“These monsters are truly not easy to deal with.” After several exchanges, they still had not brought the venomous beast down. Qiao Mu looked at Feng Jiang and said softly.
Yet even so, her expression remained unchanged — she was still brimming with confidence.
“Do not underestimate them! With your build, if those claws catch you, I do not know whether you would be split clean in two on the spot.”
Feng Jiang curved his lips faintly, gripped his long sword, swept away the bats blocking him, and once again pressed the attack on the venomous beast.
“Nothing but building up the enemy and cutting down your own side!” Dropping the retort, Qiao Mu leaned forward, leaped, and thrust her silver spear.
Qiao Mu and Feng Jiang were contending with one venomous beast, while Jian Yi and Long Yi were engaged with the other.
Without several people to assist, the brothers found dealing with the venomous swarms a strain.
The venomous beast fell to the ground wounded, but then the flute abruptly shifted to a different note, and it violently rose again. No matter how they struck it, not a wound appeared on it — it was strangely baffling.
The dense swarms of venomous creatures multiplied further, seemingly inexhaustible.
Beyond combating the venomous beasts, there were also countless venomous creatures to contend with. For the moment, the four of them could not cut the beasts down.
More and more brothers were falling wounded. The sounds of battle raged on, and the situation was growing unfavorable given their limited numbers.
“Qiao Mu, go back and help the brothers — I can handle this one myself.” Feng Jiang’s brow furrowed as he pushed the venomous beast further outward.
“All right.” Qiao Mu nodded. “Take care of yourself!”
With that single word dropped, Qiao Mu turned, leaped lightly, and went to the aid of the injured brothers.
Those who had fallen had to be protected by others — otherwise, given the venomous creatures’ ability to gnaw, a perfectly alive person could be reduced to bones within a short time.
Seeing the situation deteriorating, even Long Yi turned back.
Feng Jiang and Jian Yi, at almost the same moment, forced the two venomous beasts out of the fighting circle.
The battle continued. One side fought with skill, the other with numbers, and for the time being, neither could gain the upper hand.
But the brothers were flesh and blood — the longer this dragged on, the more their strength slowly ebbed.
The number of those who had fallen kept growing, and Qiao Mu’s heart grew increasingly anxious.
A brother who had been bitten by a venomous snake collapsed from exhaustion, and a large cluster of venomous rats immediately seized the opportunity to swarm over him.
Qiao Mu let out a sharp cry and flung all the venomous creatures around her outward, then flew across the ground toward that fallen brother.
Hearing Qiao Mu’s cry, Feng Jiang launched himself into the air, gripping his long sword and channeling every last measure of his strength into a downward slash aimed at the venomous beast’s head.
The venomous beast let out a terrible shriek and finally collapsed, no longer rising.
A beast that had shown no sign of wounds through every blow now had dark crimson blood flowing from its injured head.
Wherever the blood passed, even the grass and flowers instantly turned pitch black.
“Jian Yi, the weak point is the head! Be careful of its blood — it is venomous.”
With that warning given, Feng Jiang touched lightly off the ground and moved in Qiao Mu’s direction.
Qiao Mu, in order to protect the two fallen brothers, had her feet already gnawed at by venomous rats, yet she paid it no mind at all.
By the time Feng Jiang reached her, she was fighting off a thousand venomous rats single-handed, with two rats even having climbed onto her body.
Even so, Qiao Mu’s eyes showed not the slightest fear. She knew that only by protecting the brothers would she have the right to stand by Jiu’er’s side.
Two quick flicks — Feng Jiang easily dispatched the rats on Qiao Mu’s body, and the two of them stood guard over the two injured brothers, one on each side.
Before Qiao Mu could even give her thanks, she was already fighting the swarming rats again.
Feng Jiang dared not be careless either. Watching the venomous creatures multiply, the chill in his eyes deepened.
In a blink, Jian Yi had also returned to the fighting circle.
No one had known that a beast seemingly impervious to blades of any kind had its weakness on the very top of its head.
Now that the weakness was known, Jian Yi finished it with a single move.
The venomous creatures continued to surge forward, but everyone’s fighting strength grew weaker by the moment.
“Trouble — there is another large monster.” One of the brothers shouted from somewhere.
“I have one over here as well.” Another brother called in a low voice. “More than one — two.”
Three ferocious venomous beasts were now advancing together with the swarms of creatures, pouring toward the group.
Long Yi, his eyes red from the carnage, spoke in a low, steady voice. “Everyone hold firm! We absolutely cannot let anyone else fall.”
When one person fell, at least one or two others had to guard them — which meant two or three fewer fighters available to cut down the enemy.
No one wanted to watch their brothers become bleached bones, but the venomous creatures seemed inexhaustible, and it was impossible to know when they would finally be finished off.
“Yes!” The brothers shouted in unison.
With three more venomous beasts appearing at once, the situation grew even bleaker.
Yet the brothers’ faces showed not the slightest fear — resolute as ever, as though facing ten thousand enemy troops.
Then, abruptly, the flute sound ceased. The creatures’ attack force instantly diminished, and even the venomous beasts became noticeably sluggish.
“Brothers, rally yourselves! As long as the flute does not sound again, no new venomous creatures will appear.” Feng Jiang’s low, resonant voice carried through the entire forest.
Hearing such good news, everyone’s spirits surged at once.
Even Qiao Mu, whose clothing was now tattered in several places, was at this moment fighting a venomous beast alongside one of the brothers.
The beast had grown sluggish, but its attack power was undiminished.
One brother was momentarily careless — bats blocked his line of sight, and he stumbled to the ground.
“Ah!” Qiao Mu looked back and swung her silver spear hard at the venomous beast.
But a swarm of bats suddenly descended on her, as though they existed to protect the venomous beast, pouring downward with Qiao Mu — who was aiming to cut down the beast — as their target.
Qiao Mu’s eyes burned with unquenchable fire, and she had paid no attention to the danger closing in on her.
As her silver spear was falling toward the venomous beast’s head, the bats coming down upon her formed what was like a black net, on the verge of swallowing her whole.
Only when Qiao Mu raised her eyes and saw it did she realize — it was already too late to escape.
A low cry rang out through the forest, and everyone watched as Qiao Mu was overwhelmed, yet could do nothing to help.
In the confusion, a figure darted beneath the descending black net, and in an instant, two people who had wrapped around each other rolled clear of the net.
Not far away, this heart-stopping scene was captured by Feng Jiu’er’s eyes.
She drew a deep breath and shot forward like an arrow.
No one saw how Feng Jiu’er struck. They only felt a violent wind sweep through, and the black net hanging in the sky scattered apart with extraordinary speed.
Looking closely, one could make out that the bats that had been sent flying were no longer whole — they were shattered into fragments.
Whose inner energy was so tremendous? Everyone instinctively looked in the direction from which the violent wind had come.
There was Feng Jiu’er, descending before them all like a divine being.
The violent wind had not yet fully settled, swirling the white folds of her robe around her.
Though her frame was still that of a petite young woman, she radiated a sense of boundless, inexhaustible power.
“Miss Jiu’er.”
“It’s… Miss Jiu’er.”
The brothers did not know whether this journey to Feng Clan territory had led to the discovery of some legendary secret manual.
But watching Feng Jiu’er’s growth with their own eyes, not one of them doubted any longer — the manual had surely been found.
In this moment, watching the woman who stood before them, the brothers could almost have mistaken her for His Highness returning to the battlefield.
A Miss Jiu’er as formidable as this one was truly worthy of their invincible, unconquerable Highness.
From this day forward, the list of those they deeply admired grew by one name — and that name was the Ninth Prince’s Consort of Bei Mu.