37 One Strike

"Hmm?" the figure turned around, revealing a young man drinking water from the stream. He was dressed in blue robes, carrying a noble air. His face was ordinary, coupled with a long nose and somewhat large ears. However, the expression on his face when he saw Yu Fengtian and Yu Yao Xian was that of shock.

"What are you doing here?" he looked at them with surprise, as if he never thought they would meet.

Fengtian was somewhat confused by the his words. Everyone had already awoken and looked at him with curiosity.

"Who is this? Do you know him, Master Fengtian?" one of them said.

He looked back,"This is the third young master of the Yu Family, Yu Ao Long. Unlike me and Yao Xian who are from a branch family, he is from the main family. This is great! With him here, we can help all of you."

Yao Xian carried a glitter of hope in her eyes. If he was willing to accept their request, these escapees would not have to survive on their own. However, Yu Ao Long did not act as they had thought.

His expression of shock became anger, "Guards! I want you to capture Yu Yao Xian and kill everyone else."

A dozen armored men approached the group of people, pulling out their swords. Everyone's joyous expression became confusion and finally fear.

"Why are you doing this?!" Yao Xian yelled out, standing between them and the guards.

Yu Ao Long sneered, "I had thought that the Darksun Marauders could at least hold you for several weeks. Such a useless bunch! Ah, I guess I'll deal with this myself. After all, I can't have you participate in the competition. How can me and my siblings allow someone from the branch family to contend with us? Think about the shame it would bring if you defeat one of us."

"Don't worry," Yu Ao Long spoke arrogantly,"If you promise to stay out of the way, I won't have my guards kill all of those prisoners."

"Shameless!" Fengtian and Yao Xian thought the same thing.

How can someone be so shameless, especially their own family? Yao Xian wanted nothing more than to fight but she couldn't do it. Not only was Yu Ao Long a figure from the main family, but the people behind her were being held hostage. She thought carefully, this was possibly her only chance to break free from the branch family after all. The Youth Dragon Tournament happens every five years and only competitors under 16 could enter. The next one would happen when she was twenty, by then she would be unable to attend. She could not give this opportunity up but at the same time, she was unable to fight back.

Yu Ao Long sneered at them, he could not lose in this situation. In fact, this was pretty much all within his control. However there was one thing he did not know about.

He felt the edge of a sword on his neck, barely cutting into it. Fear coursed through his body and he started sweating, shaking from the killing intent this blade emitted.

A cold voice spoke into his ears,"Call your men off."

It was not a request but a command from Ming Yue. How she had managed to escape everyone's detection was a mystery. How she managed to get behind Yu Ao Long was an even greater mystery, especially for him. Everyone was too focused on the situation for them to notice her.

Yu Ao Long was afraid to move but his pride as a noble got the best of him.

"Do you dare to attack me, the third young master of the Yu Family?" his voice, trembling as he questioned her.

Her silence was scaring him, he did not know what she was thinking and he was afraid of that.

"She really might do it, she really dares to kill me!" he thought.

"Retreat!" he quickly commanded his guards to back away.

"Please let me go, I've done what you asked," he said, waiting for her to remove her sword.

Ming Yue looked over, making sure that Yu Ao Long's guards had moved away and that everyone was safe. She slowly removed her sword but as she began to relax, three figures came out of the trees attacking her and the group of escapees.

It was Wei Lian and his two lieutenants!

Wei Lian rushed towards her while his lieutenants went for the others.

"I found you girl, do not think that you can hide in this forest forever with me here!" he said menacingly, brandishing his saber.

She released Yu Ao Long and dashed away, dodging his strike. Yu Ao Long recognized Wei Lian, the leader of the Darksun Marauders and felt joy inside.

"If you kill her, I'll double your reward!" he yelled out quickly. This was how scared he was a Ming Yue, to be able to take advantage of the situation and get behind him and his guards was terrifying. She posed an unexpected amount of danger to him.

Wei Lian put out a greedy expression, double the reward just to kill this girl was enough for him to waste away for the rest of his life. She was the cause of immense trouble for him after destroying his entire group. Even if Yu Ao Long did not increase the reward, he would have done so happily.

He faced Ming Yue, circling her as they stared off. Wei Lian felt somewhat fearful, after all she didkill off most of his men by herself. However, he trusted his higher cultivation, being at the 6th level of the human realm. What he didn't know was that she had enough power to injure someone at the Earth Realm. After all, most people of Red Lotus Country were at the Human Realm. Out of the millions of cultivators, only hundreds were at the Earth Realm while Sky and Heaven experts were extremely rare. People who could contend with those of a higher realm were either geniuses or monsters. Ming yue was neither but she closed the gap through sheer willpower and training.

Ming Yue wanted to end the fight quickly and gathered her inner force to its peak. She slowly infused it to her sword rather than covering the surface like before. This method brought out even greater power and was much harder to control. She wanted to end it in one strike, targeting his neck. This was a technique that she thought of back when she cut off the hand of the earth realm cultivator that attacked Luan city. One strike with the utmost lethality, meant to cut down whatever stood in her way. After experiencing that sensation, she practiced hard to recreate it, only managing to achieve 40 percent of its power. However, It was already strong enough to cut stone. This was the same technique used to cut down the gate of the Darksun Marauder's stronghold.

Before Wei Lian could realize what had happened, Ming Yue dashed forth almost disappearing from his sight. He was confused looking around to find her, only to realize that he could not turn his head. Then everything he saw turned upside down before he hit the ground. Rather, his head had fell to the dirt while his body stood, poised to attack. Seconds later, his body followed along, dropping to its knees.

She after after the two lieutenants of Wei Lian, who were in an intense battle with Yao Xian. She ran past Yu Ao Long, ignoring his horrified look.

"One strike! One strike was all it took!" he thought,"I have to tell first brother about this! rather, I have to stay alive first!"

He knew that if he stayed any longer, he would be next. He quickly ran with his guards, abandoning the last men of the Darksun Marauders.