On the **Sword Wine Peak**'s martial arts field, the snow that fell a few days ago had compacted into ice, and the ground had become extremely slippery. However, this did not hinder the disciples from practicing swordsmanship and martial arts.
*Ding ding---*
In a corner of the martial arts arena, the continuous sound of swords clashing was heard.
A slender scholar was using his sword, which looked like an embroidery needle in comparison, to deal with a burly man holding a one-hundred-pound sword.
It seemed that there would be no suspense, but after the swords clashed several times, the scholar remained undisturbed and didn't even break a sweat. The burly man, however, was already out of breath and struggling to swing his sword.Feng Yu Die smirked and stepped forward, delivering a horizontal slash with her sword.
*Woosh---*
The sword drew a line, and its wave of energy came like a wind that shook the ground with a terrible noise. However, just as it was about to touch the big man's neck, it stopped in an instant and remained still.
"Hmph~" Feng Yu Die smiled proudly as she raised an eyebrow and said, "I won!"
The big man took his time to calm down, then slowly straightened up and cupped his hands. "Master Feng is indeed formidable. Yesterday, I heard you blocked a sword from a late-stage *Core Formation* cultivator for Sister Jiujiu. I thought it was just bragging, but now it seems that it's true."
Feng Yu Die threw the sword in her right hand upward and lifted the scabbard in her left hand.
*Swish---*The sword rotated through the air and sheathed itself with precision.
After showing off, she wiped her nose and modestly said, "Oh, it's no big deal! Just a late-stage *Core Formation* cultivator. Before, I've even fought against a *Nascent Soul* cultivator."
"A *Nascent Soul* cultivator?" The big man asked, surprised. "May I ask which one?"
"Master Li from the ***Dragon House***! We fought, and I guess you could say I won."
The big man looked even more astonished and shook his head in disbelief. "Master Li is one of the Twelve Immortal Swordsmen. This can't be possible; he must have let you win."
"Hehe~ Believe it or not."
Feng Yu Die waved her hand and looked up at the sky, thinking that the roasted chicken she had asked the maid of the *Cloud Wine Mansion* to prepare should be ready. She hurriedly turned around to leave.
"I'm not staying any longer; I'm going back to eat roasted chicken! Keep practicing~"
"Ah... okay, Master Feng, take care."
Feng Yu Die put the sword back into her storage bag and walked toward the edge of the martial arts arena. However, when she was about to reach the exit, she was stopped by a man.
"Brother Feng, please wait."
The man was wearing a **Sword Wine Peak** uniform, but unlike other disciples, his body was rather lean, and the characteristic recklessness of a **Sword Wine Peak** disciple could not be seen on his face. He looked more like an outsider wearing the uniform of a **Sword Wine Peak** disciple.
Feng Yu Die looked him up and down with some confusion but didn't think too much about it. She thought that he had come to challenge her to a sword fight, as recently, there were quite a few disciples from **Sword Wine Peak** who wanted to fight her.
She waved and said, "I'm not fighting. If you want to fight with me, line up, and we'll talk about it tomorrow. Anyway, I come here to practice every morning."
"Ah, no... I came to deliver a message for a junior sister."
?!
Feng Yu Die tilted her head. "Junior sister? Which junior sister?"
"Um... Junior Sister Su. If you don't have anything urgent, can you please go to the pine forest behind the *Alchemy Hall*? Sister Su said she's waiting for you there."
Pine forest?
What was this about? Was it a trick?
Feng Yu Die narrowed her eyes warily, pondered for a moment, and finally waved her hand again. "Then, please tell her that if there's something important, she can come directly to the *Cloud Wine Mansion* to find me. Right now I'm going back to eat roasted chicken."
"Ah..." The disciple was stunned, seeing that Feng Yu Die was about to leave again. He quickly chased after her and begged, "Brother Feng, just go and meet her. You won't regret it."
"So, what's this about?"
"Well... it's something good."
"What's good? Is there roasted chicken?"
The man choked, and it took him a long time before he managed to speak again. "Brother Feng, let me explain. Sister Su has been secretly watching you practice with the sword in the martial arts arena these past few days. She thinks you're elegant and handsome and has always wanted to talk to you."
"Then, why don't you ask her to come to me with a plate of roasted chicken? I'm pretty easy to talk to. I'll chat with her for half an hour over a plate of roasted chicken."
"..."
The man was speechless again, and his whole face suddenly began to twitch, but in the end, he sighed. "Brother Feng, I'll owe you a favor, okay? If you go, I will buy you twenty roasted chickens."
Feng Yu Die grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey! That's what I've been waiting for. Deal! Let's go, where is it?"
"In the pine forest behind the *Alchemy Hall*."
"Where is the *Alchemy Hall*?"
A row of blue veins appeared on the man's forehead. Feeling somewhat exhausted, he spread his hands and said, "I'll take you there..."
...
Following the man, Feng Yu Die walked along the small path outside the martial arts field, winding around for about a quarter of an hour before finally arriving in front of a ten-story pavilion.
On both sides of the pavilion were separate small courtyards, where disciples from **Sword Wine Peak** were going in and out. Behind the building was a pine forest covering an area of about five acres.
At this moment, the pine trees in the forest and the ground were covered with snow crystals, and the scenery looked like a vast sea of white flowers.
The man stopped and gestured with his hand. "This is the place. Brother Feng, there is a pavilion about five hundred feet away. Sister Su is waiting for you there."
Feng Yu Die stood on her tiptoes to look into the forest, but she couldn't see the mentioned pavilion from her current location because of how dense the pine trees were.
"Aren't you coming?"
"Sister Su wants to talk to you, I don't want to be the third wheel."
Looking embarrassed, the man bowed politely and then turned and walked away, saying, "Brother Feng, I'm going to buy roasted chicken for you. You go, chat with Sister Su first."
"Oh..."
As the man left, Feng Yu Die frowned and looked toward the pine forest with narrowed eyes. She couldn't figure out what was going on, but this pine forest looked very convenient for setting an ambush.
The spiritual energy of the land was abundant, and there were also many animals in the forest. Even if she used her spiritual sense to scan it, it would be difficult to detect cultivators hiding inside.
After hesitating for a while, Feng Yu Die whispered. "Xiao Tian..."
*"What?"* Xiao Tian's resentful voice came from Feng Yu Die's head. She poked out half of her body, looked into the pine forest ahead, and frowned. *"Four in the mid-stage of *Foundation Building*, and one in the early stage. Is this an ambush?"*
"Sure enough, there is an ambush... I knew it! They called me to the pine forest for no reason, they're just picking on me," she said.
*"...Someone told you to go into the forest?"*
"Yes, someone just said that a Junior Sister Su was waiting for me here and wanted to talk to me. I was wondering at that time. Why didn't she come directly to me if she wanted to talk? The intention of an ambush was too obvious."
Listening to her, Xiao Tian didn't know what to think.
Normally, when ordinary people hear something like this, most would think that maybe a girl wanted to confess her feelings.
However, Yu Die's first thought was, "This is most likely an ambush."
Was this a good thing? Or a bad thing?
After giving some thought, Feng Yu Die asked, "Xiao Tian, go and take a look at the storage bags of those five people. See if there are many spirit stones in them?"
?
"Will you go there if there are?"
"Yeah, when meat is right in front of your mouth, why not eat it?" She replied.
Xiao Tian rolled her eyes at her and flew into the pine forest to investigate.
After a while, she flew back and said with a serious expression, *"I took a look at them. Aside from the four cultivators in the middle stage of the *Foundation Building*, that girl in the early stage seems to be a hostage. I think they want to use her to attract your attention and launch a surprise attack on you. Be careful."*
"Huh? Hostage?"
*"Well... that girl has five or six low-level thunder talismans pasted on her clothes. She's now standing in the pavilion muttering, 'Who is going to save me...' or something like that. So, be cautious."*
After pondering for a moment, Feng Yu Die nodded and said, "Alright, I got it."
