"When will the reinforcements arrive?" Xiao Man asked.
"Soon," Ze Fang replied quickly. The sect had received the message and would be here before long.
"How soon is soon?" Xiao Man's tone was leisurely. "What if the reinforcements never come? Are we just going to hold out here in Yangming Valley? I can last a bit longer, but you can't, Qi Hong can't, and the old city lord definitely can't. We don't have much time."
"Father, Zang Xu is now imprisoned in Yangming Valley. We just need to find a way to get out."
"Get out?" Xiao Man hesitated. If Zang Xu were trapped in Yangming Valley, they could seize the opportunity to escape, but her formation couldn't hold Zang Xu. She could only stall him inside, waiting for reinforcements or finding a way to kill him. Once Zang Xu left Yangming Valley, the people of Bafang Sword Sect would be in danger.
As Xiao Man hesitated, she suddenly felt a chill down her spine. Her keen sense of danger, honed since childhood, made her instinctively withdraw from her spot. Several bloody gashes appeared on her ribs, and blood instantly stained her clothes.
"Zang Xu!"
"Xiao Qin, did you really think you could escape my grasp?" Zang Xu attacked swiftly, having learned from his previous mistakes. He dared not give Xiao Man any chance to retaliate, launching his attack with a killing intent.
Xiao Man dared not be careless either. After all, with his cultivation level, killing her would be as easy as slicing a watermelon. If she weren't in Yangming Valley, with the aid of its poisonous creatures, she would have been killed at the first encounter.
Thunder-Wort vines emerged from the ground, binding Zang Xu and creating an opportunity for Xiao Man to escape. However, Zang Xu's cultivation was too high; the vines could only hold him for a few breaths. Xiao Man had only fled a few dozen feet before Zang Xu broke free from the vines and pursued her.
"Heavens, this is truly the end for me!" Old Qin was frantic. Xiao Man was merely a cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage, facing a Nascent Soul cultivator. It was like a newborn child in the hands of an adult, with no ability to fight back, destined to be slaughtered!
"How can I save her?" Ze Fang's little head spun rapidly, but he was completely devoid of power. Even if he recovered his original form with elixirs, his cultivation wouldn't return, and he would be no match for Zang Xu!
"Unless a Nascent Soul expert descends from the sky, this girl is doomed!"
"If she dies, you won't benefit either."
"You brat, how could I not know? She's the only descendant of my Qin family. If she's gone, it will truly be extinction!" Old Qin was so anxious his beard was almost falling off. But he was merely a spirit of an artifact, yet to cultivate a physical form, and could offer no assistance. Moreover, revealing at this moment that Xiao Man possessed a heaven-defying artifact, which he initially thought was deserving of death, would now make her a target that *must* be eliminated!
Ze Fang pondered for a moment. "Old Qin, possess me and use my body to stop Zang Xu."
Old Qin looked at Ze Fang with undisguised disdain. A mere child with no foundation. If he possessed him, he wouldn't be able to exert even one-tenth of his original power. If he used his body to escape, and Xiao Man fled, and he got killed, given how much that girl cared for this brat, wouldn't she then kill him?
"Possess me, quickly."
"Little brat, what's the use of possessing you? You have no cultivation. Even if I possess you, I'll be useless. At this point, stop causing trouble."
Seeing Xiao Man being sent flying by Zang Xu, Ze Fang's heart clenched. "I was only struck by the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning, causing my cultivation to disappear temporarily. It's not that I have no foundation. If you possess me now, you can at least exert half of your original power. Half power is enough to stop him for a moment."
"You... who exactly are you?"
"Old Qin, is this the time to be questioning my identity? If you don't make a decision soon, Man'er will die at Zang Xu's hands!" Ze Fang blurted out, but in an instant, he felt something was wrong. He had always privately called Xiao Man "Manman," so why had he suddenly called her "Man'er"?
However, at this moment, Ze Fang couldn't dwell on it. He immediately took a pill and used a spirit-summoning talisman to forcibly invite Old Qin to possess him. Before Old Qin could comprehend what was happening, he was already standing before Zang Xu, blocking his killing blow.
Zang Xu had expected that with this palm strike, Xiao Man would surely die. Who knew a stray cat would jump out midway, not only neutralizing his attack but also grabbing Xiao Man and fleeing.
"Do you think you can escape?"
Old Qin wanted to curse. "You brat, you said I could exert half my power, but this is clearly only thirty percent! If Zang Xu hadn't thought Xiao Man was surely dead and hadn't used his full strength, I wouldn't have been able to withstand that palm."
Xiao Man looked at the person before her, her eyes filled with shock. Her beautiful eyes held disbelief and complexity. She slowly reached out and touched the face before her.
The warm touch was so real, yet she felt as if this were a dream. She even wondered if her Chaos Heart Art was about to break through and she was experiencing a heart demon, otherwise, how could she see this face again?
Xiao Man opened her mouth and uttered a name. Ze Fang didn't hear it clearly, but he guessed from her lips that it wasn't him she was calling. Although Ze Fang was perplexed, he dared not hesitate, for Zang Xu was relentlessly pursuing them.
"Head towards the exit," Xiao Man said calmly. "Go this way."
Ze Fang, carrying Xiao Man, quickly moved towards the exit. The formation in Yangming Valley was created by Xiao Man. Although she didn't know how long it could trap Zang Xu, it could trap him for a while. Old Qin's strength had regressed significantly after becoming an artifact spirit. Even possessing his body, he only had the cultivation of peak Golden Core, still lacking the power to contend with Zang Xu.
"You can't escape!" Zang Xu propelled himself forward, continuously closing the distance between them, his eyes filled with killing intent. He didn't know how Ze Fang had appeared, but he had only one thought: he absolutely could not let Xiao Man live. If Xiao Man lived, in time, this person would surely become a major threat to the Five Poisons Sect!
While chasing, Zang Xu had been gathering his true energy. When he determined he was at a distance where he could kill them both, he unleashed his full power in a single strike. Ze Fang felt the overwhelming killing intent behind him but dared not look back or stop. He had lived for many years, but Xiao Man was different. Her life had just begun, like a newly sprouted bamboo shoot that hadn't yet grown. He would not allow Xiao Man to be nipped in the bud.
"Be careful!" Xiao Man, as agile as a slippery loach, instantly broke free from Ze Fang's grasp and stood before him. The overwhelming killing intent made every pore of her body tremble, yet she could not dodge. Her heart held only one thought: she could not let the person behind her be harmed!