CH 27

Chapter 27: Gaining Numerous Benefits in the Magical Beast Forest

These assassins were like gum that wouldn’t come off of a shoe. No matter where Long Shiyan fled, they would quickly catch up. Long Shiyan wanted to escape into the cauldron’s storage space to avoid them, but the storage space wouldn’t open.

Assassins were generally organized and disciplined, especially those who were raised by prominent forces. These people could also be called the suicide squad.

But, the people of the suicide squad still had free thought. They possessed the will to live and would do anything to survive. However, whenever they met with children from important families like Long Shiyan, who had treasures like the spatial ring, they must slay them even if they had a powerful master who was secretly protecting them.

Losing a powerful man of the suicide squad was far worse than dealing with the risk of killing an important family member with rare treasures. If they succeeded, then they might be promoted by the family. Even though they were slaves, they had the right to earn power and influence.

As she didn’t dare to delay, Long Shiyan’s brain was running fast. One could see her body flicker as she passed through the jungle. Finding a patch of grass, she hid.

She began to prepare her magic.

The assassins had the means to detect her presence from her breathing to body odor. Escaping from them was impossible. The only way to deal with them was to threaten or scare them off.

Sure enough, shortly after she hid, a blonde woman passed by her position. She then moved some distance forward and then a few steps back.

At this moment, the blonde woman followed behind two others. One was a man in black clothing and the other was a youth wearing blue clothing as he had a bow and arrows.

After she caught up with the others, the blue-shirt youth frowned. “117, where did you go?” The blue-eyed teenager turned around with a quiver strapped on his back. Apparently, he was the archer who attacked Long Shiyan earlier.

The woman called “117” closed her beautiful eyes and replied, “She must be nearby. She shouldn’t be able to escape with everyone searching for her.”

“Don’t split up from us, be careful.” The black man frowned, clutching a dagger in his hand. He gently lowered a bag behind him as he observed his surroundings. Unlike the relaxed attitude of his two teammates, he was anxious. After all, he wasn’t like these two people, instead, he understood that he had offended someone powerful and might be throwing his life away by being in the front lines.

“You never listen. You have to be careful, you stupid woman.” The blue-clothed boy’s eyes swept across the blonde woman as he sneered.

Just as he smiled, his face suddenly froze. Countless wind blades suddenly burst into their direction. Although their power was much worse than the three-eyed leopard’s, they caused assassins to become alarmed. 

The speed of the wind blades was very fast. In this short distance apart, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to escape, but the black-clothed man was very strong. With only one jump, he moved away from the attacks’ range. On the contrary, the archer wasn’t as mobile. Although he avoided a fatal blow, he still hurt his lower abdomen as blood rushed out from it. If the blonde woman didn’t block some of the wind blades from hitting him, then perhaps he would have died.

After the wind blades emerged, Long Shiyan jumped out from the grass. Under the blessing of the fifth-level magic wind step, in the blink of an eye, she flashed into the archer’s side. With a long sword clad in violet Douqi, she swung at his vital points.

However, during this near-death situation, the woman pulled him away with one hand, helping him avoid the attack. When Long Shiyan noticed that she missed her target, she swung her sword at the woman. After a few strokes, she knocked the woman back. As Long Shiyan used this opportunity to deal a fatal blow, the woman retreated away from her violet Douqi.

Long Shiyan wanted to continue her attacks, but the man in black suddenly swooped down from the air. He appeared at her side and swung his dagger towards her head. Long Shiyan dodged by a small margin as the dagger cut several strands of her hair.

The man in black knew where she hid in the past, so he grabbed her hand, but she also locked his arm. But she refused to stop moving. She used all her strength to throw herself towards the tree next to her. Long Shiyan wanted to counterattack, but the man in black was too fast. He was caught by his arm and so he could not use his dagger. This was already a good situation for him.

She wanted to fight back, but it was difficult.

Long Shiyan crouched under the big tree, but before she could relax, the archer on the ground fired an arrow at her. Moving closer to the tree, Long Shiyan blocked the arrow.

After the sound of “swoosh”, the arrow penetrated through Long Shiyan’s chest, nailing her onto the big tree like how Jesus was crucified.

Peerless experts were extremely fast, so when they fight each other, it may seem like they drag the battle out. However, the entire time period that Long Shiyan fought in was less than ten seconds. Soon, the battle would end.

The blonde woman, who had just received a powerful blow from Long Shiyan, also re-joined the battle. When the archer pinned Long Shiyan, he charged forward from the air. With a large knife, he mercilessly pierced it through Long Shiyan.

Although they weren’t high in level, they had extremely rich combat experience. The strong man’s potential burst out countless times when facing near death situations. If an assassin was incompetent, then not only would his or her teammates die but they will also suffer.

In the past, the blonde woman had once killed a female magician with her teammates. At the time, she had won and the enemy’s hands and feet were amputated. But who knew that the female magician would use her broken body and magic spells to kill all of the blonde woman’s teammates. In the end, she collected the remains of the battle alone.

Since then, she never dared to relax during a life or death battle against an enemy.

A few blue knives flew towards Long Shiyan’s direction as the blonde woman followed. Long Shiyan gritted her teeth, using her sword clad in purple Douqi, she quickly blocked some of the blue knives. Then, she put her two swords together to counter the largest of the blue knives.

The purple and blue Douqi collided and burst into a loud bang as the towering trees behind Long Shiyan continued to tremble. Under the intense shaking of the tree, blood spilled out from her chest.

“What!”

“Let! Me! Get! Away!” Long Shiyan’s complexion was terrible. Her Douqi was boiling as the intensity of her purple Douqi was soaring. She pounced into the air and pounded the woman with both of her hands.

With a rumble, she smashed into a small pit, temporarily unable to stand up.

The colors of Douqi ranged between red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, which corresponded to levels 1 through 7 of swordsmen. The color of the woman’s Douqi was blue, so Long Shiyan was at a higher level. Judging by just level, Long Shiyan should have easily defeated her, but the woman’s combat experience was higher, giving Long Shiyan a difficult time.

This time, the woman was seriously injured by Long Shiyan and the Douqi explosion. Of course, under this impact, Long Shiyan’s condition wasn’t very good, but she desperately fought.

She gritted her teeth, her chest was undulating, and she was bleeding from where she was nailed, in other words, her chest. One could only imagine how miserable her condition was.

After the woman was shot down, the man in black landed on the ground. He was about to rush in and give her a final blow, but the archer was faster. He quickly pulled his bow and shot five arrows towards her position. 

Exerting her body, she returned the last arrow back to the direction of the archer. The archer moved sideways to dodge but still got hit in his left arm.

His complexion became pale. Quickly squatting down, he broke the arrow, and then took some small bottles from under his arms. He drank from several of the bottles and sprinkled the contents on his wound. Sitting cross-legged, he channeled Douqi around his body.

The man in black glanced sideways at the archer with an imposing expression. His hands waved rapidly, and several purple lights burst towards Long Shiyan at speeds too fast for the human eye.

Waving a long sword to greet them, a few flying knives hit her weak points. Her thighs and lower abdomen were also shot as blood continued to flow out.

The battle was only a dozen seconds, yet Long Shiyan had lost a lot of blood. Her vision was getting a little dizzy.

The man in black didn’t cease attacking after throwing that set of knives. He quickly leaped onto a big tree, released a knife near her, and then slowly inched closer in order to deal a fatal blow.

Closer!

As long as she was impaled with another knife, she will die!

“Magic Wind Blade!”

However, when he approached Long Shiyan, countless wind blades suddenly appeared beside Long Shiyan. Although the wind blades were not big, they were fatal. The man in black was hit by the wind blades. From the great impact, he fell onto the ground. While he did protect his vital points, one hand was sliced off.

Long Shiyan noticed that the three assassins were seriously injured with no chance of attacking. She decided to seize this opportunity, as she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. Her hand clung onto the hilt as cold sweat condensed on her forehead.

“Ah!”

She opened her eyes and stopped yelling. She continued to grit her teeth and clench her sword. She screamed in pain towards the sky as black light appeared on her body, hovering over her open wounds.

Just a moment ago, the woman had just heard her scream in so much pain. She couldn’t help but raise her head and grit her own teeth, only to find something amiss. She quickly got up, but then heard Long Shiyan’s painful shouts once again. The big tree behind Long Shiyan finally split apart, and Long Shiyan dropped onto the ground.

Her pupils contracted, her forehead was sweating, she was bleeding, and her body was trembling. She did not fall down nor remain mobile. She quickly put down her long sword and moved her hand in order to grab the arrow stuck on her back.

Clenching her teeth and glaring, she broke off with force and then threw it at the woman who was charging towards her side. The woman slashed through the arrowhead. With her big sword, Long Shiyan ferociously chopped down at the woman’s head.

At this critical juncture, Long Shiyan stopped lifting her sword, and the woman couldn’t help but fall back. Long Shiyan spat out a few mouthfuls of blood. She hurriedly pulled the arrow out of her chest and threw it aside. With her large blade, she chopped the woman’s thigh off.

The woman was seriously injured from being hit by this attack. She also dropped her weapon and fell onto the ground. Long Shiyan pulled the dagger from her waist and took this opportunity to kill her.

After doing that, her head was hit by a wave of dizziness.

But now was not the time for her to faint, the half-disabled man in black also stood up. He looked at her and walked unsteadily towards her.

In Long Shiyan’s hands, a white staff suddenly appeared. She closed her eyes and chanted a few lines. After a few seconds, a magical array appeared on the ground, and she quickly opened her eyes. A powerful storm began to burst into the air, but halfway through, she vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and the magic spell was canceled.

However, the half-disabled man in black was blown away by the strong gust. He finally could not support his body as he fell to the ground again, vomiting blood. Soon, he died. The other man maintained his cross-legged position without moving as his complexion became purple. Since he sat so stiffly, with one glance at him, Long Shiyan knew that he was poisoned and injured. There was no way to save him.

On the other hand, she herself had a physique with immunity and quick recovery. She wasn’t afraid of that toxin. It was only because of her special constitution that she had barely defeated these three powerful assassins. But her state was also miserable. If she didn’t continue to heal her body, then she will die.

In this way, the tragic battle ended.

Long Shiyan didn’t dare to rest in this place for fear of attracting some powerful magical beasts, but she did not have any strength to move. After walking a hundred meters away, she fell into the grass, fainting.

Simultaneously, heavy rain came pouring down.

Long Shiyan had a dream. She dreamed of her past life. In the dream, she was a girl who worked hard for her dreams. She saw herself eating ice cream with her past lover, and then witnessed the dean who had always loved her in her previous life. She dreamed of her childhood, and then she dreamed of how she was born in this world. During childhood, she was meticulously cared for by her father and mother.

Finally, her parents died, she and Zi Linglong went together to the Holy Spirit Magic School, signed up for the assessment, entered the institute, and then carefully calculated her movements and became close friends with well-known people.

Her talent was extremely high. Every year, she ranked in the top three in the school’s grade ranking competition. There were also many scholarships. Here, the students would have a very good life that was much more interesting than their previous ones. Later, she joined the Student Holy Spirit Group and by moving step by step, she was able to achieve the position as head of the association.

This dream reflected almost all of the major events that she experienced in both of her worlds, like the flashback right before death.

Time passed by and she was about to wake up from her dream. Long Shiyan originally thought that this time, she died. Not to mention whether or not she was eaten by carnivorous magical beasts, her chances of survival under the torrential rain were very low.

Opening her eyes, she witnessed a red light looming over her. The red light was reflected on the bluestone wall like a beautiful woman with a long dress dancing on the wall. Long Shiyan’s body was covered with thick animal skin, which was warm and very comfortable.

Glancing at her side, there was a campfire burning with fragrant barbeque meat cooking on top of the fire. The color of the meat was close to golden yellow, and judging by the cooking skill, the barbecued meat was absolutely first class.

Making assumptions about her current situation, she was probably saved by a good-hearted person. Apparently, the person who saved her had just gone out since the meat was still cooking over a fire and left unwatched. There was a stone bed next to the fire, and a few clothes made with treated animal skin. From the style of the clothing, she could tell that the person who saved her was a man.

As the footsteps became closer and louder, Long Shiyan closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. After the person came in, she quietly opened a thin gap in her eyelids. She saw a big burly man sitting not too far away. The big man watched the barbecue, then glanced at her while laughing.

Long Shiyan knew that she been found out, and decided to stop concealing her awakening. She confidently looked at him with poise. The man laughed happily. “Don’t be afraid, little girl. I don’t have anything on my body. If I had an ulterior motive, then I wouldn’t have saved you.”

Long Shiyan looked at his hearty smile and clear, yet deep eyes. She temporarily lowered her guard, opened her mouth, and tried to speak. But her tongue was dry and the words were stuck in her throat.

The man took a stone bowl out, then scooped out water from the pot over a campfire next to him. He walked over to her side and helped her drink from the bowl. Long Shiyan looked at him and reached for the bowl, wishing to get up.

“You can actually move!” The man sighed and leaned her against the wall. Long Shiyan realized that there were many cloth strips wrapped around her body parts, such as her thighs and arms. It was very difficult to move, but the wound wasn’t as sore as she expected.

But when she continued to move, she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

After drinking the water he handed over, she cleared her throat. After she eased her vocal cords, she hoarsely whispered, “Thank you for uncle’s help. If you ever need help, then I will definitely do everything I can to help you.” 

“Are you called Yan Yan?”

“Yes, I’m called Long Shiyan.” Long Shiyan nodded and stated her real name.

“It turns out you have a name that originates from the eastern side of the Continent!” The man sighed. “I haven’t been there for a few years, so I don’t know what it’s like there now.” He paused and said with a smile. “No need to thank me, but you shouldn’t call me uncle.”

“Thank you, Elder Brother!” Long Shiyan stared blankly before displaying a lovely smile. “The East is beautiful, but I have been away from home for several years and haven’t returned to visit yet.”

“It’s awfully beautiful! And there are lots of delicious food there, so I miss their rice a lot. I remember that at that time, the Snow Shadow Empire often hosted a cooking competition. I was elected as one of the members!” The man smiled and then sighed, sounding lost in thought and a little frustrated.

“Snow Shadow Empire?!”

Long Shiyan was completely shaken. If her memory didn’t go wrong, then the Snow Shadow Empire should be gone because of an incapable ruler stepping up to the throne. It was overthrown by the Fengyun Empire, who included her great grandfather and the royal ancestors.

Who was this person?

The man suddenly facepalmed and chuckled slightly. “Sorry, the Snow Shadow Empire has been extinct for 150 years, so not knowing who I am is normal.”

“No!” Long Shiyan shook her head, suppressing the excitement in her heart. She looked at him seriously. “I have read a bit about history, so I know a thing or two about the Snow Shadow Empire. It’s just… I don’t know who you are. Who exactly are you?”

God, this person was absolutely not ordinary!