0010 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Lu Jing's antics were getting on Yu Yunxia's nerves, and she gritted her jaw tightly. Breathing heavily, her mind weighed several options. After a deep breath, her determined eyes signaled a decision.

She let go of her twin swords, but instead of falling, they remained suspended mid-air. Small daggers and concealed weapons emerged from her leather outfit, hovering around her like sentient entities.

"You do love me!" Lu Jing's eyes lit up, seeing the opportunity in front of him. His casual demeanor vanished, and he held his spear with both hands, taking a stance. "Let's dance!" He didn't let Yu Yunxia take the first chance and dashed forward to close the gap.

Previously, he held the advantage in melee combat, leveraging the reach of his spear. However, Yu Yunxia had shifted her strategy. 

No longer using her weapons in conventional melee fashion, she let out a forceful grunt, as if manipulating invisible limbs to guide the action. 

"HIYAA!"

Her twin swords spun faster, creating a minuscule tornado around themselves as they shot toward Lu Jing.

*BRRRRR* *CHIRRRR*

Lu Jing's eyes widened like a child witnessing a magic trick or awaiting his favorite sweet dessert as the spinning blade approached him. With ease and precision, he swatted at the first whirling blade aimed at his neck.

*CLANK*

Underestimating the force, Lu Jing's spear rebounded with equal intensity, abruptly halting his advance toward Yu Yunxia. 

"HAH!"

Swiftly, he extended the hilt to deflect the second whirling blade aimed at his chest, feeling the impact resonate through his wrist. 

"OOF!"

In an instant, both twin swords veered away from him, their whirling sounds echoing somewhere within the fog that surrounded them. 

He smiled, further enraging Yu Yunxia, who attacked with all of her thrown and hidden weapons at the same time. 

Lu Jing brandished his spear as if welcoming her attacks. He dodged a few and deflected a few, successfully surviving all of them.

Yu Yunxia's face paint started to wash away as she sweated heavily. Her breathing became hoarse, and she felt her head spin as her cultivation base strained to its limit. 

Her fingers fidgeted as if trying to prevent herself from making any mistakes, but what was the point if she lost her life over it.

*KIRRR* *CHURRRR*

The whirling twin swords returned, scattering the fog around them, but their speed now dwindled as if struggling to stay afloat. 

"Do you want to rest? We can do this after a rest," Lu Jing smiled, seeing Yu Yunxia struggling to even stand properly.

His mocking words broke whatever hesitation Yu Yunxia had in her mind. Her tired eyes lit up with resolution, and she pulled out a bottle from her bosom.

"Whoa! A lover's gift? For me?" Lu Jing flirtatiously said those words, now uncertain about what she was going to do. 

Was it some kind of pill? He wasn't sure if a pill could improve her condition, and her eyes didn't reflect that this was an ordinary pill.

She looked at Lu Jing and smiled mockingly in return. Opening the bottle, a light escaped from within as she poured the contents into her hand. A glowing pill rolled out, and a symbol of an eye was illuminated on the pill.

"NOOO!" Lu Jing's smile vanished as blue vapor spilled out of his body, illuminating his spear. He swung the spear with force, shattering both twin blades with a single retaliation. A tremendous force ignited beneath his feet as he launched himself forward toward Yu Yunxia.

Yu Yunxia was prepared for this exact moment. "I have waited for this since my childhood. If you knew all about me then I also knew all about your clan's deception, and you will not get what you waited for all these years." Her words carried a tone of satisfaction as she swallowed the pill.

Lu Jing was late, in his whole act of arrogance and mockery he never calculated this at all.

*BOOOOOM*

An explosion! An explosion of Chaotic Spirit Essence. The tired, strained Yu Yunxia was now the focal point of the energy, coursing through her. 

*SHIIIIIRRRR* *CHIIIIIRRRRR*

The shattered twin blades revived, and the pieces took to the sky, whirling even faster, creating a buzzing sound so sharp and loud that it started to hurt Lu Jing's ears.

His eyes flickered with concern as he realized his cunning plans were falling apart.

Yu Yunxia took a deep breath, enjoying the moment of finally being in control after feeling trapped for so long. 

"You were smart in manipulating my desire for revenge, making me believe I could destroy you from the inside," she commented with a measured tone. Her words were calculated, trying to hide the resentment boiling inside towards the person she once loved.

"I stayed as a maid for your pathetic brother, even believing that I could use him as a sacrifice." She shook her head slightly, angry at herself for falling into his trap so foolishly. 

"However, it was your plan, your bait to see if I would attempt the Six-Eyed Demon Cultivation Method and its Soul Slave Art on him."

"It was all a trick," she continued, her eyes revealing a mix of realization and frustration. She clenched her fists, upset at being a mere pawn in his games.

"The moment I failed to control his mind, you were watching, waiting to confirm if I truly had the Six-Eyed Demon Cultivation with me or not." Her words dripped with bitterness as she recounted falling right into his elaborate scheme.

"However," she concluded, a sly smile playing on her lips, "it seems your brother didn't follow your script completely, turning the tables by stabbing you instead." She allowed herself a small measure of satisfaction at this turn of events. 

Lu Jing scoffed, pretending not to understand. "What are you talking about?" His response hinted at the truth beneath his feigned confusion. 

However, deep down, he didn't know half of the events. His lazy, trashy brother, Lu Sheng, was able to resist the Soul Slave Art of the Six-Eyed Demon Cultivation Method? What was this about stabbing? He would have to interrogate his little brother.

Yu Yunxia's body crackled with powerful energy as her eyes burned with desperate fury, unleashing her move.

"It's over! you had the upper hand on me with your Foundation Realm base but now I have crossed the threshold, although its temporary but its enough for now to take my revenge."

Her scream of "DIE!!!" echoed through the jungle, filled with the bitter taste of betrayed love and the venomous sting of desperation. 

She had risked everything on this single attempt by taking a Realm Breakthrough Pill – The 'First Eye', One of the Six Pills, needed for Six Breakthroughs but not for combat.

The consequences were visible on her skin. Veins writhed like crimson snakes beneath her pale flesh, her eyes bulged with unnatural energy, and her skin seared with intense internal heat, turning beads of sweat into vapor immediately. 

A trail of blood escaped the corner of her lips. Despite the painful tremors and the growing pressure inside her, one thought burned with icy clarity: Lu Jing must die today. 

Her twin blades, each a piece of the shattered blades, became a chaotic whirlwind. With a flick of her wrist, they flew towards Lu Jing, with a storm within. Their path was unpredictable, driven by raw desperation rather than practiced skill, yet each piece had the potential to cut through bone and metal effortlessly.

Lu Jing sighed.

Another explosion! Yu Yunxia's foot cemented in the ground by the sheer strength of her new power got uprooted like a twig in the storm as she got flung away by the sheer shockwave of the second explosion as she smashed into several trees breaking them half in return.

Yu Yunxia cried out in pain as she slammed into the dirt after breaking several trees. Her vision blurred and her ears rang from the devastating blast. Blood dripped from multiple gashes caused by the splintered trees and bits of rock. 

"Argh!" She struggled to stand, barely pushing herself up on one elbow before collapsing again. Her muscles screamed in agony and her head spun sickeningly. 

"Cough!...Cough! Blarghhhh!

She vomited a mix of blood and bile into the grass. The effect of the 'The First Eye', The Realm Breakthrough Pill was at its end as all of it was spent on saving her life from sudden shockwave.

Drawing on her last reserves of strength through force of will alone, Yu Yunxia managed to slowly, painfully push herself to her hands and knees. She raised her head with immense effort, glaring through the blood and dirt at Lu Jing.

"YOU!!!!" Yu Yunxia couldn't believe her eyes. The pill she took had pushed her beyond the Foundation Realm, but it wasn't a true breakthrough. However, Lu Jing! He was now beyond the Foundation Realm! He had truly crossed over, already in Core Formation.

"You are in Core Formation!!??"

Lu Jing's eyes glowed with power as he was the center of this explosion, revealing the changes in his cultivation. The once-arrogant smirk on his face was now replaced with a cold, calculated expression. 

"It's good to be back." His words suggested that he hadn't just achieved a breakthrough; he had been concealing it. 

He deliberately suppressed his cultivation realm below the foundation level to act weak. "Yu Yunxia, you've miscalculated," he said, abandoning the flirty tone as if he no longer needed to act.

"Now, I will peel your skin every day until you give me the Six-Eyed Demonic Cultivation and its Soul Slave Art." His voice turned sinister like a demon.

Yu Yunxia began to tremble; she never imagined seeing this side of Lu Jing. Every thought of revenge vanished as she realized how foolish her plans had been from the start. The revelation of Lu Jing's true strength shattered her confidence, and a sense of dread enveloped her.

Deep down, she understood that this was the end, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Taking a deep breath, she murmured something akin to a prayer or her final words.

*Sigh*

"Jing'er?" A calm woman's voice echoed, alerting Lu Jing.

"Yes, mother?" He responded obediently.

"Let her go," the woman ordered.

"What? Why? We are so close if we let her go…"

"She is willing to kill herself here, forever, losing the Six-Eyed Demonic Cultivation." The woman's voice calmly explained.

Lu Jing's killing intent spilled out as he glared at Yu Yunxia. She crossed her arms around her knees like a scared little girl.

"Give her some healing pills and let her go."

"She wasted one of the crucial Realm Breakthrough pills!" Lu Jing was reluctant to release his prey.

"Let her go, Jing'er." The woman calmly ordered again.

Lu Jing tapped his foot in reluctance. "Fine." He tossed a bottle and vanished from the spot, not even giving a last look at his former lover.

"Yu Yunxia, leave this place, go far away. Do not bring upon us the curse of Clan Eradication. You are the last soul of the Yu Clan. Live, survive, and resurrect your clan. You owe your Clan's bloodline this much. Clan Matriarch Yu Yunxia."

Yu Yunxia started crying, overwhelmed by terror and various emotions. Slowly, she stood up, picked up the pill bottle, and quietly vanished into the fog.