Chapter 33: Miss Rabbit’s Shadow
Hearing Miss Rabbit’s cry, Solang Pema was taken aback for a moment before retreating swiftly to her side and asking in a deep voice, “Do you know this crazy woman?”
Miss Rabbit glanced at Solang Pema, her gaze lingering for a moment on his bloodied eye, then nodded slightly, “I know her, very well…”
Upon hearing this, Solang Pema’s heart lifted, and he opened his lips to say something to Miss Rabbit, but he saw her feet suddenly exert strength, and with a loud crack of the ground splitting, she leapt out like an agile rabbit, raising her fire axe to sweep at the girl coming to chase her.
The axe blade and the soft sword met with a harsh buzzing sound.
After the initial clash, the two figures briefly separated and, after a moment of gathering strength, collided again with even greater ferocity.
“Clang—clang—clang—!”
The sound of metal clashing echoed endlessly. Although it was swords and axes clashing, it reminded Solang Pema of the deep, resonant sound of the morning bell ringing in the temple back in his hometown, with stones flying and thick smoke enveloping the air.
He blankly activated his spirit energy to deflect the roaring shockwave, looking questioningly at Shuo E, confused, “Aren’t they very familiar with each other?”
Shuo E gazed ahead and said lightly, “The kind of familiarity that means they will fight to the d*ath.”
Solang Pema, “…” It was clearly just a disruption of that person’s movie-watching, at most a conflict.
Now it had escalated to a life-and-d*ath battle?
————
Ever since killing Mu Se and regaining her freedom, Miss Rabbit’s only target has been the little thief who stole her Witch’s Egg.
Every midnight, she remembers the burning hotel and that figure she greatly feared, surrounded by flames; over time, this has turned into a piece of her heart’s anguish.
Even though Lu Yibei now looked a bit different from before, having grown from an eleven- or twelve-year-old child into an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old girl, as long as that aura from the Witch’s Egg still existed on her, Miss Rabbit could never fail to recognize her.
Recognizing her naturally meant settling both new and old scores.
Indeed, when she first saw Lu Yibei, Miss Rabbit’s initial reaction was fear, but after that initial fear passed, her inner emotions were gradually replaced by anger.
After having overcome fear when killing Mu Se, she thought she could surely overcome it a second time today! Miss Rabbit decided.
So, without hesitation, she leapt forward, raised her axe blade, and swung it down.
With a booming sound, a dark golden light flowed over the axe blade, and in the next moment, brilliant blue flames surged up, pouring down towards Lu Yibei’s face.
Sesa, throwing herself into the fire without perishing, had gained immense resistance to flames while mastering the Moon Shadow Fire, a skill Miss Rabbit had recently mastered.
In an instant, the cinema hall was filled with flames, thick smoke billowing, while the walls and materials crackled under the intense heat.
————
Since parting from Huacheng, it had been a long time since Lu Yibei had seen Miss Rabbit. After the Hundred Demons Walk, she had thoroughly searched every possible hiding place for urban legends in Huacheng for safety.
Though her purpose was to confirm the life or d*ath of Mu Se, who had become a subordinate of Pestilence Taijie, she did not discover any movements from Miss Rabbit during this process.
Miss Rabbit seemed to have evaporated from the world, disappearing from Huacheng.
Now, Miss Rabbit suddenly appeared here, leaving Lu Yibei somewhat surprised, but in the current situation, she had no time to “catch up” with Miss Rabbit.
Time was of the essence; whether killing one or three, whoever stood in her way of taking down Solang Pema had to be killed!
Otherwise, if the powers of the Hundred-Armed Giant were to go out of control, it would be her life at stake.
“Look into my eyes!” Lu Yibei said in a low, tempting tone to Miss Rabbit.
“Shut up!” Miss Rabbit snapped, instantly shielding her hearing with spirit energy and interfering with her vision, while expanding her spiritual sense to its maximum extent to compensate for her lost sensory abilities.
She had been a subordinate of the Witch’s kind, had personally hunted down Mu Se, and had even attempted to devour the Witch’s Egg, making her understanding of the various characteristics and abilities of the Witch’s legends comparable to that of the Witches themselves. If she turned to some indescribable organization as a witch hunter, she would likely earn a fortune.
Look into your eyes? Like Solang Pema, lying there and letting you tempt him? Do you think I’m an idiot? Miss Rabbit thought furiously, her attacks growing sharper.
While Lu Yibei sensed the premonitions flashing through her mind and cautiously dealt with Miss Rabbit’s advances, she quietly contemplated.
d*mn it, no wonder she’s a subordinate of Mu Se; she’s completely different from that big oaf!
I need to think of another way.
As she saw the axe blade rushing down from above, she raised her sword, infusing her spirit energy into every inch of muscle in her long arm, and with a slight cracking sound in her spine, executed the most exquisite move of the Taihe Gentleman Sword.
Taihe Gentleman Sword · Jun Tian Zou!
————
The sword blade swept out, a streak of white light tearing through the flames, shooting forward with rapid momentum like a comet dragging a long white tail.
The overwhelming sword energy, formed by gathered spirit energy, shot forward like rolling waves in the clouds, darting fiercely; the Moon Shadow Fire and sword energy collided, instantly dissipating.
Seeing that sword light, Fu Xinyi was visibly taken aback. As a proud disciple of the Dachunyang Palace, who had practiced the “Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration” since childhood, she understood its power better than anyone.
If not for that rabbit-eared urban legend, the strange flames surging from the axe blade seemed to possess a strong corrosive quality, persistently not fading away; this strike might have collapsed this entire commercial building.
But…
Was that really a move from the Taihe Gentleman Sword?
Why wasn’t this move recorded in the “Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration” from the sect? Fu Xinyi wondered.
She could clearly feel that the sword technique used by the white-haired girl matched closely with the swordsmanship she had practiced since childhood, resembling the final technique of the Taihe Gentleman Sword—Taihe Gentleman Sword · Invitation to Heaven, seemingly of the same origin, yet she had never seen this move.
d*mn it, I can’t figure it out!
If only my senior sister were here, she’d surely know what this is about. Fu Xinyi thought, frustrated as she tugged at her hair.
Then, when she thought of Huasang, she suddenly felt unwell.
A robust man wielding the power of the Snow Mountain, a rabbit-eared urban legend controlling strange flames, a witch using a highly replicated Taihe Gentleman Sword…
None of them were opponents she could handle; as a mere B-grade spirit ability user caught up in such life-and-d*ath events, it had to be Huasang’s fault!
————
Shuo E observed the intense fight between Miss Rabbit and Lu Yibei from afar, noticing that although Miss Rabbit held a slight upper hand, she was still unable to secure victory, causing her to furrow her brows.
Compared to before, she had become much stronger, managing to slightly suppress Huacheng’s Urban Legend King.
Unfortunately, this advantage had not reached the level of overwhelming dominance.
How strange, how did Solang Pema get injured just now? And why didn’t he use her ability to control flames?
Shuo E thought, glancing at Solang Pema, wanting to ask him for details about his recent encounter with Lu Yibei, but turned around and froze in place.
She saw that Solang Pema had many scratches and abrasions on his body, his lips dark purple and his face so pale it looked colorless.
“You, what happened to you?”
At this moment, Solang Pema was tormented by a sharp pain invading his lungs and couldn’t speak properly. He didn’t even know how to explain his current state to Shuo E.
He had erected a snowstorm barrier using his spirit energy, which should have been nearly impossible for the chaos stirred by Lu Yibei and Miss Rabbit’s battle to break through. Yet, for some unknown reason, it seemed like a lock had been opened, repeatedly hitting the weak points in his defense and leaving behind a trail of wounds.
Standing beside Shuo E, who clearly hadn’t been taking any deliberate defenses, remained utterly unscathed.
Solang Pema felt like he was being targeted by the malice of the goddess of fate, as the pendulum of misfortune continuously swung down onto his forehead.
What terrified him even more was that his bl**d seemed to be influenced by some power during his battle with Lu Yibei, becoming unrecognizable, agitated within him, causing immense pain.
“Spirit, spirit energy, my spirit energy…”
After a moment, Solang Pema finally squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, raising his trembling hands to gesture, trying to warn Shuo E about his unfinished message.
However…
“Smack!”
Shuo E firmly grabbed Solang Pema’s hand and solemnly said, “Spirit energy? What’s wrong with your spirit energy?”
“…”
Solang Pema fell silent for two seconds, as if recalling a last moment of clarity, and said to Shuo E, “It’s toxic; my spirit energy seems to be poisoned by that woman…”
After speaking, his spirit energy fluctuations suddenly intensified, a layer of hard frost emerging on his surface, as if it had come from a ten-thousand-year glacier, freezing his spirit energy and bl**d to enter a state close to d*ath to protect himself.
However…
Shuo E glanced at her own hand unfortunately frozen alongside his, then looked at Lu Yibei, feeling an unusual power eroding her spirit energy, and then she looked at the two streams of sword energy flying straight toward her forehead, her face losing its sheen.
“…”
You’re poisoned, stay away!
Why reaching out to me?
————
“Tiny thief, you’re about to reach your limit, aren’t you?”
After another fierce clash, as Miss Rabbit closed in on Lu Yibei, she suddenly grinned and said that line.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei’s heart trembled, and in that fleeting moment of distraction, she was met with the flame-licked axe blade, striking down in a storm-like chop.
“Clang—clang—clang—!”
Forced back by Miss Rabbit’s fierce attacks, Lu Yibei stumbled, her feet breaking through the floor tiles, carving two cracks in the shattered concrete beneath her.
d*mn it, how does she know I can’t maintain this state for long? Lu Yibei thought anxiously.
As Qing Ji taught, in battle, exposing one’s weaknesses to the enemy is a terrifying matter.
At that moment, Miss Rabbit continued, “Hehe, don’t hold back; I’ve noticed that you didn’t say a single word of trash talk this time, clearly something’s off!”
Miss Rabbit was too familiar with her opponent; during their past encounters, she had never been this quiet in battle.
Moreover, Miss Rabbit clearly sensed that Lu Yibei’s movements in battle were exceptionally strange, jumping around like a mischievous monkey.
If her spiritual sense hadn’t detected any spirit energy fluctuations, she would almost suspect Lu Yibei was setting up something malicious.
Lu Yibei, “…”
What? Is it wrong for me to be silent? Can you not make your reasoning so unreliable?
While Lu Yibei was thinking, Miss Rabbit closed in once more, and as the sword met the axe in a fierce clash, she coldly added, “It seems like you can still hold on? But your sword is probably about to fall apart.”
As Miss Rabbit spoke, she felt excitement welling up in her heart.
Come on! Let me see the abilities you stole from me, burn me with flames, and then I’ll let you know what despair feels like!
Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes, basking in flames and completing her revenge from a position of superiority—that was a sight Miss Rabbit had imagined countless times.
Is the sword about to break? Upon hearing Miss Rabbit’s words, Lu Yibei was taken aback and glanced at the soft sword in her hand as she opened up some distance from Miss Rabbit, her pupils slightly quavering.
In just a minute or two of fierce clashes, the soft sword had accumulated an array of nicks and had become dull, but that wasn’t the main issue.
With the backing of the Taihe Gentleman Sword, let alone a dull sword, even a wooden stick could k*ll.
What truly shocked Lu Yibei was that the soft sword had been corroded by the Moon Shadow Fire that erupted from Miss Rabbit’s fire axe, revealing numerous cracks on its surface.
The Moon Shadow Fire could corrode even the filthy and bloodied spirit energy of Mu Se, let alone Fu Xinyi’s whimsically selected, lightweight and visually appealing C+-level spirit item that had not been considered for durability.
In the next moment, Miss Rabbit stepped forward again, her axe blade swinging down from above in a wide arc. As Lu Yibei raised her sword to block, Miss Rabbit’s arms wildly twisted at an unnatural angle, the curve of the axe face snapping shut around the soft sword.
Then…
Twist, snap.
“Clang—!”
With a crisp sound, the soft sword shattered into several pieces, and before it could fall to the ground, it crumbled into piles of dark red powder resembling rust.
【The rusted fire axe severed the body】
A terrifying premonition flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind, and she was startled as she desperately twisted her body in a split second, her spine screaming in pain, her slender waist seeming to almost snap from the effort.
“Rend—!”
“Poof—!”
The sound of her clothes being torn and the dull thud of flesh being cut rang out simultaneously.
The sharp point of the fire axe grazed Lu Yibei’s back, leaving behind a gruesome twenty-centimeter-long wound.
The Moon Shadow Fire, along with the impact of spirit energy, surged into her body, causing Lu Yibei to black out momentarily and hurriedly use her agile movements to retreat.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
With each step she took backward, a loud sound erupted, her feet pounding the ground, each movement absorbing the shock from the axe strike, heavy footsteps making her feel as if her leg bones would break from the impact.
But…
It’s better if I bleed! Lu Yibei thought ominously as she glanced back at her wound.
【She stepped into the “Net”】
Lu Yibei looked ahead, only she could see the pale tendrils, feeling the premonitions flashing through her mind, an imperceptible gleam of cunning flickered in her eyes.
As Miss Rabbit charged forward, Lu Yibei suddenly infused spirit energy into Mengmeng’s Natural Talent Skill, weaving a net from thin, thread-like pale tendrils.
Then…
Droplets of bl**d, like beads of water rolling off a lotus leaf, traced down Lu Yibei’s fair spine, gathering into lines and connecting into patches, dripping onto the pale tendrils and dyeing them red as if crimson threads were stained.
In an instant, the cinema hall became shrouded in a bl**d-red web, transforming into a lair of a spider woven from bl**d.
The next moment, the pale tendrils turned solid, and as the rushing Miss Rabbit stepped into the net, Lu Yibei’s eyes darkened, like a female spider drawing in her web, coldly stating, “Next, enjoy your nightmare!”
【She entered a state of charm】 A premonition flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind.
Using Mengmeng’s Natural Talent Skill against Miss Rabbit wouldn’t work; there was no chance. Trying to use her charm ability wouldn’t work either.
However, combining Mengmeng’s Natural Talent Skill with charm ability could potentially work!
At least, that’s what the premonitions indicated…
————
The moment Miss Rabbit found herself ensnared by those bl**d-stained tendrils, she realized she had fallen into a trap, struggling with all her might to break free.
Then…
She suddenly felt the air around her seem to stop flowing, thickening into something eerie, akin to falling into a bottomless pool of bl**d.
Immediately after, whispers echoed in her ears, seductive yet tinged with madness.
The whispers were conveying incomprehensible messages, making her head feel as if it would explode, and her thoughts began to drift away. Soon, she found herself viewing the most terrifying image of her life.
She saw a girl in tattered clothes hugging a brand-new Mr. Rabbit doll, happily sitting on the grass atop a mountain ridge.
For some reason, the girl suddenly began to laugh, as if going mad, gradually tearing the doll apart piece by piece, pulling it apart with her hands, biting it with her teeth, ripping it open, tearing off its limbs, and pulling off its ears and eyeballs.
During this process, Miss Rabbit felt a heart-wrenching pain, as if her own body was being torn apart.
“Bang—!”
A dull sound rang out, as if a pry bar had come from nowhere, striking heavily on the girl’s head.
Once, twice, three times…
bl**d splattered everywhere.
The girl collapsed, her eyes wide open, gradually losing their sparkle, and then her body was dragged away by a shadowy figure that attacked her, moving towards the distant woods.
bl**d trailed behind, creating a long mark on the ground.
It stained the grass, the wildflowers, and the torn-up Mr. Rabbit…
This is a story of a girl who, after much suffering, was lured to her d*ath by a perverse preacher with a fancy toy, witnessed entirely by “Mr. Rabbit,” who silently watched the killer’s face.
In the dim daylight, crows cawed loudly on the branches, as if saying it too was an accomplice.
Thus, when the girl returned once more, as a reward, it became her familiar and her favorite toy.
This is the story of how Mu Se was born, and it remains Miss Rabbit’s greatest psychological shadow…
