"Say, are we really walking all the way to the Star Dou Great Forest?"
There was a teasing lilt in Bibi Dong's voice.
"You just made a fortune. Surely you can afford to hire a carriage?"
She glanced at Yan Lingji and added, "Of course, this Holy Maiden doesn't mind either way."
"But you can't make your fiancée suffer alongside you, can you?"
"Of course not." Zhao Linchuan ignored the little trick hidden in Bibi Dong's words.
He raised his right hand, and a golden streak of light burst from his palm. Supreme Ease Golden Edge shot into the air.
The slender golden sword traced a graceful arc through the sky, then swelled in the wind. Its blade quickly grew until it was the size of a door, hovering steadily about a meter above the ground in front of them.
Zhao Linchuan reached out and naturally took Yan Lingji's hand, leading her onto the broad blade.
"Get on." Zhao Linchuan looked back at Bibi Dong with a smile. "We'll fly."
"Fly?" Bibi Dong stepped onto the blade doubtfully and stood behind Zhao Linchuan.
"Take off—!"
At a thought from Zhao Linchuan, Supreme Ease Golden Edge trembled slightly, then rose smoothly, like a fallen leaf caught by the wind, drifting up into the sky.
Wind rushed in from every direction, setting their sleeves snapping.
Bibi Dong looked down. Spirit City rapidly shrank beneath them. The city walls became a thin line, the houses turned into tiny squares, and the people below were no more than indistinct ants.
"Oh my god!" she cried out, her voice torn apart by the wind. "How did you do that?!"
"If you want to learn," Zhao Linchuan's voice came from ahead, "I can teach you later."
"Really? That'd be wonderful!"
"Hold on tight. I'm speeding up!"
As soon as he spoke, Supreme Ease Golden Edge shot forward!
The golden streak tore through the sky, racing into the distance like a shooting star.
Wind howled past their ears, and clouds whipped by at their sides. The mountains and rivers below blurred into indistinct patches of color, rapidly falling behind them.
"Slow down! Slow down! I'm going to fall—!"
Bibi Dong's scream was swept away by the wind. Her whole body tilted backward against her will, and she instinctively lunged forward.
"Put your arms around his waist! Not mine...!"
Three days later.
At a small village on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, roughly a thousand li from the forest's edge.
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
It was cloying and acrid, mingled with the smell of charred wood and dust, enough to make anyone who caught it retch.
Collapsed houses were scattered throughout the village. The charred beams still smoked, and broken pottery and scattered clothes littered the ground.
Screams rose and fell as a band of ragged Fallen Soul Masters rampaged through the village. The light of their Soul Skills flickered in their hands, illuminating twisted, vicious faces.
They herded the villagers into an open space at the village entrance like a flock of lambs awaiting slaughter.
Standing before the villagers was a woman in a silver-blue gown. She faced the danger without flinching, her dress stained red with blood.
More than a dozen Evil Soul Masters advanced on her, bearing down on her with their imposing auras. Every one of them was formidable, and the bald giant at the front was at least a Soul King.
She could leave. These Fallen Soul Masters couldn't stop her.
But if she did...
"Miss Ah Yin."
An old voice came from behind her.
Ah Yin turned her head slightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a white-haired old man struggling to his feet.
"Go, quickly," the old man rasped. "We've lived long enough. We've had our fill of life. We can't... We can't drag you down with us."
"That's right, Miss Ah Yin."
Another old woman, blind in both eyes, groped her way to her feet. Her withered hand reached out blindly until the daughter-in-law beside her caught it.
"You're a noble Soul Master. We're just a bunch of commoners."
"You can't let us get you into trouble."
Her voice grew fainter and fainter, her lips trembling as if she were struggling to hold something back.
"If you fell into the hands of those beasts, what they'd do to you..."
She couldn't finish. She couldn't bear to imagine the unspeakable horrors, much less desecrate with words the good girl who was risking her life to protect them.
"I'm not leaving!" Ah Yin gritted her teeth. "If we're going to die, then we'll die here together!"
"What a touching scene." A hoarse voice came from among the Fallen Soul Masters.
The crowd parted, and a burly, middle-aged man strode out with his legs spread wide.
He was broad and thickset, with a face full of folds of fat. He wore a brocade robe he'd apparently stripped from some unlucky fellow. It hung loosely on him, exposing a swath of dark chest hair.
"You want to save them?"
He tilted his head and looked Ah Yin up and down, his gaze lingering on her slender waist and graceful neck as he spoke lecherously.
"It's not impossible."
He raised a stubby finger and pointed at Ah Yin, then gestured toward himself. "You stay and keep this master company for a night, and I'll let them go."
"You shameless brute!" Ah Yin spat, her face livid.
"Who says I'm shameless?"
The man laughed instead of getting angry. He bared his wide mouth and tapped one of his yellow teeth with a finger.
"Look, I've got plenty of teeth!"
The Fallen Soul Masters behind him burst into laughter. Their crude, grating laughter echoed through the blood-soaked air.
Ah Yin's face turned from livid to deathly pale.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, nearly drawing blood, but didn't dare move a muscle.
There were dozens of villagers behind her. If she fought back, they...
"You really are shameless."
A clear, bright voice suddenly rang out from the sky.
"Who's there?" Everyone instinctively looked up.
Hundreds of golden energy swords, each three feet long, hung like a waterfall overhead, points aimed down. Packed tightly together, they formed a forest of inverted golden blades.
The swords looked as solid as real steel, faint golden patterns flowing along their blades. Their razor-sharp aura poured down from hundreds of meters above, pressing on everyone until they could barely breathe.
Sunlight pierced the gaps in the sword formation, casting mottled shadows over the ground like an invisible net covering the entire clearing.
"Huh? Th-this...?!"
The lecherous grin on the fat-faced man froze. His triangular eyes bulged, reflecting the golden forest of swords, and his Adam's apple bobbed violently.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but the shrill whistle of something cutting through the air had already exploded!
Hundreds of golden swords shot downward like arrows loosed from their strings, bearing down with a piercing shriek!
Hundreds of long golden trails streaked across the sky, a meteor shower turned upside down, blotting out the heavens!
The swords' piercing cries mingled with the roar of tearing air, making everyone's eardrums ache.
Before the man could even close his eyes, the first sword had already pierced his shoulder blade!
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