Seventh Senior Sister fought with her own body hair.
During battle, every strand detached from her flesh and wove together into a dense, buzzing mass—like a swarm of black worms gnawing through the cursed energy of the ancient tree. The air trembled with the sound of their feeding.
Without her body hair, she looked almost human again.
The steward's fighting style was simpler—pure yin energy, heavy and defensive. He stood before her like a living shield, intercepting the tree's strikes and soaking up the shock of each blow.
The old tree roared, its voice a chorus of the dead. More corpses joined the fray, their limbs creaking as if dragged by invisible strings.
Suffused with yin energy, the hanging bodies swayed, then shuffled forward in unison—ropes connecting them to the tree's branches like veins to a heart. Their vacant eyes gleamed in the dim light.
Seventh Senior Sister's face was ghostly pale. "Steward, I can't hold on much longer."
"Take Thirteen and go!" the steward barked, parrying another corpse. "Chai Village is three li ahead—once you reach it, you'll be safe!"
She recalled her hair. The strands flew back, latching onto her skin, writhing as they merged. She seized Gao Yang's arm. "Move!"
Only then did he notice—
Each strand bore tiny human faces, gnawing and whispering as they burrowed beneath her skin.
Her body erupted in crimson pinpricks, her lips turning ashen. The living hair was feeding—draining her blood for power.
Her steps faltered. Her body wavered, then crumpled to the ground.
Gao Yang stopped. He didn't move to help—he hesitated.
This was his chance to flee.
The steward was trapped by the tree; Seventh Senior Sister was spent. No one could stop him.
Then she reached toward him, trembling, her voice breaking. "Thirteen—go!"
He hesitated only a breath longer, then sighed. Despite her venomous tongue and cruelty, she hadn't abandoned him.
If he left her now, she would die here.
Gao Yang knelt and lifted her up. "I'll carry you."
Without waiting for an answer, he swung her onto his back. Crimson veins snaked beneath his skin as the Seven Fiends and the Bai Family's secret art ignited together. Pain ripped through him—yet his qi stitched the wounds almost as quickly as they formed.
The Seven Fiends blazed inside him like a furnace. Bloodlight pulsed through his flesh, bright enough to be seen from afar.
And that light drew the spirits.
Dozens of them turned toward him, eyes glowing hungrily in the dark.
He passed a Blood and Qi Pill to her. "Take it."
She swallowed it weakly, faint color returning to her cheeks. Once more, the swarm detached, pouring from her skin and blanketing the path ahead like living shadow.
Something rolled from the weeds—a round, pulsing shape that blocked the road. The swarm surged over it, stripping away its yin aura in seconds.
Then Gao Yang froze. Every hair on his body stood on end.
He stopped instantly, summoning five Fiend Shadows to strike the sudden blur in the middle of the path.
The shadow had appeared out of nowhere—silent, formless.
If not for his cultivation, he'd have been caught.
Exposed, the shadow laughed softly and slipped through the gaps between the phantoms, fading into mist.
The Fiend Shadows returned to him empty-handed.
Gao Yang's heart clenched. His face flushed; blood burst from his lips.
"Thirteen!" Seventh Senior Sister cried.
The veins beneath his skin bulged. His blood thundered, loud enough to hear. The two lost Fiend Shadows reformed, flickering around him.
He wiped his mouth, eyes narrowing. "No… something's off. Why—"
She saw it too. His body wasn't breaking down—it was overflowing. His qi and blood had surpassed their limits.
In a flash, the seven Fiend Shadows burst forth again, lunging toward a patch of shade behind them.
Meanwhile, in Chai Village—
Xiao Man stood at the village entrance, surrounded by villagers armed with sticks and farming tools.
Black markings crept across her skin, veins glowing faintly red. Her blood streamed through the marks like molten fire. Pale and trembling, she could barely stand.
Two corpses lay at her feet.
The village elder, a gray-haired man in his sixties—the oldest survivor in a village where most died before forty—stepped forward. His voice was firm but tired. "Girl, we don't wish you harm. You're looking for Old Gao—what is he to you?"
Xiao Man bit her lip. "No comment."
He sighed deeply. "Then don't blame us. The Immortal Mistress said Old Gao stole a sacred fruit from Azure Mountain Sect. It changed him—turned him into a demon spirit. He's killed many and fled. Someone must answer for it."
He looked at her sadly. "If you won't tell us who you are, we must keep you here—to see if he returns."
The villagers closed in.
Xiao Man bit into her wrist, blood spilling down into the black markings. "Let's see who dares!" she screamed.
Yin wind burst around her. The villagers staggered back, unable to come close.
She saw her chance—and ran.
None followed beyond the boundary. They watched, helpless, as she disappeared into the trees.
She ran until her vision blurred, her breath breaking. Then she fell, collapsing hard against the dirt.
Elsewhere, Gao Yang was running too.
After cutting down the shadow, he saw the number of spirits multiplying.
The outline of Chai Village loomed ahead.
By the roadside, a small figure lay motionless.
Seventh Senior Sister's voice was sharp. "Leave her. We can't save her."
He ran past—then stopped.
He'd seen her face.
"Xiao Man!"
He shoved two Blood and Qi Pills into Seventh Senior Sister's hand. "Hold them off for a bit."
Her expression darkened.
The pills could restore blood, but not spirit. After everything, she was nearly spent.
"She's a traitor!" she hissed. "We came here to kill her—and you'd risk your life for her?"
Gao Yang saw the blood dripping from Xiao Man's wrist, the wounds that looked not demonic, but human.
He knelt, pressed a pill to her lips, and lifted her onto his back. "We're leaving."
Seventh Senior Sister swallowed both pills at once. She coughed hard, blood splattering her chin. The black, hair-like insects on her body turned crimson, burrowing deep beneath her skin.
It was her forbidden art—a way to burn her life for power.
The cost: for half a month, she would be unable to cultivate. Her body would be a shell.