She made this choice partly for revenge, partly for love.
After learning this was the Golden Ruins, her thinking had aligned with Ning Chaoyi and the others. She felt the mastermind would not keep his promise, would not let anyone leak the secret. The hostages in his hands would not be spared. He would silence her too.
She would not die in vain. She wanted revenge.
Yet she could also clearly sense that the mastermind’s power and strength were immense. It was not something she could achieve revenge against. She could only kill as many as possible. Every bit of pressure she could reduce for Yu Qing meant one more hope for him to leave alive. He deserved to live more than she did.
In the end, the greatest cause for her willingness to die was love.
This was the very thing elders often warned the young about. Do not let emotions rule your actions.
She was still young after all. She had let emotions rule her actions.
But she did not regret it. From Yu Qing’s glances, movements, words, and expressions, she could see and feel his care for her. He cared about her that much.
At this moment, she was calm. For someone who truly loved her, there was no regret. Only a trace of lingering sorrow in her heart.
Yet some things were ultimately her own wishful thinking. Or rather, some things were not suited for her to do. She lacked experience. She was not skilled at it.
Suddenly, she sensed something wrong. The footsteps behind her seemed to have vanished.
She abruptly turned back and understood why. Those people had stopped advancing. She was somewhat puzzled.
“Slut, do you take us for fools?”
Gao Yuan said something Qiao Qie’er might not have heard. A savage grin spread across his face. He suddenly struck out, blasting the cave.
Amidst the deafening roar, the cave collapsed. The group shot out from the chaotic, collapsing scene.
Even outside, they did not stop. They continued collapsing the entrance, intending to trap Qiao Qie’er inside the cave.
After stopping, the group used spells to clear the dust and waited outside.
Gao Yuan, who had stopped waving his sleeves, sneered. “I said that slut was suspicious. She clearly knew this was a snake den, yet she played dumb. Obviously trying to lure us in to run into the giant snakes. Now let’s beat the grass to startle the snake, shut the door and beat the dog. Let’s see if those giant snakes can have a nice chat with this intruder into their nest.”
Old Lady Rat hesitated. “Could it be a misunderstanding? If there really was a problem, she is inside too, and she was leading the way.”
Gao Yuan. “Who knows what scheme she is up to. If we misunderstood, if there is no danger inside, she will naturally be fine. This woman has slept with A Shiheng for so long. Who can guarantee she has not developed feelings over time?”
Inside the cave, Qiao Qie’er was suddenly plunged into the dust of the collapse. Shocked, she darted over, trying to rush out, but it was too late. The path was blocked. Even with all her cultivation, she could not push it open.
This was not the most dangerous part. The massive commotion seemed to have alerted the colossal creature deep within the cave. A rustling, scraping sound came from within the cave. The kind of rustling sound that could make one’s hair stand on end.
Qiao Qie’er whipped around. In the dust, she pushed a glowstone forward for light. The rustling suddenly stopped. In the dust, something was faintly visible, indistinct and hazy. Then she saw a golden snake tongue flickering rapidly. She also saw a giant snake head slowly emerging from the dust.
Under the glowstone’s light, she suddenly saw the situation inside the snake’s mouth. The snake tongue flickered.
On the massive snake head, golden scales were densely packed, layer upon layer reflecting light. Thick evil qi lingered unceasingly around its eyes. It seemed to be sizing her up.
The ferocious terror of this scene was deeply imprinted in her heart.
The giant snake’s head slowly retracted. Just as Qiao Qie’er thought it was retreating, the slightly withdrawn snake head suddenly launched an attack like lightning. Like a piercing cone, it slammed into her.
Boom!
Qiao Qie’er’s arms braced against the snake’s lips. Her feet slipped. Her back slammed into the collapsed stones.
Though her blood churned violently from the impact and her arms went numb, she still held on for dear life.
She knew this was also because the space was limited. The giant snake had not been able to gather enough momentum before attacking. Otherwise, the attack power would have been much stronger.
Wind came, blowing away the clothes covering the child. Wu Hei reached out to tuck them in for the child. Before his hand withdrew, he suddenly whipped his head around to look at the highest peak in the distance under the moonlight.
The other four sitting there also looked up one after another.
Because they had all heard a sound coming from the highest peak.
Nan Zhu felt puzzled and muttered, “What’s going on over there? Weren’t they supposed to lure Old Fifteen over? Why is there such a big commotion?”
The so-called telepathy between hearts, sometimes it happens in an instant.
Especially between two people in love. Sometimes they truly understand each other’s intentions.
Yu Qing suddenly seemed to think of something. His face changed drastically. He abruptly stood up, drew his sword, and flew out at full speed like a madman, rushing into the vast night. He threw down two words. “Save her!”
Save her?
The few people present were stunned for a moment. Then they thought, who else could be at the highest peak?
Though they did not know how Yu Qing was so certain, the few of them still urgently flashed away to follow.
Wu Hei’s gaze fixed on the sleeping Xiao Hei on the ground.
Yu Qing, mid-air, suddenly flipped and landed. He landed beside a line of writing. It was clearly formed by crushing a glowstone and driving it into the ground. “Ning Chaoyi and the others are spies of the foreign enemy. Qie.”
This was calculated in case someone might hear the commotion and rush over, so she crushed a glowstone to leave a message here.
Yu Qing knew at a glance who left this message. Seeing the content of the writing also further confirmed the guess in his heart. His heart instantly became frantic with anxiety.
He only glanced at it before immediately leaping into the air again, rushing over at full speed.
Mu Aotie and Nan Zhu also landed one after another to look at the writing on the ground, then urgently chased after him.
Ning Chaoyi landed, saw the writing, and was stunned for a while. Then his face changed. He also realized something and urgently flew off.
Inside the mountain body, dull, ground-shaking sounds continuously came. The group guarding the cave entrance stood indifferent, just watching the show.
Jiang Shan, who had listened with his ear to the side for a while, said, “Judging by the commotion of this ground dragon, it should have already fought with the thing inside.”
Suddenly, the four demons’ gazes all looked at the mountainside several zhang away from the cave entrance. They felt the ground-shaking commotion inside the mountain body drawing closer and closer to that spot.
Boom! Earth and stones flew apart. The spot of commotion burst open.
A human figure flew out from the shattered rocks. Judging by the figure, it was Qiao Qie’er.
The four’s faces sank. They flashed away one after another to intercept. They could not let her escape.
What startled the four was that from the burst opening, a colossal object shot out right after. Under the moonlight, it opened its fanged mouth wide and viciously bit at the flying Qiao Qie’er.
Abnormal commotion also appeared on both sides of the canyon. Several giant snakes suddenly emerged from their dens. They slithered up the mountain walls at flying speed, all rushing toward this side.
Just as Qiao Qie’er landed on the mountain wall to borrow force and leaped into the air again, a thunder-like whistling sound suddenly appeared in the sky.
A giant rock was thrown down by the iron-masked man who had appeared.
Qiao Qie’er was shocked. She could sense that if struck by the power of this attack, she would either die or be crippled. In haste, she used all her cultivation to strike with the combined force of both palms.
Boom! The隔空 palm force shattered the giant rock, neutralizing the fatal blow. But she herself suffered a backlash from the force. Blood spurted from her mouth.
Fatally, the impact caused her figure to suddenly sink.
The colossal creature chasing below whipped its head and bit her away in one mouthful.
Metal fangs pierced through her chest and back. Her lower body already inside the snake’s mouth, her hands still desperately braced against the snake’s upper and lower lips, restraining the giant snake’s swallowing force.
The giant snake crashed into the stone wall with one bite. She, blood spurting from her mouth, used all her cultivation to resist hard. Along the way, earth and stones flew apart from the impacts.
“Someone’s coming. Go!”
The iron-masked man on the mountain had just shouted down to the mountain when he abruptly turned around. A fist whistled through the air, blasting toward a figure that had instantly flashed over.
The incoming person also struck out with a fist like thunder. It was Wu Hei, who had arrived later but moved faster.
Boom! Like thunder exploding.
Powerful罡劲 collided in the air, transforming into wildly swirling罡风. The nearest ground directly exploded into a large pit. Amidst the flying earth and stones, two figures collided, fist against fist.
The two who had collided like meteors quickly separated again. Both stumbled back a few steps.
The group below had originally wanted to deliver another blow to Qiao Qie’er. Suddenly seeing such a powerful expert appear who could clash head-on with the iron-masked man, they all took advantage of the iron-masked man’s words to go and fled in panic.
The iron-masked man’s fist that had collided, his five fingers flexed a few times. His fingers felt a painful, fractured sensation. He secretly thought, what a hard fist. Then he no longer entangled himself, twisted his body, and flew away in a flash.
Wu Hei looked back at his son cradled in one arm. Xiao Hei had naturally woken up. But he showed no fear toward the violent fighting. He seemed quite used to it.
Considering it was inconvenient with his son, and looking at the situation in the canyon, he did not pursue the culprits. He flashed down from the air. In mid-air, he delivered a one-knee drop strike.
Clang!
The golden giant snake that was biting Qiao Qie’er like a swimming dragon suddenly snapped in half at the waist. Its body suddenly folded at a point in the middle. That point slammed into the ground.
Boom!
Earth and stones flew apart. The giant snake’s folding point exploded a deep pit in the ground. Then it truly broke. Evil qi burst out. Both ends of the body crashed heavily to the ground.
By this time, Yu Qing and the others had arrived. They all jumped down. Yu Qing almost the moment he arrived, with a swish, knelt and crawled beside Qiao Qie’er. His sword was stuck in the ground nearby. He crawled to look at Qiao Qie’er held in the snake’s mouth.
The large canyon could not be fully illuminated by moonlight. But the moonlight, pitying them, happened to shine down from behind the mountain body. It just happened to illuminate half of the fallen snake head. It also clearly illuminated Qiao Qie’er’s condition inside the snake’s mouth.
Her chest was pierced through by a sharp metal fang. Blood occasionally spurted from her mouth. Seeing Yu Qing, a weak, gentle smile appeared on her face. Her blood-stained hand reached out to touch Yu Qing’s face.
Mu Aotie, who had arrived beside them, also knelt on one knee. He urgently took out a glowstone to help illuminate.
Yu Qing’s face was full of panic. His hands were in a fluster trying to treat her.
Nan Zhu, who had arrived beside them, slapped his hand away and rebuked, “Are you crazy? You can’t pry open the snake’s mouth and pull her out now. I remember Qiao Qie’er still has a ‘Blood Kun Pill’ from the medicine box in the secret room of Qiao Manor on Horseshoe Island. She carried it with her. Hurry up and find it for her to eat first to sustain her life.”
He also could not care about propriety between men and women now. He grabbed Qiao Qie’er’s hand and used his spells to help suppress her injuries.
Yu Qing then hurriedly searched Qiao Qie’er’s body for the medicine.
The rumbling sounds in the canyon continued. Wu Hei was clearing the field single-handedly. His figure continuously flickered back and forth between the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon. Like a nail, with a pair of fists and feet, he continuously nailed one golden giant snake after another to the cliff walls or the ground.
Those trying to escape, even those so frightened they drilled into their dens, were dragged out by Wu Hei grabbing their tails and killed.
Xiao Hei was not afraid at all. He was even excited. His bright, sparkling big eyes peered out from the clothes wrapping him in his father’s arm. He stretched out his tender little hands, waving his tiny fists.