Bai Jingjing focused on deciphering the inscriptions on the stone wall, her qi and blood surging, frost flying, completely engrossed.
It wasn't that her talent wasn't high; she quickly made some headway.
However, danger also quietly approached.
The Golden Lion suddenly attacked, opening its mouth and spewing a stream of fire that instantly condensed into a great saber, slashing towards her at high speed.
The flames blazed, the temperature terrifying, the air seemingly burning.
Bai Jingjing hadn't expected the Golden Lion to make a sneak attack, and coupled with her concentration on comprehending the treasure art, she was caught off guard.
But she was a true prodigy, reacting swiftly. She raised her hand, conjuring a flurry of snowflakes that formed several layers of ice shields.
As a Snow Maiden, she possessed an innate affinity for water-elemental energy, allowing her to cast water-based spells faster than ordinary individuals.
*Bang…*
Water and fire collided, energy surging.
Bai Jingjing successfully blocked the Golden Lion's assault, but due to the hasty response, she suffered a disadvantage, her body shaking violently, forcing her to retreat several steps.
"Hey, you Golden Lion, you have no martial ethics! Attacking Miss Bai, how despicable!"
Mian Abe made his move.
But to everyone's surprise, he didn't join forces with the Golden Lion against Bai Jingjing. Instead, he stood in front of Bai Jingjing, adopting a righteous stance of a hero saving the damsel in distress.
The Golden Lion was dumbfounded.
Didn't we agree to team up and kill Bai Jingjing? What are you doing now?
Are you trying to trick me?
You want me to attack, completely offend Bai Jingjing, and then you'll pretend to be a good person and team up with Bai Jingjing to kill me, getting both glory and riches.
Damn it!
Such a deep scheme!
I thought I had figured it out five steps ahead, but I never expected your heart to be so dirty, playing me like a fiddle.
At this moment, the Golden Lion's heart churned a thousand times, deeply feeling the complexity of human hearts.
Bai Jingjing saw a tall figure blocking her path and was quite moved.
The Golden Lion didn't want to be set up and was about to expose Mian Abe's plot.
But Mian Abe's next action shocked it.
A backhand strike!
Mian Abe, who had somehow acquired a sharp black bone spur, attacked from behind, directly piercing Bai Jingjing's heart.
Everything before was a pretense, designed to make Bai Jingjing completely lower her guard, thus achieving a swift kill.
The main reason was that Bai Jingjing had reacted very quickly when facing the Golden Lion's sneak attack. If he had also attacked, he would have at most severely injured Bai Jingjing, not necessarily killed her.
If Bai Jingjing escaped, the consequences would be endless.
Therefore, Mian Abe changed his strategy, outwardly appearing to be a hero saving the beauty, but inwardly aiming for a close-range fatal blow.
The moment he succeeded, Mian Abe retreated swiftly, preventing Bai Jingjing from retaliating in her final moments.
Stabbed in the heart by his special bone spur, Bai Jingjing was certain to die.
Mian Abe's fluctuating maneuvers made the Golden Lion exclaim how insidious it was, realizing that when it came to scheming, humans were the true experts.
"As expected, society is simple, it's people who are complex."
The Golden Lion sighed, and then its heart tensed, staring intently at Mian Abe, questioning, "Mian Abe, your true identity, could it be that terrifying and infamous 'Lā Yāo Rén' Sai Gao?"
Bai Jingjing's face turned ashen, coughing up large mouthfuls of blood. The bone spur in her chest pulsed with an alluring glow, frantically draining her life force.
The Golden Lion had heard that 'Lā Yāo Rén' Sai Gao also used a peculiar bone spur, hence its suspicion towards Mian Abe.
"Heart-gouging, waist-slashing, poison, Sai Gao; heart-digging, waist-cutting, skilled hands," Mian Abe's practiced backhand stab further deepened the Golden Lion's suspicion.
"Well done, righteous young master, a hypocrite who feigns benevolence. I won't rest in peace even as a ghost. Golden Lion, you actually collaborated with such a scoundrel, you'll surely meet a bad end."
Bai Jingjing gritted her teeth, wishing she could tear Mian Abe and the Golden Lion into a thousand pieces, but the flame of her life was rapidly dimming, and she feared she wouldn't last much longer.
"You're overthinking it. When Sai Gao digs out people's waists, I'm always in public. You can find anyone to prove it."
Mian Abe ignored Bai Jingjing, the dying woman, and calmly explained to the Golden Lion.
In reality, he and Sai Gao were a powerful duo, one operating in the open and the other in the shadows. No one would suspect they were related, and it allowed them to effectively cover each other without being exposed.
He made many friends to find suitable victims, and then Sai Gao would carry out the fatal blow.
Of course, sometimes he would also take action. Unlike Sai Gao, who preferred to "lā yāo" (dig out waists), he had a penchant for "tāo xīn" (gouging out hearts) and "tāo fèi" (gouging out lungs).
Seeing Mian Abe's candid expression, the Golden Lion could only temporarily dismiss its suspicions.
After all, its own strength was evident. In a one-on-one fight, it was confident it could defeat Mian Abe. For now, it would cooperate with him and find an opportunity to eliminate him later.
Taking advantage of the moment of mutual suspicion, Bai Jingjing's figure transformed into an afterimage, and she disappeared from the spot, dragging her severely wounded body.
Mian Abe and the Golden Lion did not pursue. After all, Bai Jingjing wouldn't live much longer. If they pushed her too hard, she might self-destruct, which would be more trouble than it was worth.
Moreover, if they left here, the treasure art recorded on the wall might be taken by Bai Jingjing alone.
Neither Mian Abe nor the Golden Lion trusted the other. They exchanged glances, deliberately distanced themselves from each other, and pretended to continue studying the treasure art on the wall.
The Golden Lion harbored sinister intentions, thinking about how to get rid of Mian Abe and claim everything here for itself.
Mian Abe, on the other hand, was secretly summoning reinforcements.
He alone was not confident in defeating the Golden Lion, but if he teamed up with Sai Gao, they could easily take down this foolish lion.
Mian Abe secretly sent a message to Sai Gao but received no response.
This was because, at this moment, Sai Gao was engaged in a major undertaking, making a move against Ji Mo.
In a small cave.
Dozens of people were crammed together, staring at the scene before them in shock.
On the ground, dense piles of blue crystal skeletons were stacked, numbering in the hundreds.
Not a single one of these skeletal frames was intact, clearly having endured fierce battles in life, their bodies violently shattered, leading to this outcome.
Ji Mo stood amidst the crowd, lost in thought.
There were no other creature remains at the scene. Did this mean the blue-blooded people had engaged in civil war, fighting amongst themselves and slaughtering each other?
Or perhaps they had encountered an incredibly terrifying enemy, and the battle was one-sided, with the blue-blooded people suffering a crushing defeat.
Just then, Ji Mo's body trembled, stiffening.
He clearly felt something hard and firm pressing against him.
There were only men around him, and this situation occurring behind him was chillingly terrifying!
At this moment, even Ji Hanhan, who could remain composed when Mount Tai collapsed before him, panicked, extremely panicked.
He felt he had encountered a gay man, and he was being… violated.
Suddenly.
The other party thrust several more times, each more intense than the last.
What made Ji Mo's scalp tingle even more was hearing the other party emit an indecent sound.
"Ah, why won't it go in no matter how I stab?"
Sai Gao felt as if he had seen a ghost.
Taking advantage of the crowd's cover, he had stealthily approached Ji Mo from behind, pulling out a large bone spur, intending to "lā" Ji Mo's waist.
This was a rare opportunity. Moreover, if he could cut out Ji Mo's waist and then kill everyone here, he could monopolize the hundreds of crystal skeletons, making a huge profit.
However, his sharp bone spur, which had always been indestructible and only needed one stab to "lā yāo," surprisingly failed to penetrate Ji Mo's body. It didn't even manage to cut half a strand of Ji Mo's hair.
Ji Mo turned around, his face as dark as water, his terrifying gaze capable of making dragons cower.
"Dare to stab me? You little punk, are you tired of living?"