"What terrifying killing intent."
The silver-haired girl was briefly dazed, but soon regained her composure.
She was the supreme Imperial Princess of the Luo God Clan.
At the height of the Luo God Clan's power, the Four Great Legions of the God Clans, led by the Thunder Crane Legion, had cowed the entire Lesser Western Heaven Realm. None of the Four Great God Clans dared defy them.
With a clang, the Luo God Sword moved again, its peerless edge gradually revealed.
"Flying Snake Crouching on Earth!"
"Jade Pillar Piercing the Heavens!"
"Sweeping Golden Waves!"
"Water Flows to Form a Channel!"
Staff shadows and sword light crisscrossed, tearing through the battlefield.
The entire clearing looked as though a herd of Giant Rhino Beasts had plowed through it, or as if a tornado had raged wildly back and forth, leaving everything in disarray.
Luo Li was practically the strongest opponent Mu Chen had faced since making his debut.
The thirty-three forms of the Demon-Subduing Staff Technique, created by his father, King of Hundred Spirits, unfolded in Mu Chen's hands like a parade of fleeting scenes. His movements flowed like clouds and water, a delight to behold.
Unable to defeat his opponent in the short term, he gradually fell into a stalemate.
"Counter-Point Mysterious Mechanism!"
Unable to break the deadlock, Mu Chen twisted his wrist and elbow. The ancient, unadorned staff spun nimbly in his hand, generating powerful centripetal force as he struck with a counter-pointing technique.
Countless staff shadows condensed into a solid staff, which jabbed at the sword's keen tip.
With a boom, the two divine-grade Spirit Soldiers collided fiercely in midair, then drew apart.
Mu Chen lowered his staff and stood still, stroking its long, plain shaft with a hint of heartache.
The Demon-Subduing Staff was only a quasi-divine artifact, barely touching the threshold of divine-grade Spirit Soldiers.
The Luo God Sword, however, was a Peerless Divine Artifact whose grade approached that of an ancient Sacred Artifact. Though an Earth Sovereign had sealed away most of its power, its essence far surpassed the former.
In their repeated clashes, the Demon-Subduing Staff had always been suppressed.
Whoosh! Another razor-sharp sword beam descended. Mu Chen laid the plain staff across his chest to block it, then used the recoil from its shaft to retreat with the force of the blow.
Mu Chen fled into the dense forest, and the silver-haired girl pursued without hesitation, sword in hand.
In moments, both had vanished from sight.
A nameless mountain valley blanketed in frost.
"Roar!"
The earth trembled as a piercing howl rang out. A strange, enormous beast, its entire body white and crystalline, as though carved from ice, struggled out of the valley.
It made it only a few yards before its legs gave way and it crashed to the ground.
Bright red blood gushed from its wounds as the light of life quickly faded from its eyes.
The Ice Crystal Beast was a mid-level ice-type spirit beast. It was incredibly cumbersome, yet possessed immense strength.
A tall figure followed at an unhurried pace, swinging his staff to shatter the crystalline beast's sturdy skull and retrieve the Spirit Beast Essence hidden within.
Mu Chen raised his head and waved toward the distance, then disappeared once more.
There, a silver-haired girl in a long black dress, the Luo God Sword strapped to her back, watched the scene calmly. She stepped over the enormous carcass and followed from afar.
This was the first month of the pair's ceaseless game of pursuit.
Whenever Mu Chen was cultivating, resting, or hunting spirit beasts, Luo Li never showed herself.
She simply stayed hidden, watching coldly from the shadows.
But the moment Mu Chen had any free time, Luo Li would grip her Clan-Protecting Divine Artifact and leap out from hiding to fight him. Every battle ended in a draw.
She could never do anything to Mu Chen, yet she kept challenging him all the same.
In the dense forest, gusts of wind and the sharp whistle of breaking air rang out. Another sleepless night passed.
On the distant horizon, the Great Sun, said to have been transformed from the Taigu Golden Crow, slowly rose, scattering its hot yet gentle light across the land and driving away darkness and cold.
Mu Chen sat cross-legged at the mouth of a cave, the plain staff resting across his knees, his eyes closed.
After keeping watch here all night, he was covered in frost, with cold air coursing through him.
Even his eyebrows had not escaped. They had turned from black to white, wisps of mist rising from them.
With a crash, the Hundred Spirits Youth suddenly stood, shattering the frost covering his body.
He glanced at the cave, where there was still no movement. His gaze softened, then he turned and leaped away, soon vanishing into the vast sea of green forest.
Not long after Mu Chen left, a graceful figure emerged from the cave.
The silver-haired girl held a black sword in her arms. Her jade feet paused lightly as she looked at the semicircle of ground before the cave, untouched by frost, then at the empty horizon.
She seemed lost in thought.
In recent days, Luo Li had obtained an extremely rare golden-element spirit plant.
She had been secluded in the deepest part of the cave, refining the plant while attempting to deepen her resonance with the Luo God Sword and break through its first seal.
"Heh-heh-heh, heh~~"
A stretch of a crystal-clear freshwater river rang with humming.
A handsome human youth with delicate features stood completely naked, stubborn as a fish, and plunged headlong into the river without hesitation.
He wore a bath towel around his shoulders and held a clean bath pouf made from gourd flesh. Most of his body was submerged, his well-defined V-line only faintly visible.
Humming a nameless tune, he cupped water in his hands and poured it over himself.
Our Royal Heir suddenly stopped, flared his nostrils, and sniffed himself. Then he nodded in satisfaction. "I don't stink. I smell great!"
On the riverbank, the black-dressed girl with her graceful curves could no longer keep her usually tranquil expression. Her eye twitched as she stared at the scene.
Did this bastard have any regard for her at all?!
He hadn't bothered to avoid her when taking off his clothes, jumping into the river, or bathing. Even when he stood there peeing, he still didn't bother to avoid her. He acted as though no one else were around.
And besides, if you wanted to bathe, then bathe. But what was the point of taking a few little wooden ducks out of your space Spirit Artifact and putting them in the water?
That damnable sense of ceremony!
In broad daylight, he was even telling stories about the little ducks. Honestly...
"Luo Li, come on in and wash up."
Perhaps sensing the silver-haired girl's gaze, the Young King of Hundred Spirits, who was holding a "little duck" in the river and telling it a story with great enthusiasm, raised his head.
He flashed a brilliant smile and called to the riverbank, "You must have worked up quite a sweat after all these days. Don't be shy, we're brothers."
"Come on, give me a hand. We can scrub each other's backs and get rid of that muddy smell."
These past few months, Mu Chen had lived a very carefree life, practically treating Luo Li like his bodyguard. He ate and drank as he pleased, and had been perfectly comfortable.
"Hey, hey, don't go."
The silver-haired girl's lovely face grew colder.
As the Hundred Spirits Youth called after her, she turned and strode away without hesitation.
If she didn't leave now, Luo Li feared she might lose control and cut the bastard down.
Besides, how could a fairy ever smell of mud?
The sun climbed high.
The silver-haired girl, clad in a white robe, had a graceful figure and slender build.
She sat on the ground with her back to the sunlight.
The mountain breeze stirred her long, crystalline silver hair. It glittered like the Milky Way, making her seem like an elf from the Outer Realm walking beneath the sun.
"Here, try it. How's my cooking?"
Just then, a slender hand reached toward her, holding a river fish skewered on a willow branch, crisp on the outside and tender within. It interrupted her train of thought.
Before you continue