Before we left, I tried to get as much information from Sylvie as possible, but she didn't know much about the demonic cultivator other than that she was a woman with long black hair, sickly green skin, a potent demonic aura, and dressed in black and purple robes. Oh, and that she wielded a massive sword. Her powers were incredible, according to Sylvie, enough to overwhelm the spirit arrays that she and her younger twin sister employed.
"She's at least Earth ranked," Sylvie explained. "And I think her name is Murderous Crow. That's what she called herself. I'm not familiar with human cultivators or demons, so I'm afraid I don't know more than that."
"Murderous Crow." I swallowed, turning pale. Myria noticed my reaction.
"What's the matter, Jun Wen? Do you know who that is?"
"Yeah. She's bad news." I placed a hand on Sylvie's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll do our best to save your younger sister. But you should stay here."
"What? No! I want to help too!"
"Um, that would be a bad idea." I shook my head firmly. "If Murderous Crow sees you showing up, she might think the deal is off and kill your younger sister immediately. It's best if you wait for us here. Don't worry, I'll send your sister to your location once we've rescued her. Immediately bring her and yourself back through the barrier and seek shelter in the village. Don't let her pursue you."
"Understood. But…are you sure?"
"Sure as sure, Sylvie. Trust us." I then turned to my comrades. "Let's go."
"Do you know where this Murderous Crow is?" Long Wang asked dryly. I groaned and turned back to Sylvie.
"Um, sorry…could you point us in the right direction?"
The blond fairy sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't know where Murderous Crow and Silvia are exactly because the demonic cultivator imposed a one-sided deal. But I know roughly where they might be. They're in that direction. I'm supposed to meet her there to inform her if I deactivated the barrier type spirit array, so I suspect she shouldn't be too far from that location."
"Good enough," Long Wang said. He nodded at me. "My lord, as long as she's in the general vicinity, I should be able to help you locate her exact position. And that of the hostage."
"Excellent. Let's go."
It didn't take us long, and Long Wang deployed a technique that allowed us to track down Murderous Crow's location. We crept closer and spotted her leaning against a tree and stroking the black feathers of a Carrion Crow while chuckling to herself. She was exactly as Sylvie described, down to the robes. She also had black tattoos on her green face, etched to depict some malicious demonic entity.
Not far away, a girl who looked almost identical to Sylvie hung from a tree, her hands tied together. She was unconscious, her eyes closed. Apart from a blue iris ornamenting the left side of her head instead of the right like her sister's, it was difficult to distinguish them.
That must be Silvia.
"Wait," I whispered before Myria could rush forward. "We can't just plunge in like that. It'll put the hostage in danger."
"What do you suggest we do?" She retorted. "We can't leave the girl at the whims of such a cruel person! It's clear she has no intention of letting Silvia go!"
"We will rescue her, but if we charge in right now, there's a chance she'll kill the hostage instantly. Our priority is to rescue Silvia and bring her back to Sylvie, not overpower Murderous Crow in battle. In fact, it might be difficult to win against an Earth ranked cultivator like her."
"So what do you suggest we do?"
"It's simple," Long Wang replied scornfully. "We kill the Murderous Crow."
I snorted. "If it's so simple, why haven't you done so already?"
"If you're good at something, never do it for free."
"Can you both stop quoting movie lines and be serious for once?!" Myria snapped. Wow, she actually watched that awesome superhero movie too. I was impressed. Oh, we did watch it together during one of our home dates. Never mind.
"All right, just calm down." I sighed. "Long Wang and I will distract Murderous Crow and draw her attention. We'll lure her away from the hostage by launching a sneak attack and then retreating. Given her pride, she will definitely pursue us to take revenge. The moment she's distracted by us, Myria, please go rescue Silvia. Free her and bring her back to where Sylvie is waiting, and remind her to escape back into the village. Don't deactivate the barrier type spirit array, no matter what."
"You want me to rescue the hostage?" Myria bristled. "I can fight too!"
"I know you can, but you're the only one I can trust to rescue the hostage. The thing about Long Wang, and not just him but also Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long and any spirit beasts I summon is that I can dismiss them and bring them back to my dungeon, then escape on my own. It'll be safer for us to retreat than it is for you. Also, you are probably the fastest among us."
"I agree, my lady." Long Wang chimed in. "In terms of combat potential, I believe I am superior to you. No offense. And my lord can summon as many reinforcements as he can."
"Yeah, and the duty of rescuing the hostage is the most important role. That's why I am entrusting it to you. You're the only one I trust enough for a mission as vital as this."
"Fine." Myria sulked and turned away, but she begrudgingly accepted it. "I'll consider this a compliment."
"Thanks."
"If I may propose, my lord," Long Wang raised a hand. "Given that the opponent is Earth ranked, we might not be able to defeat her in direct combat. However, if we employ spirit arrays, we will be able to wound her enough to force her into a retreat."
"Didn't Sylvie say she and her twin sister were unable to defeat her with spirit arrays? That she had enough brute strength to smash through all of them?"
"Yes, but I believe that's because they were only able to set up basic spirit arrays, given the circumstances. It's not like their opponent would patiently wait for them to set up a powerful spirit array before destroying it. As arrogant as she seems, I doubt she is that stupid."
Murderous Crow had an air of arrogance around her, indeed. She was smirking smugly as she gazed off into the distance, as if confident that Sylvie would show up any moment to agree to her deal.
"If you can distract her long enough, I believe I can set up a spirit array powerful enough to injure her severely at least. You just need to buy me time while I set it up, and lure her over."
"…why don't you just set it up right now, and then we strike and bait her over to the trap after you are done?" I mean, that was the most logical way of fighting, right?
"Well, if I set up the spirit array nearby, she'll definitely detect the subtle shifts in qi in the surroundings. A person of an Earth ranked caliber wouldn't miss even the slightest changes of spiritual qi so close. She'll rush over to investigate immediately. I suspect that might be what happened to the fairy twins when they attempted to ambush her."
"I see." Long Wang had a point. I recalled Ling Zhen mentioning a similar principle in class. Setting up spirit arrays was a massive task that drew natural qi from the surroundings to alter the environment. It was akin to drilling and hammering during a renovation. Of course your neighbor was going to hear all the noise from upgrading your house. "On the other hand, if I distract her in a fight, she will be too occupied with all the qi being released in combat to notice the shifts of qi in the larger environment." Which was to say, make enough noise to drown out the din caused by the renovation.
"Exactly."
"Isn't there a less risky strategy?" Myria asked anxiously. "I'm not comfortable with the idea of Jun Wen taking on this Murderous Crow directly by himself."
"Have you forgotten who I am?" I asked with a snicker. "I'm a summoner. I never fight alone. Don't worry, I have plenty of allies that might help. All right, let's move out. Myria, you approach from that direction. Where are you setting up the spirit array, Long Wang?"
"Over there, my lord." The dragon butler gestured to a nearby clearing. "I'll be quick about it. In fact, once I'm done, I'll join in the fight. Take that as the cue to follow me to wherever I run to, because I'll retreat into the spirit array."
"All right, let's do this." Taking a deep breath, I waited for my allies to get into position before I bashed through the foliage and made my way toward the clearing where both Murderous Crow and Silvia were. The demonic cultivator had detected my presence the moment I began smacking aside twigs, having heard the noise and somewhat detected my qi. I didn't care. As long as her attention was focused on me, then she wouldn't notice Myria or Long Wang.
Beside me, Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long loped or stalked toward the clearing, fiery qi blazing over them. I stopped once I saw Murderous Crow glaring at me. She folded her arms and smirked, cocking her head to the side quizzically.
"Oho…fresh prey. I didn't think I would run into an orthodox cultivator here."
"Well, now that you did, what do you intend to do?" I shrugged and spread my hands. "Kill me?"
"Yes," Murderous Crow licked her lips as she took a step forward. "I bet your blood will taste delicious. The blood of younglings always do. Ah…and I just happen to need more fresh blood for my Lethal Blood Transmutation Ritual."
"Not sure if I heard of that before, but it sounds like a demonic ritual to increase your own strength?" I asked casually. Murderous Crow snickered.
"Oh? So you do have some knowledge of demonic cultivation. That's right. By bathing in the blood taken from 1,000 people, I will be able to refine my Lethal Blood Qi and raise my cultivation realm further."
I narrowed my eyes, thinking about how cruel such a ritual was. The murder of 1,000 people, huh? But she definitely had slaughtered more than several thousands.
"You don't seem to be afraid of me, though?" Murderous Crow looked at me curiously.
"Well, I know you, Murderous Crow. And I can't let you continue running rampant for much longer, or you'll kill even more people."
"Hah! I'm not surprised that you recognize me, but to think you'll actually challenge me?" Murderous Crow chortled. "For that audacity, I'll ensure that you die horribly! Heh! As long as you have even a small measure of flesh on your body, I'll preserve your life to torment you for as long as I can!"
"Yeah, I expected that." I glared at her defiantly. "I still remember the massacre of over 80 Daoist practitioners in the Western mountains about five years ago, where you killed one a day over almost three months. Even though the last survivor surrendered and pleaded for mercy, you cut off his head and drank his blood directly from his veins."
Sighing, I continued. "And four years ago, you murdered over fifty cultivators of the Xuan Ming Palace just because they wore black like you. Not only did you annihilate the entire sect, you even buried their bodies in the Cave of Dusk, leaving their heads above ground for the Carrion Crows to feed on."
"Oh? You know me really well!" Murderous Crow chuckled.
"Yeah, that's only two examples of the hundreds of atrocities that you committed. You're one of the most vicious demonic cultivators to have ever existed. I could go on, but it'll take forever, and I can tell that you're not that patient."
"That's right! I can't wait any longer!" Murderous Crow screeched and lunged forward suddenly, disappearing into a black and purple blur. "Let me see how strong you are!"
The next thing I knew, her hand struck my shoulder and blew me backward. I could see her screaming her technique in delight.
Xuan Celestial Crow Claw!
There was a flurry of qi that took the shape of black feathers fluttering around her, and a burst of blood, and I was sent crashing onto the ground with blood spurting from my mouth.
However, I wasn't about to go down without a fight. Cartwheeling, I slammed my hands against the ground and retaliated with a kick. Azure qi shrouded my leg before I rammed my foot against her chest and sent her hurtling backward in an explosion of frost. Ice slowly spread over the surrounding grass, but when I righted myself, I saw that Murderous Crow was still standing. With a hand, she cracked the ice that had encased her chest, even as blood trickled from her mouth.
"Ha ha! What a surprise! I'm impressed by your skills, kid! At least let me know your name before I kill you, and which sect you're from."
"Song Jun Wen. I guess you can say I belong to the Divine Path Sect because I've attended the schools affiliated with them my entire life."
"Oh? Divine Path Sect? Interesting. Judging from the exchange earlier, I'm guessing that you're powerful enough to wield a spirit sword. Show it to me!"
"Fine." I wasn't sure why, but I decided to play along with her. "Azure Frost!"
Azure qi coalesced in my right hand before materializing physically as a thin and long blue sword that seemed forged entirely out of ice. The temperature around me plunged, and it appeared as if it was snowing.
"Impressive!" Murderous Crow chuckled as she gathered miasma. Demonic qi swirled around her right hand, the corrosive fumes coalescing into a massive, heavy sword. "I'll show you my precious heavy sword too. The Annihilator, which has tasted the blood of ten thousand people!"
Licking the blood that trailed from her mouth, she sprang forward to cleave me in half with that massive blade of hers.