Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 32

Although Lu Xiangxiang was only at the early Foundation Establishment Realm, the combat experience from her previous life allowed her to fight above her level and preserve her life at critical moments.

She would seize one of the secret-treasure keys.

And even if she could not, she could make Song Yan and the others give her one!

“Senior Brothers, I’m here to help!”

Lu Xiangxiang entered the battle.

Her arrival surprised Song Yan and the other two.

Song Yan urged her to go back.

“Eldest Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Sister is weaker than I am,” Lu Xiangxiang said resolutely. “If she can fight, why can’t I?”

Song Yan had no answer.

They could only let her remain.

In less than half a quarter-hour, Lu Xiangxiang was badly wounded, her face deathly pale.

At that moment, Ying Wuji plunged his sword into a tomb guardian corpse’s head and flicked out the secret-treasure key inside.

“Cang Li,” he called.

Cang Li understood at once. He swept his spear forward and knocked the corpse aside, then leaped into the air and caught the second secret-treasure key.

Lu Xiangxiang saw this and began, “Third Senior Brother, I…”

Before she could finish, the secret treasure’s vortex swallowed Cang Li. He vanished without shadow or trace.

Frustration clogged Lu Xiangxiang’s chest like a heavy stone.

She turned to Ying Wuji and stated her demand. “Youngest Senior Brother, I want a secret-treasure key too!”

Ying Wuji turned his head. His beautiful phoenix eyes swept over her, cool and indifferent.

“If you want one, take it yourself.”

Lu Xiangxiang’s expression stiffened.

“If Sixth Senior Sister wanted one, would you give it to her?”

“Yes.”

Ying Wuji did not hesitate for even an instant, nor did he bother offering a perfunctory explanation.

It was blatant favoritism.

Lu Xiangxiang could barely control her expression. Remembering how she had once been treated as Yuan Yao’s substitute made her sick to her stomach.

Learning just how differently they treated her and Yuan Yao only made her hatred burn hotter.

She was Lu Xiangxiang. She had never been anyone’s substitute!

For now, however, she had to keep pretending.

“I know I can’t compare to Sixth Senior Sister, but I’m still your junior sister…” she said plaintively.

Lu Xiangxiang knew Ying Wuji was cold and heartless. He could never be softened, so she turned a pleading gaze on Song Yan.

When Song Yan met her eyes, he immediately felt caught in a difficult position.

He fought the tomb guardian corpse while considering how to answer.

He did not like this Junior Sister Lu. She had repeatedly shown hostility toward his Little Junior Sister.

He could also vaguely sense a trace of malice in the way she regarded him.

“Eldest Senior Brother…”

Song Yan hesitated. He wanted to ask Ying Wuji to grant her request, yet he did not want to make things difficult for Ying Wuji.

It felt as though two enormous hands were tearing his heart in opposite directions.

At last, he said helplessly, “I can’t obtain one myself.”

The words left him feeling much lighter, although a faint trace of guilt remained.

He stopped looking at Lu Xiangxiang and concentrated on the tomb guardian corpse before him.

She stared at him in disbelief. How could the softhearted Eldest Senior Brother reject her this way?

In her previous life, he had granted nearly every request she made.

Even after succumbing to demonic corruption, he had remained as gentle toward her as ever. Yet now—

He would no longer answer her pleas.

Alongside her disbelief came an enormous sense of loss.

While Lu Xiangxiang stood distracted, a tomb guardian corpse launched a sneak attack.

A sword blade swept in and blocked the strike for her.

She snapped back to herself and looked at her rescuer.

It was Yan Haonan.

He was tall, with upright, handsome features. By any standard, he was a fine-looking man.

“Fellow Daoist Lu, be careful,” Yan Haonan warned.

Lu Xiangxiang tightened her grip on her sword and nodded. “Thank you for your assistance, Fellow Daoist Yan.”

“Eldest Senior Brother, hurry! I can’t hold out much longer!” Weng Mingshu shouted.

She was unable to defeat the tomb guardian corpse and was now being chased by it.

Yan Haonan’s expression changed, and he hurried to her side.

The sounds of combat grew even more violent.

Only then did Lu Xiangxiang realize that every cultivator who had hidden in the passage had emerged. Her heart sank. They had clearly seen the secret-treasure keys and come to compete for them.

At that moment, Ying Wuji obtained another key.

Before Song Yan could react, Ying Wuji shoved it into his hand.

“This…” Song Yan froze and began to speak.

Before he could finish, he was teleported away.

Lu Xiangxiang nearly exploded with rage.

That bastard Ying Wuji!

The other cultivators watched with envy and jealousy.

Three of the keys to the Six Great Secret Treasures were already gone.

“Youngest Senior Brother!” Lu Xiangxiang called again, unwilling to give up.

She refused to believe he would deny her all three remaining keys.

She was a member of the Xiaoyao Sect too!

The other cultivators were outsiders!

Ying Wuji glanced at her. “Stop making noise.”

Lu Xiangxiang’s face turned livid, and her fingers clamped around her sword hilt.

Ying Wuji had been hateful in her previous life, but not this hateful on their very first meeting!

…

Meanwhile, two white figures suddenly appeared in a lush green courtyard.

The girl crashed heavily to the ground, her head striking the youth’s lower leg.

Her beautiful face was bloodless, and her features twisted as the broken bones throughout her body flared with indescribable pain.

She coughed. Blood sprayed across Xie Yan’s white robes, spreading in scattered blossoms like red plum flowers.

His expression immediately turned cold. He raised a leg to kick Yuan Yao away.

Clang!

A multicolored longsword pressed against his shin.

Xie Yan lowered his brows and gave Yuan Yao an icy look. Then he withdrew his foot and walked forward.

Badly wounded, Yuan Yao had no attention to spare for him.

She took out the seventh-grade healing pill Master had given her and swallowed it.

Her head spun. She had no strength, and cold seeped through her entire body.

It hurt.

She forced herself to reach a nearby pavilion, curled into a ball, and rested her head against one of the pillars.

She wanted to sleep.

After searching the courtyard, Xie Yan’s gaze drifted toward the girl in the pavilion.

Her high ponytail had come loose, and disheveled strands of hair fell around her face. She was pale and blood stained her lips, lending her a fragile air.

Cold sweat continually beaded on her forehead, and her body trembled faintly.

Bloody wounds covered her.

That ugly sword lay at her side.

An unreadable darkness entered Xie Yan’s eyes. He walked toward the pavilion.

The instant he tried to step inside, the Phantom Spirit Sword shot at him like an arrow, carrying a sharp gust of sword wind.

Its warning was unmistakable: do not approach its master.