This is absolutely terrible. We were teleported into the heart of an extremely strong sect! The qi in this area is so abundant that it can be seen with the naked eye. Are we in the center of the continent? If we aren’t, we should be close. There’s four quasi-immortals surrounding Lucia; my heart feels like it’s going to explode from the pressure. Besides that, there’s at least fifty sky-realm experts eyeing Mrs. Feathers. In a situation like this, can I, an injured earth-realm expert, make any significant contribution? Even if I were still a sky-realm expert, at most, I’d be able to distract one opponent.

“Brother Bai, what’s taking so long? She’s struggling in my illusion; if you don’t hurry up, your disciple’s neck will be crushed when the squirrel wakes up.”

“Hush!” The man, who seemed to be an important individual, was trying to pry Lucia’s fingers off of his disciple’s neck. “How come her grip is so strong? In your illusion, isn’t Hu Shen dead? If she isn’t, why haven’t you killed her off yet?”

“I have killed her off,” the woman in red said. “However, the squirrel is using Hu Shen’s corpse as a weapon. She’s not letting go.”

“As a weapon?” The man glared at Lucia and exhaled through his nostrils. “If I use too much force, she’ll wake up. Luckily, her fingers don’t close again when I pry them off.”

Only Lucia’s thumb, ring finger, and pinky were still wrapped around Hu Shen’s neck. There was maybe a minute left before she let go completely, and once that happened, those four quasi-immortals would attack her at once. What can I do? Why am I so powerless?

“Clean them up! Focus your attacks onto the ones I target!”

There was a loud commotion from the right, and following that shout, there were several screams. A motley crew of cultivators were attacking the gathered sect members. Compared to the vast number of sect members, they were just a tiny drop in the bucket, but whoever they targeted were defeated instantly. The earth-realm experts and saints down below were taken out in large swaths by a group of twenty people flying above them. Every single one of those differently dressed cultivators seem to be a sky-realm expert. Where did this group come from? And why do they look so familiar…? I’ve swear I’ve seen some of their faces before, but a group of a hundred sky-realm experts could only belong to a very powerful sect … or Sister Ilya.

“What’s going on!?” the man asked, forgetting about Lucia for a second. “How are there so many sky-realm experts?”

“That girl from Pill Valley! She’s taking advantage of this chance to attack us! I knew we should’ve killed her.” The quasi-immortal who was dressed in blue rose into the sky. “Jun Mo! Who gave you the guts to attack my juniors!?”

The quasi-immortal that was leading definitely Sister Ilya’s forces grimaced. “I need help!” And out of nowhere, five more quasi-immortals appeared by his side! How did Sister Ilya enslave six quasi-immortals too!? No matter how rich she is, this is a bit too unreasonable! However, those six didn’t seem very strong since they all had to group up to face the old man in blue. But strength is relative; any of those men could kill me with a single thought. I shouldn’t be here. How did the situation end up like this? I just wanted to do good deeds with Lucia.

“Hmph.” The old man in black rose up as well. “Old Lan, I’ll help you deal with them.”

“Not so fast,” Mrs. Feathers said and spread her wings. “I don’t know who they are, but I know they’re helping us, so I can’t let you do that.”

“Why is a phoenix helping a squirrel?” the lady in red asked. “Don’t you know she’s your mortal enemy?”

“Boss is a foxkin,” Mrs. Feathers said and grew in size. She jumped off the boat and chased after the man in black. I’m not sure if she actually believes Lucia is a foxkin, or if she’s convincing herself that that’s the truth to avoid being eaten. I think it’s the latter.

Now, there’s only two quasi-immortals left who’re trying to free the hostage from Lucia. I’ll take advantage of this chance to … do nothing. Even if the lady is concentrating on keeping Lucia under her illusion, she’ll easily be able to deal with me. I have to wait until she’s weakened even further. I feel so useless…. No, even if she can kill me in an instant, I have to create a chance to set Lucia free. I don’t care if I die! “Devouring Snake of Bondage!” It’s a lot weaker since there’s no heart devil worms to support it, but it’s still my strongest attack. The black snake flew through the air and bit the lady, but its fangs encountered a red barrier. In the next instant, the snake turned to ash. The lady didn’t even look at me.

“Path of the Spear: Despairing Blow!”

Puppers!

“Versatile Path of the Sword: Immortal Execution!”

And Durandal! I almost forgot those two existed! They appeared at the same time to attack the lady in red. The barrier around her shattered upon touching the ominous-looking spear in Puppers’ hands. The lady twisted her body, and the spear strike missed her heart, but a vicious sword enveloped in a faint aura of death chopped at her neck. She leaned back, but the sword followed her movements, and in the next moment, her head flew up into the air! Since when was Durandal able to kill a quasi-immortal!? He did say he was ready to come out to fight Lucia in a duel…, but I thought he was just blustering like he usual. It seems he wasn’t lying and only avoided coming out because Lucia learned how to Soul Scour people.

“Little Hong!” the man shouted. His eyes turned red, and veins bulged against the surface of his body like earthworms crawling under his skin. Once again, he swelled in size, causing the flying boat we were standing on to plunge a few meters. “A couple of item spirits! Where were you before!?”

“Substitute Breaking Blade!”

Lucia’s awake! And she’s swinging Hu Shen like the poor woman’s a hammer. Her mouth was gagged due to the restraining ropes, but I could still hear her scream.

The man retracted his attack against Durandal and avoided his disciple. The attack wouldn’t hurt him even a tiny bit, but Hu Shen would probably die if she hit his body. “Damnit! Little Hong, hurry up!”

Hurry up? To do what? Isn’t she dead? I had a vague feeling, but could this really be the Holy Beasts Sect that Mrs. Feathers mentioned earlier? If that’s the case…. “Durandal! You can’t let her head reconnect with her body!” The lady’s head was falling much faster than it should, heading straight for her headless body’s neck. “Devouring Snake of Bondage!” My second attack was a lot weaker than my first, but hopefully it’s enough to slow her down by even an instant. The snake I summoned bit her face, but a shockwave radiated outwards, destroying my attack instantly. I only caught a glimpse of her eyes that were glowing with qi, and the whole world turned red as everything around me turned into flames. A massive vermillion bird flared into existence and let out a screech before flying at me. I…, I think I’m going to die.