"The tremors caused spatial disorder inside the Hollow, the Carrot data is useless now—how are we supposed to rendezvous with Von Lycaon's team?"
Faced with this problem, Ju Fufu and Ellen Joe had no solutions at all. They could only stand in place and look toward Arden.
"Heh heh, this daoist has his own clever tricks!"
Hearing this, Arden let out a smug laugh.
"Didn't I give Von Lycaon a bunch of talismans earlier? Among them was a [MotherTalisman]."
"A Mother Talisman?"
Ellen blinked, her face full of curiosity.
"That's right, a [MotherTalisman]! The 'mother' as in male and female."
Arden raised his hand, subconsciously wanting to pat something.
"Rawr~!"
Ju Fufu proactively leaned into his hand, rubbing against it comfortably, while Ellen recoiled with a look of blatant disgust.
Uh… not enough affinity, huh.
Although Ellen's disdainful expression was quite distinctive, Arden still preferred it when she obediently let him pat her—better yet, like Ju Fufu, actively enjoying it.
There's plenty of time. I'll build affinity later.
Arden awkwardly withdrew his wandering hand and pulled a cyan talisman from his talisman pouch.
"Where there's a mother, there's a father. The one in my hand is the [Father Talisman]!"
"As long as I activate it, no matter how far apart the two are or what stands between them, they'll find each other!"
As his words fell, Arden tossed the father talisman into the air and began chanting.
"Niúláng Zhīnǚ, Quèqiáo zàihuì, cǐ wéi tiāndìng zhī shù, qǐ. (Cowherd and Weaver Girl, reunited by the magpie bridge—this is destiny ordained by heaven, Arise!)"
Buzz~!
The father talisman trembled, emitting a cyan glow. Then, like a pathfinding system in a game, it transformed into a cyan arrow, pointing the way toward the mother talisman… that is, toward Von Lycaon's team.
"Follow me!"
…..
Clang—clang—!
After retrieving the Father Talisman that had been so diligently "searching for its spouse," Arden could faintly hear the sounds of battle.
He didn't rush in to help, choosing instead to observe the situation first.
"Purge… all obstacles!"
"Ahhh! I didn't mean to!"
"Don't be afraid, it won't hurt!"
"….."
Judging by Von Lycaon, Rina, and Corin' combat movements, they didn't seem to be injured. This finally eased the tension in Arden's group.
Their opponent was a single Ethereal—just like the Ion-type Doppelganger Arden's team had encountered earlier, another shadow monster.
"!!"
However, once Arden clearly saw the shadow monster's form and the weapon it wielded, his heart lurched.
He immediately understood why Von Lycaon's team had urgently called for support.
"Hoshimi Miyabi? Don't tell me I jinxed it!"
He had just been grateful that the Ionized Doppelganger hadn't mimicked Master Yixuan or Hoshimi Miyabi—and now here it was!
"Go help them. Be extra careful!"
…..
Bang~!
Von Lycaon clashed head-on with the shadow monster that had taken Hoshimi Miyabi's form and was sent flying.
The shadow monster pressed its advantage, but an icy-blue blade light intercepted it.
"Your opponent is me!"
Clang!
With blades colliding, Ellen was pushed back more than ten meters by the massive recoil before she managed to steady herself, while the shadow monster only staggered slightly.
But it was still an opening.
"Hu Wei!"
Ju Fufu decisively hurled Hu Wei, unleashing a Mount Tai–crushing explosive blow from above.
BOOM~~! CLANG!!
The shadow monster couldn't dodge in time and was forced to block with the flat of its blade.
"Did we get it?"
At this moment, all five—except Arden—had regrouped, staring at the battlefield shrouded in steam and smoke.
As the steam and smoke dissipated, the shadow monster's figure was revealed once more.
As expected of a Void Hunter shadow—if it were an Elite–level or lower Ethereal, Hu Wei's blow would have sent it into a Stunned state. Yet this shadow monster was only knocked back slightly and had already assumed a counterattacking stance.
The shadow monster sheathed its blade, then slightly bent its body, taking up a draw stance as if charging power.
This is bad!
Observing from the side, Arden immediately sensed danger.
This was Hoshimi Miyabi's triple-stack ultimate. Before transmigrating, Arden had used this move countless times for "neuron activation," so he knew its terrifying power all too well.
If anything went wrong, all five of them could be wiped out.
Whoosh…
A force field had already spread around the shadow monster. It was too late to stop it now—everyone knew that once Miyabi began charging, she entered an invincible state.
We can only clash head-on!
After a brief calculation, Arden realized that among the six of them, only he could withstand Miyabi's triple-stack attack.
As for the four from Victoria Housekeeping Co—setting aside the Wolf Thiren—Corin, Rina, and Ellen were all types he liked. Not to mention Ju Fufu, who was about to turn eighteen and get her marriage certificate.
Even if it meant getting injured himself, Arden couldn't let them die here.
"Celestial Talisman Art: Defense!"
Arden first layered a defensive buff onto himself.
Shua~!
Then he flashed forward, positioning himself in front of the five others, assuming the same draw stance.
"Torrent Swordsmanship: Curtain Flow!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In an instant, six streaks of azure blade and sword light intertwined.
"Ugh…"
Arden let out a muffled groan as he felt a tremendous force strike his chest. His body involuntarily lifted off the ground and was sent flying.
"Brother Arden!"
Thankfully, Ju Fufu caught him before he slammed into a wall and suffered further injury.
"Are you okay?!"
Ju Fufu was so anxious she was on the verge of tears.
She knew that if it weren't for herself—or perhaps Ellen and the other girls as well—Arden would never have foolishly taken the shadow monster's ultimate head-on.
"Cough cough cough! I'm fine!"
Arden wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with one hand, while the other pulled out a healing pill and swallowed it.
The [Greater Restoration Pill]—so long as you weren't dead, it could bring you back. Arden had spent quite a few points in the system shop to obtain this life-saving medicine.
Although he had only been affected by the aftershock of the triple-stack attack and his injuries were far from fatal, this wasn't the time to be stingy.
Even so, it still hurt—financially.
And not just because of the pill.
"Sigh~!"
Arden lowered his head and glanced at the long sword in his hand, now riddled with chips and cracks.
"Looks like I'll need a new sword too."
Shaking his head, Arden felt a lingering fear.
Luckily, it had only been an Ionized Doppelganger imitating Hoshimi Miyabi. If it were the real Miyabi, he probably wouldn't have survived that blow.
Honestly… risking my life for girls like this—was everything I did really worth it?
After asking himself sincerely, Arden immediately decided to secure Master Yixuan as soon as possible, break through his stat panel limits, and grow stronger—at least to the Void Hunter level.
Only then would he truly have the power to protect himself and the girls.
Protecting girls wasn't wrong. The only mistake was being too weak.
…..
The shadow monster hadn't been defeated. The battle continued.
"Perverted uncle—you're not dead?!"
Seeing Arden return to the battlefield, Ellen's form of address degraded from "Brother Xu" back to "perverted uncle," but the concern and relief in her tone were obvious.
"Daoist Arden…"
As the leader responsible for this operation, Von Lycaon was also deeply concerned about Arden's condition.
"….."
Corin and Rina both cast worried looks his way as well.
"I'm fine, hehe!"
Arden swept his gaze across everyone, a smile appearing on his face.
If the [Everything-Can-Be-Charged System] were replaced with an affinity-based system, Arden was sure he'd be hearing notification sounds of [+Affinity has been greatly increased] x4 right now.
As for Ju Fufu, her affinity bar had been maxed out long ago.
It seemed that everything he had done—for his future happiness—had been well worth it.
"Focus on the fight. I've already thought of a strategy."