Amid the three women’s terrified wails, Qin Yao gradually made out a strange sound — unusually cold and hard, like some extremely sharp blade slowly scraping across the ground.

Her heart gave a jolt. The sound felt inexplicably familiar, yet she couldn’t place where she had heard it before.

The malevolent aura drew closer and closer. Whatever was coming was cultivated to a degree far beyond that four-legged serpent. Qin Yao’s heart sank — by her strength alone, she might well be no match for a great evil presence like this.

She quickly looked around. The strange sound was coming from outside, which meant there must be another opening beyond the cave she was currently in — these caves were likely all interconnected.

The innermost chamber was, of course, the one where she and Chen Yuqi had lain unconscious; this cave she was in now was likely the middle one, while the malevolent presence was approaching from the outermost one. To escape, she would have to pass through that opening — which meant, clearly, she had no choice but to confront whatever was out there head-on.

“Quick, hide further inside.” She snapped at the three women in a low voice, then raised her hand and waved, sending the fire dragons surging forward to hold back the entrance, from which a towering malevolent aura was pouring in.

Among the three women, one beautiful married lady carried a more mature, composed air than the other two younger girls, and handled the situation with far more steadiness. Having watched Qin Yao deal with the four-legged serpent earlier, she had already guessed that this girl was likely one of those extraordinary practitioners spoken of in legend. Startled as she was, the will to survive that had been all but extinguished in her these past days now flared back to life.

Without another word, she got up and pulled the other two girls along, running for the inner cave so that Qin Yao could focus fully on the creature.

But just as they reached the entrance to the inner cave, a girl in fine clothing came stumbling out from within, one hand pressed to her forehead, her face still etched with pain, moaning softly. When she saw the others, she forgot to keep walking and simply stood frozen in place.

“Get inside, now!” The spiritual aura had already surged to the cave entrance — the creature would appear at any moment. Seeing the others standing rooted to the spot, Qin Yao shouted.

Even as she spoke, she drove her inner energy forward. The fire dragons, sensing a malevolent force unlike any they’d encountered before, grew restless, rearing up high in preparation to fight. Then came a piercing sound, almost like the ring of a sword, and a pitch-black longsword came slicing in from outside the cave, straight at the fire dragons.

Qin Yao saw it clearly and was struck with horror — could it really be the Ghost Swordsman!

The moment the fire dragons touched the black longsword, they coiled up along its blade at once, but the sword’s momentum did not slow in the slightest — it continued straight on into the cave. In the blink of an eye, an enormously tall figure strode in through the entrance.

The figure was clad head to toe in black robes and black armor, standing at least seven chi tall, gripping a longsword, radiating an icy, sinister aura cold enough to chill anyone to the bone. It was indeed the Ghost Swordsman Qin Yao had clashed with before.

Being so close this time, Qin Yao finally got a clear look at the Ghost Swordsman’s face. He appeared to be around twenty years old in appearance, with a dark, blackened complexion, a high nose, deep-set eyes, and prominent cheekbones — his features inexplicably strange and unsettling.

As he advanced, he swung his sword fiercely at Qin Yao, but the fire dragons had him wrapped so tightly there wasn’t a single gap. With every step he took, another burning patch of pain bloomed across his body, and the air gradually filled with a sickening, rancid stench. Even though he could endure the pain, it slowed his movements all the same.

The moment the Ghost Swordsman appeared, the three women let out soft, terrified cries, their legs shaking so badly they could no longer move.

This was the first time Chen Yuqi had ever laid eyes on such a monstrous thing. Before she could even make a sound, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Seeing that the fire dragons’ gnawing had kept the Ghost Swordsman’s sword from rising for the moment, Qin Yao didn’t dare hesitate. She immediately grasped a talisman in her hand and leapt forward, intending to press it to his forehead.

Her inner energy was limited, and the fire dragons couldn’t hold out much longer — she had to find a way to subdue the Ghost Swordsman before he fought back.

But before her hand could even reach him, a blast of sinister energy strong enough to pierce straight into her lungs slammed into her, sending her flying backward. Her back struck the cave wall with a heavy thud, and she crashed down hard onto the ground.

Stars burst across her vision, and her body felt as though it might fall apart.

All three women watched in terror. Seeing Qin Yao curled up in pain on the ground, unmoving for a long while, the beautiful married lady shakily straightened up and crept carefully over to her, asking in a trembling voice, “Da— Daoist Priestess, are you all right?”

Earlier, she had heard this lovely young woman refer to herself as a Daoist before the fire dragons, and had then watched her use talismans against the creature, so she knew the girl was a practitioner of the Dao.

Qin Yao waved a hand, caught her breath for a moment, then looked up at the woman. “Madam Zhou, in a moment I’ll find a way to lure him into the inner cave. Use that chance to escape — the whole valley right now is full of Imperial Guard soldiers, and they’re skilled at searching. As long as you can get out, you’re bound to run into someone who can save you.”

The beautiful woman addressed as Madam Zhou froze. “You— how do you know my husband’s family name is Zhou?”

Seeing that her guess had indeed been right, Qin Yao gave a weak smile. Not only did she know this woman’s husband’s family was Zhou — she also knew that the half-headed ghost who had been searching the academy so desperately for his wife was none other than this woman’s husband.

Seeing that the woman, though haggard, did not look broken in spirit, Qin Yao guessed she had likely lost consciousness at the time of her abduction and still did not know that her husband and family had already died at the Ghost Swordsman’s blade — that her husband had even refused to be reincarnated, his soul wandering endlessly in search of his wife.

She hid the pity in her eyes and simply said in a low voice, “Just do as I say.”

She pointed at the still-unconscious Chen Yuqi and added, “Find a way to wake her up. When you all run, don’t leave her behind — I really can’t spare the attention to protect anyone else right now.”

Madam Zhou nodded vigorously in agreement.

Qin Yao lay still a moment longer, and once the first wave of searing pain in her back had passed, she gritted her teeth, braced herself up on her elbows, and forced herself painfully to her feet.

Once she was standing steady, she looked toward the Ghost Swordsman, still held in check by the fire dragons for the moment. Because of her injury, the dragons’ glow had dimmed slightly, and the Ghost Swordsman’s sword was beginning to rise again.

There wasn’t much time left. She quickly pulled out all the remaining talismans from her sleeve, bit her index finger to draw blood, let the blood drip onto the talismans, then bent down and laid them out one by one, leading toward the entrance of the innermost cave.

What came next was simple enough — she would once again be staking her life on it. After all these years studying under her master, she had neither her senior brother’s pure-yang constitution nor her master’s deep reserves of inner energy; in close combat with demonic creatures, her innate disadvantages always told against her.

Not wanting to be a burden to her master and senior brother, she had spent extra effort over the years studying the art of talismans. The technique she was about to use, in fact, was not even one her master had taught her — she had come across it a couple of years earlier in a dust-covered talisman compendium in the storeroom of Qingyun Temple. It was called the Soul-Tethering Technique: as long as the target was not an inanimate thing, this move was guaranteed to bind the evil creature in place.

She had no confidence in the outcome — the Ghost Swordsman radiated death energy from head to toe, nothing like a living being. But recalling the small clues he had inadvertently revealed in their first few clashes, she decided to gamble on it anyway.

The wound on her index finger had dried up from squeezing it so much. Without even a flicker of her brow, she immediately broke open the skin on her middle finger as well. Only one talisman remained in her hand. Following what she remembered from the book, she carefully drew the incantation onto it with her fingertip blood.

The fire dragons’ glow dimmed a little further, and the Ghost Swordsman let out a strange cry, finally managing to take a step forward. Qin Yao lunged forward at once, intending, just as before, to press the talisman against his forehead.

If he was indeed an inanimate thing, the talisman would do absolutely nothing, and being this close to him, she would almost certainly be hurt by his sinister aura again.

But if he was a living being, then once the talisman took hold, it would tether the creature for at least the time it took to burn one stick of incense. Not very long, but long enough for her to do a great deal.

Without hesitation, she charged straight at the Ghost Swordsman. Just as she’d expected, before she could even close the distance, a powerful surge of evil energy rushed at her face. Qin Yao instinctively raised her arm to block it. The sinister aura touched the talisman in her hand, and the talisman’s glow flared bright — the dark energy weakened considerably at once.

Qin Yao’s heart leapt with joy — she hadn’t expected to actually be right; this thing truly wasn’t inanimate after all. She didn’t dare slow down, and pressed her advantage, slapping the talisman fiercely onto the Ghost Swordsman’s forehead.

A piercingly shrill roar tore out, and the Ghost Swordsman’s features twisted together as though he were suffering tremendous agony. He tried to lift his hand to tear the talisman from his forehead, but not only could he not raise his arm, the longsword in his other hand very nearly slipped from his grip.

Her strike having landed true, Qin Yao dropped back, chanting her incantation as she slowly retreated, following the trail of talismans she had laid out earlier toward the inner cave.

The Ghost Swordsman’s entire body seemed bound by invisible ropes, with the leading end of that unseen rope now held fast in Qin Yao’s hand. With every step she retreated, the Ghost Swordsman was dragged forward an inch.

Madam Zhou saw all this clearly. She quickly worked together with the other two girls to drag Chen Yuqi aside, slapping desperately at her cheeks. “Wake up, wake up!”

Chen Yuqi gasped and finally, slowly came around. The instant she opened her eyes, she saw a tower of a man in black, wrapped in three fire dragons, an utterly terrifying sight. Worse still, that Qu Qinyao was actually standing right in front of him as if she had no idea how close she was to death — it looked like she might be crushed to bits the very next moment.

Chen Yuqi flinched in fright, shut her eyes, and prepared to faint dead away again.

But Madam Zhou hauled her up at once and said urgently, “The Daoist priestess is working out a way for us to escape. If we don’t move quickly, none of us are getting out of here!”

At those words, Chen Yuqi suddenly came to her senses. She had no time left to pretend to faint — she shoved Madam Zhou aside and scrambled, half-crawling, toward the exit.

Madam Zhou staggered from the shove, her face a mix of shock and anger, but she had no time to dwell on it. She quickly gathered her skirts and, pulling the other two girls along, stumbled toward the entrance as well.

By now Qin Yao had dragged the Ghost Swordsman to the entrance of the inner cave. Catching sight of the women trying to flee from the corner of his eye, the malice in his pitch-black eyes flared, and the dark energy surging through him suddenly intensified, peeling the talisman on his forehead up at the edge.

Qin Yao steadied her mind and kept chanting, silently driving her inner energy forward to brighten the fire dragons, straining with everything she had to keep the Ghost Swordsman bound in place.

There was some distance between the depths of the cave and the outer entrance. All four women were either freshly injured or had been confined for days, and none of them could move with their usual ease. Panting, they reached the entrance and surged forward together, jostling each other, but the entrance was narrow, and Chen Yuqi was knocked over and fell to the ground.

Hearing the commotion behind him, the Ghost Swordsman suddenly let out a strange cry, and a thousandfold wave of cold energy burst from his body, jolting the talisman on his forehead upward again. This time, because the dark energy struck so fiercely, more than half the talisman peeled away, looking ready to fall off entirely.

Her view blocked by the Ghost Swordsman, Qin Yao couldn’t see what was happening in the outer cave, but she heard a chaotic patter of footsteps that gradually sounded farther away, and her heart eased — Chen Yuqi and the others had likely made it out of the cave. She decided not to fixate on the talisman any longer and instead focused all her inner energy on driving the fire dragons. As long as the fire dragons didn’t go out, even if she couldn’t subdue the Ghost Swordsman, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to her either, for the time being.

And as long as she could stall for a little while longer, given Lin Xiao’s sharp mind, he would surely find some way to locate her.

Thinking of Lin Xiao, a bitterness welled up in her heart, and her nose inexplicably began to sting.

Sensing their mistress’s shift in mood, the fire dragons’ color dimmed in turn. Qin Yao quickly composed herself and brought her attention back fully to the fire dragons, not daring to let her mind wander again.

But Qin Yao had, in the end, underestimated the capabilities of a great evil presence like this. Seeing the young women he had so painstakingly gathered all escape in the blink of an eye, the Ghost Swordsman could have torn the woman before him limb from limb and devoured her flesh and blood on the spot.

Fixing those pupil-less eyes on Qin Yao for a long moment, he suddenly let out a low, savage cry. Though the sound carried an undertone of pain, the breath that came with it was like ice that had endured a thousand years, instantly turning the cave the two of them stood in as cold as the depths of winter.

And amid that unbroken stream of cries, the talisman on his forehead peeled away from his skin, inch by inch.

Qin Yao watched, helpless, as the talisman turned into a useless scrap of paper and fluttered lightly down to her feet.

Free to move again, the Ghost Swordsman ignored the fire dragons’ bites, enduring the bone-gnawing pain with grim determination, and forced his longsword up, swinging it down at Qin Yao.

Sensing the danger, the three fire dragons abandoned the Ghost Swordsman at once and rushed back to their mistress’s side, wrapping tightly around her to block the strike.

But the Ghost Swordsman’s sword had only swung halfway down when a ringing sound suddenly came from behind him — something tore through the air and, with a force nearly impossible to resist, plunged into his back.

The Ghost Swordsman froze mid-motion and turned with difficulty to look behind him, where he saw the one who had thrown the blade standing at the entrance, his face deathly pale, still catching his breath.

At the sight of Lin Xiao, Qin Yao’s eyes reddened at once, a flood of grievance welling up in her chest, and she very nearly burst into tears.

Half of Lin Xiao’s soul, which had seemed lost until that moment, finally settled back into place. His throat bobbed as he looked at his wife, his eyes raw with feeling. Though he had a thousand things he wanted to say to her, with a formidable enemy still before them and life and death hanging on the span of a breath, he forced every word back down. He raised his hand, and with a hiss, Chixiao flew back into his grip.

He leapt forward, gave the blade a shake, and thrust it straight at the Ghost Swordsman.

With Lin Xiao fighting alongside her now, Qin Yao’s spirits lifted. She gave a low shout and sent the fire dragons coiling around the Ghost Swordsman once more, pouring all her concentration into driving her inner energy forward.

Caught in a pincer attack from front and back, the Ghost Swordsman found none of his abilities of much use. He could only endure the flames burning at his body, swinging his longsword again and again, trying several times to seize an opening and flee toward the cave entrance.

Suddenly a group of people came running in from outside, most of them Imperial Guard soldiers. The man leading them had sharp, handsome features — Qin Yao recognized him as Xu Shenming.

At the sight of Qin Yao, his expression eased for a moment, but then he said urgently, “Commander Lin, a great number of demonic creatures have suddenly appeared up the mountain and are swarming toward the camp in droves. His Majesty may be in danger.”

Lin Xiao strained to block the Ghost Swordsman’s incoming thrust and said through gritted teeth, “Protect His Majesty! Send someone down the mountain at once to find Yuan Jue!”

The moment Xu Shenming and his men appeared, the Ghost Swordsman abandoned Lin Xiao at once and swung his sword toward Xu Shenming instead.

Although Xu Shenming and the others were skilled fighters, in the end they were ordinary mortal flesh, with no treasured weapons to protect them. If that blow from the Ghost Swordsman landed, even if it didn’t kill them, it would take a layer of skin off.

Lin Xiao swung his blade up to knock aside the tip of the pitch-black sword, while Qin Yao directed the fire dragons in front of Xu Shenming.

Sensing the danger, Xu Shenming drew on his energy and leapt backward, dodging the icy, sinister aura bearing down on him from the Ghost Swordsman.

Retreating to the side of the entrance, Xu Shenming kept Lin Xiao’s earlier order in mind and didn’t dare delay any longer. He turned and quickly led his men away to protect the Emperor. Qin Yao let out a quiet breath of relief — he was, after all, the son of a military family, and had spent years training in the Imperial Guards. Whether in reaction speed or adaptability, he was first-rate, and would not let anyone down when it mattered most.

But it turned out the Ghost Swordsman’s attack had only been a feint. Seizing the moment when Lin Xiao and Qin Yao’s attention was divided, he suddenly let out a low growl, slowly raised one leg, and stamped down heavily. The stomp seemed to carry the weight of ten thousand jun — the moment it landed, the ground beneath Qin Yao and Lin Xiao’s feet shook violently, and dirt began raining down from the cave ceiling.

Amid the shaking earth, a long, narrow crack suddenly split open beneath the Ghost Swordsman’s feet, and it spread with astonishing speed, shooting like lightning from beneath his feet straight toward Qin Yao’s.

Qin Yao’s heart leapt into her throat at the sight. She quickly rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the bizarre crack in the earth.

Lin Xiao’s attention was drawn entirely to Qin Yao. Seeing the ground still shaking beneath them and dust raining ceaselessly from above, fearing falling rubble might strike her, he thrust his sword at the Ghost Swordsman with all his strength, forcing him back two steps, then closed the distance in a single stride and pulled Qin Yao into his arms to shield her.

In no more than the blink of an eye, when they turned back, the Ghost Swordsman had vanished. The crack in the earth, which had been steadily widening just moments before, sealed itself shut right before their eyes, the ground smooth again as though it had never split open at all. The cave fell quiet once more.

This was already the third time the Ghost Swordsman had vanished right before Qin Yao’s eyes. She stood stunned for a moment, then crouched down and felt around the ground, finding it perfectly smooth, without even the faintest dip or hollow. “No wonder Master said this thing has the ability to burrow through earth,” she said, astonished. “He must have escaped underground the same way the last two times too. I don’t even know what kind of evil thing could transform itself with such an ability—”

Before she could finish speaking, Lin Xiao pulled her back into his arms.

Qin Yao looked up and saw Lin Xiao staring at her steadily, his gaze clearly carrying a raw, pained edge. She had never seen Lin Xiao look so worn down before. Her chest tightened, and the tears spilled over before she even expected them to.

Seeing Qin Yao’s tears, Lin Xiao quickly reached out to wipe them away, his throat tight with emotion. After a long silence, he said hoarsely, “As long as you’re all right. Otherwise I—”

He could not bring himself to finish the rest of that sentence, no matter how he tried.

Qin Yao’s heart wrenched painfully, and the tears fell faster than ever, like a string of beads cut loose. There wasn’t much time — she had to seize the chance to tell Lin Xiao something of what had happened tonight. Rising on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed, “I didn’t fall off the cliff on my own — someone pushed me—”

Lin Xiao froze at her words, then his gaze sharpened. He gripped Qin Yao’s shoulders and stared at her intently. “What did you say? Someone pushed you off the cliff?”

Though he had already suspected something was wrong, hearing the confirmation from Qin Yao’s own mouth felt no different from taking a heavy blow to the chest.

Qin Yao nodded firmly, and was just about to explain the night’s events to Lin Xiao as concisely as possible when Chang Rong and the others came pouring in, saying urgently, “Young Lord, Young Lady, the camp has fallen into total chaos — demons everywhere, the road down the mountain is sealed off. General Xu and General Liu are leading men in a desperate effort to protect His Majesty, but he’s still trapped in the camp for now, and many soldiers have already been badly wounded!”

Both their expressions turned grave at once — the situation was even worse than they had imagined. There was no more time to lose.

Lin Xiao turned and pulled Qin Yao toward the exit, gripping her hand tighter than ever before — clearly unwilling to let her out of his sight for even a moment.

Qin Yao wiped away her tears and did her best to untangle the chaotic thoughts in her mind, saying to Lin Xiao, “Those demonic creatures couldn’t have appeared at a worse time — they must be either followers of the Ghost Swordsman or creatures summoned by him. Remember that roe-deer spirit we caught a while back? You guessed right about it — it really had been sent on the Ghost Swordsman’s orders to buy medicine for an injured girl. Just now, when I woke up in the cave, I heard one of the women he’d imprisoned begging a minor demon to stop applying medicine to her wounds. I don’t know what he’s abducting these people for, or why he’s feeding and housing them so well, even sending out specifically to buy medicine when they’re hurt.”

Lin Xiao said, “I don’t understand the affairs of demons and spirits, but to command so many demonic creatures to obey him, his cultivation must be extraordinary. Even fighting him alone right now is a struggle, let alone the other creatures as well. Tonight is bound to be a brutal battle. I don’t know if Xu Shenming managed to send someone down the mountain to find Yuan Jue.”

At the mention of the name Yuan Jue, Qin Yao suddenly remembered the words her master had once said about him, and the doubts in her heart resurfaced. But thinking carefully back over everything that had happened since she’d begun dealing with Yuan Jue, she hesitated again — could it be that she was simply overthinking things?

They made their way out of the cave, and a bone-chilling wind blew straight at them. Not even ten steps ahead lay a chasm so dark she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face.

Qin Yao paused in surprise — so they were still only halfway up the mountainside.

Lin Xiao, holding her hand, led her in a turn to the right along the cave entrance, and a narrow path immediately appeared beside the cliff face, wide enough for two people to pass through together. Looking up, the path wound its way up along the rock face, lined the entire way with Imperial Guard soldiers. Seeing the Young Lady emerge safe and sound, they all bowed their heads in unison.

Earlier, when Lin Xiao had led his men halfway down the cliff, Chixiao had suddenly grown extremely restless. His heart had pounded — he’d guessed Qin Yao was likely nearby — and he’d hurried down the narrow path, where he had indeed found a cave. Since the cave was narrow, Lin Xiao, worried there wouldn’t be enough room to fight with too many people inside, had ordered his soldiers to wait outside and gone in alone to search for Qin Yao.

The moment he stepped through the entrance, several young women had come running toward him, one of them Chen Yuqi, who had vanished along with Qin Yao. At the sight of him, she had burst into sobbing pleas, begging him to save her. This had only further confirmed for Lin Xiao that Qin Yao was inside the cave. He had ordered Xu Shenming, who was behind him, to quickly lead the women back to the clifftop, while he himself pressed on with sword in hand. As it happened, just as he reached the innermost stone chamber, he had arrived in time to see the Ghost Swordsman swinging his sword at Qin Yao.

Earlier, Xu Shenming had already followed Lin Xiao’s orders and pulled a large contingent of Imperial Guard soldiers to go protect the Emperor at camp, leaving this remaining group behind to await Lin Xiao’s further orders.

With every second precious, Lin Xiao gave his order in a low, urgent voice: “Go to the camp at once and protect His Majesty.”

The men acknowledged the order and retraced their path back.

Since this stretch of path led up the cliff and was narrow, with a sheer drop on the left and rock face on the right, the demonic creatures presumably had no room to maneuver, and they didn’t encounter a single one along the way.

After climbing for a while, they reached the top of the cliff, where Lin Xiao turned and hauled Qin Yao up, half-lifting, half-cradling her.

Once she was steady on her feet, Qin Yao looked around and indeed saw a thick, inescapable haze of demonic energy hanging over everything. Screams rang out from every direction, and people stumbled and ran this way and that, chased by all manner of grotesque creatures.

Looking more closely, Qin Yao saw that most of the creatures causing havoc were low-level demons. Though terrifying in appearance, they were being held off by the weapons in the Imperial Guards’ hands, unable to slaughter freely as they pleased.

Qin Yao immediately summoned the fire dragons and sent them toward where the demons were thickest. The two of them then hurried forward, intending to find the Emperor as quickly as possible — but a sharp gust of wind whistled past their ears, and a pair of massive claws lunged at them.

Lin Xiao sidestepped, spun, and thrust out his sword. An eerie, infant-like wail rang out, and something heavy plummeted out of the air to the ground.

The two of them looked down and saw a creature entirely blue in color, its body coated in mucus, with a large head and bulging belly, its limbs stubby but its feet webbed — somewhat resembling a toad.

As they pressed forward, creatures like this kept lunging at them, either ambushing Lin Xiao or charging at Qin Yao with snapping jaws. The married couple fought in perfect coordination, blade rising and falling, cutting through their attackers without resistance.

By the time they finally made their way to the very center of the camp, the chaos there had grown completely uncontrollable.

In truth, whether Imperial Guard soldiers or officers of the Garrison Command, all of them had fought on battlefields before and seen no small amount of the world. But monstrous things as hideous as these, they were facing for the very first time tonight, and in close combat with them, fear and shock inevitably crept in, dragging their combat effectiveness down considerably.

As for the young women from the academy and the palace attendants, there was no need to even mention them — many had already fainted dead away one after another before the demons even reached them.

Qin Yao stayed close behind Lin Xiao, directing the fire dragons to burn through the demonic creatures while keeping an eye out everywhere for Pei Min and the others.

After searching for a while, she spotted, in front of one of the tents, Wang Yingning and Liu Bingyu clutching each other, their faces already drained of color in fear. Pei Min was beside them too, her hand held tightly by Xu Shenming, who was busy swinging his sword at a black rat demon nearly half a man’s height tall in front of them.

Qin Yao quickly directed the fire dragons to incinerate the black rat demon.

Xu Shenming turned his head and gave Qin Yao a grateful smile.

Pei Min and Liu Bingyu cried out together, their voices choked with tears, “Qin Yao!”

Qin Yao said to Lin Xiao, “I’ll be right back.”

Lin Xiao paid this no mind at all, busy fending off several python demons that had lunged at him all at once, and refused to let go of her hand no matter what.

Qin Yao said urgently, “They’re some of my classmates, it’s not far, I’ll be right back.”

Lin Xiao sliced off the glowing green heads of several of the python demons in one stroke, then pulled Qin Yao along with him toward Pei Min and the others.

Half-laughing, half-exasperated, Qin Yao let herself be pulled along. Once they reached Pei Min and the others, she bit open her finger and drew a talisman on the ground in each of the four cardinal directions around them, then stood and said to Pei Min and the others, “This formation can keep ordinary demons out. As long as you all stay inside it and don’t come out, none of those creatures will be able to get near you.”

Wang Yingning and the others had always trusted Qin Yao completely, and nodded at once. “All right, we won’t go outside.”

Even as they spoke, a wildcat spirit lunged at Wang Yingning from behind. Pei Min saw it, and though she knew Qin Yao’s formation would surely stop it, she still couldn’t help letting out a frightened gasp.

But it was as though an invisible barrier had suddenly appeared behind Wang Yingning — the moment the wildcat spirit lunged in, it yelped and fell to the ground. It tried several more times to break through the formation afterward, but was blocked out each time, unable to advance even an inch.

Qin Yao waved her hand and had the fire dragons burn the wildcat spirit to ash.

All fear gone now, Pei Min turned and said to Xu Shenming in a low voice, “You don’t need to worry about me anymore. Go and protect His Majesty.”

“All right.” Xu Shenming bowed his head and looked seriously at Pei Min, paying no mind at all to those standing nearby, and said in a low voice, “I’m leaving now. I took first place in this year’s autumn hunt — I’ve already asked His Majesty to grant our marriage. You… wait for me to come back.”

Pei Min’s eyes grew hot, and she nodded silently.

Xu Shenming smiled and was just turning to leave when Qin Yao stopped him. Using her fingertip blood, she drew a Hell-Breaking Curse onto his sword and said, “With this curse to strengthen it, you’ll find it much easier to kill demons from now on.”

This was the same technique she had learned by watching her master work on Chang Rong and the others’ swords before.

Xu Shenming said to Qin Yao gratefully, “Young Lady, thank you and the Young Lord for saving my life again and again. I will never forget this great kindness as long as I live.”

While they spoke, Lin Xiao had already killed several more creatures that had surged at him, but still hadn’t caught any sight of the Emperor, and he was growing anxious.

The group fought their way forward, killing as they searched, splitting off to deal with the demons from different directions, gradually carving out a bloody path.

Lin Xiao moved the fastest, and after a hard push finally reached the entrance of the Emperor’s tent — only to see several women come bursting out in a panic, chased by a long-furred, half-man, half-ape creature.

The one in the lead burst into tears the moment she saw Lin Xiao. “Eleventh Brother!” She hunched over and scrambled to hide behind him — it was Kang Ping.

Behind her were three other women: Qin Yuan, Chen Yuqi, and Xia Yuan.

Lin Xiao raised his sword to deal with the long-furred creature, and demanded of Kang Ping, “Where is His Majesty?”

Kang Ping shook her head through her tears. “I don’t know!”

Seeing how much the demons seemed to fear the sword in Lin Xiao’s hand, Qin Yuan and the others felt as though they had finally glimpsed dawn in the dark of night, and hurried to hide behind him just as Kang Ping had. Xia Yuan, it seemed, had already been frightened out of her wits, and clung pitifully to Lin Xiao’s belt, refusing to let go no matter what.

Lin Xiao, fully focused on fighting the long-furred creature, hadn’t expected his belt to be grabbed. His face went pale with irritation, and he snapped in a low voice, “Let go!”

Xia Yuan flinched, as though finally coming back to her senses, her face a mix of shame and embarrassment. She didn’t dare say a word, but still stayed close behind Lin Xiao.

Watching this from where she stood, Qin Yao felt a surge of irritation. She waved a hand, summoning the three fire dragons to separate Xia Yuan and the others from behind Lin Xiao.

Although the fire dragons would not harm ordinary mortals, Xia Yuan and the others, suddenly confronted with such a divine creature, still went pale with fright.

Qin Yao hurried to Lin Xiao’s side and said, “You focus on fighting the demons. I’ll set up a formation to protect them.”

Once Lin Xiao had moved a few steps ahead, Qin Yao simply stood there, watching the trembling, terrified Xia Yuan and the others, making no move for a long while.

Kang Ping said urgently, “Sister Eleven, hurry and set up that formation of yours for us!”

Qin Yao glanced behind the group and saw a mountain demon with sharp fangs and vicious claws come flying in, lunging straight at Xia Yuan. Xia Yuan turned to look and went pale as gold-leaf paper, her eyes rolling back, on the verge of fainting dead away.

Only then did Qin Yao, taking her time about it, finally direct the fire dragons to shield them all.