Of course, such excitement wasn’t in part due to the commotion between two factions of cultivators contesting over an enchanted artefact or martial arts technique.
Rather, the young girl was keenly interested and relived that the words spoken were in a language she could understand.
No wonder people hated learning a new language and avoided it whenever they could, the process could be this mind-breakingly arduous…
She could only understand the initial shout that had originated from one of the black-robed men, and the words of the crowd spoken in the language of Bei Tang had shot wide over her head. Nonetheless, An Fei seemed to have recovered her spirit by a significant portion, and her irises glimmered as though she had found a compatriot after a lonesome journey lasting a century.
Although, it seemed that her sentiments were unlikely to be shared, not at all…
“Hand over the Shadow Blighting Pearl?”
The shrine maiden in the scarlet and white robes scoffed in distaste and anger. Resting her hands on a set of knives sheathed at her waist, the shrine maiden Xu Lingxin narrowed a pair of piercing eyes towards those displaying aggressive intent.
“Your Haunted Buddhist Sect does not deserve the treasure that is the Shadow Blighting Pearl! A treasure meant to cleanse any malignant desires from the soul, and you members of the Haunted Buddhist Sect used it to forcefully absorb hundreds of mortal souls all over the empire!”
The shrine maiden’s robes billowed as a plume of scarlet light erupted from her body, scattering rays of indomitable will throughout the streets.
As the dignified and sacred aura of an acclaimed temple descended onto Xu Lingxin’s shoulders, several members within the crowd as well as those dressed in the black robes of the Haunted Buddhist Sect groaned in agony.
Although their figures and silhouettes didn’t change much, a faint odor of burning protein was evident regardless of their attempts to suppress its proliferation. Eventually, thin wisps of steam began to flow from underneath their clothes, and diffused alongside of pained choruses and curses.
The longer they struggled, the greater intensity the odor and wisps of steam exhibited, until even the mortal civilians could detect the stench and move far away with wrinkled noses.
“Good! Good, good, the Morning Star Temple’s <Purification> is splendid as per its reputation!” the black-robed man standing the center hissed with a countenance greatly warped in pain.
“Xu Lingxin, your abilities as a shrine maiden are indeed incredible! However, just as we Yin-attributed physiques are immensely vulnerable to your temple’s <Purification>, the Yang-oriented physiques of you shrine maidens cannot hold against our <Depravity>!”
Upon a guided signal, the several members clothed in ink-black robes groaned in unison, and pricked their forefingers with an unusually shaped dart. As they smeared the droplet of scarlet blood across their concealed foreheads, a shadowy mist gently gathered below their feet and coiling around their legs.
“Run! The esteemed cultivators are both of the Spirit Building Realm!”
“Contact the mayor! Before the city falls, contact the mayor!”
The moment both parties had manifested their associations’ signature martial arts techniques, the civilians of the city immediately panicked with expressions of ghastly terror.
With screams wrenching themselves out of their throats, the dozens of mortal spectators ceased enjoying their show and funneled out of the vicinity faster than they had gathered, and oblique shouts in Bei Tang’s language vibrated throughout the Grace Street.
Soon, An Fei who had once hidden herself in the crowd to enjoy an interesting spectacle from a vantage point of safety, was the lonesome, awkward spectator left in the entire area.
Save for the seven men of the Haunted Buddhist Sect and Xu Lingxin of the Morning Star Temple, the young girl’s short and delicate mortal stature instantly drew attention from every side.
A mortal standing in the middle of a serious fight between several cultivators of the Spirit Building Realm – was she both blind and deaf or someone mentally challenged?
For the civilians and cultivators of Bei Tang who had little knowledge of the young mortal girl by the name of An Fei who had coincidentally stomped over Great Yong’s prideful Hundred Clan Coalition’s elite cultivators with a practice sword, her current circumstance of stupidly standing within the vicinity of a cultivators’ battle couldn’t help but baffle their souls.
Both Xu Lingxin and the black-robed cultivators of the Haunted Buddhist Sect displayed awkward expressions as they stared towards the equally awkward, ordinary countenance of the young girl.
“The Little Girl over there, stand back! Do not approach unless you want to be killed!”
The leading figure of the Haunted Buddhist Sect’s cultivators reprimanded with a stern expression, and the fingers resting atop his sword’s pommel began to twitch with impatience.
As annoyance and irritation began to sting at his morals as per their usual routine for the day, he stomped onto the ground and expelled a faint cloud of shadowy mist to swell behind his back.
The collection of shadows bloomed as they formed a large, indistinct silhouette resembling that of a fierce creature, with malevolence dripping from every centimeter of its body.
And yet… there was no reaction from the young girl. No scream of fear, no running into the street whilst crying for her parents… just a look of confusion.
“Did you not understand what I said!?”
As if he could hear the creaking noises whispering against the base of his ear, the cultivator was forced to watch as the young girl tilted her head to the right at an excruciatingly slow pace, and her confused expression continued to stab at his heart.
“Can… repeat… said?”
Oh, this lass is dead!
So dead!
Mere irritation and annoyance evolved into pure malice, and the cultivator of the Haunted Buddhist Sect barely controlled himself from lashing out at the slow translation speed of An Fei. Yanking the sword from its sheath in a choppy motion, a fiendish scream echoed through the street.
“Charge!”
Six roars of assent pierced the afternoon skies of Bei Tang, and seven illusory shadows raced towards the solitary shrine maiden. As three attacked from the front, four others split apart to strike at Xu Lingxin’s flanks and undefended back.
“Seven cultivators pitting themselves against one – have you no shame!?”
Xu Lingxin allowed a clarion cry to escape her lips as she crouched low, twirling her body into a fast spin as her hands quickly latched onto the hilts of the pair of knives sheathed at her waist.
The screeching of metal striking against metal reverberated with trace fluctuations of spiritual essence, causing the world before An Fei to reveal the hairline cracks once more.
A single exchange of eight cultivators reverberated throughout the Grace Street, and the faint plumes of thin dust began to settle after having withstood a round of torment. As the civilians of Bei Tang rapidly blinked their eyes to clear away the residue effects of suffering under the influence of foreign spiritual essence, they discovered that not only was the Morning Star Temple’s shrine maiden was alright, several members of the Haunted Buddhist Sect were visibly injured.
Streaks of blood marred the cobbled stones with a vicious touch, and many balked at the discernable aura seeping through the stone’s foundations.
“So what if you can injure one or two of us – can you handle all seven!? Strike!”
The leading cultivator shouted with emotion as he led the charge for a second exchange of attacks. This time, however, the seven cultivators did not adopt a formation that struck from different angles, but instead rushed directly from the front.
“Chang Jungyoon, do not be conceited!”
Xu Lingxin growled as she jammed the twin knives into their sheathes, and her cautious eyes tracked the movements of the seven cultivators. After a brief sigh of hesitation, the shrine maiden drew the longsword level with her chest and swung towards the ground.
At the same time, the black-robed cultivators under Chang Jungyoon howled, causing the shadowy aura seeping from their bodies to shiver and grow massively in size and density.
Clang!
The shadow lurking around the ground scattered upon colliding with the purification of the Morning Star Temple, and the Morning Star Temple gradually corroded by the vicious shadows and their fearsome whispers of temptation. With each strike, the distinctively colored lights splattered across the ordinary buildings situated in Grace Street, causing the civilians to groan in dismay.
Regardless of whether it was the Haunted Buddhist Sect’s <Depravity> or the Morning Star Temple’s <Purification>, either “sustained phenomenon” martial technique was bound to cause them to become penniless without doubt…
“Xilong, do you know what the Shadow Blighting Pearl that they’re fighting over is?”
All this time, the awkward and lonesome spectator that was a mortal young girl muttered to a heavenly dragon. Her expression was vacant, the interest lost after having been owed.
