Chapter 1167: Three Women Are Enough for a Drama

Screeeeeech…

A strange and terrifying noise filled the air. It was without a doubt the Scaled Deathworm’s armor grinding against the sand and stones again.

Zu An felt an extremely eerie and cold divine will scan through the surroundings. They had already been discovered! He knew full well that considering the Scaled Deathworm’s strength, together with the wind sweeping through the dirt, even if he went all out, he might still be caught quickly by it. Only if he instantly moved over a large distance like before would he be able to shake it off.

He thought of using Keyboard Come again, but his soul ached. It was clear that using it twice in a row just then had already taxed his soul greatly. If he forcefully used it again, he might just die even without the worm’s help.

What do I do, what do I do…

Zu An had a particular good trait, which was that the more dire the situation was, the calmer he became. His thoughts even became a bit sharper than usual. He quickly thought of something.

He urged Yu Yanluo, “Hurry and enter your World Painting!” His Brilliant Glass Bead couldn't store people in it, but Yu Yanluo’s magical artifact could form a world of its own. He had been sucked in himself.

Yu Yanluo was puzzled, but she roughly guessed what he was thinking. However, even if it could suck them in, the World Painting would still be present. It might be able to fool ordinary worms, but the powerful mother worm would definitely sense that she was inside the paintiing. At that point, if it devoured the painting, the world inside of it would also experience a calamity. The people inside would still be dead for sure.

Even so, she knew that the situation was dire. She didn’t have time to ask anything, but she still chose to trust him without holding back at all. Her figure flickered, and she was quickly sucked into the painting. She was about to pull Zu An in too, but he instead rolled up the painting.

“Huh?” she exclaimed. If it were anyone else, they definitely wouldn’t be able to use her scroll this easily. But when Zu An did it, she didn’t resist at all, letting him roll it up just like that.

“Ah Zu, what are you doing?” she cried, suddenly panicking. She was worried that he would sacrifice himself to save her.

“Shh! Don’t speak!” Zu An replied as he collected the scroll and put away the luminescent pearl he held. Then, he used the skill he had just unlocked, ‘Hidden in the Dark’.

At that instant, the Scaled Deathworm’s large mouth snapped closed, biting the area the two had just been in. Its two massive mandibles clanged together with a tooth-rattling noise. It raised part of its body in confusion, clearly realizing that it had missed. It looked all around itself to try to find its target.

It was technically incorrect to say the worm was looking around, because it didn’t have eyes. It relied on its six feelers to sense the small vibrations in the air around it. At the same time, it used its sense of smell, as well as releasing its grandmaster rank divine will. Even though its surroundings were pitch black, that didn’t hinder its senses at all.

But it didn’t sense anything even after searching for some time. It released an ear-splitting cry, clearly in a terrible mood. Its prey had suddenly disappeared right before its eyes several times already that day, but it couldn't figure out why at all. It was a bit unwilling to accept that, and continued to search its surroundings.

In truth, Zu An was very close by. From up close, he could clearly sense just how terrifying it was. The power it gave off even surpassed the domain of a grandmaster. Perhaps it was due to his instincts as a living creature, or because he just didn’t want to end up as food, but all of his fine hairs were standing on end.

At first, he had still been a bit worried that the monster would notice him. After all, it was just way too powerful. But after some time, he had noticed that it was just slamming its body from side to side like a headless fly, unable to find him at all. He sighed in relief. It seemed the keyboard’s skills were still quite reliable.

After making sure of his own safety, Zu An looked at the worm that was moving around in the distance. He was itching to give it a try. If he attacked with the Poisonous Prick, would he have a chance of killing it?

Eager to attempt it after the thought appeared in his mind, he secretly took out the Poisonous Prick. However, the Scaled Deathworm suddenly turned around to ‘look’ in his direction. He was so frightened he quickly put the Poisonous Prick away. The Scaled Deathworm moved back over to where he was hiding; it looked around but didn’t find anything. Only then did it disappear back underground.

Only then did Zu An discover that his entire body was completely drenched. It seemed that considering the Scaled Deathworm’s strength, just a hint of killing intent would be enough for it to detect him.

He recalled the ‘Hidden in the Dark’ skill’s description. If he attacked, the stealth effects would instantly vanish. Considering the Scaled Deathworm’s terrifying strength, it would instantly react. He wondered how he could get rid of it while releasing Yu Yanluo.

“Ah Zu, how did you do that?” Yu Yanluo asked, sounding incredibly shocked. In her perception, the two of them had always been there; and yet, even after that worm had moved around them several times, it hadn’t noticed a thing.

“I have a skill that can allow me to hide myself,” Zu An explained. He said, “Let’s rendezvous with Sect Masters Yun and Yan first.”

…

The two of them quickly arrived by the pool where Zu An had left the other two women again. Zu An sighed in relief when he saw that the bubble was still intact. He really would have regretted it forever if he came back and saw that the two women had been devoured by some strange beast.

Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen had been meditating and adjusting their condition in the water bubble. When they sensed the water bubble slowly rising, they both opened their eyes.

Yun Jianyue was happy to see Zu An return safely. Even Yan Xuehen’s ice-cold expression softened somewhat. But when they saw Yu Yanluo behind him, both of their smiles quickly disappeared.

“Greetings, Sect Master Yan and Sect Master Yun! I’ve admired both of you for a long time, but I didn’t expect to meet in this kind of situation.” Yu Yanluo was free and unrestrained. She greeted the two of them naturally.

Even though her cultivation was inferior to theirs, it wasn’t low either. Furthermore, as the Yu clan’s leader, and considering her incredible reputation, she wasn’t inferior to them at all. There was naturally no need for her to be too humble.

Yan Xuehen’s expression was a bit unnatural. After all, she had tried to kill Yu Yanluo not too long ago.

Yu Yanluo was acting so friendly, and Zu An was right there too, so Yun Jianyue couldn't just treat them too coldly. She said, “I’ve heard of the great reputation of the capital’s number one beauty as well. Now that we’ve met, your beauty even leaves me moved.”

It wasn’t their first meeting at all. But this was the first time they’d had a proper face-to-face conversation.

Yu Yanluo smiled and replied, “Sect Master Yun is too kind with your praise. In terms of appearance, the sect master is superior to this little sister.”

Even though she knew that those words were just flattery, Yun Jianyue still liked hearing them. After all, the other woman had been publicly acknowledged as the number one beauty. She couldn't help but give Yan Xuehen a smug look as if to say, ‘Do you see that? She told me I was prettier than her, but she didn’t say the same about you. Your appearance is clearly inferior to mine.’

Yan Xuehen had fought Yun Jianyue for so long, so how could she not guess the other woman’s intentions? She looked away, ignoring those senseless competitive statements.

Zu An coughed and said, “Enough, enough. Stop with all the polite talk already. The most important situation right now is dealing with that Scaled Deathworm.”

He then shared what he had learned from the Silverflame Flowertree with them. Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue’s expressions grew serious when they heard the explanation.

“I have never heard of this Scaled Deathworm before.”

“It seems to have come from a different world after all.”

Zu An said, “I want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. What do you two think?”

Yan Xuehen nodded and said, “Eliminating evil is my way, and the responsibility of my people. I will not shirk this responsibility.” She nodded inwardly. Even though this kid was a bit of a pervert and a bit shameless, he still acted properly at critical moments.

Yun Jianyue remarked unhappily, “What do you mean eliminating evil? We’re just chasing out an outsider. Even though you call my faction part of the evil path, for one thing, this matter involves me too. I don’t want to see the people suffer either.”

Yu Yanluo showed both of them a respectful bow and said, “I thank the two of you in place of all of Cloudcenter Commandery’s common people.”

Yun Jianyue laughed and said teasingly, “We have a fiend and a demoness here. We’re always being chased and hunted by the orthodox faction, and yet at critical moments, we still defend the peace of this world dutifully. I wonder what a certain member of the orthodox faction has to say about that?”

Yan Xuehen frowned. Indeed, for the first time she couldn’t think of a retort. She began to wonder if all of her past actions had been based on seeing the world as too black and white.

Seeing Yan Xuehen fall silent, Yun Jianyue felt a bit bored. She said, “But we have another problem right now. I fought against this stone cold woman for too long and injured my foundations. Even though I’ve recovered a bit of movement ability with that medicine, I’m far from being at the level where I can face that Scaled Deathworm.”

“Indeed. In our current state, even if all four of us work together, we will still not be a match for it,” Yan Xuehen said, looking worried. She gave Yun Jianyue a hateful glare. It was all this madwoman’s fault for insisting on fighting her, leaving two glorious grandmasters in their current state.

Yun Jianyue became upset, snapping, “Stone cold woman, if it weren’t because you insisted on being all prideful and saying you killed Zu An, how would all of this have happened?!”

Zu An was stunned. So these two were fighting because of me!

Yu Yanluo’s expression turned strange. She could never have expected that these two legendary women would actually fight because of Zu An. When she recalled how Yan Xuehen had given Zu An such precious medicines…

She jumped in fright. These two won’t become my rivals in love, will they?