“An afterimage?”

　　His mind went blank and as he turned around, the woman breathed softly into his ear.

　　“You have one strike left.”

　　“Go to hell!!!”

　　A raging flame consumed his heart, causing Hong Yun to lose all sense of reasoning. He immediately charged towards the girl and his eyes were thick with hatred. It was as if he wanted to drag her into her grave! But just as the longsword was about to reach Moyu’s face, a slender navy blue rapier appeared in front of her, emitting an intense spiritual force. Hong Yun’s sword seemed to wither and pause; no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to cut through it.

　　“I’ve given you three strikes so isn’t it my turn now?” Moyu raised her hand to grab the floating rapier with a smile. In that instant, Hong Yun’s face turned ashen white as he trembled and stared at Moyu’s rapier. He cried out with a hoarse voice, “A spiritual weapon!!! It’s actually a spiritual weapon!”

　　Crippled spiritual weapons may be considered to be in the same category as other kinds of spiritual weapons but when compared with a full-fledged spiritual weapon, there was a vast difference.

　　Besides, spiritual weapons were mythical objects. Why would a protector of the Hundred Herb Hall have such a thing?

　　“It’s almost one minute.”

　　Moyu smiled and moved towards Hong Yun, the coercion force from the spiritual weapon in her hand made Hong Yun tremble. However, before he could even find a chance to escape, the energy from the sword charged at him like an angry dragon flying towards him with a threatening aura.

　　In the face of imminent peril, Hong Yun quickly threw himself forward.

　　The sword’s energy stabbed past his body, violently landing on a mountain peak not too far away. The originally mountaintop was leveled off to half of its summit and fell to ground with a loud crash.

　　Seeing this, Hong Yun burst out with cold sweat. He wiped his brow and his eyes displayed a clear sense of panic.

　　For the first time, he truly felt terrified!

　　“Gu Ruoyun, what do you want?” Hong Yun gnashed his teeth.

　　But once he saw Moyu approaching him, his expression turned sluggish and he began pleading, “Anyone can make mistakes and forgiveness is a virtue. I admit it, I was wrong. Please let me off?”

　　Hong Yun showed no sign of his previous arrogant nature as a chaotic mess of white hair clung onto his elderly face. It was a sad and pitiful sight.

　　But what else could he do? How could one not bow to the circumstances?

　　Besides, he thought maliciously, once I’ve returned to Heaven City, I’ll tell everyone about Gu Ruoyun’s protector’s spiritual weapon. Even if he didn’t make his move, there’ll be many others who would be willing to kill her for it.

　　“Let you off?” Gu Ruoyun smiled, “If I let you off, would you let me off as well? I believe that when the time comes, I’d have to fight off many enemies hoping to steal the spiritual weapon for themselves! Hong Yun, you’ve said it yourself. Anyone who’s seen your crippled spirit weapon must die… The same goes for us. Moyu, do it now.”

　　Hearing Gu Ruoyun’s command, Hong Yun’s face looked as dead as ash. He could not comprehend how this girl had managed to see through his intentions.

　　But he simply could not accept it. He could not accept dying in such a desolate, uninhabited place and to serve his body on a platter for the spiritual animals to savor.

　　Suddenly, Hong Yun caught a glimpse of the red Fire Cloud Beast which had been lounging on the grassy field. A malicious glint flashed through his eyes and he took advantage of Gu Ruoyun and everyone else’s lapse of attention. He rushed towards it, caught it with one hand and laughed menacingly, “Gu Ruoyun, let me go if you want this spiritual beast to live. Or else, I’ll kill her!”