Chapter 71
"No!" Zhao Yaqing's guardian's mind was greatly shaken as she looked at the droplets flying towards Zhao Yaqing and urgently shouted, "Be careful, that's sword qi!"
"Sword qi?" Upon hearing about sword qi, Zhao Yaqing was stunned for a moment. Two junior cultivators at the foundation building stage fighting, how could something like sword qi appear?!
But when the sword qi approached, its sharpness pressing against her skin, she knew this really was sword qi. She hurriedly used a technique: "Layer Cloud Protects Body!"
Layers of pure white clouds emerged from her body, protecting her.
The water droplets carrying Li Shiyin's initially comprehended sword qi dripped and smashed into the white clouds, punching hole after hole in the cloud layers around Zhao Yaqing. After a few breaths, the cloud layers collapsed and dissipated.
The incoming sword qi had also been exhausted. She had managed to defend against it after all.
Zhao Yaqing couldn't believe it. Breathing heavily, she shouted at Li Shiyin, "Sword qi! How could you possibly have comprehended sword qi?!"
"Sword qi?" Li Shiyin was puzzled. Her master had told her long ago that she would comprehend sword qi. Was this thing that rare?
"You mean this?" she asked. Then she dashed out, once again avoiding the sword rain above her head, and ran towards Zhao Yaqing.
Previously, the two had exchanged moves within two to three meters of each other, but this time, when she was still seven to eight meters away from Zhao Yaqing, she raised the Qingxing Sword and thrusted straight forward...
Purple star power circulated on the Qingxing Sword. As the Qingxing Sword thrusted forward, the purple aura extended beyond the sword tip, seemingly pulling the sword longer, extending seven to eight meters as it stabbed towards Zhao Yaqing.
"It really is sword qi!" Zhao Yaqing confirmed and couldn't help but be shocked. She could only use the Wandering Cloud Dance Steps to dodge.
With a spit and draw of sword qi, after Zhao Yaqing dodged, Li Shiyin swiftly pulled it back, and the Qingxing Sword instantly reverted to its original form.
"You..." Zhao Yaqing steadied herself, still frightened. She asked Li Shiyin, "Sword qi, how could a dummy like you possibly comprehend sword qi?"
Li Shiyin glanced at her disdainfully without answering. She flipped the Qingxing Sword backwards towards the sky, and purple sword qi sprayed out, bisecting the clouds in the sky, dispersing them.
"This definitely isn't sword qi!" Zhao Yaqing said again. She didn't believe it, so she used her movement technique to charge at Li Shiyin as before.
Only now the situation was different from before. With sword qi, Li Shiyin's sword could be long or short, making it unpredictable. Zhao Yaqing was already no match in direct combat. Now it was even more hopeless as she didn't even have the power to fight back.
Unable to endure after a few exchanges, Zhao Yaqing had no choice but to retreat.
However...
She might have retreated, but Li Shiyin had no intention of letting her get away.
On the battlefield, one must use thunderous means to completely eradicate the enemy. This was something Li Shiyin had heard since she was little. This was also why Li Shiyin, although not understanding, still listened to Qin Ran and killed Slaughtering Five Immortals.
She chased after Zhao Yaqing with sword in hand, wanting to kill her.
With the support of sword qi, the length of Li Shiyin's sword was erratic. Zhao Yaqing was already no match, now even less able to adapt. After a few moves she was already injured, her clothes torn.
"If this continues, I may die..." This thought suddenly flashed through Zhao Yaqing's mind. She took out a bead from her Universe Bag, squeezed it hard, shattering it. A layer of white radiance enveloped her, shielding her to withstand Li Shiyin’s hits for a few breaths, managing to open up some distance.
"So many treasures!"
Li Shiyin halted, watching Zhao Yaqing retreat several times, pulling apart the distance between them. She raised the Qingxing Sword, aimed at where Zhao Yaqing would retreat to, and shouted loudly, "No amount of treasures will help you!"
Then a fantastical streak of dark purple sword qi arced out...
Zhao Yaqing had already lost the will to fight, only wanting to retreat and widen the distance. She didn't notice Li Shiyin predicted her retreat spot with this strike. As she took another step back...
Suddenly alarm bells rang loudly in her mind. She looked up to see a descending streak of purple sword qi slicing down towards her—right where she was going to end up.
As if she had just crashed into it head first.
"Yaqing!" her guardian cried out, using a movement technique to rush over in their direction.
The purple streak sliced open Zhao Yaqing's protective glow and directly struck her, bisecting Zhao Yaqing with one sword strike.
Her guardian rushed over just in time to catch her.
Zhao Yaqing's clothes were already completely shredded, revealing soft armor inside, also marked with slashes—Li Shiyin's handiwork. The deepest gash ran from her left shoulder to her right chest, penetrating the soft armor a few millimeters deep. The armor was basically ruined.
Even with double layers of protection, Zhao Yaqing was still injured. Lying in her guardian's arms, blood kept gushing from her throat...
The guardian was furious. She glared at Li Shiyin, slapped upwards with one palm. Gusts of wind gathered into an enormous palm imprint that pressed down towards Li Shiyin.
Before the palm imprint even arrived, Li Shiyin was already overwhelmed by the mighty aura of a high level cultivator, frozen stiff and unable to move for a moment. Coming back to her senses with the palm imprint right at her face, a thought flashed through her mind—“I’m done for!”—when a warm hand slid around her waist and pulled her aside.
The gigantic palm imprint barely grazed past their bodies, slamming into the desolate Li Ben Mountain behind them and leaving another huge palm print in the dried up mountainside.
Li Shiyin turned to see it was her master who had saved her.
"Sore loser?" Qin Ran smiled and asked the guardian.
"Vile little creature, how dare injure with intent to kill!" The guardian cursed viciously.
"This battle..." Qin Ran taunted her deliberately, "My disciple Shiyin won!"
"Won?" The guardian let out a cold laugh. "Then let me see who will win in the end!"
She raised her hand again. Instantly, the winds raged furiously as if the end of the world had arrived.
"Impressive!" Qin Ran praised, but he shook his head. "Unfortunately, my disciple and I will not keep you company in this game!"
As he spoke, he hugged Li Shiyin and used the divine walking step to blink backwards several times upslope, vanishing abruptly.
"Hm?" The guardian frowned. "What kind of technique was that?!"
"Since running away, it means their strength isn't up to par..." she thought. Hugging the poisoned Zhao Yaqing, she flew swiftly to where Qin Ran and Li Shiyin had disappeared.
With a flicker, she discovered herself transported to a completely different world.
This world was fantastical and colorful. Flying snakes soared in the sky. Running mushrooms dashed on the ground. In the distance, a toad leaped with all its might, clamping onto a swan’s neck as they disappeared far away together.
"What is this place?" The guardian was dumbfounded.
Soon, she noticed something wrong. Her skin felt itchy and her head a little dizzy. Glancing down, she saw pustules sprouting all over her fair skin.
Her state was already like this. Needless to say, Zhao Yaqing, in just a few breaths, had turned deathly pale with putrid pus all over as a nauseating stench started emanating out.
"Poison!!" The guardian was horrified. With a sweep, she cried out, "A poison formation?!"
She hurriedly circulated her magic power and used arts. Abruptly, the winds shifted as a furious gale erupted out from them, lifting up the formation. A clear sky emerged in the next moment as the winds blew away the poison bugs and ingredients used as the foundation, scattering them across the whole sky.
As a Golden Core cultivator, the guardian directly expelled the poison from her body. Looking ahead, she saw the despicable little bastard hugging his disciple, flying away frantically not too far away...
"Hand over the antidote!!" She thundered furiously. Gusts swirled and she vanished from there, instantly reappearing behind the sinister little rascal. She slapped out with her palm, directly striking his back...
Then the sinister fellow transformed into a pool of clean water dropping to the ground. A side glance showed the female disciple had also turned into water.
"Come out!" She quivered with rage, searching all around for any trace of the pair.
Soon, she spotted the master and disciple duo in the distance.
Qin Ran stood outside the perimeter of the lethal formation. He turned back and smiled at the guardian, "Come on, the antidote is right here."
Having said that, he hugged Li Shiyin and slipped back inside the formation.
"You vermins!" The guardian's face contorted in anger, yet she could only bring the heavily poisoned Zhao Yaqing to chase after them inside.