23 Young Lad, Have We Ever Met Before?

Zhou Yan never looked behind him. However, he was able to foresee the scene.

Since enduring the process of infusing top-tier spirit crystals and being baptized by Burning Blade's Heart Ale, his perception was even sharper.

The carriage was quickly approaching Zhou Yan then proceeded to fly behind him. He never intended to dodge out the way, and there was no sign of the carriage slowing down as it continued to advance.

The carriage was swiftly closing in on Zhou Yan, and eventually, it scraped his side. At this moment, Zhou Yan was able to smell a faint yet uniquely refreshing scent emanating from within the carriage. It was a very feminine scent.

The scent calmed his mind as he took a deep breath. As he was about to take another lungful, his gaze drifted over to the carriage, which was roughly 10 meters away.

The carriage was covered with fresh flowers on its exterior. Some cracks could be seen from the outside. This carriage was not designed for maximum privacy in mind. 

As Zhou Yan peered into the carriage through the cracks, he saw a lady wearing a light green dress sitting inside.

He noticed the young lady inside had a serious look on her face. However, exhaustion was also obvious on her face. It was as if problems were plaguing her mind.

She looked pale while her eyelids began to gently close. It seemed that she was resting her mind.

Riding on the backs of the pegasuses were four strong men. However, these men also looked tired while they panted heavily. They were using their blade's essence alone to control their pegasuses, allowing them to fly at a much faster speed.

As they flew across the plains, not a single person noticed Zhou Yan's presence. It was as if he was never there. 

All four men were wearing long black robes. One of the men who controlled the reigns on the first row turned around to speak to another man at the back. He said, "This incident truly made our lives difficult. If it wasn't for our Lady... I'm afraid we would not even be able to head outside."

"You're right. This is why we have to make sure that no one is following us. We have to hurry to the City of Heavenly Prophecies. It will only be then that we will ensure our success," chuckled a man who was riding beside him.

Both men were breathing heavily when they spoke to each other.

"From how I see it, although the city is near, there is still a long way left for us to travel. I'd say we take a short break so that we'll be able to ride on into the city with a single breath on the backs of our steeds," suggested another man while wiping his sweat away.

"What we're doing now is literally riding on a flying pegasus, and that is difficult for you? It seems to me that you had been having way too much fun sinning with that Little Red Peach of yours, right?! From how I see things, if you aren't going to get murdered by someone, sooner or later, you'd be lying dead on top of her belly," yelled a man from the back furiously.

As these men continued to argue, their riding speed slowed.

The two ladies in white guarding the carriage did not notice the decreasing speed. While the young girl who was resting in the carriage paid zero attention to the petty arguments of those men.

At this moment, the pegasus had pulled the carriage towards a valley of hills. The hills were not tall and were approximately 7 to 8 meters in height.

All of a sudden, the pegasuses neighed to a halt. As the four strong men observed the distant terrain, they turned to report to the lady in the carriage.

This action alone did not worry the two women guarding the carriage. However, it was at that twist of a moment when the man reporting to the girl secretly drew his long and slender blade and drove it through her chest. 

The remaining men also had their slender, long, silver blades drawn and immediately stabbed the carriage from her back. Their methods were extremely lethal because the instant their blades penetrated the carriage, they unleashed the blade's essence, and the aura surrounding them was filled to the brim with murderous intent.

Although the men appeared to be brainless brutes, the truth was far from fiction. Their raw power far exceeded the strongest person within the realm of the Blade's Essence!

The attacks those four men unleashed were as swift as lightning. Each of their blades pierced forwards and slashed backward. With each attack, they sealed off the carriage. At the same time, they unleashed an infinite aura of blade's essence, all of their essences combined and morphed into a single, powerful and potent blade's essence. Along with their gridlock formation, they instantly attacked and landed successful strikes on both maidens guarding the carriage.

"Swoosh…"

Both naturally powerful young women were murdered on the spot by the combined effort of those four men. Their lethal blade's essence pierced cleanly through the bodies of both women before they even had the time to squirm. Just like that, their long white dresses were now drenched in blood.

It was baffling to see both guardians instantly slaughtered in cold blood without any effort. It seemed that the two maidens were the men's target.

The four pegasuses were terrified and startled by the uproar. The beasts panicked and managed to break free from their reins, instantly making their escape.

Each blade wielded by the four men had an indescribable Blade's Menace radiating from the edges. The immeasurable ferocity from their pure blade's essence alone was hellbent on murdering the young girl in the carriage.

Although Zhou Yan was able to detect the extremely powerful and lethal Blade's Essence, he never expected the change in behavior. Why exactly did these men suddenly have the intent to kill their own Lady? Had they hidden their murderous intentions so well and deep?

Zhou Yan was intrigued and curious about the entire situation. The moment he witnessed the scene, he saw both maidens who were without a doubt powerful and extremely skilled with their Blade's Essence being violently slaughtered. They dropped dead on the spot, as their blood-stained white dresses drifted away…

Witnessing such a violent scene had greatly affected him. These men possessed extraordinary skills since both women were in the second rank in the realm of the Blade's Essence. They were also Scholars of the Frosted Blades and they were effortlessly defeated.

The next scene had also made him feel slightly remorseful as he assumed the young girl who was in the carriage most probably died violently as well.

However, the instant he made such an assumption, the young girl within the carriage began to contort like a slug. It was odd, her body suddenly morphed into indescribable chaos. She had ultimately avoided the strikes from those four men, and in addition to the impressive feat, she managed to flawlessly dodge the potent Blade's Essence.

When the four Blade's Essence clashed, it seemed like it merely grazed her, even though the carriage she was in had already been blown to smithereens.

Debris from the carriage was raining down from the heavens above.

At this very moment, all four Blade's Essence once again morphed into a single lethal and concentrated, boundless Blade's Essence. The radiating waves of this massive energy as a single strike of the Blade's Essence would incite pure fear in anyone's heart.

Even for Zhou Yan, who was watching from a distance felt slightly intimidated by the potency of this attack. He was taken aback by this intimidation and he realized that every type of Blade's Essence could never be underestimated.

To put things into perspective, Zhou Yan had inherited the will of the ancient sage! His soul and personality could never be compared to any common-folk! Even he was intimidated by the sheer ferocity of the Blade's Essence since it was filled to the brim with evil.

However, as expected, the pale looking young girl instantly levitated midair, and underneath her feet were two rays of Blade's Essence. However, both rays of Blade's Essence were dimmed while the ferocity of this shocking attack was completely unimaginable.

The single ray of light that radiated from the blade resembled a sinister swan. It inched toward the young girl snow-white neck. It was only three millimeters away from her neck and at that moment, the murderous intent from the blade's light had sliced her throat open.

She however, instantly grabbed the solid blade's light with her slender fingers in a single swift movement! In between her tender white fingers was a solid ray of light. It was interlocked in her fingers. No matter how hard those four men tried to pull apart their swords, they were unable to break their blade's formation, thus unable to free themselves from their own attack. It also appeared as if their Blade's Essence was locked in her grasp.

Those four men were completely shocked and their expression changed drastically. Without hesitating, they immediately let go of their collective Blade's Essence while they hastily retreated.

The ray of light that had been in the tight grip of the lass' fingers instantly crumbled to dust with a single squeeze. With a single flick of her wrist, the specks of dust of light suddenly formed into four chilling and glimmering icy swords. The blades emanated clouds of cold mists.

"Swoosh…"

Four ear-piercing screams filled the air and the four men grabbed their foreheads tightly. Geysers of blood spewed out of the single wound on their heads. Brain matter gushed out from the gaping wound, and a gory, bloody mess filled their hands.

She only stood midair while casually taking a quick glance at those men before taking out a silk napkin to gently wipe away the blood flowing out of her neck. After doing so, she kept it in her Infinite Spatial Ring.

It was only after she was done that her cold glare glanced over at Zhou Yan since he never made a move. Hence he slowly approached the spot she was hovering over.

"Who are you?"

It was evident from the cold, chilling tone of her voice that she was suspicious and on high alert.

Through the reflection of her stunningly beautiful eyes, her gaze was similar to sharp, chilling blades of ice.

Step by step, he inched closer to her. His gaze was focused on this immensely powerful and beautiful young girl. His expression hardly changed and said, "I'm merely passing through these plains. What's the matter? Do you wish to kill your only witness?"

"I don't intend to do so. I just had to make sure whether or not you are with these people."

Her gaze was also focused at him while not hiding her own intentions.

The young girl spoke as if she was interrogating him. A chilling aura emanated throughout the area, leaving behind a bone-chilling sensation to anyone near her.

The nerve-racking aura was intimidating enough. However, under her questioning stares, it somehow felt disturbingly colder.

Zhou Yan had a serious look on his face, he said, "If I were on their side, you would've long been dead."

"You have a point. I can feel that you have some extremely powerful skills that would have caused me to stay on constant guard... Say, young lad, you have a familiar face, I'm not sure if we crossed paths before?" said the young lass unexpectedly.

Performing a closer inspection on him, she gradually lowered her head and stared at Zhou Yan.

If she had not spoken, Zhou Yan would not have realized her intentions. However, after she made her point clear, he realized she somehow looked awfully familiar to him.