Chapter 11655 — Which One It Actually Was

At some point, a long sword had appeared in Qi Zhuiyun's hand, stabbing straight for Li Hongshou's throat.

Li Hongshou was not merely still lost in her frenzy—even at her most lucid and at the peak of her powers, she could never have withstood this desperate surprise attack from Qi Zhuiyun on her own.

At the final moment, Li Hongshou finally snapped awake, a flicker of astonishment flashing through her eyes.

Instinctively, she looked in Zhang Tailing's direction.

"Master..."

Having come this far, she had long since resigned herself to death, but that did not mean she was incapable of terror, incapable of fear.

However formidable a master might be, when they truly reached death's threshold, they would still be afraid.

The fear of death and of the unknown was the most primal of biological instincts.

Yet more shocking to Li Hongshou than the fear of death was her master Zhang Tailing's attitude.

Even an outsider like Wei Zhao could see it—how could she, the person most familiar with Zhang Tailing, fail to sense his wavering at this moment?

Li Hongshou had imagined every possible scenario, but never once had she imagined that she would be abandoned by Zhang Tailing.

Clang!

A sharp ring stopped Qi Zhuiyun's blade at the last possible instant.

In the end, Zhang Tailing had still made his move.

Looking at her master standing before her, Li Hongshou broke into a gratified smile.

From childhood to adulthood, her master had never refused a single request of hers; no matter how willful she was, he would always indulge her to the end.

Her master was still her master—he had not changed.

Qi Zhuiyun was naturally no match for Zhang Tailing; in a single exchange, he was blasted away once more.

And that was the result of Zhang Tailing holding back again and again.

Had he truly struck with full force, given the gulf in their strength, Qi Zhuiyun would have been killed in a single blow as surely as could be.

The worth of a peak early-stage Venerable of the Heaven Rank was not something just anyone could casually lay claim to.

Twice now he had merely been blasted back, suffering no serious injury beyond some indignity—Zhang Tailing had clearly gone easy on him.

Seeing this, the Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate was filled with disappointment.

Qi Zhuiyun's surprise attack had failed this time, and with the other side now on guard, there would be no further opportunities to come.

If things continued to develop along this path, it was hard to say what the Inner Royal Court would become, but at the very least their Prince of Qi's Estate was now thoroughly caught in a dead end, with not the slightest chance of turning things around.

But at that moment, Li Hongshou's expression changed abruptly, and she looked at her own abdomen in disbelief.

At some unknown point, a short blade had been buried there.

"Master, you..."

Li Hongshou turned to Zhang Tailing, shocked beyond words.

Of everyone present, she was without question the weakest in strength, yet given her identity and background, she was not someone who could simply be killed at will.

She had any number of life-preserving trump cards.

Even without Zhang Tailing stepping in just now, she might not have died for certain; in the end it would have come down to whether Qi Zhuiyun could break through her life-preserving trump cards.

But this one blade had pierced straight through the vital point of her fate palace, ignoring every life-preserving trump card she had. It was a killing strike beyond all recovery.

Even in death Li Hongshou could not believe that the one who had finally turned on her was her own master.

Zhang Tailing did not turn his head. He sighed and said, "Foolish child, you went too far. Do not blame your master."

The breath around Li Hongshou dispersed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye she had become a lifeless corpse.

Everyone present was stunned into silence.

Ruthless decisiveness may be a required course for any great figure, but from Zhang Tailing's standpoint, personally killing his last disciple still gave everyone a genuine shock.

Even Wei Zhao could not help but regard Zhang Tailing with a shade of something strange in his eyes.

This Daoist was far more vicious than he had anticipated.

It had to be said that his immortal bearing and air of Daoist austerity were indeed highly deceptive; even Wei Zhao had been misled by them.

Seeing this, the Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate was overjoyed and praised him repeatedly: "Daoist Zhang is a man of lofty righteousness!"

With Li Hongshou dead, there was a chance to shut the space gate, and the crisis could be eased on the spot.

Though the peril facing the Prince of Qi's Estate would not end there, at least there was a turning point. From here on, if matters were handled well, it was not impossible for them to have the last laugh.

On paper at least, whether it was Wei Zhao or Zhang Tailing, there was still a clear gap between them and the combined strength of the Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate and his allies.

Unless Wei Zhao and Zhang Tailing joined forces.

That could indeed bring utter ruin upon the Prince of Qi's Estate—but clearly they would never be given such an opportunity.

Yet just as the Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate was scheming how to sow discord and make Wei Zhao and Zhang Tailing fight first, an accident occurred without the slightest warning.

Half of the tall elder's head was suddenly bitten off.

Looking at the tall elder, who in an instant had been left with only half a head, everyone present felt their hair stand on end as one.

The tall elder did not die on the spot. He remained in his original posture, letting out a hoarse, agonized howl.

And the crimson ape behind him still held its biting pose, its mouth smeared with blood and horrifying fragments of facial features.

This scene, even with Wei Zhao's current mental fortitude, gave him in an instant the distinct feeling of being back in childhood, forced by the old man to watch all manner of horror films.

Officially it was to toughen him up; in reality, it was scare-you-to-death-with-no-mercy.

If this scene were ever broadcast publicly, who knows how many people would be left with a lifelong psychological scar.

Still, given the tall elder's formidable vitality, even with half his head gone, he was able to maintain normal vital signs.

It did not even affect their war of attrition against Wei Zhao.

But if he took another blow like that, until his entire head was gnawed away, that would be another matter entirely.

At that moment, the short elder, watching from another angle, suddenly cried out in alarm: "Look!"

Everyone turned to look. The space gate above had not closed as they had expected; instead, it was rapidly expanding!

Meanwhile, the bronze mirror that Li Hongshou had been holding was now in Zhang Tailing's hands, and the blood on its surface had clearly been wiped away entirely.

By any normal logic, Li Hongshou herself was dead; without her blood as a catalyst, the bronze mirror should no longer have taken effect.

Zhang Tailing had personally killed Li Hongshou precisely with that consideration in mind.

Yet now, things had turned out nothing like that at all.

For a moment, Zhang Tailing's expression was extraordinarily complicated.

He had steeled himself to kill his own disciple with his own hands, and the situation had only grown worse—did that not make him a living, breathing clown?

As the space gate rapidly expanded, the sense of danger everyone felt began to surge exponentially!

In the space of mere seconds, three more crimson apes descended.

Altogether, there were now seven of them on the scene!

Four had already been more than they could handle, and the tall elder had had half his head gnawed off outright; now that the number had jumped to seven, the pressure naturally spiked sharply!