Before the Iron-masked Man's voice even faded, Ye Fan's Inner World was already churning like boiling water. His combat instincts from his past life in the Inquiry Realm surged up along with his memories. His right hand gripped the dragon-head carving of the Jiuxiao Huanpei, and as the strings vibrated, a wisp of the intangible Power of the Heavenly Dao seeped through his fingertips into the body of the zither—a sign that his Unity of Heaven and Man talent was activating.
Chǔ Hóngzhuāng dug her nails into her palms, leaving crescent-shaped marks. The Iron-masked Man's face reminded her of when she was twelve, when her mother had fallen in a pool of blood; back then, another half-ashen face had leaned down, using a poison-coated dagger to sever her mother's throat. The silver threads of her Thousand-Thread Gu rustled in her sleeves, and seven red butterflies suddenly flew out from her hair, forming a butterfly array around the Iron-masked Man—her signature trap.
"Little bastard, your mother's blood is still on my knife." The Iron-masked Man's raspy laugh sounded like sandpaper scraping across wood. His poisoned dagger traced a dark blue arc, aiming straight for Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's throat. The four men in black behind him scattered simultaneously; two of them lashed out with barbed iron chains toward Ye Fan's legs, while the other two each gripped ceramic jars filled with Bone-Corroding Gu.
Chapter 144