“You’re still far from my level.”
With a final strike, Lin Xuan knocked Wang Mo unconscious.
However, he wasn’t in much better shape himself, swaying unsteadily on his feet.
Yet, he still couldn’t resist taunting a few more times.
“What a disgrace. None of you can even put up a fight.”
“I barely tried, and you all crumbled.”
“From now on, steer clear of me, or I’ll beat you every time I see you.”
Originally, in the plot, Lin Xuan would have been able to mock these young masters and leave with ease after the fight.
But with Wang Mo joining the fray, Lin Xuan was pushed to his limits.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “Brother Su Luo?”
Lin Xuan was startled, thinking Su Luo had risen to his feet. In his current state, he had no strength left to fight.
He quickly turned to look where Su Luo had fallen, but there was no sign of him.
He scanned his surroundings, wary of an ambush.
Having spent the entire day ambushing others, he knew all too well how dangerous sneak attacks could be.
Yet, no matter how hard he looked, Su Luo was nowhere to be found.
Where had he gone?
Not only was Lin Xuan puzzled, but the others were too.
Everyone had been focused on the fight and hadn’t noticed Su Luo’s disappearance.
Had he run away?
The young masters who were still conscious couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful.
Wang Mo had fought to the very end, but Su Luo, who had been the first to fall, had fled?
How useless. Even if you’re weak, you shouldn’t abandon us like that.
If it weren’t for Lin Xuan’s current state, we might have been beaten again.
Did Su Luo run away because he didn’t want to share our hardship?
What kind of person does that? After all the flattery we’ve showered on him.
Of course, they only dared to think these thoughts, not voice them aloud.
Lin Xuan felt there was more to it. As he walked away, he muttered to himself.
“Elder Yan, do you know when Su Luo left?”
Elder Yan was the ancient expert residing within Lin Xuan, knowledgeable in cultivation, alchemy, artifact forging, and formations.
“Not long ago, just as you and Wang Mo were finishing your fight,” Elder Yan replied.
“He left swiftly, and from his movements, it’s clear he was hiding his true strength.”
“I knew it,” Lin Xuan said, recalling the strange feeling he had about Su Luo earlier. “What do you think of him, Elder Yan?”
“He’s no less capable than you.”
“That high of a praise?”
Lin Xuan was shocked. No one his age had ever received such high praise from Elder Yan before, not even Li Siyi.
......
In a hidden cave, Li Siyi spat out blood, her face pale, and her sword riddled with cracks.
Before her stood a three-meter-tall white tiger demon, with the body of a human and the head of a tiger, standing on two legs and licking its sharp claws with a sinister grin.
“Tell me, how did you find this place?”
The tiger demon couldn’t afford to ignore this question. The plan to conquer Autumn Wind City was imminent, and any mistake could be disastrous.
The insect eggs hatching here, though weak individually, were numerous and could handle many problems.
Humans, in particular, were easy to exploit when they were busy protecting others.
Conquering Autumn Wind City would be a breeze.
But if something went wrong with these eggs, General Black Horn would skin the tiger demon alive.
With his life on the line, the tiger demon couldn’t afford to be careless.
Li Siyi’s hands trembled as she faced death for the first time.
Yet, even in this moment, she held onto her pride.
“Are you scared?”
“I’m not!” The tiger demon snapped, realizing his tone didn’t match his words, and quickly threatened, “You’re the one who’s scared. After all, you’re the one about to die.”
“True, but if I die, you’ll fail too. I’ve left a letter behind. If I don’t return, Autumn Wind City will discover this place. No matter what, you’ve already lost.”
“You... you...” The tiger demon was so furious he could barely speak. The thought of failing his mission and being killed by General Black Horn filled him with despair.
“I’ll kill you!”
Enraged, the tiger demon lunged at Li Siyi.
Li Siyi smiled bitterly, admitting she had miscalculated.
After finding clues in her diary, she had investigated the forest. The trial area wasn’t large, and with careful searching, she had discovered this suspicious cave.
To be cautious, she had brought along her family’s Third Elder, a Foundation Establishment expert.
With her own Foundation Establishment strength and the Third Elder’s, how could they be weaker than Lin Xuan, who was only at the Qi Refining stage?
Impossible. She had been confident of victory.
But she hadn’t expected the tiger demon to be so powerful.
The Third Elder had been defeated in just a few moves, his heart torn out, his body shredded, and then kicked into the wall, barely clinging to life.
Li Siyi had survived this long only because the tiger demon wanted to know how much information had been leaked.
But now, it was clear that even if Li Siyi died, Autumn Wind City would still find out about this place.
The tiger demon’s killing intent surged as its claws aimed for Li Siyi’s head.
This time, there was no one to save her.
Li Siyi couldn’t help but laugh at herself. In her greed for the treasures here, she had only told the Third Elder. No one else knew about this place.
Perhaps she had been too reckless.
But still, she didn’t want to be just a side character.
Li Siyi gripped her sword tightly, a gentle breeze passing over it, causing it to glow faintly.
The sword was on the verge of shattering, but under the light, it exuded a dangerous aura.
“Wind’s Final Breath.”
“Even if I die, I won’t regret it. This is the path I chose.”
This was one of the techniques from the Cliffside Sword Art.
Unlike flashy sword moves, this technique condensed sword energy into a single, razor-sharp strike.
Simple, yet devastating.
In an instant, the tiger demon’s claw, inches away from Li Siyi’s head, was severed.
But after that, Li Siyi’s sword shattered completely, and she collapsed to the ground, utterly spent.
The tiger demon rolled on the ground, howling in pain.
“Ahhh, it hurts!”
But the next second, it stood up calmly.
“Just kidding.”
The tiger demon’s claw regenerated as if nothing had happened.
“Fun, isn’t it? But you won’t get to see it again. You’ll become food for the insect eggs.”
The tiger demon prepared to finish Li Siyi and then decide whether to flee or report the exposure of this place to General Black Horn.
Fleeing might not mean death, but reporting would surely seal his fate.
After all, the insect eggs were a crucial part of the plan. Their premature exposure had already doomed the mission, and the consequences would be severe.
Facing death, Li Siyi felt tears welling up.
She smiled bitterly. It seemed she didn’t want to die after all...
Will you come to save me this time?
Even lying on the ground, Li Siyi pointed her broken sword at the tiger demon, though she had no strength left to swing it.
“Die!”
The tiger demon’s claw grew larger, and with one strike, Li Siyi wouldn’t just die—she’d be torn to pieces.
“No!” The Third Elder cried out in despair. He had watched Li Siyi grow up and couldn’t bear to see her die here.
But no matter how much he struggled, his body wouldn’t obey. His injuries were too severe, and he could only watch helplessly as Li Siyi was about to be killed.
Boom!
The ground was gouged by a massive claw mark. The force was so great that Li Siyi wouldn’t just be torn apart—she’d be reduced to paste.
But the tiger demon suddenly felt something was off. The sensation wasn’t right.
He turned sharply, his eyes locking onto a black-cloaked stranger who had appeared out of nowhere.
“If you want to kill her, you’ll have to go through me,” a melodious female voice came from beneath the cloak.
Su Luo had transformed into his black-robed female form.
To conceal his identity, Su Luo always carried a large black cloak, just in case.
Li Siyi looked at the familiar cloak and couldn’t help but smile, a sense of safety washing over her. She curled up in Su Luo’s embrace, a rare display of vulnerability.
Since when had Li Siyi ever been so delicate and dependent?
This wasn’t the Li Siyi she knew!