Chapter 826: Liu Ruyan's Wrath and the Old Master's Disdain
'Brother Shen, I'm sorry...'
Hearing the question from his master, Xiao Qingtian, Xiao Fan let out a silent, heavy sigh.
"Master," he began, his voice hesitant, "that man is Shen Anyu, the young master of Yanxia's Shen Clan. He… he saved my life not long ago. How about we… let him go this once?"
The ancestors of the Shen Clan hailed from the Heavenly Emperor Palace. And it was the Heavenly Emperor Palace that had annihilated the Yunhai Sect, the very sect to which Xiao Qingtian had belonged. As a remnant of that fallen power, Xiao Qingtian harbored a bottomless well of hatred for the Palace. For years, his singular obsession had been to exterminate the Shen Clan, to wipe their bloodline from the face of the Secular World and finally sate his thirst for vengeance.
The entire purpose of Xiao Qingtian emerging from his seclusion was to fulfill this oath.
Enemies truly do walk a narrow path. Xiao Fan's gaze towards Shen Anyu was filled with a deep, almost mournful pity.
Even for the esteemed young master of Yanxia's Shen Clan, encountering a true cultivator like his master meant certain death.
Though he had only just stepped into the first layer of Qi Condensation, Xiao Fan—already a Heavenly Human in the martial path—was utterly humbled by the deep and boundless power of the Immortal Dao. It was a world apart from the martial arts he had once revered.
And Xiao Qingtian was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, an existence that even a Land Immortal of the martial world could never hope to challenge.
In Xiao Fan's eyes, his master was an invincible force in the Secular World. The Shen Clan, for all its power and influence, was nothing before him. What hope did a single young master like Shen Anyu have?
"Nonsense!" The words had barely left Xiao Fan's mouth when Xiao Qingtian's voice cracked like a whip. "If you don't pull a weed out by its roots, it will simply grow back in the spring! If we don't eliminate every last member of the Shen Clan, are you suggesting we wait for them to run crying to the Heavenly Emperor Palace for aid? Compared to the Palace, you and I are less than ants! If we are not ruthlessly thorough, how can we ever hope to achieve our revenge?"
Seeing the troubled conflict on Xiao Fan's face, Xiao Qingtian's expression softened, but only by a fraction. "This Shen Anyu saved your life, you say? Very well. We shall leave him a complete corpse. There will be no need to chop him to pieces and feed him to the dogs, unlike the rest of his family. How does that sound?"
"I will obey Master's command," Xiao Fan replied, cupping his hands in a gesture of submission. He thought with a pang of guilt, 'Brother Shen, leaving you in one piece is the very least I can do for you.'
"Xiao Fan, have you and this old fossil lost your minds?" Liu Ruyan's voice, sharp and laced with fury, cut through the air. Hearing them openly discuss the murder of her man, her entire demeanor turned hostile.
"Audacious!" Xiao Qingtian's face went dark. How dare a mere mortal speak with such insolence in the presence of a cultivator?
"Master, please show mercy!" Seeing Xiao Qingtian's killing intent flare, Xiao Fan's expression twisted in alarm, and he quickly moved to intervene. He had once pursued both Liu Ruyan and An Zhiyue; how could he bear to watch his master strike them down?
"You have feelings for this woman?" Xiao Qingtian's brow furrowed slightly as his gaze swept over Liu Ruyan.
He had to admit, she was an absolute stunner, her charm bewitching. Even he, a cultivator who had long since refined his primordial yang and held little interest in women, felt a faint stir. The other two, Murong Jieyu and Zhong Lingyin, were also rare beauties.
"I... do like her a little," Xiao Fan admitted, a helpless tone in his voice.
"Fine, then. They do not carry the blood of the Heavenly Emperor Palace, so their lives can be spared," Xiao Qingtian declared, stroking his beard as if he were bestowing a grand favor. He paid no mind to the opinions of Liu Ruyan, Zhong Lingyin, or Murong Jieyu. "Since you like them, Fan'er, you shall marry them all."
"Xiao Fan, I never knew you were this kind of person! You're utterly disgusting!" Liu Ruyan was so incensed her delicate face flushed a deep crimson, her charming eyes now glaring like daggers.
They had been colleagues in the Special Department. Though she had never accepted his advances, she hadn't held a particularly bad impression of him. But to think he was such a lecherous, ungrateful beast!
Back at the Xihe Shopping Mall in Hangzhou, she and Shen Anyu had saved his life from Yao Qi. And now? Now he was leading his master here to murder Shen Anyu and steal her away?
"Ruyan, I'm doing this to save you! You don't want to die, do you?" Xiao Fan's expression was one of pained helplessness. His gaze drifted over the captivating faces of Liu Ruyan, Zhong Lingyin, and Murong Jieyu, and his heart began to pound.
To take these three stunning women into his arms... even a god would envy such a life.
'No, no, that's not it,'he quickly corrected himself.'I, Xiao Fan, am not a lustful man. I'm doing this to save their lives! If I don't, Master will surely kill them!' The guilt on his face lessened, replaced by a mask of self-righteousness.
He was saving lives, not satisfying his desires.
"Disgusting!"
Liu Ruyan laughed, a sound devoid of humor and full of rage. All thoughts of their past as colleagues vanished. She attacked.
A crimson battle aura, the signature of the Martial God Art, erupted around her body. In an instant, the charming vixen was gone, replaced by a peerless war goddess ready to conquer all before her. In her hand, a Purple Lightning Sword—a gift from Shen Anyu—throbbed with violet arcs of electricity. It crackled like divine retribution as she brought it down upon Xiao Fan and Xiao Qingtian.
"Ruyan, don't be impulsive!"
Xiao Fan's face fell. He moved to intercept the blow, terrified that her rashness would provoke his master into killing her on the spot.
He knew Xiao Qingtian's temperament. The old man saw himself as a superior being, a cultivator who looked down on mortals as ants. To be attacked by a mere mortal... he would show no mercy.
But in the next moment, before he could even properly defend, Xiao Fan was sent flying. The force of Liu Ruyan's strike was utterly irresistible. He sailed back dozens of meters, crashing through a line of seven or eight large trees before his momentum was finally spent.
"You...?!"
Xiao Fan clutched his chest, a blackened scorch mark seared into his clothes. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His pupils were wide with disbelief as he stared at the war goddess Liu Ruyan had become.
He had never taken her seriously. Back in the Special Department, his strength had far surpassed hers, and he was even a notch above An Zhiyue.
After his retirement, he had advanced even further, breaking through to become a Heavenly Human.
Now, he was even cultivating the Immortal Dao. Though his progress was still shallow, his strength had increased exponentially. He was confident that few, if any, among the Heavenly Human realm could stand against him.
And yet, Liu Ruyan, who had only just entered the Heavenly Human realm herself, had just grievously wounded him with a single strike?
[Ding! The Child of Destiny, Xiao Fan, has been defeated and severely wounded by the Host's woman, Liu Ruyan. His worldview has been shattered, and he is now questioning his own existence. Plundering +99,999 Destiny Value!]
...
"The Martial God Art?" Xiao Qingtian's brow furrowed. He recognized the cultivation technique she was using. It was a legendary method in the Xuanhuang Cultivation World, famous for allowing one to attain the Dao through martial prowess.
Although the Martial God Art's upper limit was only the Foundation Establishment realm, its unique path made it quite well-known. After all, the path of a cultivator had extremely high demands for aptitude and resources, making it nearly impossible for ordinary people to even begin.
"That's right. It's the Martial God Art," Liu Ruyan affirmed. After sending Xiao Fan flying, her first instinct was to press the attack. But she felt a terrifying pressure suddenly erupt from Xiao Qingtian and immediately halted, her eyes fixed warily on the old man.
"Heh heh... it's just a martial technique. What does that amount to?" Xiao Qingtian sneered, his voice dripping with dismissal.
The Martial God Art might be exquisite, but its ceiling was pathetically low.
The Yunhai Sect, his former home, had been powerful enough to contend with the Heavenly Emperor Palace, one of the top three major sects in the Xuanhuang Cultivation World. Though it was a doomed struggle, they were still considered a major power, possessing several divine arts and deep methods that could lead one all the way to the Nascent Soul realm.
He simply couldn't be bothered to care about a mere Heavenly Human who had reached the Dao through martial arts.
"Overestimating yourselves."
Seeing Liu Ruyan, Zhong Lingyin, and Murong Jieyu still poised to resist, Xiao Qingtian's expression was one of pure disdain. He casually raised a hand.
A colossal white palm, dozens of meters wide, materialized in the sky above. It descended slowly, pressing down towards the three women with an inexorable, crushing weight, intent on suppressing them completely.
Just as the palm blotted out the sky, a clear, leisurely voice echoed through the clearing.
"Old geezer, did you ask for my permission before trying to lay a hand on my women?"
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