Watching Taowu stagger with an unsteady gait and a disorderly stride, Xiaoyao felt a stirring in her heart. She raised a hand to summon her small white bow, drew it back with an arrow notched, and let fly. With a "swish," the shaft struck true, piercing the left eye of Taotie. Blood immediately gushed out in a bubbling stream like a freshly opened spring, and the giant beast instantly began stamping its feet and pounding its chest in agony, howling like a ghost.
Without taking time for thought, Xiaoyao seized the moment while Qiongqi was descending, vaulted into the air, and executed a swift Milky-Way-Cascade maneuver. With vicious speed, she drove an arrow deep into a patch of tender flesh at the base of its wing. The force was merciless and instantaneous, cleanly severing the wing from the body so that only a sliver of flesh held it attached. A sudden mountain gust swept past, and blood sprayed in a torrential cascade.
Intent only on stealing a strike amid the chaos, Xiaoyao finished the Milky-Way-Cascade technique only to find herself stepping on empty air. Panic set in, and once more her internal energy refused to obey her. As she plunged downward, she shrieked in sheer terror. Hearing her cries, Xiangliu quickly swung one of his heads around to catch her, taking care to pull back his heavy scales for fear of scraping her. Though his head was slick, Xiaoyao had spent years riding out on his head for fun; she flipped herself over and wrapped her arms around him in a tigh…
Chapter 277