Ao Yao instinctively covered her waist.
That movement was almost instinctive.
This short sword was as precious as her life. Since childhood, no one had touched it except herself.
“What? You want to borrow my sword?” She looked at Jiang Huai in disbelief, her bright green eyes filled with shock.
She even took a few steps back, her small figure casting a hasty shadow on the ground.
“Do you… do you not have your own sword? No way!”
She tightly guarded the sword hilt at her waist, her delicate face full of vigilance.
Jiang Huai frowned slightly. He looked at her, silent for a moment, then finally said with an apologetic tone:
“Sorry, I really have no choice.”
If he could, he wouldn’t have come to borrow this sword.
He did have quite a few Immortal Swords, all part of the inheritance left to him by Qin Qingyue.
Any one of them would make an ordinary Cultivator jealous for a lifetime.
“I don’t have a sword that can tear space apart like your Azure Dragon Short Sword,” he said truthfully, his eyes falling on the blue short sword at her waist.
“At least, not this kind of space. I can’t do it.”
He could shatter the barrier of this Secret Realm, tear apart the bodies of those Monstrous Beings, and sweep away thousands of Heavenly Demons with a single strike.
But he couldn’t enter the space where those three crystals were located.
That was a completely different dimension, a prison woven from the laws of this Small World.
Ao Yao was stunned. Her hand guarding the sword hilt stiffened slightly.
On her delicate little face, extremely complex emotions surfaced: conflict, difficulty, and a shame she found hard to voice.
She began to fidget.
Her small body swayed gently in place, the blue-hemmed skirt fluttering slightly with the movement, revealing a slender ankle wrapped in white silk socks.
She lowered her head, twisting her fingers, her big green eyes darting up and then quickly down, her eyelashes fluttering.
“No…” she muttered, her voice soft and a little whiny. “You’re a Yin-Yang Body… don’t you have any other way?”
Three parts excuse, seven parts unspeakable shame.
Jiang Huai sighed. He looked at her like this and knew she must have some unspeakable difficulty.
“Sorry, I really have no other way,” he said, his voice gentle and apologetic. “Besides, look.”
He pointed to the crystals of Qin Xuange, Cang Ling, and Cang Jing.
The three transparent crystals hung silently beneath the roots of the strange tree.
On Qin Xuange’s crystal, the spread of ink-black spots was extremely slow.
Tendrils of purple-black spread slowly, like a snail crawling, each inch requiring a long time.
Inside the crystal, Qin Xuange’s brows were slightly furrowed, as if she were still struggling and resisting even in slumber.
But on the crystals of Cang Ling and Cang Jing, the black spread very rapidly.
The purple-black ink spots were like concentrated ink dripping into clear water, spreading wildly.
Inside the crystals, the faces of the Yellow Dragon sisters were already blurring, as if they could be completely devoured by the darkness at any moment—a shocking sight.
It seemed as if the figures of the Yellow Dragon sisters would soon be completely replaced.
Ao Yao’s gaze fell on those three crystals.
“This…”
In the end, she unsheathed the sword hilt from her waist.
The movement was careful, holding it with both hands as if cradling a rare treasure.
She bit her lip, said nothing, and simply handed the short sword to Jiang Huai.
The strange tree looked on with interest at the two of them.
Its countless tentacles swayed gently, as if it hadn’t seen anything interesting in a very long time.
Those tentacles swayed in the air like spectators, with a hint of curiosity.
Ao Yao glared at it! Her bright green eyes were full of anger as she snapped:
“What are you looking at?! If it weren’t for you, would I be in this situation?!”
She waved her hand angrily, and a green barrier materialized out of thin air.
The barrier shot out from her fingertips, instantly expanding into an airtight green light cover, enveloping her and Jiang Huai, completely cutting off all outside gazes.
The strange tree was clearly stunned.
It stared blankly at that green light barrier, its countless tentacles frozen in midair, at a loss.
It wanted to poke its head in, but the barrier was airtight.
It wanted to sense with Divine Sense, but the barrier blocked everything.
It also didn’t dare to make a move, because Ji Xi, whom Jiang Huai had summoned, was no joke.
That tall figure in blue robes was quietly floating to the side, the Two Energies of Yin and Yang slowly circulating, ready to strike down with a sword at any moment.
It could only awkwardly retract its tentacles and wait in embarrassment.
Inside the green light barrier.
Jiang Zhun looked strangely at the barrier around him, then at Ao Yao.
He didn’t understand: just handing over a sword—why so strange? Why afraid of being seen?
“What are you…”
“Let me declare first!” Ao Yao interrupted him, her voice urgent and soft, tinged with nervousness. “This sword can’t be drawn casually!”
She lifted her face, those big green eyes staring straight at Jiang Zhun, reiterating:
“Aside from myself, basically no one can draw it. Not even my Honored Master can.”
She paused, her voice dropping with some trepidation:
“You… you try to draw it, just give it a shot. If it doesn’t work… then… we can only retreat.”
As she spoke, her small hands clutched her skirt.
Jiang Huai looked at her like this and understood. It had already taken great effort for Ao Yao to tear through space and escape.
Asking her to tear through space and enter the crystal world where Cang Ling and the others were trapped was even harder.
So he had to do it, using the power of Ji Xi to cut through that layer of space.
“Isn’t it just using the sword once?” Jiang Huai said with a wry smile. “It’s not like I won’t give it back.”
He reached out and took the hilt of Ao Yao’s sword.
The hilt was warm in his hand, with a slight heat, like holding a piece of warm jade.
The blade was hidden in the sheath, motionless. He slowly exerted force. A strange resistance arose.
The feeling… was not the obstruction of an iron sheath, nor the friction of metal against metal.
Rather, it was a fleshy sensation, as if pulling it out from flesh and blood.
Jiang Huai’s movements stopped. He looked down at the sword hilt in his hand, then at Ao Yao opposite him.
Ao Yao’s small and cute calves under her skirt began to tremble.
Those slender legs wrapped in white silk socks were now trembling uncontrollably, the skin at her ankles flushing a light pink.
A blush rose on her pretty face, her pearly teeth biting her lower lip as she gritted out:
“You… you can really pull it… ah… mm…”
Her voice was soft and trembling, with an uncontrollable moan.
Jiang Huai looked in surprise at the sword slowly being drawn in his hand.
The blade slid out inch by inch from the sheath, a blue cold light flowing continuously within the green light barrier, dragon patterns faintly appearing on the edge.
But strangely, the longer the sword was pulled out, the more Ao Yao’s legs shook. Those slender calves trembled like willow branches in the wind, the silk socks at her ankles wrinkling slightly, and even her skirt swayed gently.
Jiang Zhun’s movements grew slower and slower. He looked at Ao Yao, at her face so red it seemed about to bleed, at her tightly bitten lips, at her watery green eyes.
“How does your Dragon Race have such an Immortal Artifact?” he complained with a wry smile, though his hand still slowly pulled the sword. “Are you sure you have no relation to Su Yingman?”
“What… what nonsense are you talking?!” Ao Yao said urgently, her voice soft and sticky.
“This is something I’ve been… been… warming since childhood… do you understand?!”
Her calf trembled again.
“Do you even understand… ah…”
Before she could finish, her legs gave way, and she pitched forward! Jiang Zhun reacted quickly and caught her.
But the sword was still being pulled.