While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly

"Here he comes."

Through her Twelfth Stage of Spiritual Perception, Anna was already tracking the Grand Swordmaster’s movements in real time.

After he walked out of the tavern, he sprinted rapidly toward the group.

"Anna, you fall back first," Ashu said.

Anna’s current level was still somewhat behind the Grand Swordmaster. Since the Grand Swordmaster was a physical cultivator, his speed was naturally very fast. Therefore, Ashu had no intention of dragging Anna into the Netherrealm again.

"Don’t get attached to the fight. After wearing him down a bit, retreat quickly. We can totally fight a war of attrition and wait for the right moment," Anna advised, then quickly withdrew.

At that moment,

Ashu looked at Sion. Sion’s strength was even weaker. Although he had the secret technique "Forbidden Sacrifice," wasting the lifespan of his Messenger subordinate for a battle of attrition was obviously unreasonable.

Therefore, Ashu told Sion, "You retreat as well. Then gather intel on the other three Bounty Hunters. Once I banish this Grand Swordmaster to the Netherrealm, I’ll deal with those three."

Sion wanted to say something, but once he heard there was a new task, he immediately nodded and replied, "Yes, Bishop. Please be careful."

After speaking, Sion hurried off in another direction.

At this point,

Outside Dadley town, only Ashu and Ymir remained.

"Get ready with two lives later—don’t die," Ashu said to Ymir.

Since he had no spiritual perception talent, Ashu couldn’t use the common spiritual perception cultivators used to sense things. He could only observe the city gate with his naked eyes.

Not long after he said this, a fierce wind swept past the city gate like a released arrow, rushing straight toward the two of them.

The overwhelming and sharp killing intent felt as if it had slaughtered thousands, even tens of thousands.

This was Ashu’s first time encountering this type of enemy—although when he first met Vivita, her aura was even more intense, but at that time he hadn’t even reacted before she was already in front of him.

This time was different. This time Ashu was fully prepared and clearly felt the Grand Swordmaster’s murderous aura.

Ashu summoned his Holy Shield Knight while focusing his gaze on the Grand Swordmaster, immediately activating "Reaper’s Resolve" mode.

There he was.

The Grand Swordmaster’s body was like a tiger or leopard, his steps swift as flying.

Though he had a scruffy beard, it did nothing to dull the sharpness on his face. Even without looking at his weapon, just a glance at this man told you he was a master swordsman.

As he charged forward, he gripped the refined steel sword at his waist. His black cloak fluttered wildly.

When the distance between him and Ashu’s group was only thirty meters, he suddenly drew his steel sword. A visible wave of sword energy surged forth, devastating everything in its path, aimed straight at the two of them.

Fortunately,

Ashu had prepared the Holy Shield Knight in advance.

In a flash, the Holy Shield Knight, just materialized from the Holy Light, hurriedly raised its shield and stood before the two.

Clang—

The collision of sword energy and shield rang out like clashing metal.

"Hmph, brats, you bunch of perverts don’t open a brothel, but insist on coming here to die?"

The Grand Swordmaster’s voice came from in front of the Holy Shield Knight, filled with disdain.

"Well then, today, this old man Alonso Tiersha will send you off to meet your Prostitute Goddess!"

Ymir was stunned, her eyes blank. She was clearly just there to help, so why was she suddenly being insulted so harshly?

Ashu, however, didn’t care at all. After all, the insults were aimed at the Cidi, not him.

If you insisted on calling him a pervert... wasn’t that actually a compliment?

"Sky-Splitting Sword Style!"

The Grand Swordmaster Alonso Tiersha roared, and with that came an invisible energy explosion like a bomb. Even the usually steady Holy Shield Knight was knocked back more than ten meters!

Seeing this, Ashu understood just how extraordinary this Grand Swordmaster was.

He was far stronger than Kakarim.

Immediately, Ashu moved forward with the plan and gave Ymir a nod.

Both of them unleashed the power of "Death" at full force simultaneously.

"Embrace of Death!"

"Reaper’s Embrace!"

Ymir’s Embrace of Death carved a twenty-meter-long pitch-black fissure into the earth beneath their feet.

Such a small range was easy for a Grand Swordmaster skilled in Martial Technique to evade.

However,

Just as Alonso Tiersha leapt into the air, a huge black shadow suddenly appeared. From its wide sleeves, a withered giant hand shot out and grabbed him like a lifeless chick!

"Ugh! Ah! Cough!"

The Grand Swordmaster Alonso Tiersha was caught off guard, his breath thrown into chaos, almost choking on blood.

After regaining his senses, he immediately reversed the grip on his refined steel longsword, preparing to unleash another sword technique.

But

The deathly shadow didn’t give him the chance.

Once the shadow of Death grabbed Alonso Tiersha, it meant the Netherrealm banishment was one hundred percent successful. Combined with Ymir’s fissure beneath their feet, the three—plus the Holy Shield Knight—plunged together into the Netherrealm.

Ashu was already used to the sensation of falling.

The scenery darkened, then flashed, and they arrived in the Netherrealm.

But Alonso Tiersha clearly hadn’t realized it yet.

After entering the Netherrealm, the effect of "Reaper’s Embrace" ended, and the shadow of Death immediately vanished.

Alonso Tiersha was thrown onto the blood-red earth of the Netherrealm.

"Damn it, I was careless... is this... an illusion? A mental Magic?" Alonso Tiersha kept asking himself.

No matter what, he couldn’t break through this "illusion."

"Welcome to the Netherrealm, Alonso Tiersha."

"Netherrealm?" Alonso Tiersha’s eyes widened. Using his instincts as a Grand Swordmaster, he was certain Ashu hadn’t deceived him, and the environment here did indeed match the legends of the Netherrealm.

But why?

Why had all three of them suddenly ended up in the Netherrealm?

What had just happened? Had all three died simultaneously?

That was completely impossible!

Alonso Tiersha replayed the previous moments in his mind, confirming he hadn’t lost any memories.

His gaze passed through the Holy Shield Knight to Ashu and Ymir, and slowly, he began to understand.

"’Death’? And not just ’Cidi’?"

The Grand Swordmaster Alonso Tiersha now felt a bit frustrated. He had only been paid once—paid to slay a Cidi Devotee.

He hadn’t been paid to kill a ’Death’ Devotee.

But the man in front of him now possessed both Cidi Evil Power and Death Evil Power.

This kind of ’double agent’ was rare, but not unheard of. People who worked for such figures often demanded double the bounty.

"I never thought in my lifetime I’d see a Devotee of the ’Death God.’ Hey, you two, since you worship Death, why don’t you just kill yourselves?" Alonso Tiersha struck a pose. "If you don’t commit suicide at least once, how can you call yourselves Death Devotees?"

Ashu realized this Grand Swordmaster was skilled both in swordsmanship and in sharp tongue.

He stopped wasting words and immediately made his move.

Before the battle began, Ashu had already discussed tactics with Anna and Ymir.

Since they could use the power of "Death" to drag the target into the Netherrealm, and Death Devotees could freely travel the boundary between life and death, there was absolutely no need to engage the target in a direct, drawn-out fight.

Life in the Netherrealm was already harsh, with demons and evil spirits running rampant. Anyone dragged in here wouldn’t have it easy.

So all they needed to do was occasionally strike from the Netherrealm, accelerating the depletion of the target’s energy and stamina, gradually weakening them. Repeating this process enough times would ensure the target’s defeat.

The rest of the time, Ashu and Ymir could afford to wait patiently in the mortal world.

Ashu reached out with a gesture. As he leapt into the air, a ten-meter-long giant scythe appeared in his hand.

He gripped the pitch-black giant scythe, a weapon forged from the power of Death itself. The blade shimmered with an eerie black glow, each tremble seeming to drain the life force from the surroundings.

At the same time, his fingertips traced along the scythe’s handle, imitating Ymir, releasing black Death energy that condensed at the end into thorny chains.

"Ymir, go."

His voice was low and resolute. As long as this wasn’t a desperate all-out fight, they held a huge psychological advantage from the start.

Both he and Ymir knew beforehand that as long as they ensured their own safety, accelerating the exhaustion of the Grand Swordmaster’s energy would lead to a slow but sure victory.

Why "accelerate"?

Because in this vast, desolate Netherrealm, there was no food, no safe refuge. Simply surviving here was a massive drain on energy and stamina. Those lacking endurance would become irritable and restless even faster.

Their two black giant scythes, wrapped with chains, flew toward the Grand Swordmaster, the chains jingling and clinking.

Alonso Tiersha let out a low roar from his throat and fiercely swung his refined steel longsword.

His strength condensed into a massive sword slash, releasing a scarlet sword aura that distorted the space around it, cleaving a huge boulder in half even from a distance.

This was no ordinary sword aura—it was the Sword of Fury wielded by a Grand Swordmaster.

To have cultivated to this level, besides talent, he had to have sharp insight. He knew well that here, he had no geographical advantage.

He didn’t even know if he was dead or alive right now. But he knew one thing for certain: he didn’t want to die.

And the key to all this lay with the two Death Devotees.

Only by taking them down would he have a chance to return to the mortal world.

As he twisted his wrist to sheath his sword, he thrust out another slash of sword aura.

This sword aura was infused with powerful fire magic, burning a long trail through the air of the Netherrealm.

Ymir saw this and quickly leapt high into the air, the chains in her hand narrowly missing the fiery sword aura. Meanwhile, Ashu was already airborne; he pulled the chains back with a flick of his hand, retracting the giant scythe to clash with Alonso’s sword aura, sparks flying brightly. He intended to make some noise.

He wanted to create enough disturbance to attract nearby Demons and evil spirits.

When they returned to the mortal realm, those creatures would serve as temporary muscle.

"Boom—"

A flash of sparks.

The powerful impact made his tiger mouth (the area between thumb and index finger) go numb from the shock.