Since this beast was willing to attack them because it was afraid they might harm her children, its weakness was apparent. So it would be easy to manipulate it however she wished.

"Li Hua, make sure they don't see you." Xue Yueliang reminded and headed to join back in the fray. She did not wish for Li Hua to be a hostage. Lei Jian would not last long on his own.

A few breaths later, four figures appeared in front of the clearing caused by their battle, "Let's see how you will run this time."

Their leader, Fu Mei, smiled, crossing her arms as she watched the fight.

"Oh, I was waiting for you," Xue Yueliang grinned, "I even prepared a present."

She then made a throwing motion toward Fu Mei, causing a small purplish subject to head toward her with great speed.

Without even thinking, the projectile was destroyed by them and seeing how fragile it was, Fu Mei's expression changed. A bad feeling filled her heart.

"We've fallen into a trap!" She shouted, preparing herself for an attack.

Alas, it was too late. Before they even fully readied themselves, the centipede appeared in front of them, opening its mouth wide and smashing down. Compared to the suddenness of the situation, the Fu Clan's cultivators reacted with relative ease, quickly protecting themselves and only receiving minimal damage.

"Did you guys get Fu Shen's messages?" Xue Yueliang asked, seeing them defend against the centipede. Fu Shen was the scouter they had killed a few months ago, and she had a lot of fun impersonating him for the last while.

"How dare you desecrate his corpse!" One of them yelled, still upset at the state they had found him in. He did not know how they would explain this to his family later. This went from a clan matter to a personal one in his eyes.

"Fu Zhen! Pay attention to the battle!" Fu Mei ordered.

This was a battle of life-and-death against this beast, so they could not afford to get distracted.

"Yes," he said, his voice still shaking with emotion as he worked on fighting the beast in front of him.

Xue Yueliang and Lei Jian moved away from the battle. They did not near the eggs as they left, not wanting to recapture the centipede's attention. Regrouping with Li Hua, they stayed watching from their high vantage point, not leaving because Xue Yueliang hoped to find a chance to beat them down. The person who attracted her attention the most was Fu Zhen, he was at the third level and clearly had the closest relationship to Fu Shen as he was the most rattled by his death.

The four clan members worked together seamlessly, with Fu Mei as the main attacking force. The fourth level practitioner, Fu Qing, worked the defence with Fu Zhen and Fu Lan as the support. Judging from their teamwork, it would take them three hours to defeat the beast with minimal damage. Of course, if they rushed or decided to risk their lives, the fight would end much quicker, but the winner could be either side.

"Fu Zhen, do you want to know what happened to your clan member's corpse?" Xue Yueliang said suddenly, attracting his attention.

"He was eaten by my spirit beast here. Would you say he did a good job?"

"You wretch!" The man yelled, angered and hurt by her words.

"He even communicated to me, that it was the best tasting meat it had ever head, truly scrumptious."

"I'll kill you!" He roared, rage clouding his mind.

"Calm down, Fu Zhen!" Fue Mei cautioned but Fu Zhen did not snap out of it.

He tried charging toward her, ignoring the giant centipede, causing him to be punctured by one of its attacks, flinging him far off. Without missing a beat, Li Hua shot an arrow toward him, piercing his tired and heavily injured body with ease, killing him.

Fu Mei clenched her teeth and warned, "Don't let her words get to you, or you'll also end up dead."

She wished she could return this beast to Xue Yueliang's hands but had no way of turning around this situation. Judging from how fiercely the centipede attacked, it was easy to tell that she was its child killer. Between her and someone who accidentally charged into its territory, it was not hard to see which would be a priority.

"Fu Mei, right? Was killing two powerful subordinates of yours really worth your son's life?" She asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

"Both of their deaths are on your hands, don't you know that?"

Fu Mei's expression turned ugly, and she barked, "How is it my fault? You're the one who killed them."

"Who ordered them to attack me? What did you expect I would do? Roll over and die?"

"You should have." Fu Mei coldly harrumphed, not willing to waste any more of her energy on her.

Regardless of any further taunting, Fu Mei did not reply, ignoring her, but Xue Yueliang continued to blabber on.

"Isn't it odd? I made no plans of killing your son, but you chased after me. The patriarch, however, severely injured him and wished to kill him, but you're still doing his bidding." Xue Yueliang commented.

Fu Mei's expression turned ugly, but she did not say anything, focussing on her battle.

"You took way too long to reach the scout earlier. It's almost as if you didn't care about killing me and are more interested in weakening your clan."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Scouts don't usually go much further ahead than the group. So the fact that they were so far separated could either mean what she said, or Fu Mei was overconfident in his capabilities. The latter was naturally impossible, as Li Hua showed off her power during their last day in the city. There was no way Fu Mei did not know they could easily beat him. Adding to that was something she had seen in his memories.

"The patriarch is weakened and still bad-tempered, so not many people support his seat. Coincidentally, the people who whole-heartedly support him are the ones by your side." She said mildly, chilling the other two living members. From Fu Shen's memories, she could see that the patriarch trusted him and made a leap of faith to assume the others were the same.

"I think you're planning a patricide." She smiled simply, appearing like a child given candy but the words said resonated with the other two.

"Shut up! You two can't believe her. There's no way she would know the inner mechanics of our clan." She denied it hurriedly, especially when seeing the hesitation in their attacks. Sadly for her, her distraction caused the centipede to land a strike on her, throwing her away. She remained fine thanks to a defensive talisman.

"I thought you were ignoring me," Xue Yueliang reminded her due to the kindness in her heart. Fu Mei's actions confirmed her suspicions, not that a confirmation mattered.

"Isn't it odd she would deny so strongly if she's entirely innocent?" She said, addressing the other two. "She even wasted a precious talisman due to her agitation. The centipede is only after her, so I suggest you escape. You're bound to die to either the centipede, Fu Mei or me if you stay."

The sooner they gave up on fighting back, the faster Fu Mei would die.

"Don't think your lies would trick us," Fu Qing snorted, ignoring her words. Fu Lan, however, hesitated until her gaze firmed. She jumped away from the battlefield, standing a far distance from them and retrieved Fu Zhen's corpse.

"I'm not interested in being used or dying," Fu Lan said, as she gritted her teeth, "My life is worth more than Fu Qian's pride."

Xue Yueliang was proud of her as soon as she had said those words. It seemed her work proved it was worth the effort. She then turned around and left, presumably heading back to Misty City.

"Traitor! Don't think you can live!" Fu Qing yelled.

"I'll at least live longer than you." Fu Lan retorted.

"That's where you are wrong." Xue Yueliang smiled, looking at her like someone looking at prey. She jumped through the battlefield and landed on the other side, right in front of her. She swung her sword and attacked her, aiming for her life.

"Didn't you say I should leave?" Fu Lan asked, shocked and angry.

"I said you should escape. What type of person escaping has the leisure to pick up corpses and argue back?" Xue Yueliang said, returning a question.

"Besides, Fu Mei said if you fall for my words, you will die. I can't let my senior be called a liar."

After being chased around for so long, it would be odd for her to be so big-hearted. Every one of them had to die.

Fu Lan angrily fought back, but having fought for so long, she was fatigued, and after a few moves, Fu Lan was cut down.

"You're black-hearted," Fu Qing laughed, happy at her demise.

Fu Mei, however, remained unhappy. She had a feeling that there was no way she could survive past today. Whether it was how Xue Yueliang had killed the other two or comforted Fu Qing's heart by insinuating she had lied, everything was done perfectly. But she could not allow herself to despair. She had to survive.

"She is your companion." She reminded.

"She's a traitor."

The remaining two were currently at a disadvantage, and Xue Yueliang did not understand how he had the leisure to reply back to her. However, it was not hard for her to understand his feelings because traitors were the most universally hated people. She took Fu Lan's storage ring and stored her corpse inside, heading back to the other two.

"I will not bother you two any further. I wish you two can defeat the beast successfully." She said sincerely. She had no reason to weaken them any further because if they continued this way, they would become exhausted by the time they killed it. There was no way the centipede would retreat since it wished to protect its eggs, and the duo would find it impossible to run away. It was her perfect scenario.

"Isn't it great to get our enemies to fight each other?" She asked her companions, admiring the scene of her creation.

"Although they were the ones chasing us with evil intentions, I somehow feel like I'm in the wrong." Lei Jian said bitterly.

"That's because of me, don't worry." She comforted.

"Are you used to these types of battles?" Li Hua asked.

"Not really. It's my first time doing something like this." This was not the average Tuesday in her previous life.

"How are you so comfortable with this then?"

"It's a matter of principles, weakening morale, inciting traitors and getting rid of problems by having them collide are guidelines I happen to know about."

Li Hua sighed and relaxed her arm, sitting down on the tree branch. There was no need for her to be on the watch out for openings as the two groups were evenly matched now. They would hopefully kill each other.

"Aren't you ever afraid?" "I trust my judgement. I would never invite a calamity I can't handle." She smiled confidently.

"Although I admire your ability, I can't help but disagree with some of your methods." Li Hua sighed.

During the past three months, their relationship had healed, but she would still feel disgusted by some of her methods. She respected her but not how she did things.

"People have different ways of doing things, and this way is mine. There's no need for you to agree or even understand, but knowing different ways people act can help broaden your horizons. Don't ever allow yourself to be held back by old stale thoughts."

"That's sound advice," Lei Jian praised, but his eyes were still in deep thought.

The trio then began cultivating, leaving Hei Yu to watch the other three battling it out, ready to inform them when the situation changed. After being with them for so long, Li Hua had also become a cultivating maniac and would find herself cultivating whenever she had the chance. Her previous laziness was nowhere to be seen.

The fight trailed for much longer than Xue Yueliang had previously anticipated, and the sun had soon set, but they were still fighting. The Fu Clan duo were panting as they tried to keep with the beast, hoping to kill the beast before the three who were cultivating got up. They did not know that Hei Yu was watching over them and thought they had gotten cocky.

The centipede was dispirited, as there were many holes and crack on its armour-like skin, causing great amounts of blood to fall down. Its hundred legs from before had decreased to merely two dozen, but it still held on. Its most grievous wound was at a large nick on its head, probably caused by a repeated attack. It did not want to allow any danger upon its yet unborn children and was willing to fight for their lives until its very last breath.

Xue Yueliang opened her eyes and watched this scene.

It's quite poetic if you think about it. She thought. Both were brought to this state due to their love for their kids.

Sadly for her, she was destined to never understand what it felt like to be cared for like that. Nevertheless, it was impossible for her to feel down at this sight because the scene in front of her was just riveting, if not pitiful. They were both fated to die, but they still fought on, ignoring their fate as they unleashed their next attacks. Watching them, she suddenly felt foolish.

"Haah!" Fu Mei yelled, heavily slashing toward the centipede. Finally, decapitating it.

"Huuuh." She let out a heavy breath but did not dare relax. She staggered over to Fu Qing and they supported each other, ready to leave.

"Where are you headed?" Xue Yueliang asked, pointing her sword toward them. "If you want to go, then leave your lives behind."