The First Summoner - Chapter 43

Shen Yan slowly raised her eyes to Feng Xingyao.

“I don’t need your help right now. If you want the Blood-Devouring Pearl from me, you’ll have to offer a different bargain.”

One dark brow rose.

Amusement flickered in eyes deep as a lightless abyss.

“What bargain would you like?”

Shen Yan met his gaze calmly.

“At the moment, I have no desire to make one. You’ll have to wait.”

“Very well.”

Feng Xingyao smiled and inclined his head.

Then his gaze dropped to her arm.

The Soul-Severing Spirit Vine had left a gruesome wound there. Blood continued to seep from the torn flesh.

His brows drew together before he looked back into her eyes.

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

“It does.”

Shen Yan’s reply was brief. Her tone made the answer sound no more remarkable than a comment on the weather.

She walked around him and called Ninefold over to apply medicine to her wounds and bandage them.

Her bloodstained, torn clothing would immediately invite suspicion.

Fortunately, she had prepared for such a problem before entering the competition.

An identical purple outer robe waited inside her spatial domain.

Shen Yan was about to remove her ruined one when she felt two gazes fixed upon her.

She looked over her shoulder and met Feng Xingyao’s half-smiling eyes.

“Close your eyes.”

He laughed.

“You don’t appear to have much worth looking at.”

Shen Yan frowned, irritation rising.

Before she could speak, Feng Xingyao had already closed his eyes.

She fell silent.

Ninefold was still staring at her without blinking.

Her voice cooled.

“You too.”

Ninefold nodded obediently, lowered his head, and closed his eyes.

Shen Yan endured the pain of her wounds pulling open and quickly slipped off the stained robe.

Feng Xingyao’s remark rose uninvited in her mind.

She glanced down at her chest.

Silence.

Then she put on the clean purple robe as fast as possible.

The moment she finished, Feng Xingyao seemed to sense it and opened his eyes.

Their gazes met.

Shen Yan’s expression remained blank.

She looked away.

She did not intend to stay inside the spatial domain for long. She only needed to wait until the experts searching nearby had passed.

The first group soon moved on.

Shen Yan immediately left the domain.

She stood deep inside Lingyan Forest. Little daylight pierced the canopy, leaving the surroundings dim and faintly sinister.

She looked back.

She had to leave the depths of the forest.

If the Qiutian Sect or the nine kingdoms’ experts caught her here, how could she explain that a supposedly useless girl had reached such a dangerous place unharmed?

Shen Yan hurried outward.

A roadblock appeared halfway there.

It was quite literally a tiger.

The fifth-level Spirit-rank spotted tiger fixed bloodthirsty eyes upon her. Saliva dripped from its jaws as though it had already found its next meal.

It stood more than twice Shen Yan’s size.

She chose to flee without hesitation.

If she became trapped in a prolonged battle, the search parties would notice.

The spotted tiger released a powerful pressure, trying to frighten her into immobility.

Shen Yan clenched her fist and punched.

A blazing fist-shadow streaked toward the beast like a meteor.

The agile tiger dodged.

Shen Yan did not pursue the attack. She used the opening to run.

The tiger’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

It roared, shaking the surrounding trees in a display of dominance, then bounded after her.

Its speed was astonishing.

It quickly caught up.

Shen Yan stopped.

Human and beast faced each other.

Just as the battle was about to erupt, a petite girl in dark fighting clothes appeared. Two braids fell over her shoulders.

Pressure belonging to the ninth level of the Yellow-rank realm surged from her.

The fifth-level Spirit-rank tiger backed away again and again.

It was Jiang Xianyue.

A cruel smile touched her sweet, pretty face.

“Are you going to get lost?”

The tiger turned and fled.

Jiang Xianyue looked at Shen Yan.

Her eyes curved, and the smile became sugary sweet. She raised a hand in greeting.

“Shen Yan, I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon.”

“Thank you.”

Shen Yan inclined her head.

Jiang Xianyue showed her teeth in a grin.

“There’s no need to be so polite.”

Shen Yan’s instincts told her this girl was far from simple.

An indefinable danger surrounded her.

They had met twice now, and both times Jiang Xianyue had appeared without making a sound.

Her true strength probably exceeded the ninth level of the Yellow-rank realm.

“I’m leaving,” Shen Yan said evenly.

She started away.

Jiang Xianyue hurried after her.

The girl stood half a head shorter than Shen Yan. Her twin braids made her already sweet features appear charmingly innocent. Large black eyes shone with startling brightness, while her occasional smile and soft voice made her seem harmless.

“Shen Yan, are those people searching for you?”

Shen Yan’s heart sank.

She stopped and turned to answer, but Jiang Xianyue spoke first.

“If they are, I can give you an alibi.”

Her expression looked utterly sincere.

Shen Yan did not trust it.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Stop following me.”

Jiang Xianyue’s smile deepened.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I simply find you fascinating.”

Her voice remained gentle and sweet.

“Can you tell me something? What did it feel like to kill someone so powerful?”

Shen Yan had encountered every kind of person during the apocalypse.

She had met people like Jiang Xianyue before.

Beneath that sugary exterior hid a craving for danger and excitement—a desire to test the edge again and again, just to see how close she could come to falling.

“I felt nothing.”

The answer surprised Jiang Xianyue.

Her brows rose.

Then she smiled with genuine delight.

“Shen Yan, I admire you. I think we could become friends.”

Shen Yan gave her a sidelong glance.

“I don’t become friends with strangers.”

Jiang Xianyue darted ahead and stopped in her path.

“Then get to know me.”

She cleared her throat.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Jiang Xianyue. I am exactly seventeen. I come from an artifact-refining clan in Xuanwu Kingdom and am the eldest daughter of the Jiang family’s main line. Although I was born into an artifact-refining family, I can’t refine artifacts. I can’t reveal my true cultivation yet—and I definitely won’t tell you my height or weight!”

She blinked her enormous eyes.

“Is that sincere enough?”

“No.”

Jiang Xianyue stared at her.

Shen Yan met her gaze without expression.

“Everything you told me could be discovered with the slightest investigation.”