"Another State Cultivator..."
"This situation has completely fallen apart."
Dawn and Heart Tethering Maiden mumbled their concern.
The two of them were running from the two enemies that had ambushed Heart Tethering Maiden at the Eastern border of the Settlement.
Their short altercation left the nearby district in ruins; they were still getting chased, dodging the occasional projectile that whistled past them.
In the Central District, where the Settlement Lord's complex is located, a fierce and destructive battle took place between Silver Extreme and the Settlement Lord.
Wolf King Lan is approaching from the South, chased by an enemy, and another, greater threat was standing idly nearby.
"If we split up, are you confident that we can turn around this situation, Silver?"
"Partly... If we defeat these four enemies, we may be given a moment of respite, leaving only the fifth enemy as a concern."
"Is that so..."
"..."
"Senior, we will trust you on this."
"Dawn?"
Heart Tethering Maiden spared Dawn a questioning glance.
"Someone has to help Wolf King Lan, so far, and only you can fight to your full capabilities, isn't that right?"
"You want me to save him?"
"Who else? You would be able to reach him faster than I could. We are also closer to the accommodation district. It would be better for me to retrieve my weapon, no?"
"..."
...
"Damn those wretched women... If you have any guts, turn around and face us now!"
"Yelling does my ears more harm than to them, quit it, would you?"
"Tch..."
Leaping from building to building, two men were chasing Dawn and Heart Tethering Maiden.
A fire-wielding man and a construct-conjuring man.
"Shoot them down, would you! I've been the only one attacking, you haven't done anything!"
"They have somewhere they need to be; it would do us no good to waste our efforts and Qi on pointless attacks. We should wait until they stop attacking."
"As if! You have no idea what they have planned! We could be jumping to our deaths! It would be better to take them out now!"
Saying so, the fire-wielding stomped on the rooftop, causing an explosion beneath his feet, which shot him forward.
The traversal method the two women in front of him were using resembled something of a spider, countless strings shot down and went slack, others pulled and guided the mass's direction.
"You can not-!"
Calling with a voice full of fury, he stifled his shout as he watched the two women split apart.
The one with the strings, the spider-like Heart Tethering Maiden, fled to the left, while the other continued forward, on foot.
"They split! What is their plan?!"
"Don't stand idly, pursue the Maiden, I will handle the other."
"Hey, wait!"
Reaching out to grab a fistful of air, he missed the scruff of the other man's neck, whose momentum did not slow down.
"Accursed...!"
Without pause, he pivoted his feet and shot forward, aiming for Heart Tethering Maiden.
"What have you planned, woman?! Have you no shame, leaving your friend to die?!"
"..."
"Answer me...! Tch... I'm sick of this!"
Responding to his taunts was a flurry of red strings.
Gritting his teeth, he dodged each of them, each string smashed into the tiles of the rooftops.
Glowing a brilliant orange, the fire-wielding man's right hand dragged in the wind.
Stomping to halt his momentum, he paused his pursuit to throw his fist forward.
Dao Art -- Tyrant's Fist!
Fire surged like the bellows of a furnace, a mass of bundling fire shot forward.
The Dao Art burned through every string it came across, before eventually falling upon a rooftop and scattering charred tiles and smoke.
"Tch... another miss!"
With his teeth bared, the man stomped on the ground and shot forward once more.
"Damned scoundrel! To think that you would continue to stubbornly pursue me! Do you think that you alone can withhold me?! Should I not be so indebted, so burdened, I would strangle your neck and splatter your corpse on the Iron Mountain."
"Haha! Wretched woman, have you had enough?! Why don't you stop and turn around to face me, the Fire Tyrant! Are you too afraid?!"
"...!"
Sensing something wrong, he quickly strafed to the side, leaping to another building as the rooftop he had occupied collapsed.
He had fallen for her provocation. Heart Teathering Maiden's attitude seemed to calm as she continued to flee.
"Wicked trap... Hehe. I almost fell for that... Haha. What a wicked woman you are! I saw the family you crushed beneath the rubble. Your trap... Hahaha! Your trap to ensnare me not only failed to catch me, but you killed the family underneath! For nothing!"
Heart Tethering Maiden did not entertain his taunt. She was aware of the family, but she did not check on the family to ensure they were safe.
Whether this taunt had truth to it, whether she actually crushed that poor family, or if it was merely for the sake of taunting, she did not care.
"Wrathful woman! Wicked woman! Wretched woman! Violent! Horrid! Fiendish! How unwomanly, how unlovingly, how unmaidenly! Heart Tethering? What a joke!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Tch."
If he could see her face, the Maiden's brows were tightly furrowed, eyes closed as she stifled her anger.
Without a response, the fire-wielding man, Fire Tyrant, shot forward once again.
Boom.
Another rooftop was shattered, another trap had been laid, and Fire Tyrant was caught off guard, but he was not worried.
"Watch your hair, woman. I'm going to scar your horrid face to match your horrid mind!"
Laughing, an intense pressure surged within the man, blowing up into a ferocious flame.
"...!"
Dao Art -- Fleeting Embers!
Heart Tethering Maiden turned around.
She looked at the distorted visage around Fire Tyrant, and the air became a haze that one would see in a desert.
Dryness assaulted her lips and fair skin; the heat was intense enough to reach her from a distance.
Fire Tyrant stopped. As she retreated, she watched the man willingly embrace her trap of strings.
Suddenly, they disappeared.
No ash, no smoke, no cinders in the air, but she knew they burned.
Frightened, she quickly disconnected the other strings from her body, but it was too late.
She watched as her countless strings lit aflame like the fuse of a firework, the spark immediately burned its way to the place where the strings sprout from.
First, her skin was set alight, becoming the fuel of a terrible flame and agonising scream.
Second, her hair was lit, now a burning mess atop her head.
Lastly, her insides burn white hot, ire spewed from her mouth, uncontrollably.
In short, Heart Teathering Maiden was burned alive.
"Rightfully deserved, you wretched woman..."