Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Seven-Leaf Wisteria Flower

With a rapid series of hand seals, earthen spikes erupted from beneath Chu Xiner’s feet, startling her into hastily raising a protective aura. Her control over the flying sword and willow-leaf blade weakened accordingly.

That was precisely Lu Hong’s aim. In terms of magical implements, they were vastly inferior, and winning quickly would not be easy.

Fortunately, Chu Xiner was alone. If they could find a way to drain her spiritual power faster, victory would be theirs sooner or later. By then, he would not only seize the treasure, but also thoroughly enjoy this well-shaped little beauty.

Indeed, in a two-against-one fight, Lu Hong and Zhou Yan remained at ease, so much so that they did not even need to maintain protective auras.

But Chu Xiner had to guard against sudden earth-element spells launched from below. She had to keep pouring spiritual power into the blue barrier, and with the added strain of the mid-grade willow-leaf blade and flying sword, her cultivation was depleted by more than half before long.

Seeing that the outcome was already decided, the bald Lu Hong’s face was full of delight and cold amusement. It was as though he could already see himself tallying the spoils in a moment, and incidentally ravaging the beautiful girl before him.

No wonder: the magical mask Chu Xiner wore was of too poor a quality to conceal her from Lu Hong’s probing senses.

Lost in filthy fantasies, he suddenly felt a chill of mortal danger run through him. Without the slightest hesitation, the bald man lunged forward to evade while also forcing open his protective aura with all his strength.

Without even turning his head, choosing first to dodge and defend had been an instinct honed by Lu Hong, a loose cultivator tempered in blood and violence. His response could hardly be called slow.

But it was still too late. As a gray shadow flashed close, searing pain shot through the back of his head, his awareness began to blur, and his body crashed heavily to the ground.

After silently closing to within a few feet of his target’s skull, Xiao Wenzi, with the aid of his swift-demon art and shadow-demon technique, had in the blink of an eye raised his foreclaw and slashed into the other man’s bare head.

Before reaching Foundation Establishment, Lu Hong’s skull was not much harder than that of an ordinary man. The back of his head was pierced and raked by two mosquito legs sharp as iron hooks, and the force of the attack directly shattered his sea of consciousness.

He did not even have time to scream before he fell dead at once.

Thud, thud, thud.

Fearing the man might yet have some lingering strength, Xiao Wenzi, having landed a hit, showed no intention of stopping.

His claws flashed again and again, in an instant striking down dozens of times. Lu Hong’s head was torn into a bloody ruin, and even his remnant soul failed to escape.

Seeing her companion die horribly, Zhou Yan, who had no time to come to his aid, turned pale with fright, and her movements controlling the magical implements faltered.

Chu Xiner was likewise astonished by Xiao Wen’s heaven-sent ambush, but her heart held even more joy. Her hands never ceased moving as she urged the willow-leaf blade and flying sword to strike Zhou Yan together.

Bang. Zhou Yan’s cultivation level was originally on par with Chu Xiner’s, but her magical implement had already been damaged earlier. Now, struck with full force by the mid-grade willow-leaf blade, it immediately shattered under the strain.

With her magical implement destroyed and her divine sense unable to be withdrawn in time, Zhou Yan coughed blood from the backlash to her mind and heart. Seeing Xiao Wenzi also spreading his wings and flying toward her, any will to fight finally vanished from her heart.

Yet the willow-leaf blade and flying sword had already descended one after another. Aside from raising her protective aura and casting spells to resist, she had no time at all to flee.

Bang, bang, bang. The spell-blades Zhou Yan unleashed were easily cut apart by the willow-leaf blade.

Xiao Wenzi spread his wings, and streak after streak of transparent crescent-edged light shot forth, working together with Chu Xiner’s two magical implements to make Zhou Yan’s protective aura tremble violently.

“Spare me, sister. I was wrong. Please spare your elder sister. I am willing to hand over all my possessions as compensation...”

Her protective aura quivered violently, utterly unable to withstand the combined attack of Chu Xiner and Xiao Wenzi. Just as it was about to be torn apart, Zhou Yan, her heart shaken to the core, hurriedly begged for mercy in a humble voice.

“Hmph. Now you know regret? It is too late!”

Mercy to one’s enemies is cruelty to oneself. Chu Xiner would not make such a foolish mistake as to be softhearted. With a cold snort, she drove the willow-leaf blade with even greater force.

With a dull boom, the light shield around Zhou Yan’s body shattered like a bubble. Though she gritted her teeth and fought desperately, the final outcome was still death and extinction.

Meilin County was a place where she knew no one, and they were far too close to the market town. Fearing that delay would bring unforeseen changes, Chu Xiner did not even have time to recover her spiritual power after killing the formidable foes. She gathered the spoils and transformed into a streak of light as she departed.

After all, so long as she was not in the midst of fierce combat, swallowing spirit pills or holding spirit stones to absorb their power would easily provide the energy needed for flight.

Chu Xiner’s caution was not without reason. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a streak of light descended nearby. It was an old man in a gray robe, with cultivation no higher than the twelfth level of Qi Refinement.

Because his cultivation was relatively low, his divine sense covered only a limited area. He had not discovered Chu Xiner, who had already left, but from his furrowed brow and contemplative expression, he should have known Zhou Yan and the others.

Flying onward without pause, Chu Xiner did not stop until she reached the outskirts of a vast mountain range. Only then did she halt her escape light and find a temporary stone terrace on which to sit and cultivate.

Called a place to take shelter, it was really just a protruding platform beneath a cliff. It was not suitable for long-term residence, but using pills to restore her cultivation quickly was no problem.

With Xiao Wenzi guarding her, Chu Xiner did not worry about being attacked by demonic beasts. After sitting cross-legged, she turned her hand and took out the jade bottle containing Spirit-Gathering Pills.

Time passed slowly. The glow of the setting sun filtered through the mountains and woods onto the girl’s fair, doll-like face. She suddenly opened her eyes, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

No mishap had occurred. Her cultivation had already returned to peak condition. The next step was to find a suitable place to open a cave dwelling.

Earlier, when she had been in the market town, Chu Xiner had bought a regional map of Meilin County. Now, taking it out to compare, she quickly made sense of the boundless mountain range before her: it was the famous Forest-Sea Range of Meilin County.

The Forest-Sea Range was far larger than the Southern Heaven Range, and it too contained fine spiritual veins. Naturally, it was not lacking in cultivation sects.

According to the jade slip’s description, four or five small sect forces, such as the Forest-Sea Sect and the Qiyang Sect, as well as the Chen Clan, all held territory here.

However, because the Forest-Sea Range was so vast, there were also many loose cultivators within it who had opened their own cave dwellings for cultivation. Since they did not compete with the Forest-Sea Sect, the Qiyang Sect, and the others for spiritual veins, they naturally lived in peace.

“Mm, this Forest-Sea Range is not a bad place to settle for the time being.”

Chu Xiner had already purchased enough spirit pills. She did not need an especially good spiritual vein to cultivate. After a moment’s thought, she decided to seek out a secluded place in the Forest-Sea Range and open a cave dwelling there, first breaking through to the great completion of Qi Refinement.

Putting away the jade slip, Chu Xiner called Xiao Wenzi and turned into a streak of light, leaving the cliff platform at the mountain range’s edge.

More than an hour later, as dusk was about to fall, Chu Xiner found a suitable location.

Several hundred meters ahead lay a valley that was not very large, only about half a mile across, but within it a brook murmured, wild flowers carpeted the ground, and the setting was quite pleasant.

“Hm? What is this? Seven-Leaf Purple Wisteria Blossom? Wonderful.”

As she flew beyond the valley and spread out her divine sense, delight soon showed plainly on Chu Xiner’s face, for she discovered two vines growing along the edge of the cliff wall, with long, slender leaves and purple blossoms.