The slap sent Feng Qingwei into a dazed state while also scaring the surrounding Qing-Yun disciples. Feng Qingwei was no ordinary disciple; she was the leader of Shanhe Valley and one of the Shanhe chief elder’s favorites, and her cultivation level was also not to be taken lightly. Yet Fang Xing slapped flying even someone like this?

　　How dare he hit her?

　　How could he hit her so freely?

　　Everyone felt surprise from such an unbelievable sight.

　　At the same time, a loud voice abruptly rose up. “How dare you harm someone in front of me!”

　　The voice belonged to none other than Xiao Jianming not far away. He knew that if he’d requested it, Fang Xing would not give back the storage sacks so easily, and he couldn’t directly force the issue with Xu Linyun on Fang Xing’s side, either. For this reason, he hadn’t personally approached Fang Xing and had Feng Qingwei speak instead. He hadn’t expected Fang Xing to become physical towards her, however, and this was no longer something he could just sit and watch.

　　Despite Feng Qingwei sometimes acting in a frustrating manner, she was still one of the most loyal women towards him. If he were to overlook her being hit, the name “Xiao Jianming” would no longer carry as much weight within the Qing-Yun Sect.

　　Swoosh ….

　　As his iron sword flew into the air and shot its light in all directions, Xiao Jianming took a three-hundred-foot leap and aimed his blade towards Fang Xing. The move was so abrupt that not even Xu Linyun had time to stop him. “Kneel, little mutt!” he loudly commanded and brought the flat of the iron sword down towards Fang Xing’s head.

　　Although the iron sword was thin, the swing contained such terrifying power that it was like a mountain as it bore down.

　　“Kneel your uncle!” Fang Xing yelled out coldly in response, his attention shifting quickly as the [Saber of Azure Dragon] appeared in his hands. Faced with Xiao Jianming’s powerful strike, Fang Xing had chosen to respond in the most straightforward manner he could—return the same. With the force of mountains in both of his arms, he struck out towards Xiao Jianming’s blow.

　　BAM ….

　　When the sword and saber collided in the air, they stilled and became unmoving.

　　This left Xiao Jianming extremely surprised. He had used seventy percent of his full power in this strike. Before, only thirty percent of his power had required all of Fang Xing’s effort just to escape unscathed, and this time he’d decided to use just enough power to heavily injure or cripple the boy. Seventy percent of his power was supposed to be restrained just enough to avoid a killing blow.

　　Xiao Jianming tried to deal such a severe blow because Fang Xing had exceeded his expectations; Xiao Jianming did not simply dislike Fang Xing now, but felt a keen sense of threat. If he wasn’t worried about an interrogation from the sect master or the threat posed by Bai Qianzhang, he would have probably even tried to kill Fang Xing outright. Yet, betraying his expectations even further, Fang Xing had responded with a head-on attack as well.

　　And the result was actually a stalemate!

　　His sword strike hadn’t done anything to Fang Xing!

　　“You can take one of my strikes? I see you have some skills!” Xiao Jianming’s pupils dilated, and the Qi around him began to extend outwards. He began to activate all one hundred percent of his battle prowess in preparation for another blow.

　　At the same time, Fang Xing yelled out, “F*ck your uncle!” and swung his saber, also sending out another attack. For the first movement, he took a step forward and placed the saber horizontally across his chest, activating the blue Malice of the azure dragon and the golden flame to release the weapon’s full offensive power. For the second, he turned the saber around and dragged it across the ground, utilizing very irregular movements while swinging it towards Xiao Jianming’s lower body. After seeing the initial blows stalemate, Fang Xing had decided to take the initiative with a series of offensive and powerful attacks

　　Xiao Jianming hadn’t expected the boy to actively begin attacking him, and his anger only grew more and more. “You seek death!” With a loud yell, the iron sword within his hand twisted, pulling the air into a whirlwind to repel the blue Malice and the golden flame thirty feet away.

　　Moving the sword two inches lower, Xiao Jianming then pointed its tip directly at the spine of Fang Xing’s saber and aimed at its lower half. Using a small movement that was brilliantly fluid, he put all of the strength into the tip of his sword and—with a deng sound—the [Saber of Azure Dragon] was immediately forced downward until it was lodged three inches deep into the ground. Once these two strikes had been resolved, Xiao Jianming released another violent howl and shifted from defense to offense, forming hundreds of swords in an instant.

　　Xiao Jianming steeled his heart in that moment—he would cripple this kid even if it meant being punished by the sect master. Although dealing with Fang Xing’s two attacks had seemed effortless, that was only how it looked . The boy was clearly in the mid tiers of Spirit Stage, yet he was able to force Xiao Jianming to use all of his power; this boy likely had more potential than he could even imagine. If someone like this were to grow and mature, they would become the single biggest threat to his position within all of the Qing-Yun Sect.

　　He had to cripple the boy, even if it meant receiving the sect master’s punishment. As long as the boy was kept alive, the punishment he received shouldn’t be too harsh, and Bai Qianzhang would not be forced to end his seclusion prematurely. Furthermore, the boy showed enough guts to cover the heavens by actively attacking him; even if Xiao Jianming were use this opportunity to cripple him, he could still just claim it was an accident to get off the hook. After reassuring himself, Xiao Jianming’s next attack was even fiercer and aimed straight towards Fang Xing.

　　It was here that Fang Xing suddenly winked at Xiao Jianming and threw a pellet-looking item into his mouth.

　　Initially surprised, Xiao Jianming believed Fang Xing must have swallowed some sort of combat-enhancing pellet to fight Xiao Jianming with his life on the line. This actually left Xiao Jianming overjoyed, as he was hoping Fang Xing would do this so he had even more of a reason to cripple the boy. However, just as the pressure of his sword reached close to Fang Xing, the boy’s facial expressions suddenly twisted and—with a “pfff”—a blood-colored liquid was spurted directly towards Xiao Jianming’s face.

　　Xiao Jianming creased his brows. It looked as though it could possibly be a trap, and so he quickly swept away all of the liquid without missing a single drop. Fang Xing took the opportunity to put all of his strength into his feet and leap backwards, all while spewing “fresh blood” from his mouth.

　　“Fleeing?” With a single thought, Xiao Jianming commanded his sword to chase after the boy, but it soon quickly froze midair. In that brief period of delay, a white silhouette had rushed over and caught Fang Xing in one arm while the other pointed a sword towards Xiao Jianming. The silhouette was none other than Xu Linyun, and if Xiao Jianming continued to send his Flying Sword forward, he would be taking Xu Linyun as an opponent as well.

　　“Xiao Jianming, do you not feel any shame to bully someone weaker than yourself?” Xu Linyun asked in a serious tone. After seeing Fang Xing so thoroughly shaken as to even throw up blood, she had felt a great deal of urgent worry.

　　Dumbfounded, Xiao Jianming soon began to smell hints of blood; it seemed as though the red liquid Fang Xing had spurted out truly was fresh blood.

　　As for Fang Xing, he had felt himself fall into a gentle softness and subconsciously rubbed his head against Xu Linyun. It was only when he heard Xu Linyun’s rebuke towards Xiao Jianming that he remembered his plan, causing him to immediately change his expression to appear upset and jump back to his feet. “Xiao Jianming your uncle, you’re pushing it all too far! Shijie Linyun, let’s fix him up together!” he yelled out while waving his saber at Xiao Jianming.

　　When Xu Linyun saw Fang Xing still wanted to fight, she hastily moved to stop him. “Hurry and calm your Qi, don’t let it harm your organs!”

　　Fang Xing wiped the blood from his mouth. “No worries, let’s fix him up first!”

　　“This is no time for fighting, you go rest and calm your Qi. He wouldn’t dare to hurt you while I’m here!” Once she had finished speaking to Fang Xing, Xu Linyun turned to Xiao Jianming. “Shidi Fang used his superior wit to drive away the enemies, and it can even be said that everyone here was saved by him. For him to not be injured by strong enemies, but rather by his own shixiong, do you not think it’s a bit too much?”

　　Although Xiao Jianming felt indignation in his heart, with a quick sweep of his attention across the Qing-Yun disciples, he could see a few gazes of displeasure thrown his way. The respect that had typically been in those disciples’ eyes was gone now, replaced by some disbelief and even anger. Xu Linyun’s words were clearly mirrored in the minds of some of these disciples, causing his heart to sink. ‘Dammit, this sword strike has greatly damaged my reputation!’ His face grew pale, and he completely gave up on the idea of making another attack.

　　What was not obvious was that Fang Xing was actually hoping for Xiao Jianming to continue his attacks. When he saw Xiao Jianming put away his iron sword, Fang Xing felt a huge sense of disappointment. ‘Damn, just wasted a Blood Pellet…. My whole mouth is filled with this horrible taste!’

　　“If he hadn’t attacked Shimei Feng, I would not have hurt him in response!” Xiao Jianming coldly reasoned. Since this was connected to his reputation, he had to justify himself to a degree.

　　“Attack your uncle, if you’re so good, why don’t you attack me again…?” Fang Xing was jumping around and cursing to the point Xu Linyun had to use physical force just to hold him down.

　　Xiao Jianming’s face chilled, veins appearing clearly on his forehead and beginning to pulse. The grip on his iron sword once again began to tighten. Fang Xing was overjoyed at the sight and quickly yelled out again, “Shijie Linyun, see? He’s still not convinced! Let’s fix him up real good together!”

　　This left Xu Linyun completely speechless. Just as she was about to criticize Fang Xing, the altar suddenly saw a huge change.

　　KABOOM

　　A sudden ear-deafening noise was followed by a thick black smoke rushing up to the altar’s entrance. Once it reached the entrance, all nine chains immediately lit up and began flickering with an eerie shine. Atop the chains, nearly a hundred spells lit up in unison, weaving into strand after strand of powerful and sacred force that pushed upon the entire land below. The black smoke’s ascent was halted and it fell back down, causing the earth within the area to shake.

　　The Qing-Yun disciples were all startled and turned together. At the same time, another loud noise rang out as the black smoke rose up once more, this time with even greater force.

　　BOOM . BOOM . BOOM.

　　The golden spells engraved on the chains shimmered nonstop as the black smoke was forcibly constrained beneath them.

　　“Oh no, something is wrong with the altar! Instill your Qi and stimulate all of its seals!” Xu Linyun—the first to rush towards the altar—loudly yelled in a moment of panic.

　　The other Qing-Yun disciples were equally surprised, but they soon reacted to her command and began using [Levitation] to dash towards the altar. Once they arrived at the entrance, they all placed their palms onto a section of the chains and began to instill Qi into them.

　　Without anybody remaining nearby to assist him, Fang Xing had completely lost interest in the matter. It was then that he felt a sharp stare focusing on him like that of a blade, and when he turned around, he found Xiao Jianming as the source. Fang Xing immediately spat on the ground and said, “What are you looking at? You think I wouldn’t have fixed you up alongside Shijie Linyun?” He held his saber up in a defensive posture as he spoke, all the while making plans to run away at a moment’s notice if things got dangerous.