“Can you bear to?”
The oily words that made one’s skin crawl came from a young man with a clean and gentle face, his eyes brimming with affection. Despite being able to captivate people with his looks, he preferred to speak flirtatiously.
He wore a dark green satin robe with embossed patterns, its collar trimmed with a white border, and a slender jade belt cinching his waist. His build, however, was broad-shouldered and tall, like a tree in full bloom of crabapple blossoms.
Opposite him was a girl whose skin was slightly darker, but whose features were exceptionally bright. She was dressed in a cool, fitted black dress with cinched sleeves, exuding a heroic and spirited aura.
“Are you asking for death!”
After spitting out these words through gritted teeth, as if she could no longer endure it, she was about to resort to force and tear apart the oily man.
The girl clasped her arms together, her delicate eyebrows furrowed. Her fingers quickly formed seals, and after a flash of cold purple light, her hands met to grasp a formidable saber. The saber’s hilt was a foot and a half long, accommodating two hands. The blade was long, exceptionally wide and heavy, with a straight edge at the top. She squatted, adopting a saber stance, the mirror-like blade chillingly reflecting her fierce and bright little face.
Seeing that she was serious, Lu Ziyin seemed amused. He smiled faintly, “Why must a beauty be so angered? If you accidentally hurt yourself, it would be I who feels the pain.”
Though his words sounded sincere and thoughtful, a closer observation revealed a surface of flippancy masking indifference and contempt.
Damn it!
What a despicable man!
She could no longer tolerate it!
She covered the saber with her spiritual energy, and the blade’s edge instantly ignited with a fiery, orange hue. The firelight mirrored the girl’s bright eyes, making her look impossibly beautiful.
Lu Ziyin gazed at her with appreciative and admiring eyes, as if appraising a fine treasure worthy of collection. Even as the blade swung towards him, the scorching heat that washed over him, almost stinging, did not diminish his smile. He chuckled like a pervert.
“Beauty, if you would tell me your name truthfully, I will let you have five moves, how about that?”
Pah!
Who would want him to let her have her way!
The girl let out a light, mocking laugh, “Aren’t you afraid of the wind blowing your tongue away?”
“Overlord’s Severing Blade—”
She leaped up and slashed her saber through the air, splitting the dark night like the rising sun. The dazzling blade illuminated Lu Ziyin’s face. He raised an eyebrow, his robes fluttering in the wake of her saber’s wind, and dodged with his side profile.
The blade, imbued with violent spiritual energy, did not hit its target but instead cleaved the arena floor in half. The deep fissure bore black scorch marks from the fiery energy.
“Still dodging?” the girl gritted her teeth, waved her hand behind her back, and a blinding saber light shot out, rolling a stream of flame directly at Lu Ziyin.
However, he weaved and dodged continuously within the saber’s light, not allowing the girl to touch him even slightly.
Lu Ziyin’s movement technique was truly marvelous. This was “Cloud Water Floating,” his unique movement technique. Even with the girl’s fierce and overbearing saber style, it was rendered useless if it couldn’t connect.
The girl realized this. She was determined to cut this despicable man today. Suppressing her temper, she said with humiliation and indignation, “Mu Nanxue.”
Lu Ziyin stood ten steps away from her, neither too close nor too far.
Upon hearing her three words uttered through gritted teeth, he paused, realizing she had given her name.
This girl, though appearing hot-tempered and easily provoked, was not foolish.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, the girl swiftly kicked off, her saber flashing and the fierce wind rustling. She swung her saber horizontally towards his waist.
How could Lu Ziyin be tricked by such a young girl? He closed his fan, held it flat against his chest, and looked at her with ambiguous eyes, “One move.”
“Hmph.”
One was like an angered leopard fiercely attacking, while the other was like a winged eagle striking. They feinted and retreated, slowly playing with their opponent.
“Two moves.”
“Three moves.”
“Four moves.”
“Five moves.”
After the fifth move, he suddenly surged with spiritual energy, pouring it into his fan. With a downward press, he forced the saber’s spine into the ground, preventing her from drawing it out for a moment.
Twisting his body, he moved to Mu Nanxue’s side, hooked his fingers and lifted a strand of her hair to sniff at his nose. Disregarding her flushed face from anger, Lu Ziyin, like a dissolute rake, said tenderly, “Nanxue, you see, even if I don’t attack and let you hit me, you still can’t touch me. Why resist further? Why not admit defeat and come back with me? I will treat you well from now on.”
Ah—
Mu Nanxue saw him dare to touch her. She released her grip on the saber handle, her back tensing like a taut string, her eyes flashing with violent, dark purple light.
Kill him—
A voice in her mind screamed sharply.
Just as she lost her mind and was about to deactivate the concealing effect of the “Shadow Cloak Pearl” to unleash her true strength and kill this scoundrel, a needle-like pain suddenly struck the back of her head. Then… her head tilted, and she became motionless.
Lu Ziyin had retreated and created distance when Mu Nanxue’s aura felt wrong.
Although he enjoyed “teasing cats and dogs,” he lacked neither composure nor cunning. His sharp tongue was merely one of his few “hobbies.”
Narrowing his eyes, Lu Ziyin saw that Mu Nanxue, who had been on the verge of exploding moments ago, now hung her head. Her bangs obscured half her face. The peculiar aura that he found dangerous and repulsive had also vanished in an instant.
“Nanxue…”
She remained still. Lu Ziyin called out tentatively.
At this moment, “Mu Nanxue” finally raised her head.
She stared at Lu Ziyin expressionlessly for a while, then opened her mouth. Her voice was uncomfortably hoarse and soft, “You said you’d let me hit you, and I still couldn’t touch you?”
Lu Ziyin looked at her strangely, unable to understand her current state. It was different from her previous furious outburst; her expression was now eerily calm, her voice devoid of any inflection.
It was as if… she had completely transformed into someone else in a mere instant.
Lu Ziyin’s serious expression lasted only a few seconds before he propped the tip of his fan against his lips, smiling charmingly, “Nanxue, what game are you playing? Do you truly refuse to concede? It’s rare for me to encounter such a fiery little beauty on the stage. I truly do not wish to harm you.”
“Mu Nanxue” twisted her neck and flexed her joints. She spoke slowly, “You cannot harm me, because…” A gust of wind blew towards Lu Ziyin’s face, making his eyelashes flutter. A black figure had already appeared before him.
Lu Ziyin’s pupils constricted.
His mind only had time to register one word—So fast!
At the same time, a calm voice whispered by his ear, “Only you will be injured.”
With a knee strike like a thunderclap, the crisis that made his scalp explode caused Lu Ziyin to recline backwards in a flurry, narrowly missing his abdomen, but leaving a trail of air that tore his clothes.
He widened his eyes and looked down at his torn clothing at the hem.