Chapter 252: Rescue

"Yes, Valley Master."

Hearing Ji Yuanxuan's heroic and resounding roar, the hundreds of battle-hardened warriors of the Resonance Valley behind him were instantly filled with surging passion. With blood-red eyes fixed on the men of the Cloud Mountain Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect, they let out a deafening battle cry and charged fiercely toward the enemy with flashing weapons in hand.

At the same time, Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei sneered coldly. Raising their hands in a wave, the dense throngs of the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Cloud Mountain Sect behind them surged forward like fierce tigers descending from the mountain.

Simultaneously, the figures of Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei flashed, darting forward to land right in front of Ji Yuanxuan, fixing their gazes on him with faint smiles on their faces.

"Ji Yuanxuan, I advise you to stop making a futile resistance. If you surrender..."

Before Lu Qingshan could finish his sentence, the rest of the words were abruptly choked back, because Ji Yuanxuan in front of him had already let out a cold snort and launched the first attack against him.

Seeing that Ji Yuanxuan would strike without a word of agreement, the expressions of Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei turned extremely gloomy. Without wasting any more breath, the two directly lunged at Ji Yuanxuan, launching a coordinated assault.

In a split second, the entire valley grew intensely heated, with fierce clashes erupting everywhere. The most deadlocked battle, and the one that would ultimately decide the outcome for both sides, was the circle surrounding Ji Yuanxuan, Bai Yunfei, and Lu Qingshan.

By now, Ji Yuanxuan's strength had already reached the peak of the Spirit-Connecting Realm, just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the Spirit-Sea Realm. Yet this tiny step was as difficult to cross as a vast chasm for him. Even so, the combat power he displayed far surpassed ordinary peak Spirit-Connecting Realm experts, making him barely classifiable as a half-step Spirit-Sea Realm expert.

However, although his strength had grown over the past half year, neither Bai Yunfei nor Lu Qingshan were ordinary individuals. Their three factions had maintained a tripartite balance in Bingzhou for nearly decades; if Bai Yunfei and Lu Qingshan lacked true capability, they would have long since been eradicated by the Brahman Sound Valley and could never have held out until now.

Thus, facing a two-on-one situation, Ji Yuanxuan gradually fell into a disadvantage.

He grew quite anxious inwardly at this turn of events. At this moment, they were trapped with enemies before and behind them. All the members of the Brahman Sound Valley had been forced into this low-lying valley, and the number of ordinary disciples fell far short of the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Cloud Mountain Sect. If his own battle circle collapsed, the remaining members of the Brahman Sound Valley would likely scatter like monkeys fleeing a falling tree, their morale plummeting, and utter destruction would be only a matter of time.

Though losing his own old life was of little consequence, if anything were to happen to Ji Wuyue, he would have no face to meet his wife in the netherworld.

Ji Wuyue's mother had died of dystocia while giving birth to her. With her dying breath, she had entrusted Ji Yuanxuan to raise their daughter well into adulthood, to cherish her and protect her from the slightest harm.

Naturally, Ji Yuanxuan adored and doted on his daughter, and he had lived up to that promise all these years.

Yet once his circle failed, allowing Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei to free their hands, the remaining members of the Brahman Sound Valley would not last a single blow against the two of them. By then, Ji Wuyue would inevitably plunge into irreversible danger.

Seemingly sharing this exact intention, Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei stepped up their combined assault, executing moves that grew faster and more ferocious by the second, clearly aiming to take Ji Yuanxuan down in the shortest time possible.

Driven to a corner, Ji Yuanxuan hardened his heart, and the boundless spiritual energy within his spiritual meridian surged forth like a roaring river, launching fierce, wave-like counter-attacks at the two in a complete reckless gamble—exchanging injury for injury, blow for blow.

Naturally, Lu Qingshan and Bai Yunfei, who held the absolute advantage, had no intention of trading blows with such desperation. As a result, under their joint efforts, they found themselves somewhat battered by Ji Yuanxuan's fierce and desperate assault.

"This old bastard is truly troublesome," Lu Qingshan cursed inwardly.

He had not expected Ji Yuanxuan to unleash such violent offensive power on his own. Judging by the situation, it was utterly unrealistic for the two of them to defeat him quickly. After all, the desperate final struggle of a peak Spirit-Connecting cultivator—or rather, one with half a foot in the Spirit-Sea Realm—carried a price even the two of them could hardly afford.

Glancing around swiftly, Lu Qingshan shifted his gaze toward the battlefield not far away—where a delicate young girl in black was seated on a massive boulder, playing a zither with her own hands.

With every pluck of the girl's slender fingers, a miserable cry would ring out in the distance. Although she was engaged in killing, her graceful movements, composed demeanor, and miraculous techniques strangely gave off an aura of elegance and poise, as if she were performing an artistic masterpiece.

Who else could possess such an air other than Ji Wuyue?

Catching sight of the girl, Lu Qingshan exchanged a meaningful look with Bai Yunfei nearby.

The latter instantly grasped the intent. Seizing the moment when Ji Yuanxuan's attack left a momentary gap, Bai Yunfei flashed forward and blasted toward Ji Wuyue in the distance like a bolt of lightning.

"Bai Yunfei, you dare!"

Realizing something was amiss, Ji Yuanxuan's expression altered drastically. Disregarding everything else, he charged frantically after Bai Yunfei.

"Your opponent is me."

Just as Ji Yuanxuan moved, however, a cold laugh echoed from nearby, and a torrent of spiritual energy hurtled straight toward him.

"Get lost!"

Furious, Ji Yuanxuan was consumed by anxiety for Ji Wuyue's safety. With a resounding roar, his internal spiritual energy surged, and he threw a punch that instantly shattered the incoming torrent of spiritual energy.

Yet this delay hindered his speed. Moreover, the Cloud Mountain Sect was renowned for its movement techniques; under normal circumstances, Ji Yuanxuan's speed was already slightly inferior to Bai Yunfei's. Now that he was chasing from behind, he simply could not catch up in time.

"Second brother, stop him!"

The two older brothers, who had been guarding Ji Wuyue all along, also realized the danger. The eldest shouted to the second brother, and both brothers simultaneously slammed their feet against the ground, unleashing two massive torrents of spiritual energy toward the airborne Bai Yunfei.

"A mantis trying to stop a chariot," Bai Yunfei sneered upon seeing this.

Waving his sleeve without slowing his pace in the slightest, he shattered the two incoming attacks the moment they reached him. The overwhelming energy radiating from his sleeve slammed directly into the brothers' chests, sending them flying backward through the air. They spat a mouthful of fresh blood before crashing heavily to the ground, their auras instantly withering.

Though their cultivation was around the third layer of the Spirit-Connecting Realm—which could be considered quite remarkable among their peers—they appeared utterly insignificant in the eyes of Bai Yunfei, who stood at the peak of the Spirit-Connecting Realm.

Seeing her two brothers instantly collapse, a look of profound fury surfaced on Ji Wuyue's delicate face. Abruptly standing up, thick, pitch-black spiritual energy surged throughout her body, enveloping her like an eerie black mist and even turning her eyes completely jet-black!

Bai Yunfei let out a cold snort, flicking his wrist to unleash a pale-green elemental spiritual energy beam that viciously struck toward where Ji Wuyue stood.

"Yuer!"

Ji Yuanxuan and her two brothers cried out in alarm. This seemingly casual strike from Bai Yunfei was something even a peak Spirit-Connecting expert would not dare to ignore lightly. Although Ji Wuyue's cultivation talent was exceptionally high, she was currently only at the third layer of the Spirit-Connecting Realm. Even though her dark-attribute spiritual physique far surpassed others, the gap in their cultivation levels was simply too vast.

Facing the incoming pale-green spiritual energy beam, Ji Wuyue leaped into the air amidst the horrified gazes of the onlookers. Waving her slender hand, she unleashed a pitch-black spiritual energy beam of her own, which violently collided with the green beam.

Boom!

Accompanied by a loud explosion in mid-air, the onlookers watched in shock as the two spiritual energy attacks mutually annihilated each other upon impact and vanished into nothingness.

"To think she could actually block an attack from me; a dark-attribute spiritual physique is truly formidable," Bai Yunfei thought to himself in silent astonishment.

At the same time, he realized something: Ji Wuyue had managed to block his peak Spirit-Connecting attack with only third-layer Spirit-Connecting strength because she had resorted to using her primordial spiritual energy.

Yet the disparity in their strength was too great; blocking this single blow was already Ji Wuyue's absolute limit.

Seemingly realizing this, Bai Yunfei sneered, flicked his finger once more, and sent another fierce spiritual energy beam shooting directly toward Ji Wuyue.

A look of deep solemnity crossed Ji Wuyue's pretty face. Waving her hand, she formed a round black protective shield the size of a plate in front of her. The moment the spiritual energy struck the shield, it emitted a crisp shattering sound and instantly exploded into fragments.

With her black defensive shield broken, the pale-green elemental attack maintained its momentum and slammed directly onto Ji Wuyue's delicate shoulder.

Struck heavily, Ji Wuyue let out a muffled groan as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her crimson lips—the toll of her earlier injuries. The black spiritual energy enveloping her body and eyes slowly faded, leaving her face deathly pale. Blocking Bai Yunfei's attack had indeed pushed her to her absolute limit.

"Once I capture you, that old bastard Ji Yuanxuan won't dare refuse to surrender."

Bai Yunfei sneered. With a flick of his body, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, hurtling toward the retreating Ji Wuyue in mid-air. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance to less than a meter from her.

"Beauty, come with me."

A lecherous glint flashed in Bai Yunfei's eyes. Outwardly, he appeared refined and gentlemanly, yet his actions were filthier and more depraved than anyone's.

Clearly, such hypocrites who wore a mask of gentlemanly charm were far more detestable than outright villains.

"Yuer!"

Ji Yuanxuan roared in agony. Unable to care about Lu Qingshan's attacks any longer, he threw himself desperately toward the battlefield. The two brothers on the ground also struggled to crawl up to intervene, but their speed was clearly too slow to reach her before Bai Yunfei.

Just as Bai Yunfei's hand was about to grab Ji Wuyue's delicate shoulder, a pale-blue flash of cold light suddenly cut across the space before him. The lewd smile on Bai Yunfei's face instantly froze as he watched in sheer disbelief as his own hand was severed cleanly at the wrist, dropping downward. The stump was as smooth as a mirror before a geyser of bright red blood erupted a moment later.

"Ah—!"

Feeling the excruciating, soul-rending pain shooting from his wrist, Bai Yunfei let out a miserable scream and hurriedly retreated in panic.

This sudden turn of events startled the despairing Ji Wuyue. A split second later, she felt her waist tighten. Just as she was about to resist fiercely, the familiar face that filled her day-and-night yearning appeared within her vision, causing her entire body to instantly go limp.

"Is it... really you?"

Staring blankly with tear-filled eyes at the young man's face close enough to touch, Ji Wuyue extended a trembling, slender hand to gently stroke his cheek, her voice trembling as she murmured the words.

"Yuer, I'm sorry. I've made you suffer."

Who else could have arrived to save the day at such a critical juncture if not Yang Yan?

After traveling day and night without sleep, he had finally reached the Brahman Sound Valley at the most crucial moment.

Tightly holding the infinitely soft body in his arms and looking at her tear-stained, exquisite face, a deep surge of tenderness welled up within Yang Yan's heart. He reached out to gently wipe away the tears on her cheeks.

"No, no... as long as you're here, even if I were to die right now, I would have no regrets."

Crystal-clear tears rolled down Ji Wuyue's eyes like pearls as she stared unblinkingly at Yang Yan's face.

As the two landed on the ground, Yang Yan patted her head with a heartache-filled expression and spoke softly,

"As long as I am here, no one will ever hurt you again!"