A chilling killing intent enveloped the man like a tide.
Tang Sui, with veins bulging on the back of her hand, forcefully pulled out the spear deeply embedded in her left shoulder blade. Her right leg swept out and fell, and in the blink of an eye, she was behind the man.
Her right fingers parted slightly, and the spear, like a magic wand, was reversed by Tang Sui with a twirl. With a "plop" and a viscous sound, the man's body froze in place, the tip of a slender blade piercing through the back of his neck.
Tang Sui gripped the spear tightly, the sharp blade rotating cruelly, twisting the man's neck from the inside out.
A fresh, headless corpse was immediately produced.
The severed head rolled a short distance away, its face seemingly fixed in a carved smile, grinning even in death. Yet, an expression of disbelief remained in its eyes, as if it had never expected to be killed in return.
"Drip, drip,"
Scarlet blood dripped from the tip of the spear, like a faucet not fully turned off, flowing torrentially.
As the man completely lost his life and his headless body, propelled by inertia, pitched forward, Tang Sui, who had remained in her piercing stance, almost stumbled as the suddenly falling man became an obstruction.
"Bang!"
The sharp spearhead struck the wooden floor, producing a dull thud.
"Hiss..."
Tang Sui gasped for air with difficulty. Her left shoulder blade, pierced with a gaping wound, was already a bloody mess.
If one were to look at it under the light, the faint outline of bone could be seen, connected to shallowly pulsing blood vessels and muscles, continuously oozing viscous blood.
Tang Sui's left arm trembled slightly, her teeth grinding against her lips, almost biting them until they bled.
She raised her right hand and pressed several acupoints on her shoulder blade with her cold fingertips.
These were the acupoints her brother had told her about when he wanted to teach her the Ghost Shadow Footwork, along with the effects of various points on the human body's acupuncture chart.
The points she pressed now could temporarily block the flow of blood towards her left shoulder blade, reducing the possibility of death from excessive blood loss. However, this also rendered her left arm useless and immobile.
Tang Sui's right hand, gripping her left arm, tightened slightly then loosened. She looked at the undeniably dead man's corpse, pulled out the spear that had pierced his neck, and used her leg to flip him over. His robes... were indeed from the Spirit Hall.
Her gaze slowly moved upwards, settling on the severed head.
Scarlet blood, like fallen petals, stained more than half of his handsome features. His face was frozen in shock, giving him an inexplicably fierce appearance.
"This face..."
Tang Sui's mind sifted through countless faces she had seen, but none matched.
She was certain she hadn't seen him before.
Suddenly, the sound of a sliding door echoed from the depths of the long, winding corridor.
Tang Sui looked up. The myriad of masks, clinging to the ceiling or doorframes, stared at her with their creepy, narrow eyeholes. Doors leading to other walkways were pulled open by the masks, revealing another deep, dark passage.
It was just as dark, its end unseen.
"Drip, drip, drip,"
Rhythmic footsteps seemed to be slowly approaching.
Tang Sui's gaze, devoid of any warmth, swept over the headless corpse on the ground. She tightened her grip on the spear, adjusted her breathing, and pressed herself against the sliding doors on either side, maintaining just enough distance to react and retreat.
She had no idea what lay here, nor if these sliding doors would suddenly be pulled open by another presence, catching her off guard.
From the moment she had opened her eyes and woken up, Tang Sui realized that her mental power, demonic energy, and soul power were all sealed.
Only her most basic martial arts remained.
But this did not change her current predicament, surrounded on all sides.
Tang Sui, pressed motionlessly against the sliding doors, mentally calculated the distance and arrival time of the approaching footsteps based on their intervals.
Tang Sui held her breath, striving to maintain her composure, keeping her heart and pulse from beating too violently.
"Drip,"
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.
Tang Sui clenched the spear in her hand, her muscles tensing.
"Clatter!"
The sound of a sliding door being forcefully pulled open rang out from beside her.
What?!
Tang Sui, intending to retreat in shock, was horrified to realize that the interval between the footsteps did not match her calculated time to exit the area!
Tang Sui instinctively swung her spear, but as she raised her eyes, a dazzling white light flashed from the opened door in the darkness, as if she had been hit by a mental attack. Vertigo washed over her, and her vision turned black.
A tearing sound echoed from in front of her. Before her vision fully returned, Tang Sui, relying on the muscle memory forged through countless battles, darted towards a blind spot at a diagonal angle.
Her numb left arm brushed against a hard, uneven surface, cold and familiar, and with a feeling of... something living wriggling.
The focus in her dark blue eyes realigned, and Tang Sui finally saw the interior of the opened sliding door.
She had lunged to the side of a small room, pressed against a wall covered with masks.
"Gaa gaa..."
A shiver of killing intent, accompanied by a hoarse laugh, enveloped Tang Sui.
Her gaze, involuntarily drawn to and captivated by the wall of masks, snapped back to attention as scarlet starlight shot into her vision.
"Hiss!"
A sharp pain struck her chest.
Tang Sui's pupils widened, her efforts to discern the figure standing against the light who had killed her in vain.
However, her vision, like last time, slowly descended, only managing to see a pair of simple, common boots.
They were high-heeled...
Seeing her fall, the person was not afraid of her retaliating with an explosion and directly squatted down, then pushed her body aside.
With her perspective forced to change, Tang Sui's lips trembled. In her peripheral vision, she glimpsed the person picking up her spear.
This guy...
"Hoo~"
Perhaps because she was closer to the ground, the sound of air circulation became clearer.
Hearing the faint breeze, Tang Sui struggled to turn her gaze, meeting a plain wooden wall with no flaws or markings, or more accurately, a sliding door.
She noticed that this sliding door was not fully closed, but left a dark gap, and within that darkness, a pair of golden-red eyes opened.
They watched Tang Sui's miserable state and slowly blinked at her.
Tang Sui, seeing the malice churning within those eyes clearly, opened her mouth but could not utter a sound.
Could it be that...
The space... and time here are all muddled...
Realizing this, the light in Tang Sui's eyes began to fade, finally disappearing into the orange-yellow glow emanating from the door.
The eyes of the masks covering the entire wall stared at Tang Sui's disappearing life signs, like indifferent spectators in a theater, showing no concern for the tragic performance.
The world returned to darkness.
Only the scorched marks on the wooden door, seemingly burned by something, and the scattered crimson stains on the ground indicated what had transpired.