In a single breath, every air blade was swept away.
Countless fine threads of sword energy remained suspended in the arena, whistling and circling in response to Yun Lie’s will, incomparably sharp.
Even now, Yun Lie had not taken the initiative to attack. He had merely defended himself.
Yet defense alone had already caused Dragon Fist Zhong Sheng’s two strongest techniques to fail, one after the other!
Seeing Yun Lie effortlessly dissolve his favorite attacks, Zhong Sheng grew furious. “Well done, Yun Lie! Well done indeed, Steward of Discipline!”
He bent his arm into an extraordinarily twisted posture and roared, “Earth Dragon Sweeps Its Tail!”
In the next instant, his shoulder drove his elbow forward, forming something that seemed filled with overwhelming power. Looking carefully, it was the shape of a dragon’s tail, vibrating and lashing along with his arm!
Then Zhong Sheng violently twisted his waist. Crack!
Like the snap of a long whip, the dragon tail lashed forward. Its movement carried a tremendous crushing pressure, as if even the surrounding air would be squeezed apart and shattered by the blow.
The watching disciples were forced to retreat several more zhang, every one of them shocked.
“If that strike landed on me, I feel it would break my true essence apart and ruin my cultivation foundation!”
“I’ve seen other Golden Core perfected masters, but their techniques seem just a fraction weaker than Dragon Fist Zhong Sheng’s.”
“And that tiny difference makes his power completely unlike theirs!”
“Steward Yun is in danger this time!”
Indeed, the dragon tail swung through the air, stretching more than ten zhang. It struck with such speed that anyone touched by it would not merely have their dantian shattered. Even their body would be broken in two.
This was already a killing move!
Driven by Yun Lie’s cold indifference, Dragon Fist Zhong Sheng had developed killing intent.
At that moment, his killing intent fused with his anger, making the ‘Earth Dragon Sweeps Its Tail’ form even more complete, fiercer than whenever he had used it before.
Once unleashed, the dragon tail seemed to leave Zhong Sheng’s control. He was staking everything on crippling Yun Lie with this strike. Nor was he particularly worried about the consequences. Yun Lie, after all, was a core disciple favored by the sect master; an attack like this might not necessarily cost him his life.
Besides, Zhong Sheng had the ancestor behind him. Compared with a Golden Core perfected master who had been defeated, or even killed, Zhong Sheng was a genius core disciple whose prospects were still rising. Surely the sect master would know which mattered more. At worst, he would receive a token punishment.
Convinced of this, Zhong Sheng’s face twisted into a vicious smile.
Even he could not completely control this form, and its power was tremendous. It would surely give him the outcome he wanted.
But his smile froze in the next instant.
Yun Lie spread the five fingers of his hand. Every finger resembled a perfectly sharp, freezing sword.
He made a slight movement, so subtle no one could see how it was done. His fingers seemed to form a prison of swords, opening wide to meet the dragon tail surging toward him.
Then they closed firmly.
The watching disciples witnessed an astonishing scene.
The savage dragon tail swung down, only to be seized tightly between five fingers by the black-clad Steward of Discipline. No matter how violently it writhed, it could not break free.
The tail continued thrashing, as though a phantom dragon head ahead of it were trying to turn and devour the person who dared offend its draconic might!
But in the next instant, the five fingers tightened.
There seemed to be a soundless explosion. As though frozen by five streams of icy sword energy, the dragon tail was crushed to fragments between Yun Lie’s fingers!
The tail shattered, and Zhong Sheng immediately suffered backlash. He staggered backward several steps.
The blow only fed his fury. Eyes reddening, he screamed, “You destroyed my dragon tail! Then take my final move! Earth Dragon Extends Its Claws!”
The Earthly Fiend Earth Dragon Fist was extraordinarily powerful, and for that reason, it was extremely difficult to control.
Despite practicing it for years, Zhong Sheng had only just mastered the first three forms. He could also perform the fourth, but it consumed vast amounts of energy and injured him in the process.
For years, his path had been smooth, and he had rarely suffered humiliation. Now his dignity had been battered repeatedly. His face burned crimson. Pride and arrogance became fuel for his strength, nearly driving him mad.
Without another thought, he formed both hands into claws and raked them forward in a rapid succession of strikes!
At last, Yun Lie deigned to move his feet.
His body blurred into a black streak. Like a meteor, he appeared directly before Zhong Sheng in an instant!
At that moment, Zhong Sheng had only just formed the claw-shaped force of his attack. Yun Lie, however, seemed to become a long sword himself, advancing with irresistible momentum.
As he approached, Yun Lie reached out and crushed the phantom claws. His body scarcely slowed, and with his other hand he seized Zhong Sheng directly by the throat!
Zhong Sheng felt the enormous, violent force he had struggled to gather dissolve as though it were nothing. Then an overwhelming grip suddenly locked around his neck, completely immobilizing him.
All the power in his body vanished at once. His legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees.
Before the terrifying force of Zhong Sheng’s technique could fully form, the spectators saw only a blur. Then they witnessed him pinned by Yun Lie, bent low in a posture of submission, his face full of unwillingness and rage.
“Slaughter Sword Yun Lie… so strong!”
“Perfected Master Zhong was so domineering a moment ago, yet he’s been subdued so easily!”
“Steward Yun has offended the Patriarch Ultimate Bliss by treating Perfected Master Zhong this way!”
“But the law is on his side. Surely even the ancestor can do little against him!”
As they spoke, Yun Lie reached out with his free hand and made a grasping motion.
The Black Dragon Token that had bound Li Cai and his two companions split off another dragon form. At Yun Lie’s command, it bound Zhong Sheng as well.
The Black Dragon Token wielded by Stewards of Discipline contained extremely sophisticated array formations. Anyone below the Nascent Soul stage who was captured by a Steward of Discipline could not escape its power!
Li Cai, already a captive, had regarded his second senior brother almost as a god. Seeing him taken down so easily left Li Cai as pale as death. Now he looked at Yun Lie as though at a god of slaughter, overwhelmed by terror. He did not dare utter another reckless word.
The entire battle had ended within half a quarter-hour. All the disciples now understood that no matter how famous Dragon Fist Zhong Sheng had become, he was no match for Yun Lie even for a few exchanges!
Among Golden Core cultivators, very few could rival Yun Lie’s power!
Xu Ziqing had been worried before, but the moment Yun Lie began fighting, his worries fell away.
His senior brother had always been cold and steady, like an ancient boulder that could neither be shifted nor destroyed. Now that he had acted, his imposing presence far surpassed that of his challenger. Xu Ziqing only had to admire his skill rather than worry excessively.
Sure enough, whatever techniques Zhong Sheng used, Yun Lie countered them one by one. Without seeming to expend any effort, he had captured the man outright!
Moreover, Xu Ziqing had witnessed one of Yun Lie’s new moves this time. A casual grasp could wield such astonishing power! His admiration deepened. He could well imagine that, when his senior brother reached Nascent Soul and still higher realms, he would leave even cultivators of the same level far behind!
Xu Ziqing himself had achieved a breakthrough today, making some progress in Spring Rain swordsmanship. He ought to have been delighted. But the gap between him and his senior brother transformed his small pleasure into powerful motivation. He felt he must work even harder at cultivation.
Yun Lie had captured four people from Ultimate Bliss Peak. Fearsome black dragons coiled around their bodies, leaving them unable to exert the slightest strength. All they could do was glare at Yun Lie and curse him silently.
Yun Lie gathered the tails of all four black dragons in one hand and dragged the prisoners to an open space off to the side, leaving the center of the gathering area free for the disciples who remained.
Su Xin came over from a distance. He first looked at Yun Lie with profound caution, then said to Xu Ziqing, “Brother Ziqing, I truly owe you thanks for helping me earlier.”
Xu Ziqing shook his head slightly. “Even if I hadn’t intervened, Senior Brother Yun would have upheld sect regulations.”
Su Xin smiled without pressing the point. After a pause, he asked softly, “Brother Ziqing, you warned me not to enter Ultimate Bliss Peak earlier. Is there something wrong with that peak?”
Xu Ziqing lowered his voice as well. “I had some disagreements with Li Cai a few days ago, and his poor conduct left me with no favorable impression of him. When I mentioned the incident to Senior Brother Yun, he also cautioned me to stay away from that peak. I thought there must be something deeply wrong there, so I warned you all to be careful.”
Learning that the Steward of Discipline himself had cautioned Xu Ziqing made Su Xin even more wary. After hesitating, he asked, “Li Cai kept insisting I join Ultimate Bliss Peak. I suspect there’s more to it than he claimed. Do you know why he was so determined?”
Su Xin had guessed that they wanted him as a cultivation cauldron, but he could not be certain. He wanted to discover the truth so he could protect himself.
Xu Ziqing frowned slightly. “I don’t know, but I’ll ask Senior Brother Yun.”
Delighted that Xu Ziqing was willing to consult the Steward of Discipline, Su Xin thanked him earnestly.
Xu Ziqing walked over to Yun Lie and looked up. “Senior Brother Yun, do you know why Ultimate Bliss Peak was determined to take Su Xin away?”
Yun Lie thought briefly. “The Patriarch Ultimate Bliss’s eldest disciple is refining a cultivation technique. Several decades ago, he reached a crucial bottleneck. To advance, he requires a cultivator with a single Fire spiritual root at the Core Transformation stage or higher to serve as his cultivation cauldron.”
Xu Ziqing was shocked.
So Li Cai wanted to offer Su Xin to the Patriarch Ultimate Bliss, have him cultivated to the Core Transformation stage, and then hand him over to that eldest disciple to drain his essence?
How was that any different from the methods of wicked demonic cultivators?
He frowned deeply at the thought.
Seeing that Yun Lie already understood what he was thinking, the senior brother said, “If the Patriarch Ultimate Bliss takes Su Xin as a disciple and instructs him afterward, it does not violate the sect regulations. It would be difficult to punish.”
Xu Ziqing knew very well that even the most perfect rules and laws always had loopholes. Besides, cultivators with single spiritual roots were not especially rare in such a great sect; several might appear every hundred years or so. The sect would hardly challenge a Nascent Soul ancestor over one of them. If Su Xin persevered in cultivating, his temperament could carry him far. Unfortunately, he was still too weak to protect himself.
Thinking it over again and again without finding an answer, Xu Ziqing sighed. “If that’s the case, the only way Su Xin can protect himself may be to leave the sect of his own accord.”
Su Xin had reached the same painful conclusion.
But neither man could accept easily abandoning a great sect they had overcome so many hardships to enter.
Yun Lie saw through Xu Ziqing’s thoughts. “More than twenty years ago, another disciple with a single Fire spiritual root entered the sect and distinguished himself before accepting a master. The Patriarch Ultimate Bliss tried to bring him into Ultimate Bliss Peak, but the Divine Fire Ancestor, who also wanted the talent, intervened. His strength is not inferior to the Patriarch Ultimate Bliss’s, and his temperament is fiery and upright. If Su Xin can become a disciple of the Divine Fire Ancestor, he should escape this calamity.”
Xu Ziqing’s eyes lit up. “Thank you for the guidance, Senior Brother! I’ll go tell Su Xin at once!”
He immediately conveyed the advice. Su Xin did not wish to leave the sect, and the path Yun Lie had pointed out was exactly the escape he longed for!
At last there was a possible solution. Xu Ziqing returned to Yun Lie’s side, helping watch the four prisoners while awaiting the completion of his senior brother’s assignment.
As for the people from Ultimate Bliss Peak, they felt unbearably humiliated. Under everyone’s sideways glances, they finally endured until the proceedings ended.
Yun Lie gathered up the four prisoners. He and Xu Ziqing mounted the puppet black vulture and flew toward the inner sect.