Chapter 1185: Too Early

Song Qi was running wildly along the road, keeping an eye on the sun. He knew the team had very little time to defeat Zhuque. They had to succeed before all the Shengxiao gates closed, completing their mission. This meant they probably only had about ten minutes to regroup and strike. There was no way for everyone to execute a perfect combined attack; they'd have to improvise and act as soon as they arrived.

"In Di Zhu... the person is in Di Zhu."

Zhoumo's Chuan Yin message echoed in Song Qi's ears once again. A few seconds later, Ma Shier heard it too.

"What's going on... why is it repeating?" Ma Shier asked.

Song Qi slowed to a stop and carefully thought through the situation. Zhoumo's second announcement that Zhuque had appeared at Di Zhu could only mean she was using this method to contact everyone.

"The signal flare must have malfunctioned," Song Qi said, his face darkening.

"Ah?!"

Song Qi quickly glanced around at the nearby ground, wondering what he could do to help Zhoumo. The streets were nothing but ruins, and the only things in sight were stones.

"Qi Ge..." Ma Shier said anxiously, "what should we do now?"

"Going there ourselves won't help—we need to let everyone know Six Jie's location." Song Qi hurried to the side of the road, picked up three palm-sized stones from the ground, and said, "I need your help."

"Okay!"

After a brief discussion, Song Qi confirmed that Ma Shier understood the plan. He then took out a signal flare from his pocket and used a headband to loosely tie the three stones together with it.

"Qi Ge... I get it, but isn't this too difficult?" Ma Shier asked.

"If we don't succeed, Six Jie will die." Song Qi reached out and touched the stones and signal flare in his hand. "So we can't fail."

"Alright... I understand."

Song Qi took a deep breath, then sprinted a few steps and hurled the bundled device into the sky with a powerful throw, like a slingshot. Next, he and Ma Shier ran toward the flying object, with Ma Shier constantly waving his hands as if guiding its path.

Once the position was roughly set, Song Qi clenched his fist while running, detonating the first stone and sending the remaining two stones and the signal flare higher into the air. At that moment, the headband was almost completely shredded, barely holding the stones and flare together, making it look unsteady.

Song Qi acted decisively, igniting the second and third stones in quick succession. The close-range Bao Ran gave the signal flare immense momentum, propelling it swiftly in the direction Ma Shier had fixed.

"Qi Ge! The position's about right!"

The two looked up at the sky. Once the general location was confirmed, Song Qi extended his hand and clenched it tightly, triggering the signal flare to explode in midair. Already battered from the previous blasts, the flare burst apart in a gentle explosion, releasing a cloud of smoke instantly.

A cascade of blood-red smoke powder began to pour down from the sky, pointing directly to Zhuque's coordinates.

"Thank goodness it worked..." Song Qi said. "Shier, have you noticed something odd...?"

"What?"

"I'm not sure if it's just my imagination," Song Qi said, "but today, everyone's success rate with Hui Xiang from Mao has been incredibly high."

"Are you saying...?"

"In the past, could you and I have performed Nuo Yi and Bao Ran over such a distance?"

"Maybe we've just grown stronger?" Ma Shier suggested.

"Or it could just be good luck," Song Qi replied. "I hope this luck holds out until Zhuque is dead here."

...

Zhuque and Zhoumo both looked up at the sky as a shimmering golden rain of red smoke began to fall above them.

"Thank goodness..." Zhoumo murmured.

"Good...?" Zhuque smiled and lowered his head to look at Zhoumo. "Do you know the difference between me and Xuanwu?"

Zhoumo frowned at that and instinctively stepped back.

"I don't have Bumie, so I absolutely can't take risks."

Zhuque opened his mouth with a sinister grin, his eyes gleaming darkly from deep within.

Di Zhu quickly dashed forward a few steps upon seeing this, but Zhuque was already thrusting his hand toward Zhoumo's chest in the nick of time.

In an instant, Di Zhu reached out and grabbed Zhoumo's arm, yanking him back with force, then kicked at Zhuque with a flying strike.

The next moment, Zhuque vanished from his spot and reappeared behind Di Zhu, slashing down with a vicious claw. Di Zhu's suit was completely shredded on his back, revealing four deep gashes that bled profusely.

Zhoumo was thrown heavily to the ground in the process. The pull from a Di Ji Shengxiao was far too powerful for an ordinary person to resist.

Di Zhu collapsed under Zhuque's powerful attack, trying to reach back and cover his bleeding wounds, but he couldn't quite touch them.

"What a tough body," Zhuque said. "It didn't even get torn apart."

"That's when I realized..." Di Zhu coughed a few times and spoke, "the power of Shen Shou isn't all that impressive..."

"Stubborn to the end." Zhuque grinned widely. "I forgot to tell you—actually, you had a chance to advance. Last night, Tian Zhu died."

"Wha..." Di Zhu was slightly stunned.

"After all these years, you might not have seen any hope of promotion, but now you have." Zhuque helplessly raised his hand and began picking bits of flesh from between his fingers. "How ironic? You finally muster the courage to rebel, and it happens right when you get a chance to advance."

"A mere 'advancement'... don't underestimate our agreement..." Di Zhu slowly got up from the ground, tore off his entire suit, and turned to Zhoumo. "Miss Chuan Yin, I'll protect you until your teammates arrive."

"Chuan Yin...?" Zhoumo asked, looking puzzled. "How do you know?"

"Because I touched you." Di Zhu said, "Anyone I've touched, or who's touched me... I can sense their Xian Fa..."

Zhuque was slightly taken aback upon hearing this: "You..."

Di Zhu extended a finger, which had a long nail on it.

"I keep my nails this long to avoid touching others as much as possible, or else my Ling Chu would be exposed." Di Zhu smiled. "Zhuque, did you ever imagine your trump card would be revealed so early?"

Zhuque's eyes widened slowly, as if realizing that exposing his hand meant he had already lost.

He made a snap decision—if he could tear Di Zhu apart before he said another word, what difference would Ling Chu make?

With that thought, Zhuque disappeared in the next second, reappearing behind Di Zhu and gripping his throat tightly.