Spirit Cultivation

Seeing the sword covered in black flames heading straight towards him, Thousand Blades used all of his strength in an attempt to break through the power restraining him. While repelling the restraining force, he could feel that the power was weakening and he was just about to break away from it when he heard another cry in the sky, "Aaargh! I won't let you hurt him!"

After Yiren fought back, he was once again restricted from any movements but that clearly took a heavy toll on her as she once again coughed up blood, persisting even after that. ​​

Yiren's sacrifice forced Xuefeng's target to stay in one place and he cleanly plunged his sword straight through him. Thousand Blades' eyes widened when his heart got pierced through, but deep down he didn't panic too much. As long as his head was intact, he could still regenerate himself.

Just as he thought about it, Xuefeng pulled out the sword and before he began falling down, he swung one more time, cleanly cutting Thousand Blades' head from its corpus, making it fly in the sky. The last thoughts of Thousand Blades, the infamous assassin, were composed of nothing else other than curses and regret.

Thud.

Seeing Thousand Blades dead, landing on the ground with a thud right after Xuefeng dropped safely on the ground, Yiren sighed in relief. Her eyes turned back to normal, no longer shining with white light, but then she suddenly felt the lack of energy. Her wings stopped moving as they started to dissipate. With her eyes slowly closing, a happy expression appeared on her face, knowing she saved someone she loves and she started falling down from the sky, having nothing that could support her flight anymore.

"Yiren! Stay awake!" Xiao Wen called out to her as she caught her sister mid-air. Once she fell asleep, it would make it hard to wake her up later even if they healed her completely later.

"Sis…? I'm okay… I'm just a bit sleepy…" Yiren opened her eyes slightly after hearing Xiao Wen's shout, but it was evident that her body was calling for sleep as her eyes were closing further with each second.

Xiao Wen quickly resumed her flight as she sped up towards Xuefeng and meanwhile tried to keep Yiren awake, "We are going to see Xuefeng! Don't you want to see him?! Don't fall asleep or you won't be able to see him anymore!" She also tried to use her regeneration to heal her wounds but realised that it didn't work at all, only treating the physical wounds where the problem probably lied in her spirit.

Hearing Xiao Wen's temptation, she gave in as she asked weakly, "Xue… Feng? I want to… See him…" Just as Xiao Wen thought, her injury was with inside her Spirit as it was the source that powered the skill she had as a Royal Forest Elf.

At that moment, Xiao Wen saw that Xuefeng didn't go to check on Thousand Blades body but instead looked into the sky and quickly flew towards them, seeing that Yiren needed help. Xiao Wen didn't hesitate to use it and tilted Yiren's head so she would see him approaching and said, "Xuefeng is coming to you right now! Just wait a few more seconds! You want to hear his voice right?!"

"Xuefeng…" Yiren's eyes opened her eyes to see Xuefeng coming towards her and forced herself to wait for him to reach her. She really wanted to sleep, feeling her spirit hurt from overexerting her powers.

"Yiren! Are you okay?!" Xuefeng finally reached them with his Air Qi wings pushed to the limits and grabbed Yiren's body out of Xiao Wen arms. Even before she could say anything, Ling began channelling large amounts of Fate Qi through Yiren's body, knowing Xuefeng would ask her to not bother with the spending and save her no matter the cost.

"Xuefeng… Was I useful?" Yiren asked, smiling sweetly as she felt the warmth of his hands and the new energy which headed straight towards her dantian. plancYiren was in his embrace and with that, she felt safe.

"Yes, without you I would've probably died. You saved my life." Xuefeng replied with the same smile and kissed her on the lips, putting on the great importance of what she just did. He wasn't exaggerating. There was a great possibility that the last attack would have ended him.

"Hehe… I'm glad… Can I sleep in your arms? I'm really sleepy." Yiren giggled with no power left in her voice and hugged onto Xuefeng's chest with what little strength she had left, wanting to stay like that, in a place she could linger forever.

Just as Xuefeng planned to keep her awake for some more, Ling called out in his mind, explaining the situation in a short message, 'Let her sleep in your arms. Her spirit got damaged and I will slowly fix it, but I need some time. It would be best if she rested at the same time.' She knew that the situation was serious so Ling put away any nuisances she had with Xuefeng.

"It's okay, you did great. You can sleep in my arms and I won't let go of you until you wake up. I promise." Xuefeng hugged Yiren into his arms just as she wanted and kissed her on the forehead, just like a father would kiss his daughter before sleeping.

"Mhmm…" Yiren nodded as she found a cosy place, caressing his chest with her cheeks, allowing him to close his embrace on her, before falling asleep right away.

Seeing Xiao Wen staring at him, waiting for an explanation, Xuefeng smiled and reported, "She will be better if she sleeps a bit. Her Spirit got damaged but Ling said she can heal her."

"Thank you, I was worried that something had happened to her." Xiao Wen sighed in relief and asked as she looked towards the battlefield from above, "What about Wuying?" Xuefeng also followed her gaze and saw that the monstrous shackles started withdrawing already, entering back into Wuying's armour made of blood.

There was no other bandit left on the battlefield as all of them were laying on the ground, having either a hole in their chests where the heart was placed or their head cut off by Wuying's and Xuefeng's assault earlier.

Wuying's eyes returned back into crimson pupils the moment Xuefeng neared her and she smiled weakly, answering before Xuefeng asked anything, "I'm fine… Just a bit tired..."

"Wuying! You were amazing!" Xiao Wen exclaimed as she reached her first and helped her out of the pool of blood, asking curiously, "What was this skill? Did you get it from the Blood inheritance as well?"

"Yeah, I got it from there…" Wuying replied as she hugged Xiao Wen before looking at Xuefeng for a second. When she did, her eyes twitched as a desire for blood filled her mind. Only when she looked back at Xiao Wen did her eyes stop twitching and returned to normal.

'What…?' Wuying thought in her mind, not understanding what is going on with her. The smile on her face disappeared as she tested it once again, looking into Xuefeng's body and then his face.

When their gazes met with each other, the same situation happened, her mind slowly becoming corrupted with desire. Giving him a quick smile, she swiftly turned her gaze away, returning to Xiao Wen again.

"Gosh, it was so powerful. You single-handedly finished the whole bandit group." Xiao Wen didn't notice any changes in Wuying's behaviour and continued to praise her. Only when she looked towards Thousand Blade's body in the distance did her face change.

"Xuefeng! The fragment! You didn't take it yet!" She called out to Xuefeng who was still in the sky, ready to land and he quickly changed directions as if something in his mind called out to him too.

Above Thousand Blades' body, a golden orb was hovering, slowly raising upwards, planning to head towards the heavens. Xuefeng quickly reached the spot and reached out towards the orb, which had begun to slowly dim already.

He didn't see his right hand while holding Yiren in his arms, having his eyesight focused on the golden orb, but the bracelet on his hand suddenly started shining the same way when it protected him from Thousand Blades' attack, and the orb suddenly became clearer, regaining its initial brightness.

The moment Xuefeng touched it, his hand started absorbing it through his skin. Golden lines appeared on his arm as immense power travelled from the tips of his hand to the necklace he always had on his neck. The bracelet had also returned back to its original state, just before Xiao Wen landed next to him with Wuying in her arms.

"What did you get? Which ability did you get from him? I have no idea which ability is his main one. Is it the stealth or the attack multiplier?" Xiao Wen quickly asked, not wanting to wait anymore with the curiosity gnawing in her mind. She didn't even think about taking those abilities for herself, still ashamed that she wasn't able to help at all.

Being the strongest in the whole group, being responsible for protecting Xuefeng yet still not able to protect them all. It was a great shame for her as a cultivator. The first thing she did after the battle finally ended was giving herself a promise to never mess up this badly ever again.

Hearing no words from him and only seeing his smile widening, the curiosity in her mind was creating more havoc so she urged him, "Come on, don't keep me in such suspense. I want to know…"

"You would never guess, hahaha." Xuefeng finally laughed happily after listening to Ling's report on the rewards they got from this battle.