The moment that crushing pressure, like the sky collapsing, swept over him, Cassian’s gut twisted.
He didn’t wait-just turned and bolted.
“You vile pervert!
You’re dead!”
The woman burst from the lake, silver flames wrapping her like armor, water exploding behind her.
Teeth clenched, eyes burning, she skimmed the surface like silver lightning.
In merely two breaths, she’d already thrown on her robe.
Then, like a loosed arrow, she streaked after him.
“Shit…
this is a huge misunderstanding!”
Cassian’s heart pounded, panic clouding his mind.
Worst part?
His steed was nowhere in sight.
“Die!”
Her roar cracked through the air, killing intent boiling off her.
Just picturing how he’d seen her-naked, vulnerable-drove her furious.
She wanted to claw his eyes out.
Cassian glanced back-and cursed.
She was flying at him like her feet never touched ground.
Worse, a thick mist revealed a massive gorge ahead.
He spun around, waving his arms in desperation.
“Wait!
Just hold on!
I swear I was just passing by!
I didn’t mean to see anything!”
But that woman-face like a goddess, aura like a killer-was now pure rage.
Silver spiritflame flickered around her, a sign of someone at the spiritcore realm.
“‘Didn’t mean to’?” she barked, brow arched, her steps ringing with murder.
“You dare peep on a princess during her bath-and still make excuses?”
A…
princess?
Cassian felt the blood drain from his face.
Damn it, just his luck-of all people to stumble on naked, it had to be a royal one.
No doubt about it-she wasn’t letting him walk away.
“You take one more step and I swear, you’ll regret it!” Cassian shouted, backing up to the cliff’s edge.
His hands raised, Grand Spirit Devour Art gathering between them.
He knew he was no match, but hell, desperate men fought like cornered beasts.
Princess or not-he’d drag her to hell if he had to.
“Shameless freak!
Threatening me now?
You’re dead!”
She flashed through the air, then launched a ferocious kick right into his chest before he could react.
Boom!
Cassian felt like a mountain had slammed into him, his ribs crackling under the blow.
He couldn’t breathe.
But pain wasn’t enough to stop him.
As his body flew back from the impact, he gritted through the darkness creeping in-and seized her leg with all his strength.
The momentum yanked her along with him.
And just like that, they both vanished off the edge.
“How is this even happening?”
The woman still had the idea of using one leg to push off the boy and rebound upward-given her cultivation, it was doable.
But what threw her off completely was that in that instant, all her spiritforce vanished.
“Aaah-!”
Soon, the whole mist-shrouded gorge echoed with a bloodcurdling scream.
Not long after, Cassian came to.
Falling from ten-odd fathoms should’ve meant certain death for any regular person.
But not him.
Not only was he alive, he felt the spiritforce inside him surge-he was already brushing the edge of the spiritblade realm, and now he was almost at spiritcore.
“Damn that crazy woman!”
He quickly spotted the woman-who claimed to be a princess-lying in the grass just three steps away.
Her thigh was drenched in blood, and her once elegant face had gone pale.
Her robes were shredded, revealing a flash of pink underclothes beneath.
Her spiritforce had been depleted, and crashing down from the cliff had torn her leg open on jagged rock.
The blood loss knocked her out cold.
“I swear…
damn it.”
Cassian gripped the sack Bloodfiend had given him.
He’d thought of ending her right there.
But when he looked at her face…
some strange pity welled up in his chest.
Killing her now felt like a waste.
Besides, they didn’t actually have much of a grudge against each other.
Without more thought, he tore a strip of fabric from his own clothing and swiftly wrapped her wound.
“Awoooo-”
Just then, a thunderous beast cry shattered the air above the gorge, echoing loud enough to shake the clouds.
A monstrous bird-it was as big as a mountain and had four wings-swept into view.
Its neck was long, head shaped like the dragons of old Eastern legends, its entire body cloaked in pitch-black scales.
As it flew overhead, it blotted out the sky like a dark storm cloud.
The pressure it radiated forced all the wild beasts in the mountains to cower-completely silent, not daring to breathe.
“Could that be the so-called dragon the Western nations revere?” Cassian’s heart pounded.
As the creature soared past, its wings stirred a gale that cleared a good portion of the lingering mist.
Then, something caught Cassian’s nose-a faint but unmistakable medicinal scent.
He turned toward it and saw, not far from where he stood, two silver trees less than eight feet tall.
Hanging from the branches were crystal-clear fruits, gleaming with eight sharp facets.
Each one gave off a clean, refreshing aroma steeped in pure spirit power.
“Hah!
That’s Eightfold Fruit!”
Cassian nearly burst out laughing.
His luck was getting absurd.