The Infernal Demon Phoenix looked so earnest that the Black Sacred Dragon Emperor could only sigh helplessly.
“Demon Phoenix, stop making wishes. That meteor’s moving way too fast. There’s no way your wish is coming true.”
“Huh?! My lord, how can you say that...?”
“Mmm~ Even if my wish doesn’t come true, it’ll be because you wasted my wishing time just now, my lord. You were so serious when you said there weren’t any meteors on the Mountain of Heaven, but then you secretly went and took a peek yourself.”
The Demon Phoenix opened her eyes and grumbled at the Black Sacred Dragon Emperor, looking rather unhappy.
“But seriously, Demon Phoenix, there’s something odd about the meteor you made a wish on. It kind of... looked like it flew out of the forest.”
“Huh? How could you even think that, my lord? Have you caught White Tiger’s stupid disease? How could a meteor fly up from the ground...? You must’ve seen it wrong.”
“...”
The Black Sacred Dragon Emperor stayed silent. Knowing he was in the wrong, he clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
“Speaking of the forest, I wonder how those three are doing. It’s been so long, and they still haven’t finished one little mission. I think I just felt several terrifying auras, too. Do you think something happened to them? Maybe we should split up and go take a look, my lord.”
“Mm.”
With that, the two Sacred Beasts spread their wings and flew off in different directions.
◇
“All right, the dangerous rubberneckers are taken care of. Let’s keep fighting~”
Xiaobai pulled their gaze away from the sky, sheathed the black sword at their waist, then turned excited eyes toward the two remaining Sacred Beasts.
Suddenly,
an out-of-place sound rang out.
“Grr~”
It was loud—loud enough to be grating.
Xiaobai glanced down at their stomach, their face turning a little red.
“Quiet. I’m playing.”
Xiaobai patted their stomach, trying to get it to settle down. They were having so much fun—who knew when they’d get the chance again?
But...
“Grr~ grr~ grr~”
“...”
“Grr~ grr~ grr~”
“...”
“Grr~ grr~ grr~”
Xiaobai’s stomach seemed to take offense at their words. It refused to cooperate and only growled louder.
The situation got awkward.
“All right, all right, I give up! Stop growling, stop growling. Be good~ I’ll find you something to eat right away. Just hold on a little longer, just a little longer.”
“Grr?”
“Really.”
“Grr?”
“Really, really.”
Xiaobai gave in and tried to soothe their stomach. They had no choice—after all, it was their stomach.
“...”
Once Xiaobai gave up, their stomach stopped growling.
Wiping the cold sweat from their forehead, Xiaobai sighed helplessly.
“Damn, being hungry is such a pain.”
“Grr?”
“No, no, I didn’t say anything. You’re the best, stomach. The very best.”
“...”
“I’m really sorry, you two. As you can see, I need to hurry up and find something to eat. I’m in a rush, so we’ll have to end this just-for-fun fight here.”
“And thank you both, too. I really had a great time just now.”
Then Xiaobai bowed politely to the two Sacred Beasts and beckoned with one hand.
Effortlessly,
eight sword auras—identical to the ones that had just sliced through the storm—appeared out of thin air around the Purple Thunder Lightning Leopard and the Netherworld White Tiger.
Their aura surged skyward, terrifying in its intensity.
“Go.”
With a wave of their hand, the eight sword auras shot toward the two Sacred Beasts at once, unlike the earlier ones, which had moved slowly.
Faced with sword auras closing in from every direction, each radiating destruction, the two Sacred Beasts looked at each other and shook their heads.
They’d unleashed the Purple Lightning Storm with all their strength—a combined technique—and even that had been sliced apart with ease by a single sword aura.
Now there were eight.
There was nothing they could do. They’d just have to take the hits head-on. But how many could they withstand?
Despair showed in the eyes of the two Sacred Beasts.
◇
“What... what happened here just now?”
The Infernal Demon Phoenix had just arrived at the scene. She stared at the ground before her in disbelief.
Everything within a ten-thousand-mile radius had been reduced to ash, leaving a vast clearing in the forest.
A bottomless pit yawned in the middle of the clearing. There wasn’t a trace of life anywhere, and a few stray arcs of electricity still lingered here and there.
Beyond the clearing, a vacuum stretched between two clean, straight tracks.
“A vacuum... lightning... Th-this looks like... the Purple Lightning Storm, doesn’t it? The combined technique of White Tiger and the Leopard. Its power far exceeds my eight-star ultimate technique, Crimson Flame Hell. It’s powerful enough to reach nine stars. Why would it be here?”
“And where are White Tiger, the Leopard, and the Ming Snake?”
Seeing the scene of devastation, the Demon Phoenix couldn’t help worrying about her companions.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, a figure shot out from up ahead.
It slammed hard into the ground.
Several enormous sword wounds ran across its body. They looked horrific, and blood kept pouring from them.
“Hah... hah... hah...”
The fallen figure panted without stopping. Its body trembled, as if it were terrified of something.
“Leopard, what happened to you?”
“And where are White Tiger and the Ming Snake?”
The Demon Phoenix recognized the familiar figure at once: her old companion, the Purple Thunder Lightning Leopard.
“De... Demon... Phoenix... run... run... away... This... is... dan...gerous...”
The Purple Thunder Lightning Leopard spoke in broken gasps.
