C267 Female Soldiers

"A woman?"

Yu Yuan's brow creased ever so slightly, yet his demeanor remained composed. With a smile, he inquired, "At the Yellow Court Stage?"

The armor worn by the female soldiers was indistinguishable from that of their male counterparts.

She was quite tall and robust. Until she removed her heavy armor and mask, it was nearly impossible to discern any feminine traits.

Yu Yuan observed that she was likely the one with the lowest level of cultivation among the Tusk Troops.

And it was she who had grievously wounded Zhan Tianxiang and Bai Shenshen with her poisoned crossbow bolts.

Her Yellow Court Stage cultivation was evident. Despite witnessing Yu Yuan slay a comrade at the Profound Break Stage, she boldly stepped forward, armor removed, exuding immense self-confidence.

For this reason, Yu Yuan scrutinized her closely, eyes narrowed, as he spoke.

The female Tusk Troop soldier stood tall, clad in a black bodysuit, exuding the presence of a lithe and powerful leopardess, her aura brimming with strength and a sense of imminent action.

She set aside her crossbow and clutched a dark dagger, nodding at Yu Yuan in acknowledgment.

She cast not a single glance at her fallen Tusk Troop comrade, her indifference chilling to the core.

"Step!"

Ning Ji advanced, aligning himself with Yu Yuan, his voice grave, "Your Tusk Troops may have defected from the Divine Might Empire, but that gives you no right to wreak havoc within the Silvermoon Empire's domain!"

Her eyebrows shot up, her face etched with scorn and nonchalance.

Meanwhile, the other four Tusk Troops soldiers continued to besiege Bai Shenshen.

Upon shedding her heavy armor, the Tusk Troops soldier at the Penetrating Stage seemed to breathe easier, as if his confidence in her was unshakeable.

"Yu Yuan!"

Bai Shenshen, already wounded by an arrow, let out an urgent shout, capturing Yu Yuan and Ning Ji's attention. "Watch out for that woman! She's far more formidable than the one you've slain!"

Clearly, Bai Shenshen had endured great hardship.

Yu Yuan gave her a quick look, noting her subtly purple lips. Her demeanor suggested she wouldn't last much longer before succumbing to the poison's effects.

In the shadows, he reached out with his Heavenly Soul and felt Yu Zhu's rapid approach.

"Darkmoon City, Yu Yuan, at your service."

With a sudden gesture of respect, Yu Yuan smiled broadly at the Tusk Troops' female general, "May I have the honor of knowing who you are?"

She was at the Yellow Court Stage, a level of cultivation that Yu Yuan could not quite pinpoint. The woman regarded him with a curious gaze.

Just when Yu Yuan thought she wouldn't utter a word, her voice, husky and deep, cut through the silence, "Tusk Troops, Wei Feng!"

With a swift motion, she struck. The black dagger in her hand traced a deadly arc through the air.

A jet of black blade light surged forth, its purity and sharpness sending a shiver down Ning Ji's spine, who was standing next to Yu Yuan, as if his head might sever from his neck.

Ning Ji blanched, instinctively dodging while shouting a warning, "Watch out!"

"Slash!"

Yu Yuan's chest was ripped open by the black blade light, blood gushing forth.

Narrowly avoiding a lethal blow to the neck, Yu Yuan sidestepped and glanced down at the searing pain and tingling sensation in his chest, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth.

It was a near miss; the black blade light had nearly claimed his head.

Wei Feng, the Tusk Troops' female general who introduced herself, paused after her initial strike. As Yu Yuan caught her eye, she casually flicked her black dagger and cast a dismissive glance at his wounded chest, shaking her head in a tsk-tsk manner.

It was as if she was saying, "Is that all you've got?"

"Damn it, Yu Yuan, her blades are all laced with deadly poison!"

Seeing Yu Yuan's chest sliced open and bleeding uncontrollably, Bai Shenshen was struck by a wave of hopelessness. She urged him, "Get out of here! Forget about me."

Wei Feng, upon hearing this, cocked her head and gave Yu Yuan a chilling stare.

It was as if she was challenging him, "Where do you think you can run?"

Yet, Yu Yuan, even with a fresh wound from Wei Feng, remained eerily composed. He steadied his breath and responded, "Wei Feng, is it? You're far more formidable than the last one. The weapon you wield must be of high grade. Your cultivation may be slightly inferior, but your standing in the Tusk Troops—and your future achievements—will surely surpass his by leagues."

The black dagger wielded by the female warrior was at least of Heaven Level quality, and astonishingly, it was in perfect sync with her consciousness.

For a weapon to achieve such a connection, it must not only be of high rank but also deeply resonate with the owner's cultivation technique, life force, and even their soul, earning it the title of a life-bound weapon.

Wai Feng, merely at the Yellow Court Stage, seemed to Yu Yuan to possess a Spiritual Spell, crossbow, and dagger that were all a notch above those wielded by the opponent he had swiftly defeated.

The level of one's cultivation was not the sole determinant of combat prowess.

"Thanks for the compliment," Wai Feng responded coolly before launching another attack.

A streak of black light from her blade shot out, its trajectory elusive and its speed blinding.

Yu Yuan, braced for the assault, managed to dodge before the blade light fully manifested, yet a sharp pain in his left arm betrayed a deep, bone-revealing gash left in its wake.

The second streak of black light from her blade was even faster, outpacing the first by threefold!

Yu Yuan's expression grew grim as he inspected the fresh wound on his left arm and the blood that began to seep from it. "That's incredibly fast," he remarked.

"Faster than before, wouldn't you say?" Wai Feng murmured, her blade dancing through the air once more.

The outcome was unchanged.

Yu Yuan's right arm now bore a new wound, with a chunk of flesh torn away.

"Significantly faster," he conceded.

Blood oozed from the three wounds on his chest and both arms, each sending waves of stinging numbness through him—a stark reminder that this was no mere injury.

Poison was stealthily infiltrating his flesh, bones, and vitals.

Wai Feng, having spoken three lines, had matched them with three successive strikes of her black dagger. She then frowned slightly, her eyes reflecting surprise as she intently examined Yu Yuan's arms.

She was baffled.

After her second and third strikes, shouldn't Yu Yuan's arms have been severed, leaving him to wail in a blood-soaked agony?

Her preferred method was to methodically dismember her enemies, watching them collapse and scream for mercy, powerless without their limbs.

Yet, after her second strike, only a bone-deep wound marked Yu Yuan's arm.

When the second strike failed to achieve its intended effect, she put more force behind her third, hoping to see an arm severed and cast to the ground.

Yet, she faced disappointment once again.

When had her life-bound dagger lost its edge?

A Heaven Level Seventh Grade blade should have easily sliced through the arm of a cultivator at the same level, yet it failed.

The man before her bore no heavy armor like her own, just a body of mere flesh and blood!

Wei Feng, puzzled, refrained from delivering a fourth strike. Instead, she intently examined the wounds on Yu Yuan's arms, noting the blood's hue subtly shifting.

She breathed a silent sigh of relief, thinking: Good, the poison is permeating.

"My turn!"

Ning Ji burst forth, his sleeves fluttering, as globs of dark spiritual light morphed into black bats diving at Wei Feng.

Wei Feng regarded him with disdain and let out a contemptuous huff.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

She brandished her black dagger again, tracing circles in the air before her.

One by one, ominous rings of light emerged around her, whirling, shredding the incoming bats to pieces.

Her gaze then snapped to Ning Ji, icy and piercing.

Almost imperceptibly, needle-like streaks of sharpness shot out from the gloves on her other hand.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

In a flash, Ning Ji was impaled through the midsection and sent flying backward.

He crashed to the ground at Yu Yuan's feet, the old man who had once looked after him and had only just ascended to the Profound Break Stage. Blood seeped from his pores like a sinister whisper.

The blood was a dark brown, a clear sign of poisoning.

"Before you joined the Tusk Troops, were you a practitioner with the Voodoo Cult?" Yu Yuan asked the female warrior icily, "On the Quietus Continent, the Voodoo Cult is nothing but a minor faction, not even on par with the Ghoul Glyph Sect. You think a brief stint with their Spiritual Spells makes you formidable?"

Wei Feng's eyes glinted with a chilling darkness, "And what if it does?"

​