Honkai Star Rail: I Played the Villain, Now the Heroines Want Revenge — Chapter 240

Chapter 240: Is Jingliu Crazy?

Crisp, measured footsteps.

Tap, tap, tap…

The sound continuously drew closer.

March 7th’s face turned pale with fright, her hands clamped over her mouth, terrified of making even the slightest sound.

The Trailblazer was also a bit nervous, subconsciously grabbing Orion’s sleeve and hiding behind him.

“Come out.”

Yanqing’s voice rang out from beyond the screen. It was cold, arrogant, and held no patience.

“This game of cat and mouse should end.”

His words, to the five people behind the screen, carried different meanings.

‘It’s over, it’s over! The ‘ghost’ caught us!’

March 7th wailed in her heart, ‘We lost the game! Will we… will we be eaten like that person before?!’

Blade, on the other hand, let out an impatient click of his tongue.

‘So annoying.’

He thought to himself.

‘I finally found a place to rest my feet, first I was discovered by that Trailblazer, and now I’m being chased by a little brat from the Xianzhou.’

Seeing no movement behind the screen, Yanqing’s patience seemed to run out.

He suddenly reached out and forcefully knocked over the heavy, solid wood screen!

“Bang!”

Amidst the loud crash of the screen falling, the five people hidden behind it were instantly exposed to Yanqing’s sight.

For a moment, the scene became somewhat eerie.

The young Cloud Knight genius swordsman.

The four Trailblazers of the Astral Express.

And a notorious, most-wanted Stellaron Hunter…

Six people, in this small, opulent private room, stared at each other.

“That…”

March 7th saw Yanqing’s unfriendly, murderous gaze and said fearfully:

“Little… ghost brother, according to the game rules, have we lost now? What happens if we lose? Or… how about best two out of three?”

Yanqing completely ignored her nonsensical words.

His gaze was like a drawn sword, instantly bypassing the Trailblazers and locking onto the one man he was here for.

“The fugitive… I finally found him.”

Yanqing slowly raised the longsword in his hand.

“Your good luck ends here.”

“Fugitives?” March 7th and the Trailblazer were both stunned, pointing at themselves, “Us?”

“Are you from the Cloud Knights?”

Welt stepped forward, shielding March 7th and the Trailblazer behind him, and said in a deep, authoritative voice:

“I think there might be some misunderstanding. We are the Trailblazers of the Astral Express, guests invited by Helm Master Yukong to help the Xianzhou.”

However, Yanqing’s attention was entirely focused on Blade, completely ignoring Welt’s words.

“My target is only him.”

Battle intent ignited in Yanqing’s eyes, and six ethereal flying swords began to scatter and hover around him.

“The rest of you, step back immediately! Otherwise, you will be treated as accomplices of the fugitive!”

The atmosphere instantly became tense, the air crackling with nascent sword energy!

Blade showed an expression filled with annoyance and cold killing intent.

He slowly raised his hand, and the Shard Sword, his bandaged, ancient blade, appeared in his palm out of thin air.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop by more than ten degrees instantly.

The next second, a battle powerful enough to level this entire tavern seemed about to erupt.

However, just then.

A figure stepped out even faster than Blade.

Orion moved, precisely blocking the space between Yanqing and Blade.

“Get out of the way!”

Seeing this, Yanqing frowned. He flicked his wrist, intending to swing his sword to create a simple sword wind, forcing back this meddler who didn’t know his place.

But the expression on his face froze the next moment.

He felt that the sword in his hand… suddenly became incredibly heavy.

As if it were encased in lead.

He looked down in astonishment, his pupils contracting!

He saw that the black-haired young man, at some point, had extended his index and middle fingers, and casually…

Pinched his sword tip.

“?!”

Yanqing was stunned. He subconsciously tried to pull the sword back with force!

However, the sword was as if held down by an invisible mountain. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much force he exerted, the sword tip remained motionless, held between the other’s two fingers!

How was this possible?!

My sword… he…

Yanqing’s face completely changed. He looked at Orion in front of him with a shocked, monster-like gaze.

“Who… who are you?!”

“Before asking someone else’s name, don’t you know you should introduce yourself first?”

Orion said, his voice calm.

“Is that how your General taught you?”

These words, a casual slight on his beloved General, pierced Yanqing’s proud self-esteem.

His face flushed with anger, and he tried to pull his sword again with all his might, but still couldn’t move it an inch.

Finally, he could only grit his teeth and say:

“Xianzhou Luofu, Cloud Knight Lieutenant, Yanqing!”

“I ask this gentleman not to obstruct official duties! I have important business to attend to!”

[Inorin’s Note: Yanqing’s official rank is “Lieutenant” of the Cloud Knights, though he also holds the title of General Jing Yuan’s “retainer.”]

Hearing this, March 7th and the Trailblazer behind him both paused.

“Cloud Knight?” March 7th said in surprise, “You’re not a ‘ghost’?”

Yanqing was also stunned. He looked back at her in confusion:

“What ‘ghost’? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Anyway, please move aside!”

However, Orion had no intention of moving, still holding his sword with two fingers.

“Don’t fight here,” Orion said, “My companions are still here. Go outside.”

March 7th and the Trailblazer both felt a warmth in their hearts upon hearing this.

Sure enough, he had stepped out just now to protect us…

Yanqing was not an unreasonable person. He understood the other party’s meaning, knowing that the other party was afraid the battle would affect innocents.

As a Cloud Knight, he naturally wouldn’t harm civilians indiscriminately either.

“Alright!”

“I’m not looking for you… I promise, I’ll take that fugitive out to resolve this.”

Of course, the main reason he agreed so readily was…

His sword seemed to be completely stuck right now.

But just then, Welt, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up to remind him:

“Yanqing, the fugitive you speak of… is he the black-haired man from earlier?”

“Precisely!” Yanqing nodded, “What’s wrong?”

Welt adjusted his glasses and pointed to the other end of the room.

“He, while you two were talking, has already left.”

“What?!”

Yanqing was shocked to hear this and turned his head sharply!

Indeed, the black-haired man’s figure was nowhere to be seen inside!

And the window at the back of the room, at some point, had been opened!

“Damn it!”

Yanqing was both angry and anxious!

The next moment, he suddenly let go, abandoning even his cherished longsword.

He turned and jumped out the open window!

“Stop!”

“He… just left like that?”

March 7th looked at the longsword now left in Orion’s hand, still a bit slow to react.

The Trailblazer immediately ran to the window and peered into the tavern’s backyard.

She saw the young man named Yanqing searching everywhere in the courtyard, but clearly, Blade was already gone without a trace.

“He seems to have lost the trail,” the Trailblazer said.

Yanqing searched the backyard to no avail and seemed to be preparing to leave the tavern to continue the pursuit.

Just then.

A cold, suffocating pressure, without warning, enveloped the entire tavern!

That aura was so strong, so full of death, that March 7th and the Trailblazer both felt a shortness of breath!

Immediately after, from downstairs, new screams came from outside the room:

“No! I didn’t move! I didn’t lose! I’m not playing anymore, don’t come over— Ahhh!!!”

“W-what’s going on?!” March 7th’s face turned white.

The Trailblazer also nervously picked up her baseball bat:

“Could it be… the real ‘ghost’ has arrived?”

Welt’s face changed dramatically: “Be careful, this newcomer… this presence… it means no good!”

“You two stay in the room, don’t go out,” Orion said in a deep voice, his playful demeanor gone. “I’ll go out and see.”

“Wait! It’s too dangerous!” The Trailblazer immediately grabbed him, “I’ll go with you!”

“You stay here and protect March 7th and Uncle Yang.”

Orion refused, his voice firm. “I’ll be right back.”

Hearing this, the Trailblazer finally had to let go.

Orion walked out of the room and came to the corridor on the fourth floor.

This floor seemed to have no patients hiding due to the previous commotion.

He leaned against the railing, his gaze directed towards the lobby on the first floor.

He saw a figure walk in from the main entrance of the tavern.

The person was tall, seemingly a woman.

She had white hair as bright as moonlight, and her eyes were covered with a black cloth strip.

And at her feet lay a recently killed Xianzhou native, whose face still showed the frozen, wide-eyed terror of the “game.”

That was…

Just then, the woman downstairs suddenly reached out and took off her blindfold.

A pair of blood-red, glowing, Mara-struck eyes were exposed to the air!

That was Jingliu!

[Inorin’s Note: Jingliu is Jing Yuan’s former sword master and a member of the legendary High-Cloud Quintet, who succumbed to the Mara and is now one of the most dangerous beings on the Luofu.]

She looked around, her head tilting as if listening, then raised the sword in her hand.

The next moment, she moved!

The ice sword in her hand brought with it a deathly frost!

“Ah!”

“Help!”

Downstairs, those patients who were originally hiding well, and the Xianzhou natives who were playing games with those patients…

Whether Jingliu could see with her eyes or not, they all appeared one by one under her sword, their hiding spots revealed.

And then they were mercilessly struck down with a single, brutal sword stroke to the throat!

Screams were incessant, and blood and frost instantly stained the first-floor lobby red!

This is Jingliu… Orion thought, his eyes narrowing. Although her presence here is not surprising, she should have come to chase Blade.

However, her current state… it seems very wrong.

Had her Mara-struck fully manifested, or…

Had she also been infected with the Stellaron Sickness?

Just as Jingliu was on a killing spree.

Another figure burst in through the back door of the tavern!

It was Yanqing, who had returned!

Seeing the blood-splattered scene inside the tavern, he raised his spare sword in shock and shouted at Jingliu:

“Who are you?! How dare you slaughter innocents on my Luofu!”

Jingliu heard this and stopped her movements.

She turned her head, her blood-red eyes, as if discovering new prey, locked onto Yanqing!

“…Found you!”

She let out a low, cold murmur.

Immediately, she charged towards Yanqing with an overwhelming cold aura!

Yanqing was greatly alarmed!

He had completely not expected the other party to attack without a word!

In a hurry, he could only immediately raise his sword to defend!

“Clang—!”

Yanqing felt a huge, bone-jarring force coming from the sword, numbing his tiger’s mouth and forcing him back several steps.

Such powerful strength!

Jingliu’s offensive resumed!

The ice sword in her hand suddenly turned into an ice blade, striking down from above!

Yanqing, after all, was a genius swordsman from a famous school. He forcibly steadied his mind.

Six flying swords instantly unsheathed, circling and dancing around him, forming a sea of blossoming swords, neutralizing Jingliu’s violent attack!

But Jingliu’s offensive did not diminish!

For a time, sword light and ice shards flew together!

But any discerning person could see that Yanqing had fallen into an absolute disadvantage.

Jingliu’s strength, her raw, brutal power, far exceeded his imagination!

“Damn it!”

Yanqing gritted his teeth. After blocking Jingliu’s heavy chop once more, he seized the opening and fully activated his sword array!

“Take this!”

Six flying swords, from different angles, simultaneously stabbed at Jingliu’s vital points!

However, Jingliu neither dodged nor avoided.

She raised her ice sword high!

“Take my… sword!”

A massive sword blade, as if capable of cleaving the galaxy, condensed in the air and crashed down!

Yanqing’s sword array, in front of that giant ice blade, crumbled like paper in an instant!

He felt a deadly, crushing sense of oppression!

In the end, he could only recall all his flying swords, forming a final, desperate defense in front of him!

“Boom—!”

Yanqing exerted all his strength and finally managed to withstand this earth-shattering sword strike.

But the immense impact still sent him flying, slamming him hard against the wall.

Yet, before he could catch his breath, the berserk Jingliu completely disregarded all martial ethics.

Her figure appeared before him again.

The ice sword in her hand instantly slashed across his chest!

Blood splattered.

He grunted, finally unable to hold on, and fell into a pool of blood, unconscious.

However, just as Jingliu raised her ice sword, preparing to finish him off and completely end the young swordsman’s life.

Suddenly, with a whoosh!

A longsword shot through the air, hovering in front of Jingliu, blocking her path.

It was precisely Yanqing’s sword, which he had previously abandoned in Orion’s hand!

At this moment, it seemed to have gained sentience, vowing to protect its master to the death!

“Get lost.”

Jingliu snorted coldly and slashed at the obstructing flying sword.

However, that sword was exceptionally agile, as if being controlled by an unseen hand.

It avoided Jingliu’s attack at an incredible angle, even circling behind her and lightly tapping her on the back of the head with its hilt!

This clearly seemed to be teasing her.

Jingliu, having never suffered such an insult, immediately became annoyed and turned to chase the flying sword!

But no matter how she attacked, she couldn’t touch the slippery longsword!

Meanwhile, Orion, who had been standing on the fourth-floor corridor, was watching all this with great interest, a smile playing on his lips as he controlled the sword from afar.

At this moment, Jingliu downstairs, as if sensing something, suddenly looked up!

“There!”

The next moment, her figure vanished from its original spot, leaping up at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!

“…Found you!”

She suddenly appeared in front of Orion, raising the ice sword in her hand.

She was about to cut him down, just as she had cut down those “hiders” found downstairs!

However, her sword strike only left a deep sword mark and diffused ice qi on the floor where Orion had originally stood.

Orion’s shadow had already disappeared.

“…Where did he go?!”

Jingliu immediately looked around vigilantly.

Just then, a voice with a hint of playfulness suddenly rang in her ear:

“Miss, such a temper…”

“Are you, perhaps, having an episode?”

Accompanying the words was a deadly sword light!

It was Yanqing’s sword!

Jingliu’s heart tensed. Relying purely on her Mara-driven combat instinct, she blocked with a backhand sword strike!

Clang! A crisp sound, stirring up a circle of white air currents!

Jingliu felt a huge force coming from the sword, numbing her arm, and her sword actually fell from her grip!

But at this moment, she was already dominated by berserk killing intent, with no time to think carefully.

In her eyes, Orion had become a new prey!

“Die!”

Several ice swords suddenly condensed in front of Jingliu, and then, they all slashed towards Orion!

“Tsk, quite sick, aren’t you?”

Orion flicked his wrist.

Yanqing’s sword swung in his hand, a blur of motion, knocking away all those ice swords!

Just then, not far away, the private room door suddenly opened!

The Trailblazer and March 7th poked their heads out:

“Orion… we’re here to help you!”

Seeing the two fighting in the corridor, they rushed out without hesitation!

“Don’t you dare hurt my good brother… Take this!”

The Trailblazer saw Jingliu raise her hand to summon more ice. In desperation, she threw the baseball bat in her hand with all her might towards Jingliu’s back of the head!

Jingliu keenly sensed the wind from behind her and instinctively ducked without thinking!

The baseball bat grazed her scalp and smashed a valuable vase at the end of the corridor with a clang.

However, at the moment she ducked…

An ice arrow arrived!

March 7th’s ice arrow shot onto the floor beneath her feet!

Crack! That wooden floor immediately froze into an incredibly smooth ice mirror!

At the same time, Orion also seized this opportunity.

His figure flickered, and the longsword in his hand was already extended, pointing directly at Jingliu!

March 7th and the Trailblazer also followed suit!

Three attacks, from three directions, struck at the same moment!

Even the powerful Jingliu was in a predicament at this moment!

She wanted to dodge, but her foot slipped on the ice, and she lost her balance!

To avoid Orion’s sword, she could only instinctively fall backward!

However, she did not fall to the ground.

A strong arm suddenly wrapped around her falling waist, pulling her back steadily.

Jingliu looked up in astonishment, meeting a pair of dark, calm eyes.

Orion, at some point, had already sheathed his sword and caught her smoothly.

At this moment, the two seemed to be in an intimate embrace.

One of Orion’s hands was firmly clasped around Jingliu’s slender waist, while the other supported her back.

Jingliu’s body was almost completely pressed against his chest; they could even feel each other’s breath.

The air, at this moment, completely solidified.

In the corridor, March 7th and the Trailblazer, looking at Orion and Jingliu, so close and in such an ambiguous posture, gasped in shock.