The First Summoner - Chapter 34

“Useless! Every last one of you!”

No matter how many times Nangong Ying struck, she could not land a single blow on Shen Yan. Humiliation sharpened her fury into a scream.

Her fingers clenched around the whip.

Spiritual power surged from her palm, raced along its length, and erupted from the tip in a razor-edged gale.

“Windfire Whip Blade!”

With a low shout, she swept the whip through the air. Wind and fire twisted together as it tore toward Shen Yan’s back.

Shen Yan sensed the danger and twisted aside.

The whip missed—then changed direction as if it had eyes, pursuing her with unstoppable force.

She bent backward. The vicious wind of the strike skimmed over her body.

“You useless wretch! Don’t think you can escape me!” Nangong Ying sneered.

Crack!

She snapped the whip back and lashed out again, this strike even more powerful than the last.

Shen Yan tightened her grip on the Crimson Flame Dagger. The instant the whip reached her, she brought the blade up to meet it.

The barbed length coiled around the dagger.

Spiritual power crashed through the weapon and into Shen Yan’s arm. The impact numbed her arm. Her hand trembled despite her control, and the whip’s barbs sliced into her palm.

Pain drew her brows together.

She ignored it and locked the whip in place as fast as she could.

Then she yanked.

Nangong Ying stumbled and nearly pitched face-first onto the ground.

“Princess!”

Her lackeys forced themselves to ignore the wounds she had inflicted on them and rushed Shen Yan from all sides.

Shen Yan pulled again.

This time, Nangong Ying flew straight toward her.

“Aah!”

Shen Yan caught the princess and pinned her in one swift movement. She was about to end the fight with the Crimson Flame Dagger when a chaos of footsteps sounded behind her.

“Shen Yan, what are you doing? Release Her Highness at once!”

Shen Yan clamped an arm around Nangong Ying’s neck, leaving her unable to resist, then glanced over her shoulder.

More than a dozen Shen family disciples had arrived.

Her gaze darkened.

Nangong Ying did not dare struggle. The icy tip of a dagger pressed into the small of her back.

Still, she trusted in her royal status enough to shriek, “Release this princess! You dare offend your superior? I will have my imperial father execute you!”

“Let the princess go!” her lackeys and the Shen disciples shouted.

Shen Yan exerted the slightest pressure.

The Crimson Flame Dagger sank into the flesh of Nangong Ying’s lower back.

“Aaaah!”

Tears burst from the princess’s eyes. Her face twisted as she thrashed in pain.

“Shen Yan, you lunatic!”

Nangong Ying tried to use her spiritual power to break free. Then Shen Yan’s voice brushed her ear, soft as a demon’s whisper.

“Nangong Ying, move if you want to die.”

Her entire body went rigid.

The agony in her lower back drained the blood from her face. Panting through her terror, she forced out a threat.

“If you dare kill this princess, my imperial father will kill you!”

Shen Yan’s voice remained cool and indifferent.

“Fine. Then we can die together.”

Nangong Ying burst into tears.

“This princess doesn’t want to die!”

“Then behave. Tell them all to get lost.”

“All of you, get lost!” Nangong Ying screamed at her lackeys and the Shen disciples, tears streaming down her face.

One Shen disciple stepped forward with determined confidence.

“Princess, you don’t need to fear her! That good-for-nothing would never dare hurt you!”

Nangong Ying screamed before he had even finished.

Shen Yan had pushed the dagger deeper.

The princess’s delicate face went white. Cold sweat poured from her brow, and her whole body shook.

“Shen Yan, you truly dare harm the princess?” another Shen disciple demanded furiously.

“Aah—!”

The blade slid in a fraction farther.

Nangong Ying wept uncontrollably from the pain.

Her lips bloodless, she glared at the Shen disciples with fear, rage, and hatred.

“Stop talking! Get out of here!”

“Princess, you really don’t need to be afraid. With us here, she wouldn’t dare—”

“Aaaaaah!”

Nangong Ying’s scream turned shrill.

Shen Yan had not stabbed deeper this time.

She had cut sideways.

The Shen disciples flinched.

The princess’s lackeys saw that Nangong Ying was truly on the verge of collapse and panicked.

“Stop talking!” they shouted at the Shen disciples.

“But Shen Yan has to be bluffing—”

“Get out!” Nangong Ying roared, nearly hysterical. “All of you! Get your worthless asses out of here!”

Everyone jolted.

The Shen disciples froze. When they saw the venomous hatred in Nangong Ying’s eyes, their courage vanished. None dared say another word.

Resentment still simmered in their hearts.

They had only been trying to help. It was not as though they had hurt the princess on purpose.

This was all Shen Yan’s fault!

Without her, the princess would never have come to hate them.

They glared at Shen Yan, furious and bewildered. How could a good-for-nothing with no cultivation possibly have taken a princess at the fifth level of the Yellow-rank realm hostage?

Shen Yan marched away openly, dragging Nangong Ying with her.

The lackeys and Shen disciples tried to follow, but the half-conscious princess screamed at them to stay back.

They could only watch the pair disappear into the forest.

One Shen disciple turned to the lackeys.

“How did the princess let that useless girl take her hostage?”

The lackeys exchanged glances.

None wanted to admit that they had lost to Shen Yan. To save both their own dignity and the princess’s, they gave an indignant explanation.

“Shen Yan set a trap for us! The princess didn’t guard against her, so Shen Yan found an opening and seized her.”

The disciple hesitated.

“Then the wounds on all of you…”

“We got them fighting contestants from another kingdom just now!”

“So that’s what happened.” The Shen disciple nodded in sudden understanding. “I knew it. Shen Yan is so weak she couldn’t hurt a fly. How could she possibly defeat all of you? She couldn’t even beat one of you.”

The lackeys laughed awkwardly.

Guilt showed plainly on their faces, but the Shen disciples never noticed.

They had already decided Shen Yan was useless. If they did not witness the truth themselves, they would always choose the explanation that matched what they thought they knew.

Elsewhere in the forest, Shen Yan dragged Nangong Ying a little farther before releasing her.

She pulled the dagger free without hesitation.

Shhk!

The blade tore through flesh.

“Aaaah!”

Nangong Ying’s face lost every trace of color. Her entire body trembled from the pain.

Shen Yan kicked her to the ground.

Thud!

The princess landed facedown, battered and humiliated.

Shen Yan crouched and pinned her in place. She touched the point of the Crimson Flame Dagger to the back of Nangong Ying’s neck, then slowly traced a line across it.

The icy sensation made the princess’s pupils contract. She shook uncontrollably.

“Don’t kill me!”

Terror overwhelmed her.

Shen Yan’s voice remained calm.

“Nangong Ying, I won’t kill you today. But if you ever come after me again, I’ll cut off your head…”

The dagger paused at the side of her neck.

“And kick it around for sport.”