The Frozen Demon Garden is a paradise for demonic beasts and savage creatures. Every year, large numbers of mercenary groups venture in, but while many enter, relatively few manage to return alive. However, every survivor inevitably carries something valuable with them. This very fact keeps many lingering around the perimeter of the Frozen Demon Garden. The moment they spot a lone mercenary or someone clearly weaker, they strike, robbing them—a completely risk-free venture for the bandits.
Every one of these individuals was clad entirely in black. Judy, as the third young mistress of the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group, knew their ilk all too well, and upon seeing them, her expression immediately shifted.
There were sixteen of them in total, and the highest cultivation among them had reached the rank of an Eighth-Stage Fighter!
Judy retreated several steps, her body trembling uncontrollably.
These bandits had a notoriously vile reputation. They didn't just steal valuables; they executed every man and burned the corpses. Every woman was first violated, then brutally murdered. Their methods were exceptionally cruel.
Judy was only a Fourth-Stage Fighter. How could she not be terrified when suddenly confronted by such a group?
“Ah, how beautiful…” The bandits stared at Judy under the moonlight, holding their breath.
The moonlight spilled over the snow, bathing the surroundings in a pale white glow, fully revealing Judy’s peerless beauty to their eyes.
“Boss, did we just find a fairy?” one bandit asked, licking his cracked lips suspiciously.
“Get lost, you idiot! Do you think good luck falls from the sky like that!” A large, bearded man kicked the questioning bandit aside.
“Heh heh!” The bearded man turned his gaze to Judy, his eyes filled with raw lust. “This is a lone chick, brothers! Tie her up for me. After I’ve had my fill, you all can have a turn!”
“Yes…” The bandits roared in unison. The bearded man possessed an intense possessiveness over women; he usually killed them immediately after using them. His declaration now excited the rest of the gang immensely.
Such captivating beauty—though she appeared slightly tender, didn't her very innocence make her even more tantalizing?
This girl might even be a virgin! The bearded man’s eyes glowed green.
A bandit who bore a striking resemblance to a monkey grinned lewdly upon hearing his leader’s command and swaggered toward Judy. The bandits had instantly assessed Judy’s cultivation level. A Fourth-Stage Fighter! A mere Fourth-Stage Fighter was negligible among this group; the weakest among them was a Fifth-Stage Fighter!
This monkey-like bandit himself possessed the cultivation of a Sixth-Stage Fighter!
“Heh heh…” The monkey-faced bandit let out a suggestive, lustful chuckle. “My dear lady, you should come along quietly. If you resist, I might have to use force!”
Although Judy was a Fighter, in her helplessness, she spoke the most cliché words any cornered woman would:
“Don’t come any closer!”
“Not coming? Hahaha…” Seeing the terrified yet heartbreakingly lovely appearance of the beautiful woman before him, the monkey-like bandit’s laughter grew even more lewd. He darted forward like an arrow and seized her wrist.
“Haha, you’re only a Fourth-Stage Fighter, why aren’t you…” Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes suddenly bulged outward. He looked at Judy with utter disbelief before collapsing heavily onto the ground!
“Monkey?” The bandits shouted in unison. They hadn't realized this guy not only looked like a monkey but was also nicknamed Monkey.
The direction she fled toward was the blacksmith shop. She didn't know why she chose that path, but inexplicably, thinking of the calm gaze and indifferent back of that red-haired youth filled her with sudden resolve. She felt that nothing was impossible for him, and that as long as she could escape back to the blacksmith shop, she would be utterly safe.
Knowing she stood little chance against this group, she had intentionally feigned weakness, secretly drawing out the ancient, profound magic dagger her father had given her. With a single thrust, she killed the unprepared Monkey.
“Chase her! But everyone be careful—she’s using a magic weapon!” The bearded man spotted the anomaly and roared as he charged after Judy.
Magical artifacts were rare enough on the continent, but single-target offensive magical weapons were exceedingly rare. Although this dagger was small, judging by the way Monkey died, it must have been engraved with the Third-Level Magic, "Wind Arrow Technique."
"Wind Arrow Technique" was a single-target, third-level wind spell—swift in execution, capable of forming a finger-thick vortex of wind. This vortex possessed formidable piercing power. Rumor had it that it could easily puncture steel plates ten centimeters thick!
When unleashed at close range, such a powerful single-target spell was nearly impossible for even an Eighth-Stage Fighter to easily counter! Since these bandits were capable of anything, if she didn't increase her speed, she was doomed. Even possessing this magical dagger, their numbers were too great. Even if she managed to kill one, the others would swarm her, ensuring her agonizing death.
Sometimes, even with top-tier equipment, if one's own cultivation was severely lacking, one could not utilize the equipment's full potential.
Dou Qi surged and churned beneath her feet. Her slender figure moved across the snow like a flying oriole, leaping lightly forward.
“Stop!” The bearded man roared. Dou Qi gathered beneath his feet, forming a wave of energy that blasted out with a boom, propelling him forward at sudden speed until he was directly in front of Judy, throwing a punch at her!
This punch projected Dou Qi externally, forming a hard armor of energy around his fist!
Projecting Dou Qi to form armor—these were techniques only Ninth-Stage Fighters could master. The bearded man's control over his Dou Qi was clearly on par with a Ninth-Stage Fighter.
This punch came fiercely, containing the full force of an Eighth-Stage Fighter's strike. If Judy didn't dodge, she would surely die beneath that blow. But if she dodged, her speed would be hampered, allowing the others to surround her, making escape impossible. With a faint pfft, the "Wind Arrow Technique" shot rapidly toward the bearded man’s eye!
This was a tactic of "Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao"—the speed of a single-target magic attack was incredibly fast. If the bearded man didn't evade the magic, even if he managed to strike her with his punch, his head would certainly be pierced by the "Wind Arrow Technique"!
“Argh!” The bearded man roared, forcibly flipping backward, narrowly avoiding the magical assault.
In the instant he twisted away, Judy did not slow her pace at all, continuing her frantic sprint forward. Fluffy white snow billowed up from beneath her feet, scattering into the air and leaving a clear trail of footprints.
“Chase!” The bearded man stabilized himself and roared in fury, continuing the pursuit.
“You, stop for me!” A hulking brute among the bandits picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it! The stone, imbued with Dou Qi, let out a piercing, sharp whistle as it hurtled toward Judy’s back.
The bandits had already encircled her. From the moment she killed Monkey until now, Judy had only fled five or six hundred meters, yet the blacksmith shop was still eight or nine li away. Shouting for help would be useless. A look of deep disappointment crossed her face.
Why did I run out in a fit of pique? They didn’t give me a room, so what? I was already lodging in their home; I shouldn't have been so demanding. Wasn't that going too far?
If I hadn't stormed out in anger, I wouldn't have run into these bandits!
Thinking of this, Judy inexplicably recalled the cold gaze of that red-haired youth. If he were here, she certainly wouldn't be suffering this humiliation!
But given his indifferent nature, if he truly saw her situation now, would he lift a finger to help?
After much agonizing thought, she fell into a daze.
As the bandits closed in, her first thought wasn't about escaping, but whether Chen Feng would offer assistance. A woman's mind was truly unfathomable.
“Trying to escape? Not so easy!” The bearded man failed to notice her distraction and roared, his hand enveloped in churning Dou Qi as he lunged to grab Judy’s wrist!
“Chh-chh…”
Just then, a sharp sound rapidly approached from the ground, slamming directly toward the hand the bearded man had extended.
“It’s him…” Judy’s look of dejection was instantly replaced by surprise.
“Hmph!” The bearded man grunted lowly, his hand’s Dou Qi instantly thickening as he struck out in the direction the sound originated from!
Hearing the sound originate from tens of meters away, he deduced it was an energy wave attack created by projecting Dou Qi externally. Such external wave attacks were considered almost useless on the continent—showy but impractical. A Fighter’s Dou Qi was limited, and releasing it ten meters away to attack would surely diminish its power to a negligible level. In other words, if you attacked someone ten meters away using projected Dou Qi, the recipient would barely feel the fluctuation, much less be injured!
Furthermore, the bearded man was confident in his punch. An attack containing the full strength of an Eighth-Stage Fighter, combined with his innate brute strength, was something even a Ninth-Stage Fighter would hesitate to take head-on!
Only after throwing the punch did the bearded man realize that the Dou Qi wave, which had flashed toward him like lightning, was actually a cluster of pale blue flames!
Flames?
The bearded man sneered. No wonder he was confused how someone could project Dou Qi dozens of meters away. It turned out the other party was using Dou Qi to hurl flames!
He was familiar with this method of projecting fire. He had once used it during a major business deal; he and his brothers had hidden on a hillside, ignited some black oil that burned readily, and hurled it at the mercenary group they intended to rob. The effect was surprisingly good—the mercenaries immediately lost formation, allowing his group to slaughter them all in the chaos and seize everything!
It seemed this hidden individual was using the same trick, definitely throwing burning black oil!
“Too cliché!” The bearded man roared, striking the center of the flames with his fist!
Since it was burning black oil, all he needed to do was hit the central mass of oil with his fist, and the flames would extinguish themselves—a self-defeating attack!
“Boom!” The smile on the bearded man’s lips vanished instantly as excruciating pain shot up his arm. His face contorted into an expression of agony.
“Aah…”
With a scream, his arm was engulfed by a mass of pale blue flame, which in an instant turned to ash!
“Ganging up on one girl—isn’t that a bit much?”
A cold voice drifted from the direction the pale blue flame had originated. Everyone followed the sound and looked. Under the brilliant moonlight, a cold and aloof figure stood twenty meters away. His jet-black top bore a stark white crescent moon at its center, giving him an unsettling appearance.