The embroidered-gown youth twisted his brows into a knot. It went without saying that he’d wanted to vent his anger by killing all of these people once the red-dressed girl was freed, but Fang Xing’s idea had now made it completely impossible for him to do so. He and the other two tier nines made up a bulk of their side’s power, after all; if they were unable to fight, the rest wouldn’t have much of a fighting chance.
Furthermore, Fang Xing wasn’t trying to suppress all of their battle prowess completely and had allowed the Myriad Beasts Sect just enough power to defend themselves if necessary, leaving them very little room to argue against these terms. No matter how reluctant they were, the strongest people would definitely have to take poison pellets.
"Hehe, if you don’t agree, I will be left with no other choice but to ask you to be a guest at our Qing-Yun Sect!" Fang Xing smiled, grabbing ahold of the girl’s hair before kissing her on the cheek with a loud smooching sound.
Despite the embroidered-gown youth’s anger, he remained silent before releasing a long sigh. "Fine! As you please!" The fact his little s.h.i.+mei had fallen into the hands of his opponent meant his life and death was in someone else’s hands. Although the boy might appear young, he was surely someone difficult to deal with, and the youth had no other choice but to accept the boy’s plan.
Seeing this, Xu Linyun immediately commanded the Danxia disciples to start up their cauldrons, while she personally prepared the ingredients and inspected the poison pellets while they were finis.h.i.+ng up. By the time an hour pa.s.sed, five had been completed.
Although they were categorized as "poison pellets", they actually didn’t do anything just from being eaten; the poison would only be released and cause death if the person who’d taken it used Qi within the next three days. Every alchemist was also a master in the usage of poison to some degree, and crafting a pellet like this was not hard for Xu Linyun.
There were some Myriad Beasts disciples who also knew a thing or two about pellets, and after they made a few inspections to ensure these pellets were legitimately what Fang Xing claimed they were, they looked at each other and decided upon the five recipients. As per Fang Xing’s requirements, the three disciples in the ninth tier were picked, while two other disciples from the eighth tier received a pellet as well.
Once the chosen disciples had taken their pellet, they all flew back a thousand feet on their bats, not daring to remain any closer. None of them dared to start a fight right now, and it was now their turn to fear whether or not the Qing-Yun disciples would get any ideas.
Fang Xing watched all of this with a cold gaze, and only once everything had finished without a problem did he show relief. He then lightly tapped the red-dressed girl’s face and laughed, "Off you go, girl. If you don’t hurry and cover that little face of yours with medicine, that X might stay on it for good!" As he spoke, he pushed her away and grinned, not worried at all that she might retaliate.
The girl was still in a state of confusion, and it took her a while to finally realize she’d been released. When she looked down, she saw Xiongnu’s headless corpse and suddenly turned around with sorrow and mourning in her eyes.
"I’m going to kill you!" An astonis.h.i.+ng amount of Qi rushed out from the girl in that moment, and this Qi actually turned into a single-horned Jiaolong dragon. Its body turned and twisted ferociously in the air as it headed straight towards Fang Xing without fear.
The attack caught the Qing-Yun disciples by surprise. The majority of them quickly retreated, while the Duanzhen disciples called out in unison and began to activate a large variety of spirit weapons. Xu Linyun also held her sword as a precaution, but she didn’t actually make any movements—she’d noticed Fang Xing was extremely calm.
Sure enough, once the single-horned Jiaolong had reached in front of him, Fang Xing suddenly extended his fingers, grabbed ahold of the [Saber of Azure Dragon], and quickly pivoted his body. The saber’s Malice was stimulated to its peak and—with a single cleave—the energy formed into a lifelike azure dragon that dispersed the illusory Jiaolong. The saber then drew right above the girl’s head, prepared to deliver the final strike.
"Stop…!" the Myriad Beasts disciples screamed out in surprise. But no matter how they might try to help, it was already too late.
Hummmm….
The saber drew down towards the girl’s head before halting less than half an inch away. Since the pause was so sudden and the swing was so powerful, the blade hummed out without end.
"How can you show off such low level of ability in front of so many people? You should go home and get a few more years of practice!" Fang Xing derided the girl before suddenly flouris.h.i.+ng his saber, sending the girl flying away with the impact.
The Myriad Beasts disciples ran towards the red-dressed girl and immediately checked her once they’d caught her. Although the weapon’s movement had been filled with power, there hadn’t actually been any Qi used alongside it; the boy had only smacked the girl flying and hadn’t wounded her by much.
"Little s.h.i.+mei, let’s leave. We’ve completely lost today…" one of the people sitting atop a black bat tried to persuade the dazed girl.
"The road of cultivation is long. We’ll come back and avenge ourselves another time!" another person added with obvious anger.
By the time the girl slowly came back to her senses, the black bat was already in the sky. She suddenly turned towards Fang Xing and coldly asked, "What is your name?"
"What? You want to take revenge? Remember this…" Fang Xing laughed and replied loud and proud. "My name is Yu Sanliang from the Qing-Yun Sect!"
Such a proclamation caused the Qing-Yun disciples to nearly fall over from shock.
As the red-dressed girl gazed at the more and more distant Fang Xing on the ground, she muttered to herself, "Yu Sanliang…. I’ll remember you!"
Once all of the Myriad Beasts disciples had departed, Xu Linyun turned and smiled towards Fang Xing. "s.h.i.+di Fang, this was all thanks to you!"
Fang Xing brushed it off with a laugh. "Very small things, no need to be so polite!"
"Hmph, taking a little girl as ransom isn’t exactly the act of a hero, is it?" a voice filled with hatred rose up from the disdainful Feng Qingwei. However, as soon as she’d finished speaking, she noticed how all of the people around her showed her looks of astonishment, and even Xiao Jianming merely glanced at her coldly. Growing anxious, she added, "Was there anything wrong with what I just said?"
No one replied to her. The Qing-Yun disciples looked towards Fang Xing and—a short moment later—someone took the lead by cupping their hands towards Fang Xing in a show of appreciation and thanks. When those around him saw that, quite a few followed suit to cup their hands and silently bow as well. Although no one spoke, their grat.i.tude was clearly sincere.
Of course, there were still some people who remained stubborn even now and were unwilling to lower their heads to Fang Xing.
Towards those who showed appreciation, Fang Xing returned their bows, and even though the position of his cupped hands and bow was shoddy, he was still being polite all the same. However, he quickly turned towards Wu Xiangtong and said, "Help me remember those who bowed and return their storage sacks to them. As for those who didn’t, don’t bother with them!"
Wu Xiangtong agreed with a smile. The remaining Qing-Yun disciples were left startled and began to bow as well.
Wu Xiangtong then began to sort and hand back the storage sacks that had belonged to the Qing-Yun disciples. As for the sacks taken from the Myriad Beasts Sect, although it was easy to tell there could be quite a few valuables inside, no one dared to touch them without permission and they were all piled in front of Fang Xing to await his judgment. Fang Xing was rather generous in this matter and simply waved his little hands. "Into Duanzhen’s collective account!"
Overjoyed, Wu Xiangtong delivered a deep bow while thinking about how everything had indeed become easy with Little s.h.i.+xiong Fang around. He had originally felt somewhat unwilling when his esteemed s.h.i.+fu told him Fang Xing would be the lead disciple, but it now seemed that his s.h.i.+fu had been wise and with great foresight.
Fang Xing then thought for some time before quickly looking towards Xu Linyun. "Danxia Valley has done their share as well. They can have five… no, wait, four sacks!"
Wu Xiangtong remained smiling. "Of course!" Then, with polite movements utilizing both of his hands, he handed four of the storage sacks to Xu Linyun. Xu Linyun herself treated the matter straightforwardly, accepting the sacks before pa.s.sing them immediately on to the Danxia disciples to sort amongst themselves.
The female disciples were suddenly so happy it was as though they were blossoming with joy. They quickly opened up the sacks, and when they saw a great number of glittering Spirit Stones with all sorts of spirit medicines and tools, they all beamed with smiles. In their minds, Little s.h.i.+xiong Fang was such a great person, no doubt about that. ‘Not only is he handsome, but also generous as well! That blunt mouth of his is a bit of a problem… but he’s still such a cutie!’
Xiao Jianming had already made his way to the other side of the altar and gazed upwards, as if studying the altar’s shape. While a portion of the disciples were cheering, Feng Qingwei followed after him while clutching at her own sleeves and mumbling, "s.h.i.+xiong Xiao, I…." That cold glance he’d given her earlier had frightened her, and she felt as though she’d done something terribly wrong.
Xiao Jianming did not respond immediately. Just when Feng Qingwei’s fear began to reach its peak, he suddenly released a long sigh. "If that little devil grows up, what would become of me?" he quietly muttered to himself. The sound was soft and calm, yet contained within was bone-chilling intent.
Feng Qingwei was stunned and quickly responded, "s.h.i.+xiong Xiao, do you mean—"
Xiao Jianming turned around and calmly spoke, "Say nothing more. Go and check the landscape, and we will repair the seal. We will then return after!"
When Feng Qingwei saw Xiao Jianming’s calm expression, a chill traveled down her spine. She quickly moved to follow his orders by commanding the Shanhe disciples to investigate the surrounding landscape.
For a reason Feng Qingwei couldn’t decipher, she had felt in that moment that Xiao Jianming was an extremely terrifying person.
At the same time, there was a being inside the altar the disciples could not sense, who gave an extremely satisfied laugh the disciples could not hear. "Very good. Not bad at all…."
Just as Fang Xing was sorting through all of the items inside the Myriad Beasts sacks, he suddenly looked up to survey his surroundings, his eyes filled with confusion.
Wu Xiangtong was next to him, and when he saw Fang Xing’s strange actions, he quickly asked, "What’s wrong?"
Fang Xing just waved it off while thinking to himself, ‘Who the h.e.l.l was laughing like a dirty old man just now?’