Ji Tianqing’s expression s.h.i.+fted drastically the moment this icy blue beam appeared. At this point, Qianye’s wings had just reached its maximum extension, and Heartgrave needed a split second more to fire.
Ji Tianqing could hardly care about other stuff at this moment. She invested all her strength in a.s.sailing the Wolf King, using powerful long-range attacks to prevent him from diverting his attention. This kind of attack far surpa.s.sed her own capacity—its power was similar to the Profound Combatant Formula, albeit utilizing a different mechanism.
At this point, Qianye had finally completed his acc.u.mulation and opened fire! Nonetheless, the projectile emerging from Heartgrave wasn’t an origin bullet, but a feather of light!
The entire world was drained of color, and for a split second, this luminous feather was the only thing people could see. Time seemed to stop flowing, and s.p.a.ce lost all meaning.
It would seem the temporal pause was just an illusion as people came to at different speeds. Seemingly unaffected by the freeze, Ji Tianqing turned to flee the moment that feather of light appeared. The icy blue silhouette was just slightly slower—seemingly hesitant and unresigned—but it, too, chose to flee in a different direction.
The Wolf King’s eyes were bloodshot. The moment he saw the feather of light, he understood that he couldn’t escape.
Time and s.p.a.ce had no meaning in the face of this luminous plume. It instantly arrived in front of the Wolf King, shot through the thin layer of ancestral power, and vanished into his chest.
The Wolf King unleashed a hysterical roar that blew away the clouds above. His dark red ancestral power erupted into a hundred-meter pillar of fire that surged into the sky above and blasted the earth below. Everything in the wake of this blaze was pulverized, be it walls, civilian houses, or defensive structures.
At the center of this pillar, the Wolf King was howling at the sky. His chest had burst open, and a fountain of blood was gus.h.i.+ng out from within!
The deep b.l.o.o.d.y cavity looked extremely terrifying, but the shot ultimately failed to penetrate his body. The Wolf King suddenly broke through the fiery pillar and vanished over the vast horizon.
Qianye gazed regretfully at the distant target, and then lost consciousness before falling to the ground. Two silhouettes rushed to catch him at the same time, but both of them withdrew with cold harrumphs as their eyes met. They each seemed fairly surprised at the other’s appearance.
Qianye thus landed with a thud, cras.h.i.+ng through the roof of a civilian building and right into the house. There was no more movement or sound from him thereafter.
Ji Tianqing glanced unhappily at the person in front of her. “I would’ve never thought you’d show up here.”
The one standing in front of her was a handsome young n.o.ble, one clad in a light blue outfit, with brows like swords and lips akin to cinnabar. She looked like an unsheathed sword just by standing there—it was, without a doubt, Li Kuanglan.
The latter smiled coldly. “Why can’t I be here?”
“There’s nothing here that requires your attention.”
“You guys would’ve been in a precarious position if I hadn’t come. If that shot had missed, you would all be in deep trouble,” Li Kuanglan said in a leisurely tone.
Ji Tianqing replied, “So you do know that Qianye’s shot was the key. And here I thought you wanted to slay the Wolf King on your own.”
Li Kuanglan laughed loudly. “I have no problem doing anything you can do.”
Ji Tianqing didn’t look so happy about how things had turned out. It was indeed Li Kuanglan’s slash that had torn through the Wolf King’s ancestral power. Otherwise, Qianye’s shot might not have injured the Wolf King if it had to penetrate the ancestral power first. Hence, she had no choice but to admit to this detail whether or not she was willing to.
While they were confronting one another, Li Kuanglan pointed at the ground. “Do you not care about his fate?”
“What does that have to do with me? How come you suddenly care so much about him? This doesn’t look like your usual young n.o.ble style!”
Li Kuanglan smiled meaningfully. “You weren’t slow to charge over just now.”
“You praise me too much, we arrived at the same time.”
“That’s because I’m faster than you, to begin with. I actually set out later than you did.”
“Then, you must’ve been in quite the hurry.”
Just as the two were reaching the height of their argument, Song Zining flew out of the city, shouting, “Let’s chase down the Wolf King, don’t let him escape!”
Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing replied, “I’m busy.”
Li Kuanglan refused flatly. “Not going!”
Speechless, Song Zining could only give chase on his own.
Only when the seventh young master’s figure was gone did Ji Tianqing stretch lazily, saying, “He won’t catch up, anyway.”
“It’s useless even if he does,” Li Kuanglan chimed in.
The two had the same opinion, but their expressions weren’t very friendly as they exchanged glances. It would seem having the same idea was an unacceptable outcome for them.
Li Kuanglan pointed downward. “He’s going to die if you don’t save him.”
“He"s just exhausted, a good nap will do.” Ji Tianqing seemed unconcerned, but there was a sharp blade hidden behind her smile. “Now that things here have been settled, when do you plan to go back?”
This was a blatant attempt at driving people away, but Li Kuanglan didn’t seem to take offense. She clasped her hands behind her back and said calmly, “Now that I’m already here, there’s really no need for me to rush back. I heard there’s a new Dark Flame mercenary corps here and it’s looking to hire people. This young n.o.ble is lacking in talents, so I plan to experience the life of a mercenary.”
“Sorry, but the corps is full, we’re not recruiting.”
Li Kuanglan laughed heartily. “You’re just an aide-de-camp, your words don’t count. Let’s continue this discussion when that commander wakes up.”
“He’s completely exhausted his power in this battle, he’ll be out for a couple of days.”
“It’s also fine to wait for the seventh young n.o.ble.” Li Kuanglan was in no rush.
“Seventh young n.o.ble…” A lightbulb lit up in Ji Tianqing’s mind at the mention of this name. Her expression changed as she made some rushed calculations. “Oh no, that fellow’s in danger!”
The two exchanged glances. Ji Tianqing pointed below, saying, “I’ll leave him to you, I’m going to save Song Seven.”
Li Kuanglan nodded in silence. Although she was from the Li family, it just so happened that she wasn’t proficient in divination and only specialized in the sword martial arts. Ji Tianqing was an expert in all trades, and it seemed like she had the means to track down Song Zining.
The two stopped bickering at the critical juncture and split up to do what they each did best.
Ji Tianqing’s silhouette flickered away as she chased after Song Zining.
The Wolf King was limping rapidly through the wilderness in his original form. At this moment, his ghastly injuries were showing no signs of healing—there was no origin power, no blood-flow, and no growth or rotting. It was as though all signs of life had disappeared.
This wound state was even worse than a constantly deteriorating one. No matter how hard the Wolf King activated his origin power, it would only linger around the injury. The energy from that luminous feather had extinguished all signs of life in its wake, and it was extremely difficult to expel. The Wolf King could still move freely or even do battle, but it would take more than just a couple of days to heal this damage.
The redness in the Wolf King’s eyes receded as his ancestral power waned, soon recovering their clarity. He had been running toward the main army all this time as this would save energy compared to flying.
He came to an abrupt stop at one point—the fur on his neck all perked up in response to an indescribable sense of danger. The Wolf King’s nose twitched ever so slightly as he turned to the side, facing a pile of rocks and shrubbery a hundred meters away.
When the Wolf King looked over, he saw a young girl in a white dress emerge from behind the rock. That arachne cleaver in her hand looked just as sharp and sinister.
The Wolf King’s pupils shrank. He had never imagined that he would encounter this harbinger of misfortune here. The young girl looked frail and harmless, but the Wolf King had suffered terribly last time and even lost something of great value. Now, she had appeared once again when he was gravely injured—was this just bad luck?
Instincts told the Wolf King that he must not leave his back open to her no matter what. Seeing the girl approach, the fierce Wolf King growled like a wounded beast. As expected, this made Bai Kongzhao hesitant and stop her advance, yet it didn’t seem like she was about to leave, either.
The wounded divine champion wasn’t willing to drag this out since no one knew what would happen next. Recalling his last experience, he plucked a pouch from his waist and tossed it to the young girl.
The young girl caught the bag and checked the contents. She then retreated slowly, seemingly satisfied with her haul.
Things went so smoothly that the Wolf King couldn’t help but ask, “That’s it? You’ll let me go just like that?”
“As long as you’re alive, I can keep on robbing your things.”
The Wolf King almost blacked out from the young girl’s reply. Her strength was clearly limited, yet she gave off a grossly disproportionate sense of danger. Additionally, their last exchange had proven that the Wolf King’s intuition wasn’t wrong.
As a cautious character, the Wolf King suppressed his anger and asked, “How did you find me?”
This question was key because the young girl had caught him both times when he was at his weakest. This was definitely no coincidence.
It was just that the girl’s answer almost knocked him out from the rage. “Not telling you.”
The Wolf King stopped speaking. He watched the girl’s gradual retreat and ran toward his forces only after she had left.
Not long afterward, Song Zining appeared in the wilderness. The seventh young master was clad in a standard hunter’s light armor and equipped with a silver spear as he followed the enemy’s traces.
Song Zining wasn’t moving that fast since he had to look for traces and differentiate them from the decoys that the Wolf King had left. Like a seasoned hunter, he was patient and attentive to details as he tracked down his quarry. The target was already wounded, so all he needed was to stay in the hunt long enough for the prey to die to his own injuries.
The seventh young master was as good a survivalist as he was a master strategist.
Just as he was concentrating on the hunt, he felt a sudden chill down the back of his neck. It actually forced him to s.h.i.+ver all over!
Song Zining wasn’t fl.u.s.tered. He gradually turned around, spear in hand, and locked eyes with Bai Kongzhao who was standing dozens of meters away.
“I have nothing on me except this spear. Are you here to fight to the death?”
Unexpectedly, the girl placed a pouch on the ground, saying, “This is for him.”
Song Zining was startled. “Who? Qianye?”
The girl didn’t reply. She merely turned around and sped away like a ghost.
Song Zining went over to pick up the offering only when her figure had vanished completely. This pouch looked rather familiar to him—it looked exactly like the one worn by the Wolf King.