"Senior Sister Lin, you came out too hastily and forgot to bring your sword manual. Have a look at this first!"
Su Bai pulled a few crumpled sheets of yellow paper from his tunic and handed them to Lin Xiaoyue.
Lin Xiaoyue knitted her brows. She thought to herself that at such a critical juncture, this old fellow suddenly popped out to make things worse.
Wasn't this just causing trouble?
Yet the moment she glanced at one of the pages, she let out an exclamation, her face flushing with an unnatural, highly excited red.
"What the hell is going on? Did they smear aphrodisiac on that paper?"
"Why does Senior Sister Lin look like she's about to climax?"
"You don't understand, do you? That paper must have erotic drawings on it!"
"Why would anyone look at that in the middle of a battle, though?"
"Could it be some kind of honey trap?"
The bystanders grew more and more outrageous in their speculations. Who ever learned a honey trap on the spot?
More importantly, who ever learned martial arts on the spot?
Lin Xiaoyue turned a deaf ear to their chatter.
Her beautiful eyes remained fixed on Su Bai, her pretty face filled with suspicion.
Su Bai felt his heart skip a beat, yet he forced himself to stay calm, thinking to herself, *this young woman couldn't have figured something out, could she?*
With a gaze as sharp as a sword blade, Lin Xiaoyue carefully scrutinized the expression on Su Bai's face, but she failed to find the slightest flaw.
Since a battle was currently underway, she had no spare energy to ponder why this old man possessed so many fragmentary sword manuals, and instead shifted her full concentration to studying the sword diagrams and comprehending the sword moves.
Ji Kun of the Beast Taming Sect made no move to stop Lin Xiaoyue. He was an immensely arrogant man, and moreover, he did not believe that such last-minute cramming could be of any use.
"Take a good long look. Don't say I bullied you—I want to see what brilliant techniques you can possibly learn!"
Ji Kun looked extremely pleased with himself, figuring that today he had thoroughly stolen the spotlight.
Yet at that very moment, Lin Xiaoyue had already put away those sheets of paper.
As expected of a swordsmanship prodigy with S-rank destiny, she had mastered these few sword techniques simply by glancing at them a few times.
Although it was not the complete version, it was more than enough to unleash terrifying might.
"This time, I'm going to turn you into a roast chicken!"
Lin Xiaoyue casually tossed aside the broken sword in her hand. With a forward point of her delicate, snow-white palm, a golden-red flame spewed out from her palm and condensed into a massive sword made of blazing fire.
That sword was over three zhang long. Bursting forth from her hand, it transformed in midair into a giant flame Fenghuang that plunged straight down from the skies.
A fierce, oppressive might radiated from the flaming sword.
The terrifying aura of the Fire Luan shocked everyone present.
Over on the Beast Taming Sect's side, the ferocious beasts sensed the pressure of the Fire Luan and actually trembled so violently that they pissed and shat themselves simultaneously.
In an instant, those Beast Taming Sect disciples tumbled off the backs of their fierce beasts as if they had fallen into a cesspool, covered head to toe in excrement, each and every one of them wearing a truly unsightly expression.
Yet the person who bore the brunt of the oppressive force was none other than Ji Kun himself!
What a terrifying sword strike!
He drove his magical artifact to block with all his might, only to find himself utterly incapable of stopping his opponent's horrifying attack.
The spherical magical artifact shattered instantly.
His robes were completely incinerated, and the flames of the Fire Luan seemed to possess a sticky quality that he simply could not shake off.
Amidst piercing shrieks, Ji Kun's garments were completely destroyed. His entire body was charred black, looking just like someone struck by lightning, with smoke even rising from his hair.
That golden chicken had it even worse, getting directly transformed into a roast chicken exuding an aromatic scent that made one's mouth water.
Protected by his precious robe, Ji Kun narrowly escaped with his life.
As for that golden chicken, it was slain right then and there.
Slain in a single strike!
Witnessing such a shocking scene, the Qingyun Sect disciples broke into cheers, their hearts surging with intense excitement!
"What a terrifying strike!"
"Divine fire annihilating a formidable enemy—now that is true divine power!"
Faced with the praise of her fellow sect apprentices, Lin Xiaoyue turned a deaf ear. She was equally stunned by her own sword strike.
She had originally expected only to inflict heavy damage on the enemy, never imagining that she would burn the golden chicken until not even a scrap of its bones remained.
"If this were used for murder and arson, it would even save the trouble of destroying the corpse..."
Su Bai was equally bewildered at this moment.
He had no idea whether the sword moves he had drawn were simply too overpowered, or if Lin Xiaoyue's comprehension ability was entirely too overpowered.
All in all, the might of this sword strike had already exceeded his expectations.
Lin Xiaoyue cast a cold glance at the crowd from the Beast Taming Sect and let out a cold snort.
"If you ever dare to come to Qingyun Sect to make trouble again, that golden chicken will be your fate!"
Though brief, her words delivered an incalculable shock to the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect.
Those people looked as though they had seen ghosts in broad daylight; trembling with fear and not even daring to draw a full breath, they scrambled away in a flurry.
Today, Lin Xiaoyue's intervention had saved the day and won back prestige for the sect, causing her reputation to skyrocket. Everyone felt that this outer sect prodigy, however overbearing she might be, was at least fiercely loyal.
Paying no mind to the looks of adoration from her fellow apprentices, Lin Xiaoyue pressed her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle.
A massive black eagle soared down in circles. When it was three zhang from the ground, Lin Xiaoyue leaped gracefully onto the eagle's back, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent a rope whistling directly toward Su Bai, wrapping securely around his waist.
"Old Man Su, come back with me!"
Su Bai felt a powerful force pull at him, and before he knew it, he was already airborne. He wanted to resist, but his current physical strength was simply no match for a cultivator at the Qi Refinement 6th Layer; he had no choice but to be dragged up onto the eagle's back by that momentum.
The distance of several miles was traversed almost in the blink of an eye.
When Su Bai's feet touched the ground again, his legs were practically rubbery. Leaning on his walking stick, his heart thumped wildly against his ribs.
How many years had it been since he experienced such excitement?
"Senior Sister Lin, can you please not be so violent? These old bones of mine can't take much more tossing around."
Su Bai puffed and panted. Though he had been transformed by the Hundred-Lifespan Pill and was currently stronger than a young man, he still kept up the act of a frail old geezer.
"Keep acting. Go ahead and keep up the act with me."
Lin Xiaoyue sneered twice, her burning gaze fixed intently on Su Bai as though she were eyeing a piece of prey.
"Just how many more sword diagrams like this do you have?"
Lin Xiaoyue stated proudly, "How many more do you have? I'll take them all. If you can give me the complete version of the sword manual, I have an even greater reward waiting for you!"
Lin Xiaoyue puffed out her chest, her demeanor radiating utmost confidence.
"I only have these few sheets..."
Su Bai offered a defense for himself. An old man wise in the ways of the world, he spun his lie without a single flaw.
"Still trying to fool me? If you don't have the complete sword manual, how could it be such a coincidence that a single trip down the mountain yielded several more good sheets?"
Lin Xiaoyue flatly refused to believe Su Bai's words.
A man's mouth was a deceiving ghost's, and an old man's words were even less worthy of trust.
"I really only have these few..."
Su Bai put on a helpless expression, but immediately afterward, he flashed a cunning smile akin to an unscrupulous merchant. "It's just that it's not entirely impossible for me to get the complete version, but..."
"You'll have to pay extra!"