"Escape, now!" Bo Fan blurted. He took on a stance, making sure to point his longsword threateningly at the cultivators.

Yi Ran shot him an accusing glare, "Do you not see how many people are in this room? There's no way I'll be able to escape..."

"Use your fire powers or whatever." Bo Fan retorted.

Yi Ran felt gloomy, "...I can't muster up any spiritual energy."

"YOU'RE SO USELESS!" Bo Fan sneered at her. He was hot-tempered and unwilling to argue any further. "Just go and run away!"

Yi Ran pouted. It wasn't her fault that she had no spiritual energy. If it wasn't for that despicable needle...

All of a sudden, a total amount of ten blades had went charging at her. Reacting immediately, Bo Fan blocked all ten swords with his longsword, heftily taking the blow. He winced, trying to withstand the power of all ten sword cultivators at the same time.

Yue Qingyuan, Qi Qingqi, Liu Qingge, Luo Binghe, Shen Qingqiu, Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan, Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng, and Hua Cheng had all pressed their weights down with their swords.

To their surprise, Bo Fan was able to deflect their ten swords!

He truly did deserve the title of "Five Strikes Demon". Every single strike he pulls off with his longsword, they are immaculate and brimming of energy. Each strike should be able to split up the earth and dig down deep enough to find lava!

In response to the cultivators' stupor, Yi Ran dashed out of the office. Just when she managed to open the door, a scimitar flung at her shoulder blades.

Yi Ran quickly dodged E-Ming, meanwhile slipping out of the office.

Seeing this, the cultivators split into two groups. The Peak Masters from Cang Qiong Mountain chased after Yi Ran, while the three couples, Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, and Wen Ning stayed behind to deal with the demon, Bo Fan.

Two fights began occurring at the same time, but at separate rooms.

Inside the office, Jiang Cheng took out Zidian, which flung at Bo Fan's longsword. Instead of lashing out, Zidian had wrapped itself around the longsword, trying to pry it out of the demon's grip. To respond, Bo Fan held onto his longsword, not letting go.

Taking advantage of his still movement, Lan Xichen unsheathed his sword and stabbed at the demon's right temple- only to be blocked by the demon.

Bo Fan had unknowingly raised a leg to block the sword, Shuoye.

Expressionlessly, he kicked away the sword, which deflected Lan Xichen.

However, his longsword was still caught in the grip of Zidian. With muffling grunts, Bo Fan and Jiang Cheng were in a standstill of tugging.

Next, the three couples decided to attack.

Lan Zhan handled Bichen in one hand, taking on a graceful stance, then stabbed. Surprisingly, Bo Fan unleashed one hand from the tug. With his one spare hand, he covered his right artery, while also deflecting Lan Zhan's sword.

Behind Lan Zhan came Shen Qingqiu. He unsheathed his sword, then attacked. Simultaneously, Luo Binghe unsheathed his own sword and attacked on the other side.

Bo Fan saw this. He predicted the two's moves.

Instead of cowering away, Bo Fan blocked his body with one hand and also lifting a leg up. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu were at a loss for words. This demon simply didn't have any flaws for them to penetrate through!

Suddenly came out Ruoye, controlled by Xie Lian.

The silk bandage tugged onto Bo Fan's longsword. In order to keep balance, Bo Fan had to use both hands to tug his longsword back.

"Attack!" Everyone else had the same thought.

Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan, Wei Wuxian, Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe, and Hua Cheng had all brandished up their swords (with an additional scimitar). They all slashed their blades at Bo Fan's body, in different angles simultaneously.

At the same time, outside, Yi Ran had been surrounded by the Peak Masters of Cang Qiong Mountain. She complained, "This is what happens when you don't wrap up the job!"

She looked left and right. There was no room for escape.

But would Yi Ran truly let herself fall into the enemy's hands once again? No, she just got rid of that annoying silk bandage! There was no way she'd let herself get captured again!

"FUCK!" She swore. "BO FAN! COME AND SAVE ME!"

Unable to defend himself, Bo Fan clicked his tongue at the roof of his mouth. "Tch."

All of a sudden, he jumped up high! The cultivators looked up in shock, then watched in stupor as Bo Fan's body broke through the ceiling and landed on the rooftop.

Zidian and Ruoye had lost their target once the crash occurred, returning back to their owners.

Because of that jump, a large hole was missing from the ceiling. Bo Fan smirked, then stabbed at the ceiling. There was a misbalance in the system, as the ceiling beam began to waver. Suddenly, the ceiling beam collapsed.

The cultivators had no chance to shield themselves.

Unknowingly, Lan Xichen draped a shoulder above Jiang Cheng's blocking the Jiang Clan Leader from the collision. They collapsed on one another, falling into the rubble.

Additionally to the collapsed ceiling beam, the supporting pillars also lost its balance.

The pillars collapsed as well, making a mess in the floor.

As the pillars and ceiling beam crashed into one another, they broke into halves, with the halves breaking quarters. All in all, the furnishings broke into small rubbles, littering upon the bodies of the cultivators. Taking advantage of the rubble, Bo Fan hurriedly jumped back down into the office from the roof.

He ran out of the office, trying to catch up to Yi Ran.

At that moment, no one could understand just how fast his speed was. However, once Bo Fan entered the hallway of Lotus Pier, his sight immediately clashed with the scenario of Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Masters encircling Yi Ran, his comrade.

Without thinking, Bo Fan grasped the person nearest to him.

"Let her escape." He deadpanned.

When the Peak Masters turned back around, they were met with the sight of Bo Fan strangling Jin Ling! The demon had a meticulously strong grip. His thick and masculine hands grasped tight onto the junior disciple's neck, squeezing tight.

Jin Ling could only choke.

His feet was dangling in the air, as he struggled to keep his throat from being squeezed. However, Bo Fan's clasp was too tight.

"This is my hostage." Bo Fan declared. "If you let us escape, then I promise I won't kill him."

Veins squirmed around in Jin Ling's neck. He could barely let out a single noise, afraid that it will decrease his chances of survival.

The Peak Masters hesitated. There is a hostage... What should they do?

From the office came out the cultivators. Jiang Cheng wore an ugly face, as there were a few scratches and wounds on his limbs. However, the one who took on most of those wounds was Lan Xichen.

The three couples were at unease, as Wen Ning felt the same.

"U-Uncle..." Jin Ling winced. He was on the verge of his last breath.

"Hold him lighter." Jiang Cheng ordered.

Bo Fan arched an eyebrow. "What makes you think you can order me?" He shot a look at the Peak Masters. "Well? Let Yi Ran that bitch through."

"I'm not a bitch!" Yi Ran frowned.

The Peak Masters hesitated. They looked at Jiang Cheng, waiting for their orders.

At this moment, Jiang Cheng had black lines running across his face. In the end, it was still his decision that had to be made. Between the choices of saving his nephew or just directly killing both of the enemies... the choice was blatantly obvious.

"Let him go." Jiang Cheng raised his hands in defeat. "I'll let you go."

The grip on Jin Ling's neck had loosened, but not enough for him to get out. "I don't trust you." Bo Fan spat. He continued walking towards the entrance, with his back facing the door. Yi Ran moved along with him. This way, it appeared like the strangled Jin Ling was facing the cultivators.

"But I will make do of this situation." Finally, the two enemies reached the entrance.

Then, Bo Fan dropped Jin Ling. The latter fell onto his knees, coughing hysterically for air. Clutching at his neck, Jin Ling felt like his life was about to end any moment.

Lan Sizhui and Jingyi raced towards Jin Ling. They embraced the latter in a hug.

Jiang Cheng slowly walked towards his nephew. All he had to do was to place a firm hand on his shoulder. "You're safe."

When he looked up, Bo Fan and Yi Ran had already disappeared.

The Yunmeng Jiang troops had been split into two. One group was in charge of passing around porridge made from glutinous rice to the citizens, while the second group was in charge of defending the first from any left over or transforming living corpses.

Many citizens grouped up together, each holding a bowl of hot porridge. They ate from the bowls, then sighing as they were deemed "vaccinated".

The three couples ate their own bowl, while also cleaning up the corpses.

"It's so horrible." Wei Wuxian sighed.

He looked sorrowfully at the corpses below his feet. The corpses were littered all over the ground, with their pools of blood dried and smeared.

Somehow, the corpses were surrounding a small wooden hut.

The three couples ventured further in. They opened the door, then looked inside.

Inside were two familiar corpses. The body of the tanghulu shopkeeper and his wife had long already gone cold. They were entangled together. The tanghulu shopkeeper wore a calm smile. It was tranquil and surprisingly pleasant to look at. Just by looking at his expression, nobody would've expected that he was dead and that there was a hole gouged in his abdomen.

Wrapped within his arms was his wife. The wife had a terrified look as she snuggled to stay close to her husband's chest, striving for warmth.

She was dead as well. Her neck was sliced, with blood flowing out. A line of blood had slid down the corner of her open mouth, smearing on her cheek. Her eyes were open from fear, but remained lifeless.

Xie Lian reached out to the wife.

He had gently shut her eyelids.

The remaining three couples were scavenging the house, trying to make sure if there were any corpses left that they have to burn.

All of a sudden, Shen Qingqiu noticed a droplet of water, which stained the floorboard. He was confused, "...is this a teardrop?"

Out in the woods, settled on top of a tall mountain, three figures sat together. A campfire was lit, and the three figures sat around it, huddling for warmth.

"How many more do we have to kill?" A melancholic voice sounded. Yi Ran watched the fire flicker and dance.

Bo Fan sneered, "Don't question your orders. Just listen to Boss."

"I know that, dumbass." Yi Ran huffed.

The third figure was a young boy, whose skin is rotting. That was Su Nan, who lifelessly looked at the two adults argue.

"Oh yeah," Yi Ran looked at Su Nan. "Aren't you going to stop the possession?"

Su Nan blankly looked at Yi Ran. Then, he slowly nodded.

All of a sudden, the fierce corpse's body slumped forwards, completely limp. Su Nan fell face-plant on the ground. Then, a fog arose. It turned out that once the fog dissipated, the body of a beautiful woman had became visible.

The woman had long hair tied into a ponytail. Her hair was as dark as the night sky, and her eyes were like beads of obsidian. The woman wore the same black robes as Yi Ran and Bo Fan. A shackle chained her neck, which covered the dried-up wound there.

"Nu Wang!" Yi Ran called out.

The woman, Nu Wang had reacted to her name. She looked over at Yi Ran, "Yes."

"Go and tell Bo Fan to shut up for me!" Yi Ran ordered.

Nu Wang nodded. She turned to Bo Fan, then blatantly spoke, "Shut up."

Bo Fan, "..." He felt like their third member had to learn to stop taking orders from Yi Ran.

Sighing, Bo Fan ruffled a hand through his hair. "Whatever. We will wait for our Boss' orders. Until then, we'll be staying here."

"Hmph!" Yi Ran huffed. "I want to go somewhere."

"...back home?" Bo Fan snarled.

Yi Ran solemnly nodded.

All of a sudden, Nu Wang grabbed onto Yi Ran's hand. She declared softly, "There is no home. We are your home."

Yi Ran blushed. She shook off Nu Wang's hand. "Enough. I'm going to return back there and see what's going on. If possible, I'd like to finish things once and for all."

Nu Wang nodded solemnly. "Then, I'll go with you."

Yi Ran couldn't refuse, so she agreed.

After gaining her answer, Nu Wang began to sink into her thoughts.

She was a ghost. She always knew that she was a ghost, but she didn't understand how she became one. The past... she'd lost those memories a long time ago. Even more, Nu Wang didn't want those memories. She was basically a wandering ghost who was faithful to her Boss and teammates.

When she possessed the dead body of Su Nan, she'd taken control of his every action.

However, when she was supposed to kill off the boy's parents, something made her hesitate... Back then, what happened was:

Su Nan expressionlessly looked down at the the tanghulu shopkeeper and his wife.

Then, he threw his claw down.

He gave the wife a painless death, directly slicing her neck apart. Before she knew it, the wife collapsed, deeming as dead. Su Nan wiped the blood off his claws.

All of a sudden, he came to a stop.

He eyes were focused on his dead "mother" and "father". Unknowingly, his eyes misted and fogged over. Then, a teardrop slid down his cheek. The teardrop landed on the floorboard. "Huh..." Su Nan, no- Nu Wang was confused. "Why am I crying?"

Bo Fan: *strangling Jin Ling and taking him as hostage*

Wei Wuxian: Wow... this is a good show-

Jiang Cheng: CAN'T YOU SEE THAT OUR NEPHEW IS DYING!?!

Wei Wuxian: I meant- STOP STRANGLING JIN LING! WHO ARE YOU? JIN GUANGYAO!?!

I swear that this will be the last "name definition" I'll be writing 😂

The last person of the trio is: Nu Wang

In pinyin, it is "Nu Wang", in hanzi it is【奴忘】

The Nu【奴】in Nu Wang means: Slave

The Xin 【忘】in Nu Wang means: Forget