Elder Mo and the two Soul Kings quietly left Zhu Zhuyun's side and silently made their way toward the edge of the group.
Elder Mo and the two Soul Kings formed a triangle around the rest of the group.
"Attack!"
At Zhu Zhuyun's crisp command,
the Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors had no time to react before the two prepared Soul Kings and a Soul Emperor slaughtered more than half of them in an instant.
At that point, even the slowest Soul Master understood that Zhu Zhuyun meant to silence them.
"Zhu Zhuyun! What do you mean by this?!"
The only response was Zhu Zhuyun's icy gaze.
"Leave no one alive!"
Only these two Soul Kings and the Soul Emperor were her most loyal subordinates. As for the other guards assigned by the imperial family, they were always leaking information. This was the perfect chance to wipe them all out.
A Soul Ancestor barely managed to block one of Elder Mo's attacks. Knowing he was bound to die today, he suddenly burst into a frenzied laugh.
"We risked our lives for her, and this is what we get in return! Don't get too pleased with yourselves, either. If she dares treat me this way today, she can do the same to you in the future!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he charged toward Zhu Zhuyun.
He wanted to self-destruct and take Zhu Zhuyun down with him!
But before he could get close, Elder Mo pierced his chest with a claw from behind!
Before long, only Zhu Zhuyun and her three trusted subordinates remained.
"Let's go. The Soul Beasts will take care of the bodies for us!"
Meanwhile, Ye Guchen and Zhu Zhuqing had already reached a cave.
Zhu Zhuqing turned her back to him and slowly slipped off her top, revealing her snow-white back.
Her face flushed red. Summoning all her courage, Zhu Zhuqing spoke softly to Ye Guchen.
"Um... could you help me apply medicine to my back? I... I can't reach..."
Her voice grew quieter with each word, as if that one sentence had drained all her courage.
At that, Ye Guchen turned around. The first thing he saw was Zhu Zhuqing's smooth, white back, marked by three savage wounds.
One of them lay beneath her shoulder and extended toward the front, ending near a raised curve. She must have been slashed when she couldn't dodge in time.
Ye Guchen took the medicinal powder and applied it, teasing her as he went.
"So this is the reward you promised me?"
His words turned Zhu Zhuqing's ears bright red, the flush spreading all the way down her neck.
Ye Guchen saw it clearly from behind, and it made her even more alluring.
"But I'm pretty satisfied!"
Zhu Zhuqing couldn't take it anymore. She buried her face in the bundle of clothes clutched against her chest and cursed him as a lecher.
Still, she didn't stop Ye Guchen from continuing to apply the medicine.
He had finished treating and bandaging the other two wounds, but the last one was in an awkward spot. For all his bold talk, Ye Guchen was still a novice.
After applying medicine to the part of the wound on her back, Ye Guchen looked at the rest, which extended toward the front, and swallowed.
"Um, this wound... how about you handle the rest?"
At that, Zhu Zhuqing buried her face even deeper. Her reply came out barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.
"Y-you do it..."
Now that it was time to put his bold words into practice, someone's hand, clutching the medicinal powder, reached toward the wound at the front. He caught a glimpse of two lofty peaks. The closer his hand got, the more it began to tremble.
"Damn it! Don't choke at the crucial moment. Pull yourself together, man!"
Zhu Zhuqing seemed to sense Ye Guchen's nervousness and couldn't help covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.
After repeatedly cheering himself on, he finally managed to finish bandaging Zhu Zhuqing.
And so, after three days of combined treatment with Ye Guchen's healing pills and medicinal powder, Zhu Zhuqing's injuries had almost completely healed.
As for why light wounds that hadn't damaged her meridians or vital areas took three whole days to heal, don't ask. The answer was that Ye Guchen had run out of the top-grade healing pills he'd brought from Dou II.
It definitely wasn't because someone wanted an excuse to apply medicine...
Within the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast region of the Star Dou Great Forest, sword energy crisscrossed through the territory of a thirty-thousand-year-old Explosive Ant. Violent sword energy swept through its cave.
Ye Guchen's Martial Soul in his Dou I body was the Shark Tooth Sword, paired with the Zongheng Sword Technique, which emphasized fierce, overwhelming force. This Explosive Ant was a perfect match for his needs, and its age was suitable, making it the ideal choice for Ye Guchen's fifth Soul Ring.
The Horizontal Sword attacked through technique, seeking sharpness—that was Opening. The Vertical Sword attacked through momentum, seeking substance—that was Closing. Opening and Closing were the Way of Heaven and Earth.
The key to moving between the vertical and horizontal was the word "decide." To decide one's feelings and settle one's doubts was to make the choice most advantageous in the moment. So Ye Guchen did not blindly pursue simultaneous mastery of both sword styles. Instead, he chose to focus on the Horizontal Sword Technique first.
The Explosive Ant let out a world-shaking shriek. Its massive body charged wildly through the cave, each pounding step of its six thick legs shattering rock.
A Soul Beast with thirty thousand years of cultivation had already developed a trace of intelligence. It sensed that although the human before it wielded fierce sword energy, he was not invincible.
Ye Guchen held his sword horizontally before his chest. Cold light shimmered along the edge of the Shark Tooth Sword.
He drew a deep breath, calming the surging blood in his chest.
He had just taken the Explosive Ant's charge head-on, and one of its legs had slashed open his left arm. Blood dripped down his sleeve.
Yet the corner of his mouth curled into a smile. If the beast were easy to defeat, it would be far less interesting.
"Come again!"
The Horizontal Sword Technique relied on strength to break through skill, and force to overcome force.
Ye Guchen drove his foot into the ground and shot toward the Explosive Ant like an arrow loosed from its bow.
The Soul Beast clearly hadn't expected its prey to charge straight at it. Enraged, it opened its enormous jaws and sprayed a stream of crimson Explosive Ant acid, surging like lava.
An ordinary Soul Master would have been unable to dodge the deadly poison in time, but Ye Guchen didn't so much as flinch.
The Shark Tooth Sword swept upward from below. A layer of pale golden sword-energy gale gathered around its blade, cleaving the mass of acid in two! The splashing poison struck the cave walls, eating blackened pits into the stone as it hissed.
The Explosive Ant's enormous compound eyes reflected the figure drawing ever closer. At last, a trace of fear appeared in them.
It tried to retreat, but the cave was narrow, and its massive body had become a burden.
Ye Guchen closed in, unleashing every killing move of the Horizontal Sword Technique without holding anything back.
Each slash of the Shark Tooth Sword carried the force to split mountains and shatter stone. Every strike targeted the vital joints between the Explosive Ant's head and thorax.
The Explosive Ant desperately swung its legs to block, but every clash with the strange Shark Tooth Sword left deep cracks in its shell. Dark green fluid seeped from the wounds.
"Horizontal Sweep!"
It was only a crude imitation of the ultimate art of the Horizontal Sword Technique, but it had already taken shape and gained real power. That was more than enough to break through the defenses of the thirty-thousand-year-old Explosive Ant before him.
Ye Guchen gave a low shout and swept the Shark Tooth Sword horizontally. His sword stroke crashed like a storm tide against the shore, carrying overwhelming, unyielding force.
The Explosive Ant's two front legs snapped off. Its massive body lost its balance and toppled backward.
It let out one last shriek as the explosive sac in its abdomen swelled rapidly. It meant to take its enemy down with it.
Ye Guchen's pupils contracted.
A thirty-thousand-year-old Explosive Ant's self-destruction could level everything within a hundred-zhang radius.
But he didn't retreat a single step—the essence of the Horizontal Sword Technique lay in the word "decide." Once he had made his choice, he had to press forward without hesitation.
The Shark Tooth Sword stabbed diagonally into the wound left by the Explosive Ant's severed leg, precisely piercing the explosive sac as it swelled.
Sword energy burst inside the sac, smothering the self-destruction before it could begin.
The Explosive Ant's massive body spasmed violently a few times, then crashed to the ground, kicking up dust.
Ye Guchen pulled out his sword and retreated, dropping to one knee as he gasped for breath.
The wound on his left arm had torn open even more during that last burst of strength. The Explosive Ant had also grazed his right side with its dying counterattack, leaving it burning with pain.
He fished an Origin Returning Pill from his storage ring and swallowed it. Its warm medicinal power spread through him, slowly repairing his injuries.
Watching from nearby, Zhu Zhuqing saw the savage wounds on Ye Guchen and was about to rush over in concern when she saw him swallow a pill. His wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Zhu Zhuqing was dumbstruck. Then her face flushed red, and she cursed him as a lecher.
So he'd only been after her body all along!
Looking at the enormous Soul Beast corpse, satisfaction flashed in Ye Guchen's eyes.
A thirty-thousand-year Soul Ring slowly rose from the Explosive Ant, its deep black glow especially brilliant in the cave.
Now that the truth was out, Ye Guchen pretended not to hear her. He hurriedly sat cross-legged and circulated his Soul Power to draw in the Soul Ring.
He had just begun to master the Horizontal Sword Technique, so the Soul Skill granted by the Soul Ring would be of little use—neither worth using nor easy to abandon.
It wasn't true that the more sword techniques one incorporated, the more powerful one's swordsmanship became. A Soul Skill was like a sword technique carved into one's body. One only had to circulate Soul Power to activate it.
But the drawbacks were too obvious. Soul Skills produced on an assembly line used every bit of Soul Power inefficiently. They were terribly wasteful.
Their efficiency was nowhere near that of the Zongheng Sword Technique. That was why Self-Created Soul Skills were usually far stronger than Soul Skills granted by Soul Rings.
As for Ye Guchen, he simply gave up the Soul Skill granted by the Soul Ring and focused on honing the Horizontal Sword Technique.
After all, the Way of Opening and Closing lay in knowing what to take and what to leave.
Focusing on the Horizontal Sword today was the choice most advantageous in the moment.
Seeing Ye Guchen feign ignorance, Zhu Zhuqing could only stomp helplessly and stand guard by the cave, watching out for danger on his behalf.
She watched the sun sink in the distance as long clouds of sunset rose across the sky. A flock of birds flew freely overhead, and Zhu Zhuqing felt the rule that had always bound her finally shatter.
She felt lighter and freer than she ever had before.
Perhaps her state of mind had improved, or perhaps she was simply relaxing for the first time in a long while. Either way, her Soul Power broke through by one level right then and there.
She turned her gaze toward Ye Guchen, who was absorbing his Soul Ring. Just looking at him made her feel safe. As she watched, her eyes softened.
Then she slowly edged closer to him.
Before you continue