Sword Qi Stirs

Sang Ying had only found an ordinary spirit sword to use as a weapon. Though it was a spirit sword, it could not compare to the Ice Soul Sword at all.

Cold Crow Devil Lord was a Nascent Soul Cultivator, after all. When he attacked, Sang Ying narrowly avoided a vital blow, but five deep, bloody gashes were still left on her shoulder.

Sang Ying glanced at the wound on her shoulder and tightened her grip on her sword.

Fortunately, he had not used poison. Otherwise, she truly would not have had the strength to resist now.

After obtaining a bit of Sang Ying's flesh and blood, Cold Crow Devil Lord paid her no more attention. Instead, he rubbed her blood between his fingers and examined it closely.

Sang Ying did not know what he intended, so she could only move as close to the Sword Qi as possible. Strangely enough, the Sword Qi, which had been raging incessantly before, had now gone quiet and showed no sign of attacking Cold Crow Devil Lord.

Was her luck really that bad?

Sang Ying suddenly grew uneasy. If the Sword Qi stopped hurting people, how was she supposed to escape Cold Crow Devil Lord's clutches?

"Hahahaha, good!" Cold Crow Devil Lord suddenly burst out laughing. "Excellent! I wore out iron shoes searching to no avail, only to find it without lifting a finger! I've finally come across the medicine person I've been searching so desperately for!"

He turned his gaze back to Sang Ying, and now he looked at her as though she were some rare treasure, his eyes full of satisfaction and greed.

"I never expected you to be a cultivator with a single Ice Spirit Root. In all my years of searching, this is the first time I've met a medicine person with such fine aptitude!" Single Spirit Root cultivators were rare to begin with, and those with a single mutated Spirit Root were rarer still. From the day their Spirit Roots were tested, these exceptionally gifted people would be taken into sects and carefully taught, only coming out to gain experience once they reached the Golden Core Realm.

Moreover, they would not travel alone. At the very least, they would bring several capable fellow disciples with them.

Thus, although Cold Crow Devil Lord had long wanted a young cultivator with a good Spirit Root as a medicine person, he had searched everywhere without success. Who would have thought he would stumble upon one today? How could Cold Crow Devil Lord not be delighted?

Sang Ying, however, sneered when she heard him. "So what if my aptitude is exceptional? If you want to make me your medicine person, you'll have to be capable of it!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she threw out an array disc.

In the next instant, thick white mist filled the entire stone chamber. Cold Crow Devil Lord took a few steps forward, but Sang Ying had already vanished from where she stood.

"Ha! Trying to escape?" Cold Crow Devil Lord raised his hand and set up a barrier in the direction of the exit.

He cultivated with Devil Qi, which was laced with poison. The slightest touch of the barrier would poison Sang Ying at once. The poison would cling to her Spiritual Qi, making it hard enough to stay alive, let alone escape!

With this only way out sealed off, surely the little girl would not be able to escape!

That was what Cold Crow Devil Lord thought, but in fact, Sang Ying had no intention of fleeing.

She knew that, given Cold Crow Devil Lord's strength, she would only be caught more easily if she fled. If she stayed, she could at least make a gamble on the Sword Qi.

What she had thrown out was a trapping array. Sang Ying's mother had made the array disc, and although Sang Ying's current strength allowed her to bring out only forty percent of its power, it was enough to confound Cold Crow Devil Lord's sight.

The array had already activated. Cold Crow Devil Lord, inside it, saw nothing but thick white mist all around him; he could not see his own hand in front of his face. Outside the array, Sang Ying silently raised her sword. She only knew the basics of the Flowing Light Sword Instruction.

But that did not matter. She had long heard that although the Flowing Light Sword Instruction's moves were simple, their power was extraordinary. Today, she would test her sword on this Devil Cultivator!

Sang Ying stepped forward, her sword moving with her will.

Her footwork was nimble, and her swordsmanship was superb. With the mist to aid her, she actually managed to stab Cold Crow Devil Lord several times.

The Flowing Light Sword Instruction was based on agility. When used, it was as swift as flowing light, and everything hinged on a single word: "fast."

Sang Ying did not stick rigidly to one approach. After every attack, whether it landed or not, she changed positions. After several exchanges, Cold Crow Devil Lord had yet to catch her.

But the gap in their strength was still too great. Cold Crow Devil Lord, who had originally had no intention of hurting her, lost patience. When Sang Ying came at him with her sword again, he unleashed the full force of his presence, and a long, glossy black whip appeared in his hand.

Seeing this, Sang Ying immediately grew wary.

Sure enough, the next second, the whip came whistling toward her with a fierce gust. Fortunately, Sang Ying had been prepared, and it narrowly grazed the hem of her robe as it lashed past.

The entire stone chamber shuddered. Sang Ying looked up and saw the deep mark the whip had left on the wall.

She knew little about Cold Crow Devil Lord. She had thought he was only skilled in using poison and had not expected him to have such a formidable whip as well. Now, Sang Ying could only be even more careful.

She was still determined: if she could not stir the Sword Qi, she would hold Cold Crow Devil Lord off for as long as possible. At the very least, she could buy Nan Gurong and the others more time. If she truly could not go on, she could still hide in the Realm Pearl for a while.

Although the Realm Pearl was of an ordinary grade, it could still let her, its owner, hide inside for half an hour. This was her final escape route. Sang Ying hoped she could find another way to survive before then.

Cold Crow Devil Lord's whip was no ordinary weapon. Even though she did everything she could to dodge, she was still struck several times.

When the whip struck her, it hurt as though she were being seared by fire. Her flesh split open at once, and even her enchanted robe was torn apart. After several lashes, Sang Ying was soon covered in blood.

The pain drained the color from her lips, but she still refused to drop the sword in her hand.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Cold Crow Devil Lord ran a hand over his whip, which was covered in Sang Ying's blood. "Why put yourself through this? A young female cultivator like you is just at the age when she cares about her looks. My whip has no eyes. If it landed on your face, wouldn't it ruin you for life? I think you'd best obediently surrender, so you can spare yourself this suffering."

Sang Ying did not answer. She hid beneath the stone pillar holding the Sword Qi and gritted her teeth as she bandaged the worst wound on her abdomen. She swallowed a spirit medicine to counter poison. The man was poisonous from head to toe, and Sang Ying was still somewhat afraid.

Once she had finished, Sang Ying took up her sword again.

The swords of the Flowing Light Sword Sect would rather break than bend!

"Bang!" Sang Ying was struck down once again.

She slammed hard into the wall, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. Sang Ying had no time to wipe it away. She immediately got up and moved somewhere else to hide. No sooner had she left than the whip lashed toward the sound.

For a moment, rock shattered, leaving another deep crater in the stone wall.

He means to use ruthless force to capture me!

This time, Sang Ying was too badly hurt. Every breath brought unbearable pain to her chest. She was at the end of her strength and could not hold on much longer.

Moreover, Sang Ying's sword was already cracked and would not withstand many more blows.

She closed her eyes, then wiped away the blood running down her temple.

She would attack once more, then hide in the Realm Pearl. After she had held him off for so long, Nan Gurong and the others should be safe by now.

Her phoenix eyes opened again, with nothing left in them but resolute determination.

The wind from her sword swept past Cold Crow Devil Lord's face. He dodged instinctively, but a lock of hair beside his cheek was still cut off.

Sang Ying's strike missed, and she was about to follow up with another thrust when a strange sound reached her ears:

"Tsk, stab him in the left side of his chest!"