Chapter 27

Currently, in a large cave, Qian Yu was performing some treatment on Zhao Xieren while everybody else was currently making preparations for dinner.

“Are you fine?” Qian Yu asked Zhao Xieren. They were currently in a small cave, or rather a crevice where a handful of people could fit in. With her back against the wall, Zhao Xieren was resting with a few blankets. By her feet, a small fire was keeping her warm.

“I’m fine, my body is just a little overwhelmed and weak since I used almost all of my qi,” Zhao Xieren closed her eyes. It was a short fight but it showed the wide disparity between the two realms. Aside from the differences in qi, the fire palms were too high and overbearing.

“Don’t worry about it,” she weakly reassured him.

“Just... take a good rest,” Qian Yu sighed as he looked at the girl. The hunt was in the final stages and there were only a few days left by now. This whole time, she was completely full of stress and didn’t have any time to relax.

“I’ll bring you food when you wake up later. Let’s just hope the rest of the hunt goes smoothly,” Qian Yu stood up, leaving Zhao Xieren alone to rest.

“Qian Yu… can you stay a bit more,” Suddenly, Zhao Xieren asked. She had closed her eyes, going to rest.

“Ah?” Qian Yu was startled.

“Of course,” Qian Yu smiled. Sitting back down, he silently watched the slim beauty. Staring at her face, he unknowingly fell asleep.

The next morning, two people were currently talking as they hid behind a dense amount of trees and bushes.

“Younger cousin, that idiot Li Yi wasn’t able to finish off Zhao Xieren. I don’t know what rank she is right now but my group is in 10th. Let’s just confront her,” Lang Mei said quietly. In front of her, a group of 11 people were travelling across a large plateau while a deep ravine, thousands of feet deep, descended from one side of the plateau. Leading this group was none other than Zhao Xieren.

“This is a good location! If we surround them, they have no choice but to surrender. They can’t run away!” Lang Mei continued urging her cousin.

“Alright, alright, you win. Get everyone ready to move out” Lang Cheng sighed, giving in to his older cousin’s demands.

“Yes finally! I’ll get the underlings ready to attack!” Lang Mei said, clenching her hands.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xieren and the others were quietly travelling. Still downcasted by yesterday’s defeat, Zhao Xieren wasn’t very talkative today and no one bothered breaking the silence.

“Haha, surrender!” a cocky, annoying voice had broken the silence. Before they knew it, they had been surrounded by a group of 20 disciples. They had the same robes and bands like themselves but unlike yesterday, they didn’t seem too friendly.

“Hahaha, Zhao Xieren, it’s me, Lang Mei!” a girl had walked out from the crowd of disciples. A triumphant smile was seen on her as if she had already won. By her side, another person had shown themselves.

“Who is he?” Qian Yu whispered to Zhao Xieren. as he assessed the situation. With pretty much no way to run, it would be a miracle if they managed to get out of this.

Zhao Xieren's face turned pale as she muttered, “Lang Cheng.”

‘Cousins, eh?’ Qian Yu gritted his teeth as he realized how laughable the situation was. Through luck, the pair had managed to run into each other and teamed up. They could have also done the same if they ever ran into Zhao Xieren’s cousin, Zhao Xun, but alas, they had never seen him.

Before Zhao Xieren could say anything further, Lang Mei smiled saying, “Hmm, it seems like I’ll be the winner for this competition Zhao Xieren.”

“What should we do?” Qian Yu asked.

“I have an idea. I’ve known her for a long time so I can somewhat handle her,” Zhao Xieren said.

“Hmph, do you think you have bested me! Although you have surrounded me, do you think you are stronger than me! I, Zhao Xieren, challenge you, Lang Mei, to a duel! If I win, you will let us leave,” A forced smile appeared on Zhao Xieren’s face as she provoked Lang Mei.

“Don-” Lang Mei’s cousin put up his hand at his cousin yet he was too slow.

Lang Mei instantly accepted, “Fine, I’ll show you how weak you are!”

“Sure you are!” Zhao Xieren said, seeing her plan work. Meanwhile, everyone was still dumbfounded and a little hopeful of the situation.

Running towards Lang Mei, who used a pair of sabers as her weapons, Zhao Xieren started attacking. *Clang… clang… clang* The two started trading blows. One attacked, one defended and then the other attacked as the other defended.

Qian Yu had thought that Lang Mei was a completely spoiled airhead, however, her fighting prowess proved otherwise.

“Yah!” Zhao Xieren landed a small cut on Lang Mei’s thigh, managing to find a weakness in Lang Mei’s stance. Up to now, they had been perfectly even, but Zhao Xieren had finally managed to gain the upper hand.

“Damn it!” With a roar, Lang Mei finally used the 1st martial technique of her family’s cultivation technique.

“Take this!” Lang Mei yelled out. Qi formed on her blade and as she swept her blade forward. A white arc of pure qi shot forward from her blade.

However, Zhao Xieren  had known about the cultivation technique of the Lang Family since childhood.

“Wandering Blades!” Zhao Xieren shouted as she imbued her body with qi. Using the increased speed from the technique, she dodged the attack while closing the distance between the two.

*Slash slash slash!* Zhao Xieren performed the confusing sword dance as Lang Mei did her best to protect her vitals.

*Splurt!* Even then, deep cuts appeared on her thigh, upper arm, and abdomen as Lang Mei spurted out blood. Falling down, she instantly lost consciousness.

“Tchh, this is why we never fight them headon dumbass,” Lang Cheng cursed seeing his cousin fall.

Not bothering with formalities anymore he ordered, “GO GO GO! Attack, get them!” Running to his cousin, he took out her talisman before activating it.

“Leader Zhao won! We got this!” Qian Yu and the rest however, felt completely motivated as they saw Zhao Xieren win. Seeing the 20 disciples charge at them, they didn’t feel an ounce of fear.

*Shang… Swack* The battle had started as the group of 10 fought against the group of 20. Even with a good morale however, it didn’t really mean much when they were outnumbered.

“Damn it, 1 against 2 is too hard!” Qian Yu’s whole body was tense as he struggled to fight against the two. Even though they weren’t that strong, their power together quickly overwhelmed him. Likewise, this slowly happened to everybody else.

“Give up,” Lang Cheng said coldly as he pointed his saber at Zhao Xieren.

Hearing his words, Zhao Xieren gritted her teeth as she looked around and saw the states of everybody on her side.

“If only I had more time to recover some qi,” Zhao Xieren clenched her fists, not wanting to give up. Deep down, she hoped that by some miracle, they would get saved again.

“You don’t have much qi left and your disciples are overwhelmed. You should know you can’t win,” he continued threatening her.

“Tch, I don’t really have a choice,” A few more seconds passed and Zhao Xieren realized that she was only prolonging the inevitable. Taking out her talisman, she activated it.

As she did however, she heard a loud cry.

“AHHHHH!!!,” Qian Yu shouted as a sword managed to pierce his body. Focusing on his fight against the two disciples, he had failed to notice his surroundings.

The battlefield was simply too chaotic and ultimately, he was accidentally hit and knocked over by another group of fights. Losing his balance, he fell backwards. Yet on the edge of the plateau, there was a ravine thousands of feet deep!

“QIANN YUU!” Seeing Qian Yu in the air, Zhao Xieren instantly used all her qi and accelerated her speed like she would when performing the Wandering Blade sword attacks. Her vision instantly turned hazy as her head started to hurt from over exhausting her qi.

Yet as she reached the edge of the cliff and reached out her hand, she failed to grab his hand as he fell down the ravine.