Fortunately, Mei Yue'er pulled Feng Luotian out of the hiding place and avoided the attack in time. Only some superficial injuries were caused to her arm.
Mei Yue'er activated multiple Aurora Treading Steps and took Feng Luotian a few hundred meters away.
After hiding Feng Luotian behind the tree, Mei Yue'er sternly said: "Wait here. I hope Wuji will catch up to us soon. Or else, we will all be dead."
Next, she immediately dashed out.
To not get in the way, Feng Luotian had no choice but to hide behind that tree, watching a cruel episode unfold.
Mei Yue'er summoned her personal sword.
The sword's hilt was made of fine onyx with a carving word "Aurora" on it. Its silver blade emitted an aura of requisite steel along with a glimmer of green radiance. Just a glance at it, one would be able to tell that the sword was an extraordinary treasure.
Normally, youngsters, who had not entered any school yet, were not allowed to wield any weapon outside. However, young masters or mistresses such as Mei Yue'er were exceptions. They were granted by their family's influence permission to carry one or two weapons for their own protection.
After summoning her sword, Mei Yue'er activated her Theríon upon the sword and swung down: "Aurora Slash!!"
A crescent green light was shot out from her swing, heading straight towards the monster.
The attack directly hit Wight Wolf's forehead. After the explosive sound, a tiny cut appeared on its head.
It seemed that even a Six Fangs Fighter was able to do some damage to a Talon Monster with a proper weapon.
Despite that, the damage done to it was insignificant to put them out of this perilous situation. Still, there was no back-off in Mei Yue'er's eyes.
After getting its attention, Mei Yue'er used Aurora Treading Steps to teleport herself to the opposite side of where Feng Luotian was hiding to prevent any stray bullet that might hit him.
Immediately after finishing her teleportation, Mei Yue'er shot another Aurora Slash at Wight Wolf with double Theríon poured into the sword, doubling the damage output in the process.
This time, the attack hit the left side of its body, leaving a larger wound on it.
"Roar!!" The wolf screamed as it started to feel pain from the attack. With this, it seemed like she really got its full attention as the monster's ferocious gazes fell upon Mei Yue'er before it unleashed a suppressive force upon her.
The earth around Mei Yue'er shook while her movement became as slow as a snail. And before she could even react, Wight Wolf suddenly flashed and appeared right in front of her, followed by its claw swipe.
Bam.
A slim figure was sent flying. Mei Yue'er crashed into several trees until her momentum stopped upon the biggest tree around. After dropping onto the ground, she was in a crawl position with injuries all over her body.
"Pfft." A large amount of blood sprayed out of her mouth.
Not even a second to spare, Wight Wolf manifested itself right in front of Mei Yue'er once again, ready to give her another strike of its claw to finish the hunt.
However, this time, Mei Yue'er saw which way the attack was coming, so she raised her sword before channeling her Theríon into her weapon to block the attack.
Bang.
While she was sustaining much less damage than the previous swipe, she still got sent far away. And even worse, the place she stopped after receiving the attack was approximately close to where Feng Luotian was hiding.
The moment she noticed this, Mei Yue'er used another Aurora Treading Step to get as far away from Feng Luotian as possible.
She chose a high-rise branch on top of a tree three hundred meters away as an endpoint of her skill.
Streaks of green light connected her with the top of that branch. And, in the next moment, she materialized herself there.
Looking at the situation around Feng Luotian, which was still safe and sound, Mei Yue'er let out a sigh of relief. She crouched down and put her left hand on her right arm that was holding the sword.
As a matter of fact, even though Mei Yue'er successfully guarded Wight Wolf's second attack using the sword, the arm holding it received the full force of impact.
At the present moment, Mei Yue'er could hardly lift her sword up with that right arm of hers.
"!!" Mei Yue'er became alert as Wight Wolf was nowhere to be found. Her current location was high enough for her to observe and see everything clearly in about a 500-meter radius.
Boom.
Suddenly, a deafening sound reverberated. Then, a huge tree was sent flying in her direction.
Mei Yue'er swiftly moved out to avoid being crushed by that flying tree as she landed on another tree's branch.
The sounds of that huge tree hitting other trees and falling branches were still resounding throughout this part of the thicket.
Mei Yue'er was on her full alert, and yet—
RUMBLE!!
Pressure from a ferocious beast was sensed right behind her back, along with a suppressive force that restricted her action.
"H-How in the world!?" Mei Yue'er paled in shock.
"ROAR!!" And a reply for that question was the ultimate breath attack from Wight Wolf: Ghost Howl.
"Argh!!" Mei Yue'er screamed in pain.
Even though she was quick enough to brandish her sword to defend herself, her sword was broken asunder like a shattering glass upon receiving the breath attack.
Her dress and skin were sliced by countless wind blades, leaving a thousand cutting marks as her figure was blasted away to the ground.
And whether it was coincidental or intentional, she once again landed right in front of Feng Luotian, mutilated and blood-soaked.
"Yue'er!!" Feng Luotian trembled all over at this sight.
The powerless youth squatted down beside her but did not dare to touch the frail girl in front of him, afraid that he might add more suffering to her.
Tears started to flow out of the boy, who could do nothing but watch in despair.
Hearing his voice, Mei Yue'er slowly opened her eyes: "Luotian, run. There is no point in both of us dying together like t—"
Thump.
Wight Wolf interrupted her speech by landing right next to them. Its eyes only focused on Mei Yue'er, entirely ignoring Feng Luotian's puny existence.
Mei Yue'er struggled to get up from the ground, preparing to fight with the monster while having no energy left in her at all.
Wight Wolf opened its mouth, intending to swallow her whole.
Seeing what transpired in front of him, Feng Luotian's hatred for his own uselessness drastically increased more than ever before.
The scene where he was with his father on top of that cliff resurfaced in his mind, followed by the scene where he took the oath of siblinghood to never let his brothers or sister have their last breaths before him.
The roaring sound of the word "will to protect" reverberated again and again in his ears.
At the last moment, when Mei Yue'er was gradually closing her eyes and accepting her fate, Feng Luotian pushed her away and eventually got his whole torso in the fangs of the beast.
…
…
Ding.
With a sound of blood dripping down, Mei Yue'er opened her eyes and took a careful look at what had really befallen in front of her.
"L-Luotian … why?"
A second ago, Mei Yue'er was welcoming her final moment for the sake of saving him.
A second later, she saw him get his instead of her.
Her eyes were trembling nonstop. There was no word to describe what she was feeling right now.
Feng Luotian, who had not yet lost his consciousness within the wolf's mandibles, uttered his last words in a hoarse voice: "Yue'er … just get up and run, please. This … This will be the first time … and the last time in my crippled life … where I can finally be worth something."
However, his request turned backward.
Mei Yue'er could not hear anything he said. The only thing she got was he was still alive. So, instead of running away as he said, she jumped up and climbed over the beast's face and tried to pull its upper jaw up.
"Yue'er, don't let my sacrifice be for nothing!!" Feng Luotian bellowed.
"Shut up, you bastard!!" Mei Yue'er cursed as she did not want to hear any more of his crap. She would definitely not let him die while she was still alive.
"Yes, shut the hell up, you damnable bastard!!" A similar yet much harsher curse was barked from another direction.
That curse was from Sun Wuji, who finally caught up to them. He heard Feng Luotian's last words very clearly. Thus, he got angry at his brother for giving up on his own life so easily.
Sun Wuji was currently leaping up in his stony form, carrying a tree he twisted off earlier: "Eat this, you sucker!!"
With all the strength he recovered, Sun Wuji nailed the tree he carried at the back of Wight Wolf's neck.
Unfortunately, whether it was his lack of strength or the tree not being hard enough, the attack was unable to do anything. The tree shattered to pieces with no damage.
"Oh, come on!!" Sun Wuji shouted in his ultimate frustration.
Wight Wolf flung both of them off its back, followed by another claw attack toward Mei Yue'er.
Sun Wuji knew that, giving her current injuries, another attack would instantly end her life, so he took the initiative and bore it all by himself.
BAM!!
Sun Wuji was blown away into a stony hill nearby, flattening everything nearby. Blood gushed out from all over his body despite being in a stone transformation state.
He got down to the gravel position and coughed off several mouthfuls of blood.
Being only a Five Fangs Fighter and without any weapon or treasure to protect himself, a strike from a Talon Monster was enough to render him to a meat paste.
Sun Wuji was incredibly lucky to be alive right now. Or rather, he was incredibly tough in his own level of cultivation.
Feng Luotian called out in worried: "Wuji, just run!! Run and get to the city wall as fast as y—"
Before he even finished his words, Wight Wolf swung his body into its mouth and swallowed him whole.
At that moment …
At the sight of a brother getting eaten …
For both Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji …
There was only despair …
And anger.