Chapter 7: Swords Flashing Light, Sparks Taking Life

The man lightly kicked her again with a smirk. This entire farce was designed to dangle hope in front of the girl before crushing it, making her recognize her fate and become more obedient. From the start, she never had any hope at all.

Their group was wealthy and large, but normally wouldn’t spend so much effort on a slave. However, this girl was a rare treasure. Unfortunately, although she was enchantingly beautiful, she was also rebellious and longed for freedom. This was also why he brought the woman for good measure; it was to prevent anyone else from getting ideas.

“Miss, you really don’t want to get involved.” Seeing He JiYang’s hesitancy, the female cultivator stepped forward, releasing some of her spiritual pressure. She was at the Upper Mind Refining level, and He JiYang was entirely not a match.

“Hehe, Na Sa, or you can take her too.” The man said to the woman, with a disgusting grin on his face. He was barely better than a mortal, so he couldn’t tell He JiYang was a cultivator. However, every part of her seemed like she was weak with no backing. Her hood was taken off earlier, revealing her face altered to be nondescript, and her outer robe looked plain and unremarkable.

The girl kept staring at her, silently pleading. He JiYang sighed. Well, she’ll leave it up to fate. She had no backing here, so the female cultivator wouldn’t hold back. If they survive, great. If she doesn’t… that seems alright too.

Without another word, she drew out her sword and flashed closer, successfully kicking the man to fly into the trees.

Originally, she hoped to pull the girl away and blend into the crowds before the cultivator noticed, but as expected the cultivation level wasn’t for nothing. After a moment of surprise, Na Sa immediately met He JiYang’s sword at full strength.

He JiYang couldn’t stand Na Sa’s attack, and barely managed the dodge while spitting out blood. Although her sword skills were high and she could use her spiritual sense in a limited area, the gap in cultivation levels couldn’t be overcome so easily. Furthermore, she already had older injuries.

She also didn’t want to use the treasures in her storage bracelet. The bracelet was enchanted so that if she truly passed on, it would recognize Mo Jin as its master. He JiYang would rather save them for him.

As she jumped midair, she weaved the sword like it was part of her own body, twisting herself as well as if she were in a dance. The sword reflected the light of the lamps and the dimming sun, creating various illusions and reflections of herself in Na Sa’s eye. Glimmer was a unique cloning sword skill that He JiYang used extensively. Although her spiritual power was still low, her skill was very proficient, so it was still difficult to see through.

However, she was still limited and unable to fool the spiritual sense of a much stronger cultivator.

After she realized this, Na Sa directly manipulated her strong spiritual sense to find He JiYang’s location and positioning.

This skill only gave her a moment’s pause, and in that time He JiYang accumulated spiritual power for a strong assault. She flew out, with the blade slanting upwards. Na Sa clearly didn’t take her too seriously earlier, so she was somewhat unprepared. He JiYang’s sword moved like a sharp and thunderous crack into thick layers of ice. The rumble was deep, as if it was breaking through hell itself. The speed of the strike was moderate, but the momentum was almost threatening, causing Na Sa’s expression to slightly change as she adjusted her casual stance.

This was one of He JiYang’s strongest moves, Splitting the Glacier.

Suddenly, the sword intent was still surging, but it seemed the ice disappeared. Indeed, from the beginning He JiYang knew she wasn’t a match. Her goal had always been to try to escape. In this way, it wasn’t as easy to see through as a feint as the attack was real.

Her sword style was notably flexible, allowing her to adjust mid-strike with minimal drawbacks. Quickly, she had pulled back her sword entirely, picking up the girl to try and flee.

Adjustments were alright but pulling out entirely still caused sharp pressure to her spiritual veins, rupturing several as she spit blood again. However, this didn’t cause her to even pause as she tried to escape.

They were by the edge of the forest, so other than a few trees nothing was damaged during the fight. Passersby had run away the moment the fight started. He JiYang intended on heading into the crowds again.

Unfortunately, Na Sa reacted quickly after getting serious and He JiYang had to carry dead weight in the form of the girl. Just as they were close to larger crowds, He JiYang felt a sense of foreboding, and barely dodged an attack through instinct alone. She had no choice but to turn back and meet their swords.

Within a few strikes, He JiYang could hardly catch her breath. She didn’t have too many surface injuries, but her internal damage was heavy.

Clearly, Na Sa was tired of playing and had no intention to keep He JiYang alive, as blow after blow was filled with killing intent. Both parties had moved quickly the entire time, so it was only a moment from the very start of the fight to when Na Sa struck He JiYang to the ground. Blood dripped from her mouth, and her clothes were already cut and stained.

Just when it seemed the final attack would take her life, oppressive spiritual pressure forced Na Sa to her knees. Within a blink of an eye, someone had smashed through her defensive treasure, immediately drawing violent blood.

Author's Note: Paper cuts already hurt so much, thank goodness we're not in a cultivation world. I feel like I would just be the most ordinary mortal.