The elder from the Regulations Department was in Spirit Stage tier eight, and he’d belonged to Shanhe Valley before becoming an elder. He’d been a pupil under Xiao Shanhe, and although the Qing-Yun Sect was small, this didn’t keep it from having internal conflicts and power struggles. Many elders and department heads had received help from the Xiao family in the past and so followed Xiao Shanhe’s orders. If Sect Master Chen Xuanhua’s cultivation level wasn’t in the later tiers of Foundation Stage—and higher than Xiao Shanhe’s—it was quite possible the position of “sect master” would not have been his.

　　Although Chen Xuanhua knew Xiao Shanhe would be unable to shake him from his position as long as his cultivation level and battle prowess were greater, he still intentionally tried to restrain Xiao Shanhe’s growing influence. This was why he’d intentionally lifted up the status of Danxia Valley, as well as why he’d purposefully protected Fang Xing after the recent mission to Mount Desolation.

　　As for why Chen Xuanhua had sent Fang Xing into confinement within the Valley of Hidden Dragon, the first reason was because Xiao Shanhe had suggested a heavy punishment for Fang Xing, and—as the sect master—he was not able to reject this completely; confining Fang Xing was a means to make the outcome less awkward for both of them. The second reason was because of the influence this uncle-nephew pair commanded within the sect; Chen Xuanhua knew it wouldn’t be difficult for them to get rid of someone as insignificant as Fang Xing, and so he’d used this method to protect the boy.

　　However, perhaps not even Chen Xuanhua had expected Fang Xing to not only sneak out, but to put himself right where everyone could see him. Having such a high-profile fight with a disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute on top of it, this was directly giving the Xiao family a chance to get rid of him for good.

　　This elder knew about the grudge between Fang Xing and Shanhe Valley. Now that this elder from the Regulations Department had snatched such a great opportunity, how could he let it go? By the time he’d brought Fang Xing and Yu Jie to the Regulations Hall, he’d already come up with a plan.

　　The elder’s plan was to first capture Fang Xing, then to humiliate him until the little bastard was so angry as to start attacking first. From there, it would only be natural and reasonable for the elder to respond by seizing him. It would be even better if there was a chance to cripple Fang Xing during the process, of course, but even if there wasn’t, he would still make sure to pin the crime of disrupting order and offending the special visitor on the boy. With this, the exception Fang Xing had been given to be promoted into a core disciple would likely be voided.

　　The elder had been so assured of his plan because of his firm belief in his battle prowess. Although he hadn’t fought anyone in quite a long while, his cultivation level was still solid and obvious. Furthermore, he knew Yu Jie’s battle prowess very well, and he’d started to view Fang Xing as insignificant after seeing the earlier fight stall into a tie.

　　The plan had originally seemed well thought out, logical, and flawless, but there were two little unexpected points. The first, he hadn’t expected Fang Xing to become angry and aggressive so soon….

　　The second, this little turtle-egg bastard was so strong!

　　Even if Fang Xing had intentionally drawn close before trying to slap him, the elder shouldn’t have been unable to respond in time. However, Fang Xing had simply been too fast, and the slap was so sudden he hadn’t even had time to summon a protective shield.

　　“Bastard! How dare you offend your superior! Today is the day you die!” Embarrassed and angry, the elder instantly flew into a furious rage and sent a slap Fang Xing’s way. An elder of the Regulations Department had been slapped by a sect pupil; if this news were to travel, the elder’s reputation would reach rock bottom.

　　“Shishu Feng, I shall help you suppress this animal!” Yu Jie from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute loudly exclaimed while brandishing his sword towards Fang Xing. Old and young, elder and Heaven’s Tribute disciple, the pair put their pride aside and prepared to attack Fang Xing as one.

　　“F*ck both of your uncles, you really think I’m an easy target?”

　　Considering how Fang Xing’s temper was so bad it would explode with just a single flicker of flame, how would he be able to restrain himself when confronted like this? With a loud howl, his body moved towards them as fast as lightning, and he made a quick move to the left to first target the Heaven’s Tribute disciple, Yu Jie.

　　Fang Xing’s hand was shaped like a claw, and the abundance of force washed over Yu Jie and suppressed all of his techniques, while Yu Jie himself felt as though the boy’s battle prowess had suddenly and unexplainably increased by more than threefold.

　　In truth, although Yu Jie had studied the Qing-Yun Nine Swords, his actual cultivation level was only at tier six. Fang Xing had studied all of Yu Jie’s techniques earlier and had brought about a stalemate while using only a third of his actual power and no real patterns of attack. Now that Fang Xing was using all of his strength, his seventh-tier cultivation made it like snapping a dead branch in half.

　　Fang Xing had already grabbed on to Yu Jie’s sleeve, and the latter was drawn up with a quick lift before being slammed onto the ground. The impact was so powerful that a hole formed, and Yu Jie could only release a muffled howl as a countless number of bones were broken. Fang Xing then delivered a kick that sent him flying right out of the Regulations Hall like a broken sack.

　　After something like this, even if Yu Jie didn’t die, he was likely crippled.

　　As for that regulations elder, he managed to get behind Fang Xing with his palm outstretched to land a blow.

　　Fang Xing turned, and murderous intent began to cover the entire area as he sent out a single sweep of his blade. “Kneel in front of your grandpa!”

　　Even before the blade had arrived, the elder was already feeling a sense of trepidation and great surprise that destabilized his Qi. ‘Isn’t this kid in Spirit Stage tier six? Why….’ A sudden thought flashed through his mind, and all of his movements immediately went from aggressive attacks to passive defense as he activated a shield to try to block Fang Xing’s blade.

　　BAM ….

　　The elder flew back some thirty feet away with both of his hands extended out to the front, and a thin light-blue barrier appeared in front of his body. Although Fang Xing’s strike didn’t land on anything solid and only its light slammed against the barrier, the elder soon felt an unbearable weight pressing down on him. He couldn’t endure the entire weight even with both of his feet pressed against the ground, and he was pushed back another twenty feet while the barrier in front of him dimmed considerably, as though it was going to shatter at any moment.

　　“Late stage of Spirit Stage…” the elder yelled, his face filled with horror and disbelief. Although it was hard to determine the boy’s precise cultivation level, he was however sure of one thing: the boy’s cultivation level was definitely not in the mid stage like the rumors said. The boy was the same as himself—in the late stage.

　　“Did you not hear that I’ve told you to kneel?” Another swing of the blade, and a second strike was soon on its way. With Fang Xing’s extraordinary foundation, a normal eighth-tier elder was not really anyone he would attach any importance to after he’d broken into tier seven.

　　The elder yelled out, “Regulations disciples, where are you? Seize this brat!” He was so experienced and sly he decided he didn’t want to fight Fang Xing head-on any longer.

　　There were plenty of disciples and elders from the Regulations Department who were present and heard the noise. All of their expressions changed when they saw what was happening, and they summoned their Flying Swords and weapons while charging towards Fang Xing with the hopes of seizing the boy first.

　　However, Fang Xing was feeling even angrier than before, and when his giant blade swept through, its wave-like force sliced out in all directions. Alongside two elders, there were also eight disciples who had cultivation levels around tiers five and six; how could they be his opponent? They were immediately tossed in all directions as they howled and cried out. Even half of the Regulations Hall was destroyed with some of the walls collapsing in a disastrous mess.

　　“Old turtle egg of a bastard, come and get killed!” Fang Xing’s temper was now completely let free, as he’d begun to feel a little addicted to this. After a group of the disciples were slammed aside, he went for that elder once more.

　　Being very experienced and sly, the elder had been hiding behind everyone and didn’t fight Fang Xing head-on. Seeing how Fang Xing had beaten all eight disciples and the seventh-tier elder without any effort at all, he immediately knew he himself was no opponent for the boy’s battle prowess either. When he saw the boy angrily chasing after him with distinct murderous intent, the elder let out a loud cry before turning to flee. The elder didn’t merely flee, either, but also summoned his Flying Sword. He didn’t worry about Qi consumption and directly used his Flying Sword to try to escape.

　　“Running away?” Fang Xing was furious as he chased closer again. “Come back, you. It’s not finished until I cut you a couple of times….”

　　The elder shivered upon hearing this. Only an idiot would go back to allow the boy to cut them! The smartest choice was to escape first, and he’d just have to make sure to report this in detail once it was over.

　　The elder was also feeling rather bitter. Fang Xing’s impending promotion to a core disciple was a result of his huge contributions to the mission at Mount Desolation. He’d been promoted by the sect master as an exception and so it didn’t seem genuine, yet today the boy had somehow reached the late stage of Spirit Stage. Based on sect rules, even if Fang Xing hadn’t had such high contributions at Mount Desolation, he actually did qualify to become a core disciple; it seemed that even if he wanted to stop the boy from becoming a core disciple, it would no longer be possible. However, now that the grudge had already been set, the elder decided he may as well continue annoying the boy….

　　As the elder disorderly thought of such things, he turned to find that Fang Xing had jumped onto the back of the golden crow and was waving the giant saber in his direction. This frightened the elder so much that he nearly fell from his Flying Sword, and he hastily changed his direction towards a nearby pavilion. The elder knew he couldn’t get away from the golden crow, so the only thing he could do to live was to find someone who could save him. The pavilion ahead was the hall where the important visitor was having a banquet, and only if he fled to such a place would he survive this.

　　Fang Xing didn’t care about any of this and simply gave chase, sending out strike after strike. The elder did have some skills and managed to evade all of these strikes, but it had left him battered and exhausted. By the time he’d made it to the front of the pavilion, he looked rather similar to a beggar.

　　And this scene was precisely what everyone from the pavilion saw now.

　　Sect Master Chen Xuanhua was naturally very upset by this and wanted to stop them himself in order to seize them both, while Xiao Shanhe had also realized how serious this matter was and intended to borrow this opportunity to push Fang Xing over the edge. However, neither of these two expected Xuan Si’nyang—the very important visitor from the Fuyao Palace—to come out as well. Furthermore, she was extremely excited to see this, far more than she’d been inside the pavilion watching the performances put on by the disciples.

　　In that moment, both the sect master and the elders were astounded and could no longer decide whether or not to stop Fang Xing and the elder.

　　Fuyao Palace’s Xuan Si’nyang let out a clear laugh, her eyes glistening as she focused on the fight. “Hehe, Sect Master, you prepared the best for last? Only real swords and real fights are interesting; it’s so much better than that sword dance from before!”

　　Sect Master Chen Xuanhua was left speechless. He hadn’t exactly planned for any of this whatsoever, but seeing that his guest expressed so much interest and joy, was this not what he had originally wanted anyway? He didn’t deny her question and showed an awkward smile. “In fact, I have also prepared an inner court tournament for Your Highness, in hopes of having your presence. Of course, this would depend upon the availability of Your Highness….”

　　Xuan Si’nyang smiled. “I’m free anytime. How about tomorrow? Since the sect master has already planned for a tournament, I will definitely have to help out with the rewards. How about this: I still have a Foundation Pellet left, it shall be used as the reward for the winner!”

　　Chen Xuanhua was overjoyed as he bowed. “Th— Thank you, Your Highness…!”

　　Xiao Shanhe stood to the side with a face so dark it was akin to the bottom of a burnt pan. However, he was well-behaved and kept his mouth closed tight. ‘So much for “prepared the best for last”, that brat clearly came here for who knows what reason. First crime, leaving confinement without permission; second crime, disobeying a regulations elder; third crime, disturbing the rest of an important guest. Common sense says committing all three crimes at the same time would put the boy in quite a difficult situation and would even made it possible to get rid of him. This could have been the perfect chance….’

　　However… the kid had enough guts to cover the heavens, and he’d just so happened to have won the fondness of the Fuyao Palace guest. No matter how much Xiao Shanhe wanted to get rid of the boy, how would he dare open his mouth to try to punish the little bastard with things playing out as they were now?