Showing herself

"When did I offend a cultivation clan here?"

At this moment of mortal peril, Lu Mingyue had only one question in her heart: who had sent these two Mighty Warriors to kill her?

Although these Mighty Warriors had mortal bodies, they were extraordinarily difficult to train. The resources spent on them would have been enough to train hundreds or even thousands of mortal experts like Meng Hai!

After all, from their very inception, these Mighty Warriors had been intended to fight immortals!

First, their root bones had to be exceptional. Even if they could not cultivate the immortal path, they still had to possess the aptitude to become extraordinary experts among mortals.

Second, they had to endure hellish training. According to Deng Yuan, training a single Mighty Warrior usually cost the lives of at least ten mortals with equivalent aptitude, and just one mortal with such aptitude was worth a hundred mortal experts like Meng Hai...

In short, every one of these Mighty Warriors was one in a thousand!

Thus, aside from cultivation clans with legacies spanning over a century, ordinary cultivators simply could not train Mighty Warriors, much less order them to kill a cultivator for no reason!

Moreover, both the iron armor these Mighty Warriors wore and the weapons they wielded had spirit-sealing stone incorporated into them-a natural treasure!

A single Mighty Warrior was worth as much as a cultivator of equivalent strength.

That was precisely why Mighty Warriors like these possessed the power to slaughter immortals!

"Yellow Springs..."

Lu Mingyue could not think of an answer, but she did not give up resisting either. Her hand seals shifted as she prepared to cast a demonic spell she had obtained from Guo Yang and his companion, one she now regarded as her trump card.

Clink!

But at that hairbreadth moment, the ring of clashing metal suddenly sounded in front of her.

"Huh?"

Lu Mingyue swept out her divine sense and saw a streak of azure light tear through the air, striking the edge of the greatsword sweeping toward her neck.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The greatsword in the hands of the Mighty Warrior who had been about to sever Lu Mingyue's neck with a single sweep was knocked backward by the azure light, forcing him to land and stagger several steps back.

Hum...

The azure light stopped before Lu Mingyue, revealing an exceedingly familiar little azure sword.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, are you all right?"

At the same time, a voice Lu Mingyue found somewhat irritating came from atop the courtyard wall.

"Bai Zishan?"

Lu Mingyue backed away, putting distance between herself and the Mighty Warrior, while looking toward the white-robed young man who had landed in her courtyard.

"What are you doing here?"

Indeed!

The person who had suddenly appeared was none other than Bai Zishan!

Heaven have mercy, Lu Mingyue had clearly shaken him off, yet he had still managed to track her down!

"Miss Lu, didn't we come to Taiping City together?"

Under Lu Mingyue's questioning, Bai Zishan immediately adopted an aggrieved expression and gazed at her tenderly as he said:

"Taiping City is anything but peaceful. Battles between cultivators happen often. Although the City Patrol Office intervenes, its deterrence outweighs its enforcement. If cultivators really do fight to the death, they only go after the killer afterward..."

Lu Mingyue naturally knew this unwritten rule. After all, the Taiping City Lord only wanted a relatively fair set of rules; he had never intended to truly control the tens of thousands of cultivators who entered the city.

Moreover, among these cultivators were powerful rogue cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and their disciples did not like stepping onto any Deathmatch Platform.

The Taiping City Lord naturally tacitly accepted this, also giving those Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouses face.

As a result, deadly fighting between cultivators in Taiping City could never be stamped out.

Thus, even after two Mighty Warriors had broken into Lu Mingyue's courtyard, no one from the City Patrol Office had appeared, because hers was not the only place where something like this was happening tonight!

If the City Patrol Office truly tried to control it all, that would mean covering the sky over Taiping City with one hand. Never mind the tens of thousands of cultivators in the city refusing to agree—how could those Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouses, whose dignity would be slighted, allow the Taiping City Lord to act so tyrannically?

After all, the Taiping City Lord was ultimately only at the Qi Refining Stage!

He could enjoy his dominion in Taiping City only because his alchemical skills won favor in every quarter, while the various Immortal Sects kept one another in check!

"I asked why you're here."

However, Lu Mingyue had learned these rules from Deng Yuan long ago. She would not let Bai Zishan muddle his way past her question.

"Do you not wish to see me again, Miss Lu? I thought that, having faced life and death side by side, we could watch out for each other in Taiping City..."

Bai Zishan clearly had not expected Lu Mingyue to show so little regard for their past ties, and his expression nearly cracked.

"Very well. Since you don't wish to see me again, Miss Lu, I'll leave!"

Still, after showing a trace of sorrow, Bai Zishan lowered his head slightly, then pointed from afar toward the azure light.

Whoosh!

The next moment, the little azure sword darted through the air like a spirit snake, hurtling toward the Mighty Warrior.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Mighty Warrior swung his broad greatsword, blocking dozens of successive strikes from the little azure sword, before glaring fiercely at Bai Zishan and abruptly leaping into the air to leave the courtyard.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Yet after suffering such an assassination attempt for no reason, how could Lu Mingyue let him leave so easily?

Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!

Although she had changed her hand seals after Bai Zishan appeared, Lu Mingyue had already gathered her power during those two or three breaths. As she completed her seals, densely packed vines coiled toward the Mighty Warrior, while more vines stretched in from beyond the courtyard wall, blocking his retreat.

"Get out of my way!"

The Mighty Warrior had been focused solely on guarding against Bai Zishan. Now, blocked by wild grass covering an area more than ten meters across, he swung his greatsword in alarm and fury, trying to carve a bloody path out.

"Fellow Daoist Bai, since you've already intervened, why not kill him?"

But Lu Mingyue turned to Bai Zishan, her slender brows lifting slightly, looking ready to quietly observe his choice.

Damn it...

Facing Lu Mingyue's scrutinizing gaze, Bai Zishan wanted to grind his back teeth to pieces. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Was this woman doing it deliberately, or deliberately?

Was she testing my relationship with these two Mighty Warriors?

Or was she merely using me to kill this Mighty Warrior who threatened her safety?

Clearly, whichever it was, Bai Zishan had no choice.

Either he abducted Lu Mingyue now, or he never appeared before her again. The former would not work.

Although the City Patrol Office turned a blind eye to deadly fighting within the city, it would absolutely not sit idly by while someone attacked a disciple or grand-disciple of the Taiping City Lord!

So...