"Miss Leng, oh, Miss Leng, I thought that after all these days you'd have come to your senses at least a little. Why are you still so stubborn? Surely the lesson last time wasn't enough—being wounded by my Universe Arrow can't have felt good, can it?" Sun Baimei wore the look of a man who had everything in hand. He sneered. "Last time you escaped because I was tenderhearted toward a beauty. But that sort of thing can't happen twice. Even if I were tenderhearted again, I couldn't let you go—and even if I agreed, Brother Fei wouldn't."

"Brother Sun, since she refuses to submit to you no matter what, why waste more words on her? If you ask me, we may as well just get it over with, so she can't stall for time and drag things out." Fei Yangsheng frowned.

Many skilled hands had come out to temper themselves in the secular world this time, and he and Sun Baimei were hardly the only ones active nearby. If others were drawn over too, that would only breed complications, and the two of them might not be the ones left standing in the end.

"You see? Compared to Brother Fei, aren't I already very reasonable?" Sun Baimei spread his hands with feigned amiability and began to issue his final ultimatum. "Miss Leng, this is your last chance. Hand over the item and you live. Otherwise you can only report to the underworld—though of course the item will end up in my hands in the end, it'll just cost me the extra trouble of searching your body. So why not think it over again?"

"Hmph. Even if I die, I will never give it to you. At worst I'll destroy it with my own hands—and then no one will have it!" Leng Leng had already steeled herself to fight to the bitter end.

"Haha, Miss Leng, that line might fool a child, but using it on me is a bit of self-deception, isn't it? That thing is a treasure beyond price—how could it be destroyed just by saying so? In the time it took you to destroy it, I'd have killed you ten or eight times over. Since you're so blind to the way things are, I have nothing more to say. What a pity, though—such a fine icy beauty, reduced to a sieve full of holes by my Universe Arrow. Truly a waste of heaven's bounty!" As Sun Baimei spoke, he made ready to strike.

Though Leng Leng had been prepared since a moment ago, when the moment truly came she was still somewhat flustered. If she died, she died; but she feared disturbing Wei Zhao next door. Once the fight started, it would not be quiet. What if Wei Zhao, out of kindness, came to help?

Even if Wei Zhao did not come knocking, at such close range he could easily be caught in the crossfire and killed by mistake. Would that not mean she had killed Wei Zhao herself?

He was plainly just an "ordinary man" of the secular world, yet before she knew it he had come to occupy no light place in her heart, and whatever the matter, she thought of him first without realizing it. It was only a pity that Leng Leng had noticed all this too late.

Just then Fei Yangsheng suddenly spoke. "If Brother Sun doesn't mind, before you kill her, why not let your brother vent a little first? One rarely meets such a peerless beauty—we can't let that enchanting figure go to waste, can we? After all the days I've watched the sect disciples fawn over her, I've been craving her for a long time myself!"

"Oh? Since Brother Sun has such refined tastes, then she's yours. The item comes to me—there are plenty of women, after all." Sun Baimei said indifferently.

"Shameless beasts!" Leng Leng trembled with rage. Hearing those words, she wished she could fight the two of them to the death on the spot. But for Wei Zhao's sake she forced herself to keep some shred of reason, and said in a low voice, "This is a residential district of the secular world. If we're going to fight, go somewhere outside where there's no one. Otherwise at least half the people in this compound will die. And if this really blows up, it won't do either of you any good, will it?"

At those words, Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng exchanged a glance. The foremost rule of coming out to temper oneself was not to disturb the order of the secular world. If the two of them slaughtered a large number of ordinary people here, the secular world itself was nothing to fear—but going back to the Ancient Little Jianghu afterward would be trouble. Such a matter would be pursued to the very end.

"Fine. Then we'll talk outside. But I advise you not to harbor any hope of escaping while you're at it. You're merely at the early Foundation Establishment stage. Before the two of us you have no chance at all—and what's more, your wounds haven't healed." Sun Baimei sneered.

"Then let's go to the little grove outside. That place suits my tastes." Fei Yangsheng gave a lewd smile. He knew Sun Baimei would never give the item to him, so the only comfort he could find was in Leng Leng's body.

"Fine." Leng Leng forcibly suppressed her fury and strode toward the door. Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng were not worried she would flee, for she could never escape the palms of their hands.

Yet before Leng Leng could open the door, the door opened first of its own accord, and a head poked in from outside. "What's going on in here? Do you need any help?"

Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng were greatly startled. All their attention had been on Leng Leng, and neither had noticed that someone had come to the door without a sound. Still, they were only startled for an instant. Though they dared not stir up too great a commotion, killing one or two people was no burden at all—so long as they were clean about it.

But Leng Leng was stunned speechless, for the man was none other than Wei Zhao!

"I saw your door was broken, so I pushed it open on my own. Nothing's wrong, is there?" Wei Zhao said with feigned ignorance, while quietly sizing up Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng.

From the moment he had discovered the two of them, he had already begun brewing his true-qi bomb. After all, one was at the late Foundation Establishment stage and the other at the mid stage—no easy opponents.

Half a month had passed since his primordial spirit had projected over, and Wei Zhao's strength had only recovered to the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage. Of course, if his true body were here, this much strength alone would be enough to annihilate these two fools in an instant—slaying opponents above his level was routine for him, as easy as a stroll. But the problem was that he was now in primordial spirit form, and in a real fight he had no certainty of victory.

So to be safe, Wei Zhao could only choose to brew his true-qi bomb, which at least guaranteed he would not come off the worse. Fortunately, Leng Leng had bought him a good deal of time just now. Otherwise, if the two sides had started fighting the moment they came through the door, he truly might not have had time enough.

"N-no… nothing. Hurry back now!" Leng Leng's face went pale with fright, and she at once tried to push the intruding Wei Zhao back outside. This was what she had feared most, and now it had happened after all.

"Nothing? That's not right. Even the door's been kicked in, and you still say nothing's wrong?" Wei Zhao still wore a look of suspicion as he eyed Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng, behaving exactly like an ordinary man of the secular world.

Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng were looking at him too, but they did not recognize him on the spot. After all, back then Wei Zhao's primordial spirit body had not yet fully solidified, whereas now he looked no different from an ordinary person—the difference was far from slight. What was more, Wei Zhao relied on his jade pendant to conceal his strength so flawlessly that they could not detect it at all. (To be continued.)

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