“Ugh! Master is really cruel to us!” A female disciple shouted angrily after hearing the man’s words.

The woman is not that pretty, and her body is a bit small. However, her appearance is quite sensual, with an attractive long neck and voluptuous breasts, especially since her black and red dress is quite tight and revealing. Her reddish brown hair is tied in a ponytail, with two side bangs hanging down along her chest. Her small eyes glistened under the sunlight, her nose was slightly pointed down, and her small mouth was quite tempting.

Guan Peng turned to her. “Qiao Lingzhi, I know you are angry with our master, but we can’t go against his orders, remember? If we go against his orders, he will definitely punish us for days.”

“I know.” Qiao Lingzhi said with a pout; she then asked her other friend. “Hey, Nangong Nichang! Don’t you feel angry with our master’s decision? This forest is very dangerous, with many beasts above our cultivation, and we will die if we encounter them.”

However, Nangong Nichang did not answer Qiao Lingzhi’s question, and she continued to walk forward as she continued to look at the surrounding area with high alertness.

Nangong Nichang didn’t look like a woman, as she was dressed as a man with a long purple hanfu. Her face was devoid of make-up, but she was much prettier than her friend. Her eyes are small but sharp with blue pupils; her nose is like an eagle’s beak; and her pink lips are thick at the bottom.

Her figure was taller than Qiao Lingzhi, and her long black hair was let loose along her back. Unfortunately, her assets were not clearly visible, especially since she wrapped them in cloth.

“You-”

“You don’t need to be angry with Nichang.” A male disciple stopped Qiao Lingzhi. “The five of us have been training together under our master since childhood, so you should already know her character.”

“Humph!” Qiao Lingzhi snorted and asked him. “Hey, Dongfang Xu! Don’t you like Nichang? Aren’t you going to propose to her soon? If you keep delaying it, then that rotten man will snatch her from you later.”

Dongfang Xu smiled bitterly and told her. “I already confessed my feelings for Nichang, but she rejected me without a second thought.”

The other three turned to him in surprise, but Nangong Nichang couldn’t care less about their conversation, and her gaze only focused on the path in front of her.

“I-”

Dongfang Xu had not finished speaking, but they heard many heavy footsteps running quickly towards them. Guan Peng shouted at them. “Beast stampede! Jump onto that big tree now!” 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂

The five of them immediately jumped to the tree that Guan Peng was pointing at, but they were shocked to see dozens of beasts running so fast across their area, and they seemed frightened by something.

“What happened to them? Why are they so scared?” Ouyang Hong quietly asked them.

Guan Peng shook his head. “It seems there are beasts much stronger than those around here, and they’re probably running away from it.”

“Hey, Guys! Look at that!” As she pointed up at the sky, Qiao Lingzhi’s eyes were astounded to see the silhouette of a vermilion bird appear in the distance.

“Beautiful!” Nangong Nichang muttered softly as her eyes looked at the silhouette of the vermilion bird. ‘Unfortunately, it’s not the real vermilion bird, and it’s just a manifestation technique. But who uses that technique? How could that person use such a technique?’

Not only them, but the three male disciples were also amazed by the beauty of the vermilion bird. Suddenly, they saw it dive sharply towards the ground, and a large explosion was heard a few seconds later.

*Boom*

“What the hell?” The three men screamed in shock, especially since their area shook violently as a result of the large explosion.

Qiao Lingzhi almost slipped from the tree, but Dongfang Xu grabbed her hand and pulled her back up, making her sigh in relief. “Phew! Good thing you pulled me up! Otherwise, I would have been trampled to death by the beasts below.”

“It’s okay, but you have to be more careful.” Qiao Lingzhi nodded to him, and Dongfang Xu asked his friends. “Guys! How about we check into the heart of this forest?”

“Are you insane?” Ouyang Hong shouted as he turned to him. “To reach the heart of this forest, we have to pass through several perimeters, and there are many powerful beasts within! Even if we manage to reach that place, we don’t know the cultivator’s identity, and the attack just now was powerful. If that person is a heretic cultivator, the three of us will definitely die, and that person will definitely do bad things to Lingzhi and Nichang.”

“Hey! Stupid Ouyang! Don’t scare me!” Qiao Lingzhi shouted angrily at him.

While they were arguing, Nangong Nichang suddenly jumped over the trees in front of her, and she moved quickly towards the inner area of the forest.

“Shit! Nichang! Stop it!” Ouyang Hong shouted at her, but Nangong Nichang paid him no heed and continued to move forward through the tall trees. “Damn it! What should we do now? We can’t possibly leave her alone, right?”

The other three sighed heavily because of Nangong Nichang’s behavior. Guan Peng then took out an artifact and said to them. “She is our sister, so you guys can use the artifacts that our master gave us, and we will go after her directly.”

“Yes.”

After Dongfang Xu and Qiao Lingzhi put on their artifacts, the three of them immediately moved to follow Nangong Nichang. However, Ouyang Hong seemed hesitant to follow them, especially since all the areas after the outer periphery were very dangerous for them, and he was very afraid of dying.

“Tch! I need to go back and inform our master about this matter! Only he can save them!” In the end, Ouyang Hong decided otherwise, and he immediately turned around and left the forest at high speed.

“What a coward!” Qiao Lingzhi was really angry to see Ouyang Hong leave them.

Guan Peng sighed and said to her. “Forget it; we have to catch up with Nichang as soon as possible.”

“I agree.”

After that, the three people accelerated their speed, especially since Nangong Nichang had disappeared from their sight, and they were very worried about her safety.

.

.

.

“Argh!” A huge snake beast suddenly attacked Nangong Nichang as she was jumping between the trees, sending her flying backwards and slamming into a big tree.

*Bam*

“Cough… Cough…” Instantly, Nangong Nichang fell to the ground and vomited a mouthful of blood, and she felt that several of her bones were cracked due to the snake beast’s attack, but she immediately swallowed two pills to relieve the pain and heal her injury.

*Hiss… Hiss…*

Nangong Nichang froze in place because the giant beast snake was right in front of her, and she didn’t dare look up to see it, especially since it was a powerful beast. ‘Shit! Am I going to die because of this snake?’

“Nichang!”

However, Nangong Nichang suddenly heard Qiao Lingzhi’s call, and she saw that her three friends had arrived at her location and surrounded the giant snake beast.

Even so, the giant beast snake did not let their presence deter it; instead, it turned its head in the direction of Nangong Nichang and opened its mouth wide in an attempt to swallow her whole.

“No! Nichang!” Qiao Lingzhi shouted at her again as she moved towards the giant snake, and she immediately lashed the long blue whip in her hand onto the beast’s body.

Guan Peng also jumped towards the giant snake beast and swung the dark-red saber in both hands towards its tail, as his body was enveloped in fire qi.

On the other hand, Dongfang Xu took out a large green bow, and several green qi arrows appeared in his other hand. Without thinking twice, he immediately shot those arrows at the giant snake’s head.

Sensing that, the giant snake abandoned its intention to eat Nangong Nichang and moved to avoid the three people’s attacks, but it immediately slashed its barbed tail at them.

“Shit!” Guan Peng cursed and deflected the snake’s tail, but its attack was really powerful, sending him flying backwards.

*Crack… Crack…*

“Shit! This snake skin is really tough!” Qiao Lingzhi cursed after she saw that the giant snake was unharmed by her whip attack, even though she had used all her strength to attack it, and she immediately landed on a nearby tree.

*Swoosh… Swoosh…*

Dongfang Xu’s attack also ended similarly; his green qi arrows were unable to penetrate the giant head snake, shocking him. “Shit!”

However, Guan Peng immediately stomped his feet into the tree behind him, but he didn’t attack the giant snake beast again and glided towards Nangong Nichang instead. “Lingzhi! Xu! Distract the snake!”

“Yes!” They immediately attacked the giant snake once again.

Their actions made the beast furious, especially since they prevented him from preying on Nangong Nichang, and it attacked both of them at once.

“Move, Lingzhi!” Dongfang Xiu shouted as he shot quite a number of green qi arrows towards the giant snake.

Hearing that, Qiao Lingzhi immediately moved away from the trajectory of Dongfang Xu’s attack, but the giant snake’s tail slammed into her directly.

*Crack…*

“Argh!” Qiao Lingzhi screamed in pain after her right arm was broken, causing her to fall to the ground and curl up in pain. “Shit! This snake attack is much harder than metal.”

– To Be Continued –