"You'd best just surrender, madam," called out one of the older men on the battlefield below, attacking even as he spoke. He seemed to be trying to coax the woman into giving up her resistance. "That way you'll suffer less. I'm a cultivator myself, and I have no desire to torment a woman."
The younger-looking man gave a cold snort. "Senior Brother Liu, why bother wasting words on her? This one's got a fine figure and a pretty face. Once we've captured her alive, we can enjoy ourselves proper, then siphon her essence to boost our own cultivation. She'll wish she were dead—and won't even have that luxury!"
The warriors of the Fire Radiance Sect practiced fire-element techniques, but they also possessed a secret art that allowed them to exploit the ice-element Saint Power of Ice Heart Valley disciples—shattering it to rebuild, breaking through to higher cultivation levels in a matter of moments.
The two great Sects had been at each other's throats for countless years. A number of Ice Heart Valley's female disciples had vanished under mysterious circumstances, and nearly all of them had been abducted by the Fire Radiance Sect.
Everyone could guess what those women's fates had been.
Though this secret art carried certain risks even for the Fire Radiance Sect's practitioners, many of their disciples harbored no fear—quite the opposite. They saw the humiliation and siphoning of Ice Heart Valley's women as a point of pride.
The Fire Radiance Sect's higher-ups had never intervened.
The two Fire Radiance Sect men played good cop and bad cop in tandem, working to shake the woman's resolve.
"Despicable! Shameless!" the woman ground out through clenched teeth, her body surging with Saint Power. Countless birds as white as jade materialized from her ice-element energy, lifelike and vivid, their cries ringing out as they scattered in every direction, attempting to disrupt the two men's vision.
"Trying to run?" The younger Fire Radiance Sect disciple's expression turned vicious. His fire-element Saint Power blazed until he resembled a ball of burning flame. He charged straight into the flock without hesitation.
Ice shattered. Flames roared.
Liu seized the opening and pressed forward, threading a punch through the gaps between the birds.
A massive phantom of a flame tiger materialized out of nowhere. Its roar shook the heavens as it lunged at the woman with its gaping maw.
Caught between attacks from both sides, the woman was hard-pressed. Though she employed every trick at her disposal to neutralize the danger, the flame tiger still grazed her shoulder, leaving a wound half a foot long. Blood poured forth.
She staggered. By the time she steadied herself, the two Fire Radiance Sect men had already closed in, their faces twisted into sinister grins.
Despair surfaced on the woman's face. A wistful flicker of attachment to life gleamed in her beautiful eyes, but that fleeting longing was swiftly crushed and replaced by a will to die.
She knew it. If she truly fell into the Fire Radiance Sect's hands, she would suffer something worse than death.
That was why Ice Heart Valley's elders always warned their female disciples before they ventured out: rather than be captured, it was better to end your own life!
Every female disciple of Ice Heart Valley kept those words etched in her heart.
"Oh no—the bitch is trying to die!" The younger Fire Radiance Sect disciple turned pale with alarm. He had fought plenty of Ice Heart Valley cultivators before and had witnessed this very scene; he knew exactly what she intended.
"Dying won't be that easy!" Liu smirked sinisterly and tossed something forward. A gleaming, fire-lit rope—a Binding Rope Artifact—shot through the air with a life of its own and coiled tightly around the woman.
He then yanked the rope backward, cinching it taut around her body.
The surging waves of Saint Power cut off abruptly. The woman stood frozen in place, her beautiful eyes brimming with terror.
"Ha ha! This Binding Rope of mine was specially commissioned from a master refiner for your Ice Heart Valley lot. Once you're bound by it, you can forget about self-detonating your Saint Power." Having achieved his goal, Liu no longer bothered maintaining the pretense from earlier. His gaze swept over the woman with undisguised lechery, a wicked expression settling on his face.
"Kill me!" the woman struggled, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not mobilize her Saint Power. The Binding Rope Artifact fastened around her body seemed to possess a force that completely neutralized her energy.
He hadn't been lying. This Artifact had been forged specifically for use against Ice Heart Valley's disciples. With that rope binding her, she was utterly unable to draw upon her Saint Power.
"How could I bear to kill you?" Liu chuckled darkly. "Capturing an Ice Heart Valley woman alive isn't easy, and you're such a beauty at that. I'd sooner suffer than lay a finger on you—except, of course, in a very different way."
The woman's face went deathly pale. She could already envision the wretched fate that awaited her.
"Still trying to bite your tongue? You're thinking too far ahead!" The younger man snorted coldly and flicked a finger, sending a wisp of Saint Power into the woman's body. She instantly went rigid on the spot, unable to even speak.
"Let's get out of here first." Liu glanced toward the massive battle raging several dozen li away. He had no intention of joining the fight—capturing a single enemy was already profit enough.
"I'll come along with you, Senior Brother," the other man said with a grin, his smile loaded with meaning.
"Naturally, there's a share for Junior Brother too." Liu understood immediately. He stepped forward, ready to scoop the subdued woman into his arms.
But he had only taken three steps when the air before him blurred. A figure materialized like a specter, appearing between him and the woman in the blink of an eye.
Liu startled and instinctively leapt back several zhang, sizing up the newcomer with wary eyes. "Who goes there?" he barked in a low voice.
The other said nothing—merely stared at him with eyes so cold they seemed almost solid, a bone-deep frost radiating from that gaze. Even someone who practiced fire-element techniques found it difficult to endure. A chill crept over his entire body.
"Senior Brother…" The younger warrior had noticed something wrong as well. The young man who had appeared without warning was regarding them with unmistakable hostility, a murderous intent swirling faintly in his eyes. He was clearly no ally.
Liu furrowed his brow—then his eyes lit up and he cried out, "It's you!"
He had obviously recognized the newcomer.
Without a moment's hesitation, he activated his movement technique and fled toward the distance.
The other man froze for a heartbeat, then dared not linger either. He transformed into a streak of fire, attempting to escape the scene.