However, there were some partially dried bloodstains inside the cave.
Following the trail of blood, they tracked all the way to the riverside, but finally lost all traces of Jiang Ke’er.
“**!”
Even Zhuo Feng, who had received a proper upbringing since childhood, couldn’t help but burst out with a few curses on the spot.
She got away again!
So many people, yet a little girl played them all like she was toying with fools!
First, she broke into the camp alone and killed seven people before escaping.
Then, she hid right under their noses and stole another life while seven more watched helplessly.
After all the effort, when it seemed she would finally be cornered with nowhere to go… she jumped into the river instead, used the beaver den that connected to the surface to ambush them once more.
After the sneak attack, she slipped back into the river and narrowly dodged a deadly hammer blow, using the water’s cushioning to block the shockwave, and slipped away without a trace.
Slippery as an eel!
If you counted Ling Yuan and Telo, who had died earlier, out of the nineteen people they’d brought, eleven had died in half a day—forced to such a state by a single opponent.
To be driven this far by a creature they’d never even considered a true threat… Zhuo Feng couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
A faint worry finally rose in his heart, and even a trace of fear he didn’t want to admit…
But when he saw the burly figure of Cao Zhen standing beside him, he let out a breath.
The Fireblade Squad was full of madmen—formidable foes, but, as allies, their danger became reassurance.
Especially the one left now—he had inherited all the power and enhancements of the other four members.
His personal strength was terrifying; with a single punch he could instantly obliterate a whole group of cultivators at the Liuhe Stage…
As long as Cao Zhen was here, as long as they stayed close, they would remain unbeatable.
Besides, he himself wasn’t weak either.
“Fall back.”
Regaining his confidence, Zhuo Feng gave the order again.
But Cao Zhen suddenly grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
“I don’t want to take your orders anymore,” Cao Zhen’s spiritual power blazed like fire, but his gaze was icy cold.
“You self-important piece of trash—you’re only giving the enemy more chances.”
Zhuo Feng’s eyes nearly bulged out from being choked, but he dared not say a word in protest.
“I’m going after her. You all head back to camp and hide,” Cao Zhen threw Zhuo Feng aside with a disdainful glance.
“Stop giving her more power, you worthless lot.”
With that, his muscles erupted with a crackle, and with knees bent, he sprang into the air like a cannonball, vanishing from sight.
Jiang Ke’er washed the blood and mud from her body.
She straightened her tail, shook the wet fur, and then transformed back into human form to put on her clothes.
Once finished, Jiang Ke’er sniffed carefully at her previous wounds to make sure there was no scent left before setting off again.
She’d been injured just now, and quite badly.
Plenty of splinters had pierced her flesh, making her look drenched in blood.
Thankfully, with Luyia’s Divine Light Technique, she was able to heal in time and didn’t faint from blood loss.
Still, the little blood she had was now even less.
After taking two steps, Jiang Ke’er’s vision suddenly went dark.
She staggered forward, nearly collapsing, but managed to steady herself against a tree trunk before she hit the ground.
Every few seconds, her chest tightened with palpitations.
Her hands and feet were icy cold, her limbs weak and powerless, her head spinning—these were all signs of severe blood loss.
Jiang Ke’er racked her brain, wondering where she could find something to replenish her blood.
Grabbing a living human, matching blood types, and transfusing directly—that would be the fastest way… But she was a fox! The only fox demon in all Shenzhou; never mind matching blood types, she couldn’t even find a matching species.
Foods rich in protein, iron, and folic acid could help replenish blood, but the process of digestion and synthesis would take far too long—hardly a solution to her urgent need.
Unless she could find a medicinal pill that replenished qi and blood and could be quickly absorbed to ease her anemia… but in these desolate mountains, where could she find such a pill?
This couldn’t go on; blood loss wasn’t something that could be overcome by willpower alone.
But… she really had no options left.
Forcing herself onward, Jiang Ke’er staggered toward her nest.
To speed up her return, she bumped into trees more than once in her daze, leaving her head covered in lumps.
Fortunately, she soon made it back within the range of the Poison Powder Circle.
She kept her spiritual senses alert the entire time, knowing that Qian Yue hadn’t encountered any danger.
Still, to be safe, she checked the perimeter of the Poison Powder Circle.
“Hmm.”
Someone had been here.
A path had been cleared outside the circle, but the visitor had stopped at the edge and left without entering.
There was no malice from the visitor; in fact, as a sign of respect, they didn’t step into the Poison Powder Circle at all.
Jiang Ke’er knew what had happened—she had been keeping watch with her spiritual senses.
It was Emperor Taizong of Tang and Changsun Wuji.
They thought their movements were hidden, but they couldn’t imagine the true strength of her spiritual perception—everything that happened here was within her awareness.
Luckily, those two had the sense not to step into the circle.
After all, she’d hidden every poison she had gathered up to now inside that circle.
If anyone entered, it would all be triggered at once.
Continuing her inspection, Jiang Ke’er found a small Alchemy Furnace by the edge of the Poison Powder Circle.
On top was a note.
[A small gift—take it or leave it, we mean no harm. — Left by Emperor Taizong of Tang and Changsun Wuji]
I wasn’t planning to kill you anyway, but look how scared you were.
Jiang Ke’er smiled and accepted the Alchemy Furnace.
But she remembered that someone else had left the group halfway, following Emperor Taizong of Tang and Changsun Wuji.
Where had that person gone? Without warning, even their presence had vanished.
How strange.
No matter how she searched, Jiang Ke’er couldn’t find any more clues.
And as nearly six hours slipped by, she had no choice but to hurry back to the nest, resolving to keep this odd matter in mind for now.
After tidying herself up again to look lively, Jiang Ke’er leaped back into the nest.
“I’m back.”
Qian Yue was still asleep and didn’t reply.
Though she was now much stronger, her spiritual power almost fully recovered, the Blood Spirit Curse had not weakened at all, making it difficult for her to stay conscious.
Jiang Ke’er sighed softly, knelt down, and, as she had done many times before, slit her own wrist.
Unlike the last two times, when the blood had flowed in a steady stream, this time, it seeped out drop by drop.
Her blood pressure had fallen so low that blood could barely flow at all.
If she hadn’t kept channeling spiritual power to assist the flow and stimulate her cells’ vitality, she probably would have collapsed from shock already.
Jiang Ke’er squeezed her arm hard to make the blood come out faster.
She felt utterly exhausted, her head drooping again and again, almost falling onto Qian Yue several times.
“Mm…”
Qian Yue’s breathing slowly steadied as she finally woke up.
Jiang Ke’er quickly pulled back her arm, wiped away the blood, and forced a confident smile.
“Awake? Then I’ll go catch another blood bag.”
With that, she scrambled up and hurried out of the nest, almost as if escaping.