Brother, how come you're a witch?

"Su Yan—!!"

Ye Jingqiu watched helplessly as Su Yan disappeared before her eyes. Her pupils trembled violently, like a raging storm rising from an ancient well that had remained unchanged for a thousand years.

She stood there on the flying sword, a buzzing sound like the sound of a sword echoing in her mind, shutting out all the noise around her.

until--

"Ye Jingqiu!"

Someone shoved her off the flying sword and pushed her aside. A huge, pitch-black bird-like monster almost brushed past the spot where she had just been standing.

"Cough, cough."

The person who tackled her was Liu Liu's female team member:

"Deputy team leader, I know that monster can't hurt you, but you can't just stand there and let it hit you, that's too mocking."

"Monster?"

The light in Ye Jingqiu's pupils suddenly solidified, and she took a sniff as she looked around.

Countless dark shadows scurried through the forest, and unsettling black mists and the roars of beasts echoed everywhere.

The hundreds of sword cultivators maintained a certain level of discipline, forming several lines of defense, with the only Core Formation disciple at the core, taking turns blocking the demons' attacks.

However, there were simply too many demons, making it hard to believe that this was within the Xuanqing Sect. The sword cultivators' defenses had been repeatedly tightened, compressed into a small circle.

Sword cultivators are already dying.

Demons... Heavenly Demons... Was Su Yan captured by Heavenly Demons?

Ye Jingqiu frantically rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out a jade pendant with a flashing light inside.

That's Su Yan's location; he's still at Yanshan.

Little Sword Ancestor breathed a sigh of relief. The only modification she secretly made to Su Yan's flying sword was adding a positioning array.

"Deputy team leader, isn't this the team leader's position?"

The female team member was also staring at the jade pendant; she was the technical consultant who had equipped Su Yan's flying sword with positioning capabilities.

"I just saw the team leader suddenly disappear. Is he in danger? You should go find him!"

Ye Jingqiu stared at the light spots on the jade pendant, her eyelashes trembling slightly:

"No, first disperse the encirclement of the demons."

"Huh? With your strength, you could force your way out."

"But you might die, and so might they."

Ye Jingqiu shook his head and took out a small bottle:

"I have a way to slow down the monsters' offensive."

"roar!"

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Then more screams rang out.

The distraught Core Formation disciple, cursing loudly, dragged back a sword cultivator's half-dead body. Noticing Ye Jingqiu and his companion out of the corner of his eye, he immediately rebuked them:

"Hey! Come quick and help!"

Ye Jingqiu stood up and held the small bottle high:

"I need everyone to cover me."

"Huh? What do you want to do?" the Core Formation disciple roared.

"The way the monsters attack is very similar to a wolf pack hunting. I think there must be a highly intelligent wolf-like monster in command. I need to go and defeat it," Ye Jingqiu said.

The Core Formation disciple roared, "It's obvious the demon leader is the strongest! You think you can just rush in and kill it? Is that even possible?"

"Just spray this bottle of anti-corruption incense on it, and it will suppress the pollution and prevent it from continuing to command the monster horde."

"Suppressing Incense? What the hell is that? Your plan is full of loopholes. How do you know where the leader is? What if it's a demon in command? We can hold on now, but if we break out, most of us will probably die, understand?"

"I'm confident."

Ye Jingqiu was not good with words, but simply said calmly:

"Staying put up with the status quo will only lead to a slow death, believe me."

"Not approved!"

The Core Formation disciple waved his hand impatiently, then charged back towards the defensive line:

"I am responsible for the lives of all the participants."

"..."

Ye Jingqiu's gaze darkened. She knew that as an outsider, it would be difficult to gain trust in matters of life and death.

If it were Liu Baishuang speaking, things would be different.

Ye Jingqiu gritted her teeth, threw out her flying sword, leaped onto it, and charged out of the defensive line alone. Since no one believed her, she would do it herself.

A cacophony of scents swirled through the forest.

But Ye Jingqiu was determined to avenge the slap. She secretly studied too many articles about demons and imagined countless times how to track down the demons and find out the mastermind behind the demons who slapped her.

With a delicate sniff, she quickly determined a direction based on the monster's movements and the changes in the scent.

It's right there, it has to be right there... Charge over there!

Ye Jingqiu thrust her sword forward, and the horde of demons, as if provoked by something, charged at her madly.

"trouble......"

Her icy face darkened, and her spiritual energy circulated rapidly.

Just then—several sword lights followed her from behind.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Lu Jing took the lead with his sword, his face swollen like a pig's head, and laughed loudly. Before he could laugh for more than a few minutes, he was pounced on by a demon.

He slashed the sword into the monster's shoulder, and together they tumbled into the dense forest, shouting:

"Ye Jingqiu, just keep going forward!"

Ye Jingqiu was slightly taken aback when more than a dozen figures approached and blocked all the demons that pounced from her side.

They were members of the training group, as well as many sword cultivators whom I had only met once during the competition.

"Deputy team leader, you don't need to be strong alone, because your strength is coming!"

The sword cultivators formed a simple and weak human wall on both sides of Ye Jingqiu, leaving her only a path forward, so... she could only move forward.

"......Thanks."

Ye Jingqiu pursed her lips. She stopped using her sword to control the wind and instead held it in her hand.

She recalled the sword moves Su Yan had demonstrated for her that night.

She took a step forward, and the ethereal line of her cultivation barrier vanished—she had already reached the Core Formation stage.

"Zzzzt—"

Ye Jingqiu transformed into a sword light, cleaving through the dense forest of Yanshan. The early-stage Core Formation demon, which was hiding by the stone pool in the forest and directing the attack, was completely caught off guard by this sword strike. It had no way to dodge and was hit head-on.

"roar!"

It cried out in pain, but was immediately splashed on the head with a warm, fragrant liquid, and the frenzied agitation within its body began to subside instantly.

Ye Jingqiu did not stop. Seeing that the antidote was working, she stomped the demon leader into the ground and then rushed towards Su Yan, as indicated by the positioning array.

There are still many demons in the forest, but as long as they lose their leader, the sword cultivators will have no problem protecting themselves.

But what about Su Yan?

What is he facing?

Feeling lost, Ye Jingqiu could only increase her speed. She quickly circled around to a sparse forest on the other side of Yanshan Mountain.

She could already sense it.

It was a battle at the Core Formation level, but the intent unleashed by both sides far exceeded this level.

"Don't come any closer!"

Su Yan's shout came from afar. He was burning his life force, forcibly maintaining his Core Formation realm for a quarter of an hour. His divine sense was naturally at its maximum due to the all-out battle, thus he sensed Ye Jingqiu approaching:

"You can't see or hear anything here!"

The Time Dao Ancestor once discussed with Su Yan what would happen if people from the past knew about the future.

Perhaps, the different weight people hold in history will cause different degrees of fragmentation in the timeline.

Perhaps, this person will suffer mental damage, or even physical and spiritual death, due to receiving knowledge they should not have known.

Or perhaps, nothing will happen.

These are all just guesses, but Su Yan dared not gamble.

He couldn't accept either the timeline breaking or Ye Jingqiu's death.

Ye Jingqiu stopped in his tracks.

She stared in the direction from which the sound came, where countless sword lights faintly shone.

She suddenly raised her hand, took off the light blue ribbon that tied her ponytail and covered her eyes, then took out a listening device and put it into her ear, while simultaneously deafening her other ear.

Ye Jingqiu's shoulders trembled, and she expressionlessly suppressed the repair of her eardrums with her spiritual power. She had to be deaf, at least for the time being.

She is now unable to see or hear, like a weapon with the power of a Core Formation cultivator, just waiting for someone to wield it.

"Su Yan".

She transmitted the sound through a listening device:

"Guide me, and I will be your sword."