Jiao Yu Saves the Day

Following the sound, they passed through a stretch of woods, and Wei Xuanfeng and the other two arrived at a mountainside slope on the back mountain.

Beneath their feet lay a sheer cliff face, loose stones rattling as they tumbled down.

At the bottom of the valley ran a stream. Its flow was not loud, but in the deathly still dawn, it sounded exceptionally clear.

Looking in the direction the wolf pack was surging toward, Wei Xuanfeng's pupils contracted...

Beside the stream, next to a bluish stone half a man tall, lay a figure sprawled on the ground.

The figure did not move. Half her body was submerged in the water, her clothes torn to rags, her hair spread across the surface and swaying gently with the current.

It was Embroidery.

Scattered across the gravel bank beside her were fragments that looked like shattered jade, glinting faintly in the morning light.

Wei Xuanfeng narrowed his eyes and saw that Embroidery was still clutching a jade box in her hand.

The box was half open, revealing a flash of snowy white within.

Fox Murong saw it too.

"Old Wei, should we go down and save her?"

"Even if we don't save her, we still have to go down." Wei Xuanfeng's gaze never left the jade box. "We can't let those beasts carry off something this good."

"It's a little dangerous."

"Fortune is found amid danger!" Wei Xuanfeng drew his Xiuchun Saber. "Shihan, come down with me. Murong, stay up here. Don't stop shooting—buy us some time."

Fox Murong immediately nocked an arrow, its tip aimed at the foremost Xuanlan Wolf Demon at the valley floor.

Wei Xuanfeng and Wen Shihan exchanged a glance, then leaped down together.

Like hawks swooping down the steep slope, the two tapped repeatedly against the cliff face with their toes and landed in the valley within a few breaths.

The nearest wolf demon was barely thirty yards away. Fox Murong loosed an arrow that struck squarely into its eye socket. The wolf demon did not even have time to howl before collapsing into the stream.

Wei Xuanfeng rushed to Embroidery's side and crouched down.

He reached out and felt the side of her neck. There was no pulse.

Embroidery had just...

died?

Her face was bruised, dried blood stained the corner of her mouth, and her body bore numerous scrapes and signs of broken bones. She had likely suffered them in the fall from the cliff.

But there was no large pool of blood beneath her, which meant she had already been gravely wounded before falling. The plunge had merely been the final blow.

Wei Xuanfeng fell silent for a breath.

He had not the slightest favorable impression of this woman...

She had used Jiao Yu as bait and treated the three of them as disposable pawns.

Yet as a fellow demon slayer of the Demon Suppression Directorate, Wei Xuanfeng still held some respect for her.

He did not search her body for valuables.

He merely carefully pried the jade box from her stiff fingers.

"Hm?"

Wei Xuanfeng frowned.

A strip of cloth was stuck to the bottom of the jade box, with two words written on it in blood.

The handwriting was scrawled, as if they had been hastily written with a fingernail dipped in blood.

"Duan Hai."

Wei Xuanfeng frowned and tucked the cloth strip into his clothes.

Just as he was about to rise, his peripheral vision caught the lotus inside the jade box...

Snow-white petals, crimson-red stamens, and a faint layer of golden radiance glowing at the heart of the lotus, like a shrunken dawn sun locked within the flower.

An unusual fragrance wafted from the box. It was extremely faint, yet incredibly penetrating, as though it could bore through one's seven orifices and worm its way into the cracks of one's bones.

"It's the Earth Immortal Spring Lotus."

Wei Xuanfeng closed the jade box and tucked it into his clothes.

Wen Shihan stood at his side, her expression changing slightly.

Her right hand unconsciously pressed against her chest.

Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but the wolves' howls were already closing in.

"Go!"

Wei Xuanfeng had no time to ask. He turned and charged at the nearest wolf demon.

The Xiuchun Saber swept out horizontally, that half-inch blade aura of dark azure appearing again at its tip.

With a single slash, the head of that servant-level Xuanlan Wolf Demon slid from its neck.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

Wei Xuanfeng's blade flashed in an impenetrable storm. Wherever his blade aura passed, severed wolf demon limbs flew through the air, blood splashing into the stream.

This was no longer the Wei Xuanfeng on Wumeng Mountain who had needed tactics to kill wolves.

His blade was fast—so fast that the wolf pack did not even have time to encircle him.

His blade aura was thin—so thin that it met no resistance as it sliced into the wolf demons' bodies, like a hot knife through grease.

"Murong, left flank!" Wei Xuanfeng shouted.

"I see it!" Fox Murong fired an arrow. It whistled past Wen Shihan's ear and buried itself precisely in the throat of a wolf demon about to pounce at the back of Wen Shihan's neck.

Wen Shihan did not look back. She trusted Fox Murong's archery as much as she trusted her own fists.

She stepped forward with One Reed Crossing River. The Li Fire Pearl, wrapped in crimson light, swept out horizontally, sending three wolf demons flying in unison. By the time they hit the ground, their chests had already caved in.

"Fall back! There are too many!"

After cutting down another wolf demon, Wei Xuanfeng retreated to Wen Shihan's side.

The wolf pack surged in from the mouth of the valley like a tide, those behind trampling over the corpses in front as they continued charging forward.

The scent of the Earth Immortal Spring Lotus had driven them completely mad.

Wei Xuanfeng looked up at Fox Murong on the slope. "Murong, the rope!"

Fox Murong immediately understood and flung down a length of rope from her back.

Wen Shihan caught the end of the rope and exerted force. The meteor hammer's chain spun once before her, winding tightly around the rope end. Then she flicked the chain upward...

The rope caught on a jutting rock, and the recoil hauled the two of them upward.

"Go!"

Wen Shihan gripped the rope and climbed upward while Wei Xuanfeng covered their retreat.

He cut down four more lunging wolf demons in succession, only turning to seize the rope once it had drawn taut.

Two wolf demons leaped up at once, snapping at his calves.

Wei Xuanfeng twisted in midair and kicked the one on the left away. The other's fangs nearly skimmed the sole of his boot, and a sharp pain shot through him...

On the slope, Fox Murong desperately hauled on the rope, her arm muscles taut as beads of sweat streamed down her forehead.

Inch by inch, the rope rose. Wei Xuanfeng and Wen Shihan drew closer and closer to the top of the slope.

"Quick! Faster!" Fox Murong shouted.

Just then, an exceedingly faint sound of footsteps came from behind her.

Fox Murong glanced from the corner of her eye.

At some point, seven or eight Xuanlan Wolf Demons had circled behind her. Their backs were arched, claws dug into the ground, as they slowly closed in.

Her heart abruptly skipped a beat.

She looked down. The rope was still being pulled upward. Wei Xuanfeng was still seven or eight zhang from the top of the slope, while Wen Shihan was one zhang above him.

If she let go of the rope, the two would fall back into the valley, into the midst of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of wolf demons, and be worn to death alive.

If she did not let go, the wolf pack would tear her apart at once.

"Old Wei..." Fox Murong screamed. "Hurry up!!!"

Wei Xuanfeng could not see what was happening, but from her voice, he realized something was wrong.

"Put your back into it!"

"I am!"

Fox Murong gritted her teeth and used every ounce of strength in her body. Wei Xuanfeng and Wen Shihan suddenly shot higher.

But it was still nowhere near enough!

Just then, two wolf demons pounced at Fox Murong from the top of the slope.

She only felt a foul, fishy gust of wind rushing at her from behind. A glance from the corner of her eye showed a claw drawing closer and closer to her neck.

Am I going to die here?

What a loss. I haven't even slept with a man yet!

Just as Fox Murong closed her eyes in despair, a clear feminine cry rang out beside her ear.

"I'll help you!!"

A streak of blade light cleaved in from the side.

The wolf demon pouncing at Fox Murong seemed to have been ripped apart down the middle. Its left and right halves flew away at once, blood splattering across the ground.

A second sweep of blade aura followed, instantly cutting off the attack of the seven or eight wolf demons behind Fox Murong.

Fox Murong turned her head and saw a tall figure standing in the morning light.

Jiao Yu held a bloodstained embroidered spring saber. She was soaked from head to toe, droplets still falling from the hem of her robe...

Yet though her breathing was ragged, her eyes shone with a terrifying brightness.

She brought her blade down, felling the last wolf demon that lunged at her, then held out a hand to Fox Murong. "Pull them up! Hurry!"

Fox Murong did not answer.

With the last of her strength, she gave a savage tug. Wei Xuanfeng and the other's figures flipped over the crest of the slope, slammed onto the ground, and rolled half a turn before stopping.

Four pairs of eyes met in the morning light—Jiao Yu, Wei Xuanfeng, Wen Shihan, Fox Murong...

All four were gasping for breath, battered and bedraggled, but not a single one was missing.

Jiao Yu's gaze swept over the three of them first, confirming that they were all still alive.

Then she saw the edge of the jade box peeking out from Wei Xuanfeng's arms and paused for a breath.

But she did not ask.

She merely planted her blade into the ground, dropped to one knee, and gulped down air.

A smile slowly tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Damn it..." she said. "You three really know how to raise hell. Good thing we made it in time!"