At the foot of the Eternal Sovereign Sect's mountain, the members of the Infinite Dao Sect participating in the attack waited in silence.
Aside from Jian Huiyin, there were no inner elders present, and not even the sect leader was there.
Jian Huiyin didn't know exactly where they were, nor could she sense them, but she was certain they remained nearby.
Her attention, however, was entirely focused on the greatest enemy: the Eternal Sovereign Sect.
Right after their auras were released, the enemies became alarmed. It didn't take long for them to begin appearing above the walls at the foot of the mountain, while the enormous barrier isolating the sect reinforced itself into a powerful yellow shield.
Jian Huiyin's eyes narrowed as she saw that.
As strong as she was, the foundation of her sect was still small compared to a well-established Golden Core sect. While her Bamboo Sword Sect only had a Founder-Tier mountain protection formation, the Eternal Sovereign Sect possessed a Core-Tier one, worthy of its status.
On the walls, more and more people arrived, including elders and disciples.
Jian Huiyin sneered inwardly. To her, it was a mistake to place disciples in such a dangerous location. In her sect, if powerful enemies appeared, the disciples would be hidden to avoid high-level combat casualties. The Eternal Sovereign Sect, however, seemed indifferent to that, not caring if its disciples became cannon fodder.
Of course, perhaps it was just arrogance or excessive confidence, but as mortal enemies, Huiyin preferred to believe the worst.
It didn't take long for the great elder and Wu Juntian to appear.
When the leader of the Eternal Sovereign Sect spotted the challengers and realized that the one leading them was Jian Huiyin, his face darkened.
"Jian Hui—"
He couldn't finish. A powerful sword flash struck the sect's shield in his direction, cracking the formation, which slowly began to recover.
Wu Juntian's eyes widened, turning blood-red with rage.
"Jian Huiyin, you whore! How dare you attack my sect! I'll capture you and sell you as the filthy, worthless slave you are!"
He roared furiously, immediately crossing the shield and rushing toward her.
Despite his fury, he wasn't acting recklessly.
He didn't know how, but that woman had reached the mid-stage of the Golden Core. And even before that, she had already been an extremely dangerous cultivator, just like her master.
Still, he advanced. The sect's formation wasn't strong enough to stop her, and rather than letting the barrier be destroyed pointlessly, he preferred to face her directly.
And he also had his own trump card.
"Great Elder, you handle the beast. All others, eliminate those pests."
He transmitted the order through spiritual energy as he attacked.
A powerful pulse of energy surged from his body, and a massive earthen hand rose from the ground, descending to crush Jian Huiyin.
Knowing it wouldn't be enough, he pulled a seal from his storage ring.
It was black, emanating powerful fluctuations, clearly a Core-Tier artifact.
Throwing it forward, the seal grew to ten meters tall, falling violently toward her, hidden from her view by the earthen hand. Its weight tore through the air with a threatening whistle.
Despite the sudden and deadly attacks, Jian Huiyin appeared calm.
She slowly drew her bamboo sword from her waist, still sheathed, and swung it lightly upward.
The sheath's edge glimmered, charged with a terrifying thread of sword intent. With a single movement, she easily sliced the earthen hand in half, like a hot knife through butter, revealing through the split the enormous black seal already about to crash onto her.
In an instant that seemed infinitely slowed, her gray eyes flickered with cold indifference.
The fingers of her left hand, which did not hold the sword, glowed in a silvery-gray hue, and she thrust forward with a simple motion, as if stabbing with an invisible blade.
A ray of energy shot out, striking the seal and knocking it forcefully aside, sending it flying. It suffered no damage, but that didn't matter; the goal was only to push it away, revealing the man behind it.
Jian Huiyin raised her sword, and with a single strike, sent a swift wave of energy directly at the unprepared Wu Juntian, whose eyes widened in shock.
"Bas—"
He tried to curse, but the attack was too close.
With no choice, he spat out his golden core. In an instant, he mobilized energy at high speed, forming an earthen armor around himself at the exact moment the attack hit him.
Something flew through the air at that moment, and when he saw what it was, the corner of Jian Huiyin's indifferent lips lifted slightly for the first time in a century.
Wu Juntian stared in disbelief at his own arm, which was flying away, still wrapped in the earthen armor.
"AHHHH!!! Jian Huiyin! I'll kill you, just like I killed that miserable master of yours!"
He roared, furious like a cornered beast, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
Jian Huiyin's smile vanished the instant she heard those words.
"Wu Juntian, a hundred years ago, you discovered my talent, when I had just emerged as a Golden Core cultivator, and you tried to capture me to sell to the emissary sects. Because of that, you and my master fought, where he left you bedridden for years."
She spoke for the first time that day. Her voice was cold, her eyes indifferent, but hatred seeped through her tone.
Her elegant index finger pointed at the enormous scar on Wu Juntian's chest, revealed when part of his clothing, torn along with his severed arm, fell away, exposing much of his abdomen marked by a terrifying vertical scar.
"My master, even while using the strike he had saved for years, keeping his sword sheathed, couldn't kill you. Although no one won that day, my master was crippled at the end of the battle and only had the strength to return to the sect to pass me the sword and the position of leader before leaving this world, only begging me not to endanger the sect by seeking revenge."
She coldly revealed the entire past and grievances between the two sects.
"Today, I have the opportunity to avenge my master. So I bring judgment upon your life... Know that the one who killed you is not me, Jian Huiyin, but your own greed and wickedness."
Finishing her cold words, she raised her sword once more.
Wu Juntian gritted his teeth, staring at her with extreme hatred, but there was a glint of malice and mockery in his eyes.
Discreetly, the hand clutching his shoulder, which bore a storage ring, moved. A red talisman appeared there, and as soon as it did, a ferocious and wicked smile spread across his face.
"Go to hell, you arrogant bitch!"
He shouted, convinced of his victory, so focused on his intent that he didn't notice quickly enough when a hand appeared over his shoulder and snatched the talisman away.
With a malicious gleam in his eyes, he thrust his hand forward, activating the talisman he believed to still possess.
And then… nothing happened.
"..." Wu Juntian.
"..." Jian Huiyin.
"..." Everyone watching.
Stunned, he looked at his empty hand in disbelief.
It was only then that he sensed the presence at his side — an aura so perfectly hidden that, if it hadn't been practically pressed against him, he would never have realized it was there.
Turning his head stiffly, his eyes met a man with a sly, fox-like expression, fanning himself casually with the stolen talisman.
"It's kind of hot today, don't you think? I saw you were about to burn this little thing that looks pretty expensive, and I thought, 'Wow, what a waste! If he doesn't want it, I'll take it.' You know, some time ago I was… let's say… unlawfully appropriating another man's property, and he burned something similar to this. Too bad I couldn't grab it in time; it was probably worth a lot of spirit stones."
Bao Hui, to everyone's bewilderment, began chatting casually in the middle of the battlefield as if nothing was happening.
"Who are you?" Wu Juntian immediately backed away, furious.
"Uhmm, honestly, I could tell you, but I think you should be paying attention to her."
Bao Hui didn't answer the question, only smiled and pointed at Jian Huiyin, who still held a sword strike charged since before his appearance.
Wu Juntian turned in the indicated direction, and upon seeing her, his eyes widened.
"Son of a—"
Before he could finish, a terrifying sword slash whistled past at incredible speed, cutting him in half and ending his life.
The two halves of his body fell to opposite sides, silencing everything around and leaving everyone stunned.
Bao Hui walked calmly over to the corpse, crouched down, and removed the storage ring from its finger.
Standing up, he wiped the ring on his own clothes, blew on it to clean it, and slid it onto his ring finger. Then he raised his hand against the sunlight, admiring it with a satisfied smile.
Lowering his gaze, he turned to Jian Huiyin, who was staring at him in astonishment.
He quickly hid the ring with his other hand and looked at her suspiciously.
"It was on the ground, and I picked it up. It's mine."
Aotian could swear he saw Jian Huiyin's lip twitch upon hearing that.
She had known him for months and was already used to Bao Hui's antics, but still, sometimes she was surprised by that man's pettiness and audacity.
Meanwhile, a little farther away, the Red Tiger, with the Eternal Sovereign Sect's great elder trapped under its paw, watched the scene with a twitching eye, remembering when Bao Wuji had stolen its spirit stones.
'He really is that old miser's grandson.'