"Little Bun, what are you trying to do?" Wang Xuzhi anxiously grabbed onto her hand.
"If we simply wait like this, we will only lose. We have to try something."
"You will die!"
"I won't!" Zhu Yao turned her head, smiled, and habitually stroked Wang Xuzhi's head. "Wait for me, little wimp!"
When he heard this, Wang Xuzhi suddenly widened his eyes, as though he had just heard something shocking, he stared right at her. That name in his heart resounded greatly.
His grip suddenly tightened for a moment. "You're…"
With a turn of Zhu Yao's sword, the sword hilt in her hand easily knocked onto his nape. He was already severely weakened to begin with, hence, he instantly fainted.
"Chen Yi, take care of him!"
Not caring the three's shocked expressions, she shakily walked towards the demonic beast which was making its breakthrough. If there's one thing she learnt from desperately practicing her sword techniques with her master for these three years…
That would only be the perseverance… of seeking to get beaten!
Zhu Yao circulated all of her spiritual energy, and gathered them onto the sword in her hands. With the supplement of spiritual power, the lightning on the sword's blade grew even bigger, and continued to extend, to the point where a gigantic lightning sword was formed.
In situations like this, any deep and profound Mystic Art would be of no use. All she could do was to go head-on.
Zhu Yao rose to the skies, and swung her sword, striking towards the Risefire Beast which was in the center of spiritual disturbance. When the purple lightning made contact with the black flames, sparks instantly flew in all directions, and it actually suppressed an entire half of the black flames. Lightning was the bane of all demonic beasts. Other than natural lightning beasts, no demonic beasts possessed resistance against lightning. Currently, she could only rely on this fact to make a last stand. However, that large-scaled Lightning Guiding Art had already used up too much of her spiritual power, and currently, she could only use the tiny bit of the strength she had left to make a death struggle.
And, the more she approached the demonic beast, the stronger the resistive force. She felt that her body was already left with only a small amount of spiritual energy, and her entire body was in severe pain. However, she no longer had the thought to mind about it. Even if blood were to pour out from her hearts and lungs, and blood were to spew out from her mouth like a water tap, she knew that she could not afford to retreat.
If she were to take a step back, the people behind her would only have death waiting for them.
She was not a heroine. Even more so, not a saint. She did not have the interest to sacrifice herself for the sake of others. The reason why she was struggling so much, was because she really would not die. She did not know why, but she felt that her resurrection that time, was not by coincidence. Even if she were to die again this time, she could return all the same.
Ever since she knew the reason why she was in this world, was to fix the "BUG" Xiao Yi, she was all the more undoubtful of this fact.
Probably, she completely did not have to this. Because, no matter if the demonic beast's breakthrough is successful or not, the people here will all die. The moment Xiao Yi dies, the BUG will naturally disappear, and the five elemental Spirits, will not be brought to the Higher Realm by him. Naturally, her mission will be completed, and she might even be able to return to her former world because of this.
However, Xiao Yi was not the only person here. There was Chen Yi, there's Lu Cha, and especially, there's Wang Xuzhi, the kid she watched growing up since he was young. To have her give up on little wimp's little life for an unclear "BUG", forget about Doctor Wang, who had entrusted little wimp to her, strangling her to death as a ghost, she herself would even cast herself away. She was not that much of an asshole.
This did not have to do with morals, nor did it have to do with the bigger picture. This was simply the most basic conscience of being human, and it was also the last line she would not cross.
She was never anything like a heroic person, the reason why she swung her sword, was simply because she was still human!
No matter if she had seemingly exhausted her spiritual power, limitless fighting spirit was surging from Zhu Yao's heart, as though a string in her heart was suddenly pulled, causing her to find something that she had never been able to find, which had suddenly became open and clear.
The sword in her hands lost its lightning due to the exhaustion of spiritual energy, and Zhu Yao's figure of a woman carrying a sword, was instantly engulfed by the black flames. Even Chen Yi and the two others could not help but lower their heads. As expected, they were still unable to escape.
Suddenly, a bird cry rang throughout the clouds. A white flash of lightning suddenly broke through from within the black flames, soaring towards the high skies. And then, a gigantic phoenix was formed, its body was circled with sparks of lightning. As though it was a divine bird which had been directly formed by lightning, it had an enchanting, imposing aura that could sweep everything away.
"This is…" Chen Yi stared blankly at this phoenix which had suddenly appeared.
"It's Sword Intent!" WIth a subtle look, Xiao Yi raised his head and looked at that phoenix, a divine bird, which had a vast imposing aura. "She comprehended it."
"Sword… Sword Intent?" Chen Yi was even more shocked. Was Sword Intent not supposed to be a sword? Why did it have a shape of a phoenix?
The phoenix in the sky opened up its wings which were flashing with sparks of lightning, and charged down from the sky, flying straight towards the demonic beast on the ground. The black flames which would not bulge even by an inch, was swept by the lightning, and was instantly extinguished, while the demonic beast in the middle had already been pressed unmoving onto the ground by the phoenix's pressure. The phoenix scratched with its claw, and instantly, the Risefire Beast which was forcefully breaking through, was torn into several pieces.
The phoenix once again cried towards the sky, before its white figure slowly disappeared.
The spiritual energy disturbance instantly quietened down as well, and only Zhu Yao's body which was filled with blood could be seen standing beside the stack of that demonic beast's scattered meat.
Zhu Yao, who finally could not hold on any longer, took a deep, deep breath. Her mouth, and her body, were all bleeding out blood which could not be patched up even if she tried. The jade pendant on her neck, which was flashing with a soft white light, slowly reverted to its original color as well.
This was the first time she found out that someone could even bleed like this. Clearly, she felt that her blood was almost drained out, yet, there were still fresh blood pouring out continuously.
Her body swayed for several moments, before collapsing towards the ground.
Chen Yi and the rest finally reacted, and hurried over. Chen Yi reached out his hand to hold her, preventing the fate of her face being planted onto the ground. He carefully investigated, and found out that her meridians had seemingly been torn apart, and even her Azoth Core was at the verge of shattering.
"Can you still hold on!? Junior-martial sister Bun!"
Zhu Yao almost spat out a mouthful of blood on his face. Your sister's a bun!
Seeing that he himself was barely able to hold on, yet, still sent her his spiritual energy, she held it in.
Seeing Zhu Yao who only had a single breath left, and her body was covered entirely in blood, the expressions of the three people present were actually different.
Chen Yi was shocked. This little martial sister was the weakest in their group, with the cultivation of an early-stage Azoth. In the beginning, he was a little worried that she would pull everyone down, but he never expected that the one who saved him in the end was actually her.
Xiao Yi was silent. Recalling that lightning phoenix earlier, he tightened his fists. He had always believed that the so-called Sword Intent, was another sharp sword in a practitioner's heart, yet, he never expected that Sword Intent could actually possess such a shape as well.
As for Lu Cha, she had completely yet to regain her senses from her earlier fright, and her entire body was still trembling.
As for Wang Xuzhi…
Mn… He was still unconscious. He had not woken up.
Zhu Yao silently thought about that earlier strike of hers, if she was actually a little too ruthless with that knock.
"Senior-martial uncle Xiao, just how did you offend this demonic beast?" Seeing Zhu Yao had gotten a little better, only then did Chen Yi recall the reason for this situation. These two demonic beasts were mother and son. The higher the rank of a demonic beast, the harder it was to give birth. Just like a demonic beast such as this Risefire Beast, it would not easily leave their newborn beast by itself. And, if they had not encountered something special, the demonic beasts would not have attacked while putting their lives at stake.
A hint of fluster instantly flashed past Xiao Yi's expression, and he immediately reverted to his serious look. "We have indeed found See-Through Leaf Grass over there, and because of a moment of carelessness, we startled the mother beast. Junior-martial nephew Zhao and I was unable to fight it, and just when we planned on retreating, we did not expect that the rest of you had already killed the newborn beast. Probably because of this reason, the mother beast unleashed her brutal personality."
Chen Yi frowned. "You guys really did not find anything else?"
"Indeed, we did not." Xiao Yi firmly shook his head.
Yet, Zhu Yao felt a slight chill in her heart. She was definitely sure that he had already obtained the Heavenpulse Lotus, otherwise, that demonic beast would not have chased after the three of them so anxiously, and it would not have let her newborn beast to follow Lu Cha either. She had not forgotten, that newborn beast appeared while following after Lu Cha. Looking at how Xiao Yi was behaving, he would not be taking out the Heavenpulse Lotus no matter what.
Realizing that he could not get any answers from his questioning, Chen Yi did not push it any further. He looked a little desolately at the corpses of his sect brothers and sisters not far away. Danger was lurking everywhere in this Secret Realm, there was even a seventh-rank demonic beast at the outer area.
"I did not expect to encounter two high-grade demonic beasts the moment we enter the Secret Realm." He turned his head and looked at the corpse of the two demonic beasts. "Looks like we have to put even more caution as our highest priority."
Zhu Yao nodded in agreement. "Fortunately, it's only a newborn beast, if it was…"
Wait a minute! A scary thought popped out in Zhu Yao's mind, her face instantly paled. She shakily pointed at the corpses of the two demonic beasts. "Earlier, we killed a newborn beast, and a mother beast. Then… where is it's dad?"
Rooooar~~~
As though it was to answer her query, a familiar roar resounded from the forest.
The faces of the other three instantly ashened as well.
The hell! Is there even an end to this!?
"Chen Yi, bring Wang Xuzhi and head for the exit." Zhu Yao said solemnly. "Xiao Yi, Lu Cha, the two of you head to the left, I will head right. We will separate into three directions, run!"
Xiao Yi nodded, and seemingly did not hesitate to pull Lu Cha who was still in a daze, and flew quickly towards the left with his flying sword. They no longer had any battle strength, if another demonic beast were to come, forget about a seventh-rank, even if it was a fourth-rank, they would not have the strength to retaliate either. Splitting up and running was their only chance at survival.
"Junior-martial sister Bun, then, you…" Chen Yi had already summoned his flying sword as well, and looked a little hesitantly at the heavily injured Zhu Yao.
However, Zhu Yao did not even turn her head around. While summoning her own sword, she sharply said. "Head out of the Secret Realm immediately, no matter what happens, do not turn back."
Chen Yi sighed, before holding the unconscious Wang Xuzhi, and flew towards the exit.
Seemingly at the same time, Zhu Yao flew in another direction with her flying sword as well. Earlier, when she forcefully used her Sword Intent, it had seemingly tore and disfigure her meridians to such a state. When she once again forcefully circulated her spiritual energy, her wounds burst apart, and fresh blood endlessly flowed out.
Currently, she could only pray that demonic beast fails in the intelligence department. She purposefully separated everyone apart. One, it was to shift away the demonic beast's attention, and two, Lu Cha was not injured, as long as she did not seek death, it should be more than enough for them to flee. As for Chen Yi and Wang Xuzhi, the direction they were heading to was the Secret Realm's exit, the distance was not far, and the demonic beast was unable to leave the Secret Realm as well. And she's only a single person, a small target, the demonic beast should not simply chase after her…
Rooooar~~~~
The hell, it really came chasing after her!
Zhu Yao turned her head and looked at the demonic beast which had a three-stories height behind her. As he chased, sand and rocks scattered in the air. She instantly thought of lighting up a hundred candles¹ for her own luck.
The hell was it chasing after her for? Your mother! She was only a single person, why did it even chase her? Was it trying to bully a single lady?
¹Lighting up a candle: Giving a moment of silence.