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Chapter 43: Cave by the Cliff

Ignoring Yun Ruoyan’s secret weapons, the two sides were of roughly equal skill. If they were truly to fight seriously, both parties would likely get severe injuries.

But since she’d already decided on killing them all, there wouldn’t be a need to hide the Feilai Blade. Yun Ruoyan was prepared to summon it directly if necessary so as to not drag out the battle.

She unsheathed the sword by her waist and thrust it at Pei Ziao, who pushed Yi Qianying aside and blocked it with his spear.

When the sword and spear clashed, Pei Ziao was pushed back by quite a large force.

Although Yun Ruoyan didn’t retreat, a crack appeared in the sword she currently held.

She’d used the bracelet’s power directly, but because of her recent fight with Wang Kuang, her spiritual energy wasn’t enough to support the bracelet’s full power.

Regardless, after the boost, she was essentially a sixth-rank blademaster, enough to defeat the peak fifth-rank Pei Ziao.

But Pei Ziao’s spear was a high-grade spiritual weapon, whereas Yun Ruoyan’s was just a simple, unadorned sword that her family had given her. As a result, they fought on nearly equal footing.

Although he’d been prepared, Pei Ziao was still shocked to see Yun Ruoyan be able to force him back even with a simple sword.

No, there was no way Yun Ruoyan was simply a fourth-rank blademaster! She must have been hiding her strength all this time!

Pei Ziao threw the spear in Yun Ruoyan’s direction. She leaped up and somersaulted in the air, and the spear brushed past her hair. When her body landed from mid-air, she touched down with only one foot before leaping up again. At the same time, she shielded her body with her sword.

The spear that had shot out turned around in mid-air and headed for Yun Ruoyan once more, but it collided directly with her sword. With a big clatter, the spear was deflected, but the sword in Yun Ruoyan’s hands was cut in two.

“Qingxue, let me borrow your two daggers,” Yun Ruoyan called out to the dazed Lin Qingxue, standing by one side.

“Ah? Here!” Lin Qingxue threw the daggers at her. By the time Yun Ruoyan caught the daggers, the spear was once again in front of her. It took six blows from the dagger before the spear’s onslaught was broken once again.

Lin Qingxue’s twin daggers weren’t spiritual weapons, but they had been forged with quality steel, and were hard enough that Pei Ziao wouldn’t be able to break them with his cultivation.

“You actually managed to defend against my Ninefold Redirection!” Pei Ziao’s face was pale, a thin sheen of sweat appearing on his forehead. Controlling his spear like that in mid-air exhausted a large quantity of spiritual energy.

“Ninefold Redirection?” Yun Ruoyan glanced askance at Pei Ziao and smiled coolly. “You haven’t mastered the technique yet!”

In her past life, although she was restricted by cultivation, her ability to intuit and understand martial techniques wasn’t bad at all. While Pei Ziao was practicing the moves that Pei Yingxiong had imparted to him, she would always be able to identify his deficiencies in one glance.

Once, she had seen this exact technique in use while the two of them were practicing in the yard.

She’d been bringing Pei Ziao tea and was only able to sneak a few glances at the technique, but that was all it took for her to remember the general trajectory of the spear.

Unfortunately, she’d never learned the chant corresponding to the technique, or she’d have been able to use it herself as well, and at a level not too far off from Pei Yingxiong’s.

“Now, it’s my turn to attack!” Yun Ruoyan pointed the dagger in her right hand at Pei Ziao, her sharp gaze seeming to be even colder than the edge of the blade.

“What’re you all waiting for? Let’s all attack together!” Yi Qianying anxiously called out. “Yun Ruoyan’s going to kill us all, and if Brother Ziao dies, none of us will be able to escape!”

Yun Ruoyan’s killing intent was so obvious that they were all fearful.

“Yun Ruoyan, since blood relations mean nothing to you, we won’t hold back either!” Yun Ruoyao called out before looking at Yun Ruoyu. The two girls raised their swords as one and began to attack Yun Ruoyan, and Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng also joined the fray.

“Brother Zhuo, be careful... Qingchen, attack her feet!”

Because Lin Qingxue had loaned her daggers to Yun Ruoyan, she could only look on from behind, so anxious she was jumping up and down.

Zhuo Yifeng had already used up all his arrows in the battles earlier, and now, he could only use his bow as a weapon against Yun Ruoyao. Their cultivation levels were relatively close, but Yun Ruoyao’s weapon was easier to handle, so their fight was relatively even.

Lin Qingchen also didn’t seem to be at a gross disadvantage even though she was facing both Yi Qianying and Yun Ruoyu.

On the other hand, Pei Ziao had only been retreating under Yun Ruoyan’s onslaught, his wrists and legs both cut by Yun Ruoyan’s daggers, and it seemed that he was hovering near death.

“Sister Ruoyan, cut him, cut him, see if he still dares to bring us into a den of snakes!” Lin Qingxue called out maliciously. The snake den had been the most disgusting and frightening place she’d been in her entire life, and she hated Pei Ziao all the more for it.

But Zhuo Lin’er’s small face became severe, and she didn’t even seem to be focused on her brother. “The beasts in the valley are rampaging,” she muttered, tugging on Lin Qingxue’s sleeve.

“What did you say?”

Lin Qingxue’s eyes were glued on the battle in front, and she wasn’t paying attention to what Zhuo Lin’er said.

By the time she processed her words, loud, echoing howls were already coming from the valley.

Those berserk-like howls were enough to make the entire valley shake and shudder.

“What’s the matter?!”

It was so loud and disconcerting that everyone stopped fighting and looked in the direction of the cliff.

“Qianying, shouldn’t the beasts have ingested your powder by now?” Yun Ruoyao frowned as she looked toward Yi Qianying and asked.

Everyone’s gaze landed on Yi Qianying.

She appeared to be a little flustered; when she’d entered the valley with everyone, she had indeed been sprinkling powder on all the beast carcasses she could see. That powder would cause the beasts to fall into drowsiness as soon as they consumed those carcasses.

And if the beasts had truly consumed the carcasses, then they should have fallen asleep, so why were they rampaging? Yi Qianying didn’t know either.

“Perhaps these beasts are so strong that my powder wasn’t enough to subdue them.” This was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with.

As soon as Yi Qianying finished speaking, the ground began to tremble as four mystic-eyed lions rushed out from the valley entrance.

Although it was nighttime, their lantern-like eyes saw the few people in the forest in an instant.

Magical beasts were intelligent, and they grew even more so the higher their tier. They’d thought nothing of this group of people, but while they were feeding on the beast carcasses just now, they found that they were becoming dizzier and dizzier as they ate.

Very quickly, they guessed that it must have been the group of humans that did something, and had chased them all the way out here in rage.

“Mistress, don’t just stand around, run!” Qiuqiu reminded her.

Yun Ruoyan glanced at Pei Ziao and Yi Qianying, gritting her teeth. Just you wait, I’ll come back for you later!

“Zhuo Yifeng, do you have your sister? Everyone, run!” Yun Ruoyan gestured at the Lin siblings as she began running toward a certain direction.

Pei Ziao, Yun Ruoyao, and Yun Ruoyu were also about to run when Yi Qianying motioned for them to wait.

The others looked at her curiously and saw her take out a small porcelain bottle from her lap. She uncorked it and a faint mist emanated from the bottle. Yi Qianying blew the mist in the direction of Yun Ruoyan’s group, and it began to spread.

“The beasts will follow this scent, so we’ll be fine as long as we escape in the opposite direction.” Saying this, Yi Qianying tugged on Pei Ziao’s hand as she began moving.

Yun Ruoyao and Yun Ruoyu followed behind them.

“Hey, if you had such a useful thing, why didn’t you use it earlier?!” Yun Ruoyu called out from behind. They’d encountered several groups of beasts before during the expedition, and the only reason Yi Qianying had escaped unscathed was because the others had been protecting her.

“This beast-attracting mist is particularly difficult to concoct, and I only have enough to use it in life-and-death situations.”

“You mean, only when your life’s on the balance.” Yun Ruoyu wrinkled her nose and muttered acidly.

“Ruoyu, stop it.” Yun Ruoyao glanced at Yun Ruoyu, before looking at the backs of the couple ahead of them.

She didn’t expect her cousin to have such useful skills, and it seemed as if she’d have to make more of an effort to get on her good side in the future.

In the other direction, the beasts continued to chase Yun Ruoyan’s group following Yi Qianying’s mist-like substance.

“Why are they only chasing us again?!” Lin Qingxue screamed as she ran.

Everyone knew that this was likely something that Yi Qianying had done.

Her past life, after marrying into the Peis, Yun Ruoyan had cut off all relations with Yi Qianying, all the way until the night before she had died. This was why she had been wholly unaware of Yi Qianying’s skills.

Yi Qianying, Pei Ziao, both of you need to die!

“Ah, they’ve almost caught up.” Lin Qingxue turned around and saw the four mystic-eyed lions pressing toward their party like four small mountains, scaring her so much that she mustered up her last reserves of energy and flew to the front of the group.

The four lions had been drugged, after all, and in their dizziness, they’d battered down countless small trees and riled up whole clouds of dust and stone, but this only caused them to chase after Yun Ruoyan’s group in even more of a rage, as if they wouldn’t rest until they tore Yun Ruoyan’s group to pieces!

“There’s a trail of vines up ahead!” Lin Qingxue pointed at a cliffside in the distance before rushing over, climbing the vines up the cliff without hesitation.

Yun Ruoyan and the others followed suit.

This cliff was even steeper than that at the valley entrance, but luckily, there were a lot of vines all over the cliffside.

Each of these vines was thick and sturdy, climbing up and down the cliff, and the slender outgrowths had perfectly integrated into the cliffside, sprouting and growing until the whole cliffside had been covered.

Yun Ruoyan raised her head, trying to see what lay at the top of the cliff under the bright moonlight. The cliff was unusually tall, and it seemed to protrude all the way into the dark heavens, so she couldn’t see its peak no matter how far back she leaned.

Suddenly, the whole cliff began to shudder. The four lions had seen Yun Ruoyan’s group climb up, and they were all battering themselves against the base of the cliff, trying to knock the party down.

The group hesitated for a little during the commotion before continuing to climb once more. There was a cave about twenty meters up, and they’d be safe as long as they could get inside!

They just didn’t know if it was big enough for all five of them.

Zhuo Yifeng took the lead and found that, although it was somewhat narrow, it was deep enough for all of them.

After putting Zhuo Lin’er down, he leaned out the face of the cave and stretched a hand out toward Yun Ruoyan.

“Give me your hand!”

Yun Ruoyan, who was near the cave entrance herself, placed her hand in Zhuo Yifeng’s grasp, and he hoisted her up easily.

Then, both of them helped the Lin sisters up. Only when everyone was in the cave did Yun Ruoyan finally take a breath.

The reverberations from the beasts had decreased significantly.

“Ruoyan, Qingchen, look!” Lin Qingxue leaned out of the cave as she looked down. “Those beasts seem to be out of energy.”

The cave entrance wasn’t wide, and it was a little cramped for all three of them there. Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen slowly made their way to the entrance and looked down.

Those beasts really were using less and less strength. Not long after, they fell to the floor in a slumbering heap.

“Rather than being out of strength, it’s likely that Yi Qianying’s powder has taken effect,” Lin Qingchen muttered. “Who knew Yi Qianying actually had some capabilities?”

“That’s amazing!” Lin Qingxue almost jumped in excitement. “Let’s go down, go down! Four high-tier beast cores are waiting for us!”

“Qingxue, be careful!” Yun Ruoyan quickly pulled Lin Qingxue back before looking at her reproachfully. At times, her cousin really was too energetic for her own good.

Lin Qingxue stuck out her tongue, not minding Yun Ruoyan’s expression, as she continued to lean out of the cave.

“Let’s go down now!” She continued impatiently.

“No, we should wait.” Zhuo Yifeng shook his head. “Beasts at the higher tiers can be particularly cunning, and this might be a trick.”