C58 Fight Back with Your Teeth

In a cramped stone cave that could barely fit five or six people, Yuan Ting, Yu Feifei, and two other youths studied the stone wall intently. It was etched with many peculiar runes, but a portion of them had been deliberately erased.

Yu Yuan cast a single glance at the wall and immediately concluded that the runes had once formed a complete rune circle. It was likely the work of a trial-taker who had ventured into the Moonfall Sanctuary years earlier. Eventually, someone had discovered the rune circle and, after deciphering its secrets, chose to destroy the wall to prevent others from unlocking its mysteries. Without the full set of runes, the circle was useless.

"Don't waste your energy here," Yu Yuan said dismissively, sparing the wall no further attention. "An incomplete rune circle is utterly worthless."

While Yuan Ting and the others continued to scrutinize the wall, hoping to discern some hidden secret, Yu Yuan had already lost interest and departed the cave. No sooner had he stepped outside than he encountered a trio emerging from another cave—two men and a woman, whom he had briefly seen at the entrance to the forbidden area. Yu Yuan barely remembered them, guessing they were trial-takers from one of the other six cities who had arrived via a different route.

"Have you found anything?" The lead young man's curiosity was piqued by the distant murmurs.

"Is that you? From Asvetaesi, Yu Yuan!" The girl's eyes blazed with recognition upon seeing him. Yu Yuan's previous remarks had managed to offend the women of the five major families and six cities, and she was no exception.

Yu Yuan simply shrugged, offering no reply.

"You'll regret this later!" she snapped, her glare sharp. "But first, let's check inside!"

With that, the trio brushed past him and entered the cave where Yuan Ting and the others were.

At that moment, Zhao Yafu finally emerged from a pit below. "Why have those three from Sillserine City shown up?" she wondered aloud, eyeing the cave with suspicion. "Could they have found something?"

"I've come across an incomplete rune circle," Yu Yuan remarked offhandedly.

"An incomplete rune circle?" Zhao Yafu wasn't particularly concerned as she responded, "Let's not bother with it. An incomplete rune circle is unlikely to stir up any trouble."

She didn't bother to elaborate to Yu Yuan about the identities and levels of the three trial-takers from Sillserine City because it didn't matter to her. After all, their cultivation was quite average.

All were at the Soul Awakening Realm, with none having reached the Golden Sanctum.

Without the cultivation level of the Golden Sanctum and not being from one of the five great families, Zhao Yafu was not intimidated.

"Stop right there!"

Out of nowhere, Yuan Ting's angry roar erupted from the cave.

"Brother!"

Yu Feifei's voice, filled with fright and unease, called out almost simultaneously.

Yu Yuan's expression turned grim. He was about to rush in when everyone inside, Yuan Ting and the Sillserine trio included, emerged from the cave.

To be precise, the trio from Sillserine walked out, followed closely by Yuan Ting and his group.

"Whew!"

Yu Yuan swiftly positioned himself in front of the three, his brow furrowed as he demanded, "What just happened?"

"Yu Yuan, that guy was harassing your sister, pinching her face," Yuan Ting seethed, pointing at a gaunt, dark-skinned youth among them.

The youth wore an irritating grin as he retorted, "I saw that your sister had a round, plump face—quite adorable—so I just couldn't resist pinching it. Does that count as harassment?"

He was clearly unrepentant.

Yu Yuan fixed a piercing gaze on him.

"What's the issue?" challenged another, a taller young man, "My brother just pinched her a bit. No need to make a big deal out of it, right? You claimed that all women from cities other than Asvetaesi were shrews, and we didn't even take you to task for that."

"Yafu," Yu Yuan called out sharply.

"Right here!" Zhao Yafu's voice rang out clearly.

"Do me a favor and capture that guy," Yu Yuan instructed, pointing at the skinny, dark youth.

"You got it."

Zhao Yafu burst into action, swift as lightning.

A figure of a flood dragon materialized, a blend of spiritual energy and vitality coalescing in the void.

With her small fists clenched, she delivered a simple and brutal blow toward the trio.

"Roar!"

The flood dragon's silhouette in the void echoed her punch, letting out a fierce roar.

The men and women from Sillserine City felt their vitality chaotically surge, suddenly becoming dizzy and disoriented.

Zhao Yafu's fist came down hard on the chests of the two brothers.

"Boom!"

It was like a clap of thunder on a clear day.

Her small fists sent the brothers flying, slamming them into the rock wall behind them.

In a swift motion, Zhao Yafu appeared beside the thin, dark-skinned youth as he landed. She grabbed the nape of his neck and dragged him over to Yu Yuan's feet like a rag doll. "Here, I've brought him to you."

The fight erupted and concluded in the blink of an eye, as quickly as a flash of lightning.

The other girl, dazed by the dragon's roar, hadn't even had a chance to react before it was all over.

"Uh..."

Yuan Ting, Yu Feifei, and the members of the Yuan family stood in stunned silence.

How could Zhao Yafu be so domineering?

She had only just advanced from the Soul Awakening to the Golden Sanctum state. How could she unleash such fearsome combat power?

Even Yu Yuan was taken aback for a moment, wondering to himself: What exactly did the refining of the dragon whelp spirit grant her? What caused such a dramatic transformation?

Though curious, Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes and crouched down.

"What are you doing?" The thin, dark-skinned youth seemed to only just realize he had been knocked out and captured by Zhao Yafu.

"Nothing much. I just think your face is quite plump and round, quite adorable, actually."

Yu Yuan smiled as he pinched the youth's face, then began to pull at it!

"Ah!"

A scream akin to that of a pig being slaughtered pierced the air, the young man in such agony that tears and snot streamed down his face.

"Stop!"

The taller brother and the bewildered girl shouted in unison.

Yu Yuan paid them no heed. He was well aware that the rules of the forbidden area permitted combat within the first four months.

The only prohibition was against killing.

As long as one didn't take a life, inflicting serious injury typically wouldn't draw the observers' punishment or warning.

The young man's screams echoed as his face, mangled beyond recognition, resembled a cotton ball being torn and twisted mercilessly by Yu Yuan.

"Don't get too comfortable," the girl warned. "The people from Sillserine City will be here any minute!"

Intimidated by Zhao Yafu's formidable combat prowess, she hesitated to make a move, resorting instead to invoking the support of her fellow city dwellers. "We traveled here through a tunnel connected to the Heavenly Pit. The rest of our group will be here shortly."

Yuan Ting's face darkened at her words.

Indeed, there were other Golden Sanctum trial-takers from Sillserine City, not just one, and their levels of cultivation surpassed even that of Zhao Yafu.

If the girl's claims held true and reinforcements were on their way, Yuan Ting pondered his next move.

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