Chapter 32: I Beg You, Let Me Go!

"Whoosh!"

The first blood-red sword pierced the right hand of the woman in green with incredible speed. Blood splattered everywhere, and with a shrill, piercing scream, her hand hung limp and lifeless.

A chill ran through the woman’s heart, but she did not give up. She quickly raised her left hand, attempting to cast a spell to save herself.

However, "Whoosh!" A second blood-red sword followed immediately, mercilessly plunging into her left hand and shattering her final hope.

Having lost both hands, a flicker of despair crossed the woman's eyes. Still, she refused to yield. She stomped her right foot hard, struggling to escape the terrifying trap.

Yun Yi sneered. A third blood-red sword, like a dragon emerging from the sea, pinned her right foot with unerring precision, leaving her unable to move.

The woman in green let out another agonizing scream, her voice filled with bitterness and despair.

"Haha, you little mosquito, you only have three blood swords! I still have my hands and feet—four targets in total—you are finished!" The woman in green gritted her teeth against the agony, trying to goad Yun Yi with words while secretly gathering her strength to launch a final counterattack with her remaining leg.

Yet, Yun Yi seemed to see right through her intentions, a cold smirk curling at his mouth.

Just as the woman in green prepared to strike, a cold light suddenly flashed behind her. A fourth blood-red sword appeared like a phantom, piercing through her body and pinning her firmly to the ground.

"Ah! How is this possible!" The woman's eyes widened as if they might burst from their sockets, her face a mask of shock and confusion.

She trembled, her gaze locked onto the mosquito creature, which was as large as a rabbit.

"This... I have you to thank for this." Yun Yi’s voice, though soft, boomed like thunder in the woman’s ears.

Even though her ears could not catch the faint buzzing of a mosquito, Yun Yi’s words seemed to transcend the barriers of space, imprinting themselves directly into her consciousness.

A complex emotion flickered in Yun Yi’s eyes—it was both a mockery of the woman’s frantic, greedy absorption and a sense of relief that his own potential had been awakened.

A bone-chilling coldness rose in the woman's heart. This chill came not only from the external cold but from the deep remorse and despair within her.

She finally realized that her greedy consumption of the mysterious essence within Yun Yi was like a double-edged sword; while it had harmed him, it had also planted the seeds of her own destruction.

That "key" had not only unlocked the door to the sleeping potential within Yun Yi but had also unleashed the power capable of overturning the battle: the fourth blood-red sword.

"Impossible..." the woman in green whispered, her voice filled with disbelief and regret.

She knew that it was her own greed that had indirectly enabled Yun Yi to manifest this decisive, victory-claiming blade.

If time could turn back, she would rather have never encountered Yun Yi, never tasted the sweetness of that power, for she understood that the price for all of this was far too heavy—a burden she could not bear.

However, reality offers no "what-ifs," only consequences.

The woman in green gazed at Yun Yi, who stood before her, as large as a rabbit and possessing the features of a mosquito, her eyes filled with fear and hopelessness.

She tried to seduce him with her beauty, begging for her life in a humble tone: "Spare me, if only you spare me, I will do anything..."

But Yun Yi only watched her coldly, his compound eyes devoid of any pity or sympathy.

Yun Yi’s proboscis remained deeply embedded in the woman’s body, continuously draining her blood and life force.

The woman’s body grew weaker, her voice fading until only faint gasps remained.

With her last ounce of strength, she struggled to utter a few words: "Please..." but her voice was quickly swallowed by the encroaching darkness.

In the end, the flame of life within the woman in green was extinguished under Yun Yi’s ruthless draining, like a candle blown out, vanishing entirely into the dark.

Her body slumped to the ground like a withered leaf, devoid of all vitality.

Those eyes, which once shimmered with intelligence, were now hollow and dim, as if every trace of soul and color had been drained away.

Yun Yi hovered above the woman in green, his rabbit-sized frame standing out starkly against the night.

He lowered his head slightly, staring at the lifeless body on the ground, a flicker of indifference and resolve in his eyes.

His proboscis was still inserted into her neck, as if confirming that she had completely lost all capacity to resist.

"There is still some blood left. I should store it in a bottle; this is cultivator blood, which will be of great benefit to my cultivation." Yun Yi pondered to himself, then took a small, exquisite bottle from the ring worn on his slender foreleg.

He carefully withdrew his proboscis from the woman's body, then slowly dripped the remaining blood, still warm and pulsing with life, into the bottle.

Every drop of blood felt like a badge of victory, recording his gains from this battle.

Once the last drop was collected, Yun Yi tucked the bottle away with satisfaction.

He examined the woman in green once more, a glint of greed and cunning flashing in his compound eyes.

"Right, her storage bag and the valuable items on her shouldn't go to waste either." Yun Yi muttered to himself. He landed nimbly on the woman's body and began to search it carefully.

Before long, Yun Yi recovered a storage bag along with several precious magical artifacts and medicinal pills.

He placed these items into his own storage ring, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

For Yun Yi, these spoils were not only a symbol of his strength but also vital capital for survival in this world where the strong prevail.

For the woman in green, however, her brilliant flame of life had been pitilessly extinguished by Yun Yi, forever frozen in this quiet night.

Her body lay like a fallen flower on the cold ground, becoming nothing more than an insignificant yet crucial footnote on Yun Yi’s path to higher cultivation.

"Time to go back and continue cultivating." Yun Yi thought to himself. With a light leap, his rabbit-sized body easily returned to the large cave where he had been residing.

And so, for the next dozen days or so, Yun Yi remained in the dim cave, practicing with focus, attempting to push his cultivation to a higher realm.

Yet, despite having almost completely refined and absorbed the blood of the three cultivators, his cultivation seemed to have stalled at the early Foundation Establishment stage, without the slightest hint of progress.

This left Yun Yi feeling somewhat confused and frustrated. "What is going on? I've refined and absorbed nearly all the blood from those three cultivators, so why am I still at the early stage of Foundation Establishment?"

He muttered to himself, a trace of confusion and annoyance flashing in his eyes.