"Senior Sister Zhou, this way, hurry..."
At this moment, Wan Yunting, enduring the pain of his severely wounded chest, held his sword in his right hand and grabbed Zhou Ruoxi's right wrist with his left, dragging her headlong into the pitch-black snowy forest. He didn't care about the direction anymore; escaping with his life was all that mattered.
"Kid, got guts, don't run, stop right there..."
The second and third pursuers, Ma Sai and Liu Hongwei, who were hot on their heels, shouted as they chased Wan Yunting and Zhou Ruoxi. The distance between them was only about ten meters, and Ma Sai and Liu Hongwei had only sustained minor injuries, so they had plenty of strength to pursue.
But Wan Yunting was different. The kick he received from Ma Sai earlier had severely wounded him. He could only suppress the pain and, hearing Ma Sai and Liu Hongwei getting closer behind him, he let go of Zhou Ruoxi's wrist. He drew two more silver needles from the hem of his daoist robe lining and gritted his teeth, flicking them forcefully towards the two behind him.
"Careful, that kid's shooting needles again!"
Ma Sai alerted him, quickly raising his hooked blade and blocking a silver needle shot at him with a clang. Liu Hongwei also raised his saber to block. These silver needle hidden weapons could not harm either of them at all, but Wan Yunting's objective was merely to disrupt them.
"Junior Brother Wan..."
Seeing Wan Yunting's pale face, furrowed brows, and pained expression, Zhou Ruoxi also became tense and worried. But Wan Yunting gritted his teeth and continued to drag her by the wrist, running blindly into the dark snowy forest.
"Damn it, I must catch this kid and skin him alive..."
Liu Hongwei behind them, his face contorted with rage, continued to chase Wan Yunting and Zhou Ruoxi with Ma Sai. The two were running wildly in the dark forest, one after the other.
After running blindly for about ten minutes, the visibility suddenly opened up. In the hazy, dim light of dawn, there were no trees ahead, and a huge valley seemed to have appeared.
"Stop, quickly..."
Wan Yunting's expression changed drastically. He quickly grabbed Zhou Ruoxi's wrist, and the two of them stopped immediately. They discovered that under their feet was a pitch-black, bottomless abyss. A few stones were dropped, and it took a long time before any sound of hitting the bottom was heard.
"Cough cough..."
Wan Yunting coughed violently twice. Looking at the path ahead, an unfathomable, dark abyss that plunged thousands of feet, he felt a sense of desolation and despair. He turned to Zhou Ruoxi and gave a bitter smile, "It's over, even heaven is not on our side this time."
"Running, why did you stop?"
Liu Hongwei and Ma Sai, who had caught up, also noticed the vast valley ahead. Because of the hazy, dim night all around, and despite the light snow falling, they could still vaguely see that it was a valley cliff ahead.
"Heh heh..."
Liu Hongwei sneered a few times, pointing his saber at Wan Yunting and Zhou Ruoxi standing at the cliff edge, and said coldly, "Kid, tonight is your death day."
Wan Yunting's pale face was filled with helplessness and sorrow. It seemed he was truly going to die here this time. Unable to bear it, he turned to look at Zhou Ruoxi beside him and sighed, "Senior Sister Zhou, I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have let you come with me."
Facing the brink of death, Zhou Ruoxi was also desperate. Hearing Wan Yunting say this, she gazed at the man with her autumn eyes, her red lips revealing a smile, and said, "Junior Brother Wan, don't say that. This was my choice."
"Alas."
Wan Yunting sighed, feeling immense regret for implicating Zhou Ruoxi.
"Kid..."
Ma Sai's long horse-like face stretched, and he looked coldly at Wan Yunting, saying, "Either you jump down this valley cliff yourselves, or I'll snap your necks and throw you down."
"Second Brother, keep the girl. I want her to be buried with the tenth." Liu Hongwei's eyes fixed on Zhou Ruoxi, and he sneered.
Zhou Ruoxi's pretty face turned grim, and her beautiful eyes coldly glared at Liu Hongwei. She gritted her teeth and shouted, "Not a chance."
"Stop the nonsense, attack."
Ma Sai raised his hooked blades with both hands. As his eyes widened, he immediately lunged at Wan Yunting. Liu Hongwei also shouted and charged at Zhou Ruoxi with his saber, "Girl, surrender obediently, and perhaps I'll be in a good mood and let you go, making you my woman..."
Seeing the two of them attack, Wan Yunting, enduring the pain in his chest, raised his sword with his right hand to meet the second brother, Ma Sai. The two immediately engaged in a fierce battle at the valley cliff.
Zhou Ruoxi's beautiful eyes widened in anger, and she wielded her long sword to confront Liu Hongwei, who was spewing vulgarities. She unleashed all her skills. The two sides once again became entangled, the sounds of clanging and clashing echoing through the quiet valley, startling many birds and small beasts.
Bang!
Pfft...
Along with Wan Yunting being heavily kicked in the chest by Ma Sai again, Wan Yunting flew backward and crashed heavily in front of the valley cliff. Clutching his chest, he spat out another mouthful of blood.
"Junior Brother Wan..."
Zhou Ruoxi cried out in alarm upon seeing this. Momentarily distracted, she was also fiercely struck on her right arm by Liu Hongwei's saber, causing her long sword to fall with a clatter. Liu Hongwei, unwilling to kill her, kicked Zhou Ruoxi away fiercely. His saber then pointed at her, and Liu Hongwei sneered, "Girl, you can't escape this time."
Ma Sai, holding his hooked blades with both hands, walked towards Wan Yunting lying at the valley cliff, his face grim as he said coldly, "Kid, I truly wish I could skin you alive, break every bone in your body, and feed your flesh to the dogs."
"Cough cough..."
Wan Yunting sat on the ground, holding his pained chest with one hand. His face was pale, and he looked up at Ma Sai. With blood in his mouth, he smiled and said, "I'm not at a loss tonight. I killed one of you. Right, those two people in the disaster area cave before, were they also your people? Although I didn't kill them personally, one was crushed into a pulp by a large rock, and the other also kicked the bucket. Heh heh, even if I die tonight, I'm not at a loss..."
"Ah, Second Brother, kill him."
Seeing that Wan Yunting dared to provoke him even when facing death, Liu Hongwei roared in anger.
Ma Sai's face was also full of rage as he walked towards Wan Yunting, shouting, "Kid, I'll send you on your way now..."
Seeing Ma Sai approaching, Wan Yunting's eyes suddenly widened. Knowing that he was powerless and could not escape this calamity, he immediately turned around, climbed up with all his might, and leaped directly into the pitch-black valley cliff below.
"No..."
Zhou Ruoxi, who was beside him, cried out in grief upon seeing this.
Ma Sai's expression froze, and he walked to the cliff edge. He watched Wan Yunting leap down the pitch-black, bottomless mountain cliff, and he couldn't even hear the sound of him hitting the ground.
"Second Brother, look carefully, did that kid fall completely?" Liu Hongwei asked from the side.
"It's too dark to see clearly."
Standing at the cliff edge, Ma Sai stared into the dark, unseen valley below. He only heard the rustling of leaves, guessing that it was the sound of Wan Yunting passing through the leaves on the cliff below.
Zhou Ruoxi, her face filled with grief, couldn't hold back her tears from sliding down her fair cheeks. She hadn't expected Wan Yunting to leap off the cliff. If that was the case, she would follow him.
"Ah..."
Zhou Ruoxi grabbed the long sword on the ground, suddenly stood up, and swept it horizontally towards Liu Hongwei, startling him into retreating. Liu Hongwei thought the girl would resist, but instead, she turned around and leaped off the cliff herself. Liu Hongwei was greatly alarmed and hurried forward, trying to grab Zhou Ruoxi and pull her back. Unfortunately, his large hand only managed to grab the corner of her cloak, and he was instantly pulled out as well.
Zhou Ruoxi's white figure instantly disappeared into the darkness below the cliff. Liu Hongwei ran to the cliff edge, unable to help but lament, "What a shame, I wanted this girl to be buried with the tenth, so he wouldn't be so lonely on the road to the underworld..."
Ma Sai beside him didn't feel as regretful as Liu Hongwei. He looked at the bottomless, pitch-black valley below and said, "We'll wait here until dawn. Tomorrow we'll search for a place to go down."
Liu Hongwei's expression froze, and he turned to Ma Sai, saying, "Second Brother, you don't seriously think that kid could survive after jumping down, do you?"
Ma Sai turned to him and said, "Dead or alive, I need to see him. If I don't see that kid's body, I won't be at peace!"
"Alright, you wait here first. I'll go back to get the tent and clean up the tenth's body."
Seeing this, Liu Hongwei turned and walked back, while Ma Sai saw a large tree nearby and went to lean against it.
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that Wan Yunting hadn't died after jumping off the cliff.