A week passed in the blink of an eye.
"Fuck!" Qingyi gritted his teeth as he swung his sword.
A loud bang echoed, followed by the agonizing roar of a beast as the lightning sword Qi tore through flesh and leather.
Qingyi stepped back momentarily, activating the lightning steps until his back hit a tree.
In front of him was a spiritual beast of the third stage of the Foundation Realm, an iron bull that stood more than three meters tall.
The creature’s powerful body was covered in terrible wounds, dark blood dripping down its metallic fur.
The iron bull bellowed furiously, raising its upper body while a powerful earth Qi accumulated in its hooves.
Sensing the danger, Qingyi activated his draconic eyes and the world seemed to slow down.
At the same time, the bull let its hooves fall to the soft earth.
The ground shook and an explosion spread through the forest, raising dust and throwing thousands of stone fragments everywhere.
Taking a deep breath, Qingyi jumped, slashing towards the dozens of projectiles coming towards him.
They were powerful and sharp, but they were nothing compared to Tianming’s last attack.
His lightning sword Qi easily cut through the stones, a blue aura covered in silver threads dancing around his body like luminous serpents.
When the dust finally settled, it revealed the beast sunk in a crater more than ten meters deep, its bloodshot eyes focused on Qingyi.
The young man wasted no time. He had to end it right there.
Calming his mind, he emptied his Dantian, pushing all his Qi towards his legs and his sword before advancing, feeling the metal shudder in his hands.
The bull realized the attack and roared, trying to protect itself with a metal wall, but it was too late.
The steel met its throat, the sword Qi cutting through the tough hide while the lightning Qi melted the flesh and meridians inside.
The beast stomped heavily on the ground, desperately trying to get away.
"You’re not going anywhere," Qingyi grunted as he lifted his right foot, dropping it on the bull’s legs.
A loud snap followed by a heartbreaking roar echoed as the beast’s heels broke off and its body collapsed on top of Qingyi.
Gritting his teeth, Qingyi forced the sword with everything he had, cutting through flesh, bone and muscle until it came out the other side of the neck.
The beast’s head fell with a deafening thud.
"Ugh..." Qingyi exhaled as he collapsed onto his knees, his body covered in blood and sweat.
Tang Biyue hadn’t given him a moment’s rest, forcing him to fight non-stop against foundation realm spiritual beasts, many of higher cultivation than his own.
If it hadn’t been for his draconic eyes and his lightning sword spirit root, he wouldn’t even have survived the first day.
With an exhausted sigh, he raised his head, watching the voluptuous beauty approaching.
Her beautiful green eyes were cold as she observed the beast’s corpse.
She seemed to hesitate for a brief moment before speaking: "I’ll take you to the family elders. We’ll leave tomorrow morning."
Without even giving Qingyi time to reply, she left, her voluptuous body disappearing among the trees.
"Shit..." Qingyi stood up, a touch of anger appearing on his face.
Why the hell was that woman so insistent?
Couldn’t she just mind her own business?
In the end, he could only shake his head in defeat.
He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, but with her heightened senses, it would be almost impossible to do that...
As he reflected on his situation, he remembered something.
Her senses studied the mountain at almost all times, but she always seemed to withdraw them at night.
Qingyi himself was unable to perceive her senses, but Tang Yandu, even with his cultivation blocked, could still sense them.
It was only at the moments when her senses were retracted that Yandu tried to get Qingyi to release him.
"Just wait..." A smile played on Qingyi’s lips as she walked towards the hut.
The moment Tang Yandu started making his countless promises of power and wealth, he would run away.
When he entered the hut, he found Tang Yandu with his eyes closed, meditating peacefully.
Ignoring him, Qingyi sat down on the other side of the room and also closed his eyes, only opening them when Tang Yandu’s voice woke him up.
"What do you think’s going to happen, huh?"
Hearing these words, Qingyi slowly opened his eyes.
"My sister," Yandu smiled mischievously.
"She’s interested in you, in something inside you, and not for something good. She wouldn’t have kept you here for so long if it was good."
When Qingyi stood up, Yandu hurried his voice.
"They’re going to open you up, kid! The elders will look inside your guts and even if they find nothing and decide to keep you alive, you’ll never be able to cultivate again!"
Qingyi opened the door, ignoring Yandu’s desperate words.
"Hey, where do you think you’re going? Do you think you can escape from my sister on your own? Unless you have a teleportation talisman, it’s impossible!
But I can help you, just imbue some of your Qi into my meridians and-."
Yandu’s words were silenced when the door closed with a bang.
"Fuck..." He gritted his teeth, banging the back of his head against the wall as he thought about how to get out of the situation.
Even in the best case scenario, he would probably be crippled and forced to live as a monk.
Death would even be a mercy compared to what would happen if the great sects intervened in his trial.
He would probably have his mind completely scanned for information about the rebirth of the demonic cult, a process that often resulted in the destruction of the soul.
Just thinking about it was enough to make him shudder with terror.
If he could go back in time, he would probably do everything differently.
Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets.
Without Qingyi’s help, it was impossible for him to escape his sister and his father’s judgment.