The timing of the ambush was impeccable. Upon realizing they had been spotted and their chance for a sneak attack was gone, the attackers immediately initiated the fight before Qi Ping and Sister Nan could coordinate a defense. Their goal was to catch them in a moment of disarray.
Qi Ping and his partner instantly understood the attackers' intent.
'Experts!'
'Total professionals!'
The fact that these two could act with such perfect synchronicity without a word of communication after their cover was blown proved that their combat experience was terrifying. Compared to Qi Ping, who had seen very few life-and-death battles, they were seasoned veterans.
Even with the bees as his trump card, Qi Ping didn't dare to be careless.
The two figures were clad in black dharma robes which, judging by their texture and aura, were Low-Grade defensive spirit tools. Based on their silhouettes, the attackers appeared to be a man and a woman. The man was at the fifth level of Qi Condensation, and the woman was at the fourth!
As soon as they realized the enemies' cultivation and equipment, Qi Ping and Sister Nan's expressions darkened. Not only did these two outmatch them in raw power, but their defensive robes would slash the effectiveness of the duo's poisons by half. While the toxins were still useful, their impact would be significantly limited.
This situation was lethal. Life and death would be decided in a heartbeat.
Sister Nan immediately prepared to fight for her life. She planned to erupt with everything she had to pin both of them down, creating the maximum amount of commotion to distract them while searching for a chance for her and Qi Ping to use their toxins. Qi Ping's strength was low; he wouldn't be very effective in a head-on clash, but releasing poison from the shadows could yield unexpected results.
This was their only path to victory.
In the instant she moved, a powerful aura exploded from Sister Nan's body—one that could even rival the fifth-level man in the black robes! Qi Ping was startled; her aura was much stronger than Wang Shan's.
However, the enemies seemed prepared for her outburst. From the moment they revealed themselves, the fifth-level man charged straight at Sister Nan. Meanwhile, the fourth-level woman bypassed her entirely, circling around to assassinate Qi Ping.
Sister Nan's plan to stall both of them failed instantly.
'Do these two have information on us?'
The same doubt rose in both Qi Ping and Sister Nan's minds. If they didn't have intelligence, how could they have executed such a targeted pincer maneuver before the duo had even revealed their own auras? Especially Qi Ping, who was still suppressing his presence with the Breath-Concealing Art!
They thought back to the beekeeper on Peak 032 who had been killed and looted half a month ago. It seemed their information had been sold!
Sister Nan even feared that her mastery of poisons had been exposed. The marauders clearly intended to quickly kill the "weakling" Qi Ping and then converge on her from both sides.
'Damn it! Who sold us out?' she cursed internally.
But as things stood, her only hope was to use her poisons to kill the fifth-level man in an unexpected strike, then rush to save Qi Ping before he was cut down. That was the only way they would both survive.
'Little Qi, you have to hold on as long as you can...' she prayed.
Qi Ping's performance today had given her hope that he possessed some hidden tricks. As for the man before her, if she used every resource at her disposal, she might just have a chance to take him down in one go.
The life-and-death struggle began in the blink of an eye.
Sister Nan clashed with the man instantly. Sabers and swords met with bone-chilling screeches, and powerful shocks of energy swept through the surrounding area. Neither side spoke a word; there were no questions or reasons—only the brutal intent to kill.
The cruelty of the lower levels of the cultivation world was laid bare: no interrogations, no excuses, only the predator and the prey. To win was to live; to lose was to die.
One mistake would mean a severed head or a death by toxin. Sister Nan didn't believe for a second that these marauders weren't using poisons themselves.
As they were locked in their life-and-death struggle, a shrill, blood-curdling scream rang out.
Sister Nan's heart skipped a beat. 'Has Qi Ping fallen already?'
But she quickly realized the scream had come from the black-robed woman!
She was overjoyed. 'Qi Ping won?'
Though the result was absurd and she didn't know how he had done it, it was undeniably a massive turning point. She immediately focused every shred of her attention on the man before her. She wanted to see if that scream would cause him to falter, giving her the opening she needed...
'Now!'
The man did indeed expose a tiny opening in his shock. In the next heartbeat, a poison-coated needle-shaped tool sliced across the back of the man's hand! The lethal toxin immediately made the man realize the gravity of his situation.
With decisive resolve, the man pulled a dark, ink-colored jade cicada from his wrist. Sister Nan's face went pale. A lethal sense of crisis rose in her heart!
'How could he have such a thing!'
At the critical moment, hundreds of golden bees swarmed the man, surrounding him in an instant. Their sharp, powerful stingers punched through his Low-Grade robes. Under the excruciating pain and the invasion of toxins, his screams joined the woman's.
Sister Nan seized the opening, rushing forward to decapitate the man with a single sweep of her sword. She couldn't risk him using that Ink Cicada while holding onto a shred of willpower; if he did, she would be the one to die.
After the kill, she and Qi Ping shared a silent look of mutual understanding. They immediately began stripping the marauders of their robes, weapons, and storage bags. With a coordinated effort, they threw the corpses into the deep, dense forest before fleeing the area.
After putting a significant distance between themselves and the scene, they found a relatively safe hiding spot to catch their breath. They didn't keep running because panic only led to more traps.
Sister Nan took a long, deep breath and looked at Qi Ping with a complicated expression.
"Little Qi... are those Golden Marrow Bees your pets?" she asked, still finding it hard to believe.
"Yes, Sister Nan. I contracted their Queen," Qi Ping nodded. There was no point in denying it now.
Besides, she had been exceptional in the fight, putting herself in the path of danger to protect him, even if the plan hadn't worked. That proved her character.
"I truly never imagined the one hiding the most depth among us would be you. Even I was fooled... but thank goodness you were there, or I would be dead."
Thinking of her earlier worry for him, she realized it had been unnecessary with that swarm at his command. However, the joy of surviving far outweighed any other emotion.
After a long silence, Sister Nan seemed to reach a decision. She pulled a tattered ancient manual from her storage bag and placed it in Qi Ping's hands.
Qi Ping was confused. "Sister Nan, what is this?"
"It's for you. It should be useful. Take a look and you'll see. Consider it payment for saving my life; if not for you, that Ink Cicada would have taken me with him."
Intrigued, Qi Ping opened the manual. On the first page were seven large characters:
Spirit Beast Cultivation: Demon Insect Chapter!