Chapter 449: Sisters’ Deep Bond
Chapter 449: Sisters’ Deep Bond
When monkey screeches echoed, Tsukikage Chuxia kept walking forward, ignoring everything around her.
Crack!
A huge tree suddenly fell toward Tsukikage Chuxia.
Burdened by the iron cage, she couldn’t dodge quickly. As the tree threatened to crush her, Qingxue stared at the falling trunk, her eyes glowing faintly blue.
A chill surrounded the trunk, instantly freezing it solid.
Tsukikage Chuxia raised her paw. The chubby limb swelled into a giant claw that slashed upward.
Boom!
The frozen trunk shattered into icy fragments, splitting the tree in half.
The fat cat ballooned into a massive feline, roaring at the sky: “Who dares ambush this lady? Come die now!”
Though the scene looked fearsome, her voice remained cute and completely non-threatening.
Qingxue crouched on a tree branch, scanning the dense forest warily.
Four-armed Monkey Monsters emerged from the trees, forming a loose circle while snarling and baring fangs.
Most monsters couldn’t speak human tongues, but fellow monsters understood their intent – revenge for yesterday’s slain Monkey Monster.
Qingxue frowned. Monkey Monsters rarely left their territories. Though loyal, traveling this far for revenge seemed unlikely.
How had they tracked her? How set these traps?
Before she could ponder further, Tsukikage Chuxia charged at the jeering monsters.
“That idiot.”
Qingxue joined the fight.
Four-armed Monkey Monsters ranked barely as Hazard Level B. Their main weapons were thrown rocks and logs that hit like cannonballs.
After twenty days of constant fighting, Qingxue had adapted to her true form. She danced through the trees, dodging projectiles while hurling ice spikes.
Tsukikage Chuxia simply tanked hits with her blubber, brawling up close.
The battle ended quickly. Over a dozen monkey corpses later, survivors fled screeching.
“Hahaha!”
Tsukikage Chuxia stood hands-on-hips, laughing triumphantly.
As Qingxue moved to freeze the corpses, her ears twitched. She whirled around: “Look out!”
Whoosh!
A pale-gray object tore through the forest at terrifying speed, smashing through trees toward Tsukikage Chuxia’s massive body.
Qingxue’s eyes narrowed. Frost spread through her gaze.
Moisture in the air crystallized into layered ice walls.
Crack-crack-crack!
The barriers shattered instantly… but bought enough time.
Tsukikage Chuxia shrank rapidly, barely avoiding the deadly projectile.
With a swoosh, at the critical moment, a grayish-white object flew past her forehead.
After piercing through many trees and ice blocks, the thing finally lost power and stuck into the tree trunk.
Qingxue now saw clearly – this grayish-white object was actually a pointed bone over two meters long.
“Ah!”
Tsukikage Chuxia suddenly screamed in terror.
Qingxue thought she got hurt and quickly looked down, only to find her sister wasn’t injured – just a bare stripe scraped through the fur on her head.
Tsukikage Chuxia kept rubbing her head with both paws, coming away with clumps of fur.
Her face showed complete disbelief, like she’d suffered emotional damage.
Qingxue ignored her and stared warily into the distance.
A tall woman wearing shoulder-baring robes slowly stepped out from behind trees.
The woman looked about thirty, her hair in a falling bun pinned with bone ornaments.
Her bone-gray skin might have been beautiful if not for the white-painted face and blackened teeth.
Qingxue’s gaze turned sharp – this woman’s appearance reminded her of a certain monster.
Bone Woman!
Legends said Bone Woman was a geisha betrayed and abused in life, becoming a vengeful ghost after death. Having only bones left, she disguised herself with human skin.
Bone Woman stories differed across regions, mainly in power levels.
Some legends said she’s weak, showing true form under moonlight, only capable of seducing men.
Others described her as terror incarnate born from bone-filled grudges, difficult even for great exorcists to defeat.
Judging by that bone attack, she clearly belonged to the latter type – if not a major monster, nearly one.
Bone Woman stood on the ground, smiling up at Qingxue in the tree: “What a cute little kitten.”
Qingxue also looked her over: “You’ve been following us. Did you lead those Monkey Monsters here?”
Bone Woman didn’t deny it: “Clever child.”
“Old hag!”
Tsukikage Chuxia’s angry shout erupted. Forced into a reverse mohawk style, her eyes burned red: “Pay for my hair!”
Bone Woman finally looked at Tsukikage Chuxia, smile disappearing: “Too fat to be cute. But Lord Nine-Tails should like you.”
Tsukikage Chuxia usually didn’t mind being called fat – depending on who said it.
Fine if Fang Cheng or boss lady said it – one’s her caretaker, the other her feeder.
But some random monster had no right.
“Die now!”
Tsukikage Chuxia’s body expanded again as she charged at Bone Woman.
Qingxue knew trouble came when Bone Woman said “too fat” – sure enough, the fat cat acted rashly.
“What a grumpy kitten!”
The Bone Woman raised her hand with sharp nails, placing her thumb against her middle finger. “Let your big sister teach you a lesson.”
Before her voice faded, she flicked her middle finger forward, sending the sharp nail shooting out like a bullet.
The nail grew rapidly in the wind, lengthening into a pointed bone over two meters long—identical to her earlier sneak attack.
_Whoosh!_
Seeing the bone hurtling toward her with terrifying speed, Tsukikage Chuxia’s anger instantly disappeared.
_Swish!_
She shrank from a massive form into a tiny cat as the bone soared over her head.
Say what you will, that move of hers proved nimble for dodging attacks.
Qingxue closed in from behind. “You can’t handle her. Stay back.”
Tsukikage Chuxia didn’t argue this time, scrambling away with paws over her head. “Good plan! I’ll root for you. Go get her!”
The Bone Woman ignored the fat cat, aiming her hand at Qingxue instead. Another flick.
A second nail morphed into a bone streaking toward its target.
Qingxue’s eyes blazed with pale blue light as intense cold erupted across the area.
Facing this formidable foe, she held nothing back.
The Dense Forest’s heavy humidity provided ample moisture—a perfect battlefield for her.
The frigid air instantly froze airborne water into a colossal ice spike, dwarfing the Bone Woman’s projectile by a hundredfold.
The mismatched weapons collided. With a sharp _crack_, the bone pierced deep into the ice spike, straining to break through.
But halfway in, its power failed. Frozen solid, it lodged helplessly as the ice spike’s crushing momentum drove downward.
_Boom!_
The ice spike shattered upon impact, fragmenting across the Ground and flattening nearby trees.
Cold radiated outward, frosting the Ground and vegetation. Within moments, a fifty-meter radius became a frozen wasteland.
Qingxue landed on the icy terrain, scanning for the Bone Woman’s figure. She knew better than to expect victory from one strike.
“Quite impressive, kitten.”
The voice came from above.
Qingxue looked up to find the Bone Woman perched atop a frosted Large Tree, now holding a paper umbrella with bone framework.
Qingxue stayed her hand. “What’s your goal?”
Monsters killing each other wasn’t rare—hunting, feuding, territorial disputes, claiming partners, all part of their brutal hierarchy.
But without such motives, equals rarely clashed. Mutual destruction only benefited others.
“Goal?” The Bone Woman chuckled. “How about joining Lord Nine-Tails?”
“Lord Nine-Tails?”
Qingxue’s gaze flickered with doubt. The most renowned nine-tailed fox monster in Area 11 was undoubtedly Tamamo-no-Mae.
Yet Tamamo-no-Mae had been missing for years, with no whispers of her having followers.
If Tamamo-no-Mae truly desired subordinates, a single announcement would’ve drawn hordes of monsters to her side—no need for recruitment envoys.
But besides Tamamo-no-Mae, what other famed nine-tailed fox in Area 11 could command someone like Bone Woman?
As Qingxue mused, Tsukikage Chuxia—who’d been lurking at the periphery—suddenly yelled, “In your dreams! We’re Akatsuki members fighting for world peace! We’d never join your evil tailed beast faction!”
Her outburst met blank stares from Qingxue and Bone Woman, neither recognizing “Akatsuki” or “tailed beasts.”
The fat cat squirmed under their confusion, snapped in fury and embarrassment: “What’re you gawking at? Never seen Naruto? You fossilized Showa-era monsters!”
Qingxue knew of the series but hadn’t watched it.
Bone Woman, having spent her life in Hokkaido’s deep mountains, remained clueless.
Still, the refusal came through clearly.
“Since you resist,” Bone Woman said, “I’ll drag you back myself.”
She flicked her wrist toward Qingxue. Five fingernails launched like missiles, morphing midair into jagged bones.
Ice erupted around Qingxue, crystallizing into towering pillars.
The collision this time proved catastrophic—combined, the five bones shattered the glacial defenses into glittering fragments.
Qingxue’s eyes turned glacial. A gale roared to life, whipping the ice shards into a spiraling tornado that barreled toward Bone Woman.
The paper fan-wielding monster floated backward like weightless silk. Legends claimed Bone Woman wore only skin over bones—no wonder the wind carried her so easily.
The tornado shredded an ice-coated tree beneath her, blades of frost reducing it to splinters. More shards pelted Bone Woman’s airborne form—a testament to Qingxue’s improved combat skills after recent trials.
Unfazed, Bone Woman spun her paper parasol.
“Thousand Bone Rain!”
Countless needle-thin bones sprayed from the spinning umbrella, steel-hard projectiles blanketing the sky. The attack mirrored Fang Cheng’s Flying Rain Needles but dwarfed it in scale and deadliness.
A metallic downpour hammered the frozen Ground. With no escape, Qingxue shielded herself under thickening ice—now bristling with bone needles like some crystalline hedgehog.
“Earth Bone Fern!” Bone Woman’s mocking sing-song pierced the din.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The bone needles erupted, swelling into an impenetrable forest of clattering skeletons.
Tsukikage Chuxia gaped at the bone thicket from her safe distance, panic dawning. This power… it rivaled even boss lady Tsukikage Hoshi’s might. Was Bone Woman truly a great monster?
She abruptly recalled that Qingxue was still inside and panicked, shouting, “Qing… stupid cat, are you okay?!”
“Hehe, stop yelling!”
Bone Woman drifted through the air with her paper umbrella, taunting, “Your sister’s already been captured by me…”
“Run!”
A cold voice abruptly cut her off.
Bone Woman whirled around in surprise.
Boom!
The bone forest’s center erupted as towering ice pillars burst from the ground. That “run” clearly hadn’t been meant for Bone Woman.
Tsukikage Chuxia clenched her teeth, limbs trembling, before seizing the chance to bolt into the Dense Forest while Bone Woman was distracted. She knew her own strength would only hinder them—better to fetch reinforcements.
Behind her, the clashing sounds of a fierce battle erupted. The fat cat didn’t look back, sprinting faster than ever with tear-filled eyes. *Stupid cat, hold on! I’ll bring Ah Cheng to save you!* Huh?
Just as she felt moved by Qingxue’s sacrificial act, a streak of white light flashed overhead. Tsukikage Chuxia gaped upward to see Qingxue leaping between Tree Trunks, fleeing swiftly into the distance.
The fat cat left behind: w(°Д°)w
“STOP!!”
Bone Woman’s furious roar snapped Tsukikage Chuxia from her shock.
“WAIT FOR MEEE! DON’T ABANDON MEEE!”
Tsukikage Chuxia burst into tears, but her plump body lumbered clumsily across the ground until Qingxue vanished from sight.
Within moments, Bone Woman overtook her, trapping her within a ring of bone needles.
“Big sister!”
Tsukikage Chuxia flopped onto the dirt, mewing pitifully: “I’m too fat and useless! I eat too much! Just let me go!”
Bone Woman, tricked by Qingxue, sneered: “Stupid fat cat. Perfect ingredient for a dish honoring Lord Nine-Tails.”
“Nooo!”