Chapter 1162: Three Women, One Show

Scrape, scrape, scrape…

The eerie and unsettling sound returned, clearly the armor of the Scale-Mimic Death Worm scraping against the sand and rocks.

At the same time, Zu'an felt an extremely chilling spiritual sense sweep over their surroundings, indicating they had clearly been discovered!

He knew very well that with the Scale-Mimic Death Worm's power and its ability to move through the earth as swiftly as the wind, even if he fought with all his might, he would likely be caught quickly. The only way to escape it was to instantly teleport a great distance, just as he had done before.

He wanted to use his key skill again, but a sharp pain shot through his soul. It was clear that using it twice in quick succession had severely overdrawn his spiritual energy. If he forced it now, he would likely disintegrate, body and soul, before the Death Worm could even kill him.

What to do, what to do…

Zu'an possessed one distinct advantage: the more critical the situation, the calmer he became, his mind even sharper than usual. He immediately thought of a solution and urged Yu Yanluo, "Quick, get into your Thousand-Mile Landscape Painting!"

Storage spaces like the Glazed Treasure Pearl couldn't hold people, but Yu Yanluo's artifact created its own space, and he had been stored inside it before.

Yu Yanluo was confused. She generally guessed his intention, but even if they could both be stored inside, the painting would still remain in place. Perhaps it could fool an ordinary Death Worm, but this powerful mother worm would certainly sense her inside the painting. If it simply swallowed the painting, the entire world within would be annihilated in a cataclysm, and anyone hidden inside would naturally face death. However, she knew time was short and there was no time to ask questions. She trusted him unreservedly, and with a flicker of her form, she was absorbed into the painting.

She was about to try and pull Zu'an in as well, but to her surprise, he had already rolled up the entire scroll.

"Huh?" If it were anyone else, they wouldn't be able to move her scroll so easily. When Zu'an moved it, she didn't activate any defensive power, and so it was smoothly rolled up.

"Zu, what are you doing?" Yu Yanluo cried out, worried he might do something foolish and self-sacrificing to save her.

"Shhh, quiet!" As he spoke, Zu'an tucked the scroll into his embrace, simultaneously removed the luminous pearl from his hand, and immediately activated the skill he had previously drawn: Dark Invisibility!

Almost simultaneously, the Death Worm's massive mouth surged in, biting down on the exact spot where they had just been.

With a loud crunch, its two enormous mouthparts clashed together, producing a teeth-grinding sound.

The Death Worm raised a small section of its body in confusion. It knew it hadn't hit its target and was now 'looking' around the environment, searching for any trace of them. To say 'looking' isn't quite right, as it had no eyes. Instead, it used the six tentacles around its mouthparts to sense even the slightest vibrations in the surrounding air. It also possessed a highly developed sense of smell and spiritual perception comparable to a Grandmaster. Therefore, although the surroundings were pitch black, it had no impact on it whatsoever. Yet, after scanning its surroundings, it found no trace of them.

It let out a sharp, piercing cry, clearly in a very frustrated mood.

Several times today, prey had vanished right before it, and even it couldn't comprehend how.

Unwilling to give up, it continued to patrol and search the area.

Zu'an hid in a nearby patch of darkness. Only by observing at such close range could he truly grasp how terrifying the creature was. The oppressive aura emanating from its entire body was even more frightening than the domain of a Grandmaster. Perhaps it was a biological instinct, or perhaps the thought of accidentally becoming its food, but all the hairs on his body stood on end.

Initially, he was worried about being discovered, as the creature's power was simply too terrifying. But after a while, he realized the creature was flailing around like a headless fly, utterly unable to pinpoint his location. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the skills provided by the keyboard were indeed reliable.

Once he confirmed his safety, Zu'an looked at the worm's undulating body in the distance, feeling a surge of eagerness.

If he were to strike it now with a 'sure-kill dagger,' would it be possible to instantly kill it in retaliation?

As this thought arose, he became somewhat eager, quietly pulling out his 'Poisoned Dagger.'

To his surprise, the Death Worm instinctively turned its 'gaze' toward his direction, startling him into quickly retracting the dagger.

The Death Worm glided closer, circled the area, and finding nothing unusual, finally burrowed into the ground and vanished.

Only then did Zu'an realize his clothes were drenched. It seemed that with the Death Worm's power, even a slight hint of murderous intent from him would be detected.

He recalled the skill description for Dark Invisibility: the invisibility effect would instantly vanish the moment he attempted to attack.

Given the Death Worm's terrifying power, it would surely react instantly.

While pondering how to deal with the creature, he released Yu Yanluo from the painting.

"Zu, how did you do that?" Yu Yanluo was utterly astonished. From her perspective, they had remained in the same spot, yet the Death Worm had passed by them multiple times without seeming to notice them.

"I have a technique that can conceal my aura and form," Zu'an explained briefly. "Let's go meet up with Sect Master Yun and Abbess Yan first."

Soon, the two arrived at the pool where they had separated earlier.

Sensing that the water bubbles in the pool were still intact, Zu'an breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been a tragedy if he had returned to find the two women swallowed by some monster.

Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen were meditating and recuperating inside the water bubbles. Sensing the bubbles slowly rising, both opened their eyes.

Seeing Zu'an return safely, a hint of joy appeared in Yun Jianyue's eyes, and even Yan Xuehen's usually cold gaze softened slightly.

However, when they saw Yu Yanluo emerge from behind him, both immediately dropped their smiles.

"Greetings, Abbess Yan, Sect Master Yun! I have admired you both for a long time, though I never expected to meet you under such circumstances." Yu Yanluo was graceful and naturally greeted them. Although her cultivation was not as high as theirs, it was still formidable. As the head of the Yu family and with her widespread reputation, she was in no way inferior to the two women and saw no need to be overly humble.

Yan Xuehen's expression was a little unnatural, as she had been pursuing Yu Yanluo not long ago.

Given Yu Yanluo's pleasant demeanor and Zu'an's presence, Yun Jianyue didn't adopt a cold expression. "I've long heard of the capital's foremost beauty. Seeing you today, you truly are a sight to behold... and it almost moves me to pity." In fact, it wasn't the first time they had met, but a face-to-face conversation like this was indeed new.

Yu Yanluo smiled thinly. "Sect Master Yun, you flatter me. When it comes to beauty, the Sect Master is still superior to this little sister." Even though she knew it was a compliment, Yun Jianyue felt a sense of comfort. After all, the other woman was widely acknowledged as the foremost beauty. She couldn't help but glance triumphantly at Yan Xuehen, as if her expression was saying, "See? She praised me for being more beautiful than her, but not you. Clearly, when it comes to looks, you've lost."

Having been her rival for so many years, how could Yan Xuehen not guess her thoughts? She simply turned her face away, ignoring Yun Jianyue's childish competition.

Zu'an, standing nearby, cleared his throat. "Alright, alright, enough with the mutual flattery. The immediate priority now is how to deal with that Scale-Mimic Death Worm." He then briefly recounted the information he had obtained earlier from the Fire-Silver Tree.

After listening, Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue's expressions turned grave:

"Indeed, we've never heard of this type of Scale-Mimic Death Worm before."

"It seems it truly came from another world."

Zu'an said, "I want to eliminate this hidden danger as soon as possible. What are your thoughts?"

Yan Xuehen nodded. "Eliminating evil and upholding righteousness is inherently our duty, so we naturally bear this responsibility." She secretly nodded to herself. Although this fellow was a bit lecherous and shameless in daily life, he remained steadfast in critical moments.

Yun Jianyue, standing nearby, voiced her displeasure: "What 'eliminating evil and upholding righteousness'? It's just getting rid of those you deem different. Even though you call me a demonic cultivator, I'll still do my part in this. I don't want to see lives perish either."

Yu Yanluo solemnly bowed to the two women. "On behalf of the people of Cloud Commandery, I thank you both for your assistance."

Yun Jianyue chuckled mischievously. "Now, one of us is a demon, and the other is a devil. In ordinary times, the righteous sects would be clamoring to strike us down, yet in this crucial moment, we're unhesitatingly maintaining world peace. How would some of those so-called 'righteous' figures from renowned sects evaluate that, I wonder?"

Yan Xuehen frowned, but for once, she didn't retort, pondering if she had been too black-and-white in her thinking before.

Seeing her silence, Yun Jianyue also found it a bit dull. "But now there's a problem: I fought too fiercely with the Ice Stone Woman before and damaged my foundation. Although I've recovered a certain degree of mobility through elixirs and recuperation, it's still far from enough to deal with that Death Worm."

"Indeed, in our current state, even if all four of us worked together, we would be no match for that Death Worm," Yan Xuehen said, a hint of worry crossing her brows.

After speaking, she shot Yun Jianyue a fierce glare. It was all because of this madwoman who insisted on dueling her, leading to two esteemed top masters now being in such a predicament.

Yun Jianyue immediately flared up. "Ice Stone Woman, if it weren't for your foul mouth, constantly insisting on killing Zu'an, would we even be in all this trouble!"

Zu'an was taken aback, thinking, "So they fought because of me?"

Yu Yanluo's expression instantly became odd. She had never imagined that two legendary women like them would fight over Zu'an.

Then she recalled how Yan Xuehen had given Zu'an such valuable elixirs earlier...

She was suddenly startled. Could these two women be her love rivals?