With those words, Min Zhan gripped his blade in his left hand and lunged toward Nangong Ning with explosive speed.
Nangong Ning gritted her teeth and freed a hand to summon her sword. "Go, Ningyue!"
The sharp sword streaked across the sky, its cold intent fully revealed. Min Zhan raised his blade and struck it aside with a single blow.
He swung again, aiming for Nangong Ning. The Ningyue sword trembled in the air before vanishing into the void to return for defense. Protecting its master, the long sword clashed with the edge of his blade, producing a sharp clang.
Sparks flew in all directions.
The two weapons locked in a stalemate.
Both combatants poured spiritual energy into their weapons. The surging aura of the nascent soul stage erupted, soaring straight into the heavens.
The blade slowly pushed forward.
The sword was forced back, losing its strength.
Min Zhan spoke with genuine surprise, "To think you can still block my blade in this state despite such heavy injuries. You are quite impressive, girl. If you were at your peak, I might not have been able to defeat you."
Maintaining the formation with one hand while resisting his blade with the other, Nangong Ning replied, "Min Zhan, if I die and this serpent escapes, you won't survive either."
"That is my concern; you needn't worry about it."
Nangong Ning rebuked him, "Even if you don't care for yourself, you should think of the tens of thousands of commoners in Tianzhu County. Do you truly wish to watch Tianzhu County turn into a wasteland?"
Min Zhan dismissed her with disdain. "That won't happen. And even if it did, what would a few more counties matter? It would be their honor to die for the sovereign's path to hegemony. You should worry about yourself instead."
Nangong Ning struggled, fury burning in the depths of her eyes.
"You are truly a beast. It seems I cannot let you live."
"Then let's see if you have the ability."
Nangong Ning no longer hesitated. She decisively severed her connection to the formation flags and grasped Ningyue, focusing all her attention and energy on Min Zhan.
"Today, even if I must die, I will rid Yecheng of you!"
Seeing this, Min Zhan was not alarmed but delighted. He laughed loudly, "Hahaha! Your source energy is depleted; you are a flickering lamp with no oil left. What can you possibly do to me?"
Nangong Ning did not back down an inch. Withdrawing from the formation, she took the initiative to attack.
"Slaying an old beast like you is enough!"
"Then allow me to accompany you in a proper fight!"
It was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.
In Nangong Ning's view, although the giant snake was a beast—violent, unpredictable, and born from the possession of a Xiushe—it was naturally a scourge to the world.
However, it was destined not to live long. Its fate was to be slain by the experts of the Wendao Sect, just as it had been struck down before.
At worst, it might cause a tragedy before it was put down.
But the Min Zhan before her was different.
If she truly died, the truth would die with her. He would continue to live as the Grand Marshal of Yecheng, continuing to prey upon and harm the people. When that happened, it wouldn't just be one county suffering, but the millions of citizens across the entire Yecheng.
A disaster caused by man was worse than the rampages of demons.
If she was destined to die and could only take one of them with her, she would choose Min Zhan without hesitation.
Furthermore, if she could have killed the giant snake, she would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?
As it stood, she was dead either way. If she continued to maintain the formation, she would die and the formation would break regardless. But if she abandoned the serpent to fight Min Zhan to the death, there might still be a chance.
It was true she was heavily injured and her cultivation was exhausted, but the man before her had lost an arm and wasn't in great shape either.
Though the gap in strength remained vast and she was no match for him alone, with the Xiushe causing chaos in the background, there might be an opening.
Thus, she resolutely chose to disengage and fight Min Zhan.
Min Zhan naturally saw through Nangong Ning's plan. However, since he had dared to come, he was fully prepared. He wouldn't let her succeed.
Taking advantage of the formation's lingering power while the giant snake was still slamming against the barrier, he attacked relentlessly, giving Nangong Ning no room to maneuver.
After only a few exchanges, he had suppressed Nangong Ning in the sky.
Using his powerful nascent soul energy, he bound her, making her unable to move and cutting off any possibility of her attempting a self-destruction to take him with her.
She was a disciple of the Wendao Sect, after all; he had to be cautious. Having already lost an arm, he had sacrificed enough to give the Wendao Sect an explanation. There was no need to let her destroy his other arm like Ruan Zhong had.
"It seems you really are at the end of your rope. You're even worse than that big fool. Heh."
Nangong Ning struggled desperately, trying to break free from the constraints, but it was futile. A sense of helplessness flooded her sea of consciousness as despair grew uncontrollably.
At this moment, she couldn't even speak, let alone resist. She could only curse him silently in her heart.
Spiritual energy converged wildly within Min Zhan's fingers as he pressed toward Nangong Ning.
"Rest in peace."
In that split second, just as Min Zhan’s killing move was about to end Nangong Ning’s life, a cold flash of light suddenly erupted from the dense forest, accompanied by the faint ring of a blade being drawn.
"Old scoundrel, take my sword!"
"Green Lotus Transforms into Qi!"
Min Zhan froze for a fraction of a second. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black shadow leap from the darkness like a ghost, drawing a sword to strike mid-air.
In an instant, a brilliant green glow flared, blindingly bright.
Then, the green light split into sixteen streaks of sword qi, flying straight toward him.
The sword intent was majestic, and the momentum was at its peak.
Min Zhan was momentarily dazed, his white eyebrows knitting as a gust of wind rose from his fury.
"Hmph!"
He let out a low grunt, even as the sixteen streaks of sword intent reached him. Though he knew they were launched by someone at the foundation establishment stage, why would a nascent soul cultivator fear them?
Yet, because the attack came from that boy and was delivered with such suddenness, it caused him a momentary lapse in focus. His sharp senses also perceived the overbearing nature of the sword technique.
Therefore, he grew wary and instinctively diverted his attention to defend. He forcibly retracted his killing move and swept his hand out in front of him.
"Overestimating yourself!"
A mournful wind surged as spiritual energy exploded.
With a thunderous boom and a simple wave of his hand, the sixteen streaks of sword intent shattered inch by inch, neutralized completely. Only the residual shockwaves remained, scattering into a sky full of smoke.
"Heh... Is that all?"
He smiled mockingly, his eyes filled with triumph.
However, in the next second, his expression darkened.
He never expected that the black shadow would recklessly use his own body to tank the counter-attack of a nascent soul stage cultivator. The figure lunged through the smoke, sword in hand, continuing the assault.
He was covered in blood, his clothes in tatters. His long hair was as tangled as dry weeds. Mud mixed with blood on his face, which was covered in a network of wounds that looked like centipedes...
His crimson eyes were like those of a wild beast in the night.
Nothing remained but the instinct to kill.
Such a sight caused even this battle-hardened general's heart to skip a beat.
What shocked him even more was that the sword in the boy's hand ignored the protective qi barrier around his body. In the moment he was stunned, the blade pressed against his chest.
Bolstered by immense force, the edge of the sword silently sliced into his flesh.
Min Zhan was stunned.
His pupils shrank, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You..."
"Die for me!" the shadow roared. He gripped the hilt with both hands and shoved forward with all his might.
Puch—!
Min Zhan watched helplessly as the blade of that heavy sword plunged completely into his body, piercing through his shoulder blade.
The searing pain dragged his thoughts back to reality, but it couldn't compare to the mental shock.
Wasn't he dead?
Where did he come from?
Was he a man or a ghost?
How could a mere foundation establishment cultivator stab him?
Was this logical?
It was simply absurd.
Shock, horror, confusion, and humiliation... all of it eventually condensed into a surge of rage. He stared at the boy viciously and let out a furious roar.
"I'll slaughter you!"
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