Wen Li stepped onto her flying sword, alighting ten meters away from the Ancient Soaring Serpent.
Draped in a deep purple robe, her aloof eyes half-closed as she looked down at the fierce, unyielding great demon. Having already discerned its past and future, her eyes narrowed slightly. Without moving her lips, she transmitted her voice through her spiritual sense.
“I know you understand human speech. You've been injured for seven days, and if you aren't treated soon, you'll be dragged back. Xie Tinglan, I'm taking you away from here.”
“If you're willing, step forward and nod.”
The Ancient Soaring Serpent's crimson slitted eyes quivered. After several battles today, its massive body was covered in wounds and oozing foul, blackish-green blood that corroded nearby plants to death on contact.
Its soul, on the verge of total collapse, thrashed with manic violence.
Only now did it barely manage to calm down. It slithered slowly toward Wen Li without making an aggressive move, approaching in a tense, cautious, low posture.
As if to reassure her, it closed its massive maw and extended its head toward her.
Yet those crimson slitted eyes were still filled with bloodthirsty slaughter and resentment that ran to the depths of its soul.
Watching it, Wen Li slowly raised her hand.
“ROAR!”
Suddenly discarding its submissive front, the great demon abruptly jerked its head up and slammed into Wen Li with violent force.
These humans were all lying deceivers who only wanted its flesh and blood!
They were all villains who wanted to imprison and dismember it!
Kill them.
Kill everyone!
“Master!”
Watching from afar, Yao Dai's heart violently trembled.
All she saw was Wen Li's figure vanish in a flash, slammed so hard into a boulder that she seemed embedded within the rock.
Even Lin Qing and Du Mojin felt their hearts leap into their throats, ready to fly up and check if Wen Li was still alive.
The next instant...
“Grandfather's sake! You won't listen when spoken to nicely—you bratty kids really do need a beating to learn, don't you?!”
Rubbing her bruised chest, Wen Li looked cool and solemn despite muttering curses under her breath as she flew back into the air.
Since reasoning didn't work, she had no choice but to use physical persuasion.
She tucked the kitchen knife into her belt.
Her slender, fair, well-defined hands quickly wove hand seals in front of her. Loose strands of hair fluttered under her pear-wood hairpin. In an instant, a surge of pale green spiritual energy flickered in her hands, forming a powerful cyclone.
The surrounding trees shook violently with a rustling cascade.
Tens of thousands of leaves detached automatically, sharp as needles and swords, forming a towering wall with Wen Li at its center.
“Overturning Heaven Seal, go!”
Finishing her seals, Wen Li flicked her hands forward with crisp precision.
Instantly, the dense, blinding swirl of flying leaves coalesced into the shape of a palm seal, shooting forward toward the Ancient Soaring Serpent.
“ROAR! HISSS!”
The great demon's eyes shrank. This human's spiritual energy clearly fluctuated at only Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, so why did her moves fill it with dread?
Not daring to slacken, it immediately focused its spiritual sense and mobilized its spiritual energy, suddenly raising a fierce crimson wall that slammed against the barrage of leaves.
BOOM!
The two forces collided. At first, she held her ground, but the red wall gradually pushed back Wen Li's attack.
Wen Li had anticipated this; her striking, elegant face remained calm and unchanged.
Her hands blurred into afterimages as intricate, glowing hand seals surged continuously from a red-patterned circle of light.
“Fire-Incinerating Lotus.”
In the next instant—
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Over a dozen fireballs burst forth from an azure lotus pod, raining down like lotus seeds infused with scorching, destructive energy. They shattered the serpent's red wall and rained directly onto the Ancient Soaring Serpent, erupting into a roaring mushroom cloud like a grand display of fireworks.
“Pfft! Cough, cough!”
Even with a protective barrier, Yao Dai and the others in the distance were hit by the fierce shockwave.
They ended up with mouthfulls of dirt.
“Bah! Cough, cough! What happened?!”
Once the smoke cleared, the three of them realized Wen Li was nowhere to be seen!
Looking closer, they saw Wen Li had already rushed back in with her kitchen knife, throwing hands directly with the great demon.
“I am going to beat you obedient today if it's the last thing I do! You dared to ram into me?! Come on, ram into me again and see what happens!”
“A little kid like you picking up bad habits like eating humans!”
Watching its host brawl with the great demon like a shrew throwing a wild tantrum, the System could barely watch.
[Host, he's an Ancient Soaring Serpent! He's a carnivore! What is he supposed to eat if not humans, grass?! He's still just a child, what does he know? Go easy on him!]
Wen Li cursed back, “Are you blind to the bruises all over my body?! Do I need to be scattered across the landscape in pieces before you realize how vicious this monster is?! If you don't give me an emergency pill later, I am definitely going to die right here!”
After all, there was a whole realm of difference between them. If the fight kept going, her body would inevitably give out.
“Wait, aren't spell cultivators terrible at close combat?”
Du Mojin stared in shock, completely forgetting the issue of the whole realm gap in strength between Wen Li and the great demon.
Spell cultivators—also known as squishy range-casters who pew-pew spells from afar.
Lin Qing realized something was off as well.
A person's energy and spiritual power were limited. The reason the cultivation world was split into array cultivators, spell cultivators, pill cultivators, and the like was that most cultivators only had enough time in one lifetime to master a single path—and even then, they might not gain enlightenment after an entire life.
Although cultivators dabbled in other fields for self-preservation, they couldn't compete with those who studied a single discipline for a lifetime.
Being adept in arrays and laying down a trap unnoticed in ten seconds already made someone top-tier.
Being adept in spell casting on top of that made one an incredible genius.
Yet she could engage in close combat, and she was even wielding a sword!
Her sword techniques were executed with even smoother flair than he, a dedicated sword cultivator, could manage!
What kind of monster was this?
If Wen Li knew their astonishment, she would simply wave her sleeves with a touch of unhinged coolness: If you lived ten thousand years and spent a thousand years on each path, you could do it too.
Meanwhile, Wen Li watched the kitchen knife in her hand—which had transformed into a longsword—tremble slightly. Stepping back to dodge an attack, she panted heavily.
“Hold On, what the hell are you shaking for? Just because you've been chopping cabbage for too long doesn't mean you can wimp out when killing a snake!”
Hold On struggled aggrievedly out of her grip to prove its innocence.
Realizing it was actually her own hand trembling, Wen Li gave a slight cough.
“I'm old... I really am old.”
[Host, I'm with you! Keep going!]
“You damn System, I'm reporting you for elder abuse!”
Human and serpent fought fiercely for a long time, so long that night fell.
Over on the side, Yao Dai, Lin Qing, and Du Mojin had already built a fire and started roasting fish.
“Should we save one for your master?”
The dutiful disciple Yao Dai shook her head. “It's fine, it's still early. Only after we're full will we have the strength to carry Master back later.”
Just as the System had said, her strategy was pure attrition.
Had the System not exchanged the system points from unlocking two villains for numerous pills to replenish her physical stamina and spiritual energy—and had the Ancient Soaring Serpent not been in its juvenile stage, already injured, and drained by six previous cultivators down from its Third Realm Late Stage power to merely Third Realm Early Stage (equivalent to a battle between Wen Li at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection and an Early-Stage Golden Core)...
...Wen Li would have certainly been crushed to death by a single whip of its tail!
The System was useful after all, specifically picking times when the boss was stacked with debuffs and weakened enough to match Wen Li's desire to show off.
“Xie Tinglan, come with me. If you don't leave now, those people will find you. If you go back with them, you're dead either way. How much worse could it be to come with me? Take a gamble—bet your life and mine!”
Standing in mid-air, Wen Li spoke harsh words that were nonetheless the truth.
Even after taking pills, her stamina was nearly exhausted. Her fingertips trembled beneath her sleeves, and she swallowed the blood welling in her mouth, determined not to let the great demon notice even a hint of weakness.
At this moment, Wen Li had at least four broken ribs, and her internal organs were severely rattled.
If they didn't leave soon, according to the plot, the people from the Beast Taming Sect would arrive to capture the Ancient Soaring Serpent—three Late-Stage Golden Cores and a Nascent Soul old monster.
She couldn't beat a single one of them.
Fighting Xie Tinglan here was not only to complete her quest to take a disciple, but also a gamble with her life.
The Ancient Soaring Serpent, who was likewise burning through its life force to fight Wen Li, didn't have a single uninjured spot on its body. Its scales were ripped off, and deep wounds crisscrossed its frame, yet its crimson slitted eyes remained full of fierce, unyielding malice.
Yet it was still only a juvenile. Hearing Wen Li's words, even though its eyes burned with venomous hatred as if it wished to devour her instantly, the thought of those people's cruel methods...
...made it pause. Looking at the human who had dragged out this battle against it, she was merely at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection. Once it recovered its strength, it wouldn't be too late to kill her then!
She definitely wasn't one of them, or she wouldn't be such a weakling at merely Foundation Establishment.
“ROAR!!!”
The Ancient Soaring Serpent roared into the sky, coiling and soaring into the air. Its ten-meter-long body vanished into thin air in an instant.
[Ding! +3, Save the Villain Xie Tinglan progress bar: 3%]
Rate on N.U.
