“As Junior Sister said, I keep telling you to read fewer romance books, but you simply refuse to listen. The cultivation world is built entirely on human connections and worldly sophistication where on earth do you see so much mindless slaughter?”
Fan Chen let out a scoff, prompting Su Yuanyuan to immediately roll her eyes at him without an ounce of politeness.
“If you’re not going to say anything useful, Second Senior Brother, nobody is mistaking you for a mute.”
“Sister shouldn’t be angry. Fan Chen, as a man, you actually bicker and quibble with Sister Su like this—you haven’t an ounce of gentlemanly magnanimity. Unlike me, who only knows how to feel heartache for Sister and is more than willing to yield to her in every way.”
While continuing to slip verbal poison into Su Yuanyuan’s ear against Fan Chen, Song Ling’er simultaneously elevated her own standing while disparaging him.
Sitting aside as a detached spectator, Shen Wang allowed his junior brother and sister to bicker among themselves, exchanging a single fleeting glance with Song Ling’er, who returned a respectful, submissive smile.
“The objective of this trip has already been accomplished. Once we collect the Frost Flower, we return straight to the sect.”
The moment Shen Wang spoke, the two of them instantly ceased their bickering.
Securing the Frost Flower, they departed from Kuncheng directly. Song Ling’er continued tagging along as part of their group, accepting an invitation from Su Yuanyuan to pay a visit and stay as a guest at the Xuantian Sword Sect for a period of time.
No sooner had the quartet of four stepped beyond the city gates than they abruptly detected anomalies in the surrounding environment.
“Careful, someone is trailing behind us.”
Under Shen Wang’s lead, they veered far away from the regular travel routes, plunging deep into the interior of a dense forest.
“You’ve been tailing us the entire way, what is your objective?”
Standing with his hands folded behind his back, Shen Wang fixed his gaze ahead. Six figures hurtled down from mid-air, instantaneously laying down an elaborate array barrier across the clearing.
“Two at the early Golden Age stage and four at the late Foundation Establishment stage—you certainly think highly of us.”
Without wasting a breath on conversation, the six individuals launched a coordinated, simultaneous assault. Su Yuanyuan’s longsword sprang from its scabbard, her pretty face masked in frost as she slashed forward with a chilling, crystalline surge of sword intent.
A chaotic melee erupted on the spot. Maintaining conscious intent, Shen Wang and Su Yuanyuan flanked the group to shield Fan Chen who remained at the mid-Foundation Establishment tier alongside Song Ling’er directly behind them.
Faced with the combined offensive of two early Golden Age powerhouses, supplemented by four late Foundation Establishment aides, even their defensive efforts began to strain under the immense pressure.
“My master is Immortal Venerable Changheng. Exactly who are you people, and what is your purpose in ambushing and surrounding us?”
Su Yuanyuan interrogated them with an icy expression. Even as she fought desperately to parry the onslaught, she never forgot to tuck Song Ling’er securely behind her back.
“Sister Su, they’re disciples of the Jade Maiden Palace! Look at the tokens hanging from their waists.”
Song Ling’er shrieked in timely alarm, exposing the affiliation of their attackers.
The two early Golden Age ringleaders exchanged grim glances, their attacks instantly turning significantly more lethal and vicious.
“Since your identities have already been discovered, we cannot afford to let you leave this place alive. Our original intent was merely to snatch the Frost Flower, but what a pity.”
Faced with the relentless, razor-sharp moves of the six combatants, Su Yuanyuan found herself completely overwhelmed with zero breathing room. Her sword techniques shifted endlessly, yet her internal spiritual energy was rapidly running dry and failing to keep pace.
A water dragon erupted from the folding fan in Shen Wang’s hand, roaring as it surged forward with a fierce, chilling momentum.
“Junior Sister, help me force open the array barrier! I’ll hold them off you all get out of here first.”
“Eldest Senior Brother, no! You stand no chance of resisting all of them by yourself. Let me smash the sword token master left us.”
Su Yuanyuan was steadily being driven backward. A knot of doubt clawed at her mind: were these truly the standard capabilities of disciples from the Jade Maiden Palace?
She herself was already at the late Foundation Establishment tier with fully saturated internal spiritual energy, having even comprehended a trace of Frost Flower sword intent.
Fighting opponents above her rank even matching mid-Golden Age disciples from major sects had always been well within her comfort zone. Yet under the synchronized assault of these six individuals, she was steadily losing ground.
Even her Eldest Senior Brother was struggling to hold his ground against them. This situation was blatantly, monstrously abnormal.
“If you simply crush Master’s sword intent the moment you encounter danger, Junior Sister, how do you ever expect to grow stronger? Do you intend to remain a sheltered hothouse flower forever, relying on Master to fight your battles every single time trouble strikes?”
Battling two early Golden Age experts single-handedly, Shen Wang was already pushing his limits, and his physical state was rapidly deteriorating.
Two separate spell formations converged upon him; failing to dodge in time, Shen Wang took a direct hit to his left arm, blood instantly soaking through and crimsoning his sleeve.
“Eldest Senior Brother speaks the truth.”
Su Yuanyuan’s expression hardened further. Gritting her teeth fiercely, she prepared to unleash the third form of the Frost Flower sword manual.
This particular sword technique would completely drain her remaining spiritual stores, but given the critical emergency of the situation, she had no alternative.
The tactical coordination among the six attackers was terrifyingly practiced evidently, ambushing and besieging targets was far from their first rodeo.
Their offense and defense formed a seamless, interlocking loop, bolstered further by a spiritual cultivator stationed safely in the rear who continuously restored their vigor and healed their wounds.
“Junior Sister, take them and run! Senior Brother has his own ways of holding them off.”
Just as Su Yuanyuan prepared to execute her sword technique, Shen Wang’s stern bellow interrupted her. He had somehow managed to breach a critical seam in the array barrier.
Single-handedly pinning down all six attackers, he forcefully carved out a window of opportunity for them to escape.
Gritting her teeth until they ached, Su Yuanyuan for the first time in her life cursed her own weakness, lamenting that she could only watch her senior brother stand alone against such overwhelming peril.
“Run!”
Faced with the combined onslaught of the six foes, Shen Wang held the line with desperate tenacity, locking their movements firmly in place.
With her eyes stinging and burning red, Su Yuanyuan knew agonizingly well that hesitation would cost them everything.
An icy phoenix illusion burst into flight, and Song Ling’er grabbed Su Yuanyuan by the arm, dragging her headlong toward the rear.
Fan Chen unleashed his single most devastating attack before falling in line right behind them.
Their eldest senior brother was buying them precious time with his life; running as far and as fast as they possibly could was the only way to honor his sacrifice.
Led by Song Ling’er, the three of them twisted and turned through a labyrinth of dense forest trails while two formidable early Golden Age auras snapped hot on their heels.
“They definitely aren’t disciples from the Jade Maiden Palace! Someone is deliberately framing the Jade Maiden Palace to orchestrate this assassination attempt against us just who are these people?!”
Their figures darted like phantoms through the woods, yet the two pursuing Golden Age signatures drew closer with every passing second.
“Sister Su, there’s a mountain cave up ahead! It looks like there are barrier restrictions set up around it should we head inside and check it out?”
“Move!”
Prompted by Song Ling’er’s warning, the trio quickly scrambled into a halfway-up-the-mountain cave dwelling.
The two early Golden Age pursuers surged to the cave entrance, blocking the exit with grim vigilance before testily hurling two fierce offensive spell blasts deep into the cavern interior.
“Head deep into the recesses of the cave! The restrictions inside are exceptionally powerful; if they dare rashly pursue us in here and trigger the array, we might just salvage a slim chance of survival.”
At this crucial juncture, Su Yuanyuan maintained remarkable poise and composure. The interior pathways of the cave branched out in every direction, forming a chaotic maze of intersecting tunnels.
Choosing a random direction, the three pressed forward only for the interior paths to shift abruptly a second later, violently severing Fan Chen from their group.
“Second Senior Brother!”
Su Yuanyuan channeled her spiritual energy into a tether, attempting to haul Fan Chen back to safety, only to watch as her spiritual qi was cleanly sliced through the instant it reached him.
In the blink of an eye, Fan Chen vanished entirely from their sight.
“This cave is bizarre! Hold my hand tightly, Ling’er you must be extremely careful.”
Pitch-black darkness swallowed the interior of the cavern, punctuated by chilling, howling drafts of cavern wind. The layout of the tunnels shifted incessantly, frequently spawning new intersecting corridors along the stone walls on either side.
The three of them found themselves thoroughly trapped within the labyrinth. Bizarrely, the cave confined their movements without displaying any overt intent to slaughter them outright.
Outside the entrance, the two early Golden Age operatives continued to stand guard like statues, quietly laying down advanced concealment arrays to seal off the perimeter.