Puppetry

The puppet slipped past her blade and twisted in the air.

Cheng Xiu jumped back.

She raised her sword and slashed it in half.

The wooden doll caught fire and turned into ashes.

The Blue talisman in the puppet tore and fell to the ground.

One of her sword copies slashed its head off.

The puppet moved away, not caring that it was now headless.

The cloned sword slashed the puppet in half.

It burst into flame and became ash, leaving behind its torn up blue talisman pieces.

Cheng Xiu's thoughts raced. Cutting the talisman could end the spell, just as she had guessed.

Two other puppets ran towards her.

Cheng Xiu frowned. "Sword Dance!"

Two copies of her sword appeared on either side of her shoulders.

One blade cut through the chest of the left one, while the other blade cut through the right puppet's guts.

The humanoid wooden creations froze.

The puppet cut in the stomach tried to slash away the sword copy with its hands but failed to.

The puppet cut in the heart fell to the ground and burst into flame. Its ashes flew away to reveal the blue Talisman.

Cheng Xiu smirked: Weakness, heart.

Crow seemed to have guessed that she had figured out the puppet's secrets as he seemed his hand again.

Two Yellow Talismans floated into the air.

They glowed a brilliant golden light and the circular design on its paper surface started to spin.

Bullets of fire sped towards her.

Cheng Xiu flipped away.

The bullets followed her trajectory as puppets ran towards her. The fire would zip past the puppets when they got in the way.

Cheng Xiu cursed. The bullets were locked onto her Qi signature it would seem. She couldn't use anything as a shield because it would just go around it.

Cheng Xiu decided not to waste her energy by running. There was no use in that action.

She still had skills to fight with.

The bullets and puppets got closer and closer.

Cheng Xiu smiled.

Crow frowned at the change in her expression.

"Ghost Flame!" Cheng Xiu shouted.

Crow's eyes widened. He forgot about that skill of hers. There wasn't any prior data about it though he suspected it was something related to WenXian's Heavenly Fires.

He forgot such a powerful skill of hers.

How was that possible? 

His mind went to her fight with EverHill. It was that technique again.

He forgot about the skill itself? 

The black flame flared towards the coming fire bullets and puppets.

In seconds, the fire turned the puppets into ashes.

It turned into tendrils of flame and started to consume the bullets as fast they came.

Crow stopped his attacks. 

He looked at the woman in front of him.

The flame came back to her and turned into a single flame again, no bigger than a candle's flame.

The white-robed woman closed her palm and snuffed it out.

He realised that she might be using the black flame as a way to filter more into her as he grew weaker.

Such a scheming mind.

Cheng Xiu sighed. She wanted to use the black flame to kill the Immortal and just end the game but she couldn't.

She didn't know how powerful the flame would become after it consumed a human and as willful as it already was, Cheng Xiu was unwilling to see how much more willful the flame would be.

There was also the problem that she might not be able to control it at all and it would in turn control her.

It was the drawback of using things that were meant to go against Heavenly creations. There was a chance of the power controlling you then you controlling it.

Crow swept his arm once more. Five large blue talismans appeared in the air.

They each caught fire and turned into tall, pale women. Their eyes were dead, but they looked human. Their faces were the same. The only difference among them was that each had a Chinese symbol engraved on their forehead representing one of the five elements.

Fire.

Earth.

Metal.

Water.

Wood.

Cheng Xiu stood straight, ready to face them.

The Fire girl ran forward, her arms and legs covered in red flames.

Cheng Xiu raised her sword and met the overstretched hand head-on.

The blade of her sword vibrated as it met with the surface of the puppet's hands.

The puppet's eyes turned towards her, its face blank.

It got engulfed in flame.

Cheng Xiu tried to back away, but the creature grabbed hold of her sword arm.

The flame on it seemed alive as it moved towards Cheng Xiu's skin and started to burn away her flesh.

Cheng Xiu gritted her teeth to not cry out as tears flew down her face.

Cheng Xiu raised her hand and kicked the thing away from her.

The bottom of her clothes burned.

Cheng held the sword in her hand tighter as sweat dripped down her face.

She suppressed the whimper she wanted to let out as the movement agitated the wound the puppet left behind.

The fire puppet dashed towards her.

"Sword Dance!"

Two more copies appeared.

The puppet tried to throw a punch at her when it reached her again.

"Sword Shield!"

A blue barrier erupted around her.

The puppet didn't stop moving at hit the barrier with its fist.