The True Predator Behind the Prey
"Ah!"
Two simultaneous cries of agony rang out. In the blink of an eye, the intense pain snapped them awake.
"You woke up this fast? Seems the Sonic Blade is more painful than expected," Chen Jinshu said calmly, her hands not slowing down for a second.
Ding-dang-dang... dong-dong-ding-ding...
Her middle fingers pressed two specific resonance points again, summoning another sonic illusion. The once-pale green sound waves now twisted and spiraled like living things. The burly, bearded man clutched his bleeding throat and let out a roar. The sound carried faint golden ripples, clashing with Chen Jinshu's melody mid-air.
But his roar only made the blood gush more from his neck. In the end, the golden waves were overtaken by the green sonic force. His eyes widened in shock—he finally realized Chen Jinshu's cultivation level.
"A Foundation Establishment cultivator?!" he gasped, turning pale.
The black-robed cultivator tried to flee but was once again dragged into an illusion by the echoing music. If this were still Chen Jinshu's old technique from the sect's outer competition, she might not have been able to trap them. But under her master's guidance, her skill had reached a whole new level.
If she were to duel Feng Lingchuan now, it wouldn't be such an easy loss. Once more trapped in the illusion, the two men's faces twisted in torment. Even knowing it was fake, they couldn't escape. This time, Chen Jinshu didn't aim for their throats. Her targets were their dantian and hearts.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several green arrows pierced their dantians and hearts with deadly precision. Only when she sensed their life force draining away within the illusion, their bodies thudding to the ground, did Chen Jinshu slowly begin playing Hymn of the Earth Vein's Rebirth.
Xiao Yin flashed down beside the corpses, collecting their storage bag and spirit beast bags. But Chen Jinshu's hands remained on the strings, still playing to restore her spiritual energy.
"You've watched long enough. Isn't it time you showed yourself?"
Her voice was calm, directed to the forest around her.
"Haha! I didn't expect to be discovered," came the chuckle.
Two young men in ornate robes and golden crowns emerged from the trees, mockery in their eyes.
"Brother Wang, getting soft for a pretty face?" one teased the other.
"Hmph. She's not bad-looking. If she agrees to be my concubine, I might just spare her," the Wang cultivator said, his gaze lingering on Chen Jinshu as though she were some plaything.
His leering eyes made her uncomfortable. Without hesitation, she plucked the feather string with her ring finger. The elegant melody turned mournful in an instant.
"Careful! She's not ordinary! Her zither trapped two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in an illusion!" Wang warned, gripping a white jade pendant tightly.
A light barrier shimmered around them, repelling the melody.
"A musical barrier spirit tool?" Chen Jinshu's eyes narrowed in surprise, though she remained expressionless.
Magical tools that resisted music-based cultivation were rare but not unheard of. She'd just been unlucky to run into such a counter. The music couldn't touch their skin—meaning it couldn't hurt them. But that didn't mean she had no options.
She subtly channeled spiritual energy into the Qingluan Resonance Pendant at her waist. The jade lit up in green. At her incantation, a summoning force spread across the forest. Within a breath, hundreds of spirit birds swarmed in—over four or five hundred of them, circling above before diving at the two cultivators.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The flurry of wings echoed through the forest.
"Where did all these birds come from?!" the Wang cultivator shouted, drawing his sword in confusion.
Clang! Clang!
Screech! Flap!
They slashed again and again—but the birds just kept coming. Taking advantage of the chaos, Chen Jinshu plucked her strings. The hidden force within the melody slipped between the gaps in their defense, dragging the two back into an illusion.
"Not easy, huh?"
She exchanged a glance with Xiao Yin It dove forward, snatching the jade talisman from Wang's hand. With the barrier gone, Chen Jinshu launched a fierce sonic attack. It took everything she had—but in the end, both were struck down.
"Yellow sparrows are never the final victors," she muttered, withdrawing her spirit sword from their chests.
She had thought herself the sparrow waiting behind—only to realize there had been eagles circling above.
"Turns out they were Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Wang and Li families."
She retrieved their sect tokens from their robes—emblazoned with the characters for Wang and Li. The Wang and Li families were among the top contributors of the Xuanming Sect, known for their powerful Foundation cultivators and abundant resources.
Yet recently, both families had grown restless, seeking to expand their territories in secret. Every family's lands were clearly defined to maintain order and sect control. To expand was to challenge the sect's authority. Luckily, they'd been subtle—only preying on weaker families for now.
"Guess I helped the sect clean up a bit of trouble today."
She gathered the four corpses, burning them to ash with spiritual fire.
"Xiao Yin! Reward those spirit birds."
After all, without them, she wouldn't have had a chance. The Qingluan Resonance Pendant was stronger than she'd expected. The summoned birds had willingly come, as if answering a noble call.
Each one carried a mysterious aura that helped them survive even severe injuries. She fed them Rejuvenation Pills and used healing techniques, restoring nearly half of the wounded ones. But the jade pendant's glow had dimmed.
She consulted the Qingluan remnant soul within. It explained that the pendant had to be nourished in areas rich in spiritual energy to recover after use.
Mounting Xiao Yin, Chen Jinshu flew swiftly toward the sect. After defeating the black-robed Li Chenliang, she felt spiritually clearer, more at peace. Back at Ink Plum Courtyard, she laid out the loot: four storage bags and four spirit tools.
They were of decent quality. Two were Tier-2, the others high-grade Tier-1.
One storage bag even held a Foundation Establishment Pill, along with many rare items. As expected of two family heirs who had broken through to Foundation Establishment at such a young age—they clearly held high status in their clans.