No time for idle chatter—the appearance of the tiger demon was like a signal, and soon after, giant pythons as thick as barrels, golden eagles with gleaming feathers, and three-eyed jackals appeared one after another...

Beasts charged in from all directions!

Liam Carter's eyes immediately lit up.

But just then, William Grant shouted again: "Wind and Thunder Sword Technique! Swift!"

He formed a seal with his left hand, raised the Thunder Sword with his right, shouted, and lightning burst forth. The sword's edge swept in a wide arc. In an instant, sand and stones flew, thunderclouds rolled around him, and in a flash, they surged outward.

Rumble—

With just one strike, all the charging beasts were swept up by wind and thunder, instantly reduced to dust!

Total annihilation.

"Hmph!" William Grant sheathed his sword, snorted coldly, and swept his gaze around with an air of superiority, looking imposing. Then he glanced at Emily Thompson and Liam Carter beside him, holding his head high and chest out. Though his face was expressionless, his eyes seemed to flicker with a certain expectation.

He looked just like a golden retriever that had caught a mouse, waiting for praise but still trying to act aloof.

In stark contrast, the gleam that had just appeared in Liam Carter's eyes was instantly extinguished.

There was no more light in his eyes...

The more ruthlessly William Grant killed, the more it pained him...

Emily Thompson either was so used to her brother's cultivation that she didn't find it impressive, or she was simply too nervous to care about anything else. She didn't offer any praise for William Grant's heroic display.

As a result, William Grant held his pose for quite a while, but didn't get what he wanted. In the end, he just blinked and said to himself, "Junior Sister Ziqing, Junior Brother Chu, as long as you both train diligently, one day you too may be able to unleash such a strike."

"Heh." Liam Carter smiled.

While the battle on the outskirts was going smoothly, the two inside who were in charge of picking finally saw the moonlight fall directly onto the first flower's heart.

"It's about to bloom!" Benjamin Lee called out immediately.

Samuel Clark quickly raised a large bronze mirror in his hands.

Bathed in moonlight, the enormous Jade Spirit Flower with a human face slowly unfurled its petals like a beauty awakening from sleep... revealing a face as white as jade.

That's right, when the Jade Spirit Flower with a human face bloomed, the bud opened to reveal a face below that truly resembled a human! And it was a beautiful, genderless face, white as jade.

As soon as this human face appeared, its eyes were filled with a strange wariness, but then it saw the large bronze mirror directly in front of it. And in the mirror, its own face.

Very quickly, those eyes showed a look of intoxication...

Chapter 013: The Frightened Human-Faced Demon

When the Jade Spirit Flower with a human face blooms, everyone who looks at it will be mesmerized.

Including itself.

So the moment it looked into the bronze mirror, it actually fell into a trance.

Taking advantage of this moment, Benjamin Lee behind drew his sword, ready to cut the flower stem. As long as the flower was picked, the mission would be complete.

But just then, a sudden change occurred!

Whoosh!

A white shadow suddenly dropped from the sky, landing beside the Jade Spirit Flower and Benjamin Lee, and with a vicious swipe, clawed straight at Benjamin Lee's throat!

Swift and deadly—a fatal strike!

Luckily, Benjamin Lee reacted quickly, blocking with his sword. With a clang, sparks flew from the blade, and he staggered back several steps. Had he been a bit slower, he would have been killed instantly.

Only then did the three in the outer sword formation turn around and see what had landed in the field—a creature the size of a child, its whole body jade-white, with an enormous head.

"Human-faced demon!" William Grant's expression changed, and he immediately drew his sword.

This extremely rare creature was not something he had anticipated.

But the creature was incredibly fast. After driving back Benjamin Lee, it snapped off the blooming Jade Spirit Flower and turned to flee.

William Grant was quick as well. He raised the Thunder Sword, formed a seal with his left hand, and in an instant, golden dragons of sword energy filled the area, swirling up and down, forming a prison of sword energy! Like a pool of thunder, it trapped the creature in the center!

But the creature didn't dodge at all. It leapt straight up, its body turning transparent for a split second, passing through the sword energy prison in that instant, soaring into the air, then stepping on an overhanging rock and leaping away.

In the blink of an eye, it had already fled dozens of meters!

"Evil creature, stop!"

William Grant was furious, leaping onto his sword. The sword light instantly turned into a raging golden dragon, chasing after it.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

But in this valley, the rocks hung upside down and crisscrossed, and the white shadow was incredibly agile, always choosing the most rugged paths.

Sword-riding was fast, but best suited for straight, long-distance flight. In such twisting and turning terrain, it was not nimble, and before long, he crashed into several huge rocks.

If it were just ordinary rocks, charging through wouldn't matter, but the rocks in this valley were especially hard. Crashing into them at high speed was extremely dangerous—even a fourth-realm cultivator like William Grant couldn't take much more.

After a moment, he changed tactics, moving forward on foot with wind manipulation. The Thunder Sword shot through the air, trying to strike the creature from a distance.

But this made him even slower, and in no time, the gap widened again. The flying sword chased the incredibly agile creature, but could never lock onto it.