Qiao'er, taking advantage of Su Xi digesting the surging sword intent within her body, quietly moved towards Su Xi. At the same time, a pale blue dagger began to materialize in her hand.
The dagger flickered in the air, invisible to the naked eye.
Even cultivators at the God Transformation stage wouldn't be able to detect it, so Qiao'er naturally didn't believe Su Xi could. She had used this assassination method countless times and was very confident in her actions.
The closer she got to Su Xi, the more excited Qiao'er became.
She had a great obsession with killing. The feeling of blood flowing from a body was something she couldn't quit, becoming more and more addicted to it.
Moreover, the more powerful the person she killed, the more it stimulated her inner excitement.
Therefore, facing Su Xi, whom she found very interesting, she felt even more thrilled.
Just as Qiao'er's dagger was about to pierce Su Xi's heart, Su Xi suddenly turned her head, a faint smile on her lips, "Hello!"
"???"
Qiao'er stared at Su Xi, who had actually discovered her, with a look of bewilderment, unsure how she had been exposed.
But her arrow was already nocked and released. She no longer cared how she was discovered. Since she was this close, she wouldn't hesitate any longer.
Killing Su Xi would make everything else irrelevant.
Su Xi looked at Qiao'er, who was still charging at her, without much tension.
Not only were her hands still, but she also wore an indifferent smile on her face.
Since she had known for a long time that someone was coveting her from nearby, how could she not have made any preparations? After so long, everything was ready.
Every time she absorbed sword intent, she simultaneously released a drug in her surroundings.
These medicinal powders were brought from interstellar space and, when integrated with the local cultivators' gene sequences, were even more effective.
The powders were colorless and odorless, penetrating directly into the bone marrow, and no one would notice them in normal times.
However, once inhaled, without an antidote, the body would become weak and listless, and no magical power could be used, rendering one a mere mortal.
Su Xi had scattered many potent drugs around her. Since this person had been following her and observing for so long, she must have inhaled a significant amount, and the concentration within her body had long since exceeded the limit.
Even if she didn't notice it normally, Su Xi had also applied another powder to her body.
The combination of the two powders would intensely stimulate the medicinal effects, erupting into a concentration that could not be ignored.
Now, even though Qiao'er had reached the Nascent Soul stage, she would undoubtedly fall victim to this gene-deep medicinal powder.
*Snap.*
Just as Qiao'er was about to stab Su Xi, her body went limp, and she fell heavily to the ground. She felt utterly weak, as if her strength had been drained, unable even to lift a finger.
She rolled her eyes and looked at Su Xi in terror, asking in disbelief, "What did you do to me?"
For so many years, she had always been the one assassinating others. Now, she had been ambushed.
And she found that everything had happened so normally, she couldn't understand how Su Xi had ambushed her. Such a mysterious method was simply too formidable.
Su Xi looked at Qiao'er on the ground and shook her head, "Do you know the timeless truth in novels?"
"Huh???" Qiao'er's eyes widened as she stared at Su Xi, not understanding what nonsense she was spouting.
Why was she suddenly talking about this?
And what were novels? She didn't understand.
╮(╯▽╰)╭.
Su Xi didn't elaborate because she understood the principle that villains often die from talking too much.
Even as the protagonist of the book, she couldn't say too much.
After all, she knew very little about Qiao'er and wasn't sure of her strength.
If Qiao'er had other means, giving her a chance to breathe could lead to great risk.
However, Su Xi was also concerned about the potential trouble of killing someone, which might trigger some kind of restriction. Therefore, she didn't want to act herself and become entangled in karma.
Su Xi's reluctance to act didn't mean she had no way to do so.
She used a rope to bind Qiao'er and threw her directly towards the sword mountain ahead.
Killing someone using sword energy would not count as killing.
Even if powerful beings could trace the matter here, she could claim that Qiao'er had triggered the flying swords herself and it had nothing to do with her.
As Qiao'er fell towards the platform, the sharp sword energies instantly enveloped her, ready to slice her into countless pieces.
However, before the series of attacks could land on Qiao'er, her body suddenly disappeared in mid-air.
The sharp attacks landed on empty space, and there was no further movement.
Su Xi was not flustered by Qiao'er's disappearance yet again.
If someone was so easily dealt with, they wouldn't have survived to the Nascent Soul stage; they would have died countless times already.
Soon, Qiao'er's slightly disheveled figure reappeared before Su Xi, with a hint of anger on her face.
Although she had temporarily controlled the poison within her body, it had come at an immeasurable cost. And this was against someone with a lower cultivation level. If this got out, it would be a profound humiliation.
Looking at the expression on Qiao'er's face, Su Xi became very speechless.
Clearly, this person was the one who wanted to deal with her, yet she was throwing such a tantrum for no reason?
Couldn't beat her, but still wanted to throw a tantrum?
Did she learn this bad temper from the national football team?
Useless and loves to play.
However, despite her inner complaints about Qiao'er's behavior, Su Xi did not relax her guard at all. If anything, she became more vigilant.
After all, the drug she had given her was not simple.
Yet, Qiao'er was able to break free so quickly and recover her magical power. This was clearly an abnormal phenomenon, indicating that Qiao'er had considerable skill, so Su Xi needed to be even more cautious in her approach.
Qiao'er looked at Su Xi with anger and said coldly, "Very well, you have angered me."
With that, Qiao'er exerted force with her hand, and an icy chill emanated from her body.
As this chilling energy spread, the swords that had been restless were instantly frozen by this coldness, unable to move.
Simultaneously, this eerie cold permeated outwards.
Everything it touched was frozen into ice sculptures. Due to the extreme cold, these frozen sculptures quickly shattered.
Facing the successive waves of chilling energy, Su Xi couldn't help but retreat.
She could already sense that this cold was no ordinary chill. If she couldn't evade it, death would be her only fate.
As Su Xi retreated, she also drew out the God Extinguishing Sword.
After such a long period of tempering, the God Extinguishing Sword was now incomparable to its former self.
An immense aura radiated outwards.
At the same time, a fierce heat was continuously being emitted.
Having absorbed so much sword intent, the God Extinguishing Sword had naturally grown significantly.
Su Xi raised the God Extinguishing Sword in her hand. At this moment, without her needing to act, the sword actively guided her, drawing a sword energy across the sky.
Though this move appeared identical to previous ones, Su Xi felt incredibly astonished.
Because she could clearly feel that this posture not only required less effort but also generated greater explosive power.
A wave of heat surged rapidly towards the chilling energy.
Crackling.
The heatwave and the chilling energy collided instantly, erupting in a powerful energy fluctuation that began to spread outwards between them.
Qiao'er's cultivation base surpassed Su Xi's, but Su Xi's weapon was more formidable than Qiao'er's.
With the decrease of one and the increase of the other, the two unexpectedly fought to a draw.
Su Xi did not want to stop there. She knew very well that this was only a temporary stalemate.
If she continued, she would eventually be defeated. After all, once the poison in Qiao'er dissipated, her strength would fully recover.
Dealing with her then would be a significant problem.
Therefore, she immediately changed her offensive strategy.
She took out the fire-poker staff that she hadn't used in a long time and attacked Qiao'er with it.
This fire-poker staff had not been used for a while because the opponents she encountered were becoming increasingly powerful. However, deep down, she was certain that the fire-poker staff was not simple.
Now, sensing a similarity between Qiao'er's aura and that of the fire-poker staff, she used it without hesitation, wanting to see if there would be any difference.
As the fire-poker staff struck, a series of blue and red attacks erupted, charging towards the chilling energy.
Seeing the chilling energy rush towards her, Qiao'er wore a disdainful smile.
Such a weak tactic was simply courting death.
However, before the smile on her lips could fully bloom, it instantly froze.
Because she suddenly realized that although Su Xi's released chilling energy was extremely weak, resembling an old man on his last breath, on the verge of extinguishing at any moment, what made it incredible to Qiao'er was that despite its weakness, Su Xi's chill was not only not swallowed by her own chilling energy but was actually consuming it.
???
This revelation left Qiao'er utterly astonished.
The chilling energy she cultivated came from ten thousand miles deep beneath the earth. Normally, it could freeze anything, and it was unfazed even when encountering the most yang-inducing substances in the world.
Now, not only was Su Xi unaffected by her chilling energy, but she was also absorbing it.
Was this even reasonable?
This was a fantasy novel, but it couldn't be this absurd.
Although she didn't know what was happening, Qiao'er knew she had encountered a major problem. If she didn't handle it properly, she would perish here today.
"Ten Thousand Feet of Icy Cold!"
Accompanied by Qiao'er's angry roar, countless dense ice pillars suddenly appeared around them, shooting towards Su Xi.
These ice pillars were fast and fierce, sweeping towards Su Xi.
These ice pillars did not hit Su Xi. Instead, an even more intense chilling energy instantly surged forward.