This was nothing short of a trap feast. At this point, trying to rationalize why she hadn’t noticed Benji’s true intentions earlier was useless.
Instead, Lin Qiyou was curious why Benji would do this.
No, rather, she wanted to confirm her own suspicions.
Calling it a feast was even inappropriate since Lin Qiyou disliked crowded places, so the gathering was held in a small room.
Just now, when Benji suddenly smashed his cup as a signal, several Yao Clan members burst into the room. Lin Qiyou then realized she was standing inside a circle of formation.
“One, two, three, four, five…”
Lin Qiyou pointed with her long sword at those Yao Clan members who appeared deformed due to their shapeshifting flaws.
“Benji, didn’t you say that the Yao Clan values keeping promises and honoring contracts? The terms we agreed upon don’t seem to include this, do they?”
“The Yao Clan’s credibility only exists among the Yao Clan, Youjianxian.”
Benji shook his head with a smile. Lin Qiyou scoffed disdainfully.
“Is that so? I don’t think you have any credibility even among your own kind. You’re just making excuses for your actions.
From the moment we formed our alliance to accomplish great things, I’ve done nothing wrong.
And now, because of that fox, you turn your blade against me despite our shared goal.”
Lin Qiyou could roughly guess Benji’s motive: betrayal. As for Nongli, either she had reached an understanding with him or was being controlled.
Lin Qiyou lightly touched her sword’s tip. She couldn’t yet channel the spiritual energy inside her body because the formation here only allowed Yao Clan members to manipulate energy.
So what she had to do was use her sword to deal with these foes and then escape the room.
Judging by this, there must be other formations outside, but none as cruelly restrictive as this one.
Benji’s plan was likely to trap her in this cramped room without letting her cause damage outside.
“Attack.”
At Benji’s command, he clasped his hands together, and countless corpse scorpions crawled out from the ground. The five Yao Clan members roared and charged toward Lin Qiyou.
Danger surged from all directions, but Lin Qiyou remained calm. She simply hummed softly and slashed her sword fiercely before her—a silver moon gleamed.
The wave-like swarm of insects was parted by her divine power, scattering to both sides and blocking the five Yao Clan members’ vision.
Lin Qiyou then flashed like a ghost in front of them.
Sword raised, fate sealed.
Those Yao Clan members, whom Benji had pinned his hopes on, were effortlessly slain by Lin Qiyou, their flesh and blood falling to the ground in chunks.
Blood and flesh scattered and congealed in the air as the white-robed fairy danced in the middle. Each time she killed an ambusher, her gaze sharpened further.
Drawing closer, ever closer, she advanced with leisurely steps toward Benji, causing the Yao King to curse:
“Does she not use spiritual veins at all?!”
“Heh—well, not exactly.”
Lin Qiyou arrived before Benji, placing her sword horizontally across his neck and said calmly, “When my father hunted me down years ago, I shattered all the spiritual veins in my body. His method to trap and kill me was suppressing me with spiritual power.
Though my spiritual veins have recently healed, that’s a recent development.
So, how do you think I came to be known as Youjianxian and founded Youjian Sect?
One person, one sword.”
“Tch, you never told me any of that. You’re untrustworthy and have no sincerity for cooperation!”
Benji’s face twitched with anger, veins bulging.
“If I didn’t keep something in reserve, do you think you would have succeeded?”
Even Lin Qiyou couldn’t help but curl her lips in amusement at Benji.
“So betraying me was the right choice!”
Benji’s words made Lin Qiyou laugh.
“Is that so? Such twisted reasoning?”
She traced her sword lightly on Benji’s neck, and his head fell to the ground. His head then dissolved into a swarm of insects, followed by his body.
Lin Qiyou knew Benji wasn’t dead. She flicked her sword gently and walked out of the room at ease.
The room was a mess, scattered with chunks of flesh, yet Lin Qiyou’s white clothes remained unstained by a speck of dust.
In the corridor, she saw Yao Clan members beginning to flee. It seemed Benji had ordered them to retreat.
“Kill them all?”
At first, Lin Qiyou thought it was too one-sided to say the Yao Clan was evil, but after being betrayed by Benji like this, she realized it was indeed true.
She hurried toward the crowd of Yao Clan scrambling at the door, swung her sword like the King of Hell dipping thick ink on the death register.
She wiped them out clean in the corridor, then pursued toward Benji’s palace.
Wherever she saw a Yao, she killed; wherever she saw a living thing, she slashed.
Sword qi and spells combined with deadly precision.
Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill!
Only one word filled Lin Qiyou’s mind.
She wanted to see if Benji really cared for his people as he claimed.
Wasn’t the point of locking her in that powerless little room to catch her like a trapped fish?
He was afraid she’d affect the city’s Yao Clan?
Then what if she killed them all—would that force Benji out?
With that thought, Lin Qiyou suddenly stepped through empty air above the city. Like a god overlooking all, she loosened her right hand; the long sword flew before her.
She closed her eyes and continuously formed hand seals.
From below, spells kept flying at her, but she ignored them, letting them pass through her.
Her spiritual energy was like a fierce tiger; those spells were mere lynxes.
“Flatten this place.”
Lin Qiyou muttered. The sword grew larger and larger, increasing exponentially.
Yet among the lynxes, a cunning fox hid. A scarlet spell suddenly struck her side.
Lin Qiyou cried out in pain and, with her sword, fell from the sky.
“Die! You beast!”
The three-tailed Yao fox, Nongli, appeared before Lin Qiyou. Half-human, half-fox, she soared in the air, exuding a powerful Yao aura, claws bared, lunging at the unsuspecting Lin Qiyou.
“Ah… you fox.”
Lin Qiyou, head down, expressionless, suddenly hooked her hand and grabbed her sword.
Nongli’s claws were just inches from her neck.
A hair’s breadth more, and Lin Qiyou would have been covered in blood.
But in Lin Qiyou’s eyes, Nongli was just as ridiculous as Benji.
Two beasts, nothing worth standing on the stage.
“Shhh—”
The force of Lin Qiyou’s sword was so great she was thrown spinning through the air with it.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!”
A scream rang out.
Lin Qiyou stabilized herself and looked toward where she had been moments ago.
Blood rained down midair as Nongli was cleaved in two by a single sword strike.
Upper body, lower body.
Although the lower half had three tails, the upper half was obviously heavier because it fell faster.
“Do you really think I couldn’t have killed you all these years?”
Lin Qiyou hooked her sword again and slashed another sword qi toward Nongli.
Either way, she wouldn’t die.
At worst, she’d just chop this fox into more pieces to pack away.