The kill

Mu Qing descended from the sky, his face twisted with anger and his sword pointed at them.

Dongfang Minghui clapped a hand over her mouth in fright, afraid she might accidentally cry out for help.

Little Color: "..." You just had to jinx it.

Dongfang Wanyu instinctively lashed out with her Long Whip. The Long Whip was extremely flexible. She pointed it at Mu Qing and demanded, "Who are you?"

Dongfang Minghui almost had to admire The Female Lead. Even now, she remembered to keep up the act.

"Seventh Sister, he's that—that man from the Azure Mist Sect who borrowed our spot earlier." She hid fearfully behind The Female Lead, deliberately explaining for both of them to hear.

Seeing that neither woman's expression seemed feigned, Mu Qing paced back and forth in front of them in confusion, sniffing the air. There was no trace of the Winged Elephant Demon Beast's scent, only a faint fragrance of fresh grass.

He had followed that rank smell all the way here, only for it to disappear. Something was clearly amiss.

"Heh, you were the ones who released that winged elephant in the forest, weren't you?" Mu Qing was eighty percent certain they had done it.

He looked at them with disgust and said mockingly, "To think that I, a prodigy of the Azure Mist Sect, was actually set up by the likes of you." It was an utter humiliation.

One was a level-one Wood Spirit Master, and the other was a level-five Earth Spirit Master.

Tsk. These two little ants actually dared to toy with me. They have no respect for the Azure Mist Sect at all.

Dongfang Wanyu gave him an icy glance. "Set you up? What a joke. Does everyone in the Azure Mist Sect accuse innocent people as casually as you do? You want to pin the blame on us without even finding out what happened? And you call yourself a prodigy? Even if your sect leader came here, he'd have to produce evidence before I admitted to anything."

"Hah, quite the bold talk. Don't you know that winged elephants have a distinctive identifying mark? Let me test you, and I'll know whether you plotted against me behind my back."

With that, he actually lunged straight at Dongfang Wanyu, trying to grab her hand.

Dongfang Wanyu wore two spatial rings.

"He's trying to bluff your Seventh Sister." Little Color had deliberately used the fragrance of fresh grass to mask the winged elephant cub's scent.

Anyone would covet the cub of a level-five magical beast, let alone the domineering Azure Mist Sect disciple before them.

"So your so-called evidence amounts to taking things by force. Now I've seen the Azure Mist Sect's true colors." Naturally, Dongfang Wanyu would not let him succeed. In a flash, she took Dongfang Minghui with her and retreated far away.

"Seventh Sister, what do we do?" Dongfang Minghui was nearly jumping up and down with anxiety. He was a Great Spirit Master. They might seem only one rank apart, but the gap in combat was enormous.

Even a level-nine Spirit Master could only be crushed by a Great Spirit Master.

Seeing the genuine anxiety on her face, Dongfang Wanyu stroked her head and whispered, "I'll lure him away in a moment. Find an opening and run. Get as far away as you can."

"Seventh Sister."

After saying that, Dongfang Wanyu pressed a ring into her hand and went to meet the attack.

Little Color raised the vine on its head and said in a childish voice, "I take back what I said before. Your Seventh Sister really is your flesh and blood."

"He's a level-three Metal Type Great Spirit Master. He specializes in the Vajra Fist, and each punch carries a thousand jin of force. Be careful. Don't let him get close." Qing Mo advised Dongfang Wanyu inside her mind. He had thought they could avoid the Azure Mist Sect, but they had ended up facing it after all.

Dongfang Wanyu struggled to hold her own. Her Earth Type skill, Earth Spikes, was utterly helpless against his Vajra Fist. Every spike that reached him was reduced to powder by a single punch.

"Qing Mo, we have no chance of winning if this goes on."

Dongfang Minghui had not run. She still needed to cling to The Female Lead's coattails, but The Female Lead was now at an overwhelming disadvantage in this battle.

"Little Color, hurry and think of a way to save Seventh Sister." Otherwise, even if she ran off with the ring, she would not get far.

To conserve Spiritual Power, Little Color had returned to her mind. Its vines kept circling inside her head, nearly making her dizzy.

"Little Color," she pleaded despite herself.

"All right, all right."

Just as the Vajra Fist shattered the last earth spike and hurtled toward Dongfang Wanyu's chest, a mass of gleaming green vines whipped in from every direction. One after another, they wrapped around Mu Qing's legs and arms, firmly restricting his movements. He struggled, but could not break free.

Dongfang Wanyu froze for a moment.

"So you have help." Mu Qing gave a derisive laugh.

"Seventh Sister, attack!" Dongfang Minghui shouted at her.

Though bound, Mu Qing used two fingers to direct his blade, cutting through the vines around his hands before freeing his feet.

Little Color's Vines furiously clashed with the blade in midair, while the remaining tendrils began binding Mu Qing's hands and feet again. This time, they wound around him more deeply and tightly.

After this exchange, a flicker of killing intent flashed through Dongfang Wanyu's eyes. No matter the cost, she had to kill this man today. Otherwise, he would become a serious problem later.

Qing Mo understood as well. Whether they had stolen the magical beast or its cub today did not matter. Even without that incident, once the two sides had fought, they could no longer coexist peacefully.

"Every Azure Mist Sect disciple has a Soul Tablet made before entering the sect. If he dies, his Soul Tablet in the sect will shatter. If you kill him, you must destroy him completely and leave no trace—not even his soul." This was one of the reasons Qing Mo had stopped Dongfang Wanyu from killing Mu Qing earlier.

Mu Qing was an Inner Sect Disciple. His Soul Tablet shattering would surely draw the Azure Mist Sect's attention. Someone would then come to the Magical Beast Forest to investigate. If the trail did not lead to them, all would be well. If it did, they would face endless pursuit.

Meanwhile, Dongfang Minghui clutched her head, which felt as though it were splitting apart.

Little Color was listless, its Spiritual Power exhausted. All its Spiritual Power was currently sealed within her. Once she broke the seal, it would no longer be so weak. "I can't hold on much longer. Tell your Seventh Sister to kill him with her other skill."

"Ah—it hurts so much! Seventh Sister, hurry and kill him!"

Dongfang Wanyu poured lightning into her Long Whip. Every lash left an indelible mark on Mu Qing's body. Unable to dodge, he took several vicious blows. Lightning coursed through him, leaving his entire body numb.

After the winged elephant escaped from the pit, he had dealt with those seven people and gone to inspect it. There, he had found a mark left by lightning and concluded that the person who had set him up must be a lightning Spirit User.

"It was you! It really was you!" Mu Qing gritted his teeth and glared coldly at Dongfang Wanyu. "You actually concealed your skill. You're a dual-attribute Spirit Master."

"So what if I am? So what if I'm not? Either way, you won't get another chance to tell anyone."

Mu Qing rapidly circulated all the Spiritual Power in his body and made a desperate effort. He actually broke free of Little Color's vines. They shattered into pieces, twitched a few times, then went still.

All of Little Color's vines withdrew.

Dongfang Minghui's head hurt so badly that she rammed it against a tree. Even after several impacts, the pain did not ease. She felt dizzy, the world spinning around her.

"Little Color."

Little Color did not respond at all.

Seeing that he had broken free, Dongfang Wanyu brought out her Long Whip. It automatically bound Mu Qing up like a rice dumpling. The lightning patterns along it moved in circles as though alive.

"Thunderclap Spell."

As soon as Dongfang Wanyu spoke, a thick bolt of lightning struck straight down.

The Thunderclap Spell was a Profound Tier skill. Its greatest advantage was that it could store lightning for use against enemies later. It worked best when used during a thunderstorm.

Under a clear daytime sky, Mu Qing had never expected lightning to strike. Lightning was already coursing through the Long Whip binding him, shocking him until he had no ability to resist.

Dongfang Minghui watched a living person get struck by lightning until he was charred outside and tender inside.

Then The Female Lead summoned the lightning she had stored earlier, bolt after bolt, until his body and soul were utterly destroyed. Not a scrap remained, only her long whip.

"I checked. He left nothing behind. Go, quickly." Qing Mo could sense fluctuations from souls in the outside world.

Dongfang Wanyu had intended to store the heavenly lightning to save her life in the future. She had never expected to use all of it on Mu Qing.

"Unleashing so many bolts of heavenly lightning in succession is bound to attract attention. Get out of here." Qing Mo urged her on.

Only after Mu Qing died did Dongfang Wanyu breathe a sigh of relief.

"Ninth Sister, what's wrong?"

Dongfang Minghui could not hear clearly. She fumbled along the tree behind her for a long time before finding something to support herself, then struggled to stand. Looking ahead, she actually saw two heroines. The other woman's lips were moving, but she had no idea what she was saying. She shook her head hard. "Seventh Sister, why are there two of you?"

Seeing her pale face, devoid of any color, Dongfang Wanyu grew worried. "What's wrong? Were you hurt just now?"

Dongfang Minghui had no idea what the other woman was saying. She clutched The Female Lead's hand, stumbled, and fell against her. "Don't leave me behind."

After those words, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

"Ninth Sister."

Qian Wanyu examined her but found no injuries.

"This is the first time I've seen someone overdraw their Spiritual Power to this extent. She really spared no effort for you. Take her away quickly. Someone's coming." Qing Mo could not help rubbing his forehead.

Dongfang Wanyu hoisted her onto her back, retrieved her Long Whip, and swiftly left.

At the same time, inside the Azure Mist Sect's Soul Cloud Pavilion, Mu Qing's Soul Tablet suddenly shattered. The disciple guarding the place saw it and immediately reported the matter.

Mu Qing was a disciple of Third Elder Jin Xieyun. He had gone to the Magical Beast Forest to find a mount, only to lose his life there.

"How are Qing Yan's and Qing Miao's Soul Tablets?"

"Still intact."

Jin Xieyun issued a curt order. "Investigate. If you see those two, bring them back immediately. I want to know exactly what happened, from beginning to end."