Tie Hu was sent flying for tens of meters before crashing into a granite wall. After leaving a bloody silhouette on it, he slowly slid to the ground.
Such a terrifying impact would have likely dislocated Tie Hu's internal organs. Blood poured from his mouth, and his face was contorted in pain.
Fortunately, as a body cultivator, his physical defense was strong enough. Even taking Du Yue Sheng's palm strike head-on, he wouldn't be in mortal danger.
Of course!
This was also because Du Yue Mian had not used her full strength.
Otherwise, no matter how high his defense was, he wouldn't have survived.
Nearly a minute passed before the onlookers finally snapped back to their senses.
When their gazes fell on Du Yue Mian again, the fervent desire and greed within them had vanished, replaced by shock and fear.
"This… is this too much?"
"That seemingly light palm strike had such terrifying explosive power."
"It seems that woman's true strength is at least at the Martial Ancestor level, or even higher!"
"Forget it! Let's be good. If we took a palm like that, we'd lose our lives!"
"..."
Du Yue Mian's most terrifying strike had completely intimidated everyone.
"Not bad! You managed to break through his defense using only twenty percent of your strength!" Ye Ming returned to her side, saying with a smile.
"Wh-what! Only twenty percent of your strength!"
Upon hearing this, the Xu Du brothers' expressions froze once more.
They knew Du Yue Mian was strong, but they hadn't expected her to be this strong.
"Not enough!"
Du Yue Mian recalled the palm strike just now and said calmly, "If I could concentrate my power more perfectly, ten percent would have been enough to break his defense!"
Ye Ming offered no further comment on this.
"Let's go! The outer areas are not very interesting!"
Ye Ming glanced around at the people nearby and shook her head.
The strongest among those present was only at the Martial King realm; there wasn't a single Martial Ancestor.
"Brother Ye! The three of us won't be going in!"
At this moment, Xu Du spoke, "If we go to the inner circle, I'm afraid..."
Afraid of being unable to move an inch!
"Alright! The inside is indeed not suitable for you!"
Ye Ming nodded and said, "But before we go, I'll help you deal with some… eyesore flies!"
Eyesore flies?
The Xu Du brothers exchanged glances, not understanding his meaning.
"Young Master! Are you referring to those people?"
At this moment, Du Yue Mian looked at a few men hundreds of meters behind the three brothers, a cold glint flashing in her beautiful eyes.
"Mmm! So you've noticed too!" Ye Ming said with a smile. "It seems your perception has improved considerably!"
"Brother Ye! Are you talking about..."
Just as the Xu Du brothers were filled with confusion, those men, noticing Du Yue Mian's gaze, realized they had been exposed and decided to walk towards them.
"Xu Du! I didn't expect you to actually dare come to the Land of Heavenly Guardians!"
There were a total of four men in this group. Each of them exuded a deathly aura, making them appear exceptionally gloomy and uncomfortable.
The commotion here naturally attracted the attention of the onlookers.
"Why is the aura of those people so strange, sending chills down one's spine!"
"He… they look like people from the Valley of Dead Spirits!"
"Valley of Dead Spirits! You mean one of the four super ancient martial forces in the Ancient Martial World?"
"That's right! It's them! That woman is being targeted by them, I'm afraid…"
"Alas! It's over!"
"..."
The murmurs of the crowd revealed the identities of the four men.
"I didn't expect you to escape Liu Mu and still dare to come to the Land of Heavenly Guardians. Should I call you courageous or arrogant?" the leader of the group said with a cold laugh, his arms crossed.
It seemed they didn't know that Liu Mu had already been killed by Du Yue Mian with a single saber strike.
"Your Valley of Dead Spirits has quite a lot of patience. To specifically go to the trouble of capturing us three insignificant individuals?" Xu Du clenched his fists, a hint of killing intent in his eyes.
"No! I think you've misunderstood!"
The leader of the group raised an index finger and wagged it left and right, "We naturally wouldn't care about you three little grasshoppers. The reason we're pursuing you is simply to explain one thing to the world…"
"What?"
Lu Qiming said coldly from the side.
"Of course, it's for my Valley of Dead Spirits to tell the world that anyone who offends the Valley of Dead Spirits, no matter who they are or where they flee, we will eventually capture them and turn them into our unique 'specimens'!"
As he spoke the word "specimens," the man revealed a cruel smile.
Within the Valley of Dead Spirits, "specimens" actually had another name: "corpse puppets."
"Bastards! Your inhumane practices will eventually bring about retribution!" Hearing these words, Lu Qifeng's eyes were filled with bloodshot rage as he cursed.
"Hahaha! Retribution?"
Hearing this childish remark, the four men burst into laughter. They looked at the three brothers with utter disdain.
"Leader! Let's just capture them. The Young Valley Master is waiting for them in the inner circle?" one of the four men grew impatient.
"Mmm!"
The leader nodded, then turned his gaze to Ye Ming and Du Yue Mian, saying with a cold smile, "Since you two are also associated with them, you'll have to come with us!"
Although the strength of the four of them was only at the late Martial King realm, they were completely unconcerned about Ye Ming and the others resisting.
Not for any other reason than that they were from the Valley of Dead Spirits.
"Oh! Judging by your conversation, your Young Valley Master is in the inner circle?" Ye Ming asked the four men with a half-smile.
"Of course!"
The man smiled smugly. "Not only has our Young Valley Master come, but our Valley Master is also in the core area. So…" At this point, his tone suddenly turned cold, "I advise you not to have any ulterior motives, otherwise… Hmph!"
Upon hearing that even the Valley Master of the Valley of Dead Spirits had come to the Land of Heavenly Guardians, the faces of the three Xu Du brothers turned extremely pale.
The unease and fear in their hearts caused their bodies to tremble uncontrollably.
Seeing this, the smug expressions on the faces of the four from the Valley of Dead Spirits grew even more pronounced.
"Leader! Stop wasting your breath with them!"
A man next to him looked at Du Yue Mian, his eyes filled with undisguised lust. With a sinister grin, he said, "We're sending such a beauty to the Young Valley Master, surely we'll get plenty of benefits!"
"Yes! And we've captured the three Xu Du brothers too. We've made a great contribution this time!"
"Hahaha! Excellent!"
The other men also became excited.
"Beauty! Come with us!"
The leader's gaze was fervent, and just as he was about to reach out to pull Du Yue Mian, a voice, as if from the deepest abyss of hell, suddenly rang out.
"Yue Mian! Kill them all!"