"No, you're lying to me."
A-Lian seemed to have regained her senses. She saw straight through Murong Canghai's lie with a single sentence.
"Why?"
Murong Canghai froze, then couldn't help asking.
"Chen Ajiu died of a blade wound. Although you're a master of the blade, the aura of your blade is wrong."
A-Lian said coldly.
"I..." Shen Changsheng secretly picked up a blade and was about to speak.
"Shut up!"
A-Lian glanced at Shen Changsheng and Jiang Lianyue, bluntly saying, "You two use swords. Stay out of this."
Her gaze suddenly shifted to the sedan in one corner of the Ancient Temple.
The white gauze curtains at the sedan door fluttered in the breeze, faintly revealing the silhouettes of two women.
A-Lian had ruled out everyone, one by one.
Once all the impossible had been eliminated, whatever remained, however impossible, had to be the only possibility!
"I see. The person in the sedan is Li Qiming!" A-Lian realized.
Everyone followed her gaze and exchanged bewildered looks.
The two women in the sedan were naturally Xia Bingbing, tenth on the Beauty Ranking, and her sharp-tongued, overbearing personal maid.
When it came down to it, the whole mess had started because of these two willful women.
If they hadn't put on airs and refused to leave the sedan to walk along the mountain road, everyone would have reached Zhennan Prefecture City long ago.
Then there wouldn't have been all this trouble tonight!
In the midst of the fierce battle, everyone had forgotten about the two women.
But thinking it over, they were the real culprits!
The sedan had been quiet from beginning to end.
Because the mistress and maid were indeed frightened.
They regretted it.
They understood how serious things had become.
Unfortunately.
It was too late!
"Li Qiming, I'll hack you to pieces to vent my fury!"
Gritting her teeth, A-Lian gripped her blade and walked toward the sedan one step at a time.
The mistress and maid, who had been pretending to be dead in the sedan, were now trembling all over.
They had just seen A-Lian in action too. She was a completely unhinged fiend!
Even the old woman at the peak of Organ Refining had been killed with just two blows.
Utterly terrifying!
Through the white gauze curtain, they watched A-Lian approach step by step.
At last, the maid couldn't hold back any longer and spoke:
"Li Qiming is him! The gray-robed youth outside the broken wall!"
Before A-Lian arrived, the old woman had identified Li Qiming. At the time, Liu Yun had been about to attack Li Qiming, so the maid knew exactly who he was.
At this critical moment, she gave away Li Qiming's location without hesitation.
Swish!
A-Lian whipped around. Through the Bronze Mask, her gaze fixed on the gray-robed youth outside the broken wall.
Meeting her dark, deep gaze, Li Qiming's heart tightened.
"You're even less likely to be Li Qiming."
A-Lian shook her head. This gray-robed youth was only at the Blood Refining Realm. How could he possibly be a match for Chen Ajiu?
"Die!"
A-Lian said no more. She swung her blade straight at the sedan.
Terrifying demonic power cleaved through the heavens and earth!
It formed a massive Black Demon Blade, which came slashing down at the sedan!
"Ah!"
The mistress and maid in the sedan clung to each other and screamed.
Just then.
A breeze drifted in, and a figure dressed in a green robe suddenly alighted lightly in front of the sedan.
One hand rested casually on the hilt of the unsheathed sword at his waist.
He raised the other hand, pointed two fingers like a sword, and gave a gentle tap.
A-Lian's terrifying Black Demon Blade was like ink painting, its traces scattered by a breeze of Sword Qi.
At the same time.
That breeze of Sword Qi continued to waft toward A-Lian.
A-Lian, who had casually slain an expert at the peak of Organ Refining, was sent flying backward.
Most of the demonic aura around her dispersed, and she was left gravely injured!
Everyone stared in stupefied silence.
There was another expert here?
Everyone had just one question in mind: who was he?
The young man in green had wounded A-Lian without even drawing the long sword at his waist. What kind of bearing would he have once he drew it?
"Cousin! You're finally here!"
A pleasant voice came from inside the sedan.
Then Xia Bingbing, her face veiled and dressed in a pale-yellow gown, slowly stepped out.
This was the first time she had appeared before everyone.
Though her face was veiled, everyone knew she had to be a peerless beauty.
A woman's beauty lay in her bones; that kind of beauty, deep down, couldn't be hidden just by covering her face.
Her eyes were like a pool of gentle water, making people instinctively want to protect her.
"Cousin Bingbing, Yun'er, I'm sorry I came late and frightened you."
Han Tianjun looked at Xia Bingbing with concern, as well as Yun'er, the maid who had followed close behind her. His voice held an apologetic note.
"Cousin..."
As though she had finally found someone to lean on, Xia Bingbing's eyes reddened.
Yun'er also pouted, as if she had suffered a tremendous injustice.
Just as the three of them were indulging in their emotions as if no one else were there—
Suddenly.
A-Lian's exasperated voice rang out:
"Bingbing? Yun'er? You're not Li Qiming? Then who is Li Qiming?!"
"Hmph. You little demon, how dare you frighten my cousin? Die!"
Han Tianjun abruptly pointed a finger.
A breeze of Sword Qi swept toward A-Lian.
However.
Knowing she was no match for him, A-Lian flashed aside, transformed into a wisp of black smoke, and darted into the night sky. In the blink of an eye, she vanished.
She had escaped successfully again.
After all, martial artists couldn't fly, so they couldn't catch up with her.
"Hmph."
Han Tianjun could do nothing about it. He simply snorted, stood with his hands behind his back, and let her go.
"Han Tianjun, son of General Han Changlong of Zhennan Prefecture City, seventh on the Prodigy Ranking?"
"Are you Han Tianjun, the one the martial world praises as 'A gentleman like jade beneath the roadside trees, peerless among men'?!"
Recognizing him, Murong Canghai asked in surprise.
He had never imagined that Xia Bingbing had such a powerful cousin!
They said Han Tianjun had vanished for a year. Rumor had it he was with the Demon Suppressing Army, fighting the demonic forces every day to hone his swordsmanship.
No one knew how formidable he had become by now.
But he had just casually made a move, and already he had completely overwhelmed an Organ Refining expert.
"That's right. It's me."
Han Tianjun nodded calmly, an unconcealed air of pride in his expression.
"Thank you all for escorting my cousin. You've worked hard."
He thanked them, but his manner made it seem like their efforts were only to be expected.
"Brother Tianjun, they didn't help us at all just now. They even wanted to abandon Sister Bingbing and me!"
"They nearly handed Sister Bingbing and me over to the Demon Sect!"
Yun'er suddenly glared viciously at Shen Changsheng and the others as she spoke.
"Oh? Is that so?"
A trace of coldness flashed in Han Tianjun's eyes.
Yun'er continued maliciously:
"Brother Tianjun, you should kill them all! They didn't protect my sister and me at all!"
"If you'd come one moment later, you'd never have seen Sister Bingbing and me again!"
"It's all their fault!"
Han Tianjun slowly placed his hand on the hilt at his waist.
A terrifying killing intent instantly enveloped the entire scene.
"You!"
Murong Canghai hadn't expected him to turn on them without a second thought. Fury surged through him!
They had worked hard to escort the two women all this way, accommodating every unreasonable demand. In the end, they had fought the Demon Sect in a bitter battle, and both the escort agency and the Martial Hall had paid a heavy price.
Murong Canghai himself, in particular, had nearly exhausted his potential and damaged his martial foundation. He would basically be a cripple from now on.
Yet after all that, this willful maid still wanted them dead!
Outrageous! Despicable!
"Yun'er, that's enough."
Xia Bingbing suddenly spoke.
She reached out to stop Han Tianjun and said:
"Cousin, they did their best. Without them, I might have met with disaster long ago."
"Hmph. Since Cousin Bingbing has pleaded on your behalf, get out of here!"
Han Tianjun said coldly.
Before you continue