As expected, Xia An’s words made Su Er frown.
Su Ze, however, merely sneered coldly. “Su Er, no more talking with this bitch. Take her alive!”
“Once we have her, this young master has plenty of ways to pry the location of the Water-Avoiding Pearl from her mouth!”
At that, Su Er cast aside all restraint. He took one step forward, his figure flashing like lightning, and appeared instantly before Xia An.
“You…”
Bang!
Before Xia An could react, Su Er struck her with a palm and sent her flying. She landed right in front of Mo Fan.
“Little sister!!”
Xia Ning’s face filled with despair. He roared, yet was also forced to his knees on the deck by a single palm from Su Er.
“So young, yet already at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and you have even grasped sword intent. You truly are a genius!”
“Unfortunately, before the cultivation of this seat at the Core Formation stage, your little strength counts for nothing!”
Su Er spoke leisurely, then strode towards Mo Fan, completely ignoring him, and reached out to seize Xia An.
“My strength counts for nothing? Then how about my Xia family’s Void-Rending Talisman?”
Xia An laughed coldly. With a flick of her hand, a jade talisman flew out and instantly burst into blinding light!
Su Er’s pupils contracted sharply. He retreated at once!
Yet he was still a fraction too slow.
“Ah…!!”
A wretched scream rang out as the light flashed past.
When everything calmed, Su Er staggered backwards. His entire right arm and shoulder had vanished, as though sliced clean off by a razor-sharp blade.
Agonising pain twisted his face into something hideous.
Seizing the moment, Xia An moved like an after-image. The twin swords she gripped erupted with brilliant sword qi as she stabbed straight at Su Er’s throat and dantian.
“You court death!!”
Su Er roared in fury, thick killing intent rolling from him.
Dazzling golden light exploded from his body, clothing him in what looked like golden gauze.
Ding!
Ding!
Both of Xia An’s strikes were halted by an invisible force just inches from his skin.
“Hmph!”
Su Er gave a cold snort and stepped forward. Golden ripples surged from him.
Xia An’s twin swords shattered instantly, and she herself was flung backwards once more.
Boom!
This time she crashed straight into Mo Fan’s arms, sending both of them flying.
Su Er immediately turned into a streak of golden light, catching up in an instant and reaching out to grab Xia An.
Seeing this, despair filled Xia An’s face. She shut her eyes.
Yet at that moment, as though sensing something, she opened them again and saw a golden rope shooting towards Su Er.
Su Er’s brows knitted. He changed from grabbing to pointing, sword qi flashing as he tried to sever the rope.
In the next instant, however, he froze in shock.
The golden rope did not break as he expected. Instead it lengthened abruptly and, in the blink of an eye, bound him tightly.
“What is this thing?”
Alarm flickered across Su Er’s face. Mana surged around him as he tried to break free.
No matter how he struggled, it was useless. The rope only grew tighter.
“No point struggling. Your life is mine!”
A white figure darted from behind Xia An like a phantom and appeared before Su Er. The sword rose and fell.
“It’s actually you…!”
Su Er’s eyes bulged. Before he could finish speaking, his head flew high into the air. Blood fountained from the severed neck as the headless corpse toppled stiffly backwards.
“Su Er!”
“Venerate Su!!”
From afar, Su Ze and the Su family Foundation Establishment cultivators stared in horror.
“You…”
“You’re not a mortal?”
Su Ze glared at Mo Fan, shock and rage warring on his face.
He could never have imagined that the late-stage Core Formation Su Er would be killed by some unknown fellow. It was hard for him to accept.
“I never said I was a mortal.”
Mo Fan shrugged. With a casual swing of his sword he cleaved open Su Er’s corpse, then beckoned. A golden core flew into his hand.
After storing the core, he also retrieved the golden rope.
He was rather pleased with this rope and already had some guesses about it.
Back in the True Dragon Lair, he had been targeted by the rat spirits of the Bottomless Pit. At the time he had not understood why, but now it clearly had something to do with this rope.
Without doubt, it was a treasure, and a high-grade one at that!
Before leaving Black Wind Mountain, Mo Fan had tested it. Even when he used his full strength he could not snap it completely.
Thus he judged that its grade was at least comparable to a Demon Ancestor sacred weapon, or in human terms, a supreme-grade magical treasure!
Though shocked and unclear how that long-ago bandit Rat General had obtained such a treasure, Mo Fan did not dwell on it.
Whatever astonishing origins the golden rope possessed, however twisted the tale of how it left the Bottomless Pit, none of that concerned him. What mattered was that it now belonged to him!
Precisely because it was so extraordinary, Mo Fan had entrusted this treasure to his water-moon clone, along with several other magical items.
The sword he now held was one of them: the Fire Cloud Sword, a mid-grade fire-attribute magical treasure.
“Your turn next!”
Mo Fan looked at Su Ze with playful amusement. The latter shuddered, then roared in fury, “What are you all standing around for? Attack!”
The Su family cultivators immediately hurled themselves at Mo Fan.
Yet to their horror, Mo Fan simply manifested a golden sun that annihilated every spell and treasure thrown at him.
Seeing this, Su Ze’s pupils shrank. A terrible feeling gripped him. He hastily sacrificed a flying sword, stepped onto it, and tried to flee into the distance.
“Scum, you’re not getting away!”
At that moment Xia An appeared. With a flick of her hand she sent out a stack of talismans.
In an instant they turned into a sea of flame that blocked Su Ze’s path.
Clang!
With a sword cry, Xia An struck. Su Ze was smashed down from the sky and crashed heavily onto the deck.
“You little bitch, you dare raise a hand against this young master?”
“This young master is the young lord of the Su fam—”
Bang!
Before he could finish, Xia An kicked him to the ground and crushed his head against the blood-soaked deck with her foot.
Su Ze tried to struggle, but his eyes suddenly fixed on a shattered head lying nearby. Its wide-staring eyes seemed to mock him, as if rejoicing that he had finally met the same fate.
The head belonged to the Song family’s treasured daughter. Her lingering resentment appeared determined to witness Su Ze’s death.
“Tyrant who bullies men and violates women, committing every evil under the sun, today I, Xia An, will carry out heaven’s justice and cut down a villain like you!”
Xia An growled. Her sword stabbed viciously towards Su Ze’s head.
“Stay your sword!”
From afar Mo Fan frowned slightly and shouted urgently.
Xia An’s brows knitted. She paused for a fraction of a second, then drove the sword into Su Ze’s skull even faster than before!
