Chapter 41: Confrontation

Deep within the canyon.

The wind swept up dead leaves from the ground.

The bald-headed Big Man carried his broad-backed blade on his shoulder as he strode forward, closing in.

Behind him followed four elite late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators with steady auras.

On the outskirts, three early-stage Foundation Establishment disciples, whose knees had been pierced by Luo Qingchen’s arrows, were leaning on each other, limping to block the escape route.

Eight people.

They had Ling Xiyue tightly surrounded in the center.

The bald-headed Big Man rested the broad blade on his shoulder, grinned at Ling Xiyue, and bared his big teeth.

“Hidden Sword Mountain’s senior disciple.”

“Run.”

“Why aren’t you running anymore?”

The bald-headed Big Man spat on the ground.

“Staying behind to die just to cover that little thief.”

“Truly a pair of star-crossed lovers?”

“Too bad even if you grew wings today, you wouldn’t fly out of this canyon, because the air is sealed here.”

Ling Xiyue stood still.

A gentle breeze stirred her skirt.

She had no intention of replying.

Her right hand rested on the hilt of the Green Scale Sword.

Her wrist exerted force.

Clang!

A crisp sword cry rang through the canyon.

The Green Scale Sword was drawn.

Her Sword Heart Enlightenment state fully activated.

The temperature around her plummeted, and even fine ice crystals formed in the air.

The bald-headed Big Man snorted coldly.

“Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

“Get him!”

He gripped the sword hilt with both hands and leaped high.

The spiritual power of his early Core Formation dantian exploded without reservation.

A ten-foot-long flaming blade qi tore through the air, carrying a scorching heat wave as it chopped down toward Ling Xiyue’s head.

Ling Xiyue did not retreat; she advanced.

Her toes lightly touched the ground.

Her entire body rushed forward to meet the flaming blade qi.

An extremely simple sword-drawing stance.

No fancy movements.

The Green Scale Sword slanted upward from below.

A chilling sword qi collided with the flaming blade qi.

Shhh!

A sound like tearing cloth rang out.

The flaming blade qi was split in half from the middle and instantly dissipated.

Ling Xiyue’s form did not pause at all; she slipped through the gap left by the shattered blade qi and closed in.

The sword blade turned.

The bald-headed Big Man had no time to defend.

He only felt his chest go cold.

Blood spurted out.

He cried out in pain, clutching his chest as he retreated more than a dozen steps.

A bloody gash had appeared on his chest, deep enough to expose the bone.

Only half an inch away from piercing his heart.

The bald-headed Big Man was stunned.

Both were at Core Formation, yet he couldn’t even withstand a single strike from her!

“Form a formation! Attack together!”

Abandoning all pretense of face, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The four late-stage Foundation Establishment elites immediately drew their long blades and took positions in four directions, forming a killing formation as they pressed forward.

The three crippled early-stage Foundation Establishment disciples on the outskirts were not idle either.

They pulled poisoned hidden weapons from their storage pouches and hurled them wildly from behind the trees.

Ling Xiyue’s face was expressionless.

Her footwork shifted.

Her form turned into a violet-blue blur.

Too fast.

The four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t track her movements at all.

“Ah!”

A scream.

The leftmost black-robed disciple’s wrist burst into a spray of blood, and his long blade clattered to the ground.

His tendon had been severed.

Then another scream.

The disciple on the right was also clutching his wrist, collapsing to the ground in agony.

In three breaths.

Two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had their combat power completely neutralized.

Ling Xiyue turned.

She didn’t even glance at the flying hidden weapons.

Her long sword swept, and a sword qi knocked all the weapons away.

Her form flickered, and she appeared directly in front of the three crippled disciples who had been shooting from ambush.

The Green Scale Sword did not use its blade.

The flat of the sword struck horizontally.

Slap!

Slap!

Slap!

Three dull thuds.

The three early-stage Foundation Establishment disciples didn’t even have time to scream before they were sent flying dozens of yards.

They smashed through several large trees in succession, landing in the mud, completely motionless.

Irresistible.

A one-sided massacre.

The bald-headed Big Man’s scalp went numb.

‘This woman is a monster.’

Just as Ling Xiyue raised her sword and walked toward the bald-headed Big Man, ready to finish him off with one strike—

A thunderous roar erupted from the horizon.

“How dare you!”

Before the voice faded,

an explosive pressure, like a tangible mountain, crashed down into the canyon.

Within a hundred yards, the towering ancient trees instantly turned to dust.

The ground sank a full three feet.

Space was forcibly torn apart.

An old man in a blood-red robe, with hair and beard flying wildly, came rushing in from afar, lightly tapping the treetops.

An Elder of the Overlord Blade Sect’s Nascent Soul stage.

The Mad Blade Venerable.

The Nascent Soul stage pressure was released without reservation.

Ling Xiyue bore the brunt of it.

She felt as though a great mountain had been pressed onto her shoulders.

Her legs went weak.

Bang! She dropped to one knee on the ground.

The rock beneath her knee shattered instantly.

Blood sprayed from her mouth, staining the front of her robe.

The Green Scale Sword was thrust into the ground, its blade trembling violently, emitting a mournful cry.

The Mad Blade Venerable looked down at Ling Xiyue from above.

His rage turned to laughter.

“Well, well! Hidden Sword Mountain’s senior disciple!”

“A mere Core Formation junior dares to gravely wound an Elder of my Overlord Blade Sect!”

“Today, this ancestor will clean house for that old ghost Wangyou!”

He completely disregarded any pretense of seniority.

His right hand formed a blade with his fingers.

He slashed down through the air toward Ling Xiyue.

A hundred-yard-long blood-colored blade glow took shape in the sky.

Before the blade glow even arrived, the ground had already split into a bottomless chasm.

The aura of death completely enveloped Ling Xiyue.

No retreat.

No escape.

Ling Xiyue bit the tip of her tongue without hesitation.

The golden core in her dantian began to spin wildly.

She prepared to forcibly ignite her golden core, endure this strike, and then flash away.

Just as the blood-colored blade glow was about to pierce Ling Xiyue’s crown—

The distant sky suddenly darkened.

A sky-devouring sword aura, even more brilliant, sharper, and more domineering than the blood-colored blade glow, shot over from the horizon!

The sword aura tore through the air.

Emitting a sharp howl.

Boom!

A deafening explosion.

The sword aura struck the side of the blood-colored blade glow directly.

That hundred-yard-long blood-colored blade glow didn’t last even a breath; it was shattered on the spot like tofu.

The violent wave of spiritual energy swept outward.

The Mad Blade Venerable grunted, knocked back half a step by the shockwave.

He looked up in shock.

From the sky came the furious cursing of an old man.

“Old bastard!”

“Dare to touch my disciple? Ask my sword first!”

The space twisted violently.

Wangyou Zhenren, wearing his tattered Daoist robe, appeared in the air above the canyon.

His left hand held an ancient longsword.

In his right hand,he was holding Luo Qingchen by the scruff of her neck.

Wangyou Zhenren glanced down at Ling Xiyue, who was on one knee with blood at the corner of her mouth.

The old man’s beard trembled with distress.

He turned his head and casually tossed Luo Qingchen in his hand toward Ling Xiyue.

His movement was extremely casual,as if throwing a sandbag.

“Disciple!”

“Catch this blabbermouth little thief!”

Luo Qingchen flailed in midair.

“Ahhh!”

“Old man, screw you!”

Ling Xiyue, enduring the severe backlash from her golden core, took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the surging blood-energy.

She instinctively put away the Green Scale Sword.

Her hands reached out.

She steadily caught the falling Luo Qingchen.

The huge inertia dragged them both back several feet before they stopped.

Ling Xiyue gently set Luo Qingchen down on the ground.

Luo Qingchen’s legs gave way, and she plopped down on the ground.

Panting in shock, she patted her chest.

Wangyou Zhenren raised his sword, staring intently at the Mad Blade Venerable across from him.

Immediately after,

dense sounds of breaking air came from the dense forest behind.

Hundreds of sword lights rushed toward them at full speed.

The inner disciples and Core Formation elders of Hidden Sword Mountain had arrived at full speed.

A hundred people landed in neat formation behind Wangyou Zhenren.

They drew their swords.

Sword qi soared into the sky.

The tall swordsman landed at the front.

In his hand, he held a white dog.

Xiao Bai was rolling its eyes, tongue hanging out long, four short legs dangling, playing dead with utmost professionalism.

The Mad Blade Venerable steadied himself.

Looking at the fully arrayed Hidden Sword Mountain forces before him,

his face was dark enough to drip water.

He pointed at Ling Xiyue and Luo Qingchen.

“Old ghost Wangyou!”

“Your disciple and that little thief have plundered all the treasures of the Secret Realm!”

“And slaughtered several elite disciples of my Overlord Blade Sect!”

“If you don’t hand them over today!”

“My Overlord Blade Sect will declare all-out war with your Hidden Sword Mountain! To the death!”

Hearing this, Wangyou Zhenren raised an eyebrow.

He turned to look at the two below.

Ling Xiyue remained cold-faced, silent.

Luo Qingchen, on the other hand, was shrinking behind Ling Xiyue, looking guilty.

At the Mad Blade Venerable’s words,

Luo Qingchen instantly bristled.

She jumped out from behind Ling Xiyue.

Hands on her hips, she pointed at the Mad Blade Venerable’s nose and started cursing.

“You’re full of shit!”

“I only killed one!”

“And he was the one who came at me with a blade first! I had no choice but to kill in self-defense!”

Spittle flew from Luo Qingchen’s mouth.

“So what?”

“Are your Overlord Blade Sect disciples’ lives so precious that only you can kill and steal, but we can’t defend ourselves?”

“Have you no shame!”

“If your Overlord Blade Sect only allows itself to kill and forbids others from fighting back, then you might as well change your name!”

“Call it the ‘Overbearing Blade Sect’!”