A few minutes before Xuefeng started taunting the bandits, the group spent some time analyzing the situation to find the best way they could kill them. The plan they ended up with, was to lure Thousand Blades outside and kill him before they would be attacked by all the other bandits.
"But what is this trap that he wants to use on us? Do you know about it?" Xuefeng asked Xiao Wen after they finally thought of a solution. It would be best if they understood the mechanics of it just in case.
"It's a very expensive imitation of a domain, but instead of Elemental Qi, it uses massive amounts of Spirit Qi to slow down the enemy. It doesn't have any other effects but the one it has alone is too much. If I'm not wrong it can slow the enemy up to ten percent of their speed. It doesn't sound like much but it would be enough of an advantage for him. For a battle of two Sages, ten percent is huge." Xiao Wen explained, sharing all the information she knew.
"Does it have any disadvantages? Can it move together with him?" Wuying asked curiously, also being the one who will fight with them.
Xiao Wen shook her head and added, "No, that's the main disadvantage it has. It needs a lot of Spirit Stones so it needs to be set up in one place without being moved else it would collapse. I guess he placed it in front of the bandit's hideout. It is easy to feel the borders of it if one knows where to look. I will tell you where it is."
"Alright, I'll send my clone and taunt them into leaving, what do you think?" Xuefeng proposed as he glanced at his clone, who stood next to him on the side. He did not want to risk anything this early with his own body in case Thousand Blades turned out to be crazy.
"I think that would work on the normal bandits but I doubt he would fall for that. He survived like a cockroach for so long, so I do not think he is that dumb." Xiao Wen thought for a moment but shook her head, knowing it wouldn't work on their main target.
"I know. For him, I planned to use something different. How about…" Xuefeng nodded, already thinking of something else and approached Xiao Wen who was leaning on the tree, whispering the whole plan into her ear.
Wuying did not hear what Xuefeng was whispering, but she could see Xiao Wen's face blushing the more she heard which made her extremely curious. The moment Xuefeng pulled away from Xiao Wen, she quickly called out, "I am not going to do it with your clone. It has to be you or no deal…"
"Alright. We can do that when my other taunts won't work. Prepare yourself." Xuefeng nodded as he winked at her playfully, not planning to use his clone for that either. His wink made her blush more but she could only nod, knowing herself it was the best method to lure Thousand Blades out of hiding.
Wuying, who couldn't wait anymore out of curiosity, tugged on Xuefeng's shirt and asked while pouting, "What were you guys talking about? What plan did you think of?"
"We plan to use Wen as bait to lure him out. If he sees me hugging her or something, he'll become irritated and probably attack us. Wen will tell you the details. I will start my part of the plan now." Xuefeng smiled apologetically and explained it to Wuying while patting her head before sitting down, ready to control his clone.
Just as he closed his eyes, the clone's eyes opened and he smiled towards the ladies. Somehow when they watched the clone, they did not feel good as it did not have the same vibe that they all loved in Xuefeng, or maybe it was because they knew he wasn't real.
When the clone walked away towards the bandit hideout, Wuying glanced at the real Xuefeng before approaching Xiao Wen and questioned in a whisper, "What do you guys have to do together? Is it only a hug…?"
"He said we can kiss if that wouldn't work… We need to make Thousand Blades convinced that I'm with Xuefeng…" Xiao Wen explained, getting more excited about it happening than how she thought she would.
"What? Xuefeng and sister will kiss?" Yiren asked in shock as she joined the conversation. She was listening from the side quietly but hearing such news she had to join.
"Mhmm, we need to trick the bad guy into going out so we can kill him, and he really cares about Wen so that will definitely hurt him," Wuying explained as she already understood the situation and did not mind it that much, but Yiren suddenly hugged her sister, calling out while staring into her eyes suspiciously, "Sis, do you like Xuefeng? You seem to be really happy about it…"
One didn't need to look much to notice how Xiao Wen looked at Xuefeng right now. Earlier she was hiding her feelings, but she didn't anymore since she finally confessed to him. Even Yiren was able to see the loving look Xiao Wen was sending towards Xuefeng, recognizing it cause they were all behaving the same.
Seeing Yiren's stare, Xiao Wen looked down and asked quietly, "Can't I like him? You seem to not like that idea..."
"No, no. You can… Earlier I was just joking because I never thought you would like him… If you told me earlier we would've helped you… We are sisters, you know? We should support each other." Yiren quickly shook her head before acting like the big sister she was. Xiao Wen already behaved like one of them, and Xuefeng was the one who proposed this idea so Yiren guessed that he also wanted it.
"I'm sorry… I should have told you earlier…" Xiao Wen smiled apologetically and hugged Yiren where Wuying followed. The three of them hugged together and giggled to each other before starting to talk about what they liked about Xuefeng.
"You guys know that I need to focus?" Suddenly Xuefeng asked them without opening his eyes, which caused them all to quieten down, whispering to each other instead. Xuefeng didn't mind them bonding together but he really had to focus.
...….
Back in the time where Xuefeng called out to Thousand Blades, the one in question only laughed and replied smugly, "Haha, your tricks won't work on me. Stop playing around and bring Xiao Wen here. You are not worthy enough to be my opponent."
"Haha, yeah, she told me about you. You seemed to have confessed to her many times, but each time she rejected you." Xuefeng laughed hearing that and informed him with a self-satisfied smile on his face before asking, "How do you feel when I'm the one who has her?"
Thousand Blades' face instantly turned ugly to which Xuefeng added, "What? You didn't know? Xiao Wen is my woman. Those cherry lips, perfect body and porcelain skin, all for myself. Tell me how does it feel knowing that the woman you love is being with someone else? My last night with her was so passionate, mhmm—"
Xuefeng could see that Thousand Blades' was boiling the more he heard and just as expected, before he could even finish describing his love for Xiao Wen, Thousand Blades threw his dagger at him while crying out, "Shut up! She is mine!"
The thrown dagger was much faster than before when it was aimed at Wuying and out of nowhere, a golden halo appeared around it, doubling the daggers many times until there were a few hundred of them heading towards Xuefeng.
In front of Xuefeng, a thick earth wall suddenly raised up from the ground but that didn't stop the daggers at all just as he expected. Many of them passed through the wall without even losing their velocity and reached their target, turning Xuefeng clone's body into a sieve.
Just as the daggers passed through Xuefeng, Thousand Blades noticed that something wasn't quite right, feeling it would be impossible for Xiao Wen to let him kill her little boy and muttered out loud, "Something is not right. He's not real… It's a clone!"
"Haha," Just as he figured that out, the clone dissipated and he heard a sound of laughter coming from the distance, followed by Xuefeng's voice, "Of course. Do you think I would walk up to you just like that?"
As Xuefeng walked out of the trees, this time he was accompanied by Xiao Wen which made Thousand Blades squint his eyes as he glared at him. His first glance landed on Xuefeng's hand which was holding Xiao Wen's waist intimately. He couldn't help but mutter her name as she saw the pretty red hair falling on her shoulders, "Xiao Wen…"
"Yeah, Xiao Wen who you wanted so much this whole time is within my arms right now. She is mine and there is nothing you can do about it." Xuefeng taunted as he pulled Xiao Wen into his arms, pressing her chest against his body while his hands held her tightly, roaming on her back.
What triggered Thousand Blades more was the look in Xiao Wen's eyes which she was giving Xuefeng as she listened to what he had to say. For him, there was only a look of disdain, but for an unknown kid with pitiful cultivation, Xiao Wen was all loving and filled with care.
Xiao Wen, on the other hand, was extremely happy from hearing Xuefeng's confession. In front of everyone, he said that she was his. Even if they were just pretending, she would never forget those words. Seeing his lips this close to her, Xiao Wen leaned over earlier than originally planned by Xuefeng and sealed them, deciding to take what she wanted, using this opportunity to the fullest potential.
When Thousand Blades saw Xiao Wen initiating the kiss, something inside him snapped. Not only did his heart start hurting, but his mind started getting cloudy with only the image of them kissing inside.
Xiao Wen tasted Xuefeng's lips as her hands wrapped around his neck. She stood on her toes as she was a little shorter than him, but that did not bother her as long as she could kiss the person she loved. She didn't care that hundreds of people were watching her and rather found it more exciting. Right there Xiao Wen was announcing to everyone that she was his and that Xuefeng was her man for the years to come.
"Why…? Why…?! Why?!" Thousand Blades asked louder each time as he watched the love of his life making out with another man. He was asking her, but she didn't respond. She didn't even react. For her now Xuefeng was everything, she wanted to focus her mind, her soul and her whole body.
"I asked why!?" Thousand Blades cried once again but this time his legs moved on their own. He started running towards them repeating the same question over and over again, "Why?! Tell me why?!"
Boom!
Just as he was about to reach them, Xiao Wen reached out her hand and a loud blast of air exploded from her hand, blowing Thousand Blade away from them. Xuefeng thought that maybe it was enough but Xiao Wen didn't want to stop, continuing to kiss him, with their tongues joining the party.
They now had the perfect opportunity to take Thousand Blades out, but Xiao Wen wanted to live through this moment a little bit more, not caring about him at all. Wuying was hiding as a shadow and watched them kiss passionately, recalling her own first kiss with Xuefeng in the process. She was sure that her own wasn't this intense and hot as Xiao Wen's experience right now.
Even with Thousand Blades not raising any protection against Xiao Wen's attack, he wasn't hurt much and landed on the ground with a loud thud as if a sack of potatoes was thrown instead of a body. He raised his head and looked back at Xiao Wen only to see her still ignoring him even though he left the area of his trap.
Thousand Blades' eyes lost some of its shine as blood vessels started appearing in his eyes and he cried as he lifted himself up, "Isn't this what you wanted?! I'm out, fight me! You wanted to kill me so badly, I'm right here!" His arms were spread wide with an invitation to fight him as a crazed expression appeared on his face.
When the Bandit Leader heard him, his face paled, knowing that his only support in the incoming battle was fighting a losing fight. He already said that he couldn't win versus the red-haired lady without the help of the trap he set up, but now he wanted to do exactly that.
The bandit leader couldn't just wait for him to die else he would be left alone, so he quickly decided to mobilize his army as he shouted, "Everyone! It's time to spill some blood! Attack!"
When the bandits heard their leader's shout, they roared with the pent up anger from all the waiting and taunting, "Yeeeeaaaahhhh!!! Kill!!!" The blades of their weapons lit up with power as they channelled their Spirit Qi through them and they stormed together towards the pair of kissing enemies.
Seeing the bandits attacking, it was time for Wuying to enter the scene. Her job was to hold all the bandits in check until Xuefeng and Xiao Wen would be done with Thousand Blades so that they could help her with the cleanup.
Wuying rushed towards them without hesitation as she went out of her shadow form and pulled out the Dual Daggers that she rarely used recently. With Blood Qi threads dancing around her she rushed head on from the sidelines, slashing with her daggers at the bandits closest to her. With each drop of spilt blood, more threads started appearing around her before flying and cutting enemies in the distance.
Unfortunately, even though her efficiency was high, she couldn't stop everyone from heading towards Xuefeng, as there were at least several hundred of them. With enough time, Wuying was confident that she could kill all of them with ease, but she didn't have such luxury.
"All of you block her! The rest, go help the Sage cultivator!" The Bandit Leader wasn't oblivious to Wuying's killing spree, but he couldn't stop to focus on her, besides Thousand Blades already started fighting. If he died, they wouldn't be able to kill even the black haired lady with daggers.
When Xuefeng felt the army of bandits mobilizing, he couldn't let Xiao Wen play around anymore. Wuying was fighting alone, but Xiao Wen was fooling around. He pulled away from her lips and seeing the desire in her eyes which were begging for more, he called out sharply, "No! You should know the time and place. Fight now, kiss later!"
"Okay!" Hearing Xuefeng's promise, Xiao Wen called out happily and suddenly he felt monstrous energy wrapping around her body. Her skin suddenly changed colour as Golden Qi began forming an armour on top of it. After just a few seconds, she was covered in shining armour from head to toe and a golden sword appeared in her hand.
Her armour looked very thin but Xuefeng could feel the power behind it. He didn't know what rank this Spirit Armour had, but he knew that his old one definitely could not compare to this one. Seeing her wear it, Xuefeng could guess that she was trying to end the battle really fast.
Before she rushed towards Thousand Blades, the armour on Xiao Wen's face disappeared and she kissed himone last time as she said, "Let me end him real quick so we can continue afterwards," before closing it yet again and dashing towards the one who ruined her moment.
Seeing Xiao Wen rushing towards him, Thousand Blades couldn't be more ecstatic as he finally gained her attention and shouted happily "You finally looked at me, haha! Come, I welcome you with open arms! Let me show you what you lost!" He wanted to prove that she chose wrongly, that he was the only one worthy of her but to do that, he had to defeat her before letting her choose between him and death.
Xuefeng also moved right after, trusting Xiao Wen in her skills and decided to help Wuying who was cutting through the bandits' sidelines. His job now was to stop the bandits from disturbing Xiao Wen's battle.
He quickly covered himself in a Lightning Qi armour before rushing towards the storming bandits with the Black Flaming Sword in his hand. The black flames were very hard to extinguish without his help, so he swung twice into both of his sides, creating a wall made of black flames. If one wanted to pass, they would either have to run all the way around them, burn themselves, or pass through him. If they chose the third option, he was happy to welcome them with his blade.
Thousand Blades knowing that he had to do everything he could to beat Xiao Wen, pulled out a blood-red pill and popped it into his mouth, crushing it with his teeth. It hasn't been a second but his body started emanating weird, red coloured Qi, which covered his body with many translucent layers. Picking up his daggers, he smiled and vanished on the spot.
"Don't think I can't feel you!" Xiao Wen called out as her golden sword burned with flames and slashed horizontally at one spot next to her. Thousand Blades could only dodge or defend, but dodging in this situation wasn't an option as her attack was too fast.
With two daggers, he prepared to counter it when Xiao Wen suddenly disappeared from her position in a blink and appeared behind him, cutting him from the side which he didn't protect. Her goal was to kill him in one attack so she used the pitiful amount of Ether Qi she had to teleport once. One could also do so with Spirit Qi, but that wasn't as fast as Ether Qi.
Just as Xiao Wen was about to cut him in half, Thousand Blades disappeared in a similar fashion as Xiao Wen before and reappeared a few meters away from her before running towards Xuefeng with laughter, "You think I'm that stupid? I know I can't beat you when you wear that Rank 9 armour. But your lover? Him I can I kill quite easily!"
'Fuck, he also mastered Ether Qi!' Xiao Wen cursed when she realised what happened.
At this point, to overtake Thousand Blades, Xiao Wen had to teleport again in front of Xuefeng, but that wouldn't work anymore. There was too little time left and if she tried, Thousand Blades would reach his goal before her and possibly hurt Xuefeng.
Her only option was to chase after him as she would still be faster by just rushing ahead instead of channelling her Spirit Qi. Using fire with full force out of her legs and hands, which blasted her forward, she flew after Thousand Blades and cried out with her voice full of worry, "Xuefeng! Behind you!"
Xuefeng was at the moment swinging with his sword left and right, cutting one bandit after another with their bodies being piled around him, burning with the black flames of his sword. The Bandit Leader which could give him a little bit of trouble was instantly blasted away from him with a blast of Air Qi he wasn't prepared for, which pushed him back into the middle of his bandit ranks.
Xuefeng's strategy was to kill them all as fast as he could so he could rush and help Xiao Wen with Wuying, so he didn't hesitate to use all of the power at his disposal. Elemental Qi was being used by him in between his battles, with one hand he was cutting down the bandits with his sword while with the other, he kept throwing lightning bolts or fireballs to kill the ones that rushed at him from the other side.
Even if some of their attacks landed on him, they were not strong enough to penetrate his Lightning armour that increased its durability a lot since the first time he used it. Instead of hurting him, their attacks backfired at them as the lightning bolts which surrounded Xuefeng's body also fought back, electrocuting them with its current.
He thought the battle was already won as he looked at the speed in which the bandits kept falling from his and Wuying's assault, when he suddenly heard Xiao Wen's cry. Worried about her, Xuefeng blasted everyone away from him with one horizontal strike and looked behind him only to see Thousand Blades coming straight towards him.
Hundreds of daggers were dancing around him as they spun in the air and Thousand Blades' body blinked from the speed he was coming at him. He could see Xiao Wen rushing to assist him with even faster velocity, but he knew she wouldn't arrive in time.
"Fuck." With all of the daggers suddenly being aimed at Xuefeng, he could only curse and defend himself with everything he had. It was hard for him to control all of the different Qi's by himself so this time, not all of his Earth Qi was inside the ground.
Fortunately, Ling didn't leave him alone at that time and arrived to help him. All of his Earth Qi which was still stored inside of his dantain was suddenly released and a giant, thick wall formed in front of him just before the daggers were about to hit him.
"Haha! Die!" Thousand Blades laughed seeing Xuefeng's effort to stop his ultimate attack and sentenced him, already feeling that his desirable outcome would be reached. The one strike he was using right now was enough to even hurt a sage, so it was understandable for him to be overconfident when facing a Spirit Lord kid.
"Xuefeng!" Both Xiao Wen and Wuying cried out in worry seeing the wall around Xuefeng being penetrated with ease by the spinning daggers.
Wuying ignored the bandits that were still swarming her fearlessly, trying to avenge their brothers and rushed right through the middle of them in hope to reach Xuefeng and help him somehow. Xiao Wen also increased her pace with worry and anger at herself for letting Thousand Blades trick her like that.
Bang!
When the daggers finally penetrated the thick wall, they all heard a loud explosion and Xuefeng was sent flying in the air with blood spilling out of his body, leaving a trail in the air.
Wuying quickly jumped in the air, in the hope of catching him mid-air and slow him down to lower the damage he would take from the fall. Unfortunately, he was flying too fast and she missed the target by a few centimetres. Being so close to him there, she could see the many holes inside of his body and sighed in relief knowing his heart wasn't pierced through.
Thud!
Xuefeng crashed into the ground not far away from the battleground. If one looked at his wrist in the moment of his landing, his bracelet was shining with golden light and only dimmed after he was safely on the ground. Ling immediately started healing his wounds but there were simply too many of them, so he couldn't be treated right away.
Not far away from where the battle took place, Yiren could be found kneeling on the ground, coughing blood as he also took a good hit from Xuefeng's injuries, but she wasn't worried about that at the time. What she was worried about was the fact that Xuefeng was hurt. She didn't know when, but the wings on her back spread out and she was already in the air before she could even think about it.
She could hear some voices calling out to her from behind to stop her but she didn't know what they were saying. Her whole mind was filled with one thought and that was to reach Xuefeng as fast as she could and help him. The connection between them was pushing and driving her forward in the right direction as drops of blood trickled down her chin.
Wuying at that time was about to rush towards Xuefeng to check up on him, but then she saw that the pathway she made for herself to get to the centre of the battlefield suddenly closed and the bandits attacked her once again. Xuefeng was hurt but she couldn't get to him as soon as possible because of them, which caused a well of anger to erupt inside her mind.
...….
In the sky, behind an invisible barrier, two men were watching the whole battle and when they felt Wuying change, they couldn't help but worry. They spent so much time, trying to help her by making her only desire Xuefeng's blood but all of their efforts would go to waste.
"Fuck, it's all your fault. If she uses her second ability, it'll be much harder to stop her transformation. If you had let me help them earlier, this wouldn't be happening…" The middle-aged man cursed as he pointed with his finger at the old man next to him.
"My fault? You're the one who gave her those cursed skills in the first place. Now we can only watch and pray nothing will happen to her." The old man rebuked his partner without even looking at him.
"Come on… We have to do something… Wuying is my favourite. We can't let anything happen to her…" The middle-aged man begged as he looked at Wuying whose eyes started to turn red. Normally it would be just the pupils but now all of her whites also turned crimson, making her look even scarier.
"Oh, look at you, already picking up your favourites. We can't be biased towards mortals and you know that." The old man called out righteously, to which the middle-aged man just rolled his eyes and asked with a scornful laugh, "Ha, and who was the one who was so happy when Xiao Wen finally confessed and began breaking the walls of Xuefeng's heart? You are also picking a favourite!"
"Cough, okay, if the situation gets out of control, we can stop her. But only at the last moment. Hopefully, we won't have to interfere." The old man coughed out of embarrassment and finally agreed knowing he couldn't hide his preference from his partner.
"Alright! Let's see how the situation plays out. My Wuying will go on a killing spree now, haha!" The middle-aged man nodded happily, waiting anxiously to see Wuying's power and asked one more question after recalling one thing he noticed, "By the way, did you feel that strange energy which protected Xuefeng's body from that idiot with daggers? I was about to help when I felt it saving him instead. There is no way he would be left with only this many injuries."
"Yeah. It feels so familiar but I can't tell from where exactly. It was much more powerful than what we could do. Let's watch and see. Maybe someone else is helping him beside us." The old man nodded, explaining his thoughts to which the middle-aged man could only agree and turn to look at the battle, waiting for everything to play out.
When the bandits saw Wuying's blood red eyes, they halted for a moment, as an ominous feeling arose in their hearts. Just then, the blood of their comrades which was all around them on the ground started to slowly flow towards Wuying, gathering under her feet. Normally they would bravely attack her but with the way things looked, they suddenly lost the will to get any closer to her, knowing something will happen.
Their leader's reaction didn't help as the moment he saw Wuying's actions, he suddenly turned around and ran into another direction. He didn't even enter his own hideout to get his treasures, but straight up fled as fast as he could.
"Shackles…" Wuying said one word with a different voice somewhat more mature, as litres of blood started climbing up her legs.
"Of…" She continued as the blood already reached her waist, scaring the other bandits, making them take a few steps back. The pressure coming from Wuying was suffocating, the smell of blood intensified and the angry look on Wuying's face deepened.
Thousand Blades could feel the rising pressure from below him, but he didn't mind that, heading straight towards Xuefeng who somehow didn't die from his ultimate attack. Anyone below the Sage stage was basically a bug for him so he never thought Wuying or Xuefeng could threaten him. Only Xiao Wen had the power to kill him, but he knew he didn't stand a chance against her when she wore one of the three Rank 9 Armours under the heavens.
Seeing that Xiao Wen already caught up to him, Thousand Blades only laughed and teleported once again, dodging her attack. This time she increased the length on her sword up to a few metres by covering it with fire, using most of her powers right now, hating him to the bone for hurting Xuefeng.
"Hahaha, I will let you feel the pain of losing someone you love!" Thousand Blades cried out madly while laughing maniacally and didn't stop rushing towards Xuefeng. Meanwhile, he began creating many replicas of his daggers as they once again began dancing around him.
It was at that moment when Thousand Blades was just above Wuying, she cried out one more word, finally activating her ability, "...DOOM!"
The blood which now covered Wuying's body all the way up to her neck suddenly started bubbling. After less than one second, each of the bubbles began to break apart and tens of crimson shackles launched out of her body in all directions.
"Aaaaah!" The bandits started to scream as the shackles pierced their bodies one after another, covering the whole battlefield in a moment. Hearing their wails even Thousand Blades looked down and he was glad he did as more than five shackles were aimed at him, flying faster towards him than he could fly himself.
It would be a surprise if he wasn't shocked when the crimson shackles even dodged the barrier around him which was made from hundreds of daggers and it didn't react when it was attacked by them. The real surprise was the durability of those shackles with four claws sticking out at the end of them.
"What the fuck…" Thousand Blades cursed as he once again had to teleport away, leaving him with only a little Ether Qi which he had painstakingly gathered before. He didn't know what those things were, but he didn't risk testing their strength. The claws did neither feel nor look safe at all.
When he saw them losing their velocity after their target escaped, he laughed it off, and once again rushed towards his target who was already slowly lifting himself up. He wanted to reach him before he would be ready to react, killing him for sure now before running away completely.
Unfortunately, his plans didn't happen as he planned, Wuying launched another pair of shackles from her hands which were twice as thick as the previous ones. She stared at him with bloody eyes, which somehow made him shiver.
Xiao Wen was also shocked by the power Wuying showed and seeing that the shackles were also coming after her, she decided to take a detour, rushing outside of the range of the chains.
"Who the fuck is she! She is only a puny Spirit Lord. How come she has so much power!?" Thousand Blades cursed, feeling that it was definitely weird. The blood Qi consumptions for this art would be enormous but after looking at the battlefield, he realized where she managed to draw this much Blood Qi from.
All of the bandits were pierced through their hearts, but no blood was dripping from the holes and instead, it was being transported on top of the shackles towards Wuying. With a quick calculation, Wuying wouldn't be able to use those for long as the Blood Qi supply should end soon.
Feeling kind of frustrated at himself that he couldn't even do the one thing he wanted, Thousand Blades checked the distance that he was lacking to reach Xuefeng's position and cried out before the last two shackles reached him, "So what if you have such art! I will still kill him!"
With the last bits of Ether Qi he had, Thousand Blades teleported for the last time, appearing only twenty meters away from Xuefeng, who was already halfway healed, having the main holes patched, leaving only some small wounds still not healed. Ling was channelling Fate Qi through his entire body, but she couldn't repair all wounds at the same time.
"Die you bastard!" Thousand Blades shouted as he launched all of his daggers once again towards Xuefeng, this time trying to end everything so he didn't hesitate to add more of them than before, creating a sky formation of spinning daggers.
"Xuefeng!" Xiao Wen yelled in worry from behind and even on Wuying's face which looked like it was still under the effects of her skill, a single tear appeared under her eye. She wanted to help but couldn't, being rooted to the ground with countless shackles still pumping blood from the bandits. She expected it to end only after all of them were sucked dry.
"STOP!" Suddenly a loud voice resounded throughout the skies.
...….
"Damn, my Wuying is so powerful! Let's help that Xuefeng. I don't think he can survive again this time." The middle-aged man exclaimed with a smile on his face as he looked at the many shackles being released by his favourite girl, only glancing casually at Xuefeng who happened to be in trouble.
"I don't think we need to do anything. Look into the distance." The old man shook his head indifferently as he pointed towards the distant sky. He looked a bit unhappy and his partner quickly laughed at that, "Hah, don't be so down. Your Xiao Wen is still useful, okay? She did warn Xuefeng about the danger, didn't she?"
"Shush, if that bastard was fighting fairly instead of only running away, he would have no chance against my sweet Wen." The old man snorted, clearly dissatisfied that it wasn't Xiao Wen who defeated the threat.
The middle-aged man laughed again and asked, seeing the new person appearing on the scene, "Haha, anyway, do you think that elf girl can do anything? She doesn't look that powerful."
"She should do something. Look at her eyes. If she does not, you better get ready to step in else Father will cut us into small parts." The old man explained and only then did his partner see the difference from the usual Yiren.
...….
"What… Is… Going… On…" Thousand Blades was just about to stab Xuefeng with his daggers when everything stopped. His body halted mid-air, his daggers stopped their assault and he found it hard to even speak.
He could hear someone approaching from the distance, but his head was unable to move to check who that was. If he pushed hard, using all of his strength, he could move a bit but then another wave of pressure would be coming at him, holding him in place.
'Aaargh~! Fuck!' Xuefeng cursed suddenly feeling a great headache, one which almost wanted to rip his head apart. He heard Yiren's shout and knew what power she was using right now. If he felt so much pain just through their connection, Xuefeng didn't have to look at Yiren to know how much pain she had to go through.
'Fighting back the pain that was shredding his mind, he lifted his sword, gripping it tightly and jumped into the sky with all of his wounds worsening, before thrusting it straight towards Thousand Blades' chest.
Seeing the sword covered in black flames heading straight towards him, Thousand Blades used all of his strength in an attempt to break through the power restraining him. While repelling the restraining force, he could feel that the power was weakening and he was just about to break away from it when he heard another cry in the sky, "Aaargh! I won't let you hurt him!"
After Yiren fought back, he was once again restricted from any movements but that clearly took a heavy toll on her as she once again coughed up blood, persisting even after that.
Yiren's sacrifice forced Xuefeng's target to stay in one place and he cleanly plunged his sword straight through him. Thousand Blades' eyes widened when his heart got pierced through, but deep down he didn't panic too much. As long as his head was intact, he could still regenerate himself.
Just as he thought about it, Xuefeng pulled out the sword and before he began falling down, he swung one more time, cleanly cutting Thousand Blades' head from its corpus, making it fly in the sky. The last thoughts of Thousand Blades, the infamous assassin, were composed of nothing else other than curses and regret.
Thud.
Seeing Thousand Blades dead, landing on the ground with a thud right after Xuefeng dropped safely on the ground, Yiren sighed in relief. Her eyes turned back to normal, no longer shining with white light, but then she suddenly felt the lack of energy. Her wings stopped moving as they started to dissipate. With her eyes slowly closing, a happy expression appeared on her face, knowing she saved someone she loves and she started falling down from the sky, having nothing that could support her flight anymore.
"Yiren! Stay awake!" Xiao Wen called out to her as she caught her sister mid-air. Once she fell asleep, it would make it hard to wake her up later even if they healed her completely later.
"Sis…? I'm okay… I'm just a bit sleepy…" Yiren opened her eyes slightly after hearing Xiao Wen's shout, but it was evident that her body was calling for sleep as her eyes were closing further with each second.
Xiao Wen quickly resumed her flight as she sped up towards Xuefeng and meanwhile tried to keep Yiren awake, "We are going to see Xuefeng! Don't you want to see him?! Don't fall asleep or you won't be able to see him anymore!" She also tried to use her regeneration to heal her wounds but realised that it didn't work at all, only treating the physical wounds where the problem probably lied in her spirit.
Hearing Xiao Wen's temptation, she gave in as she asked weakly, "Xue… Feng? I want to… See him…" Just as Xiao Wen thought, her injury was with inside her Spirit as it was the source that powered the skill she had as a Royal Forest Elf.
At that moment, Xiao Wen saw that Xuefeng didn't go to check on Thousand Blades body but instead looked into the sky and quickly flew towards them, seeing that Yiren needed help. Xiao Wen didn't hesitate to use it and tilted Yiren's head so she would see him approaching and said, "Xuefeng is coming to you right now! Just wait a few more seconds! You want to hear his voice right?!"
"Xuefeng…" Yiren's eyes opened her eyes to see Xuefeng coming towards her and forced herself to wait for him to reach her. She really wanted to sleep, feeling her spirit hurt from overexerting her powers.
"Yiren! Are you okay?!" Xuefeng finally reached them with his Air Qi wings pushed to the limits and grabbed Yiren's body out of Xiao Wen arms. Even before she could say anything, Ling began channelling large amounts of Fate Qi through Yiren's body, knowing Xuefeng would ask her to not bother with the spending and save her no matter the cost.
"Xuefeng… Was I useful?" Yiren asked, smiling sweetly as she felt the warmth of his hands and the new energy which headed straight towards her dantian. plancYiren was in his embrace and with that, she felt safe.
"Yes, without you I would've probably died. You saved my life." Xuefeng replied with the same smile and kissed her on the lips, putting on the great importance of what she just did. He wasn't exaggerating. There was a great possibility that the last attack would have ended him.
"Hehe… I'm glad… Can I sleep in your arms? I'm really sleepy." Yiren giggled with no power left in her voice and hugged onto Xuefeng's chest with what little strength she had left, wanting to stay like that, in a place she could linger forever.
Just as Xuefeng planned to keep her awake for some more, Ling called out in his mind, explaining the situation in a short message, 'Let her sleep in your arms. Her spirit got damaged and I will slowly fix it, but I need some time. It would be best if she rested at the same time.' She knew that the situation was serious so Ling put away any nuisances she had with Xuefeng.
"It's okay, you did great. You can sleep in my arms and I won't let go of you until you wake up. I promise." Xuefeng hugged Yiren into his arms just as she wanted and kissed her on the forehead, just like a father would kiss his daughter before sleeping.
"Mhmm…" Yiren nodded as she found a cosy place, caressing his chest with her cheeks, allowing him to close his embrace on her, before falling asleep right away.
Seeing Xiao Wen staring at him, waiting for an explanation, Xuefeng smiled and reported, "She will be better if she sleeps a bit. Her Spirit got damaged but Ling said she can heal her."
"Thank you, I was worried that something had happened to her." Xiao Wen sighed in relief and asked as she looked towards the battlefield from above, "What about Wuying?" Xuefeng also followed her gaze and saw that the monstrous shackles started withdrawing already, entering back into Wuying's armour made of blood.
There was no other bandit left on the battlefield as all of them were laying on the ground, having either a hole in their chests where the heart was placed or their head cut off by Wuying's and Xuefeng's assault earlier.
Wuying's eyes returned back into crimson pupils the moment Xuefeng neared her and she smiled weakly, answering before Xuefeng asked anything, "I'm fine… Just a bit tired..."
"Wuying! You were amazing!" Xiao Wen exclaimed as she reached her first and helped her out of the pool of blood, asking curiously, "What was this skill? Did you get it from the Blood inheritance as well?"
"Yeah, I got it from there…" Wuying replied as she hugged Xiao Wen before looking at Xuefeng for a second. When she did, her eyes twitched as a desire for blood filled her mind. Only when she looked back at Xiao Wen did her eyes stop twitching and returned to normal.
'What…?' Wuying thought in her mind, not understanding what is going on with her. The smile on her face disappeared as she tested it once again, looking into Xuefeng's body and then his face.
When their gazes met with each other, the same situation happened, her mind slowly becoming corrupted with desire. Giving him a quick smile, she swiftly turned her gaze away, returning to Xiao Wen again.
"Gosh, it was so powerful. You single-handedly finished the whole bandit group." Xiao Wen didn't notice any changes in Wuying's behaviour and continued to praise her. Only when she looked towards Thousand Blade's body in the distance did her face change.
"Xuefeng! The fragment! You didn't take it yet!" She called out to Xuefeng who was still in the sky, ready to land and he quickly changed directions as if something in his mind called out to him too.
Above Thousand Blades' body, a golden orb was hovering, slowly raising upwards, planning to head towards the heavens. Xuefeng quickly reached the spot and reached out towards the orb, which had begun to slowly dim already.
He didn't see his right hand while holding Yiren in his arms, having his eyesight focused on the golden orb, but the bracelet on his hand suddenly started shining the same way when it protected him from Thousand Blades' attack, and the orb suddenly became clearer, regaining its initial brightness.
The moment Xuefeng touched it, his hand started absorbing it through his skin. Golden lines appeared on his arm as immense power travelled from the tips of his hand to the necklace he always had on his neck. The bracelet had also returned back to its original state, just before Xiao Wen landed next to him with Wuying in her arms.
"What did you get? Which ability did you get from him? I have no idea which ability is his main one. Is it the stealth or the attack multiplier?" Xiao Wen quickly asked, not wanting to wait anymore with the curiosity gnawing in her mind. She didn't even think about taking those abilities for herself, still ashamed that she wasn't able to help at all.
Being the strongest in the whole group, being responsible for protecting Xuefeng yet still not able to protect them all. It was a great shame for her as a cultivator. The first thing she did after the battle finally ended was giving herself a promise to never mess up this badly ever again.
Hearing no words from him and only seeing his smile widening, the curiosity in her mind was creating more havoc so she urged him, "Come on, don't keep me in such suspense. I want to know…"
"You would never guess, hahaha." Xuefeng finally laughed happily after listening to Ling's report on the rewards they got from this battle.
"You just laughed, so it's good, right? It's Attack Multiplier, I knew it. So lucky… It has so many uses. It is one of the best abilities after the top ten as well." Xiao Wen nodded in approval, happy for him, but then Xuefeng didn't confirm her guesses and said instead while grinning, "I thought that one can only get the main ability from the Fate Fragment holder. Well, I just happened to get two of them."
"What?! Impossible!" Xiao Wen cried out in shock when she heard it, not believing it at all. Every time she seized any Fate Fragments, she would always get only one, and it was also a common rule in the Fate Community. It was impossible to get more than the main ability as they were not stable enough within the Fate Spirit Body.
"Well, check this out then," Xuefeng said cooly while smiling and decided to prove it. He fixed Yiren's position by hugging her into his chest while supporting her butt with the other hand and while cooperating with Ling, he suddenly disappeared together with Yiren.
"This is the stealth I received. The more Fate Qi I use, the more hidden I will be. Can you tell where am I right now without using my voice as a pointer?" Xuefeng asked and Xiao Wen heard his voice behind her, but she couldn't tell exactly where he was, even after scanning the whole area with her Spirit Awareness.
"No, I can't… Amazing." Xiao Wen shook her head, looking at Xuefeng with wonder right after he appeared, and asked curiously, "How come I could tell where Thousand Blades was but I can't see you?"
"Because he was stingy when he used his Fate Qi. One had to pay an additional price to be able to dodge the Spirit Awareness of others. Heh, quite a useful ability." Xuefeng explained and praised, already knowing where he would put this ability to work. Sneaking inside of the Xiao Family palace to meet Tianshi without getting caught sounded like a good idea.
"Mhmm, how about the other one? Is it the Attack Multiplier?" Xiao Wen asked more as her eyes brightened in curiosity. With the current boost, Xuefeng would be much more powerful, which would make her job of protecting him a lot easier.
"Yes, but I have Yiren in my hands, so I won't be testing it now." Xuefeng nodded, satisfied with the haul from this expedition before deciding to not test anything that might disturb the sleeping beauty in his arms, to which Xiao Wen could not agree more.
Turning to Wuying, Xuefeng asked with a worried voice, "Wuying, are you really fine? To create such an ability, it must have put a heavy toll on your body." Xuefeng could see how powerful that ability was. There is no way it could be used without any aftereffects.
"Mhmm, I'm fine. Nothing is wrong with me. I actually feel much better. I gained a lot of Blood Qi and my cultivation increased by a lot. I'm already very close to Overlord Stage." Wuying approached him and explained as she fixed Yiren's hair instead of looking at him.
"That's good. You did a good job." Xuefeng sighed in relief and reached out to grab her hand, rubbing her palm with a loving gaze. He didn't feel Wuying's shudder the moment he touched her as she quickly forced it down, only letting him touch her for a moment before she pulled away from him and said indifferently, "We should probably collect all of the money on them. They stole a lot for so many months. I bet they gathered a fortune."
"Mhmm, we should." Xuefeng nodded, wanting to propose the same, quite sad that he couldn't help collecting, but Yiren was much, much more important for him than any amount of money.
"Big brother!" Just as he thought about it, from the sky, Xuefeng heard a loud yell of Wu Lan. When he looked into the distance, he saw Lulu flying towards them with two kids sitting on her back. When Lulu landed, Wu Lan called out happily, "We can help you gather those! We don't mind dead bodies."
Wu Kong nodded happily confirming his sister's words as he rubbed his hands together, already imagining how much food he could buy with all the money they could find.
"Alright, I need to take care of big sister Yiren so you guys can get to work. For each one hundred Spirit Stones you find, I will give you one." Seeing them so eager to work, Xuefeng proposed a deal which they happily accepted.
"I will check the hideout." Wuying proposed right after his announcement, feeling that Xuefeng was about to ask her something, and ran towards the hideout, not waiting for anyone's agreement.
Xuefeng could only nod in approval, praising her in his mind as he actually wanted to ask her to do exactly that. Xiao Wen, on the other hand, approached Thousand Blades' body and took off the many rings he had on his fingers, looking at their contents.
"I knew it was that bastard who gave the order to kill you. He paid quite a sum of money for killing you too. What an irony, now all of the money that was used to pay for your assassination belong to us. Thousand Blades didn't spend much of it I guess." Xiao Wen threw a fireball towards Thousand Blades' head in anger after reading the order which was given from the Tang Family's Young Master. She also counted the money inside the ring and almost all of it was still there, which somehow calmed her down a bit.
"Assassination seems to get you a lot of money," Xuefeng thought out loud before asking curiously, "How much did he pay for my head? It has to be at least fifty thousand high-tiered Spirit Stones?" Xuefeng wasn't a narcissist, but he believed that he deserved at least this much. He wouldn't accept anything below that sum.
"Ha! What is fifty thousand for a future son-in-law of the biggest family under the heavens? It was one million dummy. You need to understand who you are. You, Liu Xuefeng are not only a member of the Liu Clan but also the only male inheritor of the Xiao Family, your family. You are no longer an outsider, do you get it?" Xiao Wen approached him and explained what his public standing was right now, changing the way he looked at himself.
'Right… To think that two of this world's most influential Princesses are my women now…' Xuefeng thought, looking into Xiao Wen's eyes with a proud smile, causing her to blush a bit and finish her introduction, "You also managed to convince two daughters to like you, so that place you even higher than normal Young Masters…"
Hearing her speaking as if it was all his fault, he countered her words while teasing her, "Oh, I convinced you? I thought it was you who came to me first? Who was it that said she wanted me so many times?"
"Dummy, not romantic at all… If not for Yiren being in your arms, I would hit you right now." Wen pouted right away and put all the new storage rings into her own, stealing the fortune before saying with a grin, "I guess I will take all of this until you learn how to take care of your lovers properly. Too bad you killed him before taking away all the treasures he was hiding inside of his dantian. Most of the Spirit Artefacts he was using were there, and they dissipated the moment he died."
"Hah, okay. I was just joking. Don't mind it so much." Xuefeng couldn't help but surrender seeing her like that. The last thing he wanted was to argue with her. Unfortunately, his way of soothing her over didn't work, as she only snorted cutely, and swaggered away to show her point.
The whole treasure hunting as what Xuefeng called it ended quicker than he expected when Xiao Wen used her Spirit Awareness to help the kids search and they quickly localised all the Storage artefacts. In total, they found more than three hundred thousand high-tiered Spirit Stones and a couple thousand middle-tiered. In this area, many merchants used high-tiered stones so those were higher in quantity. The leader alone had more than half of the whole haul.
Just as he promised, Wu Lan and her brother received about three thousand Spirit Stones for their help, so they could spend it on whatever they wanted. Of course, it was Wu Lan who took control of all the money, as Wu Kong would straight up spend everything on delicious food.
After they burned everything, all of the bandit's bodies together with their hideout, it was time for them to leave, going to the border town to claim the bounty from finishing the mission. They took the bandit leader's head as proof, and were ready to travel.
Just as Xuefeng wanted to decide how they would separate for the flight as he looked towards Wuying, she suddenly picked up Wu Lan and her brother, placing them on one eagle, deciding for him before he even said anything "Xuefeng, I will take the kids and you should travel with Yiren on Lulu. It will be much safer this way. She needs to have a comfortable flight."
"Oh, alright. I don't mind. I wanted to propose the same..." Hearing her decision, Xuefeng accepted it without problems but found it weird that she didn't even look at him while talking to him. Hearing the call from Wuying, who was obviously happy with such a scenario, Xuefeng put that aside for now, not thinking much of it.
"Ah, I knew there would be side effects to that skill… The more she uses it in the future, the deeper the problem will become. What is your solution to fix it now huh genius?" The old man sighed, blaming his partner for the whole situation. If not for his mistake, they wouldn't have to deal with all this.
"Oh come on," The middle-aged man threw his hands towards the sky speechlessly before explaining his merits, "Did you see how much power it gave her? If not for me, we would probably have to help them already. Now we only need to fix Wuying's desire for Xuefeng's blood and we are all fine."
Seeing him taking no responsibility for his mistakes, the old man asked sarcastically, "Oh, and how are you going to do that? We changed her cravings for blood from all people to exclusively Xuefeng's blood for a reason. He had the biggest impact on her and could help her overcome this situation, making her stronger. Now she has to force herself to not look or touch Xuefeng, as she is scared of hurting him. You know that changing her habits are impossible at this point, right?"
Being pressured by the old man like this, the middle-aged man opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything so he had to postpone the question, saying embarrassed, "I don't know… I will tell you when I think of something…"
The old man sighed, "Okay, let's try to think of a solution together. Hopefully, we are not too late." He couldn't be too harsh on his partner as he also didn't know what should be done.
Looking at Wu Lan who sat in front of Wuying, he commented under his breath, "That little girl will probably involve herself in this…"
...….
"Big Sis… How are you feeling?" Wu Lan asked as she leaned her back on Wuying's chest. She talked without turning around as she looked at Xuefeng's back in front of her while brushing her brother's hair.
"Sigh…" Wuying sighed knowing that she couldn't hide anything from the little girl, so she explained while hugging her, "I am fine. I just can't look at him right now… The moment I see him, I instantly get an urge to rip out his throat and suck all the blood from him…"
"Sis, you are a dummy. You have to tell him. Big brother is a fool and he won't realize how serious it is until you tell him. He already noticed that you're ignoring him, but he didn't delve deeper on it. At some point, he will ask you about it and he won't be satisfied with the fact that you were hiding it from him." Wu Lan advised, knowing both of their intentions. The last thing she wanted was to have them arguing, so she would definitely interfere if Wuying doesn't talk with him about it.
"I don't want to scare him… If I tell him right now, he will definitely try to force it on me to fix it as fast as possible. I can feel that the side effects are still in power and it would be best to wait a bit. If it still doesn't change until evening or tomorrow morning, I will talk to him…" Wuying described her thoughts, thinking Xuefeng would only make it worse, but Wu Lan only shook her head.
"Big Sis, you should think about it differently. He is your support pillar and you should always talk to him first, no matter what is happening. Not only will it increase the bond between the two of you but the trust will deepen as well. Don't you understand? Big brother is the kind of guy who would die for you if needed. If you lose his trust, it will be hard for you to regain it." Wu Lan analyzed the whole situation and tried to repair Wuying's rationale so she finally understands.
Hearing all the wise thoughts entering her mind, Wuying looked at Wu Lan weirdly, asking in shock, "Are you really twelve? You sound more mature than all of us..."
Wu Lan only laughed at that and told the truth about her struggles, "Hah, if you spend so much time listening to the thoughts of all the people around you, there would be no surprise in your mind anymore. The things I learned, the situations I could prevent from happening, but couldn't because my cultivation is weak. With such a life, I had no choice but to mature fast."
Patting Wu Kong who ignored their conversation and was focused on watching the views, Wu Lan added, "I also need to take care of this little monster too… I'm the only one he has left…" When Wu Kong felt his sister's pats, he leaned on her, awaiting more pats with pleasure visible on his face. For him, Wu Lan was more like a mother than a sister as she took care of him for so long that he even forgot what his parents looked like.
"Don't worry, you guys have us now." Wuying hugged them both, thinking that Xuefeng's idea of taking them in, was a good one.
...….
"So you're telling me that the moment one reaches sixteen years old or enter the Central Region, they will be detected by the special emissary from Heaven's Realm and they would have to sign a contract on the spot, promising great rewards but in reality, it's all a scam?" Xuefeng asked after listening to Xiao Wen's explanation. As they had a few minutes to spare until they arrived at the border town, she decided to shed some light on some of the important rules for Fate Holder Community in the Central Region.
Hugging onto his back, while wrapping her hands around his waist, Xiao Wen replied, "Well, it is not technically a scam, as it can really give you enormous benefits, but the thing is, you have no choice in accepting this contract. They will do anything to force you into signing it. After you do, you have to abide by its rules within the Central Region, else you will pay a fine which sometimes can even reach to them taking one fragment ability from you."
"What is their goal by creating such an organisation?" Xuefeng asked, thinking there had to be something more to it than just gathering Fate Fragment Holders together.
"I don't exactly know myself as my Fate Spirit is not one of the strongest, but I heard that they are looking for the top ten Fate Spirits for a certain goal. That is why I didn't want you to enter Central Region so carelessly. Your Ling is one of the Fate Spirit they are looking for. I don't know what they want to do with her, but they will definitely use her for something." Xiao Wen answered, kind of worried about him being a future target.
"Hmm, Ling also don't know about it as I asked her a moment ago. It has to be something secret…"Xuefeng thought about it for a moment but he didn't get any ideas of what that could be, so he changed the subject by continuing to ask, "How about the rules then? What you can or cannot do?"
"Well, the first rule is to never share any Fate Holder's information with any non-fate cultivators. This rule is basically the reason why no one knows about us, Fate Fragment Holders. The second—" Xiao Wen started explaining the rules but before she wanted to introduce him to the second one, Xuefeng stopped her, saying, "I know enough. I don't need to listen to more rules as just based on the first one, I won't be joining this organisation. There is no way I will keep my women in the dark about anything."
As he said so, he rubbed Yiren's cheek gently to which she moved a bit, clearly responsive even in her sleep. Her smile deepened clearly enjoying Xuefeng's touch even in her current state.
"That's alright. I think with that portal of yours, they shouldn't be able to stop you if you wanted to leave the Central Region. But what if they try to force you? If they can't pressure you, they will do so towards the people close to you instead." Xiao Wen nodded in approval, respecting his decision and asked, curious about his answer, "But what if they blackmail you with one of us…?"
"I will kill every single one of them, no matter how many there are," Xuefeng replied confidently right away and leaned back with his head and kissed Xiao Wen as if to seal the deal with her.
She knew that it would be extremely hard for him to fight those people, but she still appreciated his answer.
...….
At the same time, a person with a black cloak and a hood on his head approached the gates of Xiao Family palace. When he was stopped by the guards, the person opened his hood and said calmly while looking at them with his black and white pupils, "Is this Xiao Family palace? I would like to be hired as a highly skilled bodyguard."