Ke Zhen'e's back slammed heavily against the crooked tree in the courtyard before he finally came to a stop.
The branches rustled loudly.
Countless leaves fluttered down.
A surge of heat welled in Ke Zhen'e's chest, a wave of blood rushing straight up into his throat.
Gritting his teeth tightly, he forced himself to swallow the bloody foam back down.
He knew full well that Li Mochou had held back at least seventy percent of her power in that kick just now.
If she had truly intended to kill him, he would already be dead.
Yet this mercy did not make Ke Zhen'e feel fortunate at all.
Instead, it felt like two loud slaps across his face in public—a total humiliation.
The more Ke Zhen'e thought about it, the angrier he became. He slammed his iron staff onto the ground.
Thump!
His pair of dead-white eyes bulged round as he cursed harshly:
"Demoness, stop shedding crocodile tears here!"
"This old man has lived an honorable life! When have I ever needed mercy from a venomous woman like you?"
"If you have the guts, step over this old man's broken body today!"
Hearing this, Li Mochou was completely rendered speechless.
She dusted off her Daoist robe and said:
"Blind Ke, drop that stubborn facade of yours."
"Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"
Ke Zhen'e sneered:
"If you're not afraid, then come at me!"
"If this old man so much as flinches today,"
"my surname isn't Ke!"
Li Mochou said impatiently:
"I'm not killing you."
"It's not because that broken iron staff of yours is any good."
"I just don't want to needlessly provoke Peach Blossom Island and mess with two tough nuts like Guo Jing and Huang Rong."
"I, Li Mochou, only kill those who deserve to die. I will never take on a losing cause!"
At this moment, Yang Guo, who was sitting cross-legged to force out the poison, was drenched in cold sweat.
Hearing her words, his eyes darted around, and he shouted weakly toward the side:
"Aniu! Little Shitou! Quick! Help Hero Ke up!"
"Be careful! Don't throw out the old man's back!"
The two little beggars moved to his left and right, hurriedly helping Ke Zhen'e to his feet.
"This old man doesn't need helping!" Ke Zhen'e said, still stubborn as ever.
He swung his arm, but a sharp pain shot through his chest, making his body sway again as he nearly tumbled to the ground.
Aniu quickly stepped forward to support him:
"Old Grandpa, maybe let us hold you for now."
Ke Zhen'e: "..."
Taking advantage of the moment, Yang Guo grabbed Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang.
He directly herded them behind Ke Zhen'e like little chicks:
"Go, go, go! Let's all hide behind Hero Ke!"
Limping along, Lu Wushuang said reluctantly:
"What are you doing? In a courtyard this big,"
"why do we have to hide behind an old man?"
Yang Guo looked at Lu Wushuang and whispered:
"Didn't you hear?"
"Li Mochou doesn't dare touch Hero Ke."
Lu Wushuang still didn't understand.
Cheng Ying understood first. She glanced at Yang Guo, nodded silently, and said nothing.
Hearing a rush of small, hurried footsteps crowding behind him, Ke Zhen'e furrowed his brow:
"What are you little brats crowding so close for?"
"Blades have no eyes! Hurry and hide far away!"
Grabbing Ke Zhen'e's belt with both hands, Yang Guo hid behind him:
"Hero Ke."
"That female demon clearly can't afford to mess with the backing behind you. Right now, you are the only safe haven in this courtyard."
"Let us borrow your honorable rear end for cover to help us poor kids survive this calamity!"
Ke Zhen'e's face instantly turned dark as coal dust, his white beard trembling with rage:
"Bullshit!"
"Using this old man as a shield—you kid really have the nerve to say that out loud?"
Yang Guo immediately corrected him with an extremely sincere tone:
"That's not a nice way to put it."
"How can you call this a shield? This is called 'Heroic Reputation Aegis'!"
Ke Zhen'e felt a sharp headache coming on:
"What absolute nonsense!"
Seeing Yang Guo and the others huddled into a ball behind Ke Zhen'e,
Li Mochou whipped her horsetail whisk fiercely, her apricot-yellow Daoist robe drawing an afterimage in the wind as she lunged straight at them!
Warning bells blared in Yang Guo's mind. He knew full well that in the original plot, Li Mochou would carry off Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying.
To prevent a plot kill, even though his legs were weak and his strength was flagging at this moment, Yang Guo still grabbed the hems of the two girls' clothes tightly.
Hearing the wind tearing through the air, Ke Zhen'e roared like thunder, swinging his iron staff around in a full horizontal sweep:
"Demoness, yield your life!"
Li Mochou didn't even pause. Tapping her toe against the staff shaft, her body soared into the air, immediately followed by a kick to the side of the iron staff.
Bang!
Ke Zhen'e flew sideways once more, plunging headfirst into a pile of rotting hay stacked by the courtyard wall.
Yang Guo said, "Wait, what? Why is he flying again?"
Little Shitou was stunned.
"Yang Guo."
"Our safe haven..."
"just flew away."
Yang Guo said weakly:
"I saw it!"
Landing on the ground, Li Mochou reached out with a pale, slender hand, swift as an eagle's claw.
Her five fingers closed crisp and clean, grabbing Yang Guo firmly by his tattered collar:
"Stinking brat, you're coming with me!"
Yang Guo's pupils dilated in shock as his heart screamed:
"What? She's coming after me?"
Quick on his feet, Yang Guo kicked his legs out and wrapped his left arm like a vine, hooking tightly around the nearby crooked tree:
"I'm not going!"
Seeing this, Aniu and Little Shitou pounced forward, grabbing Yang Guo's waistband tightly and pulling back with all their might.
"Let go of Yang Guo!"
Li Mochou yanked forward, bending the small tree trunk nearly out of shape.
"Let go!"
"No!"
"Do you have a death wish?"
Gritting his teeth, Yang Guo shouted:
"This counts as child abduction!"
Li Mochou: "..."
She had lived for thirty years.
It was the first time she had ever heard someone accuse her of kidnapping someone.
"If I really wanted to kill you,"
"why would I bother taking you away?"
Hearing that, Yang Guo gripped even tighter:
"Then I definitely can't go with you!"
"The unknown is the scariest part! I'm still a child!"
Seeing Yang Guo about to be taken, Lu Wushuang's eyes turned red with anxiety.
Ignoring the sharp pain in her broken leg, she opened her mouth and bit straight down on Li Mochou's wrist that was holding Yang Guo, instantly leaving two rows of bloody teeth marks.
Li Mochou looked down, momentarily stunned:
"You dare bite me?"
Lu Wushuang bit down relentlessly, muttering indistinctly through her teeth:
"Let... him... go!"
Cheng Ying rushed over as well. She was usually the most calm and collected, but this time she panicked too.
She reached out and tightly grabbed Li Mochou's other sleeve.
"Daoist Li!"
"Release your grip!"
All at once, the scene fell into complete chaos.
Li Mochou had Lu Wushuang hanging off her left side and Cheng Ying dragging on her right.
She was still gripping Yang Guo with her hand.
Yang Guo's hand was still clinging tightly to the tree.
And behind him hung Aniu and Little Shitou.
For a moment, five children and a tree actually ended up in a tug-of-war deadlock against the grand Scarlet Maiden.
Standing off to the side, Wu Sanniang was utterly dazed.
Having roamed the jianghu for so many years,
what scene had she not witnessed?
She really had never seen anything like this.
Stung by the pain on her wrist, a sudden surge of malice erupted in Li Mochou's heart.
With a violent yank, she slammed Yang Guo—skin, padded jacket, and all—hard onto the ground.
Flipping her palms into claw shapes, her hands moved fast as lightning!
Reaching out with both hands simultaneously, she clamped down tightly around the slender necks of Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying.
She lifted the two young girls right up into the air!
Intent to kill boiled in the depths of Li Mochou's eyes as her fingers suddenly tightened:
"Fine! Since you two little brats want to die so badly, I'll kill you first right now!"
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