Within the treacherous Black Forest, cold winds howled.
The blood mist had already disappeared, leaving only stark white bones and large patches of undried blood.
Su Yanqing ground her back teeth, swept her sleeve across the dry bones, and released her spiritual sense to probe ahead.
“System, there’s fighting straight ahead. Help me see who’s there.”
Good grief, she was using the system like a reconnaissance plane.
The system knew this mission was rather difficult and had no choice but to secretly assist:
『Yueli, Bai Xiaoru, and an unidentified man in black robes.』
Why would these two unrelated people end up together?
Su Yanqing had no time to care about these irrelevant people.
She turned and changed direction, continuing to release her spiritual sense to search for Master and the others.
But she had forgotten that she was the vicious female supporting character in the book.
If she did not go looking for trouble, trouble would come looking for her.
With a loud bang.
As she sped forward, the thick tree beside her instantly turned to powder, drifting through the air like flour and choking Su Yanqing until she coughed furiously: “Cough, cough, cough! Which damned bastard dares to ambush me!”
“I never thought that after just getting two beauties, another peerless beauty would come along. This Wu’s luck really is good!” A sinister, oily male voice came from behind her.
Su Yanqing turned and saw that Yueli and Bai Xiaoru, who had been fighting moments ago, were now tightly bound with ropes and staggering behind the man. Clearly, they were no match for him and had been captured alive.
“A good dog doesn’t block the road. Get lost!”
Su Yanqing already hated demonic cultivators, and now that she had been provoked for no reason, the fire in her heart burned even hotter. The sword in her hand rang sharply, cold light flashing.
“Fourth junior brother, save me! I’m your Senior Sister Bai! This demonic cultivator isn’t human… he wants to refine us into human pills!” Bai Xiaoru, apparently at the end of her rope, screamed in panic.
Yueli beside her, however, said nothing.
“Hahaha, little beauty, she’s not your little junior brother. Haven’t you noticed? She doesn’t even have an Adam’s apple?”
The man in black robes actually exposed the flaw in Su Yanqing’s cross-dressing with a single sentence. “Such a peerless beauty, I really can’t bear to refine you into a human pill. Why not stay behind as this Wu’s furnace cauldron instead?”
Hearing this, Su Yanqing guessed that he had recognized her Nine Yin physique.
At this point, even if she did not want to save Bai Xiaoru and the others, he probably would not let her leave safely anyway.
Su Yanqing struck first with a sneak attack. The sword in her right hand transformed into an invisible streak of sword light, shooting straight at the man’s face.
In her left palm appeared a short blade, suddenly flying toward his lower body.
She drew on all her spiritual energy, moving with extreme speed and attacking from both sides.
He failed to dodge in time; the inner side of his thigh was cut open by the sharp blade, leaving a bloody wound.
He could only grip his sword with both hands and desperately block the huge sword light.
Who would have thought that the sword light was so strange? The moment it made contact, it began corroding his spiritual energy.
His expression changed slightly. He only felt a massive surge of spiritual energy pouring into his dantian, constantly disrupting the flow of his spirit meridians.
He had underestimated this woman.
He no longer held back, retreating several steps and shaking off the sword light, then sneered with a gloomy face: “Stunning beauty, even if you want to run now, it’s too late. You’ve thoroughly enraged me!”
Su Yanqing had not expected that after taking two of her strikes in succession, he would still remain stable and unharmed.
It seemed she really was doomed this time.
Su Yanqing decisively rushed toward Bai Xiaoru and the others, cutting both their ropes with one sword stroke. “Go call for help first. Senior Brother Jing and the others are in town. Tell them to come save me!”
Bai Xiaoru stood there dumbly, as if trying to guess the identity of the “fake Shen Si.”
Yueli, however, thanked her at once. “Thank you, junior brother… Junior Sister, hold on. I’ll bring reinforcements as quickly as I can!”
Before the words even faded, the demonic cultivator had already impatiently vanished from where he stood, leaving only an afterimage.
The next second, he appeared before the three of them, blocking the way. “Trying to call for reinforcements? Dream on!”
Su Yanqing shoved the two of them away and, with ruthless determination, thrust her sword straight at his face. “Go quickly and come back quickly!”
With that, she and he plunged into battle.
Flashes of blades, sword shadows, ice blades, and black mist filled the area, and the surrounding trees all suffered in succession, cut clean in half.
When Su Yanqing, panting hard, rapidly retreated, she caught sight in the corner of her eye that Bai Xiaoru and Yueli had successfully escaped.
Her two earlier sneak attacks had already drained most of her spiritual energy. Now she was at the end of her strength.
If not for the system giving her Life Defense, she would already have been captured alive by him.
“I never thought a mere early-stage establish foundation cultivator could force me into such a sorry state.”
“Originally, I planned to offer you to the Demon Venerable and secure myself a good posting.”
“Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, don’t blame me for being ruthless and directly refining you into a human pill!” With that, he no longer hid his strength.
All the demonic qi in his body surged out, gathering into a mass of black ghost mist.
The vengeful spirit’s shrill wails echoed across the clearing.
Su Yanqing, with her spiritual energy exhausted and her face pale, still had unyielding fighting spirit burning in her eyes.
After quietly exchanging a few words with the system, she used her last thread of spiritual energy and suddenly unleashed a sword beam, sending it flying toward the man in black robes in midair.
Whoosh!
The fierce sword light struck. He caught it with his left hand while forming a hand seal with his right.
A huge mass of ghost mist rushed toward the girl. With a dark expression, he cursed, “Bitch, I’ll let you taste the pain of having your flesh and spiritual energy devoured by evil ghosts… unable to live, unable to die!”
The black mist, carrying the vengeful spirit’s miserable cries, surrounded the girl who refused to submit even in death.
The next moment, a shrill scream rang out.
He looked smug as he sent a voice transmission to his companion: “Li Xiaoshu, tell me, a human pill refined from a Nine Yin physique and offered to Demon Venerable Lord… wouldn’t it at least be worth a red-robed protector position?”
However, the very next moment after the voice transmission ended, he could no longer smile.
His whole body felt as if evil ghosts were tearing at him. Huge wounds appeared out of nowhere, blood sprayed everywhere, flesh flew, his meridians shattered, and the pain made him howl: “No… this is my Hundred Ghosts Devour. How did it suddenly backfire?!”
“This is called turning his own method against him.” From within the black ghost mist came the girl’s clear, pleasant voice.
To his ears, it sounded like the low murmur of an evil ghost.
“You… you’re not dead! Impossible… Aaaah!!!”
“I don’t want to die!!!”
A moment later, he made no sound at all.
Even in death, he still had no idea what secret technique Su Yanqing had used to transfer her injuries onto him.
“I never thought this damage reflection card would be this powerful!” Su Yanqing watched with her own eyes as the flesh and blood on his body instantly turned to dry bones.
That group of vengeful spirits also scattered and fled.
She could not help feeling a little afraid.
If not for the system at her side, she might have become that pile of dry bones.
“I wonder how Master and the others are doing?”
Seeing that there was no danger nearby for the moment, Su Yanqing found an open patch of ground and sat down to cultivate, regulating her breathing.
Just after she finished regulating her breathing, the voice transmission token lying beside the man’s dry bones suddenly rang: “Wu Xiaolou, that woman with the Nine Yin physique… have you succeeded in refining her?”
For some reason, Su Yanqing felt that the other party’s tone was trembling.
Perhaps demonic cultivators all spoke like this?
She deliberately lowered her voice and tried to fish for information: “I’ve already refined her into a human pill. How are things on your end? Do you want me to rush over and provide support?”
As a result, the other side suddenly sent out a shrill, miserable scream: “Aaaaaah… !”
Then the voice transmission was cut off.
Su Yanqing was instantly dumbfounded. Had the man’s companion been killed by Master and the others?
Were these demonic cultivators really this weak?
She helplessly shook her head, stood up, and was about to leave and head deeper into the Black Forest when a familiar male voice came from behind her:
“You are not Shen Si. Who exactly are you?”