Chapter 13: Wait for me for a moment

Luo Qingchen took a moment to glance over at Ling Xiyue while she continued her chipping away at the monsters.

One look was all it took for her heart to sink into a state of extreme imbalance.

They were both fighting monsters.

On her end, she was rolling around in the mud, her face covered in dirt and her appearance completely disheveled and pathetic.

But on Ling Xiyue’s side, it was practically a visual feast.

Ling Xiyue stood her ground, barely even moving her feet.

The Green Scale Sword hovered before her.

As her fingers flicked and gestured, the blade divided into several identical green light-swords.

The light-swords circled her, forming a sword array so tight that even air couldn’t pass through.

Two Level 1 Core Formation scaled beasts lunged frantically, yet they couldn’t even get within 3 feet of her.

Each time the light-swords darted out, they tore a spray of blood from the beasts.

Ling Xiyue’s purple robes fluttered as she maintained a cold, composed expression.

Her movements were as fluid as flowing water—an absolute joy to watch.

She looked exactly like a goddess who had descended to the mortal realm.

‘The gap between people really is wider than the gap between humans and dogs,’ Luo Qingchen muttered sourly.

The moment she got distracted, her footwork lagged by half a beat.

The scaled beast on the left seized the opportunity, swiping at her with its claws.

Luo Qingchen hurriedly raised the Five Elements Blade to parry.

*Bang!*

A massive force slammed into the dagger.

Luo Qingchen’s legs buckled, and she dropped to one knee.

Her knee crashed heavily against a stone, making her grimace in pain.

The other scaled beast took the chance to circle behind her, opening its bloody maw to bite at her neck.

Luo Qingchen performed a desperate roll on the ground, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike.

She scrambled up, spat out the mud and sand in her mouth, and her gaze turned fierce.

“Do you really think I’m a pushover? Pfft, what am I saying!”

The spiritual energy within Luo Qingchen’s Dantian surged wildly, all of it pouring into the Beast Core of the Five Elements Blade.

The Beast Core began to spin rapidly.

The original golden glow instantly transformed into a blinding, fiery red.

**[Five Elements Blade: Fire Form!]**

A layer of scorching flames erupted from the dagger’s blade, causing the surrounding air to warp from the heat.

Luo Qingchen took the initiative to strike.

Her figure blurred as she charged directly at one of the scaled beasts.

The beast snapped its jaws at her.

Luo Qingchen didn’t dodge; instead, she thrust the flaming dagger straight into its mouth.

“Burn!”

Violent fire-attribute spiritual energy exploded inside the beast’s mouth.

The scaled beast let out a pathetic, agonizing howl.

Its massive body writhed frantically as it tried to shake her off.

Luo Qingchen gripped the hilt tightly, using the beast’s thrashing momentum to leap onto its back.

Seeing this, the other scaled beast charged forward without hesitation.

Luo Qingchen pulled out the dagger and kicked off with her legs, leaping from the first beast’s back.

*Crunch!*

The two scaled beasts collided violently, leaving them dazed and disoriented.

Luo Qingchen adjusted her posture in mid-air.

Grasping the Five Elements Blade with both hands, she pointed the tip downward and used the force of her fall to drive it deep into the second beast’s neck.

*Squelch!*

This time, the flaming dagger finally breached its defense, sinking deep into the flesh.

Blood surged out, only to be instantly evaporated by the flames, releasing the charred scent of burnt meat.

“That’s half of them dealt with!”

Luo Qingchen pulled out the dagger and landed on the ground, gasping for air.

The spiritual energy in her body was mostly depleted.

Her foundation as a Level 1 Foundation Establishment cultivator was simply too shallow.

Heavily injured, the two scaled beasts fell into a total state of frenzy.

Their eyes turned bloodshot as they lunged at her with reckless abandon.

Luo Qingchen gritted her teeth and raised her blade, her Dantian completely empty.

The two berserk beasts charged like madmen, their four eyes crimson and their sense of pain seemingly gone.

She gripped the Five Elements Blade, her mind racing to calculate how much energy she had left to survive another round. T

he answer was not enough.

Just as she was about to risk everything in a desperate struggle, a flash of green sword-light flickered in her peripheral vision.

Ling Xiyue intercepted them from the side.

She raised the Green Scale Sword, holding the blade horizontally before her.

One of the Level 1 Core Formation beasts followed close behind, slamming a claw against the sword.

*Boom!*

The impact sent Ling Xiyue flying backward.

However, she didn’t try to resist the force. Instead, she used the recoil to slide rapidly across the ground.

She passed almost horizontally between Luo Qingchen and the two beasts.

It was a clean, decisive slide.

The several light-swords circling Ling Xiyue shot out instantly.

Two streaks of green light flashed and vanished.

*Thwack! Thwack!*

The heads of the two beasts flew into the air simultaneously.

Their headless bodies continued to charge forward for two steps before collapsing with a heavy thud, spraying hot blood all over Luo Qingchen’s face.

Luo Qingchen wiped the blood from her face, standing there in a daze.

She watched Ling Xiyue slide more than 10 meters away before coming to a stop and rising to one knee.

Her purple robes were covered in dirt and blood, and a fresh trickle of red leaked from the wound at the corner of her mouth.

Yet, her movements were seamless, without a single wasted motion.

A wave of warmth rose in Luo Qingchen’s heart.

Her Senior Sister had specifically doubled back to save her.

Ling Xiyue turned around and reached out her left hand toward Luo Qingchen.

Luo Qingchen’s nose tingled with emotion.

She rushed forward in three steps and took the hand, thinking, ‘Let’s fight side-by-side, hand-in-hand.’

It was cold and soft.

‘This hand is too cold, it’s like holding a piece of jade.’

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the world spun.

Ling Xiyue’s wrist suddenly twisted.

Using Luo Qingchen’s own momentum, she swung the girl into the air.

Luo Qingchen spun through the air for half a circle, and before she could even scream, a foot slammed into her stomach.

It was accurate and blunt.

Luo Qingchen was sent flying, tumbling seven or eight times across the ground before slamming into a tree trunk.

“Cough, cough, cough—”

She curled into a ball, clutching her stomach as she nearly retched up bile.

‘Thank you so freaking much!’

‘I was actually moved for a second there, but you just kicked me out of the battlefield?’

Ling Xiyue had already turned back to face the two Level 1 Core Formation scaled beasts.

She didn’t look back, her voice icy cold.

“Don’t get in the way.”

Luo Qingchen clutched her stomach and scrambled up from the ground.

Fine, a Level 2 Core Formation cultivator was fighting Level 1 Core Formation beasts; a Level 1 Foundation Establishment weakling like her was indeed just baggage.

But did she have to kick that hard?

The two purplish-black scaled beasts roared and pounced at Ling Xiyue.

Ling Xiyue raised her sword to meet them.

The Green Scale Sword drew an arc in the air as the light-swords divided once more, tangling with the two beasts.

At first, they were evenly matched.

But after ten exchanges, Ling Xiyue’s movements slowed down noticeably.

She had previously taken a direct hit from a Peak Core Formation master, and her internal injuries hadn’t healed, making her spiritual energy flow sluggishly.

Having just exerted herself to save Luo Qingchen, her exhaustion was even greater.

A beast’s tail whipped toward her.

Ling Xiyue raised her sword to block, but the force knocked her back five or six steps, her feet carving two deep grooves into the muddy ground.

The other beast seized the opening to lung forward, its claw slashing across her shoulder.

Ling Xiyue let out a muffled groan.

Her body swayed to the side, but she gritted her teeth and steadied herself.

Luo Qingchen’s heart jumped into her throat as she watched.

At this rate, Ling Xiyue wouldn’t last long.

Ling Xiyue could have easily handled two Level 1 Core Formation beasts if she were at full strength, but currently, she wasn’t even at 50%.

As the fight grew more difficult, the number of light-swords dropped from six to four, then from four to two.

Luo Qingchen’s mind suddenly buzzed—the cave!

There was something in that cave!

The task description on the Jade Slip had been very clear: Kill the scaled beast pack, occupy the cave behind them, and obtain the hidden opportunity inside.

An opportunity.

Perhaps there was something in the cave that could help Ling Xiyue.

Although Luo Qingchen had that top-grade healing pill, there was no way she could feed it to her right now.

Ling Xiyue was locked in a life-and-death struggle with those two giants.

If she rushed up to shove a pill in her mouth and got flattened by a claw, the pill would just end up in the dirt or, even worse, in the mouth of a beast.

No, she had to find another way.

Luo Qingchen gritted her teeth and turned, running toward the opposite bank of the river.

“Senior Sister! Don’t panic! I’ll be right back!” she shouted over her shoulder as she ran.

Ling Xiyue blocked a bite from a beast with her sword, her peripheral vision catching Luo Qingchen’s retreating back as she fled toward the riverbank.

Her heart sank instantly.

‘She ran. She really ran after all.’

‘She talked about changing my fate, talked about being willing to bear the curse for me… but when faced with real danger, her first instinct was still self-preservation.’

She was no different from the others in the sect.

Ling Xiyue retracted her gaze, suppressing that small spark of disappointment deep in her heart.

She should have been used to it by now.

From childhood until now, the people around her had come and gone.

They all wanted to gain something or had some other scheme.

When they realized she couldn’t satisfy their interests, they would leave, reject, and ostracize her.

Now, it was just one more person added to the list.