The black-clothed man chased Feng Miao Jun into the forest, seeing the young lady with disheveled hair fleeing desperately, looking quite bedraggled. He pursued with rapid strides, bringing his long blade down diagonally toward her slender shoulder.
She looked frail—one slash might split half her body. Imagining this woman’s blood spraying five steps away in tragic beauty, the black-clothed man felt a perverse thrill in destroying something delicate, holding back not the slightest bit of force.
But just then, her foot seemed to catch on a tree root, her body tilting rightward as she fell. The long blade immediately cut empty air, slicing off only a strand of her hair, while he exposed a vulnerable spot beneath his ribs. The black-clothed man instantly knew things had gone wrong. As he tried to withdraw and counter with his blade, a cool sensation pierced his side.
The feeling was like someone pushing an ice cube into his body, followed by unbearable chest pain that forced an agonized cry from him.
Feng Miao Jun had already reached forward to cover his mouth, stifling his heaven-shaking, ghost-wailing scream back into two muffled sounds. He wanted to reach out and squeeze her to death, but his heart muscles suddenly weakened—he couldn’t even hold his blade steady, let alone raise his hand. He silently cursed himself for being careless, but if he hadn’t put his full force into that strike, using up his technique and leaving no room for adjustment, how could this have happened?
Feng Miao Jun moved behind him, revealing a gleaming metal from her sleeve, with fresh blood dripping like pearls.
This water-splitting dagger had just pierced diagonally through his ribs, puncturing his lung and major artery, finally stopping at his heart.
She retracted it instantly—any onlooker might have thought she merely pushed the black-clothed man.
Even having struck his vital point, she didn’t know how tenacious a cultivator’s life force could be, so she added another strike to his throat.
The man wobbled twice before crashing to the ground.
His neck had been opened into a bloody hole, and as he breathed his last, his eyes bulged with utter disbelief. Feng Miao Jun dared not look long, wiping the blood from her water-splitting dagger on his clothes, when his body suddenly convulsed twice.
Even knowing this was just a nerve reaction, she couldn’t prevent her stomach from churning violently, and she bent over, dry heaving twice.
Fortunately, she hadn’t eaten dinner.
Though she didn’t consider herself a law-abiding citizen, she had never been killed before. She hadn’t expected slaying a fellow human would be so difficult—dizziness, nausea, weak legs, her heart pounding wildly.
She wasn’t as cold and strong as she had imagined, Feng Miao Jun thought self-mockingly.
She should have rested here a while, slowly adjusting to her body’s reactions. Perhaps anyone killing for the first time would feel uncomfortable.
But she also constantly remembered that they were in a life-or-death situation with little time to adapt. Although she had now hidden in the forest, gaining a small advantage, the xingxing excelled at tracking—after killing Miao Feng Xian, it would unhurriedly come for her, giving her no time to flee to Jin’s capital.
Moreover, her loyal servant Chen Da Chang was still outside—she couldn’t abandon him.
Quickly now, she and Chen Da Chang would follow this man’s fate.
She straightened up, took a deep breath, and ran outward.
Feng Miao Jun lacked combat experience; her success just now had been quite opportunistic. Both her displayed weakness and the protection afforded by the three men had created the illusion that she was helpless and easily dealt with.
When she had stabbed the black-clothed man earlier, her water-splitting dagger had met resistance upon touching his clothes, like stabbing a balloon that might bounce back. This was his protective energy shield; ordinary weapons couldn’t penetrate it. However, her water-splitting dagger was also infused with abundant spiritual energy—whether it belonged to her or Yunyai was unclear—piercing through like a soap bubble breaking, delivering the fatal strike.
Even now, Feng Miao Jun’s hands were shaking—not just from fear, but more from excitement.
Three diligent years of cultivation—wasn’t it all for self-preservation in times of danger? Now, she had taken the first step in testing her results.
Surviving and returning today would be the best reward for those thousand-plus difficult days and nights of arduous cultivation!
She moved quickly toward the forest’s edge, grateful she wasn’t wearing a cumbersome traditional dress today.
Meanwhile, the green-armored warrior, under its master’s control, pounced to embrace and firmly pin down Huang Qiu Wei. Miao Feng Xian’s wounds had reopened, blood pouring out, his vision darkening. Knowing he couldn’t last long, he raised his hand-axe and decisively chopped toward the monster’s neck.
A faint blue light emanated from the axe blade, inexplicably causing one’s heart to shudder.
Feng Miao Jun, just reaching the forest’s edge, witnessed this and trembled inwardly, fear spontaneously growing.
She could be certain this light wasn’t spiritual energy, yet it was magnificent and righteous, filled with dignified presence. In her world, she might have called it noble moral integrity.
But here, Feng Miao Jun recognized its essence at a glance, as if a voice in her mind told her clearly:
This was elemental power.
As a prince of Yao, Miao Feng Xian possessed many life-saving treasures, most used up during the ambush escape. Now, he had deployed his final, ultimate skill.
Unexpectedly, this action provoked the monster’s ferocity. It suddenly roared, its body emitting a faint red glow as its form expanded violently again. Even Chen Da Chang from afar could see its muscles bulging, its skin bursting from rapid expansion, and its face elongating further, making its features more bizarre.
Though this transformation damaged itself, its body instantly swelled to twice its original size. Miao Feng Xian’s axe strike, aimed for its head, now landed across its chest. This beast’s chest muscles were harder than gold and stone—the axe cut through muscle, split its sternum and even sliced off a piece of liver and stomach, but the momentum was spent. It simply couldn’t leave the monster in half!
Yunyai sending it to hunt down the Yao prince meant it possessed great abilities.
Huang Qiu Wei, now larger with strength doubled, could no longer be restrained by the green-armored warrior. The xingxing kicked the warrior toward Miao Feng Xian while pouncing forward, both leaping at him!
If they landed, the combined weight of the monster and green-armored warrior would instantly crush the weakened Miao Feng Xian to death.
He knew his end had come, with no room to dodge, and could only smile bitterly and close his eyes.
He had been too careless, giving Wei country and Yunyai their opportunity—his fault.
All three were in mid-air, with the xingxing pouncing faster than the other two. It stretched out its clawed hands, about to seize its prey, when unexpectedly a huge rock flew in from the side, hurtling toward its head.
This boulder had lain at the forest’s edge, half-buried in mud, weighing over a thousand jin. It flew with a whistling sound, remarkably fast—by the time the xingxing looked up, it had already reached its ear.
However, what was “large” relative to Feng Miao Jun was merely like a millstone to the xingxing. That weight and speed meant little to it. Just as it was about to raise its hand to brush away the boulder, its nose suddenly felt weak and itchy, forcing it to sneeze violently twice!