, place the Fire-Marked Spider on your arm."
"Got it!" Mu Yumo responded, her left hand flicking slightly as the Fire-Marked Spider crawled from her sleeve onto her right arm. The creeping frost immediately halted, unable to advance further.
"Just as I thought," Su Muyu murmured.
Mu Yumo's eyes brightened. "Does that mean we can also use the Fire-Marked Spider to save Tang Lingyue?"
"The Icy Moon Silkworm is a rarity of this world. Merely suppressing some of its frost with your Fire-Marked Spiders is already difficult enough. To think of breaking the ice encasing Tang Lingyue is pure fantasy," Tang Lingkui sneered, waving his hand as three black-robed figures landed beside him.
Their faces were deathly pale, their pupils hollow. Su Muyu recognized them at once. "These are Medicine Puppets."
"Oh? The Su Family Head is indeed well-traveled, to have seen Medicine Puppets before," Tang Lingkui said with a ghostly smile.
"Though the Tang Sect has never claimed to be righteous in the martial world, your actions have always had limits. I never imagined you'd collaborate with someone like the Ghost Doctor Night Crow," Su Muyu's voice carried a sudden edge of killing intent.
"When victory is at stake, who cares about methods?" Tang Lingkui flicked his wrist, and the three Medicine Puppets lunged forward.
Meanwhile, below the Golden Tower.
Su Changhe gasped for breath, shattered daggers scattered across the ground. Mu Ying stood beside him, carrying the still-unconscious Mu Xuewei on her back. Su Changhe cursed under his breath, "Should've brought more people."
Tang Lingzun landed shortly after, bearing a few fresh wounds but looking far more composed than Su Changhe. He flicked his sleeves. "This is Jincheng. Opposing the Tang Sect here, Head, isn't the wisest choice."
"All this talk just means you've got numbers," Su Changhe remarked lazily, stroking his beard as Tang Sect disciples closed in once more.
"The victor writes history," Tang Lingzun noted the disdain in Su Changhe's tone.
"But my reinforcements have arrived too," Su Changhe tilted his head slightly, looking past Tang Lingzun.
Tang Lingzun whirled around to see a tall, gaunt figure standing there. Though he'd never met the man, his instincts screamed danger immediately.
The stranger simply took a drag from his pipe and offered him a faint smile.
Back in Lament Moon Pavilion.
The three Medicine Puppets lay motionless on the ground.
Tang Lingkui's grip on the Chief Slayer Blade trembled violently as he knelt on one knee, chuckling coldly. "The Su Family Head truly never ceases to surprise. To know how to swiftly kill a Medicine Puppet... though..."
Su Muyu lowered his gaze slightly, watching as tendrils of dark energy began coiling around his palm, his brow furrowing deeper by the moment."This is no ordinary Medicine Puppet," Tang Lingkui said before he could no longer suppress the surging blood in his chest, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Su Muyu took out the small porcelain vial from his robe and uncorked it. The little green snake peeked out halfway as he smiled bitterly and said, "The Little Divine Physician must have studied divination too. You always seem to guess what trouble I'll run into."
At that moment, a silk thread coiled around the vial, snatching both the vial and the little green snake away in one swift motion. A woman dressed in white caught the vial and landed gracefully before Su Muyu. With a smile, she remarked, "I think so too. Otherwise, how could my timing always be so perfect?"
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