By the Luo River, a Maiden Named Luo Li

Deep within the Black Demon Forest, in a clearing.

Two groups of people were locked in a tense standoff.

One side consisted of five youths, each broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, their physiques burly and their presence as fierce as tigers.

The other side was a lone, nubile beauty.

She wore a black dress that clung to her exquisite, slender frame, accentuating her graceful curves.

Her skin was as fair as milk, delicate enough to break at a touch, glowing with a crystalline, rosy luster.

Her brows were like distant mountains and crescent moons, and her jade-like legs were straight and shapely.

She possessed a head of brilliant silver hair, as dazzling as the galaxy, which was indescribably moving.

On a face so perfect it seemed carved by nature itself, her pair of clear, glass-like eyes were like gemstones, enough to make anyone lose themselves within them.

The only flaw was that on such a peerless, nation-toppling face, there was not a hint of emotion; it was not coldness, but a stillness as deep as a stagnant pool.

It was as if nothing in this world was worth her notice; she was devoid of both joy and sorrow.

Even though she had been hunted day and night for thirteen days by five quasi-King Rank youths at the half-step sixth level, and had been driven into a corner with no escape.

"Hmph, Luo Li, now that it's come to this, what else do you have to say?"

The youth in the green shirt led his sworn brothers, surrounding the silver-haired girl tightly.

He had assumed that the silver-haired girl, already heavily wounded by the Golden Armored Dragon Tiger Beast, would be like a turtle in a jar, easily suppressed with a flip of his hand, which was why he had waited for the right moment to bare his fangs.

Who would have thought that the girl's will to resist would be so resolute, choosing death over surrender?

She had led them in circles through the Black Demon Forest, which was teeming with high-level spirit beasts, and despite several brushes with death, she still had the energy to launch counterattacks from time to time, crushing their morale.

By the time the battle reached this point, the girl was indeed covered in wounds, with new injuries layered over old ones.

However, his own group was equally battered, their auras withered, exhausted, their morale shattered, and their stamina pushed to the limit, on the verge of collapse.

Fortunately, after more than ten days of relentless, sleepless pursuit, there was finally a payoff.

The girl in the black dress held a long black sword, her temperament as quiet as a lotus, standing alone.

Her smooth, crystalline silver hair cascaded like a waterfall down to her hips.

A light breeze blew past, causing her crystalline strands to dance; she was so beautiful it felt like a sacrilege to even look at her.

Her glass-like eyes blinked slightly as she glanced at the youth in the green shirt, but she did not answer, her presence devoid of any worldly dust, as if she were a celestial being.

Damn it, this again!

Zhao Tiandu, the youth in the green shirt, was instantly enraged.

She was clearly at her limit, clearly with nowhere left to run, yet she remained so indifferent, treating life and death with such nonchalance, not even placing the five brothers in her eyes, viewing them as mere ants.

Fine, the more you act like this, the more I will make you experience despair and feel pain!

"Brothers, what are you waiting for? Get her!"

Zhao Tiandu narrowed his eyes, a fierce glint appearing on his face, and with a wave of his hand, he was the first to move.

This group knew nothing of cherishing the fair or being gentle with a beauty; every move was a lethal strike.

As a pack of mad dogs who lived by schemes and accompanied by blood, their goal was the massive amount of points in the silver-haired girl's possession, as well as the black longsword.

The Luo God Sword, the clan-protecting divine artifact of the Luo God Clan, one of the four great god clans of the Lesser Western Heaven Realm.

Although they did not know its specific origin, they recognized it as a divine artifact.

A divine artifact—that was the weapon of a legendary Supreme expert; it had to be obtained!

The delicate red lips of the girl in the black dress moved slightly, her voice ethereal and pleasant, yet cold to the extreme: "You want my clan's divine weapon? Then pay for it with your lives!"

With that, swish, a flash of dark light flickered.

She lifted her slender hand, drew the black longsword, and held it across her chest. Her lotus steps shifted, her jade feet tracing an arcane footwork, and she leaped lightly, appearing several meters away in an instant.

"Die!"

Zhao Tiandu gripped a blood-colored saber, raised it high above his shoulder, and hacked down.

Behind him, the four youths, each possessing a half-step sixth-level spirit body, followed closely.

The girl in the black dress tightened her grip on the black sword hilt with her delicate, scallion-like fingers, twisted her slender waist, and moved her body, charging forward in silence.

A battle of young kings had erupted just like that!

"I hate this!"

Not far from the battlefield, a human genius with an unremarkable appearance was hiding in the dense canopy of a towering ancient tree, slamming his fist into the main trunk.

This person was Xie Guan, a man of extraordinary talent and formidable combat power.

With a half-step sixth-level spirit body, he was a bona fide quasi-King Rank contender.

Although there was a significant gap between him and a true King Rank, he possessed quite a reputation within the Spirit Road and had decent connections.

Xie Guan appeared here naturally because he was an admirer of the silver-haired girl.

Upon hearing that Luo Li was in trouble, he immediately reached out to help, calling upon a group of friends to assist.

However, once they heard the opponents were the notorious Zhao Tiandu and his gang, the friends and brothers who usually called him brother one day and brother the next all made excuses, declining to join him.

In truth, Xie Guan did not blame them.

Zhao Tiandu and his cohorts, though not blood brothers, were of the same clan and styled themselves the Five Tigers of the Zhao Clan.

It was rumored that a true King-level existence had once fallen at the hands of these five brothers.

Looking across the Spirit Road, among the one hundred thousand human geniuses, fewer than a hundred had been born as Kings.

Not everyone had the courage to go to war with a King for the sake of mere loyalty.

Without friends or allies to assist him, Xie Guan alone could not defeat the Five Tigers.

Rushing to this battlefield to witness the final battle was the most he could do.

After all, he carried too many burdens; he could not afford to die easily.

Blood kin, family, sect, legacy.

"Rest assured, Miss. If you die, I, Xie Guan, will surely avenge you in the future."

Having vented his frustrations, Xie Guan clenched his fists and muttered dejectedly.

To this day, he still did not know the beauty's name.

That's right, this fellow was suffering from a pure, one-sided crush.

Luo Li did not even know such a person existed.

Of course, even if she did, she wouldn't be too surprised.

After all, from childhood to the present, far too many men had fallen for her at first sight, liking her either openly or secretly and expressing their love; if she had to respond to every single one, how could she possibly manage?

Xie Guan was merely one of the thousands of pursuers with decent talent.

"Brother, don't boost his morale and dampen your own spirit."

Suddenly, a voice rang out beside Xie Guan's ear.

This abrupt sound gave him such a start that his body jolted violently, and he nearly tumbled from the twenty or thirty-meter-tall ancient tree to fall into a pile of mush.

"Who?!"

Drenched in a cold sweat, Xie Guan hurriedly steadied himself and put some distance between him and the newcomer.

As he dodged, he secretly asked himself:

Had his cultivation been too lax lately? How could he have failed to notice someone getting so close? What if this had been an enemy seeking revenge?

He saw that where he had been standing, a tall, elegantly dressed human youth stood, watching him with a smile.

"Greetings, brother. I am Mu Chen."

With ink-black eyes like stars, sword-like brows, and a handsome face as if carved by a blade, the youth in fine clothes held a gentle smile at the corners of his mouth as he cupped his hands and introduced himself.

"I am Xie Guan."

Having calmed down, Xie Guan refused to lose his momentum and retorted stiffly.