Tian Yao's eyes observed the two people at the end of her vision. Her sleeves were stained red from wiping the blood at the corners of her mouth. The bald man was at the Core Formation Second Layer and the skinny one at the Third. Their aura was unsteady, so they must have just broken through. Both were dressed in complete black, making it hard to figure out their affiliations.
The bald, muscular man said in a loud voice, "I will take care of her. You go after the other one."
Just as the skinny one nodded, Tian Yao was in front of him, her fist extending a punch covered in lightning towards him. He brought his hands forward to block, yet was still thrown back by the force and crashed into a stone house, breaking the uneven wall.
The bald one stood frozen in place for a moment before dashing towards the girl. Tian Yao tilted her head and dodged the incoming attack. She caught the man's extended hand and threw him, using his own momentum against him.
The bald and the skinny cultivator stood side by side, facing Tian Yao. She was just taken by surprise during the first ambush, not expecting the enemies to directly go for her major acupoints. She rotated her Qi along her meridians and expelled the invading Qi through the blood. The people she sparred regularly with never did something like that.
The two men rushed forward from two different sides. Tian Yao tracked their movement with her eyes, alternating between them dozens of times per blink. Her hands were covered in her purple lightning Qi. She deflected the kick coming from the left and met the punch from the right with her own.
The two men had completely forgotten about Xiaomeng by now. The girl in front was someone who needed both of them to fight together. The fight continued as the two cultivators used poison Qi to infiltrate Tian Yao's body. And she in turn expelled it with just a few rotations of her Qi. Although the pressure on Tian Yao mounted as the fight continued, the corners of her lips were slowly rising.
But it didn't mean Xiaomeng was free from any problems. While Tian Yao was holding back the two Core Formation cultivators, Xiaomeng had reached the two horses.
She sensed several presences nearing her from behind. Holding the reins of her horse, she took out the protective talisman given by Senior Sister Lan when she came to the First Peak to visit her last month.
Xiaomeng's Qi entered the yellow talisman, and it started to burn. She turned back and held the rapidly burning talisman up. There was a bright light, and a Ninth Layer Core Formation Cultivator's full-powered attack shot out, dismembering the four cloaked figures running toward her. Since they didn't even react before dying, they must still be at Foundation Establishment.
Xiaomeng had killed someone for the first time in both her lives combined. Her stomach started to feel queasy and she once again felt like vomiting. Suppressing her urges, she tried to get on the horse, but her instincts warned her and she jumped back. The horses were burned to a crisp in front of her. Two more masked men had appeared a little distance away from the horse. They must have already been standing guard to prevent the escape of any witness.
Xiaomeng glared at them with red eyes. Even if she had only known the horse for a day, it was still her horse. She launched herself towards the two men.
The two men in black also attacked the approaching girl. Xiaomeng easily dodged their fists, sliding between them, and as she got behind them, she turned and launched the same attack she had used against Tian Yao. Her extended hand formed two small phantoms of tigers, each launching at the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, not giving them any chance before devouring them and scattering their broken bodies all around.
Xiaomeng controlled her breaths as the weight of what she had done settled on her mind. Looking at the gruesome state of the bodies scattered in four directions, split into four distinct parts, she lost control and, kneeling down, started to vomit. This time, only yellow bile colored the ground below her face and nobody came to console her.
On the other hand, inside the village, the battle between Tian Yao and the Core Formation cultivators had brought half the village to ruin. Purple lightning crackled around Tian Yao's body, mixing with her every movement. Green smoke curled around the two Core Formation cultivators, eroding anything it came into contact with. But as the green smoke clashed with the purple arcs of lightning, it turned to white mist and completely disappeared.
Tian Yao punched, kicked, and deflected the attacks thrown at her. Her body was getting battered in the process, yet a soft smile clung to the corners of her lips. And as time passed, the smile grew more and more visible. She separated from her two enemies and, in a moment of trance, moved her hands similarly to Xiaomeng. Two small tigers made of purple lightning shot out from her extended palms, closing in on the two masked men.
Since the lightning element suppressed their poison, they tacitly dodged the attack as the two small tigers whizzed past them at an insane speed. Just as they turned to face Tian Yao, they felt a keen sense of danger coming from behind. Even as they jumped to the side, the muscular one was not able to escape the attack as the lightning tiger slammed into his right hand, completely charring it black.
The two tigers did not dissipate after the attack and stood beside Tian Yao, whose pupils had turned completely purple. "More," she lightly muttered, and the tigers shot forward once again. This time, the two cloaked men were ready and easily dodged the two beasts, who continued to give chase. The fight had turned into a game which Tian Yao studied as a judge.
A flick of her fingers changed the directions of the tigers, which were getting smaller with every step they traversed. When their size grew very small, she would simply bring them close and inject more Qi into them restoring them back.
Gradually, the tigers were able to predict the actions of the two cultivators, who had both been charred in various places all over. A large dark cloud appeared in the sky and covered the sun, shielding Tian Yao from the last rays of the sun. Tian Yao's eyes fluttered and her teeth clenched as if she were struggling with something. Finally, after a few moments, her eyes came back to normal.
"It's not so easy to use enlightenment," Tian Yao muttered while looking up, the cloud had already disappeared after accomplishing its work. She recalled the two tigers, who approached her and merged with her Qi. She pulled out the sword that had been sheathed until now, its blade glowing red under the setting sun. Deliberately, she approached the two cultivators who were already half dead at this point.
"Let us live and we will tell you the secret to rapidly increase your cultivation," the skinny one said in his hoarse voice while kneeling. Tian Yao expressionlessly swung her sword, and the kneeling body fell back, its head separated. She had seen the state of the bodies of the villagers arranged in an array, terror visible on their dried corpses. She didn't need anything so wicked to increase her strength; she could get what she wanted on her own.
Tian Yao then turned to the muscular man, whose right hand and left leg were missing. He laughed like a maniac as if he had gone mad. "Since you are going to kill me anyway, I will drag you with me." As he finished his words, his body swelled rapidly. Tian Yao quickly retreated, and even as the cultivator's body exploded, nothing came close to her.
As the green smoke cleared from the self-detonation of the cultivator, a green-colored slimy substance was floating in the air. Finding its target, it launched towards Tian Yao, who easily dodged it. The substance then separated into two equal parts and continued its attack. Tian Yao once again dodged one and deflected another with her sword. It once again split up.
This continued until Tian Yao was surrounded by nearly hundreds of tiny needles from all sides. At last, one needle pierced her toe as it was about to land on the ground. All the others followed it and entered Tian Yao from there. A foreign energy invaded the silver-haired girl's body, trying to destroy it from the inside. The purple electric Qi circulated inside her body, keeping the poison in check.
Tian Yao coughed, a small green stain covering her raised sleeve. Ignoring her aching body, she continued inside the village. Most, if not all, of the houses had been destroyed in the fight just now, completely ruining the village. She arrived at the spot where she had been ambushed by the duo. In front of her, the corpses of the villagers were strung on a thread, forming an array. From the way the skin stuck to the bones, it was most likely a blood-draining array.
Tian Yao touched one string, and a small spark of electricity was released from her fingertips. The purple spark traversed the thread. As it touched a body, the body would catch fire. Pretty soon, everything was burning. In no time, not even bones were left behind; everything scattered into the cold air starting to blow.
Xiaomeng saw the village catch fire and Tian Yao walk out from it. Although she seemed fine, her gait was unusual. It was clearer to Xiaomeng, whose primary task was to look after this girl. As Tian Yao saw the two dead horses, she released purple lightning, erasing them completely. In this world, it was better for the bodies to disappear than be buried.
Tian Yao tried to walk past Xiaomeng rather normally, but suddenly her legs tangled and she found her hand clasped by the young girl. A soft and soothing Qi entered her body while she was confused, and it was devoured by the green energy in her body. Xiaomeng hurriedly pulled her hand back.
"What is that?" Xiaomeng's face was horrified by what she had witnessed. Tian Yao just stared back in return. Rubbing her head, Xiaomeng said, "Quickly sit down; I will try to remove some of it. It already seems very harmful to your body."
"It's okay," Tian Yao said. She just had to constantly keep it in check. The only problem was her Qi, which was being rapidly depleted. She just needed to replenish it quickly.
"It's not okay," Xiaomeng shouted at her. Working with poisons was also a significant part of alchemy, and this poison was one of the strongest she had seen in all her lives. It was devouring and corroding everything that came in contact with it, damaging Tian Yao's body in the process.
Tian Yao, who was busy fighting the poison, was pulled down on the spot and sat down cross-legged without much fight. Xiaomeng sat behind her and extended her hand onto Tian Yao's back. Tian Yao felt a cold sensation traveling through the cloth. A warm sensation spread from that connected place, slowly invading her body. She concentrated to prevent the poison from reacting to it.
As Xiaomeng's Qi came into contact with the green poison, it was devoured, and the poison traveled towards the source. The poison gradually traversed Tian Yao's body and, from her back, entered Xiaomeng's palm.
"Arghhh!" Xiaomeng's cry of pain rang in the dark. Tian Yao tried to move but was stopped. "Don't move," Xiaomeng said with gritted teeth, blood coming from the corner of her lips.
It was painful. Xiaomeng's hand felt like it was dipped in molten lava and slowly dissolving, letting her experience all that in real time. She circulated her cultivation technique as abundant medicinal energy that had been stored throughout her body for the past few months due to all the pills she had eaten like candy, surged forward and healed her hand while fighting the poison. This continued until the poison was completely extracted from Tian Yao's body.
As the last green strand entered her body, Xiaomeng completely locked her acupoints and meridians. The poison was slowly being converted into cultivation resources for her as her own original cultivation method continued circulating and dissolving the green energy. The poison fought back and tried to destroy Xiaomeng's body from the inside, but all the damage it did was being quickly healed.
Xiaomeng took her hands back and tried to stand up, but her eyes rolled back as she collapsed, her body caught by Tian Yao before hitting the ground.
Tian Yao felt Xiaomeng's heartbeat and realized that it was slowing down. Not knowing what to do, her hands reached below her waist, feeling a familiar sensation. She took out the talisman given by the First Elder. Since the enemies were all dead, she just pointed it at the village and inserted a little of her Qi into it. The talisman started to burn and there was a burst of bright light, forcing Tian Yao to unconsciously close her eyes.
All that remained of the village after that was a huge crater; nobody would ever know that people once lived at this place. Tian Yao waited for some time and, from the direction of the sect, felt a very strong aura approaching. The next moment, the First Elder was standing in front of her, his face pale and forehead beaded with sweat.