Faced with Cui Yingying's rebuke, Hongniang and Zhang Junrui said nothing. Their expressions were dark as they fixed their eyes on the sword-wielding girl in blue guarding Cui Yingying, grinding their teeth in hatred.
The plan they had spent years devising had utterly failed.
To the Severed Love Lineage, Cui Yingying's "passionate constitution" made her a medicinal treasure rare beyond compare. Hongniang had originally been tasked with playing matchmaker, arranging for Zhang Junrui and Cui Yingying to meet "by chance" at the Universal Aid Temple.
With Zhang Junrui's methods, coupled with an external threat, winning over such a sheltered girl should have been as easy as turning his hand.
Once they succeeded, both would reap tremendous benefits. Not only could they cultivate a minor divine ability during the talisman seeding stage, but even their eventual advancement into the Divine Ability Realm would be almost a smooth road.
The only restriction was that neither could use power beyond the mortal realm during the process. They had to bring it about through "mortal" means, or they would violate the ritual and see all their efforts come to nothing.
Yet that swordswoman from the Elixir Cauldron School had no sense of fair play. She had ambushed them while they were off guard, forcing them to retaliate, lest she truly cut them down with a single stroke.
The girl in blue ignored Hongniang and Zhang Junrui's murderous gazes. The Elixir Cauldron School was also one of the Wu Dynasty's Nine Great Schools, so she had no reason to fear them. She snorted softly. "The Severed Love Lineage's methods have always been too sordid to see the light of day. Since I happened upon this, how could I let you have your way?"
"Yingying, step back a little!"
As she spoke, true essence flowed through