As the slender woman's magical power erupted, Zhao Min seemed unable to withstand her strength. With a ripping sound, the whip slid from Zhao Min's grasp like a slippery snake.
The ghostly light in Zhao Min's eyes grew colder. The ink-colored demon flower on her arm swayed gently, and in a single fluid motion, her palm slid down the tail of the whip. With a clatter, countless barbs fell to the ground. A faint cry of pain echoed from within the long whip—the sound of the artifact spirit trapped inside.
The slender woman's body trembled violently, and she stumbled back a step in the void, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
This natal magical treasure of hers had been crafted at great expense. Both its materials and its artifact spirit were top-tier items she had gone through immense hardship to select. In several hundred years, it had never suffered such heavy damage. Even when she had fought against Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators and clashed head-on with their magical treasures, no marks had been left on her weapon.
At this moment, her magical treasure was like a snake that had been skinned, the greater part of its body now smooth as a mirror, its spirituality greatly diminished. With her natal magical treasure damaged, she, its master, was also affected. Pained and furious, the slender woman's body trembled with rage.
Zhao Min paid no mind to the other's expression. With a side step, she glided out of the misty qi. Suddenly, an intensely hot flame rushed toward her head. Without thinking, Zhao Min pushed both palms forward, sending a wave of frigid water surging ahead.
Behind the flames was the "Bloodfire Divine Crow," which had already launched its attack. It spewed a long tongue of blood-red fire from its mouth, continuously scorching everything before it. Zhao Min cultivated a water-attribute cultivation method, and her control over water and ice arts was second nature.
A wave of water rose before her, clashing with the ball of blood-red flame, producing a series of sizzling sounds. In an instant, a great cloud of green smoke billowed up between heaven and earth.
Zhao Min's expression remained unchanged. Of her outstretched palms, one suddenly retracted. The ink-colored demon flower on her small, jade-white forearm shook violently, and in an instant, her palm became a fist and she struck out. With a muffled sound, her fist heavily slammed into the back of her other hand, which was supporting the water wave.
"Bang!"
Another muffled sound. The water curtain formed by the wave shook violently, and from its center, a fist made of water emerged. It smashed into the blood-red flame, which instantly shot back like a pellet. Because Zhao Min's strike was so powerful and heavy, the "Bloodfire Divine Crow" had not expected such ferocity and had no time to react. The tongue of blood-red fire it had spewed was forcefully driven back into its mouth, and it was immediately struck by the backlash of its own blood-fire.
The sudden surge of fire attacking its heart caused the "Bloodfire Divine Crow" to roll its eyes back and faint. Before it lost consciousness, a thought flashed through its mind. 'This shouldn't be happening, this is not right…'
It had only just begun its attack, with several divine abilities yet to be used, only to be interrupted by the opponent's tyrannical and fierce blow. Although it had reached the third rank, and its bloodline was ranked within the top thousand among demonic beasts, in Zhao Min's eyes, it was merely a cultivator at the Initial-stage Golden Core.
Zhao Min's figure did not stop. With a flash, she had already escaped the misty qi range set up by the slender woman. The moment her figure appeared, two figures, one from the left and one from the right, attacked her. It was Bate and Balu, who had arrived swiftly. By the time their attacks reached her, the slender woman on the other side had only just managed to stabilize her retreating figure.
In the air, Bate and Balu attacked from the left and right, like two divine giants. A hammer and a wolf-tooth club, whistling through the air, smashed heavily toward Zhao Min's head, without a trace of mercy for the fairer sex.
Zhao Min's flashing figure did not slow in the slightest despite being pincered by two Golden Core experts. A cold light glinted in her eyes, and her forward momentum suddenly became even more urgent. In the next moment, she collided with the two magical treasures. In the void, Bate and Balu simultaneously showed looks of astonishment.
They didn't understand what this woman was doing. Was she going to block their magical treasures with her physical body? The two of them were not only Golden Core cultivators of the Tianlan Clan but also recognized warriors of the clan. Usually, even without infusing their magical treasures with magical power, the weight of these two weapons alone could easily crush a large mountain into dust.
"Courting death!"
A savage light appeared in Bate's and Balu's eyes. In their view, this frail-looking woman was undoubtedly provoking the bravest and most skilled warriors of the prairie.
Just as Zhao Min's head was about to make contact with the two magical treasures, her body swayed gently, becoming as graceful as a willow in the wind. With a shake of her shoulders, she had already pressed them against the two magical treasures.
"Boom! Boom!" Two loud bangs echoed across the prairie, reverberating through the sky. Zhao Min's body only faltered slightly.
An ink-colored demon flower with stems and leaves appeared on her swan-like, snow-white neck, looking even more eerie against her skin that was whiter than snow.
In the void, Bate and Balu did not see a shower of blood. The woman's body had only sunk slightly before the loud bangs erupted. Then, two black lights shot back toward them with the force of a thousand jun. It was their own magical treasures, now hurtling toward them with a force several times stronger than before.
The magical power in their bodies surged as they tried to regain control of their weapons. But the moment their hands touched the magical treasures, a series of cracking sounds came from their arms. The two of them were struck as if by lightning. Their hands, still holding their magical treasures, were driven back into their chests. With a soft "pfft," two arrows of blood shot from their mouths.
Using this opportunity, a white figure flew past between them. It was Zhao Min.
Two breaths. From the moment the slender woman had called for an attack on Zhao Min to the moment she broke through the encirclement, it had only taken two breaths.
At this time, Li Yan's conversation with Wutu had just ended when a series of violent tremors came from the distance. Then, a white shadow circled and landed by his side.
Looking at Zhao Min, whose breathing was slightly ragged, Li Yan was also extremely shocked. According to his plan, they were still on the Tianlan Prairie, and Li Yan could not kill all the cultivators here. Therefore, until a certain point, he would not summon Zi Kun to help, as that would reveal too many of his trump cards. So, he had only intended for Zhao Min to hold off the opponent while he dealt with the Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator first.
This was the first time in many years that Li Yan had seen Zhao Min in action. In two breaths, she had forcibly broken out of the encirclement of four Golden Core cultivators, one of whom was even a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
Li Yan had previously chosen to fight Wutu because the other was a wind-attribute cultivator, and he feared Zhao Min's speed would not be able to keep up and she would be at a disadvantage. Moreover, he had seen the other party personally receive Tie Lianggu's Golden Core, and when he finally put it into his storage bracelet, the spiritual power on his hand had been withdrawn, allowing for a very brief moment of contact.
Li Yan had always been ruthless toward his enemies and certainly didn't want them to hold a grudge. So he had long since tampered with the Golden Core. It was just that he didn't want the other party to discover it immediately, so he had used a very subtle, slow-acting poison, wanting to eliminate future troubles. At the same time, he had thrown Tie Lianggu's Golden Core at the gray-haired old man precisely because this person was the strongest and most difficult to deal with, and he wanted to take care of him as well.
It was just that Wutu's strength was truly formidable. Even after being poisoned, it took a considerable amount of time for the poison to take effect. He had no choice but to constantly entangle with the other party. In this situation, only by using "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" could he contend with him. The speed of both sides was pushed to the extreme, causing their magical power to be consumed rapidly. After a total of eleven breaths, Wutu's poison finally took effect.
Only then did a turning point come. He was just about to turn back to help Zhao Min escape, but the sudden turn of events left even Li Yan a little stunned. He knew Zhao Min was very strong and had no problem fighting across realms, but he had never expected that this senior sister of his was now so powerful.
From Zhao Min's somewhat ragged breathing, it could also be seen that such an explosive burst was extremely taxing on her magical power and probably could not be sustained for long. But even so, Zhao Min's sheer power had brought a rare silence to the prairie for a moment. Even Wutu was looking at Zhao Min in disbelief.
"Where did these cultivators come from? They are unbelievably strong. They are definitely not from the Tingyun Kingdom…"
Tie Lianggu and his junior sister were disciples of the Great Heavenly Master, the elite of the Tianlan Prairie's generation. In the past, their aptitude was already considered heaven-defying. But compared to the mysterious man and woman before them, these two were the ones who truly suppressed their opponents across realms, in a soul-stirring manner.
Today, their side had completely suppressed the opponent in terms of both realm and numbers, yet they had been pushed to such a state. The green-clad guards in the distance looked at Zhao Min with even greater fear in their eyes and retreated one after another.
"Go!" Li Yan let out a low cry, pulled Zhao Min, and the "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill erupted once more!
Wutu had been forcibly suppressing the deadly poison in his body, forcing it into his lower limbs, which had already begun to rot. His magical power was rapidly draining away with his corroding flesh; he could no longer fight. Seeing the opponent about to use that strange movement skill to flee again, a cold light exploded in his eyes. His hands flew rapidly in front of his chest like a windmill. In an instant, a small, shadowy mass, neither mist nor smoke, appeared in the midst of his hand seals.
"Go!" With Wutu's sharp cry, this small shadow immediately circled and flew to the spot where Li Yan had just been standing. After a rapid spin, it blurred and transformed, surprisingly becoming a small person only an inch tall.
If Li Yan were to carefully scan this area with his Divine Sense at this moment, he would be horrified to discover that the small shadow person bore a slight resemblance to him, especially its aura.
Wutu flipped his other hand, and an exquisite purple talisman appeared in his palm. He injected the last of the powerful magical power remaining in his arm into it. Then, with a wave, the purple talisman instantly passed through the small shadow person, which immediately vanished. Then, as if it had eyes, the purple talisman made a small turn and shot toward Li Yan's retreating back.
Wutu knew that without his help, none of Bate and the others could catch up to the opponent. The moment the purple talisman was sent out, his body swayed, and his consciousness became blurry. With a cracking sound, his feet could no longer support his body and snapped. Wutu fell from the sky, still clutching Tie Lianggu's Golden Core in his other hand.
"Lord Wutu!"
"My lord!"
Bate and Balu quickly flew over and immediately used their spiritual power to catch Wutu's body. They also knew Wutu was poisoned and did not dare to touch him with their hands.
"There are medicinal pills here. Give them to him quickly, and send them both back to Master as soon as possible!" The slender woman immediately took out a green jade bottle, poured out a verdant pill, and flicked it over with her finger.
Although she had given Wutu a detoxification pill, she did not know if it would save him. Wutu himself had top-quality detoxification pills, which had clearly not been effective. Especially her senior brother, Tie Lianggu, who was left with only a Golden Core and couldn't even take medicinal pills; he had to go back and find their master for treatment.
"You take them back. We two will go after the enemy!" Bate saw that Balu had already given the pill to Wutu, and Wutu's breathing seemed to have eased a bit. He looked to the south and quickly said to the slender woman.
"No need. That person cultivates an extremely powerful movement skill. We can't catch up. However, they can't escape anymore!"