"Th-this..." Chen Beiwu was taken aback.
Although he had no idea what the other party was babbling about, he was at least a Late Qi Refining cultivator and could understand the general meaning from her expressions and gestures.
If Chen Beiwu had guessed correctly, this woman of unknown origins was asking him for help, even willing to use her beauty to please him.
"Woof, woof!" Iron Egg barked twice in warning.
The next instant, the lush forest exploded. Ancient trees as thick as the mouth of a vat snapped with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.
A burly man with a scar across his face stepped over a fallen tree, leering. Another cultivator with a sinister gaze followed behind him.
The latter's robe was stained with blood, and he held a sword-shaped magic weapon in his hand.
"&***!" (You little lady sure can run fast!) the burly man laughed.
"*&*?" (Who is this?) The sinister cultivator looked at Chen Beiwu, surprise in his eyes.
At the sight of the two men, the panic on Lin Yu's face grew more pronounced.
"&...@@%!" (Help me!)
She craned her neck upward, her jade-white fingers clutching Chen Beiwu's hem tightly. The pleading look on her face, together with the black hair clinging to the wound on her shoulder, made for a desolate sight that stirred a person's pity.
The burly man and the sinister cultivator exchanged a glance. Seeming to realize that Chen Beiwu might be difficult to deal with, they hesitated.
Chen Beiwu gave Lin Yu a long look, circulated the Magic Power within his body, kicked her hand away, and calmly retreated several dozen feet, making it clear that he would not get involved in this feud and bloodshed.
Lin Yu fell to her knees in the mud. The hope in her eyes slowly turned to despair, and her face grew deathly pale.
At the sight, the burly man and the sinister cultivator were also taken aback, then both grinned viciously.
That made sense. One of the two brothers was at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, the other at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, and they were among the most powerful bandit cultivators on Cangshen Mountain.
Their opponent was certainly strong, but any cultivator with a bit of sense wouldn't risk a deadly fight for a woman who was neither kin nor acquaintance.
The burly man raised his chin at Chen Beiwu and gave him a friendly greeting.
Since the other party had shown him respect, he had no reason to keep making trouble. That would seem rather deliberate.
The sinister cultivator beside him stepped forward and slashed open Lin Yu's clothes, revealing a large expanse of snowy-white skin.
The latter seemed to have lost all hope and given up resisting completely, letting the sinister cultivator have his way with her.
"&*|*?" (Fellow Daoist, care to join us?) He turned to Chen Beiwu and leered as he invited him.
Chen Beiwu furrowed his brows slightly, tapped the ground with his toes, and vanished from the forest with Iron Egg.
Seeing this, the scar-faced burly man, who had been keeping watch, breathed a sigh of relief. He went over to Lin Yu, and he and the sinister cultivator exchanged a look before letting out lecherous chuckles.
Several minutes later, the desolation on Lin Yu's face abruptly vanished. Instead, she slapped the burly man on the head.
"Was he a tortoise in a past life? How can there be a cultivator in this world who can endure so much?" she complained indignantly.
The sinister cultivator gritted his teeth and hesitated. "How about we chase after him? It took us ages to come across such a fat sheep. It'd be a shame to let him get away."
"Wouldn't that be too risky? Cultivators from the Five Great Sects have complete inheritances. If we fight them head-on, even all three of us together might not be able to beat him," the scar-faced burly man said timidly.
"Forget it. We only have one life, so it's better not to take the risk." Though tempted, Lin Yu ultimately rejected the sinister cultivator's suggestion.
If you fail to kill a snake, you invite calamity upon yourself.
This target was different from the Rogue Cultivators they usually dealt with.
Rogue Cultivators had no backing. Even if they couldn't kill one, it didn't matter if they made an enemy of them. They could simply dust themselves off, move somewhere else, and keep setting traps to ambush and kill people.
But cultivators from the Five Great Sects were different!
Those from prestigious sects might not be very strong themselves, but they were first-rate at calling in reinforcements.
Without confidence that she could wipe them out root and branch, Lin Yu didn't want to lightly ambush and kill a Late Qi Refining cultivator from one of the Five Great Sects.
"What a pity," the sinister cultivator sighed.
"Wait!" Lin Yu suddenly craned her neck, revealing a swanlike curve. "Have you noticed anything wrong?"
The burly man and the sinister cultivator exchanged a puzzled glance. "What's wrong? We acted perfectly."
"Be careful."
Sensing the Spirit Power go haywire, Lin Yu shoved the burly man away and used the momentum to dodge backward.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The moisture filling the forest suddenly flowed together as if alive, forming three Water Chains.
One pierced the sinister cultivator's chest, binding him firmly in place. Another shot toward the scar-faced burly man, who blocked it with a shield-shaped strange artifact he pulled out.
The last Water Chain missed its mark. Lin Yu, the first to react, twisted aside and dodged it.
"Damn it, that guy's still here!"
The sinister cultivator put strength into his wrist and swung his sword at the Water Cage binding him, but failed to notice the flames quietly appearing behind him.
"Tong Yu, watch your back!"
As soon as Lin Yu finished speaking, Iron Egg had already lunged, jaws open and fangs wreathed in flames. Taking advantage of the moment when the sinister cultivator had exhausted his old strength and had yet to gather new strength, it bit hard at his neck.
Tong Yu's eyes narrowed. Ignoring the incoming attack, he immediately thrust his long sword at Iron Egg's belly.
"You're asking for death. How dare a Low-Tier Monster attack-"
Tong Yu's sneer suddenly caught in his throat. He looked in terror at the water droplets exploding all around him. "Senior, spare... my life!"
Chen Beiwu clenched his right hand. The Defensive Barrier surrounding Tong Yu shattered with a crash, and hundreds of Water Needles powerful enough to pierce rock tore his body apart.
Using the Water Prison Spell to bind him and Iron Egg to feint, he could defeat a Sixth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator in just two moves.
"Hurry up and attack!"
Seeing the scar-faced burly man begin to lose his nerve, Lin Yu quickly took a Soul-Seizing Nail, streaked with faint bloodstains, from the lining of her clothes and secretly concealed it in her palm.
The Soul-Seizing Nail was a notorious Second-Tier Venomous Spirit Artifact in the Southern Wasteland. It could only be refined through a blood sacrifice using the Essence Blood and vengeful souls of dozens of cultivators who had died wrongful deaths.
The Soul-Seizing Nail activated silently. Even cultivators whose Divine Sense surpassed that of the caster would have difficulty detecting it. Once it pierced their body and bound their three souls, even a Qi Refining Peak cultivator would be unable to use Magic Power.
Relying on this venomous artifact, Lin Yu and the Tong Yu brothers had set ambushes and killed several Late Qi Refining cultivators, including even a Ninth Layer of Qi Refining Rogue Cultivator.
Hearing this, the scar-faced burly man forgot his reluctance and slapped a Talisman onto himself. Then he took out two more Talismans and aimed them at Chen Beiwu.
"Thunderfall, Fire Comes!"
In an instant, thunder raged and flames surged. The two spell Talismans bombarded Chen Beiwu's position indiscriminately.
Chen Beiwu easily leaped backward, escaping the Talismans' lock. His figure slowly merged into the mist that was gradually spreading around him.
"Where'd he go?" The burly man looked around and instinctively moved closer to Lin Yu.
Tong Yu was already dead. If Lin Yu died too, he would be left in a desperate position, standing alone like a tree without support.
There's still one Sixth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator and one Seventh Layer of Qi Refining cultivator left. Hidden in the mist, Chen Beiwu continued searching for his next target.
He who kills will be killed.
Since these bandit cultivators had dared to target him, they should be prepared to face death!
Before you continue