53: Chapter 53 Repelling the Enemy

Jiang Yuhe looked at Shen Zhaowei, who was riding his sword in the air, and said in a low voice, "Young Master Gu, there is no need to worry about my safety. Just attack him later; even if I appear to be in a hopeless situation, do not lose your composure. I have my own means of self-preservation."

Young Master Gu Xingzhi glanced at her and nodded.

"Very well."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his blade and stepped forward.

The cyan-gold long blade drew a heavy line of rain-light through the night; Grain Rain Qi pressed down layer by layer along the spine of the blade, causing the moisture in the forest to plummet and the grass to flatten under the pressure.

This strike completely sealed off the path ahead, slicing directly toward Shen Zhaowei.

Shen Zhaowei did not look at him; his eyes remained fixed on Jiang Yuhe.

"I said it before: it only takes three moves to kill you."

He held his sword in his right hand and casually slashed out an arc of sword light.

The sword light was extremely thin and almost silent.

The moment Young Master Gu Xingzhi pressed his blade forward, a layer of cyan-black water light immediately emerged before his chest and abdomen to protect him, and the sword arc slashed into the water light, only to be dissolved in ripples.

Even so, Young Master Gu Xingzhi was still forced back half a step.

Shen Zhaowei opened his left hand and slowly closed his five fingers.

The shadows of the trees, grass, and clothing around Jiang Yuhe trembled simultaneously, and countless tiny Sword Qi emerged from within the shadows.

They formed a dense sword cage, slowly tightening from all directions.

"Now, this is the second move."

Shen Zhaowei began to chant in a low voice.

"Mysterious Frost reflects the shadow, Winter's storage enters the edge."

"Clear Qi becomes the blade, Sword breath returns to the origin."

"Body and shadow merge in ritual, a single line severs life."

The moment he began to speak, Young Master Gu Xingzhi rushed forward again.

Borrowing the moisture of the forest, his figure shifted three times, and his blade light arrived at Shen Zhaowei's side in an instant.

"Look over here, you brat surnamed Shen!" he shouted in a low voice, bringing his long blade down with a rain-heavy force like a river.

The shadow beneath Shen Zhaowei's feet suddenly rose up.

That shadow had originally been pressed against the ground, but now it seemed to be dragged out of the ground by an invisible hand, transforming into a semi-solid, semi-ethereal humanoid figure.

It had no facial features, its body had undulating bones, and it held a colorless longsword in its hand.

The shadow body met Young Master Gu Xingzhi.

Blade and sword collided, sparking with the sound of metal striking stone.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi furrowed his brows; he did not retract his blade, and the rain-intent piled up layer upon layer, hacking the shadow body until its outline caved in and dark shadows splattered everywhere.

However, after being damaged, it quickly recovered, like a fleshless Magical Artifact body of shadow, forcibly dragging Young Master Gu Xingzhi three zhang away.

Jiang Yuhe did not look over there.

Her Listening to Rain was already operating to its limit, all for the purpose of dodging the next strike as much as possible.

Suddenly, the mark on Jiang Yuhe's body grew hot.

Jiang Yuhe only felt the air around her pressing down like metal and stone; the Qi around her was pinned down, and her Catalyzing Green Technique was delayed by half a beat in that instant.

Shen Zhaowei finished chanting the last word.

The shadow body behind him immediately dissipated, turning into a breeze that returned to his main body.

In that instant, his entire aura surged, and the tiny Sword Qi on his longsword stopped swirling, condensing into a single line as the sharpness suddenly spiked.

Above the Sword Qi realm, it already had the appearance of a breath of Sword Origin.

Shen Zhaowei said slowly, "The third move."

He thrust out this sword.

When the sword was thrust, the wind in the forest disappeared.

The sound of insects ceased, and even the night was held down by this sword. All sounds converged into a single line in Jiang Yuhe's ears, heading straight for her heart.

For the first time, a moment of hesitation appeared on Young Master Gu Xingzhi's face.

He saw that sword, and he also saw Jiang Yuhe in the sword cage with almost no path of retreat. In that instant, he instinctively wanted to turn his blade to block it, but Jiang Yuhe's words from just moments ago immediately echoed in his ears.

"Do not worry about me."

Young Master Gu Xingzhi's blade did not turn; instead, taking advantage of the gap after the shadow body returned, he slashed with all his might toward Shen Zhaowei's main body.

Shen Zhaowei did not expect Young Master Gu Xingzhi to truly dare not to save her, but even without the obstruction of the shadow body, it was still an impossible task for Young Master Gu Xingzhi to threaten his life.

Jiang Yuhe infused her True Origin, spreading open the Rain Screen of Perception.

The water-colored rain screen unfolded in layers before her, each layer accurately blocking the spot where that sword was about to fall.

The surrounding sword cage also pressed down at this moment, and countless tiny Sword Qi slashed at her shoulders, back, arms, and abdomen; her protective spiritual light was cut into tatters.

Lines of blood suddenly burst open.

Just then, a burst of Spring Qi emerged from thin air, spreading along Jiang Yuhe's Meridians.

On Baili Mountain, inside the family genealogy, Zhou Wang woke up with a start.

The ink of the characters "Jiang Yuhe" shook violently, and the edges actually began to crack. Zhou Wang did not hesitate in the slightest; he tore out a wisp of genealogy ink, along with a wisp of spring vitality accumulated within his small world, and sent it into those two characters along the main genealogy.

Sending Spring.

The moment the Spring Qi entered her body, the wounds all over Jiang Yuhe's body suddenly stopped bleeding. The flesh cut open by the Sword Qi was forcibly drawn together, and an extremely vigorous vitality surged through her Meridians, forcibly withstanding the strangulation of that round of the sword cage.

But Shen Zhaowei's sword from directly in front had already arrived.

The first few layers of the rain screen shattered one after another.

Jiang Yuhe not only did not retreat, but instead, at the very last moment, she forcibly twisted her body and stepped forward half a step to meet the sword's momentum.

The sword light grazed her abdomen, tearing open a wound deep enough to see the bone.

The residual Sword Qi drilled into the wound, continuing to twist inward; if not for Sending Spring holding onto her vitality, this single strike would have been enough to make her collapse on the spot.

Shen Zhaowei's eyes turned slightly cold.

This sword had not killed the young girl before him as he had expected.

The next breath, Jiang Yuhe disappeared from where she stood.

Shen Zhaowei immediately turned around, his longsword catching the blade that Young Master Gu Xingzhi had slashed down.

Blade and sword collided, and the cyan-gold rain-light and Mysterious Frost Sword Qi exploded between the two.

"Another concealment and displacement?"

While blocking the blade, Shen Zhaowei scanned the surroundings with his Divine Sense.

He had already seen Jiang Yuhe use a fake body to escape just now, and at this moment, he assumed she had once again used a Hidden Cloud Concealment Talisman and Catalyzing Green to flee into the distance.

That tracking mark had been disrupted by his sword momentum for a moment, and it was actually somewhat blurred in this breath of time.

But Jiang Yuhe had not gone far.

She had indeed used a Hidden Cloud Concealment Talisman. It was just that this Talisman's power was nearly exhausted, and the remaining cloud-intent was only enough to conceal her for a short breath.

She did not use this breath of time to escape; she only used the last power of the Talisman and the residual light of the Sword Qi to hide herself right where she was.

She was betting that Shen Zhaowei would judge that she had shifted positions, and also betting that Young Master Gu Xingzhi would be able to hold onto Shen Zhaowei during this breath of time.

Shen Zhaowei indeed shifted his gaze.

Thus, Jiang Yuhe reappeared from the place where she had originally vanished.

A water-colored lotus flower bloomed in her arms.

That was a High Grade Magical Artifact of Pin Water seized from a Zhou Family Cultivator. The lotus petals spun open, and the water light erupted silently, rushing straight at Shen Zhaowei's side.

By the time Shen Zhaowei noticed, it was already too close.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi's blade was still pressing down from the front; he could not draw his sword for the moment and had to summon the shadow body again to block.

That semi-solid, semi-ethereal shadow body emerged from beneath his feet, holding a sword with both hands to block the rushing force of the water lotus.

But the heart of the lotus suddenly spat out a thin, long water arrow.

The water arrow was silent, without a trace of leaking Qi, and only when it was close to Shen Zhaowei's face did a point of cold light suddenly flare up.

Shen Zhaowei's pupils constricted; his profound cultivation still allowed him to barely turn his head to the side.

It was still too late.

The water arrow grazed half of his face, directly shattering his cheekbone and the flesh beneath his eye. Half of his face instantly exploded into a bloody mess, revealing the ghastly white bone.

Shen Zhaowei let out a miserable scream.

For the first time, that scream contained human emotion.

Disbelief, humiliation, and the fear of having brushed past death in that instant were intertwined on that mutilated face.

He stumbled backward, the arrogance and disdain in his eyes completely shattered, replaced by intense hatred.

An ordinary female Cultivator whom he had originally judged to be killable in three moves had actually destroyed half his face in front of Young Master Gu Xingzhi.

The shadow body that had blocked the water lotus was also damaged at the same time, clutching its face and emitting a silent wail, its outline twisting violently.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi did not let this opportunity pass; his blade sank, and he slashed down again.

However, Shen Zhaowei suddenly raised his hand, his five fingers grabbing at thin air, pulling that shadow body in front of him.

The shadow body struggled for a moment.

The next moment, Shen Zhaowei lowered his head and bit into its skull.

The shadow body was semi-ethereal and semi-solid; when he bit it apart, there was no blood, but a large amount of cold, Clear Qi overflowed. Like swallowing a medicinal catalyst, he absorbed the shadow body bit by bit into his body, from head to shoulder, from chest and abdomen to limbs.

As the shadow body was swallowed, a powerful force shook the two apart, and his half-mutilated face visibly began to wriggle.

New flesh covered the bone surface, and the bloody hole closed up.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi took a step forward in pursuit.

Shen Zhaowei dared not fight any longer. He glanced at Jiang Yuhe, then turned and transformed into a cyan-white sword light, quickly vanishing into the night forest.

The forest became quiet again.

Jiang Yuhe stood in place, her figure swaying.

She threw the Storage Pouch that Young Master Gu Xingzhi had given her earlier back to him.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi reached out to catch it; just as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly changed.

The wounds on Jiang Yuhe's body were even more terrifying than they had appeared just moments ago.

Tiny Sword Qi had left dozens of cuts all over her body; her shoulders, back, arms, and waist were all slashed open.

Shen Zhaowei's sword had torn open her abdomen deep enough to see the bone, and the residual Mysterious Frost Sword Qi was still twisting inside, constantly enlarging the wound.

If not for an inexplicable Spring Qi in her body sustaining her vitality, she would likely have already fallen unconscious.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi immediately took a small cyan jade bottle from another Storage Pouch.

"Qingfu Pulse-Returning Pill," he said quickly. "It can regenerate flesh and stop bleeding; swallow it."

Jiang Yuhe did not have the strength to answer.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi poured out a cyan-white pill, placed it directly into her mouth, and then raised his palm to press against her back, using his technique to stabilize her Meridians.

Clear water light traveled a circle along Jiang Yuhe's Meridians, forcing out the outermost layer of Mysterious Frost Sword Qi from the wounds bit by bit.

The pill's power then dissolved, and the bleeding finally slowly stopped.

The night scene before Jiang Yuhe's eyes began to blur.

Her breath relaxed, and she passed out.

Young Master Gu Xingzhi caught her falling body; he did not linger any longer.

The Azure Parasol Cloud-Splitting Leaf unfolded once more, and Young Master Gu Xingzhi picked up Jiang Yuhe, stepped onto the flying boat, and sped off toward the depths of the valley, far away from Canghu Market.