Chapter 018: Senior Sister, Rest in Peace! Squelch!
The black beam was impossibly fast. No buildup, no warning-it simply appeared out of thin air!
Instant casting!
The teasing smile on Lin Yaoyao's face had not even fully faded before the almost solid black light pierced her right shoulder.
"Aah!"
Her shrill scream tore through the stillness of the mountain hollow.
The tremendous impact sent Lin Yaoyao flying backward. She slammed into an ancient tree so thick it would take two people to encircle it, shaking dead leaves to the ground.
A bloody hole pierced clean through her smooth, pale shoulder.
Blood gushed out, instantly staining half of her exquisite black dress crimson.
Agony struck, but it was nothing compared to the shock and terror in her heart!
How was this possible?!
She looked down at her wound in disbelief, then snapped her head up and stared fixedly at the young man kneeling on one knee.
What spell was that?
The Evil Light Art? The weakest offensive spell in the Extreme Yin Sect?
A disciple at the seventh layer of Qi Refining had used the lowest-tier spell to severely wound her-a cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining with years of combat experience-in a single strike?!
This defied all reason!
"You... what did you do?!" Lin Yaoyao's voice twisted with agony and shock, sharp and grating, nothing like her earlier lively, carefree manner.
Zhao Hao did not answer.
Under Lin Yaoyao's terrified gaze, he staggered to his feet.
With another thought, a thick spirit shield appeared out of thin air before him.
Smooth as flowing clouds and running water-and once again, instantly cast!
Lin Yaoyao's mind descended into utter chaos.
Perfection!
This Ninth Junior Brother had actually cultivated both of these basic spells to perfection?!
Less than two months, the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and three spells perfected-was a heavenly spiritual root truly this monstrous?
"I'll kill you!"
Overwhelming humiliation drowned out her reason. Lin Yaoyao shrieked and, ignoring her injured shoulder, frantically drove the ghastly white Bone Blade forward.
The Bone Blade became a streak of sickly green light, its attacks more than ten times fiercer than before. Every strike carried the madness of taking him down with her!
Zhao Hao immediately felt tremendous pressure.
His combat experience was far too lacking.
Faced with Lin Yaoyao's reckless, all-out assault, he instantly fell into a disadvantage. He could only dodge and block clumsily with his perfected Light Body Art and Spirit Shield Art.
Zhao Hao had too little experience controlling objects. His Ghost Bone Sword was knocked away outright, and sometimes he could not even recall it in time to block the Bone Blade.
He had to abandon controlling it with his spiritual sense, grasp the Ghost Bone Sword directly, and pour spiritual power into it again.
Sharp metallic clangs rang out without pause. Every collision between the Ghost Bone Sword and the Bone Blade left his arm numb.
Shattered stones and splintered wood flew around Zhao Hao in utter chaos.
Zhao Hao struggled desperately amid the blade shadows filling the air, barely keeping up. Several times, he narrowly avoided strikes to his vital points, and even his perfected Spirit Shield Art was pierced repeatedly.
Too weak... my combat experience is still far too lacking...
As he dodged, he rapidly reviewed the fight in his mind.
Just then, a clear, resounding sword cry rang out from the distant horizon!
The sound could pierce metal and shatter stone. Brimming with boundless killing intent, it made Zhao Hao's movements abruptly freeze.
He shifted his gaze and felt as though he had plunged into an icy cavern.
Far away on the horizon, an incomparably sharp azure sword light was returning at a terrifying speed!
It was that White-robed Sword Cultivator!
He had lost Wu De and was coming back!
I had to run, now!
Zhao Hao no longer had the slightest desire to keep fighting. He knew perfectly well that if he delayed even a moment longer, both he and Lin Yaoyao would die here!
A ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes. As though driven into a corner, he deliberately exposed an enormous opening.
Instead of dodging, he lunged half a step toward Lin Yaoyao. Spiritual light blazed from the Ghost Bone Sword in his hand, as though he were gathering power for some devastating killing move, and a fierce streak of sword light slashed straight at her face!
"You still dare fight back? You're asking for death!"
As expected, Lin Yaoyao focused all her attention on the attack before her.
Thinking Zhao Hao intended to fight to the death, she unhesitatingly held the Bone Blade across her body and threw everything into blocking.
Now!
At the very moment the Ghost Bone Sword unleashed its streak of sword light, Zhao Hao stamped his foot without even looking at the result!
Perfected Earth Escape Art!
Without making the slightest sound, his upright body sank silently into the hard earth beneath his feet, like a drop of water disappearing into the sea.
Then, without looking back, he fled frantically through the earth dozens of yards underground, heading in the opposite direction from the approaching sword light!
With an all-out strike, Lin Yaoyao shattered the impressive-looking but hollow sword light.
Yet when she looked up, there was no one left before her.
Zhao Hao's presence, along with his figure, had vanished completely.
"Aah! Zhao Hao! You coward! You worthless trash!"
Lin Yaoyao nearly spat blood in fury.
She was about to use a secret art to pursue him at any cost when a terrifying pressure capable of freezing even her soul descended from the sky and locked firmly onto her!
She stiffly raised her head.
The White-robed Sword Cultivator hovered in midair, his cold eyes looking down at her without a trace of emotion.
He had failed to catch Wu De. Upon returning, he found a devastated battlefield and a severely wounded female cultivator of the Demonic Sect, her entire body radiating a sinister aura.
The black Corpse Refining Lineage robe Lin Yaoyao wore was especially galling to him.
"Senior... senior, please stop!"
The pressure of a foundation establishment late stage cultivator left Lin Yaoyao unable to breathe. Frightened out of her wits, she scrambled to her knees and hastily announced her affiliation.
"I'm a disciple of True Person Corpse Heart from the Extreme Yin Sect's Corpse Refining Lineage! I'm not your enemy!"
She thought invoking her Golden Core master's name would make him hesitate, like someone afraid to strike a rat for fear of breaking the vase beside it.
Instead, when the White-robed Sword Cultivator heard the name "True Person Corpse Heart," his expression grew even colder.
"True Person Corpse Heart? Another disciple of his!"
"Good! Very good! You all deserve to die!"
The White-robed Sword Cultivator laughed in utter fury. He had redirected all his rage toward the entire Corpse Refining Lineage.
He gave Lin Yaoyao no chance whatsoever to explain.
Azure sword light flashed and vanished.
Squelch.
Lin Yaoyao's beautiful head flew into the sky, terror, shock, and incomprehension still frozen on her face.
Her petite, headless body crashed to the ground.
In a dense forest five li away, Zhao Hao quietly poked half his head out of the earth.
Sustaining the Earth Escape Art underground consumed tremendous spiritual power. He had already risen to the surface and was now circulating his perfected Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art, remaining as motionless as a mountain rock.
He happened to witness the entire beheading clearly.
He watched that beautiful head tumble into the dust and become covered in dirt.
There was no pity in his heart, nor the sorrow of a fox mourning a dead rabbit's fate.
Only a chill that seeped deep into his bones.
A senior sister?
A senior sister who ambushed me from behind?
So this was the Extreme Yin Sect!
The White-robed Sword Cultivator landed, took Lin Yaoyao's Storage Bag and Bone Blade, then burned her corpse to ashes with the Fireball Technique before transforming into sword light and soaring away.
Zhao Hao did not move.
Like a lifeless statue, he waited in place for a full two hours.
Sure enough, the azure sword light returned and circled several times above the mountain hollow. Only after finding nothing did it finally leave again.
Zhao Hao waited another six hours.
Only after confirming there was no further movement did he slowly use Earth Escape to put distance between himself and his hiding place, bit by bit, heading without a backward glance toward the market below the Extreme Yin Sect's mountain gates.
Half a day later, at the Extreme Yin Sect's market.
A black-robed figure wearing a Bronze Mask, his aura disguised as the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, entered a temporary cave abode he had just rented.
Rumble!
The heavy stone door closed with a rumble. Restrictive wards lit up, completely sealing off the inside from the outside.
Darkness and deathly silence descended.
Leaning against the cold stone door, Zhao Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately afterward, an even greater frenzy seized his heart.
Unable to wait, he slapped his Storage Bag.
Whoosh!
The spacious stone chamber was instantly packed full.
Thirty-five female corpses, their faces now hideously distorted, lay quietly on the floor with their eyes tightly closed.