The spirit demon didn’t even have time to let out a scream before it was completely dead.
A drop of crimson, warm blood splattered onto the corner of Luo Qi’s eye. The temperature made her body freeze slightly, and the words she hadn’t finished speaking suddenly caught in her throat.
Yan Huaichen’s lips curled into a cruel, cold smile, his icy gaze roaming unbridled over Luo Qi and the white ball trembling like a hedgehog in her arms.
“You let my spirit demon go—so is it your death, or its death?”
With that, Yan Huaichen’s lips twitched upward as he leisurely watched Luo Qi, waiting for her answer.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai immediately curled its entire body into Luo Qi’s embrace, even tucking in the tip of its tail that was sticking out.
Watching this certain master-betraying spirit beast desperately burrowing into her sleeve, Luo Qi: “…”
Luo Qi’s gaze swept over the group, noticing that Yan Huaichen casually tossed the extracted spirit demon core to a person behind him.
That person carefully put it away.
Seeing this, Luo Qi formed a guess in her mind.
She asked Yan Huaichen in front of her, “Are you all collecting demon cores?”
The youth who had stored away the spirit demon core, named Ting Bai, walked over upon hearing Luo Qi’s words.
“So what if we are? Do you happen to have one?” His tone was slightly mocking.
Luo Qi didn’t look at him, only at Yan Huaichen.
“Stumbling into your barrier and letting the spirit demon escape was truly unintentional on our part,” Luo Qi said. “As compensation, I can lead you to find that escaped spirit demon.”
The woman’s voice was clear and cool as water. Facing seven or eight black-robed youths who wanted her life, and the black tiger behind them letting out bursts of wolf-like howls, she showed no panic on her face. She calmly analyzed the situation, her speaking pace unhurried.
She was so composed that even though she was clearly at a disadvantage, it seemed as if all the initiative was in her hands.
Yan Huaichen’s initial intention to kill her with one move was temporarily set aside.
Over the years, anyone who saw him would only cower and beg for mercy. This was the first person who wasn’t afraid of him.
Hah, now that was somewhat interesting.
Ting Bai and Yi Ze standing nearby didn’t buy it at all, thinking Luo Qi was playing some trick.
They advised, “Chen-ge, never mind that she’s a weak woman with no spiritual power at all—that spirit demon is extremely cunning. With all of us, we set up countless formations and tracked it for over half a month before we finally trapped it here.”
“And now this woman says she can recapture that spirit demon?” Ting Bai scoffed, his expression tinged with impatience.
“Chen-ge, in my opinion, she’s just deliberately stalling for time.”
Yi Ze pointed at the white glutinous rice ball in Luo Qi’s arms and said to Yan Huaichen, “Chen-ge, the one she’s holding is also a spirit beast. Why don’t we just strip its spirit pill directly? That counts as compensation for our losses.”
Yan Huaichen remained unmoved, his dark, deep ink-black eyes locked tightly on the calm-faced woman before him.
Just as Ting Bai and the others couldn’t read their young master’s intentions and were completely baffled, Yan Huaichen suddenly made a move.
With a slight flick of his fingertip, several wind blades instantly shot toward Luo Qi at lightning speed.
The woman’s cold eyes narrowed slightly—these wind blades carried Astral Qi. If they cut her, with her current body that had no spiritual qi at all, she’d either die or be flayed alive.
Luo Qi instinctively dodged to the side, simultaneously channeling the Divine Power within her, transforming it into ice spikes to counter the wind blades that had changed direction and were attacking her again.
In a single breath, the ice spikes turned into water mist, and the wind blades dissipated without a trace.
Seeing this, Yan Huaichen didn’t seem particularly surprised.
But Yi Ze, Ting Bai, and the others all tightened their grips on their blades and swords, preparing to move in and bind Luo Qi.
Yet at that moment, they heard their young master’s icy voice ring out: “Fine. I’ll do as you say.”
Yi Ze, Ting Bai, and the others, who already had their blades aimed at Luo Qi: “…??”
What did that mean?
Didn’t the young master just make a move himself? Wasn’t he going to kill her?
Why did he inexplicably agree?
Hearing these words, Luo Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
If it had been before, a few people like this wouldn’t have been worth her notice at all.
But now, with her cultivation level sealed, she was no different from an unarmed mortal.
With her current strength, she simply couldn’t win against this group.
A wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him.
For now, she could only help them find that spirit demon first, then smoothly extricate herself, go to the Demon Race, find a way to kill that so-called Demon Race young master, and then return to her Divine Realm.
Before Luo Qi could even finish exhaling that sigh of relief, she heard Yan Huaichen add in a slow, deliberate tone:
“But I’ll only give you seven days. If after seven days I still don’t have that spirit demon’s core—”
Yan Huaichen’s gaze fell on Xiao Bai in Luo Qi’s arms, “—this stupid thing loses its life.”
Xiao Bai: “…!!”
Ow!!! Woo!!
Damn it!!
Once this Minor World lifts its restriction on its spiritual power, it was definitely going to bite him to death!
The group finished preparing, and with a curled index finger placed at their lips, they blew a whistle. The six or seven Nether Tigers that had been gathered more than ten meters away suddenly charged over.
Having just mustered up her courage, Xiao Bai cautiously turned around in Luo Qi’s arms, timidly poking out a fluffy little head. The moment it opened its eyes, it saw the scene of thundering tiger hooves and flying grass clippings—
The courage it had just built up instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.
This time, the little one didn’t shrink back into Luo Qi’s arms. Instead, it flashed away in an instant, hiding inside the Sumeru Space that Luo Qi had brought along from the God-Hidden Sect.
“Aw aw!” Xiao Bai whimpered. “Master, I can’t help you right now. To avoid causing you trouble, I’ll just take the initiative and go into the Sumeru Space myself. Master, please put your own safety above all else.”
Hearing its worried, earnest tone of admonishment, Luo Qi was so exasperated she nearly laughed.
With such a mess before her now, she wondered who exactly had caused it.
It had stirred up a hornet’s nest, then scampered off without a care, leaving her alone to clean up the mess!
The Blood Demon Nether Tigers, upon hearing the summons, obediently came to their respective masters’ sides, swishing their tails, their crimson tiger eyes gleaming with the fierce light of savage beasts, fixed intently on Luo Qi.
Ting Bai stroked the fur of his own Nether Tiger, and with a look that seemed well-intentioned but carried a mocking, malicious glint in his eyes, said to Luo Qi:
“That Spirit Demon has long possessed intelligence and can travel ten thousand miles a day. Surely you don’t intend to walk us all the way to catch it, young lady?”
“Or perhaps you could make do—shall we spare one of our Nether Tigers for you?”
As his words fell, the few black-robed youths chuckled softly as well.
Even Yan Huaichen turned his gaze toward Luo Qi, who stood silently in place.
These people wore wild expressions, and their words and mannerisms were equally arrogant and unrestrained, exuding a sense of contempt for heaven and earth alike.
Luo Qi swept her gaze calmly across her surroundings, paying them no heed.
The next moment, she gave a light flick of her wrist.
A verdant green leaf fell into her palm.
Suspended by an invisible current of air, the leaf floated aloft in midair.
Then, Luo Qi’s lips moved slightly, as if she were silently chanting something.
The tiny green leaf began to thicken and grow, until finally it expanded to the size of a round bed. Only then did Luo Qi withdraw her hand.