Trying To Tame An Evil Overlord - Chapter 116 His worst moods were always the quiet ones

“What in the world…” Hui Moxiang said in both wonder and fright.

Meanwhile, Liu Sumeng had seen these beings in his previous life already and was not so surprised. And though he masked his terror with collected composure, it was not as if he was unaffected by the Fallen God’s presence.

The Fallen Goddess was uninterested in both the Ivory Sword Saint or Hui Moxiang and stared only at Yuan Xuelan.

“Watch out, Xuelan.” Liu Sumeng said, “Don’t let her unnerve you.”

Yuan Xuelan did not want to admit to being unnerved, “I’m fine. I can handle this,” he said with a grimace. The Fallen Goddess’s visage did not change as she raised a hand and held it in front of her chest as though in prayer.

A shock wave pressed out around her, making the three of them jump up to avoid the crushing force that rippled the stone ground beneath their feet. She took a step, slow but heavy.

The ground sank beneath her feet, creating a deep impression of her step.

“The talismans,” Liu Sumeng called as he rushed toward the Fallen Goddess with his pointed sword.

For some reason, there was something about her features that struck him as familiar. Liu Sumeng thought that perhaps he had fought the same Fallen Goddess in his previous life.

But he did not have time to ponder his assumptions. A hand came up and easily caught Mingshui in long slender blue fingertips. Her neck turned slowly as those black scleras peered at him.

There was that humming sound that rang in the air with a voice that was definitely female but not so definitely human.

“I know!” Yuan Xuelan shouted, “Sumeng be careful!” He pulled out the essence replicating talismans and guided them toward the Fallen Goddess’s outstretched arm.

They stuck to her arm and Liu Sumeng tried to take this moment to wedge his blade free, but he couldn’t. The Fallen Goddess was still and unmoving but her strength did not abide.

Did it not work?

Yuan Xuelan cursed and rushed in, using Silei to cleave the arm that held Liu Sumeng captive.

His sword edge was coming down at the Goddess, moving at a speed that could not be easily followed by the eyes. But all it took was her index and a thumb, pinching the sacred blade by the edge, to stop it. Her tranquil face slowly turned to face him.

She flicked her wrist and shot him backward.

Liu Sumeng, alarmed, angled his blade and expelled a flow of spiritual energy with pinpoint precision. He could tell that the talismans that hugged the length of her arm had very little effect on her, but that didn’t mean they were completely useless.

Her muscles twitched by the minutest bit, but it was enough for him to slide Mingshui free and cut at the hand that occupied his attention. But even with skill as expert as his own, he barely made a dent in her skin. Her fingers only suffered a minor cut.

It was enough to win her attention. She turned, and though her movements appeared languid, they were anything but. A punishing fist raised.

Liu Sumeng dodged out of the way as it came down, the ground caved, debris thrown about.

Yuan Xuelan rolled, gaining his balance with expert speed and dashed to Liu Sumeng’s side without a second thought. That large blue-black fist raised again, almost knocking into Silei’s red-orange body. Yuan Xuelan grimaced at the sheer force made his bones creak and strain.

The Ivory Sword Saint was suddenly taken aback, “What are you doing?” His calm voice broke with impatience. It wasn’t like he was struggling so why did Yuan Xuelan throw himself into harm’s way like that?

Hui Moxiang cursed as he watched. He plucked the hairpin out of his hair and summoned his staff. But Hui Moxiang was incredibly uneasy and not so willing to approach the Fallen Goddess with abandon.

So instead he wound up and threw his staff as though a javelin. A dark demonic force enveloped the weapon, forming a barbed point at the tip.

The Fallen Goddess seemed to flinch, its movements impossible to follow. But Hui Moxiang felt his blood curdle, imminent death made him jolt, his legs making him leap without even time to process the thought.

And it was fortunate that he did, for his staff-turned-spear crashed into the ground where he just stood, piercing deep into the earth. Cold sweat coated his neck, and he realized with dark dread that the Fallen Goddess was already turned toward him.

Yuan Xuelan ignored Liu Sumeng’s question and reached into his robes for more of those useless talismans. They frustrated him, and he cursed his own inadequacy for producing defective products. He unleashed them all on the Goddess at once, wrapping her up in flimsy constraints, like trying to stop an elephant with a few strands of thread.

“Get your head on your shoulders!”

Suddenly, Liu Sumeng’s voice was right in his ear, causing him to snap backward at the Ivory Sword Saint with surprise.

“W-What?”

“Focus on the enemy. And calm your heart.”

Ashamed, Xuelan looked away. “I know.”

Liu Sumeng pulled out a block of peach tree wood, sharpened into a stake, “This will work. Be careful.”

Yuan Xuelan stared at the makeshift spear, lips pulled down into a frown. Taking it felt like admitting defeat. He didn’t like admitting defeat, “But…”

Liu Sumeng did not give him a choice and shoved it to his chest, “Take it.” And left no room for argument.

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about but…some help would be amazing right now!” Hui Moxiang yelped as the Goddess lunged for him.

Instantly, he transformed into a raven once more, flapping desperately to get away.

Liu Sumeng already had Mingshui sheathed and held a long peach wood spear in his hand. Although he would claim no mastery over the spear, he was still skilled enough to hurl it at the Goddess with pinpoint precision.

The Goddess raised her palm in an instant, but rather than stopping the spear, the wood pierced through her hand, traveling even far enough to graze the shoulder before the spear splintered and snapped. Her blood had a shiny blue-ish sheen and ate through the wood that pierced her, rendering it useless after it had done its deed.

Her attention shifted again, having no mind but to attack and retaliate against the person who injured her.

Yuan Xuelan could not let go of Silei so easily. In one hand he held that wooden spear and the other, Silei crackled with power, glowing red with licks of flame.

Yuan Xuelan was not calm.

He could not calm.

He was merely irritated.

He couldn’t even understand why Liu Sumeng was telling him to calm down. Wasn’t there a terrifying foe before them? No, he couldn’t understand.

In that moment, he reasoned that as long as he felled this beast it’d be fine. Liu Sumeng didn’t have to comment or chide him for his ugliness, after all, he’d do a good thing.

He’d kill this fucking Fallen Goddess.

Yuan Xuelan’s worst moods were always the quiet ones, where he said nothing, his eyes sharp and dilated.

With a flick of Silei, flame shot out like a long whip. Divine flame danced in his pupil, Huo Tang’s flames roared in his belly. Her voice echoed but they were locked away in a different compartment in his mind, unable to reach his consciousness.

The Fallen Goddess dispersed the attack with a single swipe of her arm. Although the fire could not catch on the fabric of her sleeve, it did spark and lick the dark metallic blood.

Yuan Xuelan took this as a good sign and dashed forward with abandon.

He used the spear, thrusting it forward towards the Goddess’s chest.

Having learned its effects from earlier, she simply twisted out of the way and reached for Yuan Xuelan’s head.

He wasn’t sure what miracle it was that allowed him to escape with his life, perhaps it was Hui Moxiang who cawed manically at the Goddess to distract her. Or maybe it was Liu Sumeng who cursed and joined in the fray, with Mingshui’s silver light and another wooden spear in his other hand.

Or maybe it was just the madness in Yuan Xuelan’s mind that narrowed his focus so much that he could dodge and predict the movements of even this Fallen Goddess.

With anger, there was a lust for bloodshed.

With irritation, came a promise for death.

Yuan Xuelan could barely mind his own life and lusted after the destruction of this Fallen Goddess. He dodged each blow by only a hair’s breadth. He parried even as his bones and tendons strained and cracked. As long as he could retaliate, as long as he could stab the monster with the point of his spear and set her blood afire with divine flames.

Yuan Xuelan descended upon her with reckless abandon.

And when the spear splintered and her blue-silver blood festered through the grain of the wood, he broke it off to get more uses out of it.

And the more he saw the Goddess’s calm visage and black eyes, the more it implored his soul to drag out the ugliness in his heart, the more he wanted to turn her into nothing more than a heap of meat.

Yuan Xuelan used everything at his disposal.

Every talisman hidden within his sleeve, his interspatial ring.

Each spell he ever muttered or even just heard in passing.

Each muscle, bone, drop of spiritual energy that rushed through his meridians until he would faint from exertion.

Even the divine fire that kept him alive.

“That’s enough!”

No, how was this enough? If he was going to show his ugliness he might as well let it all bear!

If that was what it took to keep his beloved safe, the Yuan Xuelan did not mind becoming the monster in his dreams.

“Stop!”

Stop? His sword came down. A wet sound. His boots were dirty along with the hem of his robes.

Why should he stop? After all, it wasn’t like Sumeng even liked him in the first place.

And the next time he raised his blade the downward swing was caught by a clang of steel. Liu Sumeng, who caught his blow mid-momentum, snapped Yuan Xuelan out of a trance.

Yuan Xuelan flinched and stumbled backward. He blinked and saw Liu Sumeng’s sharp eyes peering into his soul. A moment suspended and Yuan Xuelan’s mind was blind and floating.

“Oh,” he said casually, “Is it over?”

Liu Sumeng raised his hand and slapped Yuan Xuelan across the face.