Zhou Yan didn't turn around, yet he sensed the scene behind him.
Now, after undergoing the refining process of the Top-grade Crystal Stone and the baptism of the Fiery Flame Sword Heart Wine, his essence seemed much strengthened, and his sensing ability had also invisibly enhanced.
The flower carriage gradually approached, flying towards Zhou Yan's back. Zhou Yan neither evaded nor stopped, continuing to move forward.
The flower carriage soon drew close to Zhou Yan and then brushed past him. At that moment, Zhou Yan faintly smelled a subtle fragrance that was soothing yet carried a unique chill, emanating from the woman within the carriage.
This scent had a very comforting quality. After taking a breath, Zhou Yan subconsciously took another. Subsequently, his gaze fixed on the carriage that had already moved ten meters away.
This carriage, akin to a blossom-made palanquin, was dotted with tiny gaps, not the type completely sealed from air.
Due to these gaps, Zhou Yan could barely see a woman clad in a light green spiritual gauze dress sitting inside.
Through these tiny gaps, Zhou Yan cast his gaze inside and could see the woman's expression seemed somewhat forlorn and tired, as if something was greatly troubling her.
At this time, her face appeared slightly pale, and her eyes remained gently closed, as if resting.
The burly man driving the four Flying Pegasus beasts seemed indescribably weary, panting heavily while continuously suppressing the beasts with Sword Qi, urging them to run fast.
These people passed through the area without glancing at Zhou Yan, as if he was invisible.
Among the four burly men in black robes, the one walking in front turned his head and said, "This time, things really put us in a bind. If it weren't for the young lady...we probably wouldn't have had a chance to come out."
"Indeed, that's true, so we must hurry back to Tianji City while no one is chasing us. Only then can we ensure everything will be safe."
The brawny man beside him laughed as he spoke.
The two men spoke while panting continuously.
"I'd say, despite its appearance that it is near, there's still some distance left; why don't we rest for a moment? This way, we can drive the Flying Pegasus beasts to Tianji City in one go."
Another brawny man wiping sweat suggested.
"Driving the Flying Pegasus beasts, and you're already exhausted? It seems you've spent too much time fooling around with that Little Peach girl! I'd say at this rate, even if you aren't killed, you'll end up dead on her belly sooner or later."
The man driving the Flying Pegasus beasts behind them laughed and cursed.
As the four of them chatted, their speed slightly decreased.
The two women in white beside the flower carriage seemed unaware, while the woman inside continued resting her eyes, seemingly unconcerned with how the driver spoke.
At this moment, the flower carriage, pulled by the Flying Pegasus beasts, reached a small hill in front, about seven or eight meters high.
Upon arriving, the Flying Pegasus beasts snorted and halted. The four burly men looked at the terrain and turned around to report to the person inside the carriage.
These actions did not draw any attention from the two women in white by the carriage. But just at this moment, instead of speaking, the man about to report suddenly drew his sword and stabbed at the woman's chest inside the carriage.
Simultaneously, the other three men also took out long, slender silver swords, targeting vital spots on the woman inside the carriage. In that instant, the intent to kill was fierce, and the Sword Qi was rampant.
These four men appeared crude and mediocre in strength, but who would have thought they were stronger than those in the Sword Qi Realm?
The speed of their actions was lightning-fast, like sparks flying off flint. The four swords, moving up and down, back and forth, blocked the retreat of the flower carriage, and the invisible Sword Qi they emitted combined like two sword arrays, instantly hitting the two women in white.
"Puff, puff—"
The two women in white, with strong capabilities, were instantly pierced through by the combined Sword Qi of these four men, not even having time to wail as their pure white dresses were stained with blood.
These two powerful guardian women were slaughtered so easily, and they weren't even the primary targets.
The four Flying Pegasus beasts were startled and madly fled, breaking free from their restraints, rapidly escaping far away.
Each of the four swords harbored an indescribable Sword Intent, and the incomparable awe-inspiring Sword Qi aimed to slaughter the woman inside the flower carriage directly.
Though Zhou Yan was extremely adept at sensing killing intent, he hadn't anticipated such a development—the servants suddenly harboring murderous intent against their young lady, while hiding it so deeply.
Zhou Yan felt a twinge of surprise upon witnessing the two Sword Qi-radiating women massacred in an instant, their pure white gauze dresses and flesh flying in all directions together...
Such a gruesome scene impacted him too, given that these two were at least Second Level of Sword Qi martial artists practicing the Ice Sword Technique, yet they were slaughtered so easily; their tactics were by no means ordinary.
Seeing the following scene, Zhou Yan felt a bit of poignancy—this young lady in the flower carriage seemed destined for a tragic end.
Just as Zhou Yan made this judgment, in that instant, the woman's body twined like a water snake, bizarrely twisting away, forming an unimaginable contorted state. Not only did she evade the fierce strikes of the four swords, but she also dodged the Sword Qi following them.
The four Sword Qi streams crossed wildly, almost grazing past the woman's body, while the carriage she sat in shattered into pieces explosively.
Falling petals rained down continuously.
At this moment, four Sword Qi streams merged into one, forming an intangible Sword Qi blade like a bewitching force glimmering, overpowering even before striking, making one's heart uneasy.
Watching from afar, Zhou Yan instinctively felt his mind waver, shocked by the presence of such intricate swordsmanship; indeed, each was uniquely formidable.
He harbored the soul inheritance of a Grandmaster! His soul and disposition were comparably unmatched! Yet even he felt his mind reeling, nearly beguiled by the Sword Light; this Sword Light was truly mysteriously malevolent.
Sure enough, the pale woman seemingly froze in the Void in an instant, with two Sword Qi streams beneath her feet dimming suddenly, indicating a mind-stilling state incomprehensible.
That Sword Light, like a strikingly swift meteor, closed the distance to within three centimeters from her snow-white neck, with the intended lethal strike already grazing her throat.
Yet, at this moment, her slender fingers shot out and pinched that Sword Light! As of now, her two delicate fingers, white and tender like spring onions, firmly clasped the Sword Light, rendering the four brawny men helpless against the integrated sword array, as well as the assault, almost as if their Sword Qi were pinched by those fingers too.
All four men gasped in shock and, without thinking, released this combined Sword Qi, stepping back swiftly.
But, in the woman's delicate fingers, the Sword Light shattered into fragments, and with a wave of her hand, these fragments reassembled into four Cold Ice swords, gleaming with frost.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
Four Sky-breaking sounds echoed, followed by four sudden screams. Four brawny men clutched their foreheads desperately, where now, like fountains, blood spurted outward, their hands drenched in blood and white brain matter.
The woman stood in the Void, indifferently glanced over the four men, then casually took out a white handkerchief to gently wipe the blood on her snow-white neck, placing the handkerchief into her Qiankun Ring afterward.
After finishing, she turned her icy, chilling gaze toward Zhou Yan. Since earlier, Zhou Yan had never concealed his presence, and he had gradually moved closer to this spot.
"Who are you?"
The woman asked coldly, her voice tinged with vigilance and suspicion.
Her beautiful eyes were like Cold Ice Swords unsheathed.
Zhou Yan stepped closer, his gaze fixed on this formidable and remarkably beautiful woman, with little expression fluctuation. "Merely passing by; what, want to silence me?"
"No such intention, merely confirming if you are an accomplice of theirs."
The woman also stared at Zhou Yan, frankly revealing her thoughts.
She spoke, her gaze scrutinizing, that invisible chill quietly drifting in the Void, bringing a bone-chilling cold.
Amid the already chilly deep autumn, the aura this woman emitted felt especially cold.
Zhou Yan's face slightly darkened. "If I were with them, you would already be dead."
"Indeed, I sense you harbor means that make me wary... Hmm, this gentleman seems somewhat familiar; might we have met before?"
The woman nodded slightly, her eyes glancing over Zhou Yan before suddenly speaking.
Unspoken, Zhou Yan felt little. But upon hearing this, he indeed sensed that the woman did seem somewhat familiar.