Chapter 487

Chapter 487: The Unexpected Girl

"Your Sword Path is flawed!"

The girl in purple dress spoke gently, her voice like a spirit from an empty valley, soft yet clear.

Du Jianyin stood frozen, disbelief etched on his face. His most confident sword strike had not only failed to harm the girl but he hadn’t even seen how she blocked it.

She had simply stood there, motionless, rendering his attack utterly ineffective.

"My Sword Path isn’t for you to judge."

The girl in purple glanced at him, then lightly tossed the seed of the mysteries of thunder into the air. It hovered above her, casting a faint purple glow.

Du Jianyin said nothing. His strongest swordplay had been useless against her. He had no idea how to seize the seed now.

While Du Jianyin reeled in shock, Ye Yun and the others reacted differently.

Even Jun Ruolan struggled to make sense of it. Du Jianyin’s sword strike—powerful enough to rival the peak Golden Core stage, nearly touching the Nascent Soul stage—should’ve been unstoppable without a medium-grade spiritual weapon. Yet the girl in purple hadn’t even flinched.

But how? Only those below the Nascent Soul stage could enter Thunder Falls Valley. How had she fended off his attack so effortlessly? Even a Nascent Soul Ancestor couldn’t have brushed it aside so casually.

"What’s your name?" Ye Yun asked softly.

"I’m Tongtong. And you?" The girl in purple tilted her head. "Do you want to steal my things too?"

Ye Yun smiled. "No. The seed is yours. No one can take it."

"You’re nice, unlike him." She clapped, grinning.

Jun Ruolan’s brow twitched. "Ye Yun. Remember our agreement."

Ye Yun didn’t look at her. "What agreement? I’ve changed my mind."

Jun Ruolan stiffened. "What did you say?" Her voice turned icy, coldness radiating from her.

She stepped toward the girl, energy coiling like a poised serpent.

"Brother, she’s scary!" The girl in purple hid behind Ye Yun, though her eyes remained calm, devoid of fear.

"Hand it over!" Jun Ruolan snapped. White light flashed as a translucent hand shot toward the seed.

Ye Yun flicked his fingers. A bolt of lightning intercepted the hand, both vanishing with a crackle.

"Ye Yun!" Jun Ruolan glared.

Before he could retort, the seed dissolved into nothingness. The girl in purple flickered, then vanished entirely.

"Mean lady! Bye, brother!" A chubby little girl sprang into view, leaping ten zhang away.

Ye Yun and Jun Ruolan stared. How had the girl transformed into a child mid-disappearance?

"Stop her!" Jun Ruolan lunged forward.

Ye Yun followed, his Illusory Thunderlight Escape letting him keep pace effortlessly.

"So she was just an ethereal figure," Du Jianyin muttered, watching them blur into the distance. He summoned his sword arc, chasing after Zeng Xuan and Shen Mo.

The latter two exchanged stunned looks. The invincible girl had been an illusion? And where had this child hidden?

Shen Mo moved to follow, but Zeng Xuan stopped him. "We’d only slow Ye Yun. He has the Thunder Wood—let’s find the Ice Spirit Herb instead."

Zeng Xuan sighed. He’d underestimated Thunder Falls Valley. Jun Ruolan’s mid-grade Immortal artifact, Du Jianyin’s peerless swordplay, Ye Yun’s hidden strength… It lit a fire in him. He’d conquer the heavenly tribulation and reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

Shen Mo nodded. Ye Yun was from Divine Grace Palace—they’d meet again. For now, the herb mattered.

Ye Yun and Jun Ruolan raced onward, each startled by the other’s speed. Without her mid-grade Immortal artifact, Jun Ruolan doubted she could match him. Ye Yun, meanwhile, pondered her mysteries—the top-grade spirit stones, her cryptic hints of powers beyond the Great Qin Empire…

Yet neither could gain on the girl. She stayed ten zhang ahead, her aura foreign, as if from another world.

Who *was* she?