At this moment, Wei Wuyi was utterly terrified. An icy chill shot up his spine. Attacking Lin Feng was the farthest thing from his mind. In blind panic, he threw himself sideways with the fastest speed he had ever mustered in his life.
Tragically, he had just expended his full power controlling his flying sword to rescue Loong Tian'ao. He was in the critical recovery phase, unable to even summon a defensive treasure in time. Though his reaction was swift, his timing was fatally delayed. He managed to twist his body away from a vital strike, but couldn't evade completely…
"SHHHLICK!!!"
A blood-curdling sound of flesh parting rang out. Blood sprayed as an entire arm spun through the air!!
— The Swordsman's flying sword had sliced clean through Wei Wuyi's left shoulder, severing his arm!!
"Ungh!!"
All color instantly drained from Wei Wuyi's face. His pupils contracted violently. Clenching his jaw, he let out a stifled, guttural groan.
He was astonishingly tough, swallowing back the scream that threatened to burst forth, enduring the agony of a lost limb.
"THUMP!!"
Simultaneously, Wei Wuyi kicked off the ground as if the grievous wound meant nothing. His body shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, streaking towards Loong Tian'ao nearby.
"Trying to run?!"
The Swordsman instantly grasped his intention. His brow furrowed slightly, cold light flashing in his eyes. Without hesitation, he gestured sharply towards Wei Wuyi. His flying sword instantly arced through the air, streaking after its target like a meteor.
"GO!!"
Wei Wuyi reached Loong Tian'ao's side in a blink. His remaining hand clamped onto the young man's shoulder. With a low shout, he stamped his foot again, changing direction and hurtling towards the dense woods bordering the clearing. His own flying sword shot back to his side, hovering protectively.
The instant he changed course, the Swordsman's pursuing blade whistled harmlessly through the space he had just vacated.
By the time the Swordsman tried to redirect his sword for another strike, Wei Wuyi had already covered over a hundred meters. He plunged into the thick forest ahead with Loong Tian'ao in tow and vanished from sight…
The speed of a determined mid-stage Golden Core cultivator fleeing for his life was terrifying. Lin Feng couldn't even begin to track the movement.
Lin Feng himself was drenched in cold sweat. Wei Wuyi's intent to kill him moments before had been palpable. Only the Swordsman's timely intervention had saved him. He had no confidence he could have blocked or dodged Wei Wuyi's flying sword attack.
When Wei Wuyi charged past to grab Loong Tian'ao, Lin Feng hadn't dared to strike. Provoking a cornered Golden Core cultivator into a desperate counterattack would have been suicidal. Thankfully, Wei Wuyi's sole focus was escape and rescue. By the time Lin Feng's moment of hesitation passed, the opportunity to act was gone.
The entire sequence of events unfolded with lightning speed. From Lin Feng shattering Loong Tian'ao's sword to Wei Wuyi's desperate escape with the young master, mere seconds had elapsed. A battle that moments before seemed poised to drag on had ended abruptly.
Confirming the enemy was truly gone, Lin Feng finally relaxed, the tension he'd been holding easing. While failing to permanently silence them was regrettable, forcing their retreat was victory enough. After all, facing a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator was perilous; pushing him to the point of a Golden Core self-detonation would have been catastrophic.
"Lin Feng, are you alright?"
The Swordsman's voice came from nearby. Lin Feng turned to see him approaching, looking completely unscathed and almost disappointed the fight was over.
Lin Feng shook his head, offering a weary smile. "I'm fine. Thanks to you back there. I was in real danger."
The Swordsman grinned broadly. "Heh, I should be the one thanking you. If you hadn't created that opening, I wouldn't have won so cleanly. A straight-up fight? I'd have been in deep trouble."
During his own battle with Wei Wuyi, the Swordsman had anticipated Lin Feng's outcome from the start. Despite Loong Tian'ao's superior cultivation level, the Swordsman knew he stood no chance against Lin Feng.
He also gambled that Wei Wuyi wouldn't foresee this result. His strategy was simple: wait for Lin Feng to finish his opponent, knowing Wei Wuyi would inevitably be distracted by Loong Tian'ao's plight. That moment of distraction would be his opening. That's why he played along with Wei Wuyi's exhausting sword duel tactic. Wei Wuyi aimed to drain his true essence; the Swordsman planned to strike decisively midway.
His gamble paid off. Lin Feng swiftly defeated Loong Tian'ao. Wei Wuyi, rushing to the rescue, exposed a massive opening, costing him an arm. The only flaw was their eventual escape.
"Sigh! Still let them get away… that's going to be trouble," the Swordsman frowned, gazing towards where Wei Wuyi had vanished. "We're probably wanted by the Absolute Sword Sect now. Though they'd be fools to leak anything about the Spirit Spring. As long as we steer clear of their territory, we should be okay. You'll need to be extra careful, Lin Feng."
Lin Feng nodded grimly. "Yeah, I know. I will be."
The Swordsman nodded again, then glanced back towards Xing City. After a moment's thought, he suggested, "To be safe, I think it's best we skip returning to Xing City. What do you think?"
"..." Lin Feng hesitated. He had promised Long Fei and the others from the Biquan Sect he'd meet them upon his return. But the Swordsman was right; returning to Xing City now was too risky.
After a brief internal debate, Lin Feng nodded. "You're right. Xing City is off-limits now. Let's get away from here first."
He scanned the surrounding area. Though no other cultivators were visible, he couldn't be certain their battle had gone completely unnoticed. This place was no longer safe.
...
Unbeknownst to Lin Feng, nearly a kilometer away, atop a small hill, three figures stood silently observing the spot where he and the Swordsman now conversed.
Over a thousand meters, combined with the fading twilight, rendered the scene invisible to ordinary eyes. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would see only vague shapes.
The two young men flanking the central figure seemed perplexed. But the middle-aged man, clad in a cyan spirit robe, had sharp, flickering eyes that seemed to pierce the distance and perceive everything clearly.
"Master, what happened? That Wei Wuyi and Loong Tian'ao from the Absolute Sword Sect… they actually… lost?!"
The handsome young man on the right, appearing around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, turned to the middle-aged cultivator, his face etched with disbelief and confusion.
The middle-aged cultivator's eyes shimmered with a strange light, reflecting his own astonishment. "Correct. The two from Absolute Sword Sect were defeated. Loong Tian'ao's flying sword was destroyed. Wei Wuyi… lost an arm. Those two… are extraordinary. Since when did two such formidable juniors emerge in the Xiabo cultivation world? I've never heard of them…"
"What?! They're that powerful?!" The two young cultivators gasped in unison. The one on the left, a round-faced youth of about twenty-four or twenty-five, asked uncertainly, "Master, what should we do now?"
"Wei Wuyi waited there deliberately for so long, specifically to ambush those two. The situation is far from simple. When those two first arrived earlier, they were injured, and they came from the direction of the celestial phenomenon. They weren't involved in the earlier melee… which means…" The middle-aged cultivator's eyes gleamed with calculation as he pieced it together aloud, a slow smile of triumph spreading across his face. "It's highly likely they found the treasure somewhere! They were injured during its acquisition, and lost the fight for it!"
"Then they came out and ambushed those two again… meaning… those two possess something Wei Wuyi coveted. Most likely… it is the treasure!!"
"I'd resigned myself to having to snatch it from Wei Wuyi's grasp," the man mused, his voice laced with satisfaction. "Who'd have thought he'd prove so utterly useless? Saves us the trouble of antagonizing the Absolute Sword Sect. As for these two cultivators with unknown origins…" A cold edge entered his tone. "Killing them… who would ever know?"
"Hmph… after all the fighting and scrambling…" he concluded, his gaze fixed on the distant figures below, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "The so-called Great Python Mountain treasure will ultimately belong to our Verdant Breeze Valley!"