Chapter 5686

The young woman tottered across the churned earth. Blood beaded along her lips, then fell like garnets onto a gown ripped open by countless blows. Pale skin showed through cracked silk, every exposed inch laced with fresh crimson.

Her steps wavered, betraying fatigue she could no longer hide.

“Stop struggling, pretty thing. Hand over the Ninefold Pill you stole from that ancient cavern. Do that, and my buddies and I might let you die quickly.”

A scar-faced demonic cultivator, his cheek carved by an old wound that twisted whenever he grinned, let out a low, lecherous chuckle. Greed and lust shimmered in his eyes like twin blades thirsty for new cuts.

“Never! I would rather die than let trash like you succeed.”

Her sword flickered forward in a desperate flurry, yet every frantic stroke opened another weakness, another invitation to the killers circling her.

Hidden, Jared watched, brow knit in reluctant concern.