"What will happen?" A Cheng was an excellent listener and asked questions at the opportune moment, which Fang Fang found very satisfactory.
"Since you're so eager to know, I'll tell you. Those from the Xuanmen sect always claim to act on behalf of heaven, cloaking themselves in righteousness. In reality, there are very few truly good people. Most outwardly defeat ghosts and subdue demons, but in truth, some do it for fame, some for profit, and others to improve their own cultivation.
Those people will go to any lengths to enhance their cultivation. They capture ghosts or demons with high cultivation levels and use secret arts to refine them into monsters for their own use, or they extract their spiritual energy through secret techniques to supplement their own cultivation.
Some even absorb the spiritual energy of fellow Xuanmen cultivators, as that spiritual energy is purer and serves as the best tonic for them. If Ye Huohuo's master hadn't sealed her cultivation, and if she were discovered by someone with ill intentions, her immense spiritual energy at such a young age would have made her a target. Then she wouldn't be able to roam the human world as carelessly as she does now.
Those old guys will stop at nothing. I remember a hundred years ago, there was an old fellow who put a young cultivator, not even twenty years old, into a melting cauldron and refined him alive into a pill. To avoid detection, he even planned to scatter the cultivator's soul.
It's a good thing that..."
Fang Fang paused there, glancing at Li Mohan. "Fortunately, not all Xuanmen cultivators are bad people. That old villain was eventually saved by a master from the Xuanmen sect, and the wicked old man was also severely injured. It's just a pity he escaped.
It's been a hundred years already. Time truly is like a fleeting white steed, passing by too quickly."
Her expression shifted, and a wry smile appeared on her face. "A young girl like Ye Huohuo, who is quite good-looking, is the best tonic for those old geezers. If they caught her, they'd surely use her to absorb yin energy to supplement their yang. With so much spiritual energy, it would last them a year or half a year. They have all sorts of methods and tricks, tsk tsk tsk..."
Fang Fang spoke while keeping a side glance at Li Mohan's increasingly darkened face, a smile flickering in her eyes.
"People from the Xuanmen sect can be this wicked? They're not much better than those ghosts," A Cheng commented with emotion after hearing her.
"The most dangerous thing in the world is always the human heart!" Li Mohan interjected coldly.
"You can lament about this later. What about Huohuo's current situation? Can we only watch helplessly?" Li Mohan looked at Ye Huohuo in the ball of energy. Her condition was worsening. Her long, ink-black hair, stirred by an unseen wind, rippled behind her like black waves.
Her arms were slightly raised, and her eyes were frighteningly black. Just moments ago, she had some whites in her eyes, but now there was none. Her entire eyeballs were pitch black. She had completely lost her previous lively and spirited demeanor, exuding a gloomy aura that inspired dread.
"I can't do anything in her current state. Moreover, it's best if we all stay away from her. Her spiritual energy is usually sealed. Now that the seal is fully open and her spiritual energy is rushing towards her spiritual platform, it has shattered her consciousness. The Ye Huohuo we know is no longer here.
She could attack us at any moment. In this state, I might not even be able to withstand one of her attacks, let alone you two ordinary people, who would be crushed into pulp with a single blow.
All of you, step back a few paces!" Fang Fang herself retreated several steps.
Hearing her words, A Cheng involuntarily backed away as well.
Li Mohan, however, did not move. "If we don't intervene, what will happen to her later?"
"If she's lucky, her spiritual energy will dissipate, leaving her exhausted and severely injured. If it's serious..." Fang Fang didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was clear. At best, she would be gravely wounded; at worst, her life would be in danger.
While Li Mohan and the other two discussed how to save Ye Huohuo, Ye Huohuo had already begun to act.
Her body moved swiftly towards the Skeleton Man, her fingernails extending like iron hooks.
With a whoosh of air, she instantly appeared before the Skeleton Man, aiming directly for his brow.
This time, she was going for his vital point. This strike could pierce his skull. Whether it's a living person or a corpse, the head is always the vital point. Even for a reanimated corpse like the Skeleton Man, if its vital point in the head were pierced, it would lose its ability to move and its body would turn to dust.
However, the Skeleton Man did not dodge. His two armless arms swung violently towards Ye Huohuo. Simultaneously, two masses of solidified dark energy, like ink, spewed out from his two empty sleeves.
This put Ye Huohuo at a disadvantage. Her height became a weakness because she was shorter, and her arms were naturally shorter. Although the opponent was armless, he was still a man and much taller than her. When attacking simultaneously, the one with longer arms naturally had the advantage.
Just as the Skeleton Man's arms were about to strike Ye Huohuo, something strange happened. Ye Huohuo, who was charging towards the Skeleton Man in mid-air, suddenly disappeared.
A living person, vanishing into thin air.
The Skeleton Man lost its target. A hint of hesitation seemed to appear in its hollow eyes. Its head stiffly turned around, like a living person searching for a target. However, combined with the large hole in its chest, it looked incredibly bizarre.
A Cheng, a man forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, felt a chill run down his spine. "Boss, where... where did she go?"
Li Mohan reacted quickly and immediately looked up. He saw a white figure swooping down from above. The speed was too great to discern her movements; all he could see was a streak of light crashing towards the Skeleton Man.
What was even more alarming was that a bolt of lightning followed closely behind the white figure, descending rapidly. It was about to strike Ye Huohuo in the air.
"Huohuo!" Li Mohan exclaimed in shock. "Be careful behind you!"
Before his words had even finished, Ye Huohuo and the bolt of lightning, accompanied by a booming thunderclap, slammed into the Skeleton Man.
This time, not only Li Mohan but also Fang Fang was left stunned.
"I knew this would happen, but not so soon. This time... hey, don't go!" Fang Fang cried out in alarm. Seeing Ye Huohuo struck by lightning, Li Mohan rushed forward without a moment's hesitation. Fang Fang didn't even have time to stop him.
A large cloud of dust and debris was kicked up by the lightning strike, exploding outwards from the area where the Skeleton Man stood. Under the moonlight, it looked like a dark gray flower blooming.
Li Mohan, who had only managed to run halfway, was blown back by the concussive force.
He was thrown into the air, flying sideways. A Cheng, with quick reflexes, rushed forward to catch him. However, the inertia was too great, and they both slid back several meters before finally stopping.
When they stopped, A Cheng's clothes were torn. Standing up, the tattered fabric hung on him, looking almost comical. He had existing injuries, and the impact caused his previously stopped bleeding wounds to burst open again, making him break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
But he paid no mind to his own injuries. As soon as he got up, he checked on Li Mohan, who lay beside him. "Boss, are you alright?"
Li Mohan, struck by the blast wave, felt as if his chest cavity were burning. Several hot currents churned back and forth within him, and a surge of blood rushed upwards, which he forcibly suppressed.
He waved his hand, his voice hoarse. "Go check on Huohuo!" His tone conveyed a sense of urgency.
A Cheng supported Li Mohan's unsteady body and looked towards where the explosion had occurred. The dust in the air had settled. In the center of the ground, a large crater had been blasted out. In the middle of the pit, a charred corpse was curled up.
The body had been so severely burned that it was unrecognizable. It was contorted and coiled into a ball, making it impossible to discern its appearance, let alone its gender.
Li Mohan also saw the corpse in the pit. His breathing quickened. He stumbled forward a couple of steps. "Is it her? Is that her?"
His face was pale, covered in dirt, and his lips trembled uncontrollably. He looked at A Cheng, seemingly hoping to hear the answer he desired from his subordinate. "That's not her, is it?"
A Cheng looked troubled. He examined the corpse in the pit carefully, but it was too badly burned to be certain. He could only offer comfort. "Boss, Miss Ye is blessed with good fortune..."
"Good fortune? Blessed?" Li Mohan gave a bitter smile. "That unlucky girl, when has she ever had good luck? Besides, she even..." He raised his wrist and looked at the faintly visible red thread, his expression growing more sorrowful.
A Cheng, lacking celestial eyes, couldn't see the severed affinity red thread on Li Mohan's wrist. He thought his boss had injured his wrist. "Boss, are you injured?"
"She's dead? She's dead..." Li Mohan seemed not to hear him, merely repeating the words three times.