Ji Bozai was focused on dealing with the opponents in front of him and didn’t notice Luo Jiaoyang beside him. By the time he realized he needed to save someone, Ming Yi had already appeared in front of Luo Jiaoyang, facing the dark shadow and activating the mechanism of Star River Sunset.
Pure white Yuan power poured out. No matter how strong the force that fell, it was like hitting thick mud, not harming Luo Jiaoyang at all.
Luo Jiaoyang’s eyes were wide open, his pupils reflecting Ming Yi’s calm and confident gaze. He unconsciously murmured, “So impressive.”
Ming Yi:?
After blocking this attack for him, she turned his body to face the enemy. “Don’t get distracted!”
“Yes!”
The people from New Grass City were not weak. Even after losing one person, they were giving Chu He and the others a hard time. Fortunately, Ji Bozai was holding off three people by himself, allowing the rest to deal with one person. They finally managed to eliminate their opponents.
Ji Bozai showed no mercy to the remaining three. His Dark Dragon coiled around their bodies, and with a whip of Yuan power, all three were struck on the back of their necks.
“Let’s go quickly,” Ming Yi glanced at their injuries. “We need to find a place to regroup and recover.”
Although they had been ambushed, once fighters entered the arena, they were expected to battle. For the sake of tempering them, Qin Shangwu had been standing back, not intervening, just quietly observing them.
He noticed that Ming Yi had an extraordinary overall awareness. Even when Ji Bozai was too preoccupied to look after his teammates, she always seemed to know the status of everyone around her, no matter what she was doing.
This was a skill that only someone who used to take care of an entire team would have. But how could a woman like her be accustomed to taking care of a whole team? Even as a forger, she should be the one being looked after in a team.
With these doubts, he followed them as they hid in the hollow of a large flower tree.
As soon as Ming Yi lowered her shield, she turned to Chu He and said, “Your hand wound needs to be bandaged. If you fight again, the wound might open up and distract you.”
Chu He extended his arm, revealing a foot-long wound on his elbow joint, still oozing black blood.
Ji Bozai raised his hand to stop her action, crouched down, and said calmly, “This is tail needle poison. Let me handle it.”
He took out a packet of antidote powder, poured it on the wound, and personally bandaged it for him.
His movements were not gentle at all, causing Chu He to grimace in pain, but he dared not cry out. He could only make small talk to distract himself: “I didn’t know you carried medicine powder with you, sir.”
Qin Shangwu shifted his gaze from Ming Yi back to them, smiling lightly. “Besides his exceptional Yuan power, Bozai is also skilled in detoxification. He always carries these things with him.”
He had originally thought this was frivolous, but now it seemed quite useful.
With the wound bandaged, Ming Yi released several divine artifacts to scout ahead. Her artifacts were small and agile, moving swiftly through the grass. They successfully avoided attacks from people from other cities along the way.
However, when passing through a patch of peony flowers, an emei dagger rose and fell quickly, precisely piercing her divine artifact.
Ming Yi, still in the tree hollow, was startled, her face slowly turning pale.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Bozai asked her casually, “Are you injured too?”
“I… I want to go out,” she said, her body trembling slightly.
“How can we do that?” Luo Jiaoyang shook his head. “Mu Xing is already looked down upon by them. If we flee now, it would be too shameful when word gets out. Even if we lose today, we can’t back down.”
“That’s right.”
“Who did you see?” Ji Bozai asked her softly amidst the clamor.
Ming Yi pressed her lips together, remaining silent for a moment before whispering to him, “Chaoyang City is led by Prince Yong. Everyone in the team is… people who used to follow Ming Xian.”
The others listened in confusion. What was wrong with Prince Yong? He was only seventeen, with average Yuan power. What was there to fear? As for those people from Chaoyang City who used to fight alongside Ming Xian, to put it bluntly, it was Ming Xian who was formidable. Those people might not even make it to the top three cities if they were in a different city.
But Ji Bozai understood.
Each of those people was very familiar with her appearance and would recognize her, whether by face or form. She couldn’t hide.
However, in their current situation, they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to. The only way out would be if she was struck on the back of the neck.
After some thought, Ji Bozai said, “Let’s go find the next team.”
Fan Yao understood what he wanted to do and couldn’t help but remind him, “If our team has to face so many other teams without a forger and divine artifacts, it will be very difficult to come out unscathed today.”
Moreover, Ming Yi not only had divine artifacts but also experience that they lacked. Although they didn’t know where this experience came from, it was crucial for them in their first battle.
Ji Bozai waved his hand dismissively. “Let’s go.”
The others frowned but followed.
Ming Yi’s mind was in chaos.
She had rarely seen Prince Yong. Although they were siblings, they were half-brothers and not close. On the rare occasions they met, Prince Yong would always bow to her from a distance.
Busy with her cultivation, she never paid much attention to how Prince Yong viewed her. It wasn’t until just before the Six City Conference that Prince Yong suddenly came to find her, saying that for all these years, he had lived in her shadow. Because of her existence, he had endured harsh treatment and criticism.
By the end of his speech, he was almost hysterical, his eyes fixed on her, filled with hatred to the core.
At that time, Ming Yi didn’t understand. After all, she was just living her own life and didn’t know what she had done wrong. It wasn’t until the poison took effect and she saw the disappointment and hatred in her mother’s eyes as if looking at a useless thing, that she understood Prince Yong had probably grown up under such gazes for many years.
As children of the same father, Prince Yong was indeed too mediocre. But if she hadn’t existed, he would have been considered a normal child. So he had piled all his resentment on the overly excellent Ming Xian.
Now, encountering Prince Yong again, this younger brother might not let her go. The high and mighty Chaoyang City was participating in this less than glorious encirclement, possibly not for Ji Bozai, but for her.
Ming Yi didn’t want to fight them. She just wanted to eat and play in Flying Flower City, save enough money, and then buy a house in the next city.
In her distracted state, a cold arrow shot toward her, barely grazing her cheek. Ming Yi instinctively dodged, but someone familiar with her habits had anticipated her movement. The second arrow hit her shoulder bone.
Ji Bozai was distracted by the sudden attack from the side. When he looked back, the arrow had already pierced Ming Yi’s flesh, slowly blooming a flower of blood on her sky-blue robe.
His eyes narrowed. He cast his black shield around her, then flew towards the direction the arrows came from.
“Be careful!” Ming Yi finally came to her senses. She gritted her teeth, glanced at the arrow feathers, and said in a low voice to Ji Bozai, “Three of them are long-range attackers, two are close combat specialists. The close combat fighters are behind the rock three steps northwest of the big flower tree. The long-range attackers are in the tree crowns of the big flower tree and the pear tree.”
As she said, Ji Bozai’s attacks hit their marks.
These people were weaker than expected. It only took ten moves for them to be defeated, falling to the grass, barely forming a formation around Prince Yong.
“Ming Xian, you have betrayed Chaoyang!” someone shouted in a low voice, full of hatred.