Amber Sword

"What, not talking?" Conrad chuckled softly, drawing out a dagger and tapping the girl's cheek with it. "Since the people who left aren't your companions, why risk your life defending them?"

The cold blade of the dagger reflected a chilling light, emanating waves of coldness like an icy surface.

As if feeling the cold transmitted from the blade, the girl moved slightly. She took a light breath and answered, word by word, in a small voice, "...Being unable to defeat you is my... own responsibility. My own... business, I alone... will bear. Only the weak would rely on... putting... others in danger, to... save themselves."

"You and I are different..." Her half-opened eyes seemed to burn with an intense fire as she spoke.

"Is that so?" Conrad, however, remained unfazed. "But I'm not a patient person. You have to know that the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group has seventy to eighty people. Not everyone is willing to keep their mouths shut like you do for strangers. They are mercenaries. For mercenaries, such loyalty is unnecessary. Given that, the end result won't change. Why be so stubborn? I don't enjoy killing, which is why I'm giving you a chance. Little girl, you don't want to go crying to your weak Lord Marsha, do you?"

Qian's eyelashes fluttered.

The young man waited for her response.

But the girl just bit her lip and gently shook her head. "Others are others, I am me." That was her answer.

"Then goodbye, little girl."

At that moment, Qian's body tensed up in fear, her face turned pale white—after all, she was just an ordinary person. Even as a mercenary used to witnessing life and death, she felt fear in her final moment. But this fear didn't break her resolve; she clenched her teeth and stayed silent. She merely tightly clenched her fists, as if resigned to her fate, and tears ran down the corners of her closed eyes.

Conrad turned around.

The Black Fire Sect Dark Priest who had been standing behind him nodded. Indeed, as Conrad had said, these Gray Wolf Mercenaries were already as good as theirs. As for the captives, they didn't need to care about this one. According to the definition of mercenaries—even though these desperados were willing to risk their lives in battle, they would not easily give up their lives for meaningless steadfastness.

Macaro and Bujia had to keep that secret, but the others did not.

Both men knew this well.

The young man picked up the dagger and thrust it towards the girl's chest.

The lower Dark Priest of the Black Fire Sect watched this scene coldly, as though the blossoming crimson blood was not the mark of a life ending, but merely a beautiful painting. He heard the red-haired girl make a gurgling sound from her throat. Qian, in her final moment, seemed to try her utmost to grasp something. As her eyes suddenly opened wide, her gaze became vacant, then lost its sheen.

Consciousness and strength rapidly left the girl's body. In her final moment, she couldn't help but wonder—did that person know that she had died? Life is truly fragile...

She suddenly felt overwhelmingly sleepy but sensed someone putting something on her chest—

"What is... that?"

...

"What is that?"

Conrad turned around, seeing the Dark Priest of the Black Fire Sect, cloaked in black, placing a black-and-red gemstone emitting a faint glow at the center of the girl's chest. Immediately, strands resembling plant roots extended from the gemstone. Black light seeped into the wound beneath the dagger, then spread along the girl's halted blood vessels towards her limbs. Soon, a layer of faint red mist shrouded the entire body.

"Divine Blood, Lord Envoy," the Dark Priest answered simply.

"You want to awaken her into a Spirit Statue?"

"No." The Dark Priest shook his head.

"This woman can resonate with her weapon, and she has the ability to defeat our high-level cultist with lower silver strength, showing she has great potential. This potential comes from the fact that she has achieved such skills at such a young age." The eerie man said hoarsely from beneath his cloak, "What I gave her is the Bloodline of Thunder God Cabai. If I succeed in awakening a Divine Envoy, this gamble will be well worth it."