Running away was the second thing Shu Yue was best at.
After manifesting her bloodline and transforming into a Dragon Maiden, she possessed powerful physical abilities.
Combined with the Shadow Concealment Art, which could weaken her presence, she felt she had plenty of authority when it came to fleeing.
Yet even though she clearly hadn’t seen that strange thing chasing after her, a shadow hung over her heart the entire time, as if it was constantly watching her, its gaze locked onto her relentlessly.
That sensation of being spied on was extremely uncomfortable, making Shu Yue feel a bit nauseous and giving her goosebumps.
Shu Yue stopped.
She stared at the “Belang” in front of her, covered in blood and pale as paper, and her mood sank to the bottom.
Her mind raced for a way to deal with this.
Try to fight back?
She still hadn’t fully adapted to her current power—this would be the first time using it after absorbing the Dragon Blood.
If she went all out, would there be a chance?
If she won, she could fly far away and never come running around this Outlands again.
But if she lost…
Her fate would be R-rated levels of painful, without a doubt.
So she absolutely couldn’t let this bastard capture her!
No matter what, even if she died here, she wouldn’t be taken away to become some Saint Mother or whatever.
Shu Yue drew her longsword and pointed it at him.
Seeing this, “Belang” let out a laugh, his pale face paired with a sinister smile, oozing villainous charisma.
“Heh heh heh, Your Highness, how can you treat your guide like this?”
“Pfft! Go crawl!”
Shu Yue raised her little chin, putting on a serious expression.
“I, my faith is in Holy Radiance. The Goddess protects me!”
She didn’t actually believe in Holy Radiance and felt nothing for the Goddess, but it was necessary to bring it up now.
Anyway, saying it once wouldn’t hurt…
Wait!
Shu Yue suddenly remembered that the reason this Black Feather Sect guy found her was because she casually tossed out a lie earlier.
She had brought this on herself by speaking carelessly.
What if the Goddess had actually heard her?
Well, at least the Goddess probably wouldn’t send people to capture her or make her become some Holy Radiance Church Saintess.
“Belang” wasn’t annoyed.
Instead, he looked at Shu Yue with interest.
“Your Highness really loves to joke. To the lapdogs of Holy Radiance, you’re a Heteromorph. They wouldn’t tolerate a Heteromorph worshipping Her. Those lapdogs’ favorite thing to do is maintain their own hierarchy.”
The Holy Radiance Church didn’t accept the conversion of Heteromorphs.
So with her clearly non-human physical features, claiming to believe in Holy Radiance wouldn’t get her sanctuary from the Church even if it were true.
Shu Yue’s mouth twitched.
She’d forgotten about that—she was currently in her Dragon Maiden form.
Being exposed made her face flush with embarrassment, but she still raised her little head, pouted, and let out a hum.
The next instant, Shu Yue activated her skill—Dragon’s Majesty.
The spiritual ripples carrying draconic might were now focused entirely on “Belang.”
She guessed this was some kind of possession state, and a mental attack might have some effect.
And indeed, as Shu Yue had expected, “Belang” became visibly dazed.
Seizing the moment, Shu Yue’s sword cleaved straight through his head.
Still feeling it wasn’t safe enough, she continued with several more strikes, slicing off all of “Belang’s” limbs.
She wasn’t a cruel person, but against an enemy without a real body that was hard to kill, and lacking good countermeasures herself, this was the best method she could think of.
After doing all this, Shu Yue quickly dodged away in case “Belang” had some kind of death effect.
“Your Highness, so cruel, and yet you claim to believe in the Goddess of Holy Radiance?”
A female voice came, one that Shu Yue found very familiar.
She turned around and looked—Anna was standing not far away, smiling gently at Shu Yue.
A streak of blood ran down from her brow, but otherwise she was perfectly normal, her dress still in the state it was when she died, as if she had truly come back to life.
Shu Yue didn’t believe this was Anna.
Anna was definitely dead.
This was still that Black Feather Sect member’s trick.
Shu Yue looked at her, took a deep breath, and said, “You said earlier you want me to go with you?”
“Your Highness, I will become your guide.”
“Anna” lifted her skirt and curtsied, looking no different from the real Anna, but the eerie aura emanating from her was bone-chilling.
Shu Yue’s eyes flickered.
She realized the key point: “You don’t have the ability to forcefully take me away, do you? You want to make me despair and then willingly go with you, so you don’t have to expose yourself.”
“Your Highness, clever tricks are useless.”
“I can go with you, but your real body has to come out, and don’t use this person to talk to me.”
Shu Yue pouted.
“I hate her.”
“Heh, it seems Your Highness lacks some education. Well then, let me give you an early lesson.”
“Anna” didn’t do as Shu Yue said.
Shu Yue hadn’t expected her to obey anyway.
She immediately placed the sword against her own neck, putting on a show as if she would die right then and there.
“If you make a move, I’ll kill myself!”
That finally shut “Anna” up.
She hadn’t expected Shu Yue to come up with such a dirty trick.
Shu Yue snorted.
“You must want me alive, right? If I die, you get nothing. I’m worthless!”
“Heh, as expected of Your Highness, calm in the face of danger, quickly sorting out the stakes.”
“Anna” couldn’t help but praise.
Indeed, as Shu Yue had said, it wanted a live, intact Shu Yue.
Only such a Shu Yue could conceive an excellent child of the gods, a vessel to hold divine power.
Shu Yue pressed the sword against her neck, staring intently at “Anna.”
If it made any weird move, she would slit her own throat.
At the same time, she was thinking how to turn the situation around.
She had thought that defeating Belang and Anna would let her collect loot and start the next leg of her journey, but all that was ruined by this Black Feather Sect member.
Black Feather Sect, I will never rest until I destroy you!
After making a mental note, Shu Yue saw “Anna” suddenly collapse to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
And fifty meters behind where “Anna” had been, a hunched black-robed figure leaned on a cane, staring at Shu Yue with an aged face.
Before Shu Yue could react, her head felt like it had been hit, splitting with pain.
“Ugh!”
Shu Yue fell to the ground, the sword at her neck dropping.
She clutched her head to ease the stabbing pain.
This attack wasn’t physical—it was mental!
To resist the mental attack, she used Dragon’s Majesty again.
The effect was decent.
The moment she activated the skill, the squeezing and stabbing sensation disappeared.
Shu Yue quickly got up and started running desperately in one direction.
The black-robed old woman was also startled.
She had felt Shu Yue’s Dragon’s Majesty before—it could temporarily disable her ability to control corpses.
Combined with Shu Yue threatening her own life, she had no choice but to appear in person.
She had thought that with her own Tier 3 soul power, she could directly knock Shu Yue unconscious and capture her easily.
But she didn’t expect Shu Yue’s soul to be much stronger than an ordinary person’s.
The soul touch only gave her a headache. Still, it didn’t matter.
The old woman watched Shu Yue flee and muttered irritably, “Just a Tier 2. If I let you escape, me being a Tier 3 would be a laughingstock for life!”
Once she sent this saintess candidate to the temple, she would not only receive rewards from the archbishops but also a blessing from the gods!
In the old woman’s eyes, Shu Yue was a walking treasure, making even her old bones drool.
On the other side, Shu Yue had run a long distance, but she could still feel she was being watched.
She couldn’t help but complain inwardly, ‘Who designed this plot! First appearance and I’m already getting beaten?’
But she wasn’t in a novel.
Novels follow plot logic; reality was surreal.
Here it comes!
Shu Yue sensed something approaching.
She reacted quickly, trying to twist in midair to dodge, but when she turned her head, she saw dozens of black tentacles lunging at her from different angles.
Oh no, a beautiful girl’s worst weakness—tentacles!
She barely had room to struggle before her Dragon Maiden body was directly tied up by those tentacles.
She tried to break free, but the tentacles coiled tighter and tighter like snakes, making it hard to breathe.
A glistening sheen of tears formed in her beautiful eyes, her pitiful expression evoking sympathy.
“Nngh… it hurts so much!”
Shu Yue used her last bit of strength to yell that.
The old woman had already approached, carefully examining Shu Yue.
The more she looked, the more precious she found her.
She even wanted to touch her.
Her withered hand reached toward Shu Yue’s little face, but when it was only ten centimeters away, the forearm suddenly snapped off, a layer of frost forming on the cross-section.
Neither Shu Yue nor the old woman understood what had happened.
The next moment, the black tentacles shattered with a cracking sound, turning into a pile of sparkling ice crystals.
Shu Yue blinked her big, watery eyes, staring blankly at the scene.
Those tentacles had been incredibly strong—even in her Dragon Maiden form, she couldn’t break free—but now they were instantly destroyed?
“Wait, I’m only at the First-order Mid-stage!”
She suddenly remembered that her strength was still that of a little kid.
There was no way she could win against a Tier 3.
She had only beaten the Magic Element Armor and Anna using the power of the Silver Dragon Bloodline.
The gap between ranks was way too big!
‘Dammit, I’m still too weak…’
After being freed, Shu Yue instinctively wanted to escape, but a gust of wind lifted her up and carried her backward.
She didn’t float far before a pair of hands wrapped around her waist, and her body naturally leaned against another soft form.
Shu Yue caught a faint fragrance and immediately knew who it was.
She stiffly turned her head to look at her.
Eustia reached out and gently stroked Shu Yue’s tender cheek, whispering in her ear with a very magnetic voice, “Don’t keep running around outside. You’ll run into bad people~”
Her delicate, beautiful face wore a gentle smile, her deep blue eyes fixed on Shu Yue.
Their faces were very close, with Eustia above and Shu Yue below.
Shu Yue blushed a little, but then she thought of Anna and wiped away the budding feelings in her heart.
Bad women always start off being gentle to you, but their goal is to devour you whole.
Would a good woman touch your face right away?
Obviously not!
So Eustia must also be a bad woman.
Shu Yue would never fall for a bad woman’s tricks again!
Shu Yue turned her head away, trying to leave Eustia’s embrace, but found she couldn’t break free no matter what.
Eustia’s hands seemed welded to her waist, even pulling her closer.
Shu Yue ended up leaning sideways in Eustia’s arms.
“Don’t move.”
Eustia’s tone was domineering, leaving no room for argument.
Knowing she couldn’t resist, Shu Yue stopped struggling and obediently nestled in her arms.
Eustia’s gaze shifted to the Black Feather Sect member.
There was no trace of the gentleness she had for Shu Yue in her eyes.
The black-robed old woman now had a grave expression.
In her perception, the person before her was unfathomably powerful!
So she decided to retreat for now and scheme for this supreme-quality saintess candidate later with others.
A saintess candidate of this grade would surely interest the archbishops as well.
“Milady…”
“Die!”