Seeing her throw herself at him so excitedly left Zu An at a loss for words. Are dragons in this world really considered that weak? If she wasn’t scared off when I invoked their title then fine, but why did she have to get more excited…?

He grew suspicious of just what sort of status dragons held in this world.

However, it wasn’t the right time to think about these things right now. He pushed Qiu Honglei away as his opponent rushed right at him, and he himself dodged in the other direction.

Mosquito Daoist had already witnessed his eccentric movement technique earlier, so she wasn’t surprised that he evaded her attack, especially since she wasn’t going all out. As he slipped away, she calmly continued her pursuit, trying to grab a hold of him.

Zu An used his Sunflower Phantasm several times. Even though he could evade her attacks for now, he couldn’t break free from her. His opponent stuck to him doggedly, almost always remaining within three feet of him.

Several times, he was almost seized by her sharp fingernails, which caused Zu An to break into cold sweat.

Of course, his opponent’s cultivation was much higher than his, after all, and she had dominated the murky underworld for many years. Her combat experience and uncanny vision were both outstanding. She continued to pressure him with her series of planned attacks, and it was getting harder and harder for him to evade.

“I’ve caught you!” Mosquito Daoist smiled flirtatiously, swiftly clawing at his shoulder with a single hand.

This was precisely the moment that Zu An was powerless—the split second between two different moves. There was no chance of him evading this attack.

Just as he was secretly cursing inside, a longsword flew out, perfectly intercepting this deadly strike.

“You vixen, I’ll kill you!” Mosquito Daoist’s eyes widened as she glared at Qiu Honglei, screaming in unfettered rage. She had finally pressured Zu An enough that an opportunity had opened up, yet this woman had stepped in and ruined all of her plans.

Zu An’s strange movement technique was already tricky enough for her to deal with. It would be difficult to work another opening and capture him if he got away this time.

The more she thought about this, the stronger her hatred burned. She struck out to kill.

She had still been holding back a little when up against Zu An earlier, because he possessed the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, but Qiu Honglei was an entirely different story.

She only needed her Empress Lantern. As for Qiu Honglei herself, it was all the same to her whether she lived or died. Moreover, she had a deep hatred for women who were prettier than her.

Mosquito Daoist felt her rage burn within her each time she saw Qiu Honglei’s devastatingly beautiful face, and each time she saw the infatuation and adoration in the eyes of all the men who looked at her. Not only did she want to kill her, she wanted to peel off her skin. Let’s see how she’ll be able to seduce a man then!

Qiu Honglei was horrified by this ruthless attack. She quickly raised her sword in defense, pushing her sword art to the fullest extent.

Unfortunately, the difference between their cultivation ranks was just too great. Mosquito Daoist’s hand stabbed straight through the web of sword slashes, and snapped her longsword with a simple flick of her wrist. Her palm morphed into a claw, stretching towards Qiu Honglei’s face.

She wanted to tear off that disgustingly beautiful face, starting from the top of her head.

As her sword snapped, Qiu Honglei’s ki was thrown into chaos, and she couldn’t muster any strength to defend herself.

Her mind went completely blank as she stared at the cold glint of those long fingernails. She seemed to have already sensed her inevitable death.

In that instant, a figure leaped in front of her and wrapped her in his arms, using his back to defend against the vicious claw.

*Psshhh!*

Even though Zu An’s body had been reforged twice by the Primordial Origin Sutra, it was still easily ripped apart by Mosquito Daoist’s razor-sharp fingernails. They slashed open five bloody grooves on his back.

Mosquito Daoist was momentarily stunned, then roared in fury. “You bastard, you’d throw away your own life for her sake?”

As a woman, she had never met any man who would do the same for her. That was why seeing another woman be blessed in such a way filled her with immeasurable rage.

You have successfully trolled Mosquito Daoist for 1024 Rage points!

Zu An wouldn’t really go that far for another girl, but he keenly sensed that Mosquito Daoist had attacked Qiu Honglei with a much stronger intent to kill, when compared to her attacks against him. He quickly recognized that she was after the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, which was why she wouldn’t kill him immediately.

It was because of this, and the toughness of his body, that he chose to block this lethal attack for Qiu Honglei.

Of course, since she was being such a great wingman, there was no way he would give up a chance to win some affection. He immediately looked deeply into Qiu Honglei’s eyes and said, “Of course! If she dies, then there won’t be any point in living!”

“Ah Zu!” Tears immediately welled up within Qiu Honglei’s eyes. She had already grown numb to the hypocritical flattery of the men within the Holy Sect and the Immortal Abode, and had never believed any of them.

But, in this moment, having seen Zu An sacrifice himself for her, and then say such words with blood spewing from his mouth, it felt as though her heart had been struck by a massive hammer. She was utterly overcome with emotion.

Zu An was frightened by her reaction. There’s no need to take it this far, is there? This girl had been pretty good at teasing him, and all their flirting had always been just for fun, right?

Mosquito Daoist was disgusted by this display of affection. Her expression slowly darkened. She had to kill this Qiu Honglei no matter what, to assuage her anger!

At this moment, the Solitary Eight finally recovered, and came rushing over.

Mosquito Daoist was more than fed up with them. She instinctively opened her mouth to use her sound wave attack, but as soon as the buzzing noises came out, she was met by the same tired line: “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

“I’m looking at you, shithead!” Mosquito Daoist finally experienced that old dragon’s pain. What pissed her off even more was that Zu An never stopped her before she employed her ultimate move, but waited until she had begun unleashing it before stopping her.

This meant that she had to cut off her ultimate move abruptly just to respond with that stupid sentence. Forcibly pushing her sonic shockwave back into her mouth created a substantial amount of backlash within her own head, making her head ring with noise. If not for her powerful cultivation, she would have already been severely injured, and vomiting blood all over the ground.

Even so, being interrupted several times in succession felt terrible, and she couldn’t immediately use this skill again either.

The Solitary Eight used this chance to bring forth their respective skills. Solitary Lightning brandished her massive hammer and called out to Qiu Honglei, “Lady Saint, hurry up and take Zu An away! We’ll hold her off!”

They knew that Mosquito Daoist was after Zu An and the Empress Lantern. They couldn’t afford to let her get her claws on either one of them.

Qiu Honglei understood just how critical the situation was, and was worried about Zu An’s condition as well. She nodded and said, “Be careful, all of you!”

Then, she quickly disappeared into the darkness of night with Zu An in her arms.

Mosquito Daoist let out a howl of fury as she saw her prey escaping. She was about to give chase, but the Solitary Eight unleashed their most powerful skills at once. She had exhausted quite a bit of her own strength previously, and she was momentarily unable to get away.

Qiu Honglei supported Zu An in her arms as they fled, only stopping when the inn was out of sight. “Ah Zu, how are your injuries?” she asked.

Zu An shook his head and said, “I’m fine. They’re not a big deal at all.”

As he said this, however, he couldn’t hold back a frown. That woman’s fingernails really are quite terrifying. Why is the pain getting worse and worse?

“Your injuries are so serious, how can you say they’re no big deal?” Qiu Honglei quickly examined his wounds, then cried out in alarm, “There was poison on her fingernails!”

Qiu Honglei wept as she took in the bloody gashes along his back, and the purple-black bruising all around the wounds. “It’s all my fault. You wouldn’t have suffered such terrible injuries if not for me.”

“Silly girl, I was able to save a precious and delicate flower like you for the price of this little injury. That’s already more than worth the sacrifice! Why are you crying?” Zu An couldn’t resist reaching out a hand to wipe off the tears staining her cheek.

Qiu Honglei couldn’t help but laugh, then hit him lightly. “Can’t you see what sort of situation we’re in? Yet you’re still joking around.”

Immediately after that, she said nervously, “We need to deal with the poison in your wounds quickly. There’ll be trouble otherwise.”

“How do we treat it?” Zu An wondered if the Primordial Origin Sutra had the power to detoxify as well.

“Don’t move.” Qiu Honglei said with a gentle voice, then sat down behind him. Her red lips pressed gently against his wounds, and she sucked out the poison from his wounds.