“Not afraid of garlic? What about silver and crosses?” Xiao Lingshu asked.
“Ah, whatever-take this sword first!”
Regardless of what vampires were actually afraid of, the situation was urgent.
There was no time to search for those items, and even if he had them, he wouldn’t know how to use them.
It was best to rely on what he was familiar with.
With a flick of his wrist, Xiao Lingshu drew a copper coin sword wrapped tightly in red thread.
Before leaving home earlier, his master, Pengpeng, had insisted he bring a magical artifact just in case.
He had thought, What could possibly happen at a banquet?
Yet here he was, actually needing it.
This copper coin sword had been acquired from an antique shop, woven from 108 coins of the Small Five Emperors era.
It had a long history and was said to have slain countless malevolent spirits.
Unexpectedly, upon arriving in Xiluo, it had snapped while fighting a Nian beast.
It had taken him ages to rewrap it properly.
“Clang, clang, clang-!”
Xiao Lingshu performed sword techniques while providing his own sound effects.
The ancient coins unleashed a fierce gale of energy, razor-sharp as it surged toward Liu Ruyan.
“Vampire, behold the power of this Daoist’s copper coin sword! Let me scare you these are genuine Yongzheng Tongbao coins, equivalent to your British George 1 era crosses—”
Liu Ruyan had a headache from his chatter.
Her fangs gleamed coldly, itching to puncture his mouth and shut him up.
Still, she found time to correct him, “I’m not from the British bloodline, you fool! I’m from Gaul!”
“Oh, oh, my apologies. I’m not familiar with your factions.”
Xiao Lingshu was oddly polite, offering an apology before rambling again.
“So who ruled Gaul back then? The Bourbons, right? Was it the Sun King? Or the headless one? Ah, whatever you get the idea. Now, take this hey, hey, hey—!”
“Enough with your nonsense!” Liu Ruyan had enough.
Her shadow split into multiple clones, surrounding him from all angles.
“Shut up already!”
An overwhelming force tightened like invisible shackles, pressing down on Xiao Lingshu until he could barely breathe.
Sensing danger, he thrust his copper coin sword at one of the shadows, still finding time to quip, “You’re lying, aren’t you? You’re not a French ghost—you’re Japanese, right? Using shadow clones? You must be from Konoha! And you look more like someone from Japan-black hair, black eyes—”
The shadow was pierced, its dark “sand” scattering instantly-but instead of vanishing, it drifted elsewhere before reforming.
Another shadow seized the chance to slap Xiao Lingshu from behind.
“You’re the Japanese one!” Liu Ruyan snapped.
“That mouth of yours must’ve mutated from drinking too much nuclear wastewater!”
“Ow-!” Xiao Lingshu yelped, lifting his right leg in a swift crotch-level thrust, stabbing the shadow behind him.
Again, the shadow dispersed but quickly reformed.
“Sword, sword, sword-!” Xiao Lingshu shouted three times, his movements relentless-spinning slashes, flipping thrusts, knee-lifting stabs-piercing every shadow in sight.
Yet each one scattered and reformed in an instant.
“No way!” Xiao Lingshu gasped.
“Gaul’s shadow clones are this strong? There’s no real body at all?”
“It’s not that she has no true form,” Shi Pengpeng, who was on leave nearby, noticed something amiss and reminded them.
“She’s just moving incredibly fast, constantly shifting the position of her true form.”
Xiao Lingshu’s swordplay couldn’t match Liu Ruyan’s speed.
No matter how he struck, Liu Ruyan could always move her true form faster, creating the illusion that she In’t have one.
“Soga, Senior Sister, your eyes are still sharp as ever….. Ouch!!”
A shadowy mass silently appeared at Xiao Lingshu’s throat, morphing into the shape of a hand that tightly gripped him.
Liu Ruyan let out a cold, gritted laugh.
“I’ll make sure you never speak again!”
“Cough, cough—” Xiao Lingshu choked, veins bulging on his neck, but he still managed to force out a plea.
“Senior… save… me…”
“Wait a moment,” Shi Pengpeng said calmly.
“Let her crush your vocal cords first.”
Xiao Lingshu:”…..”
What a heartless woman.
Of course, Shi Pengpeng wasn’t just talking.
Without hesitation, she swiftly stepped forward, a talisman in hand, and struck decisively at one of the shadows.
“Hmph-you’re stronger than this fool,” Liu Ruyan’s voice carried a rare hint of admiration, but the shadows shifted again in an instant.
“But so what?”
The talisman burned to ashes, and the shadow merely dispersed before reforming.
The black hand around Xiao Lingshu’s throat tightened further.
His face turned purple, on the verge of suffocation.
In desperation, he mustered a burst of strength, swinging his coin sword in a full circle around him.
Liu Ruyan sneered.
“A cornered beast’s last struggle”
But before she could finish-
The coin sword, which had been suppressed by the vampire’s supernatural power moments ago, suddenly gleamed with a metallic cold light, unleashing several times the force of its Five Elements energy.
The overwhelming power shattered all the indistinguishable shadows in an instant.
The black hand gripping Xiao Lingshu’s neck trembled as if scalded, dissolving into smoke.
Black “sand” floated in the air, unable to reform.
Liu Ruyan’s voice was laced with shock.
“Impossible!!”
“Ahhh-” Xiao Lingshu was even more excited than her.
“Senior Sister, is this the legendary Qin Banliang? It’s so powerful! Is this what a top-tier buff feels like? I can’t believe I’d ever get to experience this-wuwu, I love it!”
As it turned out, Shi Pengpeng’s talisman attack had been a feint.
Her real goal was to distract Liu Ruyan, secretly awakening the Qin Banliang coin and slipping it into Xiao Lingshu’s palm as he gripped his sword.
Even while on leave, she hadn’t been idle-she had been closely observing the battle between Xiao Lingshu and Liu Ruyan.
The coin sword was Xiao Lingshu’s primary magical weapon.
His swordsmanship wasn’t bad-in fact, it was quite refined—but his cultivation was still lacking, which was why Liu Ruyan had been able to suppress him.
The Qin Banliang coin perfectly compensated for his weakness.
The Great Five Emperors Coin, imbued with the lingering authority of the First Emperor, activated the 108 Lesser Five Emperors Coins, unleashing the full might of the Five Elements.
Not even Liu Ruyan could withstand it—even Count Dracula would have to retreat from its force.
This was the first time Xiao Lingshu had ever felt so invincible, his excitement overflowing.
But after cheering for a while, his voice suddenly quieted.
“Huh? That’s weird why did the lights go out? Is the hotel’s power supply that bad?”
The surroundings had darkened imperceptibly, plunging everything into an inky blackness where even Shi Pengpeng, standing right beside him, was reduced to nothing more than a hazy silhouette.
Shi Pengpeng: “… Could you use that pig brain of yours before opening your mouth?”
“Of course not! My pig mouth can’t wait-ah, it must be that vampire woman’s doing! If it’s not her, then who else could still have a health bar left?!” Xiao Lingshu gasped, finally realizing something was wrong.
The darkness before them grew thicker, almost tangible, until even the faint outlines vanished completely.
“Pengpeng…” Yan Jing groped in the dark until his hand found Shi Pengpeng’s.
This time, Shi Pengpeng didn’t resist, deftly intertwining her fingers with his.
“I’m here. Don’t worry.”
Yan Jing:”…..”
He wasn’t worried he just wanted to make sure they wouldn’t be separated.
Never mind.
As long as he could hold her hand, he’d let her have her way.
The thick, icy darkness enveloped them like quicksand, making each breath heavier, each movement sluggish, as if trapped in a swamp.
“Damn it, watch my ‘Salty Fish Thrust’-slash, slash, slash-!”
Xiao Lingshu swung his sword wildly, the force of the Five Elements repelling the encroaching darkness momentarily.
But like mud, the blackness surged back relentlessly.
Xiao Lingshu’s cultivation wasn’t particularly deep to begin with, and after that burst of overexertion, his energy reserves were still on cooldown.
Replicating that feat anytime soon would be near impossible.
“Hia-hia-” Two eerie chuckles echoed through the void as Liu Ruyan’s voice drifted over, languid and mocking.
“Domestic demonic practitioners do have some skill… But do you really think you can defeat a noble vampire…?”
“Since when do vampires talk like they’re putting on a show?”
Shi Pengpeng muttered in exasperation, igniting a talisman flame in her palm.
The firelight pushed back the darkness slightly, but the abyss seemed endless, with no exit in sight.
“Oh? And here I thought you were the one with the big mouth,” Liu Ruyan sneered.
Suddenly, the darkness churned violently, like a tidal wave crashing toward them.
“Shit! Since when do vampires have ultimate moves?!” Xiao Lingshu cursed, slashing desperately.
His sword dispersed some of the blackness, but it was far from enough.
Yan Jing sensed the danger and instinctively stepped in front of Shi Pengpeng.
“Watch out—!”
Only to be yanked behind her just as quickly.
“Bro, mind your positioning.”
Yan Jing:”….”
From the depths of the darkness, Liu Ruyan’s laughter grew even more deranged.
“Still think I’m putting on a show now?”
The moment she spoke, a yellow talisman shot from Shi Pengpeng’s fingertips, carrying immense power.
Like a blade, it cleaved through the surging black swamp.
Where the talisman passed, the air vibrated with a metallic hum.
Even Liu Ruyan was stunned-but Xiao Lingshu’s reaction was far more dramatic.
He shrieked, “TALISMAN SOLDIER?! Senior Sister, how can you use a Talisman Soldier?! You don’t have to go this far-I can still fight—!”
What shocked Xiao Lingshu wasn’t that Shi Pengpeng could forge talismans into soldiers-it was the fact that her meridians had been damaged in Biannan.
Worse, she had infused her Talisman Soldier with her birth characters.
Forcing it now would consume her life fortune.
“Pengpeng! Why would you-?!” Yan Jing panicked, instinctively reaching out to stop her from this self-destructive spellcasting.
But his hand froze mid-air, clenched into a fist, and he held back.
He knew Shi Pengpeng always had her own considerations when it came to handling matters.
Besides, since the talisman soldiers had already been deployed, interfering now might only disrupt her rhythm.
It was best to silently support her.
At worst, after everything was over, he could visit various temples to invite experts, hoping they might use his fate to compensate…
Shi Pengpeng seemed to sense his tension and suddenly reached back to pat him lightly.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Her voice was calm, devoid of any competitive edge.
Yan Jing’s nerves eased slightly.
The cinnabar on the talisman soldier flared to life, its fierce edge surpassing even Xiao Lingzhu’s earth-shattering sword strike from earlier.
Yet it struck with even greater precision into a patch of darkness.
A soft “pfft-” sounded, like a sharp blade piercing flesh.
Liu Ruyan let out a bloodcurdling scream:
“Ah!”
The vampire’s supernatural power instantly collapsed, the thick blackness receding like a tide.
The lights flickered back on.
In mere moments, the corridor was bright again.
“Drip drip “Ahead, red blood dripped steadily from the ceiling.
Following the droplets upward, they saw a small black bat hanging upside-down from a relief carving in the corner.
The hotel was lavishly decorated, with zodiac reliefs carved along the corridor walls.
The bat clung to one depicting a lifelike serpent.
The blood trickled from the bat’s neck, while Shi Pengpeng’s talisman soldier was embedded in the wall beside it.
Realization dawned on Shi Pengpeng.
She had read that vampires were nocturnal, bloodthirsty creatures capable of shapeshifting into bats.
After Xiao Lingzhu’s copper coin sword shattered Liu Ruyan’s first form, she had transformed into a bat.
The suffocating darkness that had enveloped them earlier must have been the bat’s massive wings.
A single sweep had sent that viscous, churning blackness toward them.
Though her vision had been blocked by the wings, Shi Pengpeng had still managed to pinpoint Liu Ruyan’s aura with her formidable cultivation and unleashed the talisman soldier with deadly accuracy.
Liu Ruyan was no pushover either-even in that critical moment, she had twisted just enough to avoid a direct hit.
Yet the talisman’s edge still grazed her neck.
Her magic completely dissipated, and her body shrank into this tiny form.
Exposed, the little bat flapped its wings in panic, trying to flee.
But then the serpent relief’s eyes suddenly shifted.
Its jaws snapped open, and the entire carving lunged forward like lightning, catching the bat in its fangs before it could react.
“Scree―!!!” The bat shrieked in terror.
“Why is this snake moving?!”
Shi Pengpeng tossed the Qin-era coin she had just reclaimed from Xiao Lingshu with a smirk.
“This is the power of our homegrown mages.”
Back then, she had used this very coin to move an entire stone elephant mountain.
Awakening a mere snake carving was child’s play.
Xiao Lingzhu’s eyes welled with tears, his voice thick with envy.
“Senior Sister, could you sell this coin to me? Name your price—I’m dead serious. Whatever it takes, I’ll go home and squeeze my parents dry. Even if they force me to inherit the family business, buy a penthouse in Xiluo, and commute in a Cullinan for the rest of my life… I’ll do it!”
Yan Jing, who was standing nearby:”….”
What a filial son, taking everything he can get his hands on!