The wind cultivator was a middle-aged woman. Her appearance was exceedingly ordinary, but compared to that reincarnation of the Tyrannosaurus Rex that was her lightning-wielding counterpart, she could even be considered pretty.

She held a fan in her hand. With the slightest of movements, the surrounding air would start to ripple outwards, merging together to form little tornadoes. These tornadoes didn’t rush straight at Zu An, which would have made it easy for him to avoid them.

This was what led to Zu An’s mistake. By the time he reacted, he had already been affected by the Wind Domain.

Because of the slowing effects of this field, his Sunflower Phantasm grew sluggish, and the golden abacus beads— looking like maggots that chewed through flesh and bone—flew towards him again.

Even though Zu An quickly brandished the Tai’e Sword to protect himself, there was no way for him to block all of them.

The beads struck him all across his body, releasing muffled thuds whenever they made contact with his body.

The metal cultivator smiled as he saw his attacks land. He had deliberately avoided his opponent’s vital areas this time, precisely because his orders were to capture Zu An alive. Despite this, the power contained in those beads was enough to completely strip a fifth rank cultivator of any ability to move.

According to their intelligence, Zu An’s cultivation was around the fifth rank.

However, as he looked on, his eyes suddenly widened. Not only did Zu An not fall, he even managed to peel the beads off of his body.

“Ow, that really hurts!” Zu An weighed them in his hands. They really were made of gold! This dude has way too much money.

He didn’t waste a second, and stored them into his Brilliant Glass Bead. He wondered how much these gold beads would sell for.

The metal cultivator was stunned. He was about to order his abacus to continue its attack, but he discovered in shock that he had lost his connection to half of the beads.

He quickly called back the remaining beads. Huge chunks were missing from the glittering golden abacus.

Where did they go? The metal cultivator wanted to cry. This metal abacus was his prized weapon! He had spent a long time preparing the materials and forging it, but it had somehow mysteriously become like this.

He glowered at Zu An. “Is this your doing?”

You have successfully trolled Solitary Metal for 233 Rage points!

Zu An flashed a shy smile. “You guys hurt me so badly! I’ve suffered so much, both physically and mentally. Isn’t it reasonable to ask for some compensation?”

The metal cultivator almost fainted from anger. To hell with your compensation! Did you even suffer a single bruise from me?

You have successfully trolled Solitary Metal for 999 Rage points!

He was also incredibly shocked. He could still recall the feeling of those beads hitting Zu An’s body. It felt entirely different from the usual sensation of striking against flesh—instead, it felt more like striking a wall. How was his body so sturdy?

While he was staring blankly, the ice cultivator had already made his move.

Zu An finally caught sight of the ice cultivator. He was a tall, skinny man wrapped in a snow-white cloak, with a white cap on his head. He was the perfect image of a creep.

He dashed up to Zu An, and let out a breath in his direction.

A visible blast of cold air swept over. Zu An knew that it would spell disaster if he allowed it to touch him.

His movement was still being restricted by the Wind Domain, so Zu An used Grandgale instead. He teleported a distance away, breaking free from the tornado formation.

As he vanished, the ice cultivator’s cold breath landed where he had just been, and the area was immediately blanketed in a sheet of ice.

At her distant position, the wind cultivator was stunned. Her Wind Domain had trapped many powerful cultivators in the past. Of course, some had broken free, but they were always cultivators whose cultivation levels were much higher than her own!

Trapping cultivators around the fourth or fifth rank should have been a piece of cake, let alone someone like Zu An.

While she was staring blankly, Zu An cursed at the ice cultivator. “Hey, creep! Did you brush your damned teeth this morning? Your breath stinks! How does your wife stand you…?”

The ice cultivator did not appreciate Zu An’s words at all.

You have successfully trolled Solitary Ice for 712 Rage points!

“I’ll kill you!”

The ice cultivator was furious. He spread his hands, and countless ice arrows materialized behind him.

Qiu Honglei’s expression turned to horror. She quickly cried out, “Go easy on him!”

Unfortunately, the infuriated ice cultivator paid her no heed. The ice arrows shot straight towards Zu An.

“Hmph, your movement technique might be formidable, but my attack covers every angle! Let’s see how you get away from this!”

That wasn’t all. He had chosen to launch his frost arrows along a very specific path, at the instant when Zu An and Pei Mianman just happened to be lined up.

If Zu An evaded, Pei Mianman would likely bear the full brunt of his attack.

Zu An quickly realized this as well. Facing this cone of attacks was truly troublesome. He couldn’t evade it, and even if he could, he couldn’t choose to do so.

To be honest, the one thing he was lacking was a way of dealing with such area-of-effect attacks. He instinctively wanted to take out the dragon’s corpse, because there was no way these ice arrows could penetrate the scales of a dragon.

However, given the dragon elder that had shown up earlier, he knew that he could end up being targeted by the dragon race if word of this got out.

Moreover, his spatial artifact would be exposed as well. He could tell from the reactions of those who had seen it that such a spatial artifact was on par with the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. There were already enough people after his life—he really didn’t need that number to go up.

Just as he was at a loss as to what to do, a lamp suddenly rose into the sky, giving off a faint yellow light. Bathed in the lamp’s yellow radiance, the ice arrows seemed to grind to a halt.

A sweet fragrance wafted over. Qiu Honglei was already at Zu An’s side, pulling him away.

Behind him, Pei Mianman realized what was going on, and evaded as well.

Only when they had vacated the area did the ice arrows seem to return to normal. They showered down in a large area.

Zu An was speechless. No matter how strong his body was, those ice arrows would’ve probably still have turned him into a hedgehog!

“Lady Saint!” The ice cultivator immediately panicked when he saw Qiu Honglei help Zu An.

Qiu Honglei raised her hand, stopping him from continuing. She then turned to look at Zu An. “Are you all right?”

The other members of the Solitary Eight were about to rush over, but when they saw the saint of their sect next to Zu An, they couldn’t bring themselves to attack.

Breathing in her fragrance seemed to refresh Zu An’s mind immediately. “How could I not be, now that you’ve come to save me? But aren’t you scared that I might hold you hostage in such a situation?”

Qiu Honglei smiled. “Will you really?”

He was so close to her perfect face right now. her delicate skin, those vivid eyes… It was enough to make any man go crazy.

She really is a bloody fox demon! “I’ve always been someone who knows his benefactors from his adversaries. You saved me earlier—how can I repay your kindness with aggression?”

Qiu Honglei smiled. “It seems like I wasn’t wrong when I realized I saw something in you.”

Zu An looked at that lantern in her hand. “Your magic weapon is pretty good. What kind of weapon is it?”

It was as if time had stopped in that instant. This lantern really was quite special.

“That’s a secret. I remember you used to say something like ‘a secret makes a woman a woman.’” Qiu Honglei winked in a playful manner.

Zu An was stunned. He hadn’t expected this woman to be so quick-witted, and even articulate Vermouth’s catchphrase.[1]

Pei Mianman’s dissatisfied voice interrupted this moment. “The one called Zu, are you done yet? We’re out here facing death, but you’re busy flirting with a girl?”

Zu An’s face scrunched up in displeasure.

Qiu Honglei smiled. “It seems someone’s jealous. Let’s get back to the main matter at hand, then.”

Her expression grew serious. “You should surrender.”

1. Vermouth is a character from Detective Conan.