“Disciples of Lone Swan Hall… how did they end up fighting on Celestial Spring Sect’s territory?” Zhou Kai muttered to himself, even as his eyes were drawn to the white-robed woman’s graceful figure and dazzling swordsmanship.
“A top-grade metal spiritual root… a natural sword embryo…” Zhou Kai had naturally heard of this sword fairy.
Rumor said that this generation of Lone Swan Hall had produced an exceptionally gifted female disciple, Shen Hanyi.
It was said she was born with an innate affinity for the sword, possessed astonishing comprehension, and could grasp any sword technique at a glance and perfect it after a single practice. Lone Swan Hall regarded her as their future pillar and treasured her deeply.
But Zhou Kai did not believe it.
If a genius had not fully grown, how could Lone Swan Hall allow her to roam the world so openly and with such fanfare?
Yet seeing her today, the reputation was well deserved.
At the 7th stage Sword Dominion Realm, gravely injured, she was still able to fight two Celestial Spring Sect disciples of the same level so fiercely. That level of strength was truly terrifying.
The two Celestial Spring Sect disciples worked in seamless coordination.
The long-faced disciple took the main offensive role, the Crimson Gourd Artifact in his hand continuously spewing torrents of flame, tongues of fire twisting like giant pythons. The burly disciple supported him with an Azure Flying Sword, vicious and precise, specifically targeting the gaps in Shen Hanyi’s defenses.
The flames from the Crimson Gourd Artifact transformed into a ferocious firebird. Shen Hanyi’s eyes sharpened, and instead of retreating, she advanced.
Suddenly, the Azure Flying Sword flashed like a streak of light and struck toward her back.
Her long sword hummed as a highly condensed sword qi erupted, striking precisely toward the burly disciple.
The sword was too fast.
The burly disciple clearly had not expected Shen Hanyi to choose such a ferocious style under joint attack, even sacrificing part of her defense against the flames.
He barely managed to retract his Azure Flying Sword to block and simultaneously activated a defensive artifact on his body. A faint yellow light shield appeared.
The sword was far too sharp.
The pale yellow shield shattered like an eggshell.
Immediately after, the gold-white sword qi cut through the Azure Flying Sword without resistance and, without losing momentum, swept across the burly disciple’s neck.
“Uh…” The burly disciple’s eyes widened in disbelief as his head separated from his body. He died instantly.
“Junior Brother!” the long-faced disciple roared, his eyes splitting with rage. He had not expected to lose a man in a single exchange.
His reaction was swift. Seizing the brief moment of stiffness after Shen Hanyi killed the burly disciple, he formed hand seals rapidly. The firebird rushing toward Shen Hanyi suddenly accelerated and slammed into her back.
“Pfft!”
Shen Hanyi’s body trembled violently. Taking that firebird attack head-on worsened her injuries.
“Shen Hanyi!” the long-faced disciple shouted with bloodshot eyes as he poured all his spiritual energy into the Crimson Gourd Artifact. The flames from its mouth darkened almost to a deep crimson and surged forward again.
Shen Hanyi showed no fear. Facing the flames, her gaze was resolute.
Though injured, the sharp aura unique to a sword cultivator burned even brighter.
The gold-white long sword flared brilliantly. “Die!”
The sword light shot from her hand and pierced straight toward him.
The long-faced disciple’s pupils shrank. He tried to dodge, but he could only watch as the gold-white sword light pierced through the center of his brow.
At the same time, the dark red sea of flames struck Shen Hanyi squarely.
She was thrown backward and crashed heavily onto the ground about 10 meters away, raising a cloud of dust. She could no longer hold on and fainted.
The gold-white long sword slipped from her hand and embedded itself in the ground not far away. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Zhou Kai’s heart pounded wildly.
Thrilling. Too thrilling.
The sword fairy had traded injury for life, forcefully killing two opponents and leaving herself gravely wounded and on the brink of death. This was the kind of plot found only in novels.
His gaze fell on the two corpses of the Celestial Spring Sect disciples, then swept to the unconscious Shen Hanyi. His eyes burned with desire.
Zhou Kai used to be a robbery cultivator. If he did not loot now, when would he?
Even if their storage bags were full of junk, that Crimson Gourd Artifact was a rare treasure. And the sword Shen Hanyi used looked extraordinary as well.
“Wealth comes from danger,” Zhou Kai muttered, no longer hesitating.
He stepped forward quickly and began searching with practiced efficiency.
Two storage bags. The intact Crimson Gourd Artifact.
From up close, he could clearly see Shen Hanyi’s partially exposed fragrant shoulder.
She looked detached from the mortal world, her brows and eyes filled with stubborn pride.
Seeing her face ashen and her breath faint, Zhou Kai muttered, “Looks like she’s truly at the end of her strength.”
He reached out and untied the strap of the storage bag at her waist.
The moment he did, Shen Hanyi’s tightly shut eyes snapped open without warning.
Not good. She didn’t faint.
Alarm bells rang in Zhou Kai’s mind. A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Without thinking, he instinctively leapt backward.
Too late.
A streak of silver cold light shot out like a venomous snake from Shen Hanyi’s sleeve.
It was a silver short sword less than 0.3 meters long, as thin as a cicada’s wing and unbelievably fast.
Zhou Kai felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. Looking down, he saw the silver short sword deeply embedded in his shoulder blade.
“She was pretending! This woman was waiting for me!” Zhou Kai’s soul nearly left his body. Forget the storage bag, he did not even dare pull out the short sword. He burst out with all his spiritual energy, turned, and ran at the fastest speed of his life.
“I shouldn’t have gotten greedy! After years of robbing, I forgot to finish the job! I’m screwed. Completely screwed!”
Behind him came the sound of air tearing. Zhou Kai glanced back and saw Shen Hanyi dragging her heavily injured body in pursuit.
Her face was pale as paper, but the killing intent in her phoenix eyes was almost tangible.
“Damn it! You’re still chasing? Crazy woman!” Zhou Kai felt his scalp go numb.
Seeing the distance shrinking, he pulled out a talisman from his robes without hesitation, infused it with spiritual energy, and slapped it onto his leg.
A green light enveloped his legs. His speed surged again, slightly widening the gap.
“Fairy! It’s a misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!” Zhou Kai shouted while running for his life. “I was just passing by. Really just passing by! I saw you were injured and wanted to help. Nothing else!”
His answer was a weak but deadly gold-white sword qi.
The sword qi brushed past his back, cutting a large tree behind him cleanly in two, the cross-section smooth as a mirror.
“So you won’t listen?” Zhou Kai grew angry. This woman was completely unreasonable.
He pulled out several more talismans.
“Fireball Talismans. Go!”
Three fireballs the size of human heads roared toward Shen Hanyi with blazing tails.
Shen Hanyi’s gaze was icy. Without even looking carefully, she casually swung her long sword, drawing several sword arcs.
One ran desperately ahead, constantly throwing out talismans to harass and obstruct. The other pursued relentlessly, breaking every trick with a single sword strike, the killing intent in her eyes growing stronger.
Zhou Kai’s heart sank as his talismans dwindled. Shen Hanyi’s face grew paler, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, her steps unsteady. Yet her pursuit only grew more frenzied.
“Do sword cultivators all have some kind of brain problem? I’ve run this far and you’re still chasing? Do you have to kill me to be satisfied?” Zhou Kai cursed inwardly, feeling both furious and wronged.
Shen Hanyi seemed to lose patience.
She suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, and her already bright sword burst into even more dazzling golden light, like a small sun rising in her hand.
A terrifying pressure spread outward.
Zhou Kai turned back and saw the blinding golden light. His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
“Are you insane? Why risk your life like this?”
He absolutely could not block this sword. Even with a Water Shield Talisman protecting him, he would be blown into dust instantly.
Ignoring the pain in his heart, Zhou Kai pulled out his last resort, a Flight Escape Talisman.
“Go!” he roared, pouring all his remaining spiritual energy into it and igniting it instantly.
At almost the exact moment Zhou Kai vanished, Shen Hanyi’s long-accumulated sword strike descended.
Dust soared into the sky. A trench nearly 10 meters deep was carved into the ground.
The power of a single strike was terrifying beyond measure.
Forcing herself to activate a secret technique to unleash such a devastating blow completely drained the little spiritual energy Shen Hanyi had left and exhausted her final trace of consciousness.
The golden light faded. Her long sword fell to the ground with a clang.
Her body swayed. Darkness filled her vision. She collapsed backward and fainted completely.
This time, she truly fainted.
…
About 330 meters away, a disheveled figure stumbled out and fell to the ground. It was Zhou Kai.
“Cough… damn it… I almost died…”
He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. His face was pale, and cold sweat soaked his clothes.
The wound on his left shoulder continued to bleed, the silver short sword still embedded in it. Every breath tugged at the wound, sending waves of sharp pain through him.
He looked back cautiously and, after confirming that the crazy woman was not chasing him, finally let out a long breath.
It hurt. It hurt too much.
He had used over 30 Fireball Talismans, every Water Shield Talisman was gone, and he had burned one Flight Escape Talisman.
“What I lost because of you, I’ll take back from you sooner or later.”