After Rebirth, the Love-Struck Cannon Fodder Woke Up - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Escaping Danger

◎ Fighting a Powerful Enemy Together, Jointly Breaking the Array ◎

Affected by the aftermath of the attack, the protective spiritual light around Du Lianxin flickered, showing signs of instability after just a few breaths.

The enemy was unexpectedly powerful, far beyond Shen Anlan’s previous judgment of the Early-Stage Golden Core or below.

After the jet-black blade of light appeared, it cleaved the ground and then froze, its terrifying aura continuously spreading outwards.

After about ten breaths, the blade of light slowly dissipated.

Shen Anlan, having been pushed away by Du Lianxin earlier, avoided the fatal blow. She now flew to the side of the collapsed girl, quickly picked her up, and retreated into the distance.

On the other side, Feng Ruo also encountered a similar attack.

This woman possessed an abundance of protective magic artifacts. Although her reaction was slow, she relied on her collection of treasures to survive the danger with only minor injuries.

After the sudden turn of events, the three quickly converged inside the formation.

Seeing Shen Anlan, a flicker of anger crossed Feng Ruo’s face.

“Fellow Daoist Shen, this is what you meant by ‘no problem’? Judging by the might of the attack just now, the enemy’s cultivation is at least above Nascent Soul, and most likely a Body Integration cultivator!”

Feng Ruo grew up pampered, holding a position of reverence in the Demonic Sect. No one had ever dared to attack her.

It was safe to say that today was the first time she had faced a life-or-death crisis. If not for the powerful treasure left by her mother, even if she hadn’t died, she would have lost half her life.

Shen Anlan’s brows were tightly knitted at the moment.

“Previously, in my perception, there really were no powerful enemies present, unless…”

Feng Ruo raised an eyebrow and pressed, “Unless what?”

Shen Anlan stated concisely, “Someone used a spell to conceal the Heavenly Secrets and blind my sense.”

Hearing this, Feng Ruo suppressed the anger in her heart, her expression gradually becoming solemn.

“Concealing the Heavenly Secrets comes at a considerable cost. What is the enemy’s purpose for doing this?”

Du Lianxin’s attention was not on the conversation between the two but on recalling the scenes that had flashed in her mind earlier.

The scenes showed the moment when she and Shen Anlan were struck by the blade of light.

Unlike reality, in the vision, they failed to evade the attack and both perished.

It was precisely the perception of these scenes that led to Du Lianxin’s subsequent actions.

If this perception was not a coincidence, did it mean that after her rebirth, she had awakened the ability to predict danger?

Shen Anlan saw her maintaining silence, worried that she was injured, and was about to check her condition when, the next moment, an anomaly reappeared within the formation.

The rolling dense fog converged in one spot, forming a colossal skull.

A sharp, piercing shriek instantly erupted, directly attacking the trio’s divine senses.

Shen Anlan reacted incredibly fast. She had encountered this tactic during her past external training. Thus, the moment the skull condensed, she quickly cast a spell to seal off her and Junior Sister Du’s hearing.

The lower the cultivation, the harder it is to resist divine sense attacks. Doing this minimized the damage to the greatest extent.

As for Feng Ruo, she was slow to react. The moment she was hit by the divine sense attack, her face immediately turned pale, and her body staggered, clearly having suffered a significant injury.

With a powerful enemy before them, she gritted her teeth and endured the pain, her eyes suddenly becoming fierce as she looked at the giant skull.

As the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, she was never a kind-hearted person. Anything that harmed her would be repaid a hundredfold.

The skull belonged to the Yin element and was most vulnerable to objects of extreme Yang. She happened to have such a treasure in her spatial ring.

However, the creature’s oppressive power was immense. It would be difficult to succeed with just her alone.

Thinking this, Feng Ruo immediately looked at Shen Anlan and transmitted a message: “I will throw a treasure at the skull shortly. Fellow Daoist Shen, use this opportunity to strike it down with your sword!”

The message had just ended when a response came through her sea of consciousness.

Shen Anlan agreed to the joint action.

Beside them, Du Lianxin looked at the giant skull, and scenes from her mind flashed again.

The vision showed Feng Ruo throwing a glowing golden relic at the skull, only for the latter to swallow it instead.

The skull’s oppressive power surged as a result, effortlessly blocking the sword light Shen Anlan cleaved out. Its formerly hollow eyes shot out two beams of gray-gold light, instantly piercing through the bodies of Feng Ruo and Shen Anlan.

Then, she was caught in the aftershock and lost her life.

Seeing this scenario, Du Lianxin inwardly exclaimed, Oh no.

Seeing Feng Ruo already taking action, she secretly channeled her spiritual power, took off the jade bracelet on her wrist, and quickly threw it at the golden-glowing relic that had already been tossed out.

With a loud bang, the jade bracelet struck the relic, splitting into several pieces and falling to the ground.

Halted by this force, the relic’s momentum drastically decreased and it began to fall downward.

Seeing this unexpected development, Feng Ruo was utterly shocked. She immediately turned to look at the intervening Du Lianxin, about to question her, when a powerful suction force suddenly came from above.

The fallen relic was re-sucked into the air, flying toward the giant skull.

Feng Ruo was not foolish. Seeing this, she immediately realized that the treasure she believed could severely wound the enemy would, instead, augment its power.

She immediately attacked, unleashing a decisive killer move aimed at the relic, attempting to destroy it.

At the same time, Shen Anlan held her sword in her right hand, and a heaven-and-earth-piercing sword light instantly cleaved out, easily penetrating the relic and striking the giant skull’s brow.

Du Lianxin seized this opportunity, waved her sleeve, retrieved the more than two hundred Fireball Talismans she had drawn these days, activated them all, and threw them at the skull.

For a moment, flames scattered across the sky.

The skull, already severely injured and weakened by Shen Anlan’s strike, which hit its vital point, was now engulfed in flames, letting out a piercing shriek.

This shriek was different from the previous one. It contained no divine sense attack, causing little effect on Du Lianxin.

At this moment, Shen Anlan struck again, cleaving out a sword imbued with fierce killing intent, instantly hitting the skull’s brow.

Accompanied by another agonizing shriek, the colossal skull slowly dissipated into ash.

The dense fog completely dispersed at this moment.

The three seized the opportunity to head separately to the formation’s core and the only defensive node, successfully breaking the bizarre illusion array.

Du Lianxin instinctively felt that someone was controlling the giant skull from behind. She didn’t know why the person hadn’t appeared, seemingly wary of something.

The previous encounter was filled with manifold killing intent.

If she hadn’t awakened the ability to predict danger, she would have likely been killed.

As of now, the enemy’s intention was clear: to kill them, though she didn’t know if they were targeting all three or just one or two of them.

After breaking the formation, Feng Ruo walked up to Du Lianxin, her eyes filled with curiosity.

“Miss Du, how did you figure out that the relic would actually augment the skull’s power?”

Du Lianxin did not intend to reveal her ability to predict danger to outsiders, choosing a plausible excuse instead.

“It was just an inner feeling that something was wrong. Seeing the relic fly toward the skull, I felt that something extremely bad would happen.”

Feng Ruo listened, not doubting her, and only nodded secretly.

Thinking of the damaged jade bracelet she had gifted earlier, she waved her sleeve and took out a new one. Just as she was about to put it on the girl, the girl saw her action and stepped away.

Feng Ruo was very displeased. Was she that scary?

Worrying that her anger would frighten this little white rabbit, she quickly adjusted her emotions and put on her usual smile.

“Miss Du, we owe you a great debt for your help this time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable. It is only right that I gift you a treasure.”

Du Lianxin didn’t think so.

Her previous actions were primarily to save herself.

Once the skull had swallowed the relic, its power would have surged, and she wouldn’t have been able to escape either.

Furthermore, the defensive jade bracelet that was destroyed was intended to be returned after the formation was broken.

As it stood now, in her view, the broken defensive jade bracelet was roughly equivalent to the grace of her indirectly saving them.

Under this premise, accepting another gift was inappropriate.

Moreover, Du Lianxin did not want to be further entangled with Feng Ruo. She was fundamentally unwilling to accept anything from the other party.

After this incident, combined with the information she sensed in the ethereal realm just before her death in the previous life, she vaguely understood one thing: staying with the two ‘protagonists of the book’ would likely lead to much hardship. Staying away was the most correct choice.

Thinking this, she carefully opened her mouth: “My actions just now were insignificant. Furthermore, a jade bracelet was already destroyed earlier. I absolutely cannot accept another gift from Senior.”

Hearing the extremely courteous yet clearly distant words, Feng Ruo was very unhappy.

With her intelligence, she could naturally see the girl’s resistance toward her. However, she wasn’t someone who gave up easily.

Speaking again, she deliberately laced her words with a hint of sorrow.

“Is Miss Du upset with me?”

Du Lianxin quickly shook her head. “Of course not. Senior is overthinking it.”

She muttered inwardly, Even if I were, I wouldn’t say it outright. After all, the difference in their cultivation levels was significant.

Shen Anlan didn’t know Feng Ruo’s true identity, but she knew it clearly.

To be the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, she couldn’t possibly be simple and harmless. If she truly offended the other party, it would lead to endless trouble and likely bring about her death.

Feng Ruo didn’t believe her words. Seeing the girl’s resistance become even more apparent, she simply stepped forward, took the girl’s right wrist, and was about to put the new bracelet on when, the next moment, she was blocked by Shen Anlan.

A voice devoid of emotion immediately reached her ear.

“The formation is broken, and the crisis is over. Junior Sister Du has the lotus hairpin for defense. There’s no need for Fellow Daoist Feng to keep gifting treasures.”

Feng Ruo replied with a smile, “Although the illusion array is broken, the problem in Donglin Town hasn’t been solved yet. As long as Miss Du stays here for a moment longer, the danger increases.”

Hearing this, Du Lianxin immediately said, “The illusion array is broken. My cultivation is low, so I won’t participate in what happens next. If Senior Sister Shen and Senior Feng agree, I will leave immediately.”

According to the agreement at Mingxian Tower, she only needed to assist in breaking the illusion array. Her leaving now would not violate the promise.

Feng Ruo raised a slight eyebrow upon hearing this, about to say something, when a very familiar voice suddenly transmitted to her ear.

Her expression instantly changed, but it returned to normal in just a moment. She reached up to smooth her hair bun and spoke with a tone of sincere regret: “I also have to leave. I just received a distress message from a friend. She is trapped in a dangerous place, and I must go immediately.”

Previously, the agreement between Feng Ruo and Shen Anlan was only to break the formation, with no commitment to the events afterward.

After speaking, she turned and looked at the surprised Du Lianxin, offering an alluring smile.

“Miss Du, are you returning to the Clear River Sect? The place I’m going is on the way. I can take you along.”