Chapter 0579: Time to Counterattack

The energy storms buffeted the city, shaking it like a giant's rattle.

High in the sky, the intense battle raged on.

Eight elite Heavenly Pearl Stage students were engaging the Bloodtailed Other, their Heavenly Pearls absorbing worldly natural energy as fast as they could behind them. Yet one look at the battle was enough for anyone to tell that the single Other held the absolute advantage.

The stronger of the eight, such as Lan Lan, the First Princess, and Gong Shenjun, were holding their own, but the others, such as Qin Yue and Zhao Beili, had already incurred injuries.

Qin Yue was the worst off. An angry, wet stripe of blood dripped through his shirt, marking him from right shoulder to hip. Hairs from the Bloodtailed Other's bristly tail were stuck to the wound, causing him incredible pain and preventing him from healing it. His face was pale from the pain, and he was almost in a daze.

Still, he continued to fight on.

The First Princess and the others understood his plight and tried to cover more of the attacks against him, preventing the Bloodtailed Other from using him as their weakness. They were already in trouble in an eight-on-one. Any diminishing in their forces would only lead to an increased pressure on the others.

The First Princess' jade scepter was flashing non-stop, sending jets of green, luan-shaped light out at the Bloodtailed Other.

A contemptuous swat from the bushy tail nullified them.

The sashaying fox tail was a huge threat that none of them dared to look away from for too long. It was the source of power for the Bloodtailed Other, and it flowed heavy with sinister energy. It was both a weapon and defense, and it foiled them at every turn.

Each time the tail swept out, all eight had to duck and run.

"We can't hold on for too long..." The First Princess frowned. They were forced to permanently play defense, choosing to hold their scant strength for the right moment to attack.

The right moment was the completion of the purification points.

At that time, the Bloodtailed Other would be weakened and suppressed, and it would be the best time to counterattack.

They had but one shot to go all out and finish it off.

And if things continued dragging on like this, they would be in trouble.

The First Princess kept up her delaying attacks and risked a quick glance behind her. She saw a scattering of bright cleansing dew points winking comfortingly back at her out of the gloomy, gray landscape.

"Li Luo, that boy, what a strength he is to have around," she thought, allowing herself a small smile.

Of course, the squad leaders had sensed it when Ao Bai had been possessed, and they despaired at the thought that the weaker One Star Hall students would not be able to overcome him.

Even keeping Li Luo and the others occupied long enough would stall their mission and cause them to lose the overall battle.

But they themselves were being badly beaten by the Bloodtailed Other, and could not spare anybody to help their juniors. They could only wish them luck... and somehow it had worked.

Of course, it was not a fair fight in many ways, but the win was still unexpected.

At their current pace, the cleansing dew points would be up very soon.

Yes!

While the First Princess' heart lifted, the Bloodtailed Other suddenly gave another rosy giggle that made all of her opponents pause nervously.

They had fought the Bloodtailed Other for a while now, so they were used to the amount of strength needed to stop each laugh-attack. But this time, the attack was significantly stronger.

"Be careful!" Lan Lan called out to them. "It senses the purification points taking shape. It might be making a move to take us down!"

The other seven tightened up their focus, doubling down on their Heavenly Pearl defenses. They had to stop the attacks not only against themselves, but also guard against the Bloodtailed Other breaking through their line to go attack Li Luo and the others.

The vixen waved its tail again, shaking loose more crimson power that formed eight bright-red skulls of ruby.

The skulls began to float and then caught fire in the air.

The flames burned hotter and hotter within their hollow eyes, then they flew out, each one targeting one squad leader.

The fireball skulls were a new attack, and even Lan Lan braced himself heavily for it, sensing how powerful it was.

None of them dared to take the attack lightly. They each dug deep into their reserves of resonant power and blocked with all they had.

A few moments later, the clash happened.

Boom!

All eight squad leaders were thrown backwards. It had taken all of their power, but all of them had managed to stop the flaming skulls.

Just as their shoulders sagged in relief, the skull in front of Qin Yue suddenly cackled. Unhinging its bony jaw, there was an additional finger bone in the mouth that flicked a patch of black sludge towards his brow.

Qin Yue was caught off-guard by this additional attack. Clearly, the Bloodtailed Other had prepared a special extra something for the weakest of them.

"Qin Yue, watch out!"

The others were too far to offer any help in time, having been forced back by their own skulls.

At the crucial moment, Qin Yue managed one final burst of energy. Leaping backwards, he leaned back to create even more distance and shot an arrow of resonant power that mitigated much of the black sludge.

Pssh!

Most of the sludge was gone, but there was still some left that he had not managed to remove.

And it was coming towards a completely defenseless Qin Yue.

There was no time to even break his spirit mirror!

Was he going to die here today?

His eyes were closing in bleak finality, when suddenly a giant, flaming sword appeared over his shoulder, slamming into the black sludge and burning it into a crisp.

SWOOSH!

The clang of metal rang out as the sword thrust on to smash into the finger bone.

The golden flames bloomed even more intensely. Then, with a final puff of black smoke, the finger bone cracked and disappeared.

Qin Yue shuddered, still feeling the icy hand of death on his head.

The First Princess and the others cheered. Jiang Qing'e had come in as reinforcement!

She had already dealt with most of the Others throughout the city, and had come over to support their fight.

Closing her fist, her heavy sword flew back to her hand.

"Junior Jiang, thank you," Qin Yue gasped.

Jiang Qing'e gave him a small smile, then she turned to the other squad leaders. "It's almost time."

They turned as one in the same direction.

One drop of cleansing dew was rising slowly into the hazy sky.

The final drop.

As it rose into the air, a thread of light began to connect all of the drops of cleansing dew.

In the next moment, they formed a powerful screen of light that bathed the entire city like a bright moon.

The illusion of Russet Rock City was rapidly disappearing.

The sounds of the city faded away.

Scraggly weeds rose up in its place, a tattered coat over the dusty bones and bricks of the city.

Despite the dreariness of the sight, all of the students heaved big sighs of relief.

The purification points were up. Now it was their time to counter attack.