Time returns to the present.
“Damn it!”
A demonic cultivator shouted a curse, only to be slashed and sent rolling several times across the ground by a single sword.
He had thought that, as a mid-Foundation Establishment sword cultivator, it would be effortless to defeat a young girl who had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage.
But who could have expected that in only a dozen or so exchanges, he would be pushed back step by step, utterly overwhelmed!
Especially her comprehension of swordsmanship—she was far superior to him, even though he had practiced the sword for decades!
And who had ever heard of a sword cultivator being able to materialize sword qi during the Foundation Establishment stage? That was a Spell Art only Golden Core sword cultivators could master!
Before the demonic cultivator could rise, Beichen Yue attacked again.
Ice condensed into a longsword, forcing the demonic cultivator to desperately defend while scrambling on the ground, rolling and dodging with panic.
After blocking once more, the demonic cultivator threw out a Second-Tier Fireball Talisman. The talisman transformed into several fist-sized fireballs and flew at Beichen Yue.
Beichen Yue summoned her icesword back to block, finally giving the demonic cultivator a slim chance to escape.
“This won’t do! I can’t keep this up!”
The demonic cultivator ducked behind a Big Boulder, gritting his teeth as he swiftly pulled out several talismans from his spatial artifact.
“Come out and die, quickly!”
Beichen Yue closed in on the demonic cultivator step by step.
Sword qi manifestation—transforming the intangible, purely offensive sword qi into tangible material—granted her countless new variations beyond ordinary sword qi.
For example, at this moment, an ice-forged longsword appeared beside Beichen Yue; this was the product of her manifested sword qi.
Then, using the Sword Control Technique, a Spell Art available to Foundation Establishment sword cultivators, she controlled the sword, making it float beside her.
If a formation master didn’t have time to set up a formation, with only the trump cards Master Gongzi had, he might not be able to hold on for long.
—She had to hurry and help Master Gongzi!
While thinking, Beichen Yue raised her index and middle finger, pointing at where the demonic cultivator was hiding.
The floating Beichen Yue’s Icesword flew around the Big Boulder at lightning speed and directly forced the demonic cultivator out!
Thrown out.
Up.
Beichen Yue had just bent forward, intending to finish off the demonic cultivator with a single strike, when she saw him, forced out, hurling all the dozen or so talismans in his hand at her at once.
Seeing this, Beichen Yue immediately stabbed her sword into the ground, channeling spiritual power to raise a thick Icewall. The barrage of talismans slammed into the Icewall with a flurry of swooshes.
Fire, lightning, mist, Icicle—there were talismans of every attribute.
When the barrage was over, a thick fog blanketed the surroundings!
Beichen Yue instantly summoned back her ice sword, raising her guard. Yet, even after the smoke dispersed, she realized—the area was completely empty!
“Not good, Master Gongzi!”
Beichen Yue immediately dashed toward the direction of Dongfang Xiaotian!
***
Meanwhile, the demonic cultivator was also running at full speed, tossing a pill into his mouth as he fled. “Damn it, I can’t believe I drew the worst lot!”
“But no matter! Once the Xiao Family’s old man catches that brat and threatens her, I refuse to believe she won’t obediently surrender!”
He couldn’t help but grin—he’d used this trick countless times against so-called “orthodox” cultivators.
All he had to do was grab one person, secretly poison the hostage during negotiations, and when the hostage was returned, the poison would claim both hostage and rescuer.
But when he arrived, he saw only two people: one, a slightly chubby Xiao Family Branch crony sitting on the ground; the other, a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, wiping his hands.
Where was the Xiao Zong Physical Cultivator?
The demonic cultivator felt a pang of doubt, but with his life on the line, he didn’t have time to think. He circulated his spiritual power, reaching for the boy. “Kid, come he—”
But before he could finish, he saw, behind Dongfang Xiaotian, a twisted, lumpen mass of flesh like a deformed creature. That… was that the Xiao Zong Physical Cultivator?
Before terror could set in, his vision blurred, the world spun, and his back slammed into the ground with searing pain. In the next instant, a large foot stomped down on his neck.
With a crunch, everything went black.
“Master Gongzi!”
A graceful figure ran out of the miasma. “Where are the demonic cultivators?!”
“Dead.”
Dongfang Xiaotian moved his foot aside, then stabbed the fallen demonic cultivator several more times with his sword before starting to collect the spoils.
“Dead?”
Beichen Yue was a little shocked, then looked to Dongfang Xiaotian. “What about the Physical Cultivator?”
“Dead as well.”
Dongfang Xiaotian replied without concern, “No need to look, there was nothing valuable on him.”
Beichen Yue glanced at the demonic cultivator by Dongfang Xiaotian’s feet and said nothing more, only thinking that Master Gongzi’s secrets had grown even deeper.
Though she was curious, Chun’er was no longer here to ask questions for her, so she could only suppress her curiosity.
“Mm, then let’s go help…”
Beichen Yue had just thought to go help Tushan Bingxian, when she saw Li Yuze already sprinting away in a panic. As she tried to catch him, he collided with something and stumbled to the ground.
“Who—who dares block this master?! You better believe—”
Li Yuze instinctively cursed, but before he could finish, the rest of his words were choked off by his own frostbitten severed hand.
“Dead… dead!”
Looking closely, it was actually one of the demonic cultivators from earlier, his whole body wrapped in ice, several Icicles piercing his chest, unmistakably dead.
From within the miasma, a massive fox demon emerged, exhaling white, icy mist all over its body.
Li Yuze’s pants instantly grew warm, his limbs went limp, and he dared not move. “D-don’t kill me!”
“Hoo~”
Tushan Bingxian transformed back into human form, exhaled a plume of icy white breath, then immediately dropped to one knee—even her own body was emitting wisps of Ice Cold Air.
Tushan Bingxian swiftly took out a pill and swallowed it, only then did her trembling ease a bit.
Beichen Yue looked at Tushan Bingxian’s state and couldn’t help but sigh. “Such domineering cold.”
This Ice Cold Air not only crossed realms to freeze a Foundation Establishment cultivator to death—it even harmed Tushan Bingxian herself, truly fierce to the extreme.
Tushan Bingxian said nothing, but glanced at the two of them. Beichen Yue, of course, was fine; even Dongfang Xiaotian only had a bit of blood staining his clothes.
Clearly, she was the most disheveled of the three.
After a deep breath to compose herself, Tushan Bingxian looked at the disgraced Li Yuze and asked, “What do we do with this one?”
Beichen Yue raised her longsword, face expressionless. “Colluding with cultists of the Evil God Sect—he should be killed.”
“Hey hey hey, killed for what?”
Dongfang Xiaotian immediately stopped her. “The guy’s got a powerful father—he’s a Golden Core.”
Right now, of the four Golden Core experts in Lingtian City, two are Sect Branch Masters, one is the City Lord, and the other is Li Yuze’s hundred-year-old father, the Grand Elder of the Xiao Family Branch.
Realizing this, Li Yuze’s hope for survival reignited. “Yes! My father is Golden Core! He has my life tablet—if I die, he’ll hunt you all down!”
“I’ll do it then.”
Beichen Yue’s expression remained indifferent. “I’m not from Lingtian City, so I’m not afraid.”
Tushan Bingxian also didn’t care about the life tablet. “Mm, that’s fine.”
Dongfang Xiaotian just shrugged. “Let’s interrogate him first. If he’s the son of someone high up, we might find something new.”
“No, no interrogation needed! No need!”
Seeing the three of them unconcerned by his father, Li Yuze immediately knelt down. “As long as you spare me, I’ll tell you everything! I swear I won’t hide a thing!”
Dongfang Xiaotian blocked his path and crouched before him, tone serious. “I’m only interested in how you managed to command the Evil God Sect.”
“Let’s talk, shall we?”
“Speak. How did you get involved with the Evil God Sect? And what are they really after?”
Tushan Bingxian rested Beichen Yue’s Icesword against Li Yuze’s neck. “If I even sense a hint of deceit, I’ll take your head!”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
Surrounded by these three, Li Yuze dared not hide anything.
“It was about a month ago—the Evil God Sect suddenly approached my father!”
“A month ago, they brought a pile of Blood Pills to my father. After taking a lot of them, he showed signs of a breakthrough, so he agreed to cooperate.”
“He used the spirit-refining grand formation already here in these ruins to refine living beings, to help our Xiao Family break through and seize the Xiao Family Branch, and at the same time weaken the Four Sages Academy. That’s all I know! Please, don’t kill me—I’ve told you everything!”
And so the blame was, without doubt, shifted onto the Evil God Sect.
Dongfang Xiaotian frowned. “Anything else?”
“Big brother, I really don’t know anything more!”
Li Yuze looked on the verge of tears. “Please, let me go?”
Dongfang Xiaotian asked gravely, “Let me ask another way. What does the Evil God Sect want?”
At this, Beichen Yue and Tushan Bingxian both pricked up their ears.
According to Li Yuze, the Evil God Sect was being used as a scapegoat, while the main benefits all went to the Xiao Family Branch. Otherwise, the sect could’ve just done it themselves.
Yet the Evil God Sect was happy to be the scapegoat and obey orders—what exactly did they want?
Li Yuze only shook his head. “I—I don’t know. My father didn’t tell me; he just said to make sure I handled this matter well!”
Dongfang Xiaotian asked sternly, “What about Xiao Yuanqing? Was he involved? Where is he?”
Xiao Yuanqing, known as Lingtian City’s greatest genius—everyone here knew his strength, undefeated among his peers and unmatched below Golden Core. Which side he chose would sway the whole battle.
“I—I’m not sure.”
Li Yuze hesitated. “But my father stripped him of his power a while ago—he’s just a brute with no authority left. As long as we threaten him with Xiang’er, he’ll behave…”
“Stripped the Xiao Family Branch?!”
Beichen Yue’s face immediately turned icy. As a direct disciple of the Ice Crystal Immortal Palace—one of the four great sects—she knew the gravity of such actions.
This was a blatant challenge to the Xiao Family’s orthodoxy!
Among the four great sects, the poorest is Ice Crystal Immortal Palace, the weakest is Four Sages Academy, the strongest is Tianjian Manor, and the one that cares most about bloodline is the Xiao Family.
The Sect Branch Master of each province’s Xiao Family Branch is always a direct or collateral member of the Xiao Family—never an exception!
Beichen Yue asked coldly, “Aren’t you afraid of the Xiao Family’s retaliation?”
Retribution from the Main Sect was not something a mere Golden Core cultivator could withstand.
“My father said that once he’s Reaching New Heights after seclusion, he’ll have me marry into the Xiao Family and change my surname to Xiao, and then I’ll take the Sect Master Position!”
Looking at her frosty face, Li Yuze blurted, “It’s all my father’s scheme! It has nothing to do with me! Really—it’s got nothing to do with me!”
Dongfang Xiaotian ignored Li Yuze’s attempts to distance himself from his father and pressed on, “How far along is your plan?”
“I—it’s already started.”
Li Yuze looked evasive. “In another hour, the Xuanwu Protective Wandering Star Formation fused with the Blood Refining Array will refine the Four Sages Academy disciples into blood…”
“One hour!”
Tushan Bingxian’s face grew grim. She grabbed Dongfang Xiaotian’s hand, ready to rush back. “There’s no time to alert the Four Sages Academy—Golden Core experts can’t make it that fast. We need to go help!”
“See? Second Junior Sister, you’re getting anxious again.”
Dongfang Xiaotian pried off her fox claw. “Relax, Little Junior Brother is there. It’ll be fine.”
Tushan Bingxian looked seriously at Dongfang Xiaotian, no longer pressing the point. Only after he smiled and nodded did she calm herself.
“Fine. I’ll settle this score with you later!”
“What? Why?”
“You knew and didn’t report it.”
“You never asked!”
“Are you a child? Do you need everything pointed out?”
Beichen Yue watched the two bicker, then coughed to interrupt, “Enough. Even if Master Gongzi has a plan, unless there are other issues, shouldn’t we discuss our next move?”
“Of course, we return to the sect. They can hold out on their own for now.”
Dongfang Xiaotian shrugged. The Xiao Family Branch Master was inexplicably unavailable—otherwise, his children would never have been threatened, nor the branch usurped.
The Xiao Family Branch’s Grand Elder seemed to be in seclusion for a breakthrough, unable to come in person.
Xiao Yuanqing wasn’t on their side, so there was nothing more to discuss.
“Our job is to return to the sect as quickly as possible and get reinforcements to minimize casualties.”
But before Dongfang Xiaotian finished, the entire world began to tremble.
“Heavenly Dragon Flip?”
Li Yuze immediately crouched, hugging his head. In a canyon like this, one misstep could mean being buried alive.
Tushan Bingxian and Beichen Yue both looked at Dongfang Xiaotian. They could sense a torrent of spiritual power gathering nearby, but the miasma was too thick—they couldn’t see what was happening.
But Dongfang Xiaotian’s innate eye technique allowed him to see the flow of spiritual power clearly.
“Send me up.”
Dongfang Xiaotian pointed to the canyon wall’s top. Without a word, Tushan Bingxian tossed him up, thoughtfully creating a protruding foothold for him to land on.
From above, Dongfang Xiaotian could faintly see huge points of light rising all over the miasma forest, spiritual power connecting them—clearly, a massive Blood Refining Array!
An array that covered both the Xiao Family Branch and the Four Sages Academy’s battlefield! This was clearly an attempt to wipe everyone out in one fell swoop!
“I knew anything involving the protagonist wouldn’t be so simple.”