"Humph! You were the ones who attacked first!"
"Because you were scheming against us. We were just protecting ourselves!" Kuang Dao shot back without hesitation.
"I didn't do anything!"
"And if we'd waited until you did, would we still be alive?" He pushed back even harder.
The disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect quickly realized this so-called demon immortal didn't seem capable of fighting all of them at once.
Jian Jing's gaze turned sharp, already wondering if they should just eliminate him now to cut off future trouble. It could only be said that sisters who could get along with Jian Dan always shared the same mindset. Root out the problem completely.
The demon immortal felt uneasy under their collective glares, starting to regret flaunting himself after seizing this body. He should've kept a lower profile instead of drawing these people's suspicion. His eyes flickered restlessly.
Jian Dan didn't move until the walking demon tree had left the range of her sea of consciousness. Only then did she step forward, though her senses paused briefly at the massive pit the tree left behind.
Lady Di's squad had formed the outer ring, while the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect made up the inner circle. Together, they sealed off the demon immortal completely.
Hearing the back-and-forth, Jian Dan's lips curved. For someone who usually didn't talk much, Kuang Dao's tongue was surprisingly sharp when it came to verbal sparring. She wasn't fond of the way the man's eyes kept shifting, but she still stepped closer with a bright smile.
"Senior, we worked together to repel that enemy. We still don't know how to address you!"
The demon immortal was so furious his Primordial Soul almost shook loose. Worked together? They'd shoved him forward as a shield, and now she had the gall to say it so sincerely? He'd never seen lower-realm cultivators with skin this thick.
The circle of disciples hid their smiles. Jian Lu's knack for infuriating others was unmatched. Didn't they see the demon immortal trembling already?
"I'm from the Heavenly Demon Clan, of the Zang family." Even though he was angry, he still gave his clan name.
"Senior Zang, pleased to meet you." Jian Dan cupped her hands politely, then added,
"We've fought side by side once. Let's call it even, one for one. We'll part ways peacefully."
Zang Nishu hadn't expected her to say that. One of the women behind Jian Dan clearly disagreed, softly calling her "Junior Sister."
He figured she probably didn't have the confidence to take him down, which was why she was offering a compromise. His thoughts stirred.
Jian Dan, of course, knew what Senior Sister Jian Jing wanted, but she explained anyway, her words aimed directly at Zang Nishu.
"Senior, you seized a Dixian body with your demon immortal soul. In a place starved of Xianyuan energy like this, you must be burning most of your time just to stabilize your Primordial Soul. And the Dao and the demon path are two different systems. You can't possibly switch over quickly. Otherwise, would that demon tree have been able to hold you back?"
He didn't want to admit it, but everything she said was true.
"We may be lower-realm cultivators, but we're all pure sword cultivators, and we temper our bodies as well. Killing you is within our reach. I've done the math. With six of us against you, even if two of us die, your life will be forfeit."
Her tone was light, but the cruelty beneath it was unmistakable. Zang Nishu's eyelid twitched. If they really chose to fight to the death, even killing two of them wouldn't save him. The rest would grind him down until he died.
This was why he hated sword cultivators. In the Immortal Realm too, unless they could kill in one strike, nobody provoked them lightly.
"You did help me complete my possession, and I helped you escape the stone fields. I even aided you in saving your companions. There's no deep blood feud between us. Best to leave things here."
Hearing him back down, Jian Dan felt that fighting the demon tree had paid off. At least it killed his desire to kill them all.
"Of course. We're aiming to ascend too. We might meet again someday. So swear you won't plot against us, and we'll stay out of each other's way. How about it?"
"That simple?"
"Then if I said I wanted your storage bracelet, would you give it to me?" Her smile never wavered.
Zang Nishu's mouth twitched, but he swore an oath, then turned and left without looking back.
Once he was gone from her senses, Jian Dan's smile dropped. She rubbed the spot where the vines had struck her, then turned to face her fellow sect members.
"Come on, Junior Sister, let's check on our friends from the Purple Sky Sect." Jian Jing spoke first and gave her a meaningful glance.
"Alright, Senior Sister."
Then she turned to Lady Di.
"Lady Di, send someone to check the pit that demon tree left behind. There's something down there."
Lady Di had noticed the hole earlier, but since the main force hadn't spoken, she hadn't acted. Now that Jian Dan gave the word, she ordered her people forward.
The Heavenly Sword Sect disciples didn't argue and returned together to the formation.
Inside, Wu Siyuan and Hu San had already severed the vines binding the five cultivators. Hu San stuffed the still-twitching brown vines into his storage pendant.
Wu Siyuan examined the five and saw their vitality was nearly drained away. He dug through his storage ring, pulled out a bottle of pills, and fed one to each of them.
Xiao Yue still crouched obediently by the formation disk, making sure it wasn't damaged. The beast pressed a paw against a twitching vine and idly scored it with sharp claws. When Jian Dan's group returned, it finally stopped tormenting the vine and let Hu San stash it away.
"How are they, Siyuan?"
Jian Mao was the first to ask.
"They've got no external wounds, but their vitality's been drained badly. I gave them Great Replenishing Pills to restore their spiritual energy, but lost vitality can't be replaced. We'll have to wait until they wake to know how bad it is."
Everyone frowned. Vitality was notoriously difficult to restore.
"We've been running nonstop and just fought a battle. Let's rest here until the Purple Sky Sect disciples wake. Then we'll move on."
Jian Mao gave the order, and everyone agreed.
Lady Di and Bei Ze kept to themselves, leading their people to a quiet corner of the formation so as not to intrude.
Hu San naturally stayed behind to watch over the unconscious five. The rest gathered to talk quietly.
"Junior Sister, I thought you wanted to kill him. Why change your mind at the end?" Jian Xu asked with a knowing smile.
"I did want to kill him, but we're not strong enough. What I said was true. To kill him, at least two of us would've had to die. Not worth it."
Jian Mao and Jian Jing exchanged a glance before speaking.
"She's right. When we forced him back into the demon tree, his body and that demon blade of his were stronger than ours. Head-on, we'd have lost. It was only because Junior Sister hit his weak spot with her words that we drove him off."
"Damn, what a bitter pill. We haven't even ascended yet, and we've already made an enemy."
Jian Chun sighed helplessly. They all knew their advantage here was slim, and the other side was suppressed too. If not, the outcome could've been far worse.
"Then we'll just get stronger. This time we worked well together, and Junior Sister spotted him first. After some maneuvering, we got a result that wasn't the worst. Let's finish the mission we came here for before worrying about anything else."
"Yes!"