She threw a punch. Then another. Flesh was already caked on her fists, and her body was splattered with blood filth. But her face showed no expression. Her body had lost all sensation, as if she were merely a puppet of some supreme will. And that will had issued only one command: beat this beast to death.
Master Mo, whom she had pinned to the ground and was brutally pounding, let out a shriek. Like a beast trapped in a snare, tearing at its throat in despair and fury.
A powerful surge of blood energy erupted from him, like an invisible giant wave, sending Bai Fan flying back. Blood mist filled the air.
When it gradually dissipated, Master Mo was no longer the same. His face was gaunt and pale, fangs protruding from beneath curled lips, his fingernails grown into long claws. He looked almost like a walking corpse.
“Damn it!” he screamed hysterically. “Who are you?”
Bai Fan wiped the blood splattered on her face. Her movements were unhurried.
“Pathetic. You sacrificed your family to become this neither human nor ghost?”
That sentence struck a nerve. Something exploded in Master Mo’s eyes.
“I don’t need a little girl to lecture me!” He spread his limbs and lunged at Bai Fan like a beast pouncing on prey.
Bai Fan raised her crowbar. A tingling sensation spread across her scalp—the signal that her Perception was pushed to its limit. But she still stretched her senses as far as she could, tightening every nerve. In her mind, all of Master Mo’s movements slowed down. She could see every muscle contraction, every bone twist, and predict every detail of his next move.
Bam! The crowbar slammed into Master Mo again. The force was so great that her own tiger’s mouth split open. Blood seeped from the wound and trickled down the crowbar’s handle. But her speed was faster, and her strength greater. The Spiritual Essence inside her burned fiercely; her blood boiled, driving her to strike again and again.
At the moment of impact, Master Mo’s movement froze. His eyes showed disbelief. He had now revealed the complete form of a First-Rank Blood Descendant. Strength, speed, and Perception had all increased by a level. But why—was he still being beaten by her?
He howled in rage. Blood was already flowing from Bai Fan’s tiger’s mouth, dripping onto the ground, but she seemed to feel nothing. Master Mo’s claws grazed her cheek, blood streaming down her face, yet her crowbar still smashed into his face. Once. Again.
The two were now like ferocious beasts locked in a death struggle. Ignoring her wounds, Bai Fan furiously struck his crumbling body. Every blow sent blood splattering. It was as if she wanted to vent all her anger and pain on this beast.
Master Mo’s body was battered and torn, but he too seemed like a beast without pain, charging again and again, determined to tear this person to shreds.
Bang! The crowbar in Bai Fan’s hand suddenly snapped. Half the iron rod flew away. It could no longer withstand her violent strikes. Master Mo’s head was battered like a burst balloon, red and white oozing from it. An ordinary person would have died a hundred times over from such injuries.
But Master Mo finally found his chance. Mustering the last of his strength, enduring the pain of his shattered skull, he grabbed her shoulders with both hands. His voice was hoarse, barely audible, as if squeezed from the depths of his throat: “You… what the hell… are you?”
In response, the girl threw a punch straight to his face. Master Mo was knocked backward.
Crack. The sound of bone splitting came from Bai Fan herself. She had lost count of how many bones were cracked. A First-Rank Blood Descendant’s body was tough—even though she was on the offensive, the recoil force was gnawing at her bones.
Master Mo couldn’t hold back any longer. He grabbed her shoulders and lunged at her. Bai Fan raised her arm to block. His fangs sank into her arm. His eyes were full of venom, as if saying, ‘I’ve got you.’ He wanted to drain her blood. The Blood Descendant’s fangs began to suck, drawing warm liquid from her veins.
But he saw her face—no panic, and even a faint mocking smile on her lips.
“Purification.”
In his inescapable terror, white flame touched his head. In that instant, Master Mo felt every cell in his body tremble. Scream. Fear. As if meeting a natural enemy. Every shred of his flesh wanted to flee, to get as far away from the white flame as possible.
But it was too late. The white flame poured into his body through his facial orifices. Blood-colored Spiritual Essence surged from his seven apertures, screeching to escape. But the flame followed relentlessly, catching them and purifying them into nothingness.
“Ahhhh!” Master Mo shrieked. Smoke continuously rose from his body. The blood-colored Spiritual Essence writhed, twisted, and dissipated in the white flame.
Bai Fan clenched her teeth. Blood seeped from her eyes, nostrils, and ears. Over the past few days, she had accumulated some Spiritual Essence, but now, to deal with Master Mo, she had used Perception beyond her soul and body’s limits. This was overload for her. Her whole body was burning. It felt like her body was about to collapse at any moment.
Just then, a barely perceptible sigh appeared beside her. Jiejie, who had been watching invisibly, materialized. She looked at Bai Fan’s desperate struggle, a complex emotion in her eyes. Helplessness. Watching her little sister do something foolish, knowing she couldn’t stop her.
Jiejie quietly placed her hand on Bai Fan’s back. A warm current flowed into her body from behind. Stabilizing. Alleviating. Supporting.
Bai Fan gritted her teeth. She was determined to finish off this beast today.
“Save me! Save—ah!” Master Mo’s shriek pierced the entire club. The whole building trembled, and echoes of the sound wave lingered in the air. People upstairs heard it. But the first to hear were his Blood Slaves. They seemed awakened by the scream, surging out of the darkness and charging into the underground parking lot. Then they saw their master, held in the white-haired girl’s grip, white flame burning out from his seven apertures. Their eyes split with fury, and they shrieked as they lunged at Bai Fan.
Bai Fan threw Master Mo aside and stepped back. Several Blood Slaves helped him up, but now he was no longer the confident gang boss from minutes ago. His hair—which had turned black again due to Blood Descendant power—was visibly fading to a lifeless gray. The vitality in him had mostly disappeared. He could feel his life flickering like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment. This was what he had gained by sacrificing his son and daughter-in-law, by giving up being human—
“Ah… you… you dare…” Master Mo clutched his head and howled in pain. “Kill her, all of you, kill her!”
All the Blood Slaves around him charged at Bai Fan without a second thought.
Bai Fan turned to look at her sister. “Give it to me!”
She extended her hand. Jiejie didn’t hesitate. She pressed her palm against Bai Fan’s. White flame grew. The edges of the flame began to harden, taking the shape of a blade, then the body of the sword, slowly drawn from the flame. Finally, the tail feathers. They sprouted from the flame, spreading out like the wings of an ancient bird. She gripped the Relic she had obtained earlier, the Poison Feather, in her hand.
At that moment, her already pale face turned even paler. Jiejie did not speak. She transformed into a white light and merged into the blade. Bai Fan felt a gentle force flowing back from the blade into her body. The consumption of the Poison Feather was subtly reduced.
Just then, blood shadows surrounded her. The first Blood Slave reached her. She swung the blade, and a head flew off. Master Mo’s expression froze. Then the second, third, fourth. One by one, the Blood Slaves’ heads flew into the air. At the cut, no blood splattered—it had already been evaporated by the flame.
Master Mo began to feel fear. The girl held the blade as if waving a willow branch, but his carefully nurtured Blood Slaves, fed on living human flesh and blood, were like paper lanterns before her. One cut each. Chopping vegetables.
No… escape… run fast…
He turned and stumbled, trying to flee. But his body, after being purified of most of his Blood Essence, had reverted to its original aged state, even worse. A body eroded by Blood Essence, even after purging the toxins, was like recovering from a serious illness. He ran two steps and fell.
The white-haired, blue-eyed girl approached him step by step, holding the tail-feather long blade. Behind her, countless Blood Slave corpses lay in a jumble, like a white daisy blooming in a mountain of blood and bones.
Master Mo couldn’t run anymore. His current body could barely lift his legs. Bai Fan raised the blade and came before him. He stumbled and fell to the ground, but still strained to lift his neck and look up at her.
“You… who are you?” His voice was hoarse, barely audible. “I shouldn’t have offended you…”
The girl sighed, like wind blowing through an empty parking lot.
“My parents owed you a debt.”
Master Mo’s lips began to tremble.
“I… I told them… forgive your family’s debt…”
A reminiscent look appeared in Bai Fan’s eyes.
“There was a child. When he was nine, you came to him after he had just lost both parents and said, ‘A father’s debt must be repaid by the son. No matter how old you are, if you can’t pay, I’ll sell you as a catamite or harvest your organs.'”
Master Mo’s face turned pale.
“He wanted to kill himself at the time, but fortunately, companions helped him hold on to life. To repay the debt and survive, he found a way to get into your Gray Channel, dissecting, smuggling, and selling Skeleton Beast corpses for you.”
Master Mo understood something, and his face suddenly turned ashen.
“He was about to come of age this year, yet you killed him and sacrificed him to the Evil God of the Abyss.”
She looked down at him.
“She,” Bai Fan said softly, “has crawled back from Hell now.”
Master Mo’s lips quivered as if to say something. “You… you are…”
Bai Fan raised the long blade. He trembled, trying to get up and run.
“If you can see your son and daughter-in-law again, apologize to them.”
She swung the blade. The headless corpse slowly fell. The head of the old man with graying hair rolled on the ground, still wearing a look of resentment.
The long blade in Bai Fan’s hand dissipated into white flame. She also collapsed. She sat on the ground, all strength seemingly drained from her body. Her heart pounded, so fast it felt like it would burst from her chest.
But she was so tired. So tired. So utterly exhausted. Her eyelids were as heavy as lead, every cell in her body screaming for rest. She wanted so badly to sleep right here.
But… no. There were still people… to save.
She forced her eyelids up and looked toward where the wine-red-haired girl had fallen. Then her pupils slowly contracted.
Ruan Mingxi, who had been shielding her from Master Mo’s ambush, had somehow stood up. She stood there, coldly staring at Bai Fan, a fierce killing intent radiating from her eyes. The Silver Magnum Eagle in her hand was aimed at Bai Fan.
The trigger was pulled.