Pulling the Rug Out from Under the Cauldron

Su Jinse was sent flying by the great saber once again.

This time, the protective aura armor around her body trembled violently and nearly shattered, while the Demon-Suppressing Saber in her hand was cleaved in two.

She crashed into the mud, coughing up mouthful after mouthful of black blood. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

However.

The Nine-Ring Tyrant Lion Saber in the air had no intention of letting her go.

The blood-red saber slashed down once, followed immediately by another fierce strike.

The blade tore through the air with an ear-piercing whistle.

Its oppressive killing intent had nearly become tangible!

Su Jinse rolled away, and the blade, carrying ferocious aura, struck the ground.

The earth exploded!

Aura winds trembled!

A crack five or six meters long appeared, with the surrounding soil fracturing inch by inch as it spread outward.

"Not good!"

Mo Chen was alarmed. "Su Jinse can't hold on much longer!"

He did not know why Su Jinse was not running.

But he had to run!

"Go! We can't stay here. If Su Jinse dies, they'll find me easily."

Without a shred of hesitation, Mo Chen turned and sprinted madly in the direction he had come from.

He had seen enough of the spectacle.

With his strength, there was no way he could save Su Jinse.

Even Su Jinse, who was at least in the late Aura Condensation stage, could not withstand it.

He, Mo Chen, was merely at the early Aura Condensation stage. How could he possibly resist?

If he went up there, he would probably be cut down in a single strike!

"It's not that I don't want to save you. I really can't! Good luck."

Mo Chen sighed inwardly.

From their brief encounter.

He could tell that Su Jinse was someone who genuinely wanted to do practical things for the common people.

It was indeed a pity if she were killed by traitors like Lu Jianshen, who had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the nation.

Mo Chen sighed as he ran.

Only.

In the pitch-black night.

Mo Chen ran for more than ten li without seeing the gates of Yunyi County.

"Wait... I didn't fucking get lost, did I?"

Mo Chen stopped, wiped the rain from his face, and frowned as he looked around.

He remembered that when he came, he had headed west after leaving the city.

Then, after hearing Su Jinse and the others fighting, he had gone south.

Yet now, despite running back according to his own sense of direction, he could not find Yunyi County.

There were no compasses to use in the Great Mystic Dynasty.

And it was not daytime, so he could not use the sun for reference.

Mo Chen furrowed his brow. "I'll change direction and keep looking!"

He surveyed his surroundings and continued toward the front left based on instinct.

Without realizing it, he ran another three or four li.

This place was desolate and uninhabited, filled with trees and strewn with earth and rocks. Faintly, he could hear the sound of a river.

A carriage was actually parked in the bushes beside a small path.

"Someone?" Mo Chen halted, examining it warily.

If he had not looked carefully, he truly would not have noticed the carriage hidden here at first glance.

Hoping to ask for directions, he quietly approached the carriage and inspected it.

"Is anyone there?"

No one answered.

The chestnut horse standing there asleep did open its eyes. Startled, it backed away two steps and snorted.

Mo Chen stepped forward again, patted its back, knocked on the carriage window, and called loudly, "Hey, is anyone inside?"

He waited for a moment.

Still, there was no response.

"This is fucking strange. Why would a carriage be stopped out in the wilderness in the middle of the night?"

Mo Chen reached out directly, lifted the carriage curtain, and looked inside.

"Fuck!"

The sight made Mo Chen shudder all over, nearly scaring his heart out of his chest.

Inside the carriage sat a middle-aged man with a hooked nose.

The man wore black robes and sat cross-legged, his eyes wide open and his hands forming a seal.

Before him stood an incense burner, with three incense sticks inside, each burned halfway down.

Seeing the middle-aged man's strange posture, Mo Chen's gaze sharpened.

An image suddenly flashed through his mind.

"The Incense Apotheosis Great Law—the yin spirit leaving the body?"

Mo Chen suddenly thought of the Nine-Ring Tyrant Lion Saber that had just fought Su Jinse.

Then he connected it to this mysterious carriage parked by the roadside.

His expression gradually turned strange. "You're the yin spirit fighting Su Jinse?"

His luck was truly heaven-defying!

He had actually encountered that yin spirit's true body.

With that thought, Mo Chen pulled out the middle-aged man's money pouch. An axe suddenly appeared in his hand, and he swung it at the man's neck.

Splat!

Blood sprayed out as his head was chopped off like a piece of wood.

"Who was it?!" A furious roar suddenly rolled down from the sky.

Mo Chen glanced back, grabbed the incense burner, and ran.

With all his strength!

Without looking back!

Swift as the wind and lightning!

Darting like a shuttle!

"This is all I can do, Su Jinse. Take care of yourself!"

Mo Chen ran forward with every ounce of strength he had, caring about nothing else.

Behind him.

More than ten li away.

Su Jinse had nearly been beaten into a bloody mess. Just as her final thread of aura was shattered and she lay on the ground in despair, waiting for death.

The great saber in the air suddenly seemed to have been struck by a spell, freezing rigidly in midair.

Then, a hysterical roar rang out across the sky.

"Who was it?!"

Afterward, the Nine-Ring Tyrant Lion Saber, carrying overwhelming killing intent, actually abandoned Su Jinse and shot straight north at high speed.

What?!

Watching the Nine-Ring Tyrant Lion Saber fly away, Su Jinse's eyes held a trace of exhaustion, but even more disbelief, shock, and confusion.

At the critical moment.

Her opponent had actually spared her?

Spared her life?

How was that possible?!

A hundred meters away.

Lu Jianshen, who had been hiding nearby and watching the battle, was also stunned.

"What's going on?"

"Why did Greenwood Venerable leave?"

He had watched as Su Jinse was left with only her last breath. Just when he thought Greenwood Venerable would surely cut off Su Jinse's head.

That great saber suddenly froze in the air.

Then, Greenwood Venerable let out an enraged roar and actually left the dying Su Jinse behind?!

He left!

Three enormous question marks seemed to rise over Lu Jianshen's head, and his eyes were filled with confusion.

"What happened? Why didn't he kill her before leaving?"

Lu Jianshen turned back toward Su Jinse, who was slowly sitting up from the ground, and a vicious glint suddenly appeared in his eyes.

"Fuck it, I'll kill her!"

With that, he gripped his second-tier Moonshadow Sword, his feet clad in second-tier Gale Foxskin Boots. In an instant, he lunged to Su Jinse's side.

"Su Jinse, die!"

A cold sneer rang out.

Lu Jianshen charged straight at Su Jinse, his Moonshadow Sword stabbing toward her throat like lightning.

A killing blow!

When he thrust this sword, Lu Jianshen showed no contempt and held nothing back. He almost exhausted all his strength, unleashing external aura.

He wanted to kill her in one strike!

To leave no future trouble!

Seeing the incoming sword, Su Jinse raised her powerless hands slightly, then closed her eyes in resolve.

I did my best... she sighed inwardly.

However.

In the blink of an eye.

At the critical moment, a long spear came whistling through the air, carrying an irresistible torrent of aura. With flawless precision and tyrannical force, it struck Lu Jianshen squarely in the throat.

With that single impact, Lu Jianshen's thrusting sword froze stiffly just a hair's breadth from Su Jinse's throat.

Then, under Lu Jianshen's shocked and disbelieving gaze, his entire body was violently sent flying by the spear.

The spear struck the ground!

Earth and rocks shattered!

Mud and water exploded!

The ground trembled!

Lu Jianshen was brutally nailed to the ground by that sudden spear.

At the edge of the deep pit, Lu Jianshen's entire head had been blasted into the earth. Only the part of his body below the waist remained above ground, utterly motionless—dead beyond doubt.

Su Jinse suddenly opened her eyes.

When she saw the black spear embedded at an angle in the ground, her lips moved. Then her vision went dark, and she fainted.