"Wasn't it enough that you dragged me into this?" Duncan mumbled to himself in disbelief. "Are you even planning to abandon me now? What a ruthless bitch!" Duncan cursed anxiously.
"Wait, did she just say she was infected by Nine Yin Poison?" Duncan exclaimed inwardly as a strange emotion fluctuated across his eyes.
But before Duncan could follow that thought process, a figure broke across the tree line in the distance and rushed forward in a ferocious manner.
Looking at the man who was dressed in black robes and had an air of ferociousness around him, Duncan immediately knew that this was the disciple of the Nine Yin Sect that was chasing after the woman.
Duncan immediately realized that he had no hope of besting this man. The aura that came from him alone was enough for Duncan to realize that he would just be sending himself to death if he intervened in this matter.
The man had an ominous aura surrounding him. His eyes were bloodshot and there was a savage gleam in his eyes. The moment the man laid eyes on Duncan, a sneer adorned his face and his eyes sharpened.
"Seni.." Duncan didn't even finish greeting the man before the man attacked Duncan savagely.
All of Duncan's danger senses went haywire the moment the man moved. The man formed a claw with his hand and swiped at Duncan, without giving Duncan a chance to explain himself.
Duncan barely got his sword out in time and defended.
The attack was fast and ruthless.
The man one shotted Duncan away.
The impact of the blow was not something Duncan could defend himself against. Duncan's arms broke with a click and the sword he used to defend himself with slammed into him, cutting deep.
However, the attack made by the man was really ruthless. He attacked Duncan with full power. If not for Duncan getting out his sword, the attack would have injured Duncan fatally.
Even so, Duncan was blasted away without any mercy. Duncan felt his eyes blacken, as he was sent flying. Duncan felt his body smash through multiple trees before rolling to a stop.
"Tch, even trash like this dares to stand in my way," Duncan heard the man sneer as his consciousness flickered.
*****
Inside the cave, the woman who told Duncan that she was going to meditate to remove the poison looked up. There were no fluctuations in her eyes. Rather, a trace of annoyance appeared on her face.
But, she didn't pause in her actions.
Waving her arms, she set up the final steps of a defensive formation in a hurry. From these actions, it could be inferred that the woman never thought Duncan would be able to stop the person who was chasing her.
Rather, she just dragged him in to delay her pursuer.
The mere moments that the person who was after her was delayed, dealing with Duncan, was enough for her to arrange a defensive formation around the entrance of the cave.
The woman knew Duncan's realm at a glance the moment she neared him. That was the reason she never put her faith in Duncan. She merely used him to get some time.
Her actual target was the hidden cave that Duncan emerged out of. When she entered the Grotto Heaven, she was dropped off near this region. She once passed by this cave on her way toward the central region and even spent a night here.
She knew the exact location of the cave. That was the reason she ran here. The defensive formation in her hand was not a top-notch one. It can only guard a certain region. The bigger the region it must guard, the lesser the effectiveness of the formation.
So, when she was running away, she had already planned to use this cave as a location for her formation. What she didn't expect was to find someone using this cave already. Luckily, it was a mere junior at the Spirit Sea realm.
After pushing forward the unlucky junior, she entered the cave immediately and started setting up the formation. All her words from the moment she saw the junior were to confuse the junior and use him to buy her some time.
Luckily, she was successful in her goals.
With a hum, the formation activated just in time for her pursuer to halt in his tracks.
"Bitch, you think you can escape my hands with a measly formation like this?" the man from the Nine Yin Sect roared angrily.
The woman didn't reply, she concentrated on operating the formation with a grim face.
"Hmmph, let's see how long you last. I am definitely going to break open this formation and refine you," the man roared angrily.
"Hmmph, we will see," the woman snorted angrily.
"Heh, so you are still holding on? How's the effect of my Nine Yin poison? Pretty soon, you will be begging me to come in," the man sneered and attacked the formation angrily.
The woman's eyebrows furrowed in displeasure. She took out a pill from her belongings and swallowed it.
"I have Heavenly Fragrance Suppression pills with me," the woman snorted in reply. "If you think I will let you in, you are dreaming."
Hearing those words, the man stopped attacking for a moment. He knew what the effects of the Heavenly Fragrance Suppression pills were. They were created specifically to counteract any aphrodisiacs and suppress their effects.
"Huh, no wonder you were able to last this long," the man said frowning a little. "You Wind Blossom Sect bitches sure are well prepared."
"Hmmph, our sect master is wise. She knows how you despicable bastards like to act," the woman said arrogantly.
"He he he… But, even those pills will only be useful if you meditate to suppress and expel the poison with your cultivation. Without doing that, the pills you took can only suppress the poison temporarily. You think I will give you time to meditate?" the man laughed obscenely.
Hearing those words, the woman's face became a bit gloomy.
"What's more, the more you suppress the poison in your body instead of eliminating it, the fiercer the effects will be when you are no longer able to suppress it. He he he… I am looking forward to your appearance when you run out of those Heavenly Fragrance Suppression pills," the man cackled before attacking the formation again.
The woman's face paled when she took in the man's meaning. However, before she could retort, she was forced to operate the defensive formation as it was attacked once more.
She knew that she was in a difficult position right now. As long as she could suppress the effects and run the formation, she would be safe. The formation would only fall when it runs out of qi to operate it.
Neither she nor the man was strong enough to break the defensive formation when the formation was running. She thought by exposing that she had the Heavenly Fragrance Suppression pills, the man might be forced to move on somewhere else for another prey.
One has to know that defending usually only costs less qi than attacking. Moreover, she was currently using a formation. The cost of her qi expenditure will be less than his. That meant she would be able to hold on until her qi runs out.
But, who knew that this bastard would be this crazy and decide to play attrition strategy with her? This was not what she expected. If she had more time, she would be able to remove the poison within her with the help of Heavenly Fragrance Suppression pills. But, it didn't look like this bastard would give her that time.
In this case, she could only wait it out. She and the Nine Yin Sect disciple were currently deadlocked. All she can do currently is hope that someone else came across this place and dealt with that bastard.
If not, her situation would become even direr.
*****
Duncan felt his consciousness float in a void. He felt strangely free of everything. Almost everything around him felt dull. His consciousness was like a candle wisp that was close to running out.
Just then, a strange fluctuation occurred in Duncan's heart.
Badump…
The black heart that Duncan possessed beats loudly. And strangely enough, Duncan's consciousness was able to hear that sound very clearly in that dull void. Soon, the tempo of Duncan's heart increased.
In his consciousness, Duncan heard the sound become more rapid. There was a strange tempo to the beating of his heart. It was as if some war drum was starting to beat. Duncan felt the surroundings in his consciousness suddenly start to become vivid slowly.
The tempo of Duncan's heartbeat became faster and faster. It was as if the war beat was reaching a crescendo of sorts. The surroundings in the void began to shine blood red as the pace of the tempo increased.
Right when Duncan felt as if he couldn't bear the increase in pace anymore, the sounds abruptly stopped for a moment. Everything became quiet and Duncan felt incredibly uncomfortable in his consciousness.
At that moment, an obscure sound echoed throughout Duncan's being. Duncan's entire being underwent a strange transformation at the moment. The black heart that Duncan possessed underwent a kind of sublimation.
Thump!
Duncan's consciousness heard his heartbeat sound again. But, there was strange rhyme to it. The void became red at the moment completely and it was as if his consciousness was submerged in a red haze.
Everything felt very vivid to Duncan in his consciousness. He could feel his broken body and the pain that came with it in his consciousness at that moment. The void shattered and he felt as if he was being shoved back into his body unceremoniously. Blinding pain exploded all over his body at that moment.
Just then, Duncan's eyelids fluttered slightly.
