Nalan the Thirteenth's Lament

"Impossible! How... how did you know I was here?"

Nalan Shisan's face was filled with absolute terror. This was her life-saving formation.

In the beginning, the first time she crossed paths with Wang Hun, the two of them had fought fiercely.

It was by relying on this very formation that she had forced Wang Hun to concede.

To sum it up, the core of this formation was to drain the opponent's strength.

She would hide in a place where her enemies couldn't detect her, yet through the formation, she could clearly pinpoint their locations.

Using only a small amount of Qi, she would attack her enemies through the powerful formation.

Unable to find her, the enemy could only fight against the sand, forced into a battle of attrition.

However, this formation had a massive weakness: once her actual position was found, it was game over.

But finding her was nearly impossible. Hidden a hundred meters underground, one couldn't possibly track her through heartbeat, breathing, or scent.

Still, truly powerful experts could locate her by sensing the fluctuations of her Qi.

She had anticipated this long ago. The surrounding architecture was covered in concealment formations. Coupled with the sheer distance, even a formation master wouldn't be able to detect the arrays here.

Yet, to her shock, Fu Jinyu had found her effortlessly.

"Nalan Shisan, did you really think you could kill me with such despicable tricks?"

Fu Jinyu sneered, "Today, I will kill you, you ungrateful bastard! I will avenge my clansmen!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Black spheres materialized in front of Fu Jinyu and shot toward Nalan Shisan.

Seeing this, Nalan Shisan immediately raised her hand, conjuring a formation shield in front of her to block the black spheres.

"Blade of Jiuli!"

Golden light erupted from her body, transforming into arcs of lightning that smashed forward.

Eventually, it condensed into a golden longsword.

Nalan Shisan gripped the longsword tightly and charged at Fu Jinyu.

"With your injured body, you still dare to clash with me head-on?"

Fu Jinyu raised her hand, and the black crown floating above her head slowly descended into her palm.

Whoosh!

At that moment, the crown began to spin, absorbing all the black Qi from Fu Jinyu's body.

"Impossible! You're only in the late stage of Transcending Mortality, how can you use... the Second Stage Unsealing?"

Nalan Shisan's eyes widened in horror.

"Perhaps... my talent is just that good!"

The moment Fu Jinyu's words fell, the crown shattered, turning into a wave of black aura that enveloped her.

Clang!

The distinct reverberation of metal rang out. Behind Fu Jinyu, the original six sword blades had become eight, four on each side.

The crown was no longer above her head, but her body was now covered in black armor.

The armor perfectly contoured to her figure, flawlessly displaying her formidable curves.

With her black hair dancing in the wind and her domineering gaze, she truly looked the part of an empress.

Fu Jinyu raised both hands and grabbed two of the blades from behind her back.

Swish!

The two clashed once again.

...

Xu Mu was still on the desert surface. Through his perception, he could see their battle.

He had to admit, Fu Jinyu was terrifyingly strong.

As someone at the peak of Transcending Mortality, even if Nalan Shisan couldn't use her full strength, given her current level of meridian blockage, she could definitely still exert the combat power of someone who had just entered the peak stage.

Fu Jinyu had just entered the late stage of Transcending Mortality. There was a clear gap in the Qi the two released.

Yet, Fu Jinyu held a steady upper hand. If the fight continued like this, a victor would be decided before long.

In the distance, Ye Yu initially planned to come over, but Xu Mu raised a hand to stop her.

It wasn't over yet; he wanted her to stay on the perimeter for now.

As time passed, the battle finally reached its conclusion.

Xu Mu jumped into the hole and used a teleportation token, instantly appearing in front of Fu Jinyu.

By now, both Fu Jinyu and Nalan Shisan were injured, but it was obvious that Nalan Shisan's injuries were much more severe.

She was hunched over, panting heavily. With every breath, blood gushed continuously from a wound on her waist.

"Nalan Shisan, I will end your life right now. Rest assured, even in death, our Sky Demon Clan will never take in an ungrateful bastard like you!"

Fu Jinyu tightened her grip on her blade, her expression devoid of joy or sorrow.

Xu Mu stood to the side without intervening. He had only promised to save Nalan Shisan earlier for Ye Yu's sake.

Now that she was about to die, there was naturally no need to save her.

However, Xu Mu was very curious. With Nalan Shisan's extremely high Destiny level, would she really perish here?

"Fu Jinyu! If I weren't injured, I could have killed you even without using formations!"

Nalan Shisan panted violently, her gaze dark and gloomy. "Even if your Sky Demon Clan begged me to go, I wouldn't! You call me ungrateful, but has your clan ever shown me any kindness?"

"You're at death's door and still spouting nonsense! Back when you were driven out by the Jiuli Clan, who took you in?"

Fu Jinyu pointed at Nalan Shisan. "When you first arrived in our clan, I was already eleven or twelve. Did you think I don't remember the past?"

"Hahaha! Ridiculous! Fu Jinyu, this is exactly why I hate you!"

Nalan Shisan threw her head back and laughed, her lips trembling. "Every time you look at me, it's with that disdainful and contemptuous look. You think the Sky Demon Clan did me a favor and that I'm ungrateful. What do you know, you sheltered little princess?"

Hearing this, Fu Jinyu frowned.

Xu Mu watched Nalan Shisan's heart-wrenching demeanor, also waiting for her to continue.

"Your father was a great philanthropist, how wonderful! He brought me to the Sky Demon Clan and then completely ignored me. Do you know how the others looked at me?"

"In the Jiuli Clan, I was at least considered a half-breed because my father was from the Jiuli Clan. He captured a woman from the Sky Demon Clan and forced her to give birth to me."

"But in the Sky Demon Clan? I wasn't even considered a half-breed. Because my mother was captured and violated, giving birth to the enemy's vile spawn, I was subjected to violence every waking moment."

Reaching this point, Nalan Shisan was already sobbing uncontrollably. "Did you ever see any of that?"

Hearing this, Fu Jinyu's tight grip on her blade slowly loosened. She had never heard of these things before.

"You say you want to avenge your clansmen, but I know the truth. You want to avenge your Third Uncle. Your Third Uncle treated you very well and was a hero to the Sky Demon Clan, but he abused me."

The tears on Nalan Shisan's face mingled with her blood. "I originally thought that if I followed him, I wouldn't be abused anymore. Who knew that during a drinking session, your Second Uncle took a liking to me, and your Third Uncle gave me to him without a moment's hesitation. In their eyes, I wasn't even human!"

Fu Jinyu narrowed her eyes. Nalan Shisan was over ten years older than her. Back then, when she was in her twenties, she had been in the prime of her youth.

She remembered clearly that when she was just starting to develop, Nalan Shisan already had a very voluptuous figure.

Initially, Nalan Shisan had followed her Third Uncle, and later she did indeed follow Fu Cheng for a period of time.

"I wanted revenge! Your Sky Demon Clan and the Jiuli Clan are no different! You all deserve to die!"

Nalan Shisan's gaze suddenly turned fierce. "I have to admit, Fu Cheng was very smart. I succeeded in killing your Third Uncle on my first try, but Fu Cheng managed to escape twice."

"Sigh."

Xu Mu sighed. "Since you were abused back then, why degrade yourself now?"

"Degrade myself? Are you referring to those men?"

Nalan Shisan suddenly stared at Xu Mu, "You don't think I look for those men to do that kind of thing, do you?"