Chapter 103 Ilya's Resolve, Foxfire Consuming Her Body

A thick, inseparable scent of blood, mixed with the bone-chilling sea breeze, frantically forced its way into people's nostrils.

"Drip... drip..."

That was the sound of warm blood, dripping one by one onto the wooden deck from the Blood Hand Butcher's crimson mechanical claw.

In the deathly silence of the bow, this sound was like a countdown from the Grim Reaper.

Mu Qingxue lay in a pool of blood ten meters away, her thin white shirt already dyed red with blood.

She struggled, trying to stand up.

As a result, as soon as she exerted force, her internal organs felt a sharp pain like being twisted by knives; she spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, and her body went limp and collapsed again.

The power of the fifth level of the Grandmaster Realm was simply not something she could bridge by overdrawing her life force.

Moreover, every attack from the Blood Hand Butcher carried an extremely sinister armor-breaking Protective Aura.

"Teacher!"

Su Qingyue's eyes were bloodshot as she let out a heart-wrenching cry.

She tried to crawl over to help, leaning on her broken sword.

Who knew her legs wouldn't listen to her at all, and the wound on her left hand from burning phoenix blood was so deep that the bone was visible; she couldn't even clench her fist.

"Stop struggling, little beauties."

Stepping on the ice shards covering the ground, the Blood Hand Butcher walked slowly toward the glass room like a wolf toying with its prey.

In his cloudy eyes, a nauseating greed flickered.

"Wait until I deal with that trash inside who only knows how to sleep, then I'll come back and have a good discussion with you about 'human anatomy'."

As he walked, he raised his mechanical claw.

The sharp steel tips of the claws dragged a deep furrow into the deck, making a piercing sound of metal friction.

At this moment, inside the glass room.

Iliya curled up on the large velvet carpet, her hands tightly covering her mouth, for fear of making even the slightest sound.

Her whole body shook like a sieve.

Through the shattered glass door, she could clearly see the tragic scene outside, like a bloody battlefield.

Teacher Mu had fallen, and Sister Su had fallen too.

That demon, exuding a terrifying Evil Qi, was walking toward them step by step.

Iliya turned her head and looked at Jiang Chen, who was lying on the large bed nearby.

The youth's eyes were still closed, and his breathing was steady and long.

One of his hands was still habitually resting on Iliya's fluffiest main tail; it seemed that only by grasping this mass of fur could he sleep peacefully.

"Master..."

Large teardrops fell from Iliya's eyes, dripping onto the back of Jiang Chen's hand.

She was afraid of death.

She was the high and mighty Saintess of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan, raised in a secluded chamber since childhood; aside from being used as a bargaining chip for marriage or sacrifice, she had never truly faced such a desperate situation of flying flesh and blood.

The instinct to flee was frantically urging her.

As long as she abandoned Jiang Chen now, with her Celestial Fox clan's talent for concealing her presence, she might have a slim chance of survival if she jumped into the sea.

However, when her gaze fell on Jiang Chen's slightly pale but exceptionally calm sleeping face.

Her feet seemed to have taken root, pinning her to the spot.

In her mind, scenes from these past few days involuntarily emerged.

On the walls of the Northern Fortress, facing a Demon Venerable at the Half-step Grandmaster level, this seemingly unreliable man had stuffed a salted plum candy into her mouth.

"Even though you're just a body pillow to me, at least I provide the meals."

When the Young Lord of the Long family was being arrogant and overbearing, he had shielded her behind him and blackmailed the other party for ten billion like an unreasonable bully.

"You scared my cat, pay up."

Iliya looked at Jiang Chen's hand resting on her tail.

Although he always bullied her, complained about her shedding fur, and forced her to wear strange maid outfits.

But that was the first time in her life she truly felt that she was a living being who was being 'protected'.

Rather than a cold sacrificial vessel.

"Crash."

Outside the glass room, the last remaining half of the glass door was kicked to pieces by the Blood Hand Butcher.

Glass shards sprayed in, scratching Iliya's fair cheek.

Just as the Blood Hand Butcher's crimson mechanical claw was about to reach into the hibernation pod.

A small, trembling, and weak hand gently pried open Jiang Chen's fingers and pulled out that large tail.

Iliya stood up.

She wiped the blood and tears from her face, and the unyielding wildness belonging to the Celestial Fox clan, which had been dormant for over a decade, appeared in her eyes.

At this moment, it was completely awakened.

[Ding! Detected an abnormal surge in the 'Exclusive body pillow's' heart rate, adrenaline has surpassed the limit.]

[Status Assessment: Master-Protection Instinct awakened.]

[Warning! This creature is detonating its Origin Life Core; there is an extreme risk of Soul and Divine Soul destruction!]

"Where did this little fox cub come from, thinking she can block my path?"

The Blood Hand Butcher looked at the silver-haired girl blocking the door, stunned for a moment, then burst into a fit of arrogant laughter.

"What? Are you in a hurry to skin yourself and give it to me?"

Iliya didn't speak.

Her originally clear purple eyes were instantly covered by a layer of eerie pink light.

Boom!

Without any warning, a cluster of extremely gorgeous yet lethally dangerous pinkish-white flames erupted from her small body!

The fire had no temperature, yet even the surrounding air was scorched into a frantic distortion.

This was the Origin Fire of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan—**Fox Fire Incineration**!

Burning life and Soul in exchange for an extreme spiritual explosion that transcended Realms!

"You want my fur..."

Iliya's voice became ethereal and layered, as if countless ghosts were whispering at the same time.

The nine tails behind her danced frantically in the pink flames, and her size instantly surged several times over.

"Then pay for it with your life!"

**[Illusion: Corridor of Despair]!**

With a shrill cry from Iliya, the pinkish-white fox fire instantly transformed into a massive net that covered the sky and the earth, directly enveloping the Blood Hand Butcher!

The Blood Hand Butcher's arrogant laughter came to an abrupt halt.

His eyes instantly became hollow, and the surrounding scenery spun around.

In the illusion, he returned to that dark and damp underground interrogation room.

Only this time, the one tied to the iron rack was none other than himself!

Those vengeful spirits whose skins he had once cruelly flayed had all turned into skinless flesh monsters, holding rusty flaying knives and approaching him with sneers.

"Get away! A bunch of dead ghosts dare to come and take my life!"

The Blood Hand Butcher roared frantically in the illusion, waving his mechanical claw and grabbing wildly everywhere.

In reality.

He looked like a patient having an epileptic fit, standing at the door of the glass room waving his arms randomly, the expression on his face distorted to the extreme.

"It worked!"

Seeing this, a glimmer of hope flashed in Su Qingyue's eyes.

However, this hope lasted for less than three seconds.

"Roar—!"

A roar like that of a wild beast erupted from the Blood Hand Butcher's throat.

Although he was a pervert, he was also a genuine expert at the fifth level of the Grandmaster Realm, and his willpower had long been tempered into steel by slaughter.

"Break for me!"

The Blood Hand Butcher suddenly bit off half of his own tongue.

The intense pain instantly tore through the shackles of the illusion.

His whole body erupted with violent and peerless blood-colored Protective Aura, forcefully shattering all the pink fox fire enveloping him!

"Pfft!"

The illusion was violently broken, and Iliya suffered an extremely terrifying spiritual backlash.

As if hit in the chest by a giant hammer, she was sent flying back, crashing heavily against the doorframe of the hibernation pod.

Two streaks of bright red blood flowed from her small nostrils and the corners of her eyes, staining her maid outfit.

"That was close... I almost fell for your little trick, you little beast."

The Blood Hand Butcher spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his remaining rationality completely ignited.

His eyes turned crimson as he strode forward, grabbed Iliya's hair, and yanked her up violently.

"You like playing with illusions, don't you? You like protecting your master, don't you?"

The Butcher slammed Iliya onto the deck.

Before Iliya could even crawl back up.

He raised his foot, which was clad in a heavy iron boot with a sole full of steel spikes.

Without mercy, he stomped hard on Iliya's snow-white main tail, the one she was most proud of!

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of bones breaking was exceptionally piercing on the deathly silent deck.

"Ah—!!!"

Iliya let out an extremely shrill scream, tears instantly bursting from her eyes; her fingers clawed hard at the wooden deck, her fingernails snapping one by one, leaving them bloody.

"Stop! You animal!"

In the distance, Little Fatty Chen, whose legs had been broken, was using his hands to claw at the deck, dragging a long trail of blood as he desperately crawled this way.

He still tightly gripped that meat cleaver with its rolled edge.

"Let her go!"

Su Qingyue somehow found the strength to stand up again, leaning on her broken sword, and staggered toward the Butcher.

"Get lost!"

The Butcher didn't even look as he casually waved his hand.

A blast of blood-colored Protective Aura sent Su Qingyue flying again, where she crashed into the railing and fell unconscious.

"Scream! Keep screaming!"

The Butcher applied sudden pressure with his foot, the steel spikes piercing deep into the flesh of Iliya's tail, crushing that pure white fur into a sickening mass of bloody pulp.

Iliya twitched in pain, no longer even able to scream, leaving only painful whimpers.

But even like this.

She still managed to crawl forward half an inch, reaching out with her bloody little hands to tightly grip the broken metal doorframe of the hibernation pod.

With her youthful and broken body, she blocked the only path for the Blood Hand Butcher to reach Jiang Chen.

"Not allowed..."

Iliya gasped for breath, blood dripping from her chin onto the ground.

Her voice was so weak it was almost inaudible, yet it carried an stubbornness that was hard for ordinary people to imagine.

"I won't let you... disturb Master's sleep..."

"What a loyal little dog."

The Blood Hand Butcher was so angry he laughed.

He slowly pulled a uniquely shaped, extremely thin and sharp flaying and deboning knife from his waist.

He stuck out his tongue and pervertedly licked the back of the blade.

"Since you're so protective of this skin, I'll skin you clean, bit by bit, right in front of that trash."

"To keep the fur alive, I'll avoid your vitals to ensure you remain conscious throughout the entire process."

The Butcher leaned down with a sneer, the cold blade touching the snow-white back of Iliya's neck.

The sharp blade sliced through the skin, and a trickle of blood flowed down the groove of the knife.

Iliya closed her eyes in despair.

Tears rolled down her blood-stained cheeks.

At this moment, the blood flowing from Iliya's tail and fingertips.

Had already flowed down the slanted deck and slowly into the broken hibernation pod.

The crimson blood silently soaked the edge of the velvet carpet.

Spreading all the way to the foot of that large bed.

[Alert! An extremely intense scent of blood has seeped into the hibernation pod...]

[Detected that the host's 'private territory' and 'exclusive items' are suffering destructive damage.]

[Deep spiritual restructuring forced to terminate!]

[Waking Up Anger meter: Instantly overloaded and collapsed!]

The entire world seemed to suddenly stop breathing at this moment.

The sea breeze that had been howling inside the hibernation pod eerily stilled.

A frigid, deathly silence that made even a murderous demon like the Blood Hand Butcher feel his Soul tremble spread from that large bed without warning.

The temperature was dropping frantically.

It wasn't the physical coldness of Mu Qingxue's type.

But an absolute killing intent that made one's heart stop beating.

"Crack... crack crack..."

On the large bed.

That youth who had been sleeping all along.

Didn't yawn, didn't stretch.

He sat straight up like a corpse that had suddenly been injected with a demonic Soul.

The stray hairs on his forehead fell down, covering his eyes.

But in those eyes that were slowly opening, there wasn't a hint of the confusion from just waking up.

There was only a pure blackness that seemed capable of swallowing all light.

And, a bottomless tyranny.