Chapter 189: Four Women Converge to Protect Their Master

The scythe tore through the air, its sharp whistle piercing the atmosphere as it aimed straight for his face.

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted violently. His body instinctively leaned backward, but his legs felt as if they were filled with lead, refusing to move. The screen of his phone cracked further, its green light flickering a few times. The system was stuck on “Defense Protocol Loading,” unable to produce even half a word.

The Source Code Spiritual Root within him buzled incessantly, like a circuit board pushed to its limit. A faint glimmer of Code Flow had just gathered at his fingertips before being suppressed by the backlash of pain. The earlier wave of Permission authentication had drained his Mental Power, and now even lifting a hand felt exhausting.

The blade was only three inches from his brow, its chilling cold already piercing his skin.

At that moment—

“Clang!”

A flash of silver light swept across horizontally. Ye Zhao’s figure leaped down from the northern rock wall, her Lifebound Sword striking the side of the scythe’s blade. Sparks erupted, and the shockwave numbed her arm, but she held firm, the sword humming incessantly.

“Fall back!” she shouted in a low voice, yet she did not retreat a single step.

Almost simultaneously, Pei Yue tapped the ground with her toes and thrust out her palm, releasing twelve silver needles. Their tails connected, weaving a flowing Spiritual Power net in the air. Her face paled, but she gritted her teeth to stabilize the formation, layering medical Spiritual Power into it to form the first Buffer barrier.

In the next instant, Luo Li landed from the eastern side, her ears perked up. Demonic Fire erupted with a roar, purple flames surging like a tide, instantly solidifying into a thick fire shield. Her tail was taut as a steel whip, her pupils narrowing into slits as she stared fixedly at Ye Shi’er hovering in mid-air.

The last to arrive was Yu Xiaotang, who practically tumbled over, clutching a tattered Talisman Paper in her hand, blood still staining the corner of her mouth. Without even looking, she bit her fingertip and drew the final stroke of a blood pattern on the Talisman Paper.

“Nine-Layered Barrier, open for me!”

The Talisman Paper ignited without wind, transforming into a golden light that merged with the barrier ahead. Four forces converged in the blink of an eye: the silver needle Spiritual Power net as the foundation, the Demonic Fire as the shield, the Sword Qi as the backbone, and the Talisman as the catalyst. Layer upon layer, they stacked together, finally solidifying into a composite barrier flowing with four distinct Spiritual Power lights.

The scythe slammed fiercely into the barrier.

Boom—!

The entire rock wall shook violently, loose stones clattering down. The blood-colored scythe was forcefully repelled, flying backward several yards before embedding itself deep into the rock wall, its blade still trembling faintly.

Shen Yan was thrown back half a step by the shockwave, sliding down against the rock wall to sit. The screen of the phone on his knees flickered intermittently, like a lamp on the verge of extinguishing.

Gasping for breath, his trembling fingers rested on the edge of the screen as he silently chanted, “Restart… Core Program… load Defense Module…”

Before he could finish, a sweet taste rose in his throat, and a mouthful of blood surged up. He forced it back down.

Looking up, he saw four figures standing before him in a cross formation.

Ye Zhao stood directly in front, her sword tip pointing to the ground, silver hair disheveled by the shockwave. Her shoulders trembled slightly, clearly a result of overloading her Meridians from forcibly accelerating her return to aid.

Pei Yue knelt on one knee, one hand pressed to the ground to maintain the silver needle Spiritual Power net, the other secretly pressing an Acupuncture Point on her chest. Her face was frighteningly pale.

Luo Li’s ears twitched alertly, her tail taut as a steel whip. The Demonic Fire around her rose and fell rhythmically, as if calculating the enemy’s next move.

Yu Xiaotang slumped to the ground, the Talisman Paper in her hand burned down to a mere corner, its ashes drifting away with the wind. She grinned, her voice broken and intermittent, “Boss… did I… make it on time?”

Shen Yan looked at them, his throat moving, but no words came out.

He knew how perilous that last strike had been. Ye Shi’er’s scythe was not merely a physical attack—it was an invasion of source code, aimed directly at the core of his Consciousness Sea. He could no longer block it with programs alone; it was they who had forcibly compiled a temporary Defense Protocol using their respective Spiritual Power systems, pulling him back from the brink of death.

This was no coincidence, nor a matter of who acted first.

The moment he completed his identity verification, they had sensed the crisis erupt.

It was the resonance Contract established between his Source Code Spiritual Root and the four women taking effect.

Like four external guardian Processes added to the System Underlayer, they automatically responded the instant the main Program was in danger.

Ye Shi’er hovered slowly in mid-air, his gaze sweeping over the four from behind his mask. After a moment of silence, he suddenly let out a low chuckle.

“So even bonds… can be compiled into a Defense Protocol.”

He raised his hand, and the scythe pulled itself free from the rock wall, slowly returning to his palm. The blood-red glow on the blade grew even more intense, as if it had drunk the essence of some living being.

He did not attack again. Instead, he closed his eyes.

The next second, the space around him began to distort. Dark mist coiled and rose like fog, while complex Rune arrays emerged on the ground beneath his feet, spreading outward in concentric circles.

Shen Yan’s heart tightened.

He had seen similar records in the System Log—the precursor to initiating high-dimensional compilation.

A spell of this level wasn’t meant for drawn-out battles; it was a preparatory step for unleashing a forbidden secret technique.

Struggling to stand, his fingers slid rapidly across the screen, trying to activate the warning Program. But the System Response was sluggish, even basic scans were Lagging.

“Don’t move.” Ye Zhao glanced back at him, her voice soft yet leaving no room for doubt. “Even speaking will drain your Mental Power now.”

Pei Yue added quietly, “We can hold on. You just focus on staying alive.”

Luo Li said nothing, merely pushing her Demonic Fire forward an inch. The flames deepened in color, almost turning black.

Yu Xiaotang struggled to her feet, pulling three new Talisman Papers from her Cosmic Bag and sticking them to her wrist—one “Mind-Sharpening Talisman” and two “Anti-Interference Talismans.”

“Boss, next time, could you give us a heads-up? If I’d been five seconds later…” She didn’t finish her sentence, silenced by a glare from Ye Zhao.

Shen Yan looked down at his phone. Finally, a line of text appeared on the Screen: 【External Energy Fluctuation detected… Danger Level: Extremely High】

He wanted to check further, but found his consciousness already beginning to blur. The excessive drain on his Mental Power made his vision darken and his ears ring incessantly.

But he couldn’t fall asleep.

He knew what Ye Shi’er was about to do next.

That scale of Energy convergence couldn’t possibly be just for another swing of the scythe.

It was preparing to Rewrite the Rules themselves.

Just as he had forcibly defined himself as the sole Host using the “Variable Override Protocol,” Ye Shi’er was constructing a similar Program—except his Version was designed to clear everyone as Variables.

Shen Yan’s finger swiped across the screen, pulling up a hidden menu. He found a gray button labeled “Emergency Countermeasure v0.5.”

This was another unfinished project he had stayed up all night working on, named “Group Permission Lock and Rebound.” Its principle was to rebound a portion of the High-Level spell the enemy was invoking back onto the caster themselves. The cost was that the user might lose consciousness on the spot.

The risk was extremely high, but there was no other choice now.

He was about to enter the confirmation passcode when he suddenly felt someone grab his wrist.

Looking up, it was Yu Xiaotang.

She had somehow moved beside him, one hand pressing on his, the other slipping her own Talisman Paper into the gap behind his phone case.

“Use my talisman power as a buffer pool to save some of your Mental Power,” she said. “Anyway, I can’t fight anymore, so I might as well be an external battery.”

Shen Yan was taken aback.

Immediately after, Pei Yue gently inserted a Silver Needle into an Acupuncture Point on his wrist, slowly infusing Spiritual Power.

Though Ye Zhao didn’t turn around, she extended a strand of Sword Qi that coiled around his shoulder, like some kind of Data Synchronization link.

Luo Li simply crouched down, placing her hand on his back. The Demonic Fire wasn’t hot, but it carried an intense stability, gradually helping him steady the chaotic Spiritual Root within his body.

The auras of the five quietly connected in that moment.

The System Interface suddenly flickered—the previously grayed-out “Cooperative Protocol” icon lit up on its own.

Shen Yan stared at the Screen, murmuring, “Are you all… collectively installing Plugins on me?”

Yu Xiaotang chuckled. “Boss, this is called distributed protection, got it?”

Ye Shi’er opened his eyes.

Dark energy surged violently, the Rune array fully activated. His voice was cold as ice: “Since you all want to die with him—”

He raised his Scythe, the blade aimed at the five of them.

“Then be Formatted together.”

(End of Chapter)