Fairy, Don't Be Afraid, I Am Blind-Chapter 96 - 85: Twist After Twist

"You mean to say that you acted so harshly in order to exorcise evil?"

He Shutong turned slightly. Under her gaze, Mr. Liou felt as if he was freezing. Uncontrollably, he stopped levitating and gracefully landed on the ground, a feeling of shame and disdain rising unbidden within him.

"Of course. You Su threw himself into protecting this evil spirit, and I had no choice but to subdue him first."

Mr. Liou remained composed, his hands folded behind his back, maintaining a righteous demeanor. Even though he couldn’t see through the woman’s cultivation, he could feel the chaotic Profound Qi swirling around her.

This was undoubtedly bad news for a cultivator. The flow of Profound Qi within a cultivator naturally affects the Qi around them, and sometimes one can even gauge a person’s strength based on the state of Qi in their vicinity. This indicated that the woman, despite her high level, had unstable cultivation and was on the brink of chaos and collapse.

With this thought, Mr. Liou’s hunched back straightened a bit. Naturally, he had his own cards to play.

"You Su wasn’t protecting the evil spirit; he was protecting his junior sister."

He Shutong lightly raised her right hand, grasping the air. An unsheathed, elegant sword flew out from the smoke-covered City Lord’s mansion, landing its hilt in He Shutong’s hand. Her temperament drastically transformed.

"The one I intend to kill is the evil spirit, not his junior sister."

"I will handle the evil spirit. You Su is at fault, but your mistake is greater."

Mr. Liou raised his white eyebrows and asked, "As the City Lord, is it wrong for me to protect the people from evil?"

"Your biggest mistake was hurting him this much!"

With those words, He Shutong’s sword technique blossomed like a lotus, a flower of Sword Qi radiantly blooming and sweeping towards Mr. Liou.

Hearing his Master’s voice, You Su’s eyes widened with surprise, sensing an uncommon anger within it.

This perplexed You Su. His Master’s words were always as serene and unwavering as a calm, icy lake. He did not understand the reason and assumed that both his Master and junior sister were influenced by the evil spirit.

Back in the scene, Mr. Liou was already stunned. The woman’s sword momentum was not overwhelming, yet the threat it posed was undeniable. The aura of the sword was something he felt he couldn’t directly counter.

This lotus-like swordsmanship struck a chord of familiarity within him, as though he had confronted it before...

He remembered! In the grand battle against evil on the Divine Mountain nearly a century ago, countless evil cultivators perished under this Lotus Sword. Many ancient evil sects were coerced into joining forces against her, desperate to eliminate a promising righteous cultivator.

And You Su’s Master was indeed the remarkable Lotus Sword Venerable!

Realizing this, Mr. Liou’s heart chilled. If this was truly the Realm of Void Venerable, he stood no chance of victory!

He contemplated escape, but this Lotus Sword seemed to have locked onto him. Wherever his heart desired to flee, the sword flower shifted towards that direction.

He mustered all the Profound Qi within him to counter the sword, all the while cursing You Su’s Master venomously, bewildered how a female cultivator of the Condensed Water Realm could enlist the assistance of such a powerful being from the Void Realm for her Sword Sect’s protection.

There are only a few in this world at the Void Realm. Even against cultivators of the Feather Transformation Realm, he felt confident, yet here was a Void Venerable appearing in this remote Chuyun City.

In the midst of his curses, the sword flower arrived. Gone was his earlier poise when tormenting You Su and his junior. The black armor formed from his Profound Qi crumbled like paper, easily shattered by the sword momentum. His outer robe was instantly torn apart, with splattering black blood seemingly scattering into flowers in the air.

Even so, the sword momentum didn’t ebb. Mr. Liou was forced back repeatedly until he crashed into and broke several thick old trees before coming to a halt.

Scrambling to his feet, he gazed through the swirling dust and mist with anger at the silent He Shutong. At the same time, he fumbled in his bosom for something, retrieving a delicately crafted horn, his ultimate trump card, with no hesitation, preparing to blow it.

Though He Shutong didn’t know the horn’s function, she wouldn’t allow the City Lord to use it so easily. She reacted swiftly, sword in hand, charging!

In an instant, she was upon him, but it wasn’t He Shutong’s sword that stopped Mr. Liou’s motion to sound the horn. It was a person who appeared in front of him.

This person formed an invisible wall of Profound Qi behind him, blocking the oncoming He Shutong. Mr. Liou stared blankly at this person, shock robbing him of action and thought, as though his soul had left his body.

He recognized this face, the one who had rescued him from those of the Divine Mountain, the face of the benefactor he should have killed long ago!

That scarred and disfigured face was seared into Mr. Liou’s memory, its decay and ulceration, the whirlpool-like scars covering the entire face, beyond the realm of human visage.

Even now, as this person smiled warmly at him, Mr. Liou felt nothing but chilling terror.

"It’s been a long time, Little Liou."

This sentence clawed at Mr. Liou’s leaping heart like a shadowy grasp.

A previously unfathomable dread welled up, making Mr. Liou’s past ruthlessness, his betrayal of his benefactor, seem like a joke. His century-long scheming and ambition were but hollow dreams.

He had never had a chance to become the ruler of the new world his benefactor spoke of. Everything he did was just laying the groundwork for the person before him!

"Ma... Master," Mr. Liou’s throat bobbed; the words strange yet familiar, and even in his chaotic and near-collapse state of mind, he uttered them instinctively.

"We can reminisce later."

At that moment, the barrier behind him was pierced by fierce sword light, and the sword-like aura poured down like water.

The disfigured man brought two fingers together, using them as a sword. Amidst the chaotic sword light, he precisely blocked the tip of He Shutong’s sword. In an instant, time seemed to stop, the world fell silent, with only the finger and sword in a stalemate.

A moment later, finger and sword parted, and a torrent of Qi Force erupted from their contact point, clearing even the surrounding fog within a hundred-meter radius.

He Shutong’s delicate brow furrowed; she recognized this person too!

Years ago, the evil cultivator who almost caused her death and forced Yo Jing to act as her substitute — it was him!

Her emotions surged violently, and she felt the mounting hatred within her heart. She raised her sword to strike again.

"Junior sister!"

A sudden, grief-stricken cry halted He Shutong in her tracks. She looked back to see a strange red vortex appearing where You Su was, with eight tentacles obscuring the sky and wildly flailing!

Ji Lingruo had reverted to her original form, and half her body was already swallowed by the vortex, seemingly being completely devoured.

You Su was desperately running towards her, determined to save his junior sister.

He Shutong intended to have Fairy Wangshu stop You Su but realized that Wangshu stood frozen, immobile, as if under an Immobilization Skill, blankly staring at two light points above the vortex.

Unwilling to continue battling, He Shutong pushed off the ground, bursting forth at her fastest speed to catch You Su.

In a critical moment, You Su gripped the hand of Ji Lingruo, trapped in the vortex, while He Shutong grasped the hem of You Su’s garment.

Yet, the vortex’s pull was inexplicably strong, and despite He Shutong’s efforts, she couldn’t prevent Ji Lingruo from sinking further, leaving only her hand in You Su’s grasp visible.

He Shutong’s mind was made up; no matter what, You Su couldn’t be allowed further into the vortex. She moved to separate them, but You Su resolutely turned, slashing a sword to sever the robe she held.

In an instant, the vortex’s suction intensified, and You Su was pulled into the vortex alongside Ji Lingruo.

Furious, He Shutong wielded her sword towards the vortex. Her slash only demolished the building behind her as the vortex vanished in an instant, leaving no trace.

Standing still, He Shutong was overwhelmed by a suffocating sense of loss.

She knew well that it was You Su’s eager desire to save his junior sister, but his action of severing the bond between them with his robe still left a lingering pain in her heart.