Elder Zhang laughed out maniacally, ignoring the pain in his right hand as he gripped the Broken Moon Sword tightly and gathered all the Essence in his body into his left hand.

His final strike before his death, Medial Grade Yellow Ranked Martial Technique—Reckless Heavy Punch!

This punch was incomparably swift and fierce, completely exceeding Xiao Yulan's expectations. The full force of a Martial Grand Master struck her shoulder heavily and sent her flying back toward the stone pillar.

Xiao Chen, who was preparing to draw the Spirit Weapon, was startled, hurriedly catching Xiao Yulan, "Cousin, are you alright?"

Xiao Yulan's face was pale as she spoke somewhat weakly, "Quickly run, that man in blue is about to open up the hole."

He carried Xiao Yulan on his back, turned his head to see the man in blue anxiously trying to break through that thin yellow barrier, and then looked once again at the Spirit Weapon on the Moonstone pillar.

Even if he tried to return back through the route from which they came, he would not be able to break open that stone wall with his current strength. It would only be a path to death. If he pulled out the Spirit Weapon, who knows, maybe he could use the strength of the Spirit Weapon to help carve a path out, making his escape easy.

Xiao Chen stopped hesitating. He took two steps forward and gripped the sword handle. He tugged firmly at it, but to his surprise, it came out with incomparable ease. However, this Spirit Weapon did not seem like a divine weapon. And upon closer inspection, it was actually just a meter-long broken sword.

Before he had time to curse, the Moonstone pillar exploded apart with a loud boom and turned into numerous fragments. Xiao Chen reacted quickly and grabbed at some of the fragments with his hands before falling downwards. After the Moonstone pillar exploded, the stone platform below them was destroyed too, thus Xiao Chen had fallen down, together with Xiao Yulan, who he was carrying.

"No!" Seeing the Spirit Weapon snatched from right under his nose and the Moonstone pillar breaking into pieces, the man in blue shouted out loudly. That thin yellow barrier suddenly seemed to emit a great repelling force, causing the man in blue to be blasted out. The hole in the barrier rapidly mended itself.

The man in blue had been watching as all these things played out all of a sudden. He felt unresigned, vomited blood, and then fainted!

In a narrow stone room, Xiao Yulan closed her eyes as she leaned back on the wall. Her complexion was very pale as she kept murmuring in a low voice. Xiao Chen frowned and looked at the hole about ten meters above them, at a loss for what to do.

"Cousin Xiao Chen, am I dying?" Xiao Yulan opened her eyes and inquired weakly. She had been struck by Elder Zhang's strongest technique earlier. The punch of a peak Martial Grand Master augmented by the Reckless Heavy Punch Martial Technique had such an enormous force behind it that it almost shattered all her meridians. Even worse, the Martial Spirit in her body had no way to treat this damage.

Xiao Chen walked over, sat down by her side, and smiled: "Stop talking nonsense cousin and rest well. This pit is only about ten meters deep, so I will think of a way to get us out as soon as possible."

When Xiao Yulan heard that, a bitter smile appeared on her pale face, "If you are able to leave, then leave by yourself, you don't have to bother with me. Since the day I was born, I have been destined to bring misfortune to the people around me... I should have died long ago."

Xiao Chen smiled, "Stop saying silly things, there is no way I will abandon you here. As long as I am alive, I will not let you die."

There was not a single trace of redness on Xiao Yulan's face, and her lips parted in a murmur: "Don't you think that it was strange that I was cultivating alone on Seven Horn Mountain all this time?"

[Tl notes: The author is not trying to say that Xiao Yulan did not feel anything, he was trying to express that she is now anemic, probably due to loss of blood]

"It is indeed strange, but everyone has their own secrets to hide. I don't think it is good to dig into the secrets of others." Xiao Chen squinted while pursing his lips.

"When I was five years old, I had already condensed my Martial Soul. I remember the horrified expression on my father's face. I was very young back then, so I could not understand why and I only felt that the flower in my body was very pretty."

"I used to have an elder sister. I did not understand the situation then and showed Poinsettia to her. After she got poisoned by it, she fell down and suffered an injury that made her bleed... thus, she was poisoned to death by me like this. Ever since then, I finally understood why my father did not like me. I am poisonous; the bowls and cups that I used to use, even the stool that I sat on, have to be cleaned multiple times."

"I could not even play with the other children. Cousin Xiao Chen, do you remember? We used to play house together when we were young, but when my Martial Soul appeared, my father forbade me from playing with the others. I was very upset and would often hide somewhere to cry. When I was eight years old, my father sent me to Seven Horn Mountain to cultivate. Ever since then, I've never left the mountain.. and on occasion, my father sends some things up the mountain to me."

Xiao Yulan spoke very slowly, as though she was reminiscing about the distant past. Her pale smile suddenly brightened, "I rarely meet people on the mountain. When I first met cousin, I actually did not recognize you and even injured you. I was very afraid then, afraid that you would call me a freak. You have no idea... all these years, I have been killing all these Spirit Beasts on the mountain, and there were many times where even I thought that I was a freak."

Xiao Chen felt grief in his heart, abruptly interrupting her, "Cousin Yulan, you are not a freak. You are very pretty, so much more so than the girls below the mountain. A freak would not give me a bottle of medicine to treat my wounds."

A trace of redness appeared on Xiao Yulan's pale face, but she wasn't fully convinced, "really?"

Xiao Chen replied seriously, "Really. Cousin, stop speaking, for now, have a good rest first."

Perhaps she believed Xiao Chen's words or maybe she was very tired, but Xiao Yulan slowly closed her eyes as her breathing became calm and even. Xiao Chen raised his head to gain a visual of the hole above them, shaking his head helplessly as he took out the broken sword.

There was a faint glow on the body of this azure sword. Xiao Chen held the handle and brandished it, waving it around for a while. He could not feel any strong might emitting from the sword, and even infusing it with Essence yielded no reaction.

Could this just be an ordinary sword? Xiao Chen felt a little dispirited and put away the sword. Afterward, he took out the Moonstone he grabbed by chance and grinned wide because at least this Moonstone was not fake. With such a large piece, it would not be a problem to exchange this for a hundred thousand taels of gold.

However, the critical problem now was a way out, and a ten meters pit was not something an Inferior Grade Martial Disciple could jump out of just like that. Even with Xiao Yulan's cultivation, it would not be possible. Furthermore, her meridians were currently injured, rendering her incapable of using her Essence.