Thud!

Gu Can drove his boot into the corpse of the square-faced giant, spitting on the ground. “Stay dead, you ugly bastard! That’s what you get for looking down on us!”

“Enough. Grab the loot and move. Your sister needs us.”

Qin Lu dropped to a crouch, his hands moving with practiced efficiency over the dead man’s robes. He stripped the storage bags and valuables in seconds.

“Heh! Can’t forget this beauty.” Gu Can bent his knees and hoisted the giant’s massive silver axe, grinning like a child with a new toy.

Within moments, the two of them had picked the corpse clean. They pivoted and sprinted toward the distant sounds of Gu Yue’s battle.

As they ran, Qin Lu scanned the sky.

The aerial duel between Li Qingdu and the enemy leaders had vanished. The clouds were empty. Only the chaotic din of steel clashing against steel and desperate roars rose from the forest floor ahead.

They’ve been forced to the ground, Qin Lu analyzed, his expression grim. I hope Li Qingdu holds the line.

He despised the sect leader’s manipulation, dragging him onto this sinking ship of a raid. Yet, pragmatism outweighed resentment. If Li Qingdu fell, the mid-Foundation Establishment monster, You Ye, would be free to slaughter the rest of them. Li Qingdu was the only meat shield capable of buying them time.

Qin Lu and Gu Can crushed Qi-replenishing pills between their teeth, swallowing the bitter medicinal paste as they accelerated.

Thirty breaths later, they burst through the foliage.

Gu Yue was fighting like a woman possessed. Her appearance was wretched—hair wild, face flushed a feverish red, and her magic robes shredded to ribbons, revealing flashes of snow-white skin stained with grime.

But her eyes burned with cold fury.

She didn’t retreat a single step. Her longsword wove a suffocating web of steel, forcing her opponent—the beautiful female cultivator—onto the back foot.

“Damn it! Hurry!” Gu Can roared, panic spiking in his voice. “Sis is going to burn out!”

Qin Lu frowned, keeping pace. “She looks full of vitality. Her Qi is surging. Why do you say she’s burning out?”

“That’s a forbidden clan art!” Gu Can yelled over the wind. “It burns life force for power! She looks strong now, but she’ll collapse any second!”

“I see.” Qin Lu nodded, filing the information away.

He had read about such sacrificial techniques in the sect archives. They traded longevity and potential for a temporary burst of combat prowess. The backlash was often severe, leaving the user helpless once the adrenaline faded.

Qin Lu stopped talking. He channeled his Qi, the Seven Star Sword humming in his grip as he surged past Gu Can.

“Sis! We’re here!”

“Good timing!” Gu Yue shouted, her voice hoarse. Seeing Qin Lu flank the enemy, a savage joy lit up her face.

Qin Lu didn’t waste breath on banter. He engaged instantly, unleashing the Gray Shadow Sword Art.

His blade became a ghostly blur, striking from the enemy’s blind spots. The beautiful cultivator, already struggling to contain Gu Yue’s suicidal offensive, now faced a three-pronged assault. With Gu Can swinging the heavy silver axe and Qin Lu targeting her vitals, her defense crumbled.

She was trapped.

Swish!

Qin Lu’s blade bit into her shoulder. A thin line of crimson bloomed on her pale skin.

The pain shattered her composure. The woman shrieked, kicking off the ground to create distance. As she retreated, she slapped a talisman against her chest.

Boom!

A cloud of thick, sulfurous yellow smoke exploded outward, swallowing her figure and obscuring their vision.

“[Big Smoke Talisman]!” Gu Yue cried out, recognizing the escape tactic. She launched herself upward, trying to cut off an aerial retreat.

Qin Lu sneered. Trying to run?

He halted his charge and clenched his left fist. Spiritual energy flooded his meridians, converting into scorching heat.

Ignition Technique.

It was a basic spell, usually meant for lighting campfires. But in Qin Lu’s hands, fueled by his monstrous cultivation base and maxed-out proficiency, it mutated into a catastrophe.

He punched the air.

ROAR!

A sphere of raging fire, thirty feet in diameter, erupted from his fist. It screamed through the air like a miniature sun, the heat distorting the space around it.

The massive fireball slammed into the yellow smoke, incinerating the cover instantly.

The female cultivator, hidden within the haze, eyes went wide with horror. She had never seen a basic fireball spell carry the gravitational weight of a collapsing star.

Even Gu Yue and Gu Can froze for a heartbeat, stunned by the apocalyptic heat radiating from their “neighbor.”

There was nowhere to dodge. The woman screamed, pouring every ounce of her remaining spiritual energy into her sword. She slashed down, a desperate vertical cut meant to cleave the inferno.

BOOM!

The fireball split. Tongues of flame whipped past her, singing her hair and clothes. She had survived the direct hit, but the kinetic impact hammered her like a battering ram. Her arms went numb, her sword trembling violently in her grip.

Before she could recover, a shadow fell over her.

Gu Yue descended from the sky, her sword aimed at the woman’s throat.

The enemy cultivator parried clumsily, forced into a messy brawl. Qin Lu and Gu Can closed the distance on the ground, forming a triangle of death.

Realizing she was moments away from being minced, the woman’s face twisted in terror. She leaped toward the clouds, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Husband! Save me!!”

Qin Lu, standing firm on the earth, felt his gaze turn icy. The husband. That handsome cultivator.

If reinforcements arrived, this advantage would evaporate.

He watched the woman ascending, her back exposed. He raised his right hand, extending his index finger like the barrel of a gun.

He condensed his Qi to a microscopic point.

Cutting Technique.

Thwip.

A razor-thin white line shot from his fingertip. It was quiet, unassuming—a stark contrast to the roaring fireball. To a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s senses, the fluctuation of Qi felt negligible, like a mosquito bite.

The woman sensed the attack but judged it too weak to penetrate her protective aura. She ignored it, focusing entirely on parrying Gu Yue’s pursuit.

Fatal mistake.

Squelch.

The white thread, honed to a molecular edge, punched through her protective Qi as if it were paper. It pierced her abdomen, exited her back, and then—at Qin Lu’s mental command—yanked sharply to the right.

Riiiiiip!

The sound was like tearing wet canvas.

The woman’s midsection burst open. Blood sprayed in a gruesome arc, followed by the wet slap of intestines and organs tumbling out of her body to the ground below.

Her flight stalled. She looked down, her beautiful face draining of all color as she stared at her own empty cavity.

She didn’t even have time to scream.

Gu Yue was already there.

Sword light flashed—cold, precise, and merciless.

Snick.

The woman’s head separated from her neck, spinning high into the air, her long hair trailing like a black comet. A fountain of blood erupted from the stump.

Another Foundation Establishment expert, slaughtered like a dog.

Before Qin Lu could relax, a howl of pure, agonizing grief tore through the battlefield from the distance.

“NO!!!”