Black clouds obscured the sky, demonic energy proliferating wildly.

The black serpent, accompanied by a tidal wave of lesser demons, struggled to break free from the barrier and crashed heavily onto the ground of Wuyue Forest along with countless other demons.

The lesser demons spread out and dispersed like water, while the black serpent, sensing human presence, leaped up frantically in an instant and bit down on the nearest disciple!

Half of the disciple’s body fell into the serpent’s maw, while the other half dropped to the ground, only to be devoured by the demons like ants consuming an elephant, completely submerging that half of the corpse.

The moment screams pierced through Wuyue Forest, Gaowen didn’t hesitate for a second and mounted his sword, shouting loudly: “Run! The Jiuyou Realm barrier has broken! Run quickly!”

Hearing these words, Jiang Zhaoxue’s mind went completely blank.

Her brain raced at lightning speed, filled entirely with one thought: It’s over.

The Jiuyou Realm barrier broke?

Why?

In the book, Pei Zichen only obtained the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade here, and it was several years later when the Jiuyou Realm barrier showed damage. He was framed by disciples for colluding with demonic cultivators only after demonic cultivators from Jiuyou Realm stole the Time-Tracing Mirror from Ethereal Sword Pavilion. If this black serpent carrying the spirit jade came from Jiuyou Realm, how could the barrier possibly break several years later?!

“Stop dwelling on this question!”

Seeing her dazed, A’Nan fluttered his wings and flew back, excitedly saying: “Look at the situation around you!”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue finally noticed that Pei Zichen was holding her in his arms, running urgently forward against the tide of demons and monsters, slashing as he went.

Jiang Zhaoxue gasped, just about to shout “Stop,” when she saw Gu Jinglan grab Pei Zichen, urgently saying: “Senior Brother, let’s go!”

“There’s a town at the foot of the mountain,” Pei Zichen answered extremely calmly, “You go seek help quickly, I need to hold the rear. Also, it—”

Pei Zichen pulled out Jiang Zhaoxue and handed her to Gu Jinglan, instructing: “Take her with you.”

With that said, Pei Zichen pushed Gu Jinglan away and rushed forward, sword light surrounding him as he slaughtered demons and monsters. Pei Zichen suspended himself in mid-air, forming hand seals toward the breach.

Watching Pei Zichen’s actions, Gu Jinglan finally realized the situation.

At the foot of the mountain was a mortal town. The demons of Jiuyou Realm feasted on mortals. With so many demons, if they went down, in less than a moment, the mortals below would be completely annihilated, not even bones remaining.

Looking at Pei Zichen’s back, Gu Jinglan gritted his teeth. Without further hesitation, he stuffed Jiang Zhaoxue into his arms and shouted loudly: “Senior Brother, wait for me!” Then he fought his way out, slashing as he went.

Hiding in Gu Jinglan’s embrace, Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart raced.

These disciples couldn’t hold out. In at most a quarter hour, these demons and the black serpent would completely devour these disciples, then head down the mountain.

Most importantly, if the barrier wasn’t repaired and continued to tear wider, Jiuyou Realm would essentially be declaring full-scale war on the True Immortal Realm.

The battle at Cangming Sea from years ago was still vivid in her memory. Thinking of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart trembled, and she immediately realized this couldn’t be allowed.

This situation didn’t appear in the book. The current anomaly was entirely caused by her, and she couldn’t just sit by and watch.

But now, the only thing that could repair the Jiuyou Realm barrier…

Was the grand formation she had prepared to kill that spirit serpent.

If she used that grand formation, to kill this spirit serpent she would need to set up the formation again, and she wasn’t even certain she could manage it.

But there was no choice.

Without hesitation, Jiang Zhaoxue took a deep breath and leaped out from Gu Jinglan’s embrace!

Gu Jinglan cried out excitedly: “Hey!”

However, Jiang Zhaoxue had already run far away. Gu Jinglan couldn’t worry about her and could only curse under his breath, turning to continue forward.

At this moment, Jiang Zhaoxue quickly ran behind a tree, hiding in a tree hollow. After placing talismans to ward off the demons, she looked out from the tree hollow and saw Pei Zichen not far away, slashing his way toward the barrier. She immediately understood his intention—he actually wanted to seal the Jiuyou Realm barrier by himself.

“This fool!” A’Nan cursed angrily, but Jiang Zhaoxue remained exceptionally calm.

“Pei Zichen,” Jiang Zhaoxue bit her finger and quickly drew talismans in the air, speaking calmly, “You’re responsible for sealing Wuyue Forest, I’ll repair the Jiuyou Realm barrier.”

Hearing this, Pei Zichen quickly turned around, scanning the surroundings, and spotted a large tree completely covered by demons.

He immediately realized there was an expert nearby and didn’t dare say much. With a swing of his sword, it transformed into several light swords circling around him, while his hands rapidly formed seals.

At the same time, Jiang Zhaoxue’s signature tube in her hand also began to spin: “The Heavenly Dao is impermanent, gambling fortune on heaven, supreme great fortune, Jiuyou barrier—Seal!”

The moment her voice fell, jade sticks flew up, revealing the words “Supreme Fortune.” Supreme Fortune wasn’t as good as “Supreme Supreme,” but it was sufficient. Jiang Zhaoxue swept her hand, and the jade stick transformed into radiant light falling to the ground. A massive formation array lit up in the clearing, and the formation’s patterns instantly surged toward the damaged part of the barrier like countless blood vessels, rapidly repairing the breach.

Meanwhile, a golden formation array appeared above Pei Zichen’s head. He brought his hands together, and over a dozen sword lights descended from the sky, landing in eight directions of Wuyue Forest. The eight sword lights quickly formed a golden barrier, covering above Wuyue Forest, intercepting all demonic energy and demons.

The two worked from inside and outside, completely sealing Wuyue Forest. In that instant, the black serpent and demons reacted, turning to look in the direction of the tree trunk where Jiang Zhaoxue was hiding.

“That snake is looking this way!”

A’Nan nervously spoke, excitedly saying: “They’re coming! The barrier is about to crack!”

A barrier set up with talismans would crack once spiritual power was depleted.

Jiang Zhaoxue had prepared early.

Once she sealed the Jiuyou Realm barrier, as long as she took action, the demons of Jiuyou Realm would definitely frantically try to stop her. She had anticipated this long ago, so she wasn’t afraid.

“Pei Zichen.”

Feeling her spiritual power being slowly extracted, she pinched another talisman in her hand and calmly called out again: “Come get me.”

“Yes, Senior!”

This time Pei Zichen responded without hesitation.

As soon as he finished speaking, the enormous hissing sound of the serpent came from outside, as if summoning something.

Then the pressure on the barrier suddenly increased dramatically. Jiang Zhaoxue listened to the “bang bang” sounds of things pounding the barrier outside, listened to Pei Zichen’s running footsteps approaching, calculating positions. Just as Pei Zichen approached, Jiang Zhaoxue flung out the talisman in her hand, blasting open the demons. Amidst flying blood and flesh, Jiang Zhaoxue leaped out and saw the youth racing toward her in the moonlight.

The black serpent followed closely behind her. Pei Zichen’s expression turned stern. He accelerated forward and scooped her up, catching Jiang Zhaoxue into his embrace. At the same time, he raised his sword to block the black serpent’s strike, and was instantly sent flying backward with Jiang Zhaoxue!

With his Core Formation body facing this black serpent, it was completely like an egg striking a stone.

Person and tiger flew and crashed to the ground. Pei Zichen protected her in his arms. Jiang Zhaoxue only felt a jolt before crashing into his chest.

Jiang Zhaoxue quickly scrambled into his embrace. Pei Zichen’s expression changed slightly.

When she hadn’t spoken earlier he hadn’t realized, but now even a fool would understand—this was a female senior!

However, he had no time to stop her. The spirit serpent had arrived. He hastily got up, adjusted his posture, and began frantically dodging the pursuit of the black serpent and demons while carrying Jiang Zhaoxue.

Jiang Zhaoxue crawled into his chest, hiding in his arms, taking out elixir pills and stuffing them into her mouth handful by handful, breathing heavily: “Protect me for a quarter hour, can you do it?”

“This junior will do his utmost, until death.”

Pei Zichen answered without hesitation, his ears red, not asking even half a question.

However, Jiang Zhaoxue had no strength to say much more. She ate pills that rapidly gathered spiritual energy handful after handful. She had consumed too much spiritual power just now and could only use medicinal substances to forcibly raise her spiritual power, but she wasn’t certain how much she could recover.

But there was no other choice now.

She wasn’t sure when Shen Yuqing would arrive. Things were already completely different from the book.

Moreover, if Shen Yuqing came and saw her here, forget about obtaining the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade—upon returning, she would definitely be strictly guarded, and she would lose her last chance to escape.

She had to take a gamble.

Gamble that before Shen Yuqing arrived, she could kill this spirit serpent herself and obtain the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade.

She gritted her teeth tightly. After quickly taking the medicine, she bit her own finger and entered her sea of consciousness with closed eyes to draw the formation.

While she drew the formation, with A’Nan’s help, Pei Zichen kept sparring with the black serpent.

Although the black serpent was large, it wasn’t clumsy because of it—its movements were extremely fast. However, every time at a critical moment, A’Nan would swoop down and peck at the black serpent.

After several exchanges in the clearing, Pei Zichen realized continuing this way was disadvantageous for him. He simply shot upward swiftly, leaping in a bound to step onto the serpent’s body, sliding and running madly along its length.

Seeing this, the surrounding demons swarmed forward. The snake’s head and demons chased Pei Zichen. After circling several times, Pei Zichen leaped into the forest, using the narrow paths within to pursue and be pursued by the giant serpent.

Jiang Zhaoxue was jostled dizzy in his embrace as she drew the formation swaying in her sea of consciousness.

The formation to repair the Jiuyou Realm barrier required extremely vast amounts of heaven and earth spiritual energy. Spiritual energy continuously surged toward Pei Zichen’s body. Pei Zichen had no time to pay attention, focusing entirely on battling the black serpent and demons.

However, the difference in cultivation level between him and this black serpent was too great. Even utilizing the terrain advantage, he only lasted a brief moment before the black serpent gave a great roar and spat out a giant gust of wind, instantly leveling the nearby mountain forest to flat ground, then biting toward Pei Zichen!

Pei Zichen was forced to face it head-on. The serpent’s body was agile, its speed at normal pace, but Pei Zichen was going all out, at the end of his strength. In less than a moment, he began to feel overwhelmed.

In one careless moment, a flaw appeared before him. The black serpent bit down. Pei Zichen hastily retreated backward. Just as the black serpent was about to snatch away Jiang Zhaoxue, startling her to the point of nearly transforming, Pei Zichen suddenly turned and blocked, protecting Jiang Zhaoxue as he swiftly retreated!

With just this one block, the black serpent’s fang scraped across Pei Zichen’s shoulder, penetrating through his entire back. Blood splattered onto Jiang Zhaoxue’s black and white striped fur. Jiang Zhaoxue looked up at him. Pei Zichen immediately reassured her: “Senior, continue drawing the formation. This junior is fine.”

As he spoke, his toes touched down and he charged out again.

Jiang Zhaoxue clearly felt that Pei Zichen could barely hold on anymore. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat worried.

Now that Wuyue Forest was sealed, the target of this black serpent and demons was only her. If Pei Zichen wanted to run, he could run at any time.

But if he ran, her grand formation wasn’t complete, and the talismans in her hand couldn’t support her for too long either.

She didn’t dare gamble on Pei Zichen’s conscience. She could only force herself to write the talismans faster.

Pei Zichen was already doing his utmost to dodge the black serpent. Now injured, there were even more openings.

Yet he never threw her out. Instead, he carefully protected her in his embrace, even taking care when being knocked to the ground each time to roll away protectively.

“Oh my,” A’Nan flew high above, unable to help saying, “Even I’m moved. He’s really a good person right now.”

Jiang Zhaoxue said nothing. She silently drew the formation array, watching Pei Zichen being repeatedly chased by the black serpent and knocked away with magical force.

The black serpent seemed to have found a kind of cat-and-mouse pleasure, or perhaps was wary of something, so it didn’t kill him for a long time. Instead, it sought angles, continuously consuming Pei Zichen’s stamina.

However, it was after all an aberrant creature that had devoured the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade. Even just toying with him was already fatal for an ordinary person.

Jiang Zhaoxue clearly felt Pei Zichen’s aura weakening. Until the last time, when Pei Zichen was heavily thrown to the ground by the black serpent, afraid of hitting her, he held her and rolled, his side scraping across the mud before crashing into a tree trunk, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

The spiritual power in his body was already very weak. The black serpent seemed to realize this as well. All the demons and the black serpent slowed their pace, closing in from all directions, seeking the final strike.

“Senior,” Pei Zichen coughed lightly, supporting himself as he placed Jiang Zhaoxue on the ground. He raised his finger and touched Jiang Zhaoxue’s forehead. “I can only… stall for three more breaths.”

Jiang Zhaoxue continued drawing the formation in her sea of consciousness without stopping, her tiger eyes looking up in confusion.

Pei Zichen looked at himself reflected in those tiger eyes. Though his eyes trembled with fear, he still forcefully suppressed it, instantly channeling the last bit of spiritual power into Jiang Zhaoxue’s body. After transforming it into a barrier outside Jiang Zhaoxue’s body, he raised his hand and threw Jiang Zhaoxue outward, drawing his sword and turning back to stand against the black serpent, gritting his teeth and shouting: “Senior, run!”

The instant his voice rang out, Jiang Zhaoxue flew into the air and saw demons and the black serpent surging toward him like a tide, as if about to submerge the youth.

Yet the youth, covered in blood, holding his sword behind him, still charged forward toward the black serpent without hesitation, shouting loudly with rare loss of composure as he rushed: “Run! Run!”

He told her to run.

Running meant the formation wouldn’t be complete, meant she couldn’t kill these evil demons and this black serpent.

It meant that at this moment, he was giving up himself, choosing to let her escape, rather than cooperating with her to kill this evil creature together.

Between two people surviving, he chose her.

What a fool.

Jiang Zhaoxue stared fixedly at his back, her fingers drawing rapidly.

A’Nan fluttered his wings, shrieking: “Save him! Master, save him!!”

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t speak. Watching A’Nan dive down, seeing the black serpent open its mouth and dive down, it was at that very instant, as her finger drew the last stroke of the formation, that she suddenly rushed forward. Just as the black serpent was about to swallow Pei Zichen in one bite, she raised her hand to block Pei Zichen and flung him backward, simultaneously throwing out over a hundred talismans. The formation array exploded in her palm, hovering above the two of them, heavily colliding with the black serpent.

The violent wind exploded, shaking heaven and earth. Only in the area covered by Jiang Zhaoxue’s magical power, protected by her, remained a pocket of tranquility.

Pei Zichen stared blankly upward and saw a woman standing before him, opening the formation array with one hand while rapidly forming seals with the other.

Wind lifted her hair and set her wide sleeves fluttering. The golden formation array was beneath her feet, talismans surrounding and revolving around her body. Golden runes illuminated her blood-stained face in profile, making the woman appear extraordinarily noble and beautiful.

She stood before him like a high mountain. Pei Zichen looked up at the woman’s slender yet extraordinarily powerful back, listening to her voice accompanied by the shaking sound of the signature tube, echoing throughout the entire mountain forest.

“The Heavenly Dao is impermanent, gambling fortune on heaven, supreme great fortune, evil in all directions be executed!”

The moment her voice fell, she raised her hand and swept it out. A jade stick with the words “Supreme Supreme” flew out from the signature tube. Seeing those two characters, Jiang Zhaoxue was overjoyed and immediately shouted: “Go!”

In an instant, the jade stick transformed into countless light swords, falling like rain!

Majestic spiritual power shook the mountain forest. The violent wind destroyed everything in its path. Pei Zichen was blown back by the gale, digging his fingers into the muddy ground and gripping tightly to stabilize his form.

Experiencing such powerful force manifesting before his eyes for the first time, his heartstrings trembled with shock and fear.

Who was she?

He gasped for breath, feeling his vision blurred by blood, yet he still stubbornly raised his head, looking up at that back before him, watching as the figure turned around in that rain of radiant sword light.

White gauze covering her face, purple robes and long dress, silver hairpin swaying gently by her hair bun, cold and transcendent, with extraordinary temperament.

Light swords fell to the ground, instantly killing all black serpents and demons, then transformed into countless threads of light, weaving like brocade to mend the damaged parts of the Jiuyou Realm barrier. The barrier, as if it had never suffered any damage, dimmed along with the light threads.

Everything suddenly became quiet. Only the rustling sound of wind through leaves in the forest could be heard.

She appeared in the radiant brilliance of ten thousand swords, lingering in the tranquil moonlight.

Pei Zichen gasped for breath, trying to look up at her through his blurred vision.

Jiang Zhaoxue quietly gazed down at him. After a moment, she bent down to pick up his sword, then turned to leave.

He wouldn’t survive.

With just one glance, Jiang Zhaoxue knew.

His spiritual energy was chaotic, his meridians damaged, his spirit root and spirit core both shattered. Even as a seventeen-year-old genius at Core Formation, he could only stop here—he wouldn’t survive.

Having lived in the cultivation world for two hundred years, she had long since grown accustomed to life and death. Moreover, what about someone like Pei Zichen, a calamity star destined to bring her disaster?

Each person had their own fate. She couldn’t save him, and she had already saved him once.

She walked quickly toward the black serpent not far away, which had long since transformed into an ordinary snake form.

Although this black serpent had swallowed the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade, it was after all just an earth snake that had never cultivated. It had no ability to truly use the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade, only borrowing superficial power, yet already possessed such terrifying strength.

Now it was severely injured and beaten back to its original form, but hadn’t spit out the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade, which proved the spirit jade was still inside its body.

Jiang Zhaoxue came before the black serpent carrying Pei Zichen’s sword, the sword tip pointing at it, calmly saying: “That pearl in your body—will you offer it voluntarily, or shall this sovereign cut you open and take it myself?”

The black serpent had gained spiritual intelligence from the Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade and could understand Jiang Zhaoxue’s meaning.

It fearfully coiled itself, hissing and flicking its tongue, eyes full of warning, rasping: “Not yours to take, forcing will bring harm.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue sneered: “It seems this sovereign must take action personally.”

With that said, Jiang Zhaoxue flung an immobilization talisman toward the black serpent. The black serpent’s pupils contracted sharply. The instant the talisman flew over, the black serpent suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a pearl radiating brilliant light. Jiang Zhaoxue raised her hand to urgently intercept it, but the pearl shot forward with fierce momentum, circling around her and crashing straight into Pei Zichen’s body!

Jiang Zhaoxue was stunned upon seeing this, then cursed under her breath. She quickly rushed to Pei Zichen’s side, grabbed him up, and reached out to strip off his clothes.

Pei Zichen’s consciousness was unclear, but he vaguely felt someone pulling at his garments. He frowned and used all his strength to push away.

Angered by his actions, Jiang Zhaoxue simply tore his clothes with a loud ripping sound, instantly exposing his snow-white chest, and pressed her hand directly down.

He still had a youth’s body, his bones not yet fully developed, still carrying a young person’s slenderness, but his muscles were firm with obvious definition—the feel was excellent.

But that wasn’t important.

Jiang Zhaoxue stared blankly at his injury-covered body, at his luminescent chest. Spiritual power probing into his body, she clearly felt the surging spiritual power within the youth, the strong and powerful heartbeat, the spirit root, spirit core, and Core Formation that were restoring, and also…

That Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade that had almost completely fused with his heart.

The moment she sensed the jade’s fusion, Jiang Zhaoxue’s hands began to tremble. Shocked, she stared at the fair chest before her, eyes wide with fury, utterly dumbfounded, unable to look away, striking terror into her heart.

Where was her Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade?

Where was her huge Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade?!

Her Heavenly Secret Spirit Jade aaaaahhhhhh!!