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Finally, we're in for some action! Stay tuned to see what other trump cards our protagonists will reveal.
Ling Qingxue, having lived two lives, possessed combat skills far beyond her opponents' reach.
A mere hundred points advantage in vitality was no match for her.
Although it was a four-on-one fight, with her former status as an Imperial Rank Spiritual Master, setting up several formations took no effort.
With just a few hand seals, two mud-swamp formations appeared beneath the two magical beasts in an instant.
Now that they were trapped in the mud, it would take them a considerable amount of time to escape the formation's range—more than enough to deal with Li Erhu and Bai Ya.
Bai Ya's eyes flickered, filled with astonishment.
"You're not just a martial artist, you are a Spiritual Master! That's why you don't need time to set up formations!"
Setting up spirit formations required condensing spiritual energy into individual imprints and placing them in fixed locations. These imprints were then connected through spiritual energy to construct a formation that influenced reality.
Becoming a Spiritual Master was ten times harder than becoming a Physical Cultivator, and it heavily relied on talent.
Physical Cultivation was seven parts nutrition and three parts talent.
A Spiritual Master, however, relied on three parts nutrition and seven parts talent.
The two were diametrically opposed, but both nutrition and talent were indispensable!
A look of excitement appeared in Bai Ya's eyes.
"Little girl, we can let you leave safely, but you need to hand over your Spiritual Master cultivation technique to us!"
Upon hearing this, Li Erhu immediately became displeased.
"No way, I want her too! I want both the technique and her!"
An adult's choice is to have it all!
Bai Ya glanced at him, cursing inwardly.
Who am I?
I'm a villain. Can a villain's words be trusted? If I trick her into handing over the technique first, how can she escape?
"Idiot..." Bai Ya muttered softly.
Ling Qingxue's gaze fell on Li Erhu, and a burst of intensely compressed, scorching vital energy suddenly surged forth.
"Blazing Sun Finger!"
A low-level dark martial skill; it was perfect for her to use now.
It consumed little of her vital energy, yet its power was absolutely sufficient.
In the blink of an eye, the Blazing Sun Finger shot towards Li Erhu, striking him squarely between the eyebrows.
Bang—!
A crimson flower bloomed with a crisp sound, the sound of life slipping away.
Li Erhu died on the spot, and his magical soul-bound beast died with him.
With a single strike, Ling Qingxue had killed a martial artist one rank higher than her.
Bai Ya's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.
"One strike, just one strike! How could she be so powerful?"
Bai Ya began to fear. The power of this martial skill was astonishing, and its speed was too fast to react to; only a First Rank late-stage martial artist could withstand it!
Run!
With this thought in mind, Bai Ya immediately channeled all his vital energy, shattering the mud swamp formation that trapped his magical beast, the Crimson Monkey.
If his natal beast died, he would die too. If he wanted to escape, they had to escape together.
With his beast's assistance, his chances of escape were much higher.
He had barely run a hundred meters when Ling Qingxue, in a blur, closed in on him.
"Our captain is a Second Rank late-stage martial artist. If you kill me, you'll die too. Besides, our captain is nearby. How about you let me go, and we'll all be safe, eh?"
At this point, he could only use the captain of the Wolf Fang Squad to intimidate Ling Qingxue.
A Second Rank late-stage martial artist's vitality was approaching 2000—Ling Qingxue was no match for him!
Watching the two chasing and fleeing, Wu Liang clicked his tongue twice.
"The Grumpy Empress' strength is truly impressive. With such a henchman, I've got nothing to fear in the early stages."
"However, I was hoping to avoid the Wolf Fang Squad. Looks like that's no longer possible."
The Wolf Fang Squad was currently surrounding Zhao Xin and would likely capture her soon, marking her end.
Ling Qingxue's confrontation with the Wolf Fang Squad was simply asking for trouble.
But Li Erhu and Bai Ya must be killed!
Within moments, Ling Qingxue caught up with Bai Ya. Her short alloy blade shot out like a white flash, striking him in the back and causing a large amount of blood to spurt out.
Bai Ya crashed into a large tree, his face turning pale.
"Don't kill me! Our team has many members, with at least ten Second Rank martial artists. Our Wolf Fang team is among the top ten in the entire Linjiang City!"
Ling Qingxue remained silent, her fingertips unleashing another Blazing Sun Finger.
Bai Ya desperately twisted his body to dodge, but the finger still pierced his shoulder, crimson blood pooling on the ground.
Seeing this bloody scene, Ling Qingxue's expression remained unchanged.
Compared to those she had killed before, this was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
Seeing that Ling Qingxue was not going to let him go, Bai Ya's eyes turned bloodshot, and then he unleashed the power of his internal energy.
Bang—!
A loud bang rang out, but it didn't harm Ling Qingxue in the slightest.
"Low vitality is such a hassle."
She could kill, but that didn't mean she could stop Bai Ya from self-destructing.
Her level was still too low. If she possessed Second Rank late-stage vitality or spiritual power, the two of them wouldn't have made a dent.
Now that they were exposed, they would soon attract the attention of the Wolf Fang Squad.
She had to leave with Wu Liang as quickly as possible, but before leaving, she fed the Crimson Monkey's corpse and the Yellow Rock Tiger's corpse to Wu Liang.
[Ding! One First Level late-stage Crimson Monkey consumed. Estimated digestion time: 45 minutes!]
[Ding! One First Level mid-stage Yellow Rock Tiger consumed. Estimated digestion time: 30 minutes!]
Wu Liang smacked his lips twice. His stomach was full again.
A First Level late-stage magical beast should have at least a dozen evolution points.
After all, even a First Level early-stage beast had six points.
This way, his evolution points would exceed 50 in 45 minutes!
Wu Liang stood on Ling Qingxue's shoulder, watching the scenery rush past. "Little Xuexue, can you kill a Second Rank martial artist now?"
Ling Qingxue shook her head slightly.
"It's very difficult to defeat someone of a higher rank. Many of my current techniques are unusable. With my current strength, I can only kill a First Rank late-stage martial artist at most!"
Her martial arts skills and combat awareness were strong, but her vital energy and mental strength were severely lacking.
Wu Liang couldn't offer her any help whatsoever.
If he could provide assistance, she would dare to fight a Second Rank martial artist.
With her dual identity as a Spiritual Master and a Physical Cultivator, her methods were endless. Given the right opportunity, she could even kill a Second Rank early-stage martial artist.
"Little Xuexue, aren't you a reborn Empress? How come you're only this capable? Shouldn't you be able to easily crush a Third Rank martial artist?" Wu Liang scoffed.
Ling Qingxue gritted her teeth.
"Today is the fourth day since my rebirth. Have you even given me time to develop?"
This idiot was driving her crazy every day. Her chest was practically swollen with anger.
Four days were only enough time for an ordinary martial artist to gain a few vitality points.
She was already at her limit to convert all her resources into vitality and reach the First Rank mid-stage.
With enough resources, she probably would have already broken through to the First Rank late-stage.
Even a hero can be brought down by the lack of money; she's not a god!
Wu Liang smiled sullenly, then immediately spent 2 evolution points to upgrade "Supernatural Smell" from level 1 to level 2, and then spent another 5 evolution points to upgrade it to level 3.
[Supernatural Smell lv3: Possesses an unparalleled sense of smell, able to perceive objects within a 400-meter radius.]
There was no choice, he had to spend the points.
Indepencence was the most important thing!