Faint moonlight intertwined with the afterglow of the setting sun, casting a soft sheen over Su Nian’s Light-element Magic Robe.
The sacred radiance hadn’t completely faded, making her look like a moonlit spirit who had wandered into the mortal realm.
Yet, those clear amber eyes now held a chilling coldness, strikingly beautiful and breathtaking all the same.
“Hiss—”
The bandits who caught sight of her gasped involuntarily.
Not out of fear, but sheer amazement.
This woman was ten times more stunning than the fleeting glimpse they had caught just moments ago when the wind lifted the carriage curtain!
Her skin was fair and dewy, her eyes deep and enchanting, her figure slender and alluring.
A few bolder bandits’ gazes burned hotter, almost as if they could set her robe ablaze with their looks.
“Boss, this girl… is absolutely top-tier! Truly the best of the best!”
The nearby lackeys rubbed their hands excitedly, drooling almost uncontrollably.
“She’s honestly on par with the continent’s idol, Su Nian! We really hit the jackpot this time!”
“Hehe, we have to bring her back! Back to the mountain stronghold, so all the brothers can enjoy themselves!”
The scar-faced bandit leader licked his cracked lips, eyes glittering with determined greed.
At that moment—
A low, lazy voice laced with clear displeasure and a deadly killing intent drifted softly from inside the carriage.
“Need me to step in?”
It was that bastard, Chu Tian.
Su Nian didn’t even need to turn around to imagine the look of amusement on his face.
She didn’t turn.
“No need.”
After a brief pause, she added coldly, “I can handle this myself.”
Her icy gaze swept over the bandits who had already counted her as prey, as if they were nothing more than corpses.
The bandit leader sized her up—a delicate beauty stepping down from the carriage alone, carrying a cold aura, but still a woman.
Next to her was the carriage driver, cloaked and standing like a wooden post, too intimidated to make a sound or move.
Clearly, he had been cowed by the bandit gang’s presence.
As for this woman, with such an aura—
‘Could she be some runaway noble lady?’
The scar-faced leader’s heart steadied, a cruel smile spreading across his face as he stepped forward, trying to radiate “power.”
“Little lady, don’t refuse a drink only to get punished! Come with us obediently, and you’ll suffer less…”
“Follow me and you’ll eat well and live comfortably…”
However—
Before he could finish—
Suddenly, something changed!
Su Nian raised her hands slightly; her fair fingertips traced arcs in the air.
The Water Element and Fire Element in the surrounding air instantly stirred.
Scorching flames and biting cold fiercely gathered, intertwined, and collided within her palms!
The next moment—
Without any chanting, or even extra movement—
Several fiery serpents, each as thick as a bowl’s mouth and blazing fiercely, hissed and roared as they shot through the air!
At the same time, a dense volley of sharp icicles, emanating a bone-chilling cold, materialized out of thin air like a storm of arrows!
Fire and ice—two opposing elemental forces—under her precise control, fused into a furious and deadly torrent of magic!
Faster than lightning, overwhelming and unstoppable, they blasted toward the bandits lost in their fantasies!
“Ah—!”
“My hands!”
“Burning! It’s so hot!”
“Frozen! I can’t move!”
Piercing screams suddenly shattered the evening silence.
The flames, like relentless worms burrowing into bone, instantly ignited the bandits’ rough clothing and exposed skin with sizzling crackles.
The icicles, sharp and icy, precisely pierced their limbs and joints, pinning some to the ground or freezing others into immobile blocks of ice.
Within seconds—
The bandits who had been so arrogant and foul-mouthed moments before were all decisively subdued by Su Nian.
They lay scattered on the ground, writhing in pain and wailing, or frozen in place, faces twisted in terror and disbelief.
Su Nian stepped forward calmly.
Her white magic robe spotless, stark against the surrounding chaos.
Her heels made a faint rustling on the dry earth, looking especially elegant on her slender feet.
Yet…
For the bandits before her, there was no time left to appreciate the sight.
“Ma—m–mage, have mercy!”
“I’m just a lowly one who failed to recognize greatness! I was blind to offend you, Great Lord!”
“Please show mercy, treat me like a piece of dirt and spare my life!”
The scar-faced bandit leader crawled and knelt, ignoring his injured leg, begging with a quivering, tearful voice.
He never would have imagined that in such a remote wasteland, a powerful mage would pass by…
Mages preferred to travel by Transmission Array, didn’t they?
The scar-faced leader and the few surviving, still conscious underlings now looked at Su Nian with nothing but boundless terror.
Gone was any trace of their previous greed and lust.
The casually unleashed power of the instant fiery serpents and piercing icicles—
Water and fire combined!
Clearly demonstrating that the stunning beauty before them was a formidable mage they absolutely could not provoke!
Great Lord Mage!
They had been blind, foolish to offend such a terrifying presence!
Su Nian’s expression remained impassive, her eyes unshaken.
“Where is your mountain stronghold?”
Her voice was icy, devoid of emotion, like a freezing spring in midwinter.
“Take me there.”
Her tone brooked no refusal—it was a final judgment.
The bandit leader shuddered all over, daring not to hesitate even a moment.
He gritted his teeth through the pain and pointed toward the dim woods not far ahead.
“The stronghold… The stronghold is just up ahead in the mountain hollow, very close! Very close!”
“I’ll take you there right away! Please spare a lowly dog’s life!”
Su Nian’s cold gaze swept over the twisted, wailing figures on the ground, with no thought of healing them.
If they had been forced into banditry by desperation and survival, she might have found it forgivable.
But these men were well-fed and boasting about capturing her for their own gain—habitual criminals not worthy of mercy.
“Da Hei, tie them all up and make them lead the way.”
There was no response from Chu Tian behind the carriage curtain; the interior fell silent.
Moments later, a tall figure cloaked in a large, concealing cloak slid down silently from the carriage driver’s seat as if weightless.
It was the terrifying Undead Knight, Da Hei.
Its hollow eye sockets burned with eerie blue soul flames, its movements stiff and unnatural like the undead, yet exuding a chilling efficiency.
No one knew where it pulled several thick, durable hemp ropes from under the cloak.
With muffled groans and the sound of fabric scraping, Da Hei quickly bound the writhing bandits on the ground like livestock, securing them tightly.
Their mouths were crudely gagged with torn cloth, leaving only the scar-faced leader able to barely breathe and guide the way.
The bandit leader trembled like a leaf in the wind, his eyes pure terror, no longer daring to hesitate.
Under his trembling guidance, the silent Da Hei herded the captives like cattle.
Su Nian maintained a steady, unhurried pace behind them.
The group headed deeper into the shadowed heart of the forest.
The bandit gang’s lair was well-hidden, tucked into a nearly undiscoverable mountain hollow.
Scattered crude wooden spike traps and concealed sentries dotted the perimeter.
Yet these defenses were mere child’s play before a terrifying undead creature like Da Hei, who effortlessly ignored or dismantled them.
“Creak—”
The roughly assembled wooden gate of the stronghold was rudely kicked open by Da Hei’s heavy foot.