Boom!
The low wall beside her suddenly exploded, and amid the billowing dust, a fierce wind howled as a Golden Gourd Hammer the size of a basketball came crashing toward Zhang Queling's forehead.
"You're courting death!"
Splat!
The Zhanmadao swept sideways, and a mist of blood burst into view.
The ambusher was instantly split in two, man and hammer alike.
The upper half of his body flew forward on sheer momentum, but Zhang Queling knocked it aside with her shoulder. His head slammed into the wall and was crushed into a slurry of red and white.
The lower half spewed steaming entrails and blood, splattering the ground with a stench of gore.
"A First Order dares come forward?!"
She barked coldly, spat out a mouthful of blood, and continued sprinting toward Tongji Gate.
Queling... they... they've started using human lives to wear you down... Yao Zhixue's voice was a little tense.
The martial artists pursuing them had wildly varying cultivation levels. Many had not even reached the Second Order, and before an expert like Zhang Queling, a Third Order peak powerhouse, they were no different from ants.
But they acted as though they had gone mad, fearlessly throwing themselves into battle and launching suicidal attacks from every direction in the most primitive, most foolish manner.
They were using their own lives to exhaust Zhang Queling's strength, qi, and blood.
Suppressing her irritation, Zhang Queling snarled inwardly, I'm not blind. Shut up!
Suddenly, two more martial artists circled around from the rooftops on either side and reached the front of Zhang Queling, then turned and pounced down, perfectly blocking her path.
The one on the left had a sharp mouth and beady eyes, a thin, withered frame, and two short spikes coated in poison clenched in his hands.
The one on