Chapter 119: The Crushing Battle

The ambush was as swift as a thunderbolt. Had Jiang Min not been constantly on guard, she might have felt nothing more than a faint, subtle breeze—like the silent, fleeting touch of a raindrop.

*Clang!*

Jiang Min’s palm snapped shut, her longsword reappearing in her grasp. She parried the sneak attack with a backhanded stroke, instantly revealing a pitch-black needle, the length of a palm. Upon being deflected, the needle darted away at high speed, while several faint currents of air stirred around Jiang Min, as if they intended to retreat now that the surprise strike had failed.

Jiang Min narrowed her eyes.

Three of them.
They had means of concealment.

"Trying to run?"

Her divine sense swept across the surroundings. With a graceful spin, she unleashed several sword strikes in a single motion. Countless bolts of thunder-fire sword energy erupted, transforming into a vast, surging ocean of blades that rushed toward the rippling air with a force that made one's scalp tingle.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

"Ah!"
"Argh!"

Two wails rang out. Moments later, two figures emerged, stumbling to the ground only to be engulfed by the thunder-fire sword energy. They were shredded into pieces; even their storage bags were sliced open, scattering their belongings across the earth.

Among the loot, dozens of Villain Tokens spilled out. Because their owners were dead, the names inscribed upon them slowly faded away.

Jiang Min swept her sleeve, drawing the scattered tokens and treasures toward her. She kept the direction of the final assailant in mind and, with a light tap of her toes, darted off like a gale. Pushing her formidable divine sense to its limits, she drew upon her own experience with concealment to quickly track the fugitive’s trail.

He had fled into the Rogue Alliance’s territory.

As she chased him back into the camp, a shout suddenly erupted in the air: "This woman has hundreds of Villain Tokens on her! Kill her!"

The cry echoed in every direction, causing nearly a hundred cultivators within the Rogue Alliance to burst from their shelters. Seeing Jiang Min standing alone, they surrounded her immediately—whether the claim was true or false, they were not about to let the opportunity pass.

She was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Even if she was a sword cultivator, there were so many of them; they had no reason to fear her.

Seeing that his incitement had worked, the cloaked figure—shrouded in a black robe and hood, his gender and build obscured—revealed himself. He hovered in the air atop a piece of spirit wood, his voice raspy and grating as he shouted again, "She just killed my brothers and took hundreds of Villain Tokens! If you want those tokens, kill her!"

With that, he steered his spirit wood and fled.

A fierce light glinted in Jiang Min’s eyes. She wanted to pursue, but the hundred-odd people had circled her tightly. Several of them bellowed at once:

"Kill!"

They immediately unleashed their own techniques, weaving hand seals and manifesting magical artifacts to strike at her. Seeing others act, dozens more followed suit, unleashing their most powerful abilities. In an instant, countless blade lights, shadows, and spells rained down upon Jiang Min from all sides.

Whether the man had used them as a weapon to kill her or was telling the truth, they were blinded by the greed for those hundreds of tokens. What if she really did possess so many?

Better to kill an innocent than to let a fortune slip away.

In a one-on-one fight, they would have hesitated. But with so many present, killing a single early-stage Foundation Establishment sword cultivator was more than enough!

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The sky shimmered with magical light. Blade beams, seas of fire, golden spikes, illusory mountains, and chains surged toward Jiang Min from every direction, seeking to suppress her. Most of these attackers were at the early or mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

The highest-ranking member of the Rogue Alliance was a scholar in green robes named Qin Tianming. He cultivated the Confucian Path of Grandeur and possessed a cultivation equivalent to the late Foundation Establishment stage. He stood back behind the crowd on high ground, neither attacking nor intervening, watching the siege with a calm, indifferent expression.

At the center of the storm, Jiang Min scanned the chaotic barrage of dozens of attacks with cold eyes. With a light tap of her toes, a sound like thunder exploded, accompanied by the roar of a gale. Her figure leaped up, leaving behind afterimages as she raised her sword and lunged toward a single point to break the encirclement.

The Wind-Thunder Body, perfected.
Commanding wind and thunder!

During her half-year on Jade Sword Peak, Jiang Min had not spent her time solely in meditation. Her footwork and physical tempering had never been neglected. With the help of the True Monarch Guanqi and the resources of Mount Taiji, she had quickly pushed her Wind-Thunder Body to the fourth stage—perfection. Now, she was immune to gale-force winds and lightning, able to command them to travel a hundred feet in a blink.

She chose the weakest point. Facing the incoming waves of water and blade light, she swung her sword, the blade trailing embers and surging lightning. A fan-shaped ocean of thunder-fire sword energy roared forth, colliding head-on with the water and blades.

*Boom!*

The fan-shaped sea of millions of thunder-fire sword strikes collided with the water and blades in the blink of an eye, shattering the offensive with overwhelming force. Amid the roar of wind and thunder, Jiang Min crossed the gap her sword had carved and plunged into the crowd of attackers.

She spun and slashed.
Drawing a circle.
One sword, yet it seemed like ten thousand.

*Boom!*

Instantly, a vortex of fire and lightning erupted from the wake of her blade, with her at the center. Flames soared, lightning ravaged the surroundings, and hidden sword energy tore through the cultivators within a radius of several feet, shredding them to pieces in an instant.

*Clatter!*

Even their storage bags were torn apart by the sword energy, spilling Villain Tokens, spirit stones, and various hard treasures onto the ground, mixed with gore.

The crowd was struck with terror.

From the moment Jiang Min broke through the encirclement to the moment she slaughtered those cultivators, only a split second had passed—so fast that by the time the dozen or so attackers were dead, the spells and weapons they had cast were only just landing where Jiang Min had been standing a moment before.

They hadn't even caught a clear glimpse of her figure.

They had provoked someone they shouldn't have!

"Flee!"
"Run!"

The attackers, who had been so aggressive just moments ago, were instantly pale with fear. They scattered like birds and beasts, employing every escape method they had to flee in all directions. Even those who had only been watching from the sidelines retreated in horror, terrified that Jiang Min’s terrifying power would turn toward them next.

Jiang Min turned.

She looked at the fleeing cultivators, a sharp, murderous glint flashing in her eyes.

"Want to run?"

She had no intention of harming others unprovoked, but for those who had tried to kill her, they would have to leave behind both their tokens and their lives.

The sound of wind and thunder roared once more.

She moved like a gale, catching up to dozens of fleeing cultivators in an instant. Her sword was wreathed in flames and tangled in lightning; she swung it several times, and sheets of thunder-fire sword energy, like a vast, rushing river, surged toward the cultivators.

*Clang! Clang!*

The sword energy clashed, the sound of steel ringing to the heavens.

It was too fast.

Jiang Min’s speed was so great that the cultivators only had time to bring out their various defensive talismans; one cultivator had even tried to raise his shield, but he hadn't even managed to lift it before he was struck.

"Ah!"

Amidst several more wails, more cultivators fell on the spot. It was a completely one-sided massacre.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Jiang Min commanded the wind and thunder to pursue another wave of cultivators, slaying several more. While some managed to successfully flee and vanish from sight, Jiang Min had memorized their faces perfectly.

If they ever met again, she would not show mercy.

*Hoo!*

Jiang Min returned to the ground. She raised a hand, and a gust of wind swept all the belongings and tokens of the fallen cultivators into her possession, storing them in her bag to be refined later.

She turned.

She looked at the only person remaining in the grove.

All the other members of the Rogue Alliance had fled, fearing they would be cut down by Jiang Min. Most were only at the early or mid-Foundation Establishment stage, hoping to fish in troubled waters within the Villain City; if a powerful opponent appeared, they would naturally choose to run.

However, the organizer of the Rogue Alliance and its strongest member, the green-robed scholar Qin Tianming, stood with his hands behind his back, a smile on his face, as if he were waiting for her.

"You are strong. Are you interested in a partnership?" Qin Tianming asked.

His smile was gentle, as soft as a spring breeze.

Jiang Min performed a flourish with her sword, the tip pointing diagonally toward the ground. The flames and lightning on the blade had faded, but a sharp, lingering sword energy remained, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

She slowly curled her lips in a mocking smile and replied unhurriedly, "I have no interest in a partnership, but I am quite interested in the Villain Tokens you have on you."