The outskirts, at night.
Cold wind drifted; the tree shadows stood grim.
It was dead silent all around, nothing but the faint hiss of the wind past his ear, and yet Chu Ge kept feeling as if a soundtrack were playing along—that opening-credits feeling of a Liaozhai ghost film.
Suddenly the tree shadows around him yawned open, and Chu Ge could practically supply the "wooo~" sound effect himself.
There was nowhere to dodge. The next instant the tree shadows folded Chu Ge up inside them. Captured.
Yueying glanced at Qiu Wuji with some hesitation, her look asking whether a fighter this bad was really worth continuing against.
Qiu Wuji just stood there with her arms crossed, smiling faintly, and said nothing.
Yueying figured that hauling this black ball over and dumping it in front of Sister Qiu would be the end of it, so she beckoned with one hand, and the shadow carried Chu Ge to a halt in front of her.
Just as she was about to toss the black ball over to Qiu Wuji, her expression changed.
The black ball swelled abruptly, rays of golden light bursting out of it, and with a "bang" the tree shadows wrapping Chu Ge shattered entirely; a fist blazing with gold came slamming into Yueying's chest.
Yueying's heart lurched.