Chapter 4

Li Yunxian felt she was being followed and caught a glimpse of her tail through a glass reflection on the street. Recognizing Liu Chen and his lackeys, she was left speechless. They were merely three novices, so she paid them little mind and continued walking toward the testing center. The county town was small, and it took her only twenty minutes to get there from the first high school.

The testing center was unexpectedly crowded. Li Yunxian scanned the room, but her gaze did not linger on the service windows. Instead, she looked at a few middle-aged men and women standing scattered throughout the hall, appearing as if they were strangers to one another. They were at the fourth or fifth level of Qi Refinement, and there was a scent of blood about them. Li Yunxian sensed a faint, lingering danger. Frowning slightly, she stopped before entering. She turned back to look at the spot where Liu Chen and his two companions were hiding.

At first, they thought it was a coincidence that Li Yunxian was looking their way, but as she kept her gaze fixed on them, they realized they had been exposed. Liu Chen emerged sullenly, his face masking a sense of trepidation with bravado: "What are you looking at? You're not the only one allowed in the testing center."

Li Yunxian ignored him entirely and asked, "How does one report a case involving cultivators to the police?"

Liu Chen was stunned. How could a victim possibly ask the perpetrators for the police hotline? He assumed Li Yunxian wanted to report them for stalking. Naturally, he wouldn't provide it—he had come out today to save face in front of his lackeys!

"Report it? You’re a cultivator now, too; among cultivators, there is only the strong and the weak!" Liu Chen sneered, spiritual energy gathering at his fingertips. Knowing Li Yunxian was formidable, he had prepared himself this time, striking first to prevent her from stopping him. He was certain he wouldn't fail again!

Turning his fingers into blades, he slashed toward Li Yunxian’s neck with fury.

Li Yunxian was speechless. It was the same as last time: he attacked without a word. But never mind; she hadn't expected these three bullies to be of any help anyway. Her original plan had simply been to dismiss these three underage weaklings so they would stay away from this potentially dangerous place.

Stepping back with ease, she made a light turn and, with a casual, strolling grace, appeared behind Liu Chen. Reaching out, she grabbed his upper arm while the two lackeys watched in horror. Using the momentum of his own failed strike, she tossed him three or four meters away, landing him squarely in a patch of shrubbery.

"Brother Liu!" the two lackeys cried out in shock. One of them, quite loyal, immediately lunged at Li Yunxian, howling for revenge. Li Yunxian simply sent him over to keep Liu Chen company. The last remaining lackey looked at her with pure terror; he didn't want to be tossed out like his companions.

Liu Chen suddenly recalled the question Li Yunxian had asked when she first saw them. He immediately raised his phone high and shouted, "Don't come any closer! I’ve already called the Special Management Bureau!"

Seeing the words 'Special Management Bureau' on the screen, Li Yunxian felt the aura of the people in the testing center behind her spike violently.

*...That useless idiot!*

Li Yunxian’s eyes turned cold. She kicked the final lackey into the bushes with the others. Reaching into her pocket, she gripped her hidden pocketknife, channeling her remaining spiritual energy into the blade. She could hear the metal groaning under the pressure. Inside the center, the lurkers were cursing internally. The building was too crowded to be the optimal time, but they knew how quickly the Bureau would arrive. They had to either abandon the mission or finish it swiftly.

For them, there was no hesitation. With a sharp whistle, the leader signaled the attack: "The hunt begins!"

Only a few seconds had passed since Li Yunxian kicked the last lackey away. The people in the center were still watching the spectacle, and the sudden turn of events left them stunned. It was only when someone had an arm severed by an attacker and blood sprayed across the floor that the screams began.

"Hunters! They’re Hunters!"

The scene fell into chaos. Li Yunxian ignored the fleeing crowd and locked her gaze onto the leader of the lurkers—the one with the highest cultivation: fifth-level Qi Refinement. The small knife in her hand groaned in agony; this common pencil-sharpening tool could not withstand much spiritual burden.

She only had one chance!

Li Yunxian seized the moment the leader cast a spell. The blade shrieked, and the sword energy surged like a rainbow! In the blink of an eye, a head went flying. Li Yunxian landed gracefully and reached out, catching the severed head, its eyes still wide with disbelief. Everyone clearly saw the blood dripping from the small knife in her other hand.

This terrifying scene, as if a god or demon had descended, silenced everyone present. Li Yunxian maintained an air of nonchalance, holding the knife as if it were the legendary Snow-Swift Sword from her previous life. No one could tell that she had already drained her last drop of spiritual energy and was now in a state of exhaustion.

With a murderous glare, she looked at the remaining Hunters, raised an eyebrow, and said coldly, "Get lost! If you waste any more of my time, you'll all go down to join him!"

With that, she tossed the head onto the second-strongest attacker, drenching him in blood. Without their leader, the attackers were leaderless, and seeing Li Yunxian’s ferocity, it was clear they were losing their nerve.

They truly wanted to retreat. It wasn't just because Li Yunxian looked fierce, but because they couldn't discern her cultivation level at all. In their perception, this 'witch' didn't even have a single level of Qi Refinement. How was that possible? There could only be one explanation: her cultivation was far higher than their own. They weren't afraid of death, but they didn't want to throw their lives away for nothing. The Hunters stared at her and stepped back slowly.

They were preparing to leave. Li Yunxian felt a wave of relief.

But the crises Li Yunxian encountered were like those in her past—rarely did things go smoothly. A voice filled with hatred erupted from outside the center.

"Kill her! She's my classmate! She really just entered Qi Refinement, that's why she came to the center to test!" Liu Chen, disheveled and battered, stared at Li Yunxian with eyes burning with resentment. "She’s just using some kind of artifact to kill! She can’t possibly do it a second time!"

The words fell like a thunderclap. The two lackeys beside him only realized what he had said after the fact, their faces turning pale as they scrambled to cover his mouth. But there is nothing worse than a teammate who acts like a pig. Their reaction only confirmed the truth of Liu Chen's words.

The Hunters stopped their retreat, their eyes filled with suspicion and scrutiny.

Hunters were essentially traitors to the human race—those who killed human cultivators to refine blood essence for other races in exchange for cultivation resources. They were hated by everyone, and any human cultivator with the ability to kill them would never show mercy. How could she have just told them to leave?

The attackers realized the inconsistencies in Li Yunxian's actions.

Li Yunxian showed no signs of being exposed. She looked at them with a half-smile. "Do you really want to test whether I can still kill?"

As she spoke, she raised her hand holding the knife. The blood of the fifth-level practitioner was still congealed on the blade, a shocking, vivid red. But this time, they didn't buy it. As Hunters, they were natural gamblers. They gambled that if Li Yunxian still had the ability to kill, she wouldn't be standing there bickering with them!

The Hunters present were at least at the fourth level of Qi Refinement. At this level, they could use spells rather than just enhancing their physical bodies like Liu Chen. Spiritual energy surged in the air, bringing with it a wave of heat. Li Yunxian faintly saw the small sword in the lead Hunter's hand glowing red.

*Flame Technique.* It could increase a sword cultivator's range and cause splash damage.

*This won't end easily,* she thought. Having confirmed this, she flicked her finger, and the knife shot out like lightning.

The Hunters were on guard; none dared to meet the blade head-on and scrambled to dodge. But how could a weapon wielded by a sword cultivator who had reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage be so easily avoided? The Hunter locked on by her aura turned pale, but no matter how he dodged, he couldn't escape the blade's range.

*Clang!*

Everyone watched as the knife struck the Hunter's wrist, shattered into powder, and left only a white mark on his skin.

Everyone was stunned. Such a fierce attack had turned out to be as ineffective as a feather. The Hunters immediately realized that Li Yunxian had absolutely no spiritual energy left! Once they activated their protective techniques, a mundane weapon with no spiritual power couldn't break their defenses.

The Hunters' eyes lit up.

At that moment, Li Yunxian took advantage of their momentary distraction to dash beside a trembling, second-level Qi Refinement cultivator who was cowering in a ball. She had seen such sheltered cultivators in the great sects before and didn't find it strange. She reached out, snatched the spiritual sword from his waist, and, ignoring his shocked expression, glared at the other cultivators in the room.

"You are all cultivators, too! Stand up! Fight back! Haven't you ever learned how?!"

Many people lack a backbone and only move when poked. After her words, some finally snapped out of their shock and realized they could resist.

The Hunters sneered, not taking these fledglings seriously at all. They had already finished their sword incantations.

*Momentum gathered!*

Four flying swords streaked directly toward Li Yunxian’s face!

Li Yunxian watched calmly, the spiritual sword in her hand vibrating, its aura gradually merging with her own. She had no spiritual energy, but she still possessed the soul of a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator. The soul that had been shattered when she sacrificed the Divine Land now became an advantage—it was very easy to shatter.

And the soul power generated from shattering those fragments was enough for her to...

*Sword Slash: Soul Severing!*