Chapter 415: Jiang Fan Takes Action

Suddenly, the Blood Jiao's body tensed. It looked down, a hint of surprise on its face. It saw that its body was covered, at some unknown point, with countless, dense strands of Tianshan Silk!

It turned out that Yue Mingzhu had deliberately allowed herself to be struck. As she tumbled through the air and across the ground, she released Tianshan Silk everywhere. She had accurately predicted the Blood Jiao would press its advantage. Thus, as the Blood Jiao charged, it would become entangled in the ubiquitous Tianshan Silk. The faster it moved, the more it became entangled.

With a forceful tug, the Tianshan Silk instantly transformed into myriad razor-sharp blades, giving the Blood Jiao's scales no chance to resist. They instantly sliced through its scales and sank into its flesh.

*Pffft, pffft, pffft—* In mere moments, hundreds of lacerations appeared across the Blood Jiao's vast body, dozens of feet long. Hundreds of streams of beast blood gushed forth, raining down like a crimson shower.

"Argh!!" the Blood Jiao roared in pain. It tried to crush the spherical light barrier and kill Yue Mingzhu. However, Yue Mingzhu wouldn't give it the chance. While crushing a Rejuvenation Pill in her mouth, and despite her severe injuries, she channeled all her spiritual power and pulled sharply.

*Crack!* A cacophony of bone-snapping sounds erupted. The Blood Jiao bellowed in agony as its enormous body crashed to the ground. "Vile woman! I'll kill you!!!"

Yue Mingzhu's face was grim as she declared, "You won't get the chance!" As she pulled with all her might, the Tianshan Silk severed bones and rapidly sliced towards its internal organs. It was on the verge of being carved into hundreds of bloody pieces.

Then, a faint sigh, completely without warning, echoed in Yue Mingzhu's ear. It sent an instant shiver down her spine!

"To have injured the Blood Jiao this severely, I must admit I'm somewhat impressed."

Yue Mingzhu's pupils constricted sharply. A glance in her peripheral vision revealed a mermaid standing behind her. Its tail was like a fish's, its upper body human, and its beauty was simply breathtaking. It was roughly her height and didn't appear to be a particularly powerful demonic beast. However, the towering demonic aura it exuded made Yue Mingzhu gasp. "Are you also one of the Ten Great Generals?"

A hint of apology surfaced on the mermaid's otherwise indifferent face. "I am Hai Mei. My apologies for meeting the renowned Sect Master of Joyful Union under these circumstances." Despite her words of apology, her index finger had already gently lifted and tapped the barrier. She continued, "I do not wish to fight with you humans. However, you should not have come here. My apologies."

Yue Mingzhu's heart reeled. Why would two generals appear simultaneously at what seemed to be just an ordinary lake? Could they have a grand scheme brewing here? But she had no more time to ponder. Hai Mei's index finger gently tapped the light barrier. The Core Formation ninth-level defense, surprisingly, solidified into a thick layer of frost. Then, to Yue Mingzhu's despair, it all shattered.

Simultaneously, the frost spread to the Tianshan Silk. With a *snap*, the handful of Tianshan Silk tightly clenched in Yue Mingzhu's palm shattered completely!

Seizing this opportunity, the Blood Jiao violently shook its body, dislodging all the silk that was on the verge of slicing into its internal organs! It roared, a mixture of shame and fury in its voice, "Who asked you to meddle? In a little while, I could have burned my bloodline and freed myself from this silk!"

Its words were half-truth, half-lie. It was true that it could, at a great cost to its bloodline, neutralize the silk. The lie was that Yue Mingzhu would never have given it the chance to do so. Had Hai Mei not intervened in time, it truly would have perished at the hands of an eighth-level Core Formation junior.

Hai Mei sighed softly. "You should still end this fight quickly. Don't fall for any more tricks."

The Blood Jiao was instantly enraged. As a dignified general, subduing a mere sect master should have been child's play. Yet, who would have thought this Sect Master of Joyful Union would be so cunning, willing to put herself in grave danger and feign severe injury just to trick it? This was a profound humiliation; if news of it reached the demon race, the other generals would mock it endlessly!

"Vile woman!" the Blood Jiao roared. Its terrifying massive tail whipped around once more.

Yue Mingzhu, having already lost half her life, refused to give up. She rolled on the spot, narrowly evading the attack. Before the Blood Jiao could launch another strike, she instantly pulled out a jade box adorned with colorful talismans. It looked incredibly significant. "If you don't want to die by a Nascent Soul level attack from this jade talisman, then get lost!"

"What?" Hai Mei immediately recoiled hundreds of feet. The Blood Jiao, too, decisively withdrew its massive tail and retreated to a distance, its face etched with wariness. Their greatest fear was a jade talisman in the hands of the Sect Master of Joyful Union.

Yue Mingzhu wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth and said grimly, "If you're not afraid of death, then come closer!"

The Blood Jiao gritted its teeth, but dared not advance. Hai Mei, meanwhile, began to ponder. "This should be a jade talisman. If she truly possessed one, why didn't she use it earlier? Why wait until she was on the verge of death to threaten us with it?"

The Blood Jiao calmed down. Upon closer thought, it was indeed very suspicious. The jade box appeared tightly sealed, but the more secure it looked, the more it seemed to be trying to conceal something.

Yue Mingzhu sneered, "Then by all means, come forward and test it!" Spiritual energy flowed in her palm, making it appear as though she was ready to activate it at any moment.

The Blood Jiao's foot, which had just taken a step forward, immediately recoiled. "Hai Mei," it said, "you said she didn't have one. So you go then!"

Hai Mei remained silent and still. She was only guessing and couldn't be certain. If there truly was one inside, wouldn't she be the one to perish?

Seeing that both were deterred, Yue Mingzhu gripped the jade box tightly and slowly retreated. "Let's both take a step back," she proposed. "You don't want to die, and I don't wish to waste a precious Nascent Soul jade talisman on either of you. What do you say?"

The Blood Jiao was consumed by both anger and resentment. What should have been a guaranteed victory had not only yielded no advantage, but left it battered and nearly dead. The most infuriating part was having to watch its opponent walk away.

Hai Mei, who had remained silent throughout, now had a glint in her eye. "My apologies, but I still cannot let you leave."

The moment the words left her lips, her body suddenly shattered into ice! In the next instant, a jade-like palm appeared without warning behind Yue Mingzhu and slammed into her back.

*Thud!* Completely unprepared, Yue Mingzhu was sent flying by the palm strike. The jade box flew from her grasp and was effortlessly caught by the jade hand. In the snowy ground behind Yue Mingzhu, an ice-condensed mermaid slowly shed its icy form and returned to its normal appearance.

It turned out that one of Hai Mei's innate abilities was the power to transform into ice and snow. When facing an insurmountable foe, she could transform into ice and snow to escape, and simultaneously, reform her body from ice and snow at a different location. She gazed at the jade box in her palm, tore open the seal, and opened it. Inside... it was completely empty.

Hai Mei said, "You used an empty jade box to intimidate us. Sect Master of Joyful Union, I truly admire your audacity!" Had she not been so proficient in this particular ability, she genuinely would have been scared off by the Sect Master of Joyful Union today.

"Empty?" The Blood Jiao laughed, a mixture of rage and amusement. "Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Sect Master of Joyful Union, you are the first to ever play such a trick on me, the Blood Jiao! You! Shall die!"

With a *whoosh*, Yue Mingzhu, already sent flying into the air, saw only a blur of red before her eyes. She then suffered another devastating blow. The immensely heavy impact caused her entire body to ache as if it were falling apart. Her consciousness, amidst the spinning world, gradually faded.

"Is this... where I meet my end today?" she thought. "Ah... I hope that foolish boy... has already made it far away..."

After a long while, the anticipated jarring pain of hitting the ground never came. Instead, she found herself, at some unknown point, nestled in a warm, solid embrace. She managed to pry open her eyes, and a young, handsome face came into view.