Chapter 491 466: Ji Shenyun Awakened a Strange Attribute

When Little Yueqiu, holding the Sword King Pavilion Master's longsword, raced to Prince Ning's Mansion, she froze in shock.

The once-familiar pavilions and terraces were now nothing but broken walls and ruins. Her mind went completely blank.

'My Prince Ning's Mansion... how did it turn into ruins...'

'Was this caused by Master and that mysterious, silver-haired woman who was flying in the sky?'

"This is... a little too much, isn't it?"

Little Yueqiu's eyelashes fluttered, her heart pounding with unease. She subconsciously bit her lip, leaving a faint line of teeth marks.

'If Master's battle with his enemy reached such a demigod-like level...'

'...then was there any point in me rushing over?'

'My presence would just be a burden to Master.'

Little Yueqiu had a clear understanding of her own strength. She had only studied Swordsmanship under Pei Yuhang for a single month. Even though she had become a Sword Saint among mortals, in a battle on par with a natural disaster—

—she was no different from a small child.

"But... Prince Ning's Mansion is so quiet now. Have Master and that woman finished their fight?"

The moment Little Yueqiu considered that Master might have been defeated and met a terrible fate, her small chest began to heave, and her breathing grew ragged.

'If Master won, the worst that could happen if I go in is a scolding for being disobedient and sneaking out.'

'If Master lost, then I have to stand in front of him and protect him from that Demoness!'

Unable to quell the anxiety in her heart, Little Yueqiu finally made her decision and cautiously stepped into Prince Ning's Mansion.

Little Yueqiu took each step as carefully as if walking on thin ice. Suddenly, a cold gust of wind swirled fallen leaves past the hem of her skirt, startling her. Her shoulders trembled as she immediately brought her sword up in a defensive stance.

Once she saw it was just the wind rustling dead leaves, she relaxed her clenched jaw slightly, but the wariness in her eyes didn't diminish at all.

Along the way, she saw the signs of the fierce battle between Pei Yuhang and Ji Shenyun with even greater clarity.

The ground, littered with shattered Iron Swords, glinted coldly in the sunlight. The fist prints, several inches deep in the broken walls and bluestone slabs, were a shocking sight.

Little Yueqiu couldn't help but glance down at her own petite body, tightening her grip on her sword in a daze.

'So this is a battle between Cultivators... Is that Qing Yueqiu also this kind of being?'

'If I were to accept the reawakening of "Qing Yueqiu," perhaps I could also possess such unbelievably immense power.'

'Then, I could help Master, and we could fight that Demoness together...'

Little Yueqiu clenched her small fists, but ultimately let them fall open, defeated.

'Forget it. If the price is being completely replaced by that Qing Yueqiu, then I'd rather not have this immense power.'

Little Yueqiu instinctively recoiled from anything related to "Qing Yueqiu." By extension, she was even beginning to despise the very idea of being a Cultivator.

Thus, as she looked again at the sword marks that had cleaved ancient trees and the fist prints that had shattered the earth, only disgust remained in her crimson eyes.

'If only Master were just a mortal, like me.'

'That way... he could stay by my side in the Mortal World in peace.'

Little Yueqiu's eyes flickered for a moment before she snapped back to her senses and shook her head.

"Damn it, I can't be thinking about all this nonsense... I need to find Master and get out of here first!"

Little Yueqiu took a deep breath and continued to press forward cautiously.

The entire Prince Ning's Mansion was so utterly devastated that even Little Yueqiu, who knew it like the back of her hand, was lost amidst the chaotic labyrinth of rubble.

Just as Little Yueqiu was starting to grow frantic...

...a deeply suppressed grunt made her crimson eyes narrow.

'Master!'

Alarmed, Little Yueqiu immediately rushed toward the source of the sound.

But a moment later, Pei Yuhang's voice rang out.

"Yueqiu, stay back—run!"

Pei Yuhang's warning tore away her last shred of hesitation.

Little Yueqiu's heart sank. She knew she'd walked into a trap.

She whirled around and fled, but how could her short legs possibly outrun the slender, dark figure descending from above?

As a shadow fell over her, the hairs on the back of Little Yueqiu's neck stood on end. She instinctively drew her sword and got a clear look at the newcomer.

The corners of Ji Shenyun's lips curled into the smirk of a cat playing with a mouse. Beneath her long lashes, her phoenix-like eyes roiled with suffocating malice.

In an instant, Little Yueqiu unleashed the finest technique in her Swordsmanship and struck. She was confident that even Pei Yuhang would have to take this blow seriously.

But as the blade descended, Ji Shenyun didn't even bother to raise her eyes, merely extending two fingers with casual ease.

"A pathetic sword, as pathetic as the foolish woman who wields it."

Ji Shenyun sneered and applied the slightest pressure with her fingertips.

Accompanied by a grating crack...

...Little Yueqiu watched as the strongest Treasure Sword from the Sword King Pavilion cracked inch by inch. Then, with a sharp CRACK, it shattered into a thousand glittering fragments that drifted down between them like a cruel, metallic snow.

The gap in their power was an unbridgeable chasm...

Feeling Ji Shenyun's immense, scalp-numbing resentment, Little Yueqiu hissed:

"I don't even know you! Why are you targeting my Master and me?!"

But Ji Shenyun merely scoffed and thrust her palm toward Little Yueqiu.

Little Yueqiu watched as the slender, jade-like palm grew rapidly in her vision.

In her last moments of consciousness, she saw Ji Shenyun's crimson lips part and utter nine words:

"Little bitch, this time... you can't escape, can you."

Then, darkness washed over her like a tide.

Little Yueqiu lost consciousness.

...

...

'Ugh... It hurts...'

Little Yueqiu's consciousness slowly surfaced from the chaos. Her eyelids felt as if they were weighted down with lead, each faint flutter sending a sharp, needle-like pain through them.