Farewell, Senior Sister!

Senior Sister, Safe Travels! Pfft!

That black beam was fast to the extreme. There was no gathering of power, no warning—it simply appeared out of thin air!

Instant cast!

The playful smile on Lin Yaoyao's face had not even fully faded before that black radiance, condensed almost into substance, had already pierced through her right shoulder.

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream tore through the tranquility of the mountain hollow.

Lin Yaoyao's entire body was carried backward by that tremendous impact, slamming hard into an ancient tree so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it, shaking dead leaves all over the ground.

A bloody hole, transparent from front to back, appeared in her round, fair shoulder.

Blood gushed out in streams, instantly dyeing half of her exquisite black dress red.

Agonizing pain struck her, but it was nothing compared to the shock and terror in her heart!

How was this possible?!

She lowered her head in disbelief to look at her wound, then snapped her head up again, staring fixedly at the young man half-kneeling on the ground.

What spell was that?

Evil Light Art? The attack spell with the weakest offensive power in the Extreme Yin Sect?

A seventh-level Qi Refining disciple had used the lowest-tier spell to severely injure her, a perfected Qi Refining cultivator who had immersed herself in magical combat for years, in a single move?!

This went against all reason!

"You... what did you do?!" Lin Yaoyao's voice was distorted by agony and shock, sharp and grating, utterly unlike her lively, spirited manner from before.

Zhao Hao did not answer.

Under Lin Yaoyao's terrified gaze, he staggered to his feet.

With another shift of thought, another thick spirit shield appeared out of thin air before him.

As smooth as flowing clouds and running water—also instant cast!

Lin Yaoyao's mind was thrown into complete chaos.

Perfection!

This Ninth Junior Brother had actually cultivated both of these basic spells to the realm of perfection?!

Less than two months, seventh-level Qi Refining, three perfected spells—was a Heavenly Spiritual Root truly this monstrous?

"I'm going to kill you!"

An immense sense of humiliation overwhelmed her reason. Lin Yaoyao let out a shriek and, ignoring the injury on her shoulder, frantically drove that deathly pale bone blade.

The bone blade transformed into a stream of ghastly green light, its offensive force more than ten times sharper than before. Every strike was filled with the madness of dragging them both to death!

Zhao Hao immediately felt tremendous pressure.

His combat experience was far too lacking.

Faced with Lin Yaoyao's desperate fighting style, he instantly fell into a disadvantage. He could only cut a sorry figure as he relied on his perfection-level Light Body Art and Spirit Shield Art to keep dodging and blocking.

Zhao Hao had too little experience controlling objects. The Ghost Bone Sword was directly knocked flying, and sometimes he could not even recall it in time to block the bone blade.

He had no choice but to give up controlling it with his divine sense, switching instead to holding the Ghost Bone Sword directly in his hand and pouring spiritual power into it again.

Crisp clangs rang out without end. Every collision between the Ghost Bone Sword and the bone blade left his arm numb.

Shattered stones and broken wood flew around Zhao Hao, and the scene descended into utter chaos.

Zhao Hao's figure was wretched as he was pressed left and right amid the blade shadows filling the sky. Several times, he narrowly avoided vital points by a hair's breadth, and even his perfection-level Spirit Shield Art was pierced through several times.

"Too weak... my combat experience is still too weak..."

As he dodged, he rapidly replayed the fight in his mind.

Just then, a clear, impassioned sword cry rang out from the extremely distant horizon!

That sound pierced metal and split stone, filled with endless killing intent, making Zhao Hao's movements suddenly stiffen.

His gaze shifted, and his whole body felt as though it had fallen into an ice cellar.

At the extremely distant horizon, an incomparably sharp streak of azure sword light was returning at a terrifying speed!

It was that white-robed sword cultivator!

He had lost Wu De, and now he was back!

He had to run immediately!

Zhao Hao no longer had the slightest will to keep fighting. He knew very clearly that if they delayed even a moment longer, both he and Lin Yaoyao would die here!

A fierce light flashed in his eyes. As though forced into a dead end, he deliberately exposed a huge opening.

He stopped dodging. Instead, he charged half a step toward Lin Yaoyao. The Ghost Bone Sword in his hand blazed with spiritual light, as if gathering some immensely powerful killing move, and a sharp sword light slashed straight at Lin Yaoyao's face!

"You still dare fight back? You're courting death!"

Seeing this, Lin Yaoyao indeed focused all her mind on what was before her.

She thought Zhao Hao was going to fight her to the death, and without the slightest hesitation, she held the bone blade horizontally before her and blocked with all her strength.

Now!

At the same instant the Ghost Bone Sword cut out a streak of sword light, Zhao Hao himself did not even look at the result. His foot stamped down hard!

The perfected-level Earth Escape Art!

His body made not the slightest sound. Just like that, ramrod straight, like a drop of water falling into the sea, he sank silently into the hard earth beneath his feet.

Immediately afterward, without even turning his head, he fled madly underground at a depth of several dozen zhang, in the direction opposite that streak of sword light!

Lin Yaoyao struck with all her strength, shattering that sword light that had only looked impressive on the surface.

But when she looked up, there was already no one at all before her.

Zhao Hao's aura, together with his figure, had vanished completely.

"Ah—! Zhao Hao! You coward! Trash!"

Lin Yaoyao was so furious she nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

She was just about to use a secret art regardless of everything and give chase, when a terrifying pressure that could freeze even her soul descended from the sky, locking onto her like a vise!

She stiffly raised her head.

The white-robed sword cultivator hovered in midair, those icy eyes looking down at her without the slightest emotion.

He had failed to catch up to Wu De. When he returned, what he saw was a battlefield in utter ruin, and a gravely wounded Demonic Sect female cultivator whose entire body gave off a sinister, wicked aura.

Especially that black magic robe of the Corpse Refining Lineage on Lin Yaoyao's body—it stabbed at his eyes even more.

"Senior... Senior, stay your hand!"

Crushed by that Foundation Establishment Late Stage pressure until she could barely breathe, Lin Yaoyao was scared out of her wits. She scrambled and crawled to her knees on the ground, hurriedly announcing her background.

"I am a disciple of True Person Corpse Heart of the Extreme Yin Sect's Corpse Refining Lineage! I am not your enemy!"

She thought that by bringing out the name of her Golden Core stage master, she could make the other party refrain from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vase.

Who would have thought that when the white-robed sword cultivator heard the four words "True Person Corpse Heart," the expression on his face instead grew even more cold and grim.

"True Person Corpse Heart? Another disciple of his!"

"Good! Very good! You all deserve to die!"

The white-robed sword cultivator laughed from the height of his rage. He had already shifted all his anger onto the entire Corpse Refining Lineage.

He gave Lin Yaoyao no chance to explain at all.

A blue-green sword light flashed and vanished.

Pfft.

Lin Yaoyao's pretty head shot into the sky, her face still frozen with terror, shock, and incomprehension.

The headless, petite body crashed to the ground.

In a dense forest five li away, Zhao Hao quietly poked half his head out from beneath the earth.

Continuously using Earth Escape Art underground consumed an enormous amount of spiritual power. He had already surfaced, and at that moment he was operating the perfected-level Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art, remaining as still as a mountain rock.

He just so happened to see, from beginning to end, the scene of that single sword beheading her.

He watched that beautiful head roll into the dust, covered in dirt.

There was not the slightest pity in his heart, nor any sorrow of the fox grieving when the rabbit dies.

There was only an icy cold that sank deep into his bones.

Senior Sister?

The Senior Sister who launched a sneak attack from behind?

This was the Extreme Yin Sect!

The white-robed sword cultivator descended, took Lin Yaoyao's storage bag and bone blade, then used a fireball spell to burn the corpse to ashes before transforming into sword light and shooting into the sky.

Zhao Hao did not move.

Like a lifeless statue, he waited in place for a full two hours.

Sure enough, that blue-green sword light returned, circling several times above the mountain hollow. In the end, finding nothing, it finally left again.

Zhao Hao waited another six hours.

Only after confirming there was no further movement did he slowly use Earth Escape from his hiding place, inch by inch, putting distance between himself and that place. Without looking back, he snuck toward the market town below the Extreme Yin Sect's mountain gate.

Half a day later, the Extreme Yin Sect market town.

A black-robed figure wearing a bronze mask, his aura disguised as the fifth level of Qi Refining, walked into a temporary cave dwelling he had just rented.

Rumble!

The heavy stone door shut in response, and the restrictions lit up, cutting off everything inside from the outside.

Darkness and deathly silence shrouded down.

Zhao Hao leaned back against the cold stone door and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately after, his heart was seized by an even greater frenzy.

Unable to wait a moment longer, he slapped his storage pouch.

Whoosh!

The empty stone chamber was instantly packed full.

Thirty-five female corpses, their faces now turned hideous and ferocious, lay quietly on the ground with their eyes tightly shut.