The battle within the courtyard had reached a white-hot intensity.
Former IGO investigator Miyamoto Yayako wielded her dual blades in perfect coordination, her blade momentum ceaseless. The sharp sword qi bursting from her body shredded every falling leaf in mid-air.
Ziyan, having drawn her Crescent Moon Blade, shed the playfulness of her unarmed stance. Her petite figure danced nimbly around the massive polearm. Every heavy, forceful strike she unleashed forced Miyamoto Yayako to evade, while simultaneously blasting potholes into the smooth bluestone flagstones.
Fortunately, both were fighting with a measure of restraint; the destruction was limited to the courtyard's landscaping, leaving the main building and the gate undamaged.
Just as Mo Bai was formulating the words to explain this mess to Zhang Yu, the reinforcements he had called finally arrived on the scene—Yukikawa Yukie raised a foot and kicked open the two gate panels that had been blown shut by the fierce winds in the courtyard.
Zhang Yu's small courtyard could now be considered ready for a complete renovation, from the inside out.
"..." Mo Bai stared blankly at Yukikawa Yukie, who had sent the door panels flying. He had just noted that the main gate was undamaged, and she immediately delivered this surprise!
He didn't dare imagine if Zhang Yu, upon returning and standing before his door to see the tragic state of his courtyard, would die on the spot from a sudden heart attack.
It was precisely this moment of stunned silence that caused Mo Bai to perfectly miss the best opportunity to mediate the fight.
"Villains! Submit to your punishment!" While rushing over, Yukikawa Yukie had heard the noise and the terrifying aura coming from the courtyard. Naturally, she assumed the two weapon-wielding individuals in the yard were murderers threatening Mo Bai's safety.
Experts exchanged blows in the blink of an eye, so, quite naturally, Yukikawa Yukie opened with her ultimate move.
"Hundred Rending Ice Sparrows!"
The spirit blade, shrouded in cold air, slashed out. In the blink of an eye, shattered ice condensed from the air and blanketed a small half of the courtyard like buckshot.
Though small, these ice shards possessed an extremely low temperature; not only was their power considerable, but once they made contact, they would form an ice shell to hinder movement.
Faced with this surprise attack, the battle-hardened Miyamoto Yayako danced with her dual blades, creating an airtight defense that intercepted all the ice shards aiming for her. Ziyan was even more simple and crude; holding her Crescent Moon Blade diagonally, she spun it into a great windmill, instantly deflecting the ice shards in all directions.
The glass windows of the courtyard rooms suffered the consequences. After a burst of crisp shattering sounds, there were hardly any intact windows facing the courtyard left.
Looking at the thin ice spreading over the window frames, tiles, and door eaves, Mo Bai felt a mouthful of old blood stuck in his throat.
He never expected that the one dealing the most damage to the architecture would be the reinforcements he called!
The highlights faded from Mo Bai's eyes, leaving them a chaotic void.
Unlike the apprehensive Mo Bai, Little Bai—who subscribed to the philosophy of 'less talk, more fight'—was watching with great excitement. The kitchen knife waved its hands and feet in the air, its immersive posture lacking only a bucket of popcorn and a cola.
"Occultist, take my blade!"
Her previous behavior was enough to show that Ziyan was not a girl with a good enough temper to exchange pleasantries after being hit. After blocking the ice bullets, she stepped forward resolutely, the Crescent Moon Blade dragging behind her slashing out a crescent moon arc.
Yukikawa Yukie hurriedly leaped away. The heavy edge of the Crescent Moon Blade split the bluestone slab, and the exploding stone fragments stung her as they hit.
Miyamoto Yayako spotted the spirit blade and badge in Yukikawa Yukie's hand at a glance. However, IGO Gourmet Investigators also possessed the function of slaying demons and exorcising evil. As the saying goes, peers are enemies; belonging to the Shrine and the IGO respectively, these two certainly fit the adage—especially since it was Yukikawa Yukie who attacked Miyamoto Yayako first!
Of course, more importantly, Miyamoto Yayako understood how troublesome the strange arts of Far East mikos were. Even if she didn't know why the other party had come, eliminating the intruder first was the correct choice.
"Well reasoned!" Miyamoto Yayako shattered the thin ice in front of her. With a single stride of her strange Shukuchi footwork, she appeared in front of Yukikawa Yukie, who had just found her footing.
"Take a move from me too!"
The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out as dual blades locked dead against dual blades. It was evident that Yukikawa Yukie's block was strained.
Miyamoto Yayako's slash made Yukie, who was at a disadvantage in strength, tremble all over.
At this moment, Yukie heard a howling wind from behind, and her heart instantly skipped a beat.
The next instant, Yukie watched in shock as the cheongsam-clad girl leaped over her—totally ignoring her defenseless state—and sent the Crescent Moon Blade straight toward the exposed woman wielding dual blades.
"What are you doing?!"
Crossing her dual blades to forcefully withstand the heavy, powerful slash, Miyamoto Yayako left two long drag marks on the broken, mud-covered bluestone slabs.
Miyamoto Yayako looked up, her expression screaming 'caught off guard'.
Big Sister! In the arena, you hit the mage first! Do you even know how to brawl?
Miyamoto Yayako's inner monologue was roughly as above.
"Don't touch my prey!" Ziyan's face was cold. Her petite figure leaped up again, and the Crescent Moon Blade smashed down violently.
"Is there something wrong with you?!" Miyamoto Yayako dodged the slash chopping down at her head, then immediately launched a furious counterattack against Ziyan!
Ziyan's face grew even colder, the wind pressure raised by her Crescent Moon Blade surpassing its previous intensity.
Meanwhile, Yukikawa Yukie, who had been left hanging on the side, felt the humiliation of being ignored!
"Bullying me too much!" When had the proud and arrogant Yukikawa Yukie ever suffered such treatment?
She swung her spirit blade again, manifesting the frost occult arts once more.
"Don't get in the way!"
"Miko, get lost!"
"The ones who should get lost are you two!!!"
Ziyan & Miyamoto Yayako & Yukikawa Yukie: "I'm going to beat you all down!"
Events had developed far beyond Mo Bai's imagination. He understood that if he didn't step forward now, the three women—who had completely lost their tempers—would likely end up mutually wounded.
"You're not hesitating anymore?" Seeing Mo Bai push open the remaining half of the main hall's wooden door cover, Little Bai knew his plan.
"No more hesitation. if I hesitate any longer, I'm afraid Chef Zhang Yu will slap me to death." Mo Bai looked around; the walls of the buildings in the courtyard were already covered in scratches from sharp weapons.
"Relax. Given your relationship and your physique, you'll be half-dead at most."
"...I don't need you to remind me!" Mo Bai's expression twitched. Watching the three who had fought from the front yard to the back yard and back to the front again, he took a deep breath.
"Give me—a break! STOP!"
An invisible force swept through the figures of the three combatants via the sound waves. They all felt their movements suddenly pause. As they froze in astonishment, a length of white silk flew in from outside the courtyard, wrapping around the weapons in their hands.
With a twist and a pull, all three weapons flew from their hands. Four tachi and one Crescent Moon Blade were pulled by the white silk to stick upside down into the ground nearby.
"My, my. Making a big scene in front of the host isn't proper etiquette for a guest." A beautiful figure stepped onto the white silk and entered the courtyard.
"This humble one is Bai Zishu. You must be Little Brother Mo Bai, yes?" The charming voice carried a thick allure, making half of Mo Bai's body go numb just hearing it.
Facing this melon-seed-faced beauty with soul-hooking eyes, a delicate voice, and a figure under her white mink coat that was even more explosive than Miyamoto Yayako's, a suitable three-word description rose in Mo Bai's heart: "Vixen."
"Why did you come here?" Even without a weapon, the frost on Ziyan's face did not fade; seeing Bai Zishu, it seemed to intensify.
"You came, so why can't I come?" Bai Zishu blinked at Mo Bai with infinite amorous grace.
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