Chapter 909 - It's Up to Me to Buy Time

“Kill!”

The sounds of slaughter shook the heavens.

The area to Northwest of Maple City had become the three side’s primary battlefield. The forces of the Three Realms were surrounded on all sides. They fought on even though they were covered in blood. Even so, they gradually became more and more haggard.

They suffered defeat after defeat.

The zombies and demons attacked on both sides, rapidly reducing the space they had to maneuver.

They retreated over and over again, trampling over the corpses of their fallen comrades. They could do nothing but look on helplessly as their allies fell. They couldn’t even retrieve their corpses.

“It seems they can't go on much longer,” jeered Hanba. The Zombie Progenitors had yet to make a move - given the current situation, they didn’t need to. Even without their help, their side was at an absolute advantage.

Instead, they simply enjoyed the slaughter, especially when their enemies fell to the ground in despair or died, eyes still wide with shock and lingering grievances.

The other three Zombie Progenitors nodded. The forces of the Three Realms were truly at the end of their rope.

All they had to do now was keep advancing and reducing their range of motion. In the end, the Three Realms were inevitably doomed.

……

Meanwhile, the chief disciple of the Hundred Flowers Gate, Li Jiayi, fought amongst the blood zombies. By now, she’d cut through so many of them, her flexible sword had dulled somewhat.

She had no chance at all to catch her breath. Whenever she just barely managed to kill the zombies closest to her, countless more would swarm in.

No matter how many she killed, the zombie horde seemed endless.

She noticed another group of them charged towards her. She instinctively circulated her spiritual energy in anticipation but found she couldn’t squeeze even a single drop of power out of her exhausted body. She wanted to use a spiritual technique to wipe out the incoming mob, but couldn’t.

“Am I truly going to die here?”

Li Jiayi’s beautiful face was overcome with despair. She froze helplessly as scenes from the Modern Realm played through her mind.

In the end, her thoughts lingered on her time with Ye Zichen. For her, these memories were comparatively sweet.

A radiant smile tugged at her lips; she’d lost her wits even at a time like this!

“Senior Sister, watch out!”

Suddenly, a roar stunned her awake. She looked over, only to see that the zombies were already right in front of her. The only thing between them and her was….

"Junior Sister!"

She could only stand there and watch as her Junior Sister, who'd entered the sect at the same time she did, was eaten alive by zombies.

"Senior Sister, you have to be careful......" she said weakly, speaking for the last time before the blood zombies devoured her.

“I’ll kill you all!”

Li Jiayi had always been quiet. Even after arriving in the Immortal Region, entering the Hundred Flowers Gate, and obtaining incredible strength, she detested bloodshed.

Perhaps this was a subconscious instinct left over from the Modern Realm, where violence frowned upon.

For someone like her to shout something like that clearly meant she was overcome with fury.

“Die! Die! Die!”

……

Her flexible sword beheaded zombie after zombie. Blood spurted from their necks, splattering her face and clothing....

She almost seemed to be formed entirely out of blood. Drops of blood dripped from her body and fell to the ground.

“All of you must die!”

She swung her sword, sending a row of zombies' heads flying into the air. She rushed to her junior sister's side, only to find she was too late; her junior sister's life force was already gone.

She was a mess of blood and gore. In places, her pearly white bones were exposed.

"Junior Sister!"

She embraced her junior sister's corpse and sobbed. However, within just a few breaths of time, yet another horde of blood zombies swarmed towards her.

Before long, Li Jiayi was completely surrounded. She hefted her flexible sword and was just about to go all out when.…..

“Wither.”

A cold voice appeared from above. Before long, countless flower petals fluttered down, landing upon the zombies.

As they landed, they instantly corroded the zombies' bodies. As the zombies shrieked, the sect master of the Hundred Flowers Gate appeared before her.

“Let’s go.”

He led her somewhere comparatively safe. She sobbed all the while, her eyes lifeless.

To tell the truth, she really couldn’t take it anymore.

She was just an ordinary girl from the Modern World. To prevent her exquisitely beautiful face from causing trouble, she always wore a hideous mask to protect herself.

She was cowardly and timid by nature. That was just her personality.

After arriving in the Immortal Region, there was so much to adjust to. Everything was a huge shock. She didn't like causing trouble for others, so she could only bury her emotions deep within her heart.

Especially since Ye Zichen told her she'd return home one day.

But….

Could they truly ever go back?

She was surrounded by a mountain of corpses and an unending horde of blood zombies. Even if they could defeat the zombies, the demons were watching and waiting from behind.

Go back?

It seemed that this would be her final resting place.

She would die here, then be devoured by zombies just like her junior sister.

“You’re shaking.”

Suddenly, someone took her by the hand. Their grip was warm. Li Jiayi looked up and saw her master smiling gently at her.

He wiped the blood from her eyes and said, “you’re scared, aren’t you? Your personality isn’t suited for this sort of slaughter. This must be really difficult for you .”

“Master." His warm tone instantly shattered her last line of defense. She collapsed into his arms and sobbed, "Xiaorou is dead. She died right in front of me. The blood zombies did it, they ate her alive......"

“I know.” His smile was kindly as he wiped the rest of the blood from her face, then gently and comfortingly patted her shoulder. "Zombies eat flesh, blood zombies eat people. It's not at all unusual."

She paused for a while, then suddenly asked, “Master, are we really all going to die here? The zombie horde is endless. The demons are lying in wait. Meanwhile, we're being pushed further back. Are we all doomed?"

"No, we aren't," said the sect master. Even now, his smile was warm. "We have plenty of reserves. If we can hold on until reinforcements arrive, we'll survive all this."

"Will there really be reinforcements?"

Li Jiayi was in despair; she didn't share his optimism. She slumped to the ground and smiled bitterly, "it's been so long but we've yet to see any reinforcements. Are they really coming?"

"They're coming, I'm sure of it. They're just a little late, so we'll have to buy time on their behalf."

"How should we buy time....." Li Jiayi smiled bleakly.

"Leave that to me," said the Hundred Flowers Sect Master. "You are your apprentice sisters are still young. You still have a future. As your teacher, I have nothing to offer you. All I can do give you is.... a brief six hours. I can't guarantee that reinforcements arrive within six hours, but at least this way, you'll have a chance."

"This is something I've never said before," he continued, "but you're truly a lot like my big sister was when she was young."

With that, determination flashed across his face as he floated into the air.

Snap.

He snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, an enormous black rose appeared in the blood-soaked sky. It was a full hundred thousand meters across but was still just a bud; it had yet to blossom.

Now, gaze cold, the Hundred Flowers Sect Master called out, “bloom!”