Chapter 101 - Remnants of the Phoenix (1)
Lan Xueruo thoroughly inspected Yun Che’s injuries; the results she'd discovered let her breathe out a long sigh of relief, but at the same time, she experienced a great shock. It was because Yun Che’s injuries were much better than what she had imagined. His shoulder suffered such a severe wound, yet it had already stopped bleeding and showed no signs of it worsening. Instead, it was mending together with an extremely shocking speed that was visually discernible with the naked eye. There were countless other wounds on his body but they were all light injuries. His body was in a state of weakness, but it was also only weakness; there were no injuries to the essentials and the internal injuries were also very insignificant.
Even though he fell from such a high place, he still pushed her in the other direction with all his strength, which caused him to plummet even faster. To sustain injuries to such an extent was something completely unfathomable.
As she lifted Yun Che up from the ground, she carried him to a nearby soft grass turf and laid him down. This was the first time she had held a man’s body; she held him very carefully, accompanied by uncontrollably disordered heartbeats. Then, she quietly guarded beside him, and waited for him to wake up once more.
This was a mountainous region; innumerable hills that weren’t too tall, spread throughout the entire field of vision. Even though the area was gushing with greenery, it emitted a kind of extremely desolate air.
From far away, drawn-out roars of profound beasts could be frequently heard. This also caused Lan Xueruo to stand guard by Yun Che’s side and not dare to be even half a step away from him to prevent any profound beasts from approaching and harming Yun Che. After more than one hour had passed, the corner of her brow suddenly flickered as she looked toward her right. In her vision, five people were currently walking here; three adults, and two children.
These three men appeared to be around thirty or forty years old and they appeared to be fiendish looking. They wore the same kind of light armor, the exposed muscles were dark and coarse; clearly they were people that frequently operated outside. The one who appeared to be the oldest had a large tall frame with a ferocious looking face while a huge broadaxe rested on his shoulders. In contrast, the youngest looking one had a skinny frame; his facial features resembled that of a monkey with a sharp angled mouth and he dragged a giant iron club that was over a meter long. The last one had a face resembling a horse and also carried a giant iron club. In terms of their profound cultivation, the highest was already at the Nascent Profound Realm’s eighth level while the lowest was also already at the sixth level of Nascent Profound Realm.
However, the two children appeared to only be seven or eight years of age. One boy and one girl, who were dressed in rough cloth. What was eye catching, was a very shallow red mark present on their foreheads; its shape, was like a cluster of burning flames. Each of their arms were separately dragged by one person, who walked them forward step by step. Tear stains that hadn’t dried up yet could clearly be seen on their faces.
As soon as Lan Xueruo saw them, they also saw Lan Xueruo. Almost unanimously, the three men stopped their feet at the same time; their eyes tightly locked onto Lan Xueruo and glinted like that of ferocious wolves.
“Quick… Look quick! That girl over there…. There was actually such a good looking girl! Ssss.. I’ve never seen a women this beautiful in my entire life.” The horse-faced man spoke while his drool uncontrollably flowed down in a continuous stream.
The sharp-mouthed man was even more so unabashed; both of his legs tightly clamped up together as his entire body trembled: “She’s virtually a hundred times prettier than the goddesses in this daddy’s dreams, my legs are even about to give in. If we capture her to be our captain’s bride, the captain would definitely go crazy with happiness and may even grant us a vice-captain position….”
“Are you f*cking stupid!” The broadaxe man smacked the sharp-mouthed man on the neck. He then heavily licked the corner of his own mouth as his eyes revealed an obscene glint: “If we brought this girl back, Captain would definitely engage in activity every night. What would there be left for us? Tsk tsk, to meet such a beautiful girl in this place, that’s simply a reward sent to us by the heavens.”
The sharp-mouthed man’s eyes suddenly shone and his two legs shivered even more intensely. He continuously nodded nonstop: “Right! Right! Big Bro is right! Then what are we waiting for!’
“However, while this beautiful girl only looks to be eighteen or nineteen, she actually has the cultivation of the Nascent Profound Realm rank eight.” The broadaxe man frowned a little.
“What? Nascent Profound Realm rank eight?” Both the sharp-mouthed man and horse-faced man were immensely shocked. “To have such a strong cultivation at such a young age, she might actually be some great family’s disciple, or may even be on the level of a genius. If we act, and the family behind her back by chance finds out….”
“Tsk! Look at how unpromising you are.” The broadaxe man glanced at him disdainfully. He then licked his lips, and laughed obscenely: “When have we, the Black Demon Mercenary Group ever not lived a day on the blade’s edge, and who have we ever been scared of? Don’t even mention that she might be a disciple from some big family; since she has met us, even if she’s the current emperor’s daughter, hehehehe, we’ll still engage without reserve! Tut tut, to be able to enjoy such an otherworldly beautiful woman that can’t even be imagined in one’s dreams, it’s worth it even if we die right after!”
The sharp-mouthed man and horse-faced man were both nodding like a chick pecking rice, and were excited to the extent that they almost forgot how to walk properly
Even though their voices were low, it was enough to be heard clearly by the two children they dragged along in their hands. Terrified and worried expressions revealed on their faces. The small boy held his breath, then suddenly loudly shouted out: “Big sister, quickly run! They’re bad people, they want to harm you… Ah!!’
Sent onto the ground with a kick from the horse-faced man the small boy let out a painful scream. The little girl hurriedly ran over to help him up and then started to cry whilst hugging him.
The little boy’s voice and the scene that came after was completely seen and heard by Lan Xueruo. She slightly frowned and stood up from the ground. But now the broadaxe man and sharp-mouthed man had already approached and stood in front of her with faces that brimmed with indecent smiles. The sharp-mouthed man’s eyes revealed an obscene light that couldn't be anymore obvious; rubbing of both his hand’s fingers together, it was clear that he could not wait much longer. If not out of fear of the opponent’s profound cultivation that was at the eighth level of Nascent Profound Realm, he would have already swan-dived over: “Little sister, why are you here by yourself? Are you lost? Want this big brother to take you away from here?”
Lan Xueruo had faced similar gazes and demeanors many times before. However, this was the first time someone had been so blatant about it; without making an effort to conceal it in the slightest. The reason was very obvious; it was because this was the wilderness. In addition, she was alone by herself. Deep disgust exhibited from between her eyebrows as she answered in an indifferent tone: “Release those two children, then scram!”
Even if the young boy had not screamed earlier, she still could tell with a glance, that those two children were forcefully kidnapped by them.
“Yoh!” The broadaxe man laughed, “Not only is this girl beautiful, she’s pretty gutsy too! Us brothers here, can properly refresh ourselves this time, hehehehe….”
“Big Sister! Quickly, run! They’re bad people, really strong bad people…. Run! Ah~~~”
The little boy shouted at Lan Xueruo once more, but was again slapped onto the ground by the horse-faced man who viciously spoke: “Damn little brat, behave yourself. If it weren’t for the fact that you still have a little bit of value, this daddy would’ve ripped you into pieces long ago. If you dare to shout again, you better believe that this daddy will rip your mouth off first.”
The boy and girl tightly hugged each other. Fear could be seen in their eyes as their entire body trembled from head to toe.
Rage surfaced on Lan Xueruo’s face; just because of the fact that young boy had shouted and warned her without caring for the consequence, she was already unable to continue to just sit and watch them be taken away by these three wicked people. However, Yun Che was lying right beside her and if she fought with them, there was the possibility of getting him involved. She clenched her hands and furiously spoke: ‘I’ll say it again, release those two children, then quickly scram!”
“Hehehehe!” Facing Lan Xueruo’s reprimand, not only did the trio not falter in the slightest, they instead started to laugh out loud. The broadaxe man lewdly answered: “Does the beauty want us to scram? Of course we wish for that… But I don’t know if beauty want us to scram with us here? Or scram with us on the grass, or maybe scram with us on the bed?”
The sharp-mouthed man and horse-faced man simultaneously laughed out loud. Lan Xueruo’s brow sunk as her expression became covered in frosty austerity. She spoke in a low voice: “You’re courting death!”
As her voice faded, she stroked her left hand with her right. A longsword that was as pale as white jade was suddenly grasped in her hand. Instantly, the broadaxe man trio’s eyes instantly flared up: “Spatial ring! It’s actually a spatial ring! This time we’ve really hit the jackpot. From its appearance, this sword shouldn’t be a common weapon either.”
Even the lowest grade of spatial rings had an expensive price tag; it definitely wasn't something an ordinary person could afford. Thick greed had now started to form within the trio’s obscene gazes
At this time, Lan Xueruo took a step forward to thrust her sword toward the broadaxe man. The broadaxe man had a strength at the eighth level of Nascent Profound Realm, and was the biggest threat.
“Hahahaha! Let’s see how we, the three brothers, properly discipline this little beauty!” Within the sound of arrogant laughter, the broadaxe man lifted his gigantic broadaxe and horizontally swept toward Lan Xueruo’s jade sword. The sharp-mouthed man left to him also laughed obscenely as he simultaneously grabbed the iron club with both hands and fiercely swung outwards.
The axe and club collided with Lan Xueruo’s jade sword one after another, breaking Lan Xueruo’s sword posture and caused her wrist to feel a dull pain. She quickly retreated a step backwards. With a low shout, the long sword drew a slanted arc which simultaneously blocked the two’s advancement.
“Seven Star Arranging Moon!”
After a thrust of her sword, a few dozen others unceasingly followed. The sword’s form was ceaseless; in the midst of her dance-like movements, the jade white longsword shed waves and waves of brilliant white shadows. Her current profound strength was at the eighth level of the Nascent Profound Realm, which matched the broadaxe man. But when all’s said and done, she was still quite young; it was impossible for her to match up to the broadaxe man in terms of battle experience and the thickness of profound energy was even more incomparable. Not even mentioning the additional seventh ranker of the Nascent Profound Realm, even when she only faced the broadaxe man alone, she would be on the struggling side… And not far away, there was still the horse-faced man at the sixth level of Nascent Profound Realm, who still lurked there as he restrained the two children.
After a dozen or so rounds, all of Lan Xueruo’s attacks were knocked back, and the sword had almost left her hands a few times. The broadaxe man laughed and suddenly leaped high into the air as the gigantic axe cleaved downwards with a frightening power:
“Thousand Jun Destruction!”
Dong!!
Lan Xueruo’s sword posture had almost been blown apart in an instant. Her entire body quivered as she consecutively retreated five steps back. Her right arm faintly trembled as the longsword almost slipped out of her hand once more.
“Hehehehe, Big bro is awesome.” The sharp-mouthed man boot-lickingly flattered and then smiled obscenely: “Little beauty, you should just obediently embrace us. If we keep on fighting and accidentally damage your beautiful body, tut tut, that would simply be a waste.”
Lan Xueruo’s chest heaved up and down yet her expression was completely undisturbed. She extended her hand to grasp the gemstone beaded necklace she had always wore, and lightly pulled it off.
The moment the gemstone beaded necklace left her snow white nape, the aura of her profound energy instantly surged. Unexpectedly, her charming eyes gradually revealed a saintly golden color. As she slowly lifted the jade sword in her hands… A distinct layer of golden light enveloped the snow white body of the sword.