Li Jiangying was jolted awake from her sleep. She opened her eyes in shock and saw a massive black python blocking her way. Wood shards and pieces of a teapot were scattered all over the floor, and a choking smoke spread through the air.
Cui Yu raised her hand to cover her nose, coughed twice, and said urgently in a low voice: “Night ambush! Jiangying, get up, quickly!”
Li Jiangying tore off a corner of the pillowcase to cover her mouth and nose and scrambled to her feet. When sleeping, she hadn’t trusted the inn’s safety, so she hadn’t taken off her clothes. Now it was convenient.
The massive black python hissed, flicking her tongue twice, then tiredly lowered her head and began to shrink. She had just taken the brunt of the damage with this body. Although the explosion hadn’t directly broken her skin, she had suffered considerable internal shock.
“What do we do?” Li Jiangying asked nervously. She looked at Li Yueying and couldn’t help but frown tightly.
No other choice. We don’t know how many attackers there are. We can only flee. If we fight here, it might attract other hungry wolves.
Devil Cultivators were just that shameless; seeing a piece of meat, they all want a bite.
“Yueying.” Li Jiangying scooped up Li Yueying, who had already become very small. Looking at her listless state, she asked with concern: “How are you doing?”
Li Yueying flicked her tongue: “So tired.”
Li Jiangying stroked her head and put her inside her clothes. Cui Yu had already summoned the Manticore Horse. Standing in the middle of the room, it was extremely crowded.
Cui Yu mounted the horse and reached back to pull Li Jiangying up: “We can’t use the main door; there will be an ambush. We’ll break out directly through the window and catch them off guard.”
“Alright.”
The Manticore Horse charged directly through the window with its two riders, let out a whinny, and burst out. Li Jiangying hugged Cui Yu’s waist tightly, not daring to let go, afraid she’d fall off during the bumpy landing.
After landing, the Manticore Horse fled at full speed straight ahead. Cui Yu cast a Talisman and stuck it onto herself and Li Jiangying: “This is a Lightness Talisman.”
At this moment, Li Jiangying braved the howling night wind and opened her eyes. She couldn’t help but look back and saw two people in black cloaks standing in the inn’s backyard, their faces invisible.
Li Jiangying suddenly remembered that in their rush to escape, they had forgotten to put on the cloaks hanging on the bedpost.
The two clearly malicious figures turned to face the fleeing duo and snake and began to give chase. Yet, Li Jiangying felt their pursuit wasn’t urgent. For some reason, seeing the distance gradually widening made Li Jiangying even more worried instead.
“Where are we going now?” Li Jiangying leaned close to Cui Yu’s ear and asked.
Cui Yu said: “I don’t know how those people saw through our disguises. There might be more of their accomplices on the way back to the palace. We’ll go directly to Flying Swallow Capital. But you’ll have to endure some hardship, Jiangying.”
Since leaving the Moon Shadow Devil Palace, Li Jiangying hadn’t really rested properly. To be honest, she was now tired, sleepy, and dizzy from the jolting. What was even harder to admit was that this fragile human seemed to have rarely ridden animals before. As a result, after a whole day of bumping, the skin on her inner thighs was rubbed raw and red.
She was too embarrassed to tell Cui Yu, thinking it would get better after a night’s rest. She hadn’t expected to be riding again so soon.
Li Jiangying silently shifted from a straddling position to a side-saddle position, with both legs on one side.
The Manticore Horse was very fast. In a short while, it had charged out of Fangping Town and was racing towards Flying Swallow Capital. Li Jiangying looked back and saw the pursuers had disappeared. She should have felt relieved, but found she couldn’t relax at all.
A sense of crisis lingered in her mind, making her sensitive to the slightest rustle. Her temples throbbed, and her head ached with dizziness. Li Jiangying almost felt she might pass out at any moment.
It was precisely because of this heightened state that she noticed something wrong ahead.
“Ambush!” Li Jiangying shouted the moment she spotted it. Cui Yu was greatly alarmed and immediately reined in the horse. Unfortunately, the Manticore Horse was running at full speed and couldn’t stop immediately. Forced to brake suddenly, it lost its balance and tumbled to the ground along with its miserable human riders.
This place was desolate wasteland, where a Redwood Ghost Forest grew. The branches were grotesquely twisted, stretching towards the sky, and the leaves were dark green and slender, like ghostly claws.
The ambushers came out from behind the thick tree trunks, similarly cloaked in black cloaks that covered their bodies entirely.
Li Jiangying climbed up from the ground. Her knees, palms, and elbows were scraped and bleeding. There was no time to tend to them now.
Cui Yu was much stronger. She swiftly drew her sword, got up, and charged forward, engaging the two black-cloaked figures in a tangled fight, one against two.
The little black snake hidden in Li Jiangying’s clothes moved uneasily but remained trapped in a sluggish state, unable to wake.
Li Jiangying didn’t know what she could do, so she helped the Manticore Horse up, climbed back onto it, and waited for Cui Yu to come so they could escape.
But unexpectedly, Cui Yu, who had initially held the upper hand, suddenly began to slow down. At the same time, Li Jiangying’s headache intensified, her eyelids fighting each other heavily.
A sudden realization hit her: “That smoke was poisonous!”
One of the black-cloaked figures let out an eerie laugh: “Indeed. Once the poison takes effect, no matter how strong you are, you’ll obediently surrender.”
With a sharp clang of weapons clashing, Cui Yu staggered backward with her sword. She struck her own chest forcefully with her hand, lowered her head, and spat out a mouthful of tainted blood. Without even wiping the blood from the corner of her lips, she urgently said to Li Jiangying: “Run!”
“What about you?!” Li Jiangying shouted, forcing her swaying body to remain upright.
Cui Yu stood between the black-cloaked figures and Li Jiangying. She turned her head and gave Li Jiangying a confident smile: “I have my own life-saving techniques. Jiangying, just go where you need to go. I will definitely meet you there!”
Li Jiangying glared resentfully at the two black-cloaked people, knowing she shouldn’t waste the time Cui Yu was buying. She gritted her teeth: “You must come!”
Cui Yu smiled at her, then turned back, her face sinking. She raised her long sword and sliced it across her palm. The thick blood coated the blade but didn’t slide off. She said: “You think you can keep me here with such a despicable trick? Dream on!”
Li Jiangying climbed onto the horse’s back, raised the reins, and whipped them forward. The Manticore Horse let out a high-pitched neigh, unwillingly glancing at its master’s figure, but intelligently understanding that escorting the rider was its master’s command. It stretched out its long legs and ran with all its might.
They skirted around Cui Yu and the two black-cloaked figures, running in their original direction.
As she ran, a thought suddenly flashed through Li Jiangying’s head, now almost as thick as paste from drowsiness: The Storage Bag… it’s still with Cui Yu…
So sleepy… I want to sleep. Li Jiangying, her head splitting with pain, saw the scenery ahead doubling in her vision. She used all her strength to clutch the reins tightly, preventing herself from falling. Her consciousness teetered precariously on a tightrope, ready to plunge into the abyss at any moment.
After an unknown amount of time, just as Li Jiangying couldn’t control the darkness closing in, an arrow whistled through the air and struck Li Jiangying hard in the back.
The powerful force sent Li Jiangying flying to the ground. She rolled like a ball, tumbling several times before finally stopping, her entire body wracked with pain.
Fortunately, the arrow hadn’t pierced her back—thanks to the Soft Armor obtained from Black Flame.
Trembling, Li Jiangying lay on the ground and slowly lifted her head. She saw the Manticore Horse, overwhelmed and collapsed in the distance, and within her low field of vision, several pairs of feet slowly appeared.
There were about seven black-cloaked figures. Six of them clustered around the one in the middle carrying a bow—it was he who had shot the arrow.
The bow-wielding leader stepped out from the crowd and gracefully knelt down on one knee in front of Li Jiangying. He extended two long, pale fingers and lifted Li Jiangying’s chin.
Li Jiangying’s body tensed. She stared warily at him, but the person was hidden under a cloak, revealing only a shadow. Yet this person could see Li Jiangying’s appearance and expression. He suddenly chuckled lightly, but the sound that came out was a woman’s voice. Only then did Li Jiangying realize this was actually a woman.
