Chapter 177: Hunters in Night [2]
Then, his figure blurred. In the eyes of the nearest hunter, Yu Xuan simply vanished.
A heartbeat later — shhk!
The hunter’s head was already rolling across the ground, its body collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
For the first time, the other hunters hesitated. The ones surrounding Lingluo took note of him as a threat, their glowing eyes flickering as if stunned.
Yu Xuan caught the subtle exchange, they nodded faintly at one another.
’They’re communicating... telepathically?’
Two hunters broke formation, rushing him with inhuman speed, while a third moved toward the fresh corpse.
Yu Xuan’s lips curled in disdain.
Ignoring the attackers, he shot forward like a crimson streak, his sword humming with killing intent. The hunter reaching for the corpse barely registered his presence before being reduced to shredded chunks, his body scattering across the forest floor.
The sound of tearing flesh still lingered in the air when a sudden rustle swept through the trees.
Yu Xuan’s gaze snapped to the source — his [Immortal’s Gaze] piercing the foliage.
Figures emerged one after another, their red eyes burning like embers in the dark. The forest seemed to grow heavier with every step they took.
More hunters emerged from the treeline.
Yu Xuan immediately noticed something different, this group moved with precision, not the slightly reckless like the earlier ones. And at their center walked a woman, tall and graceful, her beauty striking but touched by an unnatural sharpness.
Her aura was different too. Calm. Controlled. Dangerous.
’Is she their leader?’ Yu Xuan thought, narrowing his eyes.
His hand tightened around his sword hilt. This wasn’t over. No, this was where the real battle began.
The hunters that had been engaged with him and Lingluo abruptly withdrew, falling back behind the woman as she lifted her hand. The forest grew silent, as though the very air obeyed her will.
Yu Xuan and Lingluo regrouped, standing shoulder to shoulder. Though her features were delicate, the aura the woman emitted pressed against them like a storm.
Then, for the first time, she spoke.
"@%&$@ @#&$% $@%#^ @@#%#."
She spoke in an unknown language language.
Yu Xuan frowned. He couldn’t understand a word, but he still tried in the common tongue.
"Well, this is a surprise. Care to tell me why you’re attacking us?"
It was foolish — he knew. But sometimes words revealed more than blades.
The woman tilted her head, as if amused. Her crimson eyes shimmered faintly before she answered, in his language.
"Surrender, inferior species, and I will guarantee your deaths are... less painful."
The words fell casually from her lips, like a queen declaring a decree.
Yu Xuan felt a flicker of anger inside him, but he kept his face impassive. He had learned to swallow insults when survival demanded it. He did lot of mental training for that.
But the person beside him had no such patience.
A heavy, suffocating aura spilled out from Lingluo’s body, rolling across the clearing like an invisible tide. The woman’s smile faltered, just for a moment as the pressure settled over the hunters.
Yu Xuan turned his head slightly, his eyes widening.
Lingluo’s expression was nothing like her usual cheerful, teasing self. Her lips curled in disdain, her gaze sharp enough to cut steel. Her hair darkened, strands of purple threading through it, glowing faintly in the blood moon’s light.
A noble, almost divine presence awakened within her, one that made even Yu Xuan’s heart pound faster.
"Inferior species?" Her voice rang out, but it was no longer hers alone. It carried a weight, deep and ancient, like an echo of a noble lineage.
The ground beneath their feet quivered. Even the hunters who had shown no fear until now, shifted uneasily.
Yu Xuan gripped his sword tighter, awed.
’Now this is a surprise... I didn’t know a few words would rile her up this much.’
Before he could even take another breath, Lingluo vanished. The spot where she had stood exploded outward with a sharp shockwave that made Yu Xuan brace his stance to steady himself.
In the next instant, she was already in front of the woman, her voice laced with power that reverberated through the air.
"I’ll show you who’s inferior!"
The purple aura coiling around her condensed, sharpening into the shape of clawed hands. With a single swipe, she slashed at the woman, her movements so fast and violent that the hunters behind their leader staggered back instinctively.
Power met power. In a blink, Lingluo and the woman clashed, their figures blurring into streaks of shadow and light, shockwaves rippling out as they fought with feral intensity.
The hunters froze, stunned by their leader being forced into combat so suddenly.
Yu Xuan didn’t waste the opportunity.
He dashed forward, his sword already moving in a dazzling arc. Each strike looked almost careless, random but every slash found its mark. Heads toppled, torsos split, blood sprayed in streaks of black under the crimson moonlight.
His blade moved with deadly precision as he whispered in his mind the name of the art that guided his hand.
[Magic Swordsmanship of the Avalon Imperial Family] — Second Form.
Every swing was a miracle of inevitability, as if the world itself conspired to guide his strikes into the enemies’ weak points.
The hunters quickly regained their composure. Their glowing eyes flared, and in perfect unison they surrounded Yu Xuan, forming a tight circular formation. Their weapons glistened under the blood moon, their footsteps eerily synchronized.
Most radiated the strength of late Foundation Establishment, but Yu Xuan felt the oppressive weight of a few Core Formation auras hidden among them.
Yet something wasn’t right.
His senses swept over the battlefield again. The longer he focused, the more his brow furrowed.
The numbers... they were wrong.
He remembered clearly — he and Lingluo had already cut down a dozen at the start, severing heads and smashing skulls to ensure they stayed down.
Even if those with intact bodies regenerated, those who had been shredded or decapitated shouldn’t be standing again. By now, their numbers should have dwindled.
But instead, there were more of them than he expected.