CHAPTER 83: IGNORANT WOMAN?

Yi Xin Xue’s chest rose and fell, her breaths now shallow yet burning with suppressed fire. The skin beneath her robes tingled where his fingers had brushed not from shame, but from rage born of humiliation.

Even now, even here, they think the beautiful must also be powerless.

She stood upright with the clear sense of defiance evident in her gaze, while the orange glow of her Qi now retracted deep into her dantian.

She understood, deep down, that relying solely on brute strength would not lead her to victory in this battle. Muscles could only carry her so far in this situation.

He’s toying with me, she thought, sensing the predatory glimmer in his eyes. Like a cat playfully clawing at the delicate, fluttering wings of a moth, he seemed to relish in the thrill of the chase, delighting in the way her heart raced and her breath quickened.

A twisted mind, the forbidden ones on the Buddhist sects.

Cruelty of his amusement gnawed at her insides, but she steeled herself against the creeping fear, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her tremble.

With each heartbeat, her pulse began to steady, calming in the face of the tempest swirling in her mind. Yet, even as her body found its rhythm, her thoughts surged like a river in flood, chaotic and tumultuous.

Her vision turned inward, slipping past the chaos of emotion and back into calculation.

He is the anomaly. The domain suppresses all variables... yet he remains untouchable. How? What does the domain owe him?

Of course, that’s his plan.

While others brought high-ranking weapons or little to no items, he had made sure to prepare lots of grade-1 treasures.

A stitch in time saves nine.

The man who stood before her was not simply a lecherous elder. He was something worse — a master of patterns. Someone who had seen countless schemes unfold and still found novelty in a blind girl’s feints.

He twirled her captured hairpin between his fingers before letting it fall, a dull clink echoing between them. "That was a poor gamble, little jade," he said with amusement. "Did you think pain would buy you time?"

She said nothing. The only response was her tightening grip around the jade token still tucked inside her sleeve — warm, pulsing.

Seven minutes have passed. The Fugger incense burns slower still. Perhaps... is this it? Is this the end?

No, she needs to buy time anyhow... Or else...

"Sigh... I surrender, this flesh is ready for your pleasure," She said getting on her knees and raising her hand.

The Great Elder circled her like a scholar studying a rare scripture, with fascination, with reverence, and with the hunger to possess.

"You have changed, you know," he mused aloud.

"This one can see through you... Tch, Tch, Tch... I shall allow you to witness as I slaughter your companions as soon as they are resurrected. Dare to decline my mercy? Have eyes but failed to see—"

"Failed to see what?"

..

Meanwhile,

Several additional groups have now made their way to this trial completing previous ones, significantly increasing the competition and killing activity in the trial.

The advantage lead of two hours that Zhao Fan had painstakingly built up carrying 10 brain-dead disciples has eroded considerably.

This decline is mostly attributed to the lazy approach of the so-called "guide," whose sluggish attitude has resulted in missed opportunities and wasted time.

Then again, it wouldn’t have mattered much as you need to fulfill 3 tasks to complete this trial.

- Kill a natural habitat lord. ( Nightfang alpha wolf for example )

- Kill at least one member from the other group.

- One of your team members dies.

Furthermore, the treasures Maid Yi managed to collect such as; spiritual fruits and rare spiritual plants, turned out to be far less valuable than one can initially hope.

Nonetheless, it’s still useful to make grade-1 alchemy pills.

As for other groups...

* * *

The scent of blood clung to the air like incense burned for wrathful gods.

Tai Qing Lian narrowed her eyes, the mist thick around her companions as they pressed deeper into the ruinous grove. Flamewood trees stood like scorched bones, their leaves blackened, their bark peeled in strips, soaked with beast blood both fresh and rotted.

"Wait," muttered Jiang He from behind her, eyes flashing silver beneath his spiritual lens, a magically enchanted glass to give powerful vision and see long distances, In short, his eyes were normal but the glass provided extraordinary vision.

"These claw marks..." he ran fingers along a shattered trunk, "...this one was done in a single strike. From the top down."

They had arrived too late. Or perhaps, exactly on time... to witness the aftermath.

Tai Qing Lian knelt beside a corpse or what was left of one.

A Nightfang Beta Wolf, ribcage collapsed, throat not torn but pierced.... Eesh! Precision over brutality. She dipped her hand into the congealed blood, brought it to her nose, and frowned.

"Qi imbued. But not brute force," she whispered. "The essence didn’t rupture. The flow was interrupted mid-point. It’s surgical."

Another female looked up sharply. "A Qi Saint wouldn’t do this. How come such monstrous people exist?

The others shuffled nervously behind. One of the juniors, a tall boy barely in the second realm, kicked the side of a half-dead Nightfang trying to crawl away.

It whimpered weakly — and that alone made several steps back.

"It’s alive?" one said in a weak voice. "How...?"

Tai Qing Lian stood and gestured for everyone to keep their distance. "Let it be..."

Another voice, sharp and bitter, rang from the rear. "Why? We could claim it’s core. Every point matters."

Tai Qing Lian turned, her gaze flat. "Look at it closely... This is nightfang wolf, they are near immortal for us Qi Saint powerhouse to fight, but there are two separate Dao; Curse and death, which allows anti-heal, not only shall your body never he healed, even your soul can’t he healed..."

"This place is highly dangerous... We need to form some alliance with other teams..." She said with eyes as calm as water.

"But holy maiden... We are all females from Blossom Jade Peak and we know what those perverted lechers want from us," one of them said.

"I know... But I have already realized that if we wanna survive we need an alliance, we need a strong ally, we need to return more powerful, and even if I have to offer my body I shall do so."

Peak intelligence, profound aura.

The Jade fairy is absolutely right to seek an alliance with a strong team even at the cost of her body.

"Holy Maiden... There is alpha Nightfang here..."