'Not bad, father-in-law. I've always seen you as the most promising of the lot.' Xinzi kept this thought to himself, and undisturbed by Guang Fanghu's appearance, waved his flag. The blood fabric expanded in length and width, forming a 50-meters-long blood-silk cocoon that met and pushed back on Guang Fanghu's Sweltering Heaven Sword Formation.
Blast upon blast, bang upon bang, but all the bangs in the world couldn't give the Yang Patriarch an edge over Xinzi's Thousand Soul Immolation Flag. Not bothering to spare Zi Yao a glance, Guang Fanghu bolted towards Xinzi, sword raised for close-quarter combat.
"Dong Wei, what is wrong with you?! How could our cultivation bases compete with that artifact? It's the Yin-Yang Sword Array that we have to try! Solo heroics will only make us die faster!" Zi Yao barked at her husband, but still he pressed on. Burning flying sword danced around him, one longsword burned in his hand. The Unyielding Dao of the Fire Element flared in his eyes, heart and sword, fueling his cultivation base and battle-prowess.
'Our understanding of Yin-Yang isn't superior to our ancestors. If he can break the defensive formation, there isn't one pair of Yin-Yang elders in the sect that he can't break up as well. I'm not settling for solo heroics—it's the only choice we have left.' Without sparing Zi Yao a glance, Guang Fanghu replied in a mental message. Here, Zi Yao realized that, by trying to send Dong Ling to the Imperial Wind Academy, she'd dealt Guang Fanghu such a blow that, no amount of love could erase the scars in his heart and mend the rift that had now grown as large as the great wall separating Dongli and Anyue.
'Suit yourself!' Zi Yao couldn't understand why Chun Xu and Dong Ling fled the sect. Why they all refused the opportunities she so gladly put at their feet. Even if the girls couldn't understand her considerations, how could Guang Fanghu blame her for trying to send them to the number one institution of the Eastern Continent?
Where there dangers? Absolutely!
But without dangers, what could one obtain?!
It wasn't her fault that they persisted in error, and she refused to take the blame for their desertion!
"Close-quarter combat? With me? Are you sure about this one? Oh, perhaps I've been waving the victory flag for so long that it has made you confused on what to worry about. Let's fix that asap." Xinzi's voice echoed from the fabric cocoon. The flag returned to its normal three-meters size, and from behind the mask, Xinzi smiled at Guang Fanghu.
The dancing blades shot at our monk. His Blood Energy rolled out, slowing them down just enough for Xinzi to evade as he pleased. His head tilted left and right, letting two swords fly by before Guang Fanghu dropped on him with a wide cleave.
Xinzi bent back, letting the sword swing brush past his mask while his right foot rose for a direct kick. This move convinced Guang Fanghu that Xinzi would rather not meet his blows head on. The Yang Patriarch pivoted to the left, and while still mid-air, swung at Xinzi's neck.
His lips curled into a fiendish grin. An explosion of Evil Qi rolled out of his peacock-feathered robe, slamming Guang Fanghu in the face.
The sword connected with Xinzi's neck, but failed to leave the slightest mark on the exposed flesh.
"Gotcha!" Guang Fanghu let go of his sword, desperately trying to escape Xinzi's range. But the pressure of Blood Energy and Evil Qi brought his speed and instincts to instant collapse. The Heaven-Trampling Dao Bones copy paired with the Blood Energy and Evil Qi as Xinzi's right fist flew out for a direct and unrestrained punch.
"UGH!" In one sonic boom, the fist slammed into Guang Fanghu's abdomen, his bones ruptured, his internal organs spiraled out of control, his eyes tried to pop out of their sockets, and his tongue flopped out.
Xinzi grabbed him by the neck, hoisting him up for all to see. Thus, as grandiosely as Guang Fanghu had appeared, he fell—without the slightest means to fight back. "Don't worry though, I won't make things difficult for you. After all, you clearly contributed to Chun Xu's plans. Good father-in-law, I like you more already," Xinzi whispered in Guang Fanghu's ears, but having passed out from this one-punch execution, the Yang Patriarch couldn't hear him.
"Dong Wei..." Though Zi Yao didn't expect a miracle, she still couldn't predict that Guang Fanghu would fall in just one blow. Clearly, though not as irresistible as that flag, the Bloodstone Patriarch's fleshly body was so tyrannical that, under Divine Transformation, no one should dream of trading blows with him!
More importantly, he cultivated Evil Qi! This wasn't a heretical cultivator, but a flat-out demonic practitioner! 'Hateful! How did the White Immortal Sect attract this scourge? Centuries of planning! Centuries! Will it all have to go up in flames here?!'
As Zi Yao's chest teemed with rage, two beams of light shot out of the White Immortal Sect's largest Spiritual Cave, stopping before the Yin Matriarch. Lord Hanxing and the Ziyun Puppet made their entrance, but while the former's face had twisted into an ugly grimace, the latter maintained calm, beauty and elegance.
"Fellow Daoist, we have neither grievances nor enmity! Why do you refuse to give my White Immortal Sect a way out?! Abbot Qingxin of the Clear Heart Monastery is both my longtime time friend and a man that even the Yanzhou Hegemon must bow to. If you keep pressing us, Qingxin will not spare you!" Lord Hanxing said, hoping that Xinzi's knowledge stretched far enough that he could use Qingxin's hidden might to deter him.
Alas...
"Grievances? Enmity? If I say that we have grievances, then we have grievances. If I say that we don't, and still want to fuck you up, then fuck you up I will. So Lord Hanxing, you just have to accept that today, I will bend you over like the bitch you're so hell-bent on being, and rob you...of all that you've ever desired.
I know! I know! It's not easy to accept. But I will help you. After all, that's why I came.
As for Qingxin, hahaha! Abbot Qingxin didn't rescue Lady Ziyun from your evil plots, and you think he will rescue you from me? Laughable. Abbot Qingxin will only break his vows and intervene in the struggles of the cultivation world for one person, and that person...will never be you," Xinzi said in a casual and relaxed tone, making Hanxing's jaw drop, and his hands tremble uncontrollably.
