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"If you insist on courting death and I have to save you again, I really won''t be polite this time. Just now, I only took a little interest. Next time, I won''t mind doing something to you!"
Ye Fan watched Ji Ningxuan sway her hips, a devilish smirk appearing on the corner of his mouth.
Admiring from a distance and measuring with his hands felt completely different.
Leading the way, Ji Ningxuan, upon hearing Ye Fan''s words, staggered involuntarily, thinking of where Ye Fan had just taken liberties with her body, her face burning hot with embarrassment.
She, the distinguished daughter of the Prime Minister Manor, the Great Xia Imperial Concubine, was actually taken liberties with by that idiotic young master of the Ye family.
She was no longer pure!
Agitated!
The two grey-robed elders beside her, hearing Ye Fan''s brazen words, were scratching their hearts with resentment.
The Empress was held in such high esteem; how could she be defiled like this?
But they had just felt it, Ye Fan''s strength was far superior to that of a Martial Emperor, and was geometrically stronger than their own. As much as they were furious, they couldn''t beat him in a fight!
Seeing Ji Ningxuan rush ahead, a group of bodyguards cast resentful glances at Ye Fan and continued to follow her.
In the blink of an eye, Ji Ningxuan had charged to within three meters of the temple ruins. With the Divinity Fragment in hand to deter them, the Blood Worms were forced to retreat, having shrunk back to the edge of the temple. If they retreated further, they would reach the Insect Queen''s breeding grounds.
It was clear that the Netherworld Blood Worms were also extremely agitated.
They made continuous hissing sounds, jostling each other, even starting to frenziedly bite their companions.
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Yet no matter how Ji Ningxuan urged the Divinity Fragment, those Blood Worms would not retreat further. Although shivering all over, they still stood their ground.
"Hmph! So you do know fear? Asking for death!" Ji Ningxuan uttered a rebuke and pulled out a handful of powder, scattering it into the wind.
Whoosh!
The next moment, the powder actually ignited in the wind, emitting intense, hot flames!
Hum!
All the Blood Worms that could not avoid in time were instantly scorched, filling the air with the smell of roasting meat.
The swarm of Blood Worms on the ground suffered casualties in the thousands in an instant.
If Ji Ningxuan continued to burn like this, those Netherworld Blood Worms would indeed suffer a big loss.
Seeing her own battle results, Ji Ningxuan looked somewhat proudly over at Ye Fan, as if to show off.
Ji Ningxuan thought she might be seeing things—did these Netherworld Blood Worms actually possess such high intelligence?
To be able to arrange themselves into characters? Telling her to leave?
"Miss, perhaps we should retreat for now... The Emperor sent you to Cloud City, not for adventuring! Look, we''ve already lost so many brothers! Moreover, the Fragment in your hand, its deterrent effect on the Netherworld Blood Worms, is gradually diminishing!" one of the grey-robed old men vigilantly observed the Netherworld Blood Worms surrounding them as he spoke beside Ji Ningxuan.
When Ji Ningxuan first used the Fragment''s deterrent effect, those Netherworld Blood Worms could only approach within a distance of five meters at most, but now they had pressed in to within three meters everywhere.
The Golden Armored Blood Worms emitted an ancient aura on their bodies, which counteracted and neutralized the ancient Qi of the Fragment, offsetting the suppression it had on them.
"This..." Ji Ningxuan was utterly stunned as well.
But to retreat just like this?
Ji Ningxuan couldn''t help but glance towards Ye Fan—wouldn''t retreating just like this make her a laughingstock in his eyes?
"Retreat! Don''t worry, I won''t laugh at you, you''ve done quite well! It''s just that these Netherworld Blood Worms have exceeded your capabilities. Leave them to me!" Ye Fan gave Ji Ningxuan an encouraging look.
His tone truly bore no hint of mockery!
But when Ji Ningxuan heard Ye Fan''s words, she instantly got hot under the collar!
This guy was just provoking her on purpose!
"This young lady refuses to believe it! They''re just a bunch of beasts, how tough could they be?" Just before retreating, at the very least, she wanted to slaughter them to an extent she found satisfactory.
Huff!
The powder in Ji Ningxuan''s hand was instantly scattered in ten handfuls, igniting furious flames that nearly enveloped the entire temple ruins, burning wildly.
As Ji Ningxuan had predicted, confronted by her flames, the Netherworld Blood Worms should have either fled in panic or burnt to death at least, surely at least frightened.
But what Ji Ningxuan didn''t expect was that upon encountering her flames, not a single worm fled; in fact, all the Netherworld Blood Worms acted as if they were insane, and all dove towards the flames like moths to a flame, rushing towards them crazily!
Using their own bodies to extinguish the fire?
What are they trying to do? What exactly are they protecting?
While Ji Ningxuan was puzzled, she didn''t notice that a golden Netherworld Blood Worm had burst forth directly from the ground, swiftly approaching and biting viciously below her collarbone!
"Ah!" A pang of pain shot through Ji Ningxuan''s chest. She quickly reacted, channeled her Martial Arts Qi, sliced the Blood Worm in two, and then hurriedly sealed the blood vessels around her chest.
Having been bitten, Ji Ningxuan''s first instinct was to look towards Ye Fan. She felt she should immediately ask him for help since he likely had a cure.
But her stubborn nature made her clench her teeth tightly, stopping herself from asking for help.
"What''s wrong, Miss Xuan, have you been bitten by a Blood Worm?" Ye Fan had been using his Devil''s Pupil to observe the situation underground and hadn''t noticed what had happened to Ji Ningxuan.
"No!" Ji Ningxuan bit her red lips lightly, petulantly responding with that one word...