Xueyi Saintess’s heart surged with massive waves of shock.
The binding curse!
If Xueyi Saintess were at her peak, Lu Zheng could not bind her at all. But now she was badly injured, her qi and blood deficient. Under Lu Zheng’s prepared strike, she was bound for a brief instant, her defences fully lost.
Xueyi Saintess’s eyes nearly split open. She never imagined Lu Zheng would know the binding curse!
How old was Lu Zheng? How could he have cultivated the extremely difficult binding curse, said to succeed in only one out of ten thousand?
Facing a peer, she would never close in. But Lu Zheng was young. After fully unleashing a Taiyi Five Thunder spell, how could he have the capacity to attack again?
Xueyi Saintess had traded the jade pearl for the Taiyi Five Thunder spell, planning a quick victory over Lu Zheng.
In the end… she capsized in the gutter! And carelessness meant death!
Despair flashed in Xueyi Saintess’s eyes, but she still pushed with full force, trying to break free from the binding curse’s restraint.
One blink! Just one blink! I only need one blink to escape!
“Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!”
“Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!”
Six light sounds rang out. The six red jade swords that had already fallen beside Lu Zheng now positioned perfectly behind Xueyi Saintess.
In the instant she was bound, they lifted again and shot forward.
But Xueyi Saintess had used the jade pearl to meet the Taiyi Five Thunder spell. She herself aimed for a swift decisive battle, leaving the thunder’s attack range to ambush Lu Zheng.
So…
The six red jade swords pierced through, creating six transparent holes in Xueyi Saintess’s body: one at the brow, two at the heart, three at the dantian.
Blood sprayed wildly!
Xueyi Saintess’s aura plummeted instantly. In the next moment, a terrifying soul pressure rose sharply, forming a sharp sword that stabbed straight at Lu Zheng.
This was Xueyi Saintess’s dying strike, her final blow burning all her soul and true spirit without regard for consequences!
It locked onto Lu Zheng, impossible to evade.
“Die with me!”
Xueyi Saintess’s voice echoed deafeningly in Lu Zheng’s soul.
Then, just as the sharp sword reached Lu Zheng’s brow, about to sink into his sea of consciousness…
Lu Zheng vanished.
He vanished for an instant.
The mental sword pierced straight through where Lu Zheng had been, passing harmlessly.
Then Lu Zheng reappeared.
Almost in the same spot and time as his afterimage lingered.
Of everyone present, only Xueyi Saintess knew Lu Zheng had vanished for an instant, because the lock of her mental sword was erased.
And once erased, re-establishing the link was not so easy. More importantly, she had no chance left.
When Lu Zheng reappeared, the mental sword was already behind him. Before him was a body already shattered, a soul on the verge of extinction.
Lu Zheng grinned ferociously. A Golden Vault Heart Sword slashed out.
“Ah!”
With a miserable cry, Xueyi Saintess’s soul was split in two by the Golden Vault Heart Sword. Then the sword qi twisted, scattering her soul to the winds.
“Buzz!”
The mind jade seal trembled. Strands of luck light poured in like bees to honey. Conservatively, over four hundred.
Refreshing!
On the other side, Zhao Wuji was falling behind in the siege by Fan Boyu and the Hu Zhou couple. Suddenly hearing Xueyi Saintess’s scream, he whipped his head around. He saw Lu Zheng shatter Xueyi Saintess’s soul with one sword and grab her corpse by the hand.
“Saintess!”
Zhao Wuji’s eyes nearly split open. He never imagined Xueyi Saintess would die here.
Impossible!?
Even with those two veteran demons joining the attack, if Xueyi Saintess wanted to leave, who could stop her?
Lu Zheng nodded, agreeing with Zhao Wuji. As long as Xueyi Saintess wanted to flee, he and Hu Dalu truly could not hold her.
Unfortunately, she did not want to leave. She wanted to gamble, to snatch back Du Yueyao. Sadly, she lost the bet, losing her life.
Zhao Wuji could not believe it. In the distance, Hu Dalu and Gao Zhen were also utterly shocked.
Good grief! She died just like that?
A Yuan Shengjiao saintess, even not among the top three, was still somewhat famous in the southern border, a name that carried weight. And Lu Zheng had kept her here?
How did he do it?
How did he injure Xueyi Saintess right from the start?
He knew the binding curse? How did he predict she would abandon defence and close in alone?
Finally, how did he dodge her dying strike?
Though they had indeed contributed, they knew they were at best adding icing to the cake, not sending charcoal in snow.
…
In truth, they were wrong. Though they seemed uninvolved, without them, Lu Zheng could not have killed Xueyi Saintess.
Their arrival gave Xueyi Saintess immense psychological pressure. The full battle worsened her injuries, making her realise she could not fight a prolonged war to wear Lu Zheng down.
They helped Lu Zheng build up for his strongest Taiyi Five Thunder spell, briefly trading the jade pearl. Their retreat from the thunder gave Xueyi Saintess the chance to ambush.
By a twist of fate, they helped Lu Zheng set a trap that Xueyi Saintess was eighty percent likely to step into, ultimately winning swiftly and decisively.
One could say, without them, though Lu Zheng would not lose, he would pay a huge price to force Xueyi Saintess to retreat.
Yes, force retreat, by dragging the battle’s noise to draw attention and make her flee.
Killing her? How possible!
Unless alarming a top expert who could trap her face-to-face, like the old beggar. Otherwise, even if Chu Jin, Daoist Mingzhang, and Guardian Yi Zhenren all arrived together, they probably could not keep her.
But once Xueyi Saintess fled, with Lu Zheng’s personality, he would never stay in Tonglin County again. That would just invite revenge.
So, now was perfect. Directly eliminating Xueyi Saintess. As long as they took out that Zhao Wuji too, no loose ends.
Dingfeng Mountain had acted. Fan Boyu could not possibly return to Yuan Shengjiao to surrender, right?
Indeed, after his cry of shock, Zhao Wuji immediately tried to flee. But just as his escape began, Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu blocked the way.
“Fan Boyu! Do you want to silence witnesses?”
“You guessed right!”
The answer was not from Fan Boyu, but from Lu Zheng, who flew over on clouds.
Hu Dalu and Gao Zhen also flanked from left and right.
“…”
Zhao Wuji raged. “Colluding with outsiders to assassinate the saintess! Fan Boyu, you traitor, the sacred sect will not spare you!”
Fan Boyu went all in too. “Anyway, Xueyi Saintess had little life left in this incarnation. And you lot venturing deep into the central plains, dying is normal. Kill you, who would know I did it?”
“You!”
“You what! Die!”
Carrying the momentum of slaying Xueyi Saintess, with four experts encircling, Zhao Wuji fell into dire straits from the start. He could not even run. In the end, Gao Zhen slapped his head with one paw, shattering brains and soul alike in a single blow.
“Buzz!”
Luck light entered the account. The matter was settled.
