"It's fine, he should have the antidote on him."
Fairy Yao Ranran tried to comfort her.
"That's good!" Tang Xiangyin let out a breath of relief. She was a ghost cultivator, she would not be able to hold out for long.
"Heh, I prepared for this day a long time ago. Antidote… there is none."
Pu Yehai's lips curled with cold indifference.
"Miss Tang, forgive me."
Tang Xiangyin: "…"
"This… it was your brother who came to kill us. We couldn't possibly just sit and wait without fighting back, could we?"
Fairy Yao Ranran had not expected him to be this ruthless, leaving behind not even an antidote. If it were only Xiao Rong, it would be manageable. He was a thousand-year-old banyan tree, thick-skinned and resilient; she was not worried about him.
But Tang Xiangyin was Che Lingzhi. A single piece of her flesh could be worth millions of spirit stones. Even Yao Ranran herself would not dare cut it. There was no way she could allow this poison to consume her.
Pu Yehai's stark black-and-white eyes fixed firmly upon her.
"Fighting back is fine. Ding Ping was weaker than others, so he died miserably. I don't pity him. But I will fight you. Whoever loses will go down the Yellow Springs Road to accompany my brother Ding Ping!"
"There is no Yellow Springs Road. After this long he must have already reincarnated…"
Tang Xiangyin muttered in a low voice.
Pu Yehai shot her a cold glare.
"How about I fight you first? No matter the outcome later, at least I can drag someone down to join him."
Tang Xiangyin's little face went pale. She hurriedly hid behind Yao Ranran and waved her hands frantically.
"No no no, Fairy Ranran, quickly subdue this demon cultivator!" She had almost no combat experience. Against an old Golden Core cultivator, all she could do was throw her life away.
Pu Yehai had known her long enough to clearly understand her strength. He wasted no words with Tang Xiangyin. Five pitch-black Bone-Piercing Needles appeared between his fingers, aimed straight at Yao Ranran's face.
Yao Ranran: "…"
It seemed there was no avoiding this fight.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The five Bone-Piercing Needles shot out in an instant. Fairy Yao Ranran shielded Tang Xiangyin, drawing her Demon Staff to deflect the deadly barrage.
"You, hide over there."
Yao Ranran pushed Tang Xiangyin to safety, her gaze locking on Pu Yehai.
"You're a man of You Yan Gate. Then Elder Kuang Lei of Mingxia Sect—he was also sent by you?"
"Correct. But I never expected you would be able to kill him in such a short time!"
Pu Yehai admitted bluntly. Staring at the shattered remnants of the five Bone-Piercing Needles on the ground, his voice deepened:
"After Kuang Lei fell, I had people gather every scrap of information about you. In the past, Yao Ranran of the Central Domain was merely a scheming woman infatuated with Shen Yuefu, nothing more. You never had such ability.
Yao Ranran, you are not the real Yao Ranran, are you?"
Hearing his words, Fairy Yao Ranran's heart did not waver much. But Tang Xiangyin beside her was struck with shock.
"If Fairy isn't Yao Ranran, who else could she be?"
Yao Ranran answered calmly, "I am Yao Ranran. The reason you all think I am different from before is simply because… I was reborn in fire."
Tang Xiangyin: "…" She did not fully believe it.
Pu Yehai turned his pale hand, smiling coldly.
"Yao Daoyou, you still love to jest."
Swish!
Thousands of Bone-Piercing Needles fell like a rainstorm. Fairy Yao Ranran spun the Demon Staff above her head, stirring up a violent gale.
"Fairy…" Tang Xiangyin seemed to sense her hesitation.
If this were in the past, Pu Yehai would already be a corpse by now.
Perhaps not even a whole corpse.
"Why do you not fight back?" Pu Yehai's eyes burned with anger. "Do you think I am unworthy to duel you?"
"Physician Ye, you fool. Fairy has known us for so long, how could she bear to strike you down so quickly?"
Tang Xiangyin's voice caught with emotion. Fairy Ranran's eyes were not only set on spirit stones; she still had feelings and righteousness.
Yao Ranran fell into an awkward silence. In truth, she was worried that if Pu Yehai died, the poison in Tang Xiangyin would not be lifted, and her Che Lingzhi flesh would rot away.
Pu Yehai steadied himself. He would not be tricked by her little ploys.
"If you will not act, then I will not stop either!"
A gray-white fog enveloped him. A colossal palm, filled with the aura of death, condensed and pressed down upon Fairy Yao Ranran.
Even standing in the farthest corner, Tang Xiangyin felt the icy chill of death.
Yao Ranran sighed. "Then I shall act."
There was no way back. Between them, it would be life or death. He would not hand over the antidote.
A blue lotus manifested, and all creation fell silent. Time itself seemed to halt. The Nine-Lotus Ring emerged. In an instant, the suffocating death aura was wiped away.
The giant palm shattered. Pu Yehai coughed out several breaths of gray-white qi—the sickly qi that sustained his life. This diseased qi kept his body from decaying. He had fused it into himself both as cultivation and as a treatment for his own illness.
"Pft!"
As the Nine-Lotus Ring descended, Pu Yehai released a terrifying pressure.
Yet it had no effect.
The lotus above did not pause, cleaving directly onto his head. The gray-white mist that surrounded him was drawn away.
Pu Yehai's spine stiffened. He dropped to one knee, staring up at Yao Ranran.
"I lost…"
From his first disdain, to his current awe—he admitted he had misjudged her from the very start. This woman was extraordinary. Pu Yehai lowered his head.
Yao Ranran did not take his head. To this familiar opponent, she gave a final shred of dignity. She only stripped away his spiritual power and shattered his Golden Core.
"It… it's over?" Tang Xiangyin stared at him blankly.
Yao Ranran nodded lightly.
"It is over."
He was a demon cultivator. Even without Pu Dingping's matter, they could never have been friends. But as Pu Dingping's elder brother, to fall without even a life-saving measure, it did surprise her.
Tang Xiangyin sniffled and carefully set Pu Yehai's body straight. "Honestly… compared to his brother, he was much better."
Yao Ranran did not respond. She did not know what to say. Her feelings toward Pu Yehai had never run as deep as Tang Xiangyin's.
"When Xiao Rong comes out later, will he cry… wuuuu!"
Tang Xiangyin could not suppress her grief. She collapsed on Pu Yehai's cold body, weeping bitterly.
Yao Ranran pursed her lips. Suddenly, something rolled from Pu Yehai's sleeve.
She drew it over with a flick of her hand, astonished. "It's the antidote to the Poisonous Slurry!"
"Wuuuuu, so Physician Ye never meant to let me die at all!" Tang Xiangyin cried even harder.
Fairy Yao Ranran swallowed one pill, tossing another to her.
"He didn't want you two dead, but he truly wanted my life."
After all, she was the one who had slain Pu Dingping. Yao Ranran turned her gaze away, unwilling to linger, and prepared to break through the sealing formation.
But suddenly, her eyes snapped back to Pu Yehai's corpse.
No… something had taken his soul.
You Yan Gate.
"Ye Hai, Ye Hai… my disciple, how could you fall to her hand?"
Hao Yinqin gave a helpless smile. His fingers never ceased weaving seals, defying the heavens themselves, using Pu Yehai's soul lamp to gather his fading spirit.