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Xiulan stepped down from the crenellation. Mei Chen pressed close behind her, frost spreading beneath her feet across the stone. A deep, inhuman growl rumbled from her throat as she tracked the approaching cultivators.

"Easy." Xiulan patted Mei Chen’s shoulder. The ghostly cold penetrated even through her spiritual robe.

Heavy footsteps thundered across the battlement as Wei Kang arrived, ritual scars pulsing with earth qi. Liu Shui glided up beside him, her scholarly robes rippling with water energy. The Li twins materialized from the shadows, their matching green tunics making them near-identical in the darkness. Sun Gai hobbled forward, his charm-adorned staff clicking against the stone.

Ming Lihua’s purple robes caught the lightning flashes as she surveyed the assembled defenders. All eyes turned to her—at foundation forming she had the highest cultivation among them.

"Listen carefully." Ming’s voice cut through the thunder. "I’ll hold center position on the gate and engage whoever their center is."

She pointed to Xiulan and Mei Chen. "You two form our front line." She glanced at the others. "Liu Shui, Wei Kang, Sun Gai—support formation array behind them. Coordinate your elements."

The Li twins straightened as she turned to them. "You two will act as a mobile unit. Go after anyone attempting to flank the group."

The two men nodded.

"Zhang Huo." Ming fixed the grizzled veteran with a stern look. "Coordinate archer support from the walls. You’re our last line to prevent infiltration into the city."

Xiulan nodded—she couldn’t think of any better options. The formation leveraged their limited numbers effectively, though being at the front made her feel nervous.

Wind whipped at her robes as she leapt from the battlements. The impact sent vibrations through her body. Mei Chen landed beside her without a sound.

Above them, Ming’s talismans blazed to life. The papers spun around her, spiritual energy pulsing through the array like a heartbeat.

Xiulan took position, Severing Light held ready. Mei Chen crouched at her side.

Behind them, the defensive formation took shape. Wei Kang planted his feet, earth qi flowing through his ritual scars. His power reached out to Liu Shui’s water techniques, compressing and directing her spiritual energy through carefully controlled pressure. The concentrated stream fed into Sun Gai’s wood element at the triangle’s apex, his staff glowing with amplified natural energy.

Blue-white bolts of qi streaked toward them through the darkness. A translucent barrier materialized inches from Xiulan’s face, dispersing the attack. Mei Chen darted forward, placing herself between Xiulan and the enemy cultivators. Looking back, Xiulan spotted Ming holding a crackling talisman aloft, her other hand tracing symbols in the air.

Flaming crossbow bolts from Zhang Huo’s position illuminated the night. In response, ethereal azure birds manifested from the enemy ranks, intercepting the arrows in a cascade of spiritual detonations.

"Ready your ice weapons," Xiulan commanded.

"Yes miss." Mei Chen’s inhuman growl carried the promise of violence as her fingers turned into claws.

An enemy cultivator glowing blue rose up into the air. Azure spheres of concentrated qi streaked from them toward Ming. She countered with crackling talismans, each impact releasing thunderous booms.

A second figure joined the first, cloaked in red and black. A blood-red mist snaked forward to breach Ming’s defenses, forcing her to leap backward as it corroded the stone where she stood. A gold pressure wave flung the red droplets away from the city.

Below, Sun Gai slammed his staff into the ground. Thick roots erupted from the earth, wrapping around the charging cultivators’ legs. A warrior wielding a flame spear burned through the entangling vegetation with sweeping arcs of fire. Another spun a heavy wooden staff, crushing the growing tendrils.

Xiulan breathed deeply, drawing in opposing energies. Yin flowed cold and dark through her left side while yang blazed bright and hot through her right. The energies built until they threatened to tear her apart. She grabbed two iron darts from her belt, channeling the separated forces into each—positive into one, negative into the other.

"Thunder God Splits the Sky and Fucks You Up!" Xiulan hurled the positively charged dart high into the air above the enemy formation. The negatively charged dart followed, striking the ground at their feet.

Metal spears burst from the earth around the enemy cultivators, forming a cage of steel. Lightning arced between the positive and negative focal points, using the metal as conductors. The enemy scattered from the cage after the discharge like startled birds through open bars, splitting into three groups.

Three of them charged directly at her and Mei Chen, weapons raised and qi flaring.

Another group moved to go around them. The flame spearman and heavy staff user angled directly for Sun Gai’s formation.

On the flank, two figures blurred through the shadows. One carried twin short swords that left trails of spiritual light, while the other seemed to melt between patches of darkness. The Li twins responded in perfect sync, green qi surging through their hands. Vines erupted, forcing their attackers into a deadly dance of blades and botanical barriers.

From his position on the wall, Zhang Huo directed volleys at a robed figure who conjured translucent azure beasts. Each spectral creature—bears, wolves, and tigers—intercepted arrows meant for the other enemy cultivators before dissipating into wisps of spiritual energy.

Frost crackled across Mei Chen’s skin as she thrust both hands forward. A wave of jagged ice erupted from the ground, rushing toward the three attackers aimed for her. Xiulan stepped up and channeled lightning through Severing Light and stabbed it into the frozen barrier. Blue electricity danced across the crystalline surface.

The enemy center spearman responded as soon as the attack reached him by plunging his own spear into the electrified ice. The weapon glowed with a blue pulse, and the frozen wall split apart like shattered glass. The electricity dispersed harmlessly into the night air.

Xiulan cursed and adjusted her stance. Another spearman, and he had Ice control to counter Mei Chen…

Metal screeched beneath her feet. Xiulan leapt backward as the metal spikes punched upward through the dirt, forming a deadly line that raced toward her position. Mei Chen bounded away in the opposite direction, her supernatural grace carrying her clear of danger.

A whisper of movement caught Xiulan’s attention. Moonlight glinted off a chain as it whipped through the air toward her. The curved sickle at its end spun straight for her throat. Black robes marked another Whispering Shadows assassin emerging from the darkness.

Xiulan snapped Severing Light up to intercept and the weapons connected with a metallic ring. She twisted her wrist, redirecting the chain’s momentum. The sickle spun harmlessly past her shoulder and dug into the earth.

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A sharp yank on the chain forced her to dive sideways. The assassin whirled the weapon in tight circles, creating a deadly web of metal links that kept her dancing backward.

Each time she tried to close the distance to spear range, the chain snapped out in unpredictable patterns. Severing Light deflected the strikes, but the constant defensive maneuvers prevented her from mounting an effective counter-attack.

Nearby, Mei Chen engaged the other two cultivators. The spearman jabbed and thrust with precise strikes, forcing her to stay beyond arm’s reach. Behind him, his partner manipulated streams of metallic qi that coalesced into deadly spikes. The projectiles pierced Mei Chen’s ghostly form, but her ice armor absorbed each impact in crystalline bursts.

"Damn it." Xiulan ducked another chain sweep. The constant pressure left no opening to help Mei Chen.

She clapped her hands together. "Thunder God Claps for Arrogant Young Masters!"

A vortex of wind erupted between her palms. The assassin rolled beneath the attack, chain spinning to maintain momentum.

Xiulan repeated the technique, but this time palmed two iron darts. Lightning crackled along the metal as she infused them with opposing charges. The projectiles disappeared into the wind vortex.

The assassin dodged again—but the electrically charged darts conducted through the air and found his metal chain. Blue sparks raced along the links. His body convulsed as the current surged through him.

Xiulan lunged forward, Severing Light aimed at his throat only to be halted as a sickly green cloud exploded in front of her face. The poison cloud burned her eyes and filled her lungs with each breath.

Almost immediately a responding turqoise mist washed over Xiulan, clearing her burning lungs. Liu Shui’s healing technique dispersed the poison cloud rapidly.

Through watering eyes, Xiulan spotted the defensive triangle broken apart. Sun Gai had abandoned his root strategy against the flame spearman’s relentless attacks.

Instead, Wei Kang’s ritual scars blazed golden, mountain-shaped tattoos pulsing with earth qi. Each step slammed spiritual pressure into the ground, forcing the flame spearman to dodge and weave. Sun Gai spun his wooden staff in tight circles, matching the staff cultivator’s weapon strike for strike.

Xiulan lunged for the chain-wielding assassin as he staggered upright. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal links. One sharp yank pulled him off balance.

Black orbs rolled from his sleeves. Xiulan’s eyes widened as spiritual energy surged within the spheres. The explosion threw them both backward. Her shoulder slammed into the ground, and she skid several feet across stone.

A feral screech split the air. Mei Chen’s form arced overhead, frost trailing in her wake. She crashed onto the assassin like a predator claiming prey. Ice-covered claws ripped through flesh and cloth. Blood sprayed as she shredded him in a savage frenzy.

"Thanks—" Xiulan’s words died as she spotted the spearman materialize behind Mei Chen.

His ice-wreathed weapon pierced straight through her ice armor defenses and a crystalline spear tip erupted from her chest.

Thunder crackled overhead as Ming Lihua exchanged devastating blows with her two opponents. Their battle lit the night sky in strobes of crimson and gold.

The flashes illuminated a sight that froze Xiulan’s blood.

The ice spear protruded through Mei Chen’s chest, frost spreading across her body. Xiulan forced herself to her feet using Severing Light’s shaft and stumbled forward.

The spearman yanked his weapon free with a cruel twist. His next strike whistled through the air straight at Xiulan’s head. Mei Chen spun impossibly fast, catching the blade between frost-covered claws with an inhuman screech.

Xiulan pulled two iron darts, charging them with opposing qi. She launched them toward the spearman, but steel spikes intercepted the projectiles mid-flight. The metal manipulator leapt at her, twin steel poles whistling through the air.

His attack was thwarted as a massive azure tiger slammed into her side. Xiulan shoved her weapon’s shaft into its spiritual jaws, keeping razor fangs from her throat. Heat washed over her as a fire explosion lit up the night nearby. The beast’s spectral weight crushed down as the metal cultivator repositioned to swing two steel poles toward her head.

No time to think. Pure instinct drove her to slam her heels into the ground.

"Water Stepping Foot!" The earth erupted beneath her, sending the steel user flying. Earth and stone sprayed outward from the impact disintegrating the spirit beast.

She spun toward Mei Chen. The ice spear flashed in the thunderlight opening Mei Chen’s throat and gliding down the front of her robes.

"No!" Xiulan screamed.

Qingfeng’s warning echoed through Xiulan’s mind as the golden medallion arced through the air and clattered to the ground.

She can’t remove it herself.

The ice spearman stepped back from Mei Chen’s form as it crumpled. He pivoted toward Xiulan again.

Blue mist erupted from Mei Chen’s mouth and eyes like pressurized steam. The ethereal vapor coalesced into a spike that punched through the spearman’s back. His eyes widened as he stared at Xiulan, mouth opening in a silent scream.

Xiulan winced. Turning your back to the enemy twice in the same fight is a bad habit.

The blue mist expanded inside him with explosive force, rupturing flesh and bone outward in a violent spray.

Nearby the steel user scrambled to his feet. A tendril of blue vapor shot out, wrapping around his torso. The mist lifted him skyward before slamming him into the ground with bone-crushing force. Steel qi swirled around him, forcing the grip on him away, but more tendrils ensnared the makeshift armor. The mist hurled the steel cocoon in a massive arc that disappeared beyond the southern mountains.

Xiulan rushed to Mei Chen’s side. Deep gashes carved by the ice spear marred her body, but no blood flowed from the wounds. Something she had known, but not quite processed the entire time flashed—Mei Chen had been a corpse all along.

She pulled out a spirit stone, attempting the first aid technique Ren Chun taught her. The stone remained inert in her palm. Of course—healing couldn’t restore what was already dead.

The blue mist descended, enveloping Xiulan in its ethereal embrace. The vapor felt warm against her skin, not the biting cold she expected.

"Mei Chen?"

Xiulan. The thought resonated directly in her mind, clear as spoken words.

The mist spiraled around her body in a hypnotic dance. A glowing blue orb materialized beside her, hovering at shoulder height. Xiulan blinked at the luminescent sphere—Mei Chen’s core pulsed with gentle light.

Understanding washed over Xiulan as she stared. The physical form had merely housed Mei Chen’s true essence—this luminous spiritual core pulsing with energy.

She extended her palm and Mei Chen drifted down, settling against her skin with a warmth that radiated through her entire arm. It clung to her, sending waves of comfort through their connection.

Lightning split the sky above. Xiulan lifted her gaze to track Ming Lihua’s desperate battle. Golden talismans spun in diminishing circles around her—only half remained of her original array. Though Ming’s spiritual pressure still blazed strong, the blood cultivator and qi breaker pressed their advantage with increasing ferocity.

The Li twins stood locked in their standoff against the shadow walker and swordsman. All four cultivators showed signs of exhaustion—labored breathing, sluggish movements, depleted qi reserves.

Near the city wall, the support group had deteriorated. Wei Kang slumped against a broken section of stone, spiritual energy drained from overusing his golden mountain techniques. Liu Shui stood guard over him, launching crystalline water darts at the flame spearman creating a rising steam cloud.

Sun Gai remained rooted in place, his wooden staff driven into the ground as thick roots wrestled with the enemy staff user’s own root technique in an organic wrestling match.

Toxic green vapor rolled across the battlements. Zhang Huo’s flames cut swaths through the poison mist, preventing it from reaching the city proper. But spirit beasts scaled the walls unchecked—spectral claws and fangs tearing into the mortal defenders as they desperately sought to repel them.

Below the chaos, Xiulan spotted their summoner. The spirit beast summoner stood shoulder to shoulder with the poison master, both maintaining their techniques from a position of assumed safety.

Xiulan gripped Severing Light with both hands. The spectral orb of Mei Chen pulsed against her palm before flowing outward, wrapping the weapon in a corona of ethereal frost.