Beauty? A Pile of Dry Bones, That's All

"Over an hour—not bad."

"I never expected a single prophecy to come true like this. Relying too heavily on my divinations instead caused me to lose the whole game. But I cannot understand it—why was Bi Fang's Fire more intelligent than ordinary Demon Wraiths, yet had never shown it before?"

Tao Yanchen's misjudgment of the Demon Wraith, along with the discrepancies in the intelligence, had cost him and the Black Flood Dragon Army dearly.

At this question, Axu merely fell silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Perhaps after Bi Fang's Fire parasitized a human, it continued to grow as well."

When the Black Flood Dragon Army had been hunting Bi Fang's Fire before,

the Demon Wraith had been clumsy in every regard, only scrambling about while being chased. Its means of parasitism had been extremely limited, nothing like its current inscrutable cunning.

"A Demon Wraith's intelligence can grow as well? I have never heard of such a thing."

Tao Yanchen's handsome face was indescribably bedraggled at that moment. He looked at Axu before him and laughed. "Forget it, forget it. If I truly cannot hold on later, remember to kill me. To die by Axu's hand would be rather interesting too."

"I once read an amusing story in a book. It said that after a female mantis becomes pregnant, she eats the male mantis too, turning him into nourishment for herself."

In the flickering firelight, his smile carried an inexplicable hint of gloom and madness.

Axu frowned slightly and continued smearing the heart's blood from the broken bowl onto Tao Yanchen's back. "Young Master, I do not eat people, nor am I a female mantis."

The bowl was soon empty.

She rose to her feet, preparing to leave the ruined temple. "The ritual is not complete yet. Do not leave this circle. I will check nearby to see whether anyone escaped."

The situation was urgent now; there was no other choice.

Even if she encountered Tao Yanchen's former Martial Master subordinates, she could only lure them in and kill them.

"Where is Butler Wei?"

Tao Yanchen called after her as he watched that graceful figure.

To him,

whether it was the Black Flood Dragon Army or that group of Martial Master subordinates, they were all pieces he could discard at any time.

Only Butler Wei, who had followed him since childhood, and Axu, that lofty and proud woman, were people he truly valued.

"I don't know. He is likely dead."

Axu coolly tossed out those words and drifted away.

Her slender, graceful figure melted into the darkness.

Because he had run about wildly in every direction while being pursued earlier, Jiang Jingnian spent a great deal of effort before finally making his way out of the forest.

Using the moonlight overhead to identify his direction, he crossed several small hills and ridges before reaching a flat dirt road. Just as he was about to reach an official road, he heard rustling sounds from the other side.

Then,

a graceful veiled woman emerged.

Jiang Jingnian was slightly taken aback. Naturally, he remembered this hot-bodied veiled woman. She was the woman who had stood with Tao Yanchen and Butler Wei earlier.

"This woman is here. Then where are Tao Yanchen and Butler Wei?"

"Is Butler Wei nearby too?"

Of all Tao Yanchen's subordinates, Jiang Jingnian feared neither the soldiers nor the other wandering Martial Masters most, but Butler Wei—the man surrounded by an invisible barrier, whose hands could tear through waves of flame, and who could transform into a two-meter-tall giant.

Even though they had never fought directly,

judging by the other man's exaggerated display alone, Jiang Jingnian knew he was no match for him.

After all, the power of his Blood Core could at most fill his skin and flesh. How could it leave his body and form a barrier?

Even with Psychic Whip for a surprise attack, he still worried whether it could break through the other man's defenses.

Wary that Butler Wei might be nearby, Jiang Jingnian hesitated for several seconds and did not attack immediately.

As for Axu, the instant she saw the man not far away—his clothes ragged, his entire body covered in dust, dead leaves, and weeds, like a refugee—her eyes lit up at once.

Another human heart.

"It's you—the escort from the escort agency."

"You escaped from the Demon Wraith too? Did you see anyone else?"

Axu could not call out the names of the people from the escort agency who had been conscripted earlier, but after seeing their faces and builds, she could still distinguish them.

As she spoke, she walked over with an indifferent expression.

"I did not see anyone else. We got separated."

"My lady, may I ask whether Butler Wei and Young Master Tao returned safely?"

Seeing the woman walking toward him, Jiang Jingnian piled his trademark honest smile onto his face, though his body was slowly retreating.

Seeing him back away, Axu's delicate brows drew together. Her voice remained faintly cold. "Butler Wei is naturally nearby. As for news of Young Master, a mud-legged escort like you is not worthy of knowing."

"Neither of them is here?"

At those words, Jiang Jingnian's gaze flickered, and he abruptly stopped.

"???"

Even Axu's originally aloof face revealed a trace of astonishment.

This refugee-like fellow—

what was he talking about?

Had she just said that?

"Looks like I guessed right."

Jiang Jingnian's smile vanished instantly, leaving not a trace of emotion in his eyes. "My lady, you may not be very good at lying."

Under the moonlight,

his figure no longer retreated. Instead, he suddenly charged forward like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, lunging with all his strength at the still-dazed Axu.

"Bastard! You dare attack me?!"

In her haste,

Axu kicked up her long leg high, meeting his fierce, hard fist.

Bang bang bang—

Then came several more consecutive collisions of fists and feet.

Jiang Jingnian did not respond at all to Axu's scolding. He merely threw punch after punch in silence.

Axu was a Martial Master at the Marrow Tempering Stage. After exchanging blows with this escort whose fist technique looked clumsy, the more they fought, the more alarmed she became.

Every one of his punches was exceptionally heavy, leaving a dull ache wherever they met.

Though he was slower than her, even after taking several kicks, he continued throwing punches as though nothing had happened.

He struck fiercely.

Fiercely struck!

In Jiang Jingnian's hands, a set of Tai Chi Vajra Fist roared with the force of a tiger.

He had completely immersed himself in this overwhelmingly fierce fist technique. In his eyes, this graceful woman was like a wooden post used for sparring in a training yard.

"Why can his qi and blood be no more than the Bone Tempering Stage, yet he can fight me to this extent?"

Axu could not make sense of it.

In their clash, the strength he displayed was at most at the Bone Tempering Stage, yet the terror of his defenses was no less than that of a Marrow Tempering Martial Master like her.

Moreover, she had already been injured earlier, making her movements somewhat sluggish.

For a time,

she actually fell into a disadvantage under his fierce style of fighting.

"Not good, this fellow has greater endurance than I do!"

"If this continues, I'll lose!"

At last, a hint of panic appeared on Axu's cool face.

However, since she was confident that she was faster than him, she was in no hurry to flee.

Instead, she abruptly tore off the veil over her face.

The white veil fell away.

It revealed a peerlessly beautiful face capable of toppling kingdoms and cities.

More uniquely, when her red lips parted, she exhaled a sweetly scented mist.

That slightly intoxicating fragrance

drifted through the air, dyeing it with a faint rosy glow.

"Something is wrong!"

That inexplicable fragrance nearly made Jiang Jingnian's body falter, his limbs growing somewhat weak.

But in the next instant,

[Psychic Whip].

The characteristic power unique to Jiang Jingnian

erupted once more at that moment.