Chapter 7: The Only Choice
Su Yuebai heard Su Lingxi’s warning, but so did the Ice Eagle Beast King.
Although it didn’t sense any aura from Su Lingxi, making her seem like an ordinary person, the fact that she was with Su Yuebai meant they were together.
Subsequently, the Ice Eagle Beast King shifted its gaze and began to attack Su Lingxi below.
Su Yuebai’s expression changed drastically. In a flash, she appeared behind Su Lingxi, blocking the Ice Eagle Beast King’s attack for her.
The Ice Eagle Beast King truly lived up to its reputation as a spiritual beast with intelligence; it had immediately identified the cultivation-less Su Lingxi as Su Yuebai’s weakness.
Su Lingxi hadn’t run more than a few steps before she was panting for breath. There was nothing she could do; the original owner’s body had been through too much, and her physical constitution was simply too poor.
At the same time, she realized the Ice Eagle Beast King had already locked onto her, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
Su Yuebai immediately unleashed her full power. A pitch-black longsword was gripped tightly in her hand. No longer daring to be arrogant, she unleashed her most powerful strike.
“Netherworld Spring!”
With a sharp cry from Su Yuebai, blood-red patterns lit up on the pitch-black longsword. Boundless demonic energy lifted her thousands of black silk-like strands of hair, and the sky filled with dark clouds.
From within the clouds, a powerful beam of demonic energy shot towards the Ice Eagle Beast King.
“To think it’s the Demonic Spirit Art. You clearly hold a high position in the Demon Clan.” The Ice Eagle Beast King spoke in human tongue, recognizing the spiritual technique Su Yuebai was using at a glance.
But then, an even more powerful icy aura gathered in front of the Ice Eagle Beast King. Su Lingxi instantly felt the temperature of the world drop by several degrees.
The bone-piercing cold almost made her faint.
The convergence of the two energies created a powerful shockwave, and the surrounding trees were snapped like twigs in a tidal wave.
For a moment, birds and beasts scattered in all directions, and the ice and snow collapsed.
While Su Lingxi was still in a daze, Su Yuebai had already swiftly appeared in front of her, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. “Master, let’s go!”
The energy dissipated. The Ice Eagle Beast King narrowed its beastly eyes, having already noticed that Su Yuebai and Su Lingxi had fled.
“Did this king say you could leave?”
A tremendous roar almost made Su Lingxi’s eardrums bleed. In an instant, the Ice Eagle Beast King appeared on the path they had to take.
Su Yuebai and Su Lingxi’s steps faltered. Su Lingxi was so frightened her face turned pale.
As a university student, she had never seen such a scene.
Su Yuebai shielded Su Lingxi behind her and said coldly, “Does Your Excellency truly wish to make an enemy of my Demon Clan?”
“The Demon Realm is hundreds of thousands of miles away. Even if we become enemies, what can your Demon Clan do?”
The Ice Eagle Beast King sneered, clearly not taking Su Yuebai’s threat seriously.
Su Yuebai gritted her teeth and said no more. If her cultivation hadn’t fallen, a sixth-tier beast like the Ice Eagle Beast King wouldn’t have even entered her sights in the past.
But she had, after all, once stood at the pinnacle of this world. She understood the current situation. If she and Su Lingxi wanted to return safely, they would likely have to pay a hefty price.
Then, she bit her tongue sharply, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth as her hands formed a strange seal.
A bizarre black power gathered behind the two of them, and soon, a long rift was torn open in the fabric of space.
The more Su Lingxi looked at the hand seal, the more familiar it seemed. Then, she exclaimed in shock, “Is this… Blood Evasion?”
Blood Evasion was the Demon Clan’s last resort for escape when all else failed. Its principle was to compress one’s own lifespan and cultivation to gain a sliver of the power of space, something that only those at the peak of the Mahayana realm could barely touch.
“No!”
Su Lingxi tried to stop her but was tightly controlled by Su Yuebai’s spiritual energy. Under the eerie black light, Su Yuebai wore a faint, desolate smile. “Master, this is the only way we can be safe…”
Then, the spatial rift grew larger, and a massive suction force pulled the two into the void.
The Ice Eagle Beast King watched all this silently without giving chase. The power of space was far beyond what a sixth-tier beast like it could meddle with.
However, the price for using such a secret technique must have been considerable, so the Ice Eagle Beast King wasn’t worried about them returning.
With a flap of its massive wings, the Ice Eagle Beast King also left the area.
**
A hundred miles away, a rift appeared out of thin air in the sky, and Su Yuebai and Su Lingxi fell from it.
The soft layer of snow cushioned most of the impact, but even so, Su Yuebai protected Su Lingxi the moment they landed.
At this moment, Su Yuebai was extremely weak. Her long, black hair was now mostly silver, a clear sign of having overdrawn her lifespan.
Su Lingxi helped Su Yuebai up. Fortunately, they weren’t too far from the cave they had stayed in before.
Inside the cave, Su Lingxi looked at Su Yuebai’s somewhat aged face, feeling guilt to the extreme. Su Yuebai no longer looked young; instead, she had the weary look of a setting sun.
“Yuebai… I’m sorry… It’s all my fault…”
Su Lingxi, who was supposed to have the heart of a man, could no longer hold back her tears. For the first time in her life, a girl had sacrificed so much for her.
Su Yuebai wiped away Su Lingxi’s tears with her hand and shook her head.
She took out a bronze mirror. Her former youthful beauty was gone, but she smiled with relief.
Because both she and her master were alive, and where there was life, there was hope.
Even when her cultivation had been crippled back then, she had still been able to cultivate back to the Soul Formation realm.
“Master, there is no need for this. It is this disciple’s duty to protect Master. That I have become like this is because my skills were inferior…”
Su Yuebai put away the bronze mirror and instead began to comfort Su Lingxi. Then, she handed the box containing the Ice Glimmer Grass to Su Lingxi.
At this moment, Su Lingxi felt no joy in obtaining the Ice Glimmer Grass; instead, her heart was heavy with worry.
The conversation between Su Lingxi and the system echoed in her mind once more.
“System, is there any way for Su Yuebai to recover?” Su Lingxi asked in an anxious voice.
“There is. Activate the Exquisite Body and give her your Exquisite Heart. Not only will her lost lifespan be restored, but she will also break through her cultivation limits…”
“I’ve told you about these benefits many times. You can figure it out yourself.”
The system seemed a bit impatient. This host, Su Lingxi, never listened to it. Otherwise, how could things have developed to this point?
But the current situation was not irreversible. It just required Su Lingxi to give up a little something.
Inside the cave, compared to the loss of her own beauty, Su Yuebai was more worried that she could no longer search for the remaining two herbs.
This meant that if things continued like this, Su Lingxi would still die from the poison’s eruption.
Su Lingxi came back to her senses. The countdown in her mind showed just over a day left. She had no other choice.
Looking at Su Yuebai, Su Lingxi wanted to slap herself twice.
Then, she took Su Yuebai’s hand and said softly, “Yuebai… I want to give you my Exquisite Heart…”
