CHAPTER 21: SNEAK ATTACK

"~A plan? I guess I do have one," Yu Tian said.

"~Tell me, tell me," she said excitedly.

"~One of them seems to be surveying the air and the other the ground," he said. "~We’ll target the one on the ground," he explained.

"~When we reach within striking distance, chances of him detecting us will be high," he said.

Yu Tian sighed internally. Actually, he would’ve preferred walking up to his face with full concealment and stabbing his heart, but this would only work if the opponent was asleep. This was why assassins preferred attacking in the sleeping quarters.

"~But this is fine," he continued.

"~It is?" she asked in surprise.

"~That’s right. When we get close enough, I want you to..."

Xueling stepped down from Yu Tian’s arms slowly. She didn’t use her sword this time as she was told it was too flashy. Instead, she took a dagger she carried around as an emergency weapon.

Although it wasn’t as strong as her main weapon, merely a low-tier magical weapon, it could still get the job done as long as she did exactly as she was told.

She remembered Yu Tian’s words:

"~Do you know the weakest part of a Core Formation realm cultivator?" he asked.

"~Of course, it’s the core," she responded.

"~Should I target the core?" she asked.

She thought to herself that if it was a sneak attack and she targeted the core, even if she was noticed, the elder might not necessarily be able to completely defend.

But Yu Tian shook his head.

"~If even you who just broke through knows this, then doesn’t an elder who has been in that realm for so long already know this?" Yu Tian asked.

She nodded, thinking to herself that it made sense.

"~You’re saying that they’ll have the most guard to their core, so it’s not the weakest part anymore, right?" she said.

"~That’s right," Yu Tian confirmed.

"~Then what do we do?" she asked.

"~You need to target the meridian right below the core next to the spiritual root," Yu Tian said.

"~You mean the Heaven Meridian? The one that merges the spiritual root to the qi pathways?" she asked.

Yu Tian nodded.

"~But how can we use this? Isn’t this just disrupting the flow of qi from the spiritual root? He isn’t cultivating now, so it won’t affect him much. And he already has all the qi he needs in the core. Although he won’t be able to recover lost energy, he still has enough to fight me as reinforcement arrives," she said.

Yu Tian thought to himself that she was quite smart, just not to his level yet.

"~Do you know what’s a cultivator’s greatest fear?" Yu Tian asked.

A cultivator’s greatest fear? she wondered. It wasn’t death. What a cultivator feared the most was... As she thought of this, her eyes widened.

Yu Tian smiled. "~That’s right, it’s fear of not being able to cultivate again. It’s said that the worst thing that can ever happen to a cultivator is them losing all their cultivation," Yu Tian said.

"~So... with that knowledge, tell me what will happen if a cultivator feels their connection with their spiritual root get severed?" he asked.

...

Xueling held her dagger firmly. "Of course I know that," she thought. "They will panic and won’t be able to think rationally."

When this happened, she should be able to end the fight easily before the reinforcements arrived.

With that thought, she let go of Yu Tian completely and charged towards the elder, her concealment falling.

As soon as this happened, the elder on the ground instantly detected her and turned around.

"Lady Su?" he exclaimed in surprise.

He wondered how she had gotten so close without him realizing. Well, it didn’t matter - she probably used some concealment treasure.

"It’s good that you’ve shown yourself," the elder said. "Now I can take your head and claim the prize," the elder said confidently, watching her approach.

Xueling was still moving at the speed of a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator. She thought to herself that according to Yu Tian, if she showed her full power instantly, the man would raise his guard.

She needed to move like this instead.

Although this raised the chances of the other elder coming over, it would still take quite some time for him to get here - enough time for them to finish this one off.

Besides, these two might not get along and he might decide to take her out by himself to claim the reward.

This would be the best case scenario.

Looking at him, it seemed it was the latter. She needed to take advantage of this to make her move.

As she was getting closer to him, his grin widened. She then heard a command in her head: "~Now."

At this point, she was about five meters away from the elder.

When she heard the command, she smiled. She instantly activated her full power and closed the distance between the two of them in an instant, finding herself right before him.

The elder was surprised, and when he finally got to his senses, it was too late. Xueling’s dagger landed right on the Heaven Meridian, disconnecting the elder’s spiritual root from the qi pathways.

When the elder felt the disconnect, his expression turned to that of pure horror and he screamed at the top of his lungs.

In this state, the elder’s qi seemed to be going rogue. Xueling took advantage of the situation and struck his core, which was now unguarded due to the rogue qi.

Her dagger stabbed right through his lower abdomen and into his core. She then infused her qi into the dagger, shattering the core instantly.

The elder fell down lifeless.

Xueling sighed in relief, thinking to herself that she had done it. The whole thing was extremely nerve-wracking, but in the end, it had all worked out.

As she thought of this, she felt an immense pressure cover the area, pressing down on her.

She raised her head, wondering if the other elder was that close. But when she saw who she was looking at, her expression froze - it was actually the Grand Elder.

Unlike the other elders who were at early or mid-stage Core Formation, the Grand Elder was at the late stage of Core Formation.

Dammit, how had her brothers recruited such a person?

She looked nervously at him, wondering if she had a chance.

Although she might be able to fight slightly above her level, like mid Core Formation, she wasn’t the sort of monstrous genius that could fight a late-stage Core Formation elder while being at the early Core Formation realm.

What was she going to do now?