66. Disregarding the Code of Martial Ethics

Lin Jiuci felt groggy for a moment, then carefully sensed her condition. Oh?

"Master, what miraculous elixir did you give me? How did I enter the Mortal Refining Realm? The third stage of the Mortal Refining Realm, no less!" Lin Jiuci's surprise was entirely genuine, and a steady stream of power was continuously welling up within her body.

Enlightenment Primal Venerable frowned, and Li Yun was equally puzzled. The two exchanged glances, realizing they probably had to seek out that unreliable Uncle Tianjiji again.

"Slap." A wooden plaque accurately struck the center of Li Yun's forehead.

"Don't worry, Jiuci is fine. Jiuge and Ayan have obtained a fortuitous opportunity." The wooden plaque transmitted the voice and immediately turned to ash.

Uncle Tianjiji was as infuriating as ever, making people want to punch him! Since there was nothing wrong, the two of them stopped worrying. Enlightenment Primal Venerable told Lin Jiuci to tidy up and go cultivate; with such a massive surge in cultivation base, she naturally needed to properly consolidate her foundation.

Lin Jiuge and Zhou Yan had left the Dragon Bear Clan ruins. The two of them had harvested quite a few spiritual plants, and together they had also bled a fair number of fierce beasts! As their cultivation progressed, the required grade of fierce beast blood was getting higher and higher.

"I remember Senior Uncle Wuming has a Tier 3 fire lion. Shall we go back and bleed it for use?" Zhou Yan suggested.

"Senior Uncle Wuming... that sounds a bit familiar. Better not. If the two of us cultivate like this, people might mistake us for heretical cultivators." Lin Jiuge decisively refused. Wasn't this the master of the person who had brought her and Jiuci here?

"Then where are we going to find Tier 3 fierce beasts?" Zhou Yan also felt it wouldn't do, and they proceeded to discuss whether there were any Tier 3 fierce beasts around here.

"Save me!" A cry for help rang out, accompanied by swords flying in all directions.

Lin Jiuge looked over. The eight sword wielders? Jing Xia was actually a sword wielder too. Tsk tsk. She then looked at the fierce beast they were battling.

"Senior brother, we've found our target. Let's go." Lin Jiuge wasn't interested in the sword wielders, but she adored the Tier 3 fierce beast opposite them. Since it had delivered itself right to her doorstep, could she refuse? No, she wanted it, and she had to have it.

The eight of them had fought each other's battles independently, leaving all eight of them injured, as none of them was willing to submit to the others.

Their cultivation bases also varied; clearly Sun Qianqian, the Yellow Jade Sword Wielder, was at the bottom, followed by Xiao He, the Ying Purple Sword Wielder, and Shangguan Bupo, the Milky Way Star Sword Wielder.

Opposite them was a Tier 3 high-grade fierce beast, a Winged Tiger, which possessed wind attributes.

Its speed was extremely fast, and it had undergone a mutation; its pair of wings could unleash blades of wind. Sun Qianqian was slightly careless and was grazed by a wind blade, leaving her right arm covered in blood.

The rest of the group also sustained light to moderate injuries.

The Winged Tiger roared, and the wind blades swept forward like a tornado. Oh no! The hearts of the eight sank; even if they didn't die, they would be severely injured.

At the moment of despair, an array disc dropped down, blocking the attack.

"Senior Brother Zhou Yan!" Jun Lin recognized that peerlessly handsome face.

"Is everyone alright?" Zhou Yan nodded faintly, controlling the array disc.

"We're fine." It was just that their primordial energy consumption had been too severe.

"Restore your energy, I will guard you," Zhou Yan said.

"Senior brother, that Winged Tiger is exceptionally powerful," Jing Xia warned.

"Rest assured, it's not just me. My junior sister is here too."

As soon as Zhou Yan finished speaking, the eight watched as Lin Jiuge charged straight toward the Winged Tiger, her speed not the least bit inferior to the beast's.

Human and tiger refused to give ground. Lin Jiuge didn't draw her golden sword, relying purely on her physical body to fight. Her pair of fists looked quite small, but being struck by them truly hurt.

The Winged Tiger roared in fury, never expecting this puny human to be so formidable.

Repeating its old trick, the Winged Tiger unleashed wind blades from its wings toward Lin Jiuge. Finally drawing her golden sword, Lin Jiuge charged forward without even looking, her speed so fast it left afterimages. She materialized directly in front of the Winged Tiger, causing the beast to freeze for a moment before it felt a sharp pain in its chest.

"Senior brother, catch!" The golden sword was thrust into its chest position, while an enlarged bottle held underneath was catching its flowing blood.

Zhou Yan caught it, applied a sealing talisman, and put it away.

The Winged Tiger's eyes turned bloodred, and it roared in rage—this damned human actually dared to bully a tiger like this!

"It's calling for backup. Senior Brother Zhou Yan, hurry and tell Fellow Daoist Jiuge to come back," Lan Ling said.

"It's fine," Zhou Yan refused. Since his junior sister hadn't spoken, it was enough for him to keep an eye on this group of people.

"Roar." Four different beast cries echoed from the four corners of the dense forest.

Holding her golden sword, Lin Jiuge licked the corner of her mouth, showing not a shred of fear.

The cultivation bases of the other eight sword wielders were all in the Transforming Mortal Realm, while only Lin Jiuge was still in the Fading Mortal Realm. Yet, despite being a whole stage lower, why was Lin Jiuge so astonishingly powerful?

With a rumble, a gigantic ape appeared before the crowd. Quick-handed Zhou Yan had already laid down a concealment array combined with a restoration array.

"Awoo." A blazing red fox appeared, its body as large as an adult elephant.

Accompanied by the cry of an eagle, a massive grey hawk appeared in the sky.

"Awoo." A black wolf the size of a calf stood atop a boulder ahead, followed by a pack of wolves.

Gasp! This lineup was enough to slice them all to pieces!

"Roar."

Surrounded by a pack of giant beasts, Lin Jiuge looked exceptionally petite.

"Senior brother, come and try this," Lin Jiuge called out.

"I'm coming." Zhou Yan handed the control of the array disc to Jing Xia standing beside him.

The two stood back-to-back, their eyes filled with excitement.

"Roar." Following the tiger's roar, all the fierce beasts surged into action.

Both of their speeds reached the ultimate extreme. Zhou Yan pressed his right index and middle fingers together, and a miniature bow and arrow materialized on his arm. Transforming his primordial energy into arrows, he took down one fierce beast with every single shot.

"Is Fellow Daoist Zhou Yan an archery cultivator?" Lan Ling muttered to herself. In the heat of battle, Zhou Yan's peerlessly handsome face looked even more dazzling!

"No."

As if to verify his words, the bow in Zhou Yan's hands collapsed, and his hands rapidly formed seals. A water-attribute technique burst forth, directly binding the ape's movements.

"Gasp! The casting speed of this spell is so fast, and so precise!"

"Look at Lin Jiuge."

The eight turned their gaze back to Lin Jiuge. With a single sweep of her sword, a patch of wolves tumbled to the ground. Then, stepping onto the back of a wolf, she dodged a sneak attack from the fire fox behind her. The wolf pack ended up suffering heavy injuries from that very swipe of the fire fox's claws.

The grey hawk in the sky swooped down. With a flash, Lin Jiuge appeared right on the hawk's back, her hands busy plucking the feathers off the hawk's head until it was bald. Then she leapt up to a tree canopy, the grey hawk feathers in her hand fluttering away in the wind.

"Screech!" Watching her own feathers scatter in the wind, the grey hawk directly summoned the avian flock.

"Roar." The Winged Tiger summoned the beasts of the land.

"You guys, assess the situation and leave. We'll lure them away," Zhou Yan said, retreating in the opposite direction. Lin Jiuge had already shifted to another tree canopy just as the tree she had been standing on instantly collapsed.

As the two retreated, they didn't forget to taunt the pack of fierce beasts, punctuated by the occasional angry roar of the beasts.

"We must quickly recover our energy, leave this place, rendezvous with our sectmates, and help Senior Brother Zhou Yan and Fellow Daoist Jiuge." Jing Xia finished speaking and immediately began channeling his energy to recover. The other seven didn't dawdle either, hurriedly circulating their cultivation; right now, they were the safest ones.

Why were the fierce beasts roaring? These two had no martial virtue whatsoever; while fighting, they kept harvesting the beasts' blood, sparing not even their kings. Yet the two humans were as slippery as eels, completely impossible to catch—even slicker than loaches!

"Roar." The Winged Tiger was stabbed by another sword, losing a large amount of blood to Lin Jiuge.

"Junior sister, if we keep going like this, it won't be a solution," Zhou Yan said while dodging, having already resorted to using hidden weapons.

"Shall we just bleed them until they're drained of blood?" Lin Jiuge offered a suggestion.