Chapter 27: A Man, A Woman, A Bird

Shang Xia hid four charms around the crater several moments ago and it became a simple ambush he used against them.

After his intricate planning of making his tracks as obvious as he could, he knew that they wouldn’t bother checking for traps. Of course, they wouldn't believe that Shang Xia was courageous enough to launch a counter attack.

The charms he laid down contained enough power to unleash an attack no weaker than his Chaos Essence Lightning Palm!

With his assistance, the might released by the lightning charms wasn’t just impressive… It was downright terrifying!

Catching them off guard, there was nothing they could do!

A sense of familiarity appeared in Shang Xia’s mind. It seemed as though the lightning web was responding to his will!

Even though it was only a slight connection, he could feel that there were ways to improve it. It was a different feeling from unleashing his martial intent directly, but comprehending it at the moment wasn’t too likely.

As the rain of lightning continued to bombard the three of them, Hong Que and Hui Que released a wretched cry before their bodies were burnt to a crisp. Crashing into the crater with their status unknown, they managed to buy a breath of time for the female cultivator!

Even though her defensive treasure was torn into shreds, she managed to toss out the strand of silk she had left. As it latched onto one of the giant trees around her, she pulled herself out of the lightning web.

It was a pity that Shang Xia couldn’t control the formation as he wished. Otherwise, none of them would be able to escape!

Of course, Shang Xia had already been prepared for such an outcome when he laid down the lightning formation.

Taking on her desperate strike, the jade pendant around his waist shattered completely.

Shang Xia expected that as well, and he charged towards the female cultivator while slapping his waistband.

Mid-grade weapon, Delicate Jade River Sword!

When his sword slashed towards her, she knew that there was no avoiding it. Instead, she raised her arm to greet the strike.

The sound of metal scraping against metal rang through the air and even though one of her sleeves was cleanly sliced off, he failed to do any damage to her.

Shang Xia looked at the short knives hidden in her sleeves and he sucked in a cold breath. It was a pair of low-grade weapons!

In contrast to Shang Xia’s cold gaze, the female cultivator was enraged! Her chest heaved up and down as killing intent raged in her heart.

Leaping into the air, her knived chopped towards Shang Xia.

She didn’t expect him to turn around to run the moment she jumped.

Shang Xia might be using a mid-grade weapon, but he didn’t enjoy using swords. In fact, he didn’t know much about them in the first place! The reason he brought it along was to act cool in the first place. He placed all his focus on the Chaos Essence Palm and Lightning Palm! Shang Xia didn’t even know how to use the fan he carried around normally, much less the sword!

Other than the jade pendant that could protect his life, the original Shang Xia used the other graded weapons to give himself a more dignified image!

Now that he successfully made the battlefield an even one, he could tell that her cultivation was at the Martial Extremity Realm. Her martial intent was in no way weaker than his Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

“You’re not going anywhere!” She screamed before chasing him relentlessly.

He might be slower than her, but under the cover of the dense forest, he managed to make up for the lack of speed.

As the two of them ran through the forest and exchanged blows from time to time, massive blasts rang through the air. Trees fell everywhere and animals scattered.

If anyone were to look at the forest from the skies, they would easily see the path the two took.

While the two of them were playing a violent game of tag, a silver light circled above them.

With no idea how large the forest actually was, Shang Xia could only run around aimlessly. He couldn’t stop to confirm his location as the female cultivator behind him wasn’t in the mood to talk about a truce. As such, the two of them fought their way forward.

Seeing a clearing appearing along with a peaceful river that flowed in the distance, Shang Xia yelled in his heart before turning around to run back into the forest.

It was too bad the female cultivator sealed off his retreat the moment he turned. With a sinister smile on her face, she sneered, “There’s nowhere else left to run…”

Shang Xia could use the forest to hide from the female cultivator’s blows, but the moment he ran into the fields, his chances of escaping became close to zero.

As she approached him slowly, Shang Xia once again brought the cage up to his chest. “I know this is what you came here for. Do you want to make a bet with me? Let’s see if you manage to capture me first or if I kill the Mutated Rain Swallow before you come close?”

Her expression turned green and flames of rage burned in her heart. Indeed, the Mutated Rain Swallow was of extreme importance to her.

She wasn’t the only one who was angry. Shang Xia, who had been chased around like a dog, was countless times more annoyed.

Looking at the complex emotion on her face, he rejoiced silently.

So what if you can chase me around? You can’t do anything to me anyway!

Of course, he was really curious about the reason behind her persistence. Was the bird really that important to her?

“Are you a man?! Stop using a tiny bird as your shield! If you want to call yourself a man, put down the cage and we’ll fight one on one!” She snapped at him.

“There’s no need to fight one on one… We can do other things when it’s just the two of us…” Shang Xia sneered.

“You… You… You’re a hooligan!” Her face flushed red.

“...”

The bright chirping of the Mutated Rain Swallow woke both of them up. When Shang Xia saw the female cultivator’s gaze behind him, his heart sank.

“Not good!”

Leaping to the right, a ray of silver light flew past the place he once stood.

The female cultivator who was gloating in Shang Xia’s misfortune wasn’t spared. The Lightning Bird shot towards her the next instant.

It seemed as though the bird knew the best time to attack!

Regaining his footing, Shang Xia looked at her and noticed that she managed to dodge the Lightning Bird too. Raising his head in the direction where the bird flew, Shang Xia noticed it perched on top of a tree. The female cultivator followed his gaze, and soon, the three creatures were staring each other down.

A man, a woman, and a bird stood at a deadlock.

“Hey, Lightning Bird, why don’t we work together to deal with this little bastard? We’ll save your little lover from the cage before deciding what else to do.” The female cultivator broke the silence and started the negotiations first.

Flapping its wings, the Lightning Bird seemed to be thinking about her suggestion.

With his heart trembling slightly, Shang Xia interrupted, “Don’t listen to her! Didn’t she mess with you previously? She’s a venomous bitch! Think about it! If you work with her, she’ll take advantage of you once I die! When that happens, you won’t be able to save your lover! You might even turn into her dinner!”

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Flapping its wings violently, it recalled what she had done to its flock before.

“Nonsense!” Leaping towards Shang Xia, she waved the knives in her hand once again.

The Lightning Bird seemed to have thought it thought and it shot towards her back silently.

Pulling out the Delicate Jade River Sword and his Ivory Fan, a chuckle left his lips as inner qi ran through his body.

Since she wanted him dead, there was no point holding back!

When a bolt of lightning emerged from the Ivory Fan, the Mutated Rain Swallow in the cage released a strange cry.

Lowering his head, he saw the Mutated Rain Swallow with its feathers ruffled and a look of enjoyment on its face.

Thinking back, it seemed to be the same expression Mu Qingyu had!

What the hell?!

Before he could ponder further, an enraged cry came from the Lightning Bird in the air. Ignoring the female cultivator, it charged straight at him.

What the fuck?! Did the Mutated Rain Swallow really…

Slapping the silver light as hard as he could with the Ivory Fan, Shang Xia turned tail and ran.

Things went south the moment the bird changed its target to him. There was no way he could fight the two of them at once.