“He! He!”
On a deserted plain, the entire sky was covered with blade-shaped monsters. It looked like locusts were filling the air. Jiang Yi guessed that there were close to a million of them there. Among the dense group of monsters, a beautiful lady was fighting for her life, charging towards them with all her might.
The beautiful face was drained of all color, and cold beads of perspiration dripped from her forehead, causing her fringe to plaster to her head. Her eyes were filled with explosive rage. Her posture was no longer elegant and graceful like before. Instead, she was moving at extreme speeds through the group of monsters, trying to avoid the blades flying towards her at all costs.
The aura emanating from her body was becoming weaker and weaker, and she was slowing down considerably. She looked extremely tired as if she had already swum five thousand kilometers in a deep sea, but she still could not see any sign of shallower waters or an island ahead.
“Qi Qingchen, come down! I’ll purify your baneful aura for you!”
A crisp voice could be heard in that beautiful woman’s mind. Her eyes lit up just slightly as her soft sword continued to dance and cut at the seven or eight Sword Emanations Race beings surrounding her. Her body flew downwards like a dart.
Buzz!
In midair below her, a golden light suddenly appeared. More than a hundred Xiaozhuan characters which emitted a sacred aura danced around and lifted upwards. They did not enter Qi Qingchen’s head. Instead, they turned one round around her and then collapsed.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Thorns shot down from the sky like rain. Qi Qingchen’s dancing soft sword swept them out of the way, but Jiang Yi did not manage to defend himself in time. His body fell downwards quickly, and he landed hard on the valley below. The Art of Concealment could conceal his body but could not make him turn into a phantom.
“Jiang Yi, hang in there!”
Qi Qingchen shouted, her body rejuvenated again. Once again, she flew upwards, attracting the attention of countless Sword Emanations Race beings above. However, some Sword Emanations Race beings were still headed downwards, planning to slaughter Jiang Yi.
Buzz!
Fresh blood poured out of Jiang Yi’s mouth, but he could not be bothered to wipe it away. At once, he concealed himself once again, and his body disappeared in the distance within the valley. The Sword Emanations Race beings that were chasing him suddenly lost their target. All they could do was turn back and surround Qi Qingchen again.
“Qi Qingchen, I’m alright. Hang in there. You will break through soon enough. When we get back, I will introduce a handsome man to you. He’s both good-looking and dashing. He carries himself well, and he works well, too. I promise you will be satisfied…”
The voice rang in Qi Qingchen’s ears once again, and her face flushed red immediately. In a clear, angry tone, she said, “Jiang Yi, if you keep talking about this nonsense to me, I will personally drown you when we get back!”
“Hahaha, if you want to drown me, you will have to make sure you survive this.”
Jiang Yi’s loud laugh echoed in Qi Qingchen’s head, but he did not send any more voice transmissions to her. Everything around them was silent. All that could be heard was Qi Qingchen’s shouts, and the sound of the Sword Emanations Race beings attacking her continuously.
Qi Qingchen’s eyes were filled with shame and anger, but she had been perked up considerably. She knew in her heart that Jiang Yi was saying all of these things so that she would pull herself together and pull through. He wanted her to survive.
He works well?
These three words kept replaying in her mind, causing her face to flush once again. She had never eaten pork or seen a pig run, and yet even though she had never seen a pig run, she had heard about what it looked like and had imagined what it would look like. Qi Qingchen’s heart became excited like it had never been before. This was the first time she was being teased by a man. She had never felt this way before. She did feel much more energized than before.
“This bastard… just wait for me to come back alive. I will surely hang him outside the army camp for three days and three nights! No… I will hang him for ten days and ten nights!” Qi Qingchen shouted through gritted teeth. The soft sword in her hands kept dancing around as she charged forward.
Just like that, two hours, four hours… six hours passed!
Each time Qi Qingchen felt like she could not take it any longer, she would go down and look for Jiang Yi. Jiang Yi would endure any attacks that the Sword Emanations Race beings dealt him and do his best to cleanse Qi Qingchen of the baneful aura. Both of them kept encouraging each other. From time to time, Jiang Yi would offer nonsense to Qi Qingchen. Together, they endured hardship and advanced forward. Qi Qingchen kept making progress with fighting the Sword Emanations Race beings.
Qi Qingchen did not know how many times she had been stabbed already. Her entire body was screaming in pain, and her internal organs had been damaged long ago. No matter how Jiang Yi teased her now, she could not find it in her to become re-energized. She was already extremely weak. Both of her arms were now numb. They were only dancing around on their own like robots now.
Jiang Yi was quite seriously injured as well. He was no Qi Qingchen; his body was too weak. He did not dare to even use his power of heaven and earth. If he did, he would be even weaker. He would not be able to keep up with Qi Qingchen for sure.
Although he could rest while he waited below and he could swallow recuperation medicine after recuperation medicine, he still needed to consume his energy and powers to maintain the Art of Concealment. Many times, he nearly passed out. If not for his will, he would have passed out in the valley a long time ago.
Eight hours!
Qi Qingchen was already reaching her limit. She was on the brink of a breakdown. Finally, Jiang Ji realized that there were considerably fewer Sword Emanations Race beings in front of them. He perked himself up and sent a voice transmission over: “Qi Qingchen, we’re making it out of here. You just need to hang on for a little while more.”
Qi Qingchen used her divine senses to scan the surroundings. Her dark expression lit up just a little bit. However, this hesitation caused seven or eight more blades to stab her back. She coughed up a mouthful of blood, and her numb arms continued to dance with difficulty. Her will to live was firing her entire body, squeezing every ounce of energy left in her. She had to survive this, for her family and her clansmen. For Wintry Domain, she had to live on.
Swish! Swish!
Finally, Qi Qingchen broke out of the group. She looked down and locked in her gaze on Jiang Yi. “Come up here, I’ll bring you out!”
“Alright!”
Jiang Yi did not try to act tough. Qi Qingchen moved much faster than he did. If she left on her own, the Sword Emanations Race beings would turn their focus on him instead. Once they locked in on him, he would be stabbed to death by them for sure.
As quickly as a breeze, he flew up behind Qi Qingchen. Then, he held onto her like an octopus. Qi Qingchen immediately became both ashamed and angry. “Get off me. I can get you out with just one hand. Little bastard, are you trying to take advantage of me?”
“Oh, oh! I forgot.”
Jiang Yi quickly got off Qi Qingchen. At the same time, he used his Xiaozhuan characters to cleanse Qi Qingchen of the baneful aura. With a single hand, she grabbed him; with her other hand, she flew forward as quickly as she could by releasing a powerful, wind-elemental nomological mystical ability, the Clean-Sweeping Hurricane.
Hoo-Hoo!
The winds kept raging, and the wind dragons kept flying around. The Sword Emanations Race beings behind them got thrown off their path one by one. Qi Qingchen led Jiang Yi out, flying like their lives depended on it. They kept pulling away from the Sword Emanations Race beings behind them. At that moment, both of them heaved a huge sigh of relief. They exchanged a meaningful look, their gazes filled with joy and amusement. Escaping death could always fill one’s heart with immense and unparalleled joy.
Both of them had fresh blood dripping from the corners of their mouths. Qi Qingchen especially looked very pale. Yet, even with blood dripping from the corner of her lips, she looked exceptionally beautiful when she smiled. Anyone looking at her would feel moved with love.
“Alright, we’re finally free!”
After flying at top speed for a full hour and after ensuring that no more Sword Emanations Race beings were visible in the sky behind them, Qi Qingchen finally slowed down. She retrieved a serving of recuperation medicine and swallowed it down with a gulp of saliva mixed with blood. She looked around and said, “Jiang Yi, I need to rest for a while. Guard me later on!”
“Alright!”
Jiang Yi was extremely exhausted as well. However, without any hesitation, he agreed. If Qi Qingchen could recover her battle skills, both of them would be completely safe. Qi Qingchen resumed flying for a while until they found a small river. Then, they both flew downwards.
Buzz!
At that moment, the space in front of them seemed to fluctuate slightly. Qi Qingchen’s expression turned hard. At once, she readied her weapon, which wriggled around like a venomous snake, stabbing towards their front.
However—
At the exact same time, spatial fluctuations appeared on their right as well. A flute thrust outwards out of thin air, towards Jiang Yi, who was beside Qi Qingchen.
Ordinarily, Qi Qingchen would be able to react almost immediately. However, her body was extremely weak then, and she took much longer to react. Seeing that Jiang Yi was about to be killed before her very eyes, she instinctively pushed him out of the way. Yet, she had no time to move out of the flute’s way herself. Just like that, she took the blow for him!
