If You Can't Manage, Stop Talking

Zhao Wanqing stepped into the village.

The bloodstains on the ground had long since dried, but the pungent stench of blood still lingered.

Burned houses had collapsed haphazardly into ruins.

Along the way, traces of the formation used for this Sacrificial Ritual were visible all over the ground.

These evil cultivators had intended to sacrifice the entire village from the very beginning.

She saw no corpses along the road, apart from those hanging from the large tree at the village entrance.

Clearly, the corpses had all been moved to the formation eye.

Zhao Wanqing took a deep breath, suppressing the indescribable emotions in her heart. If there was anywhere those evil cultivators were likely to have left useful traces, it was the formation eye.

Her gaze swept her surroundings for clues, but her feet still carried her swiftly toward the village center.

That was the easiest place from which to cover the entire village.

Everything was just as Zhao Wanqing had suspected.

At the village center, white bones lay piled across the ground-all villagers who had been drained dry.

But there was also something Zhao Wanqing had not anticipated: the evil cultivators had not all withdrawn.

Atop the heap of bones, an evil cultivator in a plain black robe sat casually, a dark red saber beside him radiating endless blood energy.

"The Demon-Suppression Bureau gets less efficient by the day." The black-robed man's voice was hoarse, his tone deeply dissatisfied. "And they only sent two people. How are you supposed to protect mortals like this?"

"Did you do this?" Zhao Wanqing asked icily, reaching for the short saber at her waist.

"If it wasn't your granddaddy here, was it you, little squad captain of the Demon-Suppression Bureau?"

The black-robed man smiled disdainfully and abruptly grabbed the saber beside him.

A dark red gleam flashed beneath the moonlight.

Saber in hand, the black-robed man was already beside Zhao Wanqing, his long blade blazing with dark red light.

Zhao Wanqing reacted swiftly, drawing the short saber at her waist to block.

Clang!

The thunderous clash of metal rang through the silent night sky.

Zhao Wanqing felt the ferocious force of that strike. Both her injured arms nearly gave out, and even after forcibly mobilizing all her spiritual energy, she only barely blocked it!

This black-robed man must be at the Foundation Establishment late stage!

But what troubled Zhao Wanqing even more was the evil cultivator's blood energy!

It surged from his long saber, swiftly crawling along the spiritual energy at the point of impact and rushing toward her.

Zhao Wanqing had no choice but to divide her attention further, controlling her spiritual energy to fend off the surging blood energy.

If she let the blood energy reach and strike her now, she would truly be trapped in a dead end.

But the black-robed man was, after all, an evil cultivator who had clawed his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He abruptly raised his foot and kicked straight at Zhao Wanqing's abdomen.

With no room left to dodge, Zhao Wanqing could only gather her spiritual energy and forcibly endure the kick.

As the kick landed, Zhao Wanqing felt all her internal organs shift out of place.

Unable to hold her ground any longer, she flew backward and slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a small crater.

Forcing down the sweet, metallic taste rising in her throat, Zhao Wanqing swiftly rolled to her feet and retreated.

At the same time, she tightened her grip on her short saber and hastily unleashed several arcs of saber energy to stop the black-robed man from pressing his advantage.

But things went against her wishes. The black-robed man hurtled forward, weathering the saber energy with his blade before his blood-red spiritual power erupted, aiming straight for Zhao Wanqing's head.

The black-robed man sounded as though he were offering sincere advice:

"Don't become an official in your next life!"

Gritting her teeth, Zhao Wanqing raised her short saber to block again.

At the sight, the black-robed man's heart leaped with delight. The blood energy within him erupted as he forcibly shifted his saber's center of gravity downward.

The strike originally aimed at Zhao Wanqing's head changed course, slashing toward her waist instead.

Ever since learning to control blood energy, the black-robed man had used this move to end the lives of many Foundation Establishment cultivators!

Zhao Wanqing watched the blade turn into rainbow light...

Clang!

Suddenly, a battered iron sword blocked the rainbow light. Immediately afterward, Zhao Wanqing felt someone yank the back of her collar, pulling her out of the saber's range.

The next instant, the rainbow light shattered the iron sword.

Li Xingtian looked at the shattered short sword... Senior Sister really knows how to screw over her junior brother.

Zhao Wanqing glanced behind her and saw Li Xingtian's calm expression.

Out of concern for his employer, Li Xingtian still asked, "Holding up?"

"Tha... watch out!"

Zhao Wanqing had intended to thank him, but when she saw the black-robed man charging over with his saber again, she hurriedly warned him.

Li Xingtian raised his eyes slightly, and an incomparably profound aura suddenly burst from the shattered longsword in his right hand.

Facing the saber dripping with blood energy and brimming with killing intent, Li Xingtian showed no fear. He answered with the broken sword in his hand, which had been shattered until almost nothing remained but its hilt.

Moreover, it looked as though Li Xingtian had merely extended the broken sword with a gentle, effortless motion.

Zhao Wanqing stared wide-eyed at what seemed like a suicidal act.

But what happened next took Zhao Wanqing by surprise: the one who avoided the clash was actually the black-robed man.

The black-robed man abruptly lifted his long saber and hurtled dozens of meters backward, his tone wavering with uncertainty:

"...You brat... are you from Central Province?"

That aura just now was unmistakably a divine ability!

Apart from Central Province, which had the resources to let its disciples cultivate divine abilities at Foundation Establishment, the black-robed man could scarcely believe any other place could afford such extravagance!

That was a divine ability!

Had he not cultivated evil arts and honed certain instincts, that seemingly unremarkable sword strike would probably have cost him dearly.

Li Xingtian did not answer. He simply condensed the spiritual energy within him, stepped forward with the broken sword in hand, and slashed from dozens of meters away.

A streak of dark red light flashed along with the broken sword.

Boom!

As the dark red light flashed outward, a violent surge of energy swiftly pulverized everything before Li Xingtian.

Zhao Wanqing watched in shock as that threadlike streak of dark red light destroyed everything in its path like dry stalks and rotten wood...

This... this was absolutely not something a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator could do!

Dust billowed into the air. Li Xingtian lightly swung his sword again, and the pressure instantly scattered it.

The black-robed man had already vanished without a trace.

"He ran." Li Xingtian did not give chase. Turning to look at Zhao Wanqing, who had collapsed limply on the ground, he asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fi..."

Zhao Wanqing was about to answer, but the consequences of forcibly suppressing the injuries to her internal organs caught up with her. She spat out a spectacular mouthful of blood...

Li Xingtian: "..."

"Let's retreat first. There might be other evil cultivators around. With you so badly injured, I might not be able to protect you."

Zhao Wanqing also knew her condition was far from promising and agreed to Li Xingtian's plan.

"Let's go back to the Demon-Suppression Bureau..." Zhao Wanqing had barely spoken before she vomited another mouthful of blood.

"...I'll help you up now. Please stop talking," Li Xingtian said earnestly.

Zhao Wanqing drew a deep breath and nodded gently.

How utterly humiliating!

Li Xingtian's sword strike just now had only been meant to strike the mountain and frighten the tiger. Such great power naturally came at a price.

That one strike had drained half the spiritual power within him.

To guard against any other evil cultivators lying in ambush, Li Xingtian could only retreat with Zhao Wanqing at a slower pace. After all, he had to conserve spiritual power for any unforeseen danger.

Perhaps Li Xingtian's sword strike really had frightened them.

They encountered no ambushes on the way back.

As they approached Yuzhou City, Li Xingtian did not follow Zhao Wanqing's suggestion to return to the Demon-Suppression Bureau. Instead, he took her to the Courtyard House first.

Faced with the tightly shut gate, Li Xingtian grabbed Zhao Wanqing by the back of her collar and leaped straight over it.

Before Li Xingtian could report to his master, Chu Xingchen pushed open the door, his gaze immediately locking onto Zhao Wanqing, whose face had turned pale from vomiting blood.

"What happened?"

"Senior..." Zhao Wanqing vomited another mouthful of blood.

Chu Xingchen: "..."

All right, now I know what happened.