Seeing the strange glow surrounding Mu Zi, Mu Lingsha froze in astonishment.
She herself had recently broken through to the Earth Yuan realm and knew what this phenomenon was.
"But why is her energy vortex so huge, so much bigger than mine?" she thought with a pang of bitterness.
Had her sister surpassed her even in this?
Meanwhile, the last remaining bandit noticed the scene. His eyes gleamed with malice.
Just a moment ago, he had despaired, seeing three of his comrades fall. But now, fate had turned: this monster was on the verge of a breakthrough.
Now was his chance to kill her.
Their feud had become a matter of life and death. Even if he escaped today, he wouldn't survive this girl's vengeance.
At the Body Tempering realm, she was already fighting Earth Yuan! What would happen after her breakthrough?
"This girl cannot be left alive!" he decided.
Without hesitation, he rushed at Mu Zi. But the moment victory seemed close, Mu Lingsha intercepted his attack.
"Don't you dare pretend I'm not here!" Her eyebrows shot up, her eyes blazing with fury. Her voice trembled with hatred.
With those words, the fight between Lingsha and the bandit flared up with renewed intensity.
Meanwhile, Mu Zi's mind was immersed in her breakthrough.
With the influx of heaven and earth energy, a thin stream of icy blue coldness swiftly flowed through her meridians to her dantian.
As the coldness and Yuan energy merged, the energy seed in her dantian transformed into a cloud of icy blue light.
The Earth Yuan realm had been reached!
Mu Zi focused, looking into her dantian. In her inner vision, an icy blue cloud quietly hovered, surrounded by thin threads of energy permeated with coldness.
"Is this the Earth Yuan realm?" she thought.
She felt her body fill with a power incomparable to what she had at the Body Tempering realm.
Now, having stepped into the Earth Yuan realm, she could even fight late-stage masters!
But while Mu Zi was comprehending the changes within herself, something unexpected happened.
A hum resonated in her consciousness, and after a brief daze, thin threads of spiritual power began to seep out, slowly spreading.
As her spiritual power expanded, Mu Zi, with her eyes closed, could clearly "see" the forest scene. She saw Mu Lingsha desperately fighting her enemy nearby.
Then her perception expanded even further. The invisible spiritual power soared above the forest, penetrated through the canopies, and the scenes of the caravan's battle with the bandits were distinctly reflected in her consciousness.
But those who were fighting didn't notice this unseen gaze. Their strength was not enough to sense Mu Zi's spiritual power.
"I've awakened my spiritual power!" Mu Zi was astonished.
Usually, spiritual power is awakened only after practicing special techniques or mantras. This was the case with Lin Dong: he was only able to unleash spiritual power after studying the "Spiritual Movement Chapter" from Master Yan. But for Mu Zi, this gift awakened on its own, thanks to her exceptional talent.
She had no idea that her powerful perception had already laid the foundation for high spiritual power. At the Body Tempering stage, her body was too weak to contain this power. But with the breakthrough to Earth Yuan, the accumulated spiritual power gushed out, like water finding its riverbed.
Although the awakening had just occurred, Mu Zi's power was already comparable to Lin Dong, who had mastered the first stage of the "Spiritual Movement Chapter."
"Let's see what this power can do," she decided.
Focusing, Mu Zi directed the invisible spiritual power in a shockwave, aiming it at the bandit fighting Lingsha.
The unexpected mental blow pierced his mind with sharp pain. The furious force of his fists immediately weakened.
Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, Mu Lingsha instantly shot an arrow, hitting him in the throat.
"Phew!" Lingsha exhaled, looking at her sister with admiration.
"Little sister, did you break through?"
Mu Zi smiled and stepped towards her, wrapping her in a hug.
"Thank you, sister!"
While the sisters were celebrating, a faint groan came from the ground.
They looked down: the two Earth Yuan masters, heavily wounded by Mu Zi, were clinging to the ground, crawling away.
Seeing this, Mu Lingsha drew her bow and released two arrows. Both fell silent forever.
"Sister, why?" Mu Zi was surprised.
Lingsha explained:
"They learned about your strength. They had to be eliminated."
She was concerned: a Body Tempering realm fighter who defeated three Earth Yuan masters—such a feat, if known, would cause the Yellow Dragon Lair to destroy the genius. Even in the Mu estate, she would not find peace.
Mu Zi nodded and walked over to the bodies, skillfully searching them and taking all their valuables.
"Little sister, you..." Lingsha froze, stunned.
Mu Zi, nonchalantly rummaging through the enemies' belongings, looked up and smiled sweetly:
"You can't just throw away trophies!"
Lingsha, petrified, began to doubt life.
"I understand, but why are you so skilled at this?"
When the sisters returned to the caravan, the enemies had already retreated.
The caravan leader, covered in sweat, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lingsha and immediately asked:
"And those four Earth Yuan fighters?"
"Dead," she replied.
"A black iron demon leopard suddenly appeared in the forest and dragged all four away," Mu Lingsha said.
"A black iron demon leopard?" the elder was surprised.
An adult demon leopard is on par with a Heavenly Yuan master. Killing four early-stage Earth Yuan fighters is no problem for it. But how did you two remain unharmed?
Noticing the elder's doubt, Lingsha shrugged:
"I don't know why. Maybe they really did provoke that leopard?"
The elder said nothing, puzzled.
Suddenly, Lingsha remembered:
"What about the bandit leader, the mid-stage Earth Yuan one?"
The elder was slightly taken aback but replied:
"He seemed to suspect something and retreated immediately."
To himself, he thought:
"He almost defeated me, and yet he ran away without a second thought. Isn't that a little too cautious?"
Regardless, since the bandits had retreated, the caravan reassembled and moved on.
By noon, they finally arrived in Yancheng.