"Xijiu!" He called out her name desperately. He held her wrist steadily in his grasp to read her pulse. It was no longer a steady beat. Instead, her pulse was going very fast and chaotic. It was a sign of the recurrence of her past injury.

"What happened to you?" Long Siye was in a complete shock.

Gu Xijiu closed her eyes briefly to catch her breath. She refused the pill that was offered by Long Siye and took her own pill from her storage bag instead. Then, she sat on the ground and started meditating. Long Siye dared not interrupt her; he only stood by her side to keep her safe.

A few moments later, Gu Xijiu opened her eyes. She finally stopped sweating, but her complexion was not any better. Pale and weak, she heaved a deep sigh. "I have overused my spiritual power," she explained.

She was severely weakened and basically narrowly escaped death. All she really needed was a quiet rest now; however, she was anxious about the mussel. She had to come searching for it, even in her weak condition. Her Kung Fu was only partially recovered. Under the current circ.u.mstance, she really should not have used her spiritual power to fight them off.

Nevertheless, she had to show them her real power to intimidate them, sparing no effort in her ultimate strikes. The first time, she had to use a significant amount of power to destroy the bottle gourd. The second time, she had to send out the silver needles. The consequence of the overuse of spiritual power was the recurrence of her injury.

"Why did you have to give your all?" Long Siye was angry.

Gu Xijiu closed her eyes to avoid being distracted. "If I do not use my ultimate moves, I will not be able to save the mussel"s life."

The time when she used her spiritual power to shatter the bottle gourd, she could already feel the recurrence of her injury. She was in acute pain, but she tried to look her best so that the four Great Guardians would not notice her weakness. Otherwise, they would not let her go alive.

"Instructor Long, there is something fishy behind this matter. Someone is trying to make me the scapegoat. The mussel has unfortunately become a victim of their plot. There must be something much more complicated going on about the four Great Guardians. I must keep the mussel out of their hands, so the fight is a risk that I had to take."

As soon as she stopped, a man could be heard laughing scornfully. "You are like a spent arrow, which is no longer a threat to our position. How can we fall for your trick?"

Soon, three Great Guardians emerged not too far away from them. Among them were the eldest Guardian, Tie Zheng, the second Guardian, Tie Liang, and the fourth Guardian, Tie Shu. The third guardian, Tie Liu was nowhere to be seen.

Long Siye was surprised to see them again. Their spiritual power was equivalent to the strength of a Mighty Immortal. Hence, they were almost unbeatable in the Saha World. He was no match to their power at all.

As for Gu Xijiu, she could barely even stand.

"Why are you here again?" Long Siye stood up and hid Gu Xijiu behind him.

Tie Zheng looked at him sternly. "The mussel has committed a brutal crime, so we have to bring it back to the Emperor Immortal. As for the woman, she has injured Tie Liu. A proper explanation is required, so we have to take her along with us!"

With his fists clenched, Long Siye was obviously irritated. "What if I disagree?"

Tie Zheng responded callously, "Long Siye, are you going to rebel against us?"

Long Siye"s face turned pale at the intimidation. "I dare not! I am not rebelling by standing up for her. She is a friend of mine."

Tie Zheng acknowledged him with a sneer. "So what if she is your friend? Are you going to disregard the law because of your friends.h.i.+p?"

"She is not guilty of any crime," Long Siye explained hesitantly.

"Guilty or not, it is up to the Emperor Immortal to decide, not you. Don"t worry. We are only taking her back for the emperor for him to make a decision." Tie Zheng tried to bait him.