The sudden appearance of the figure startled the grand elders of the Celestial Thunder Sect and Fengyu Tower. The middle-aged man walked over slowly. His expression was calm, yet his facial features were as sharp as a blade.
His black robe fluttered in the wind and rain, snapping like a billowing flag.
He gently spun his oil paper umbrella. There was a trace of leisure in his movements, but an icy, piercing aura swept out with every turn of the umbrella’s handle. He approached slowly, taking deliberate ten-inch steps. Each step was extraordinarily steady—terrifyingly so.
"Master..." Lin Huang said as he watched Xiao Yishan slowly approach. The tense look on his face finally relaxed in that moment.
"Who are you? How dare you interfere in the affairs of my Fengyu Tower and the Celestial Thunder Sect? You reckless fool!" Hann Qixiu said angrily. He pointed his withered palm from afar. A terrifying aura pierced through the curtain of rain like a sharp sword, shooting straight toward Xiao Yishan. At the same time, two more arrays appeared in the alleyway.
"Who am I?" Xiao Yishan chuckled softly before his expression turned ice-cold. His flat voice echoed through the alley, carrying an aura of absolute dominance that looked down upon the world. "Those in this world who do not know me are all insects!"
In the alley, Xiao Yishan stood quietly in the distance. With a mere twirl of his umbrella, he completely obliterated the incoming terrifying aura. The arrays surrounding him shattered into pieces along with it.
Originally, Xiao Yishan had been at Qin Xuance’s mansion, discussing some refined topics. However, the moment Lin Huang used the Godslaying One Slash, he sensed it. No one in this world was more familiar with the aura of the Godslaying One Slash than he was.
"The Martial Marquis Realm?!" Hann Qixiu’s pupils shrank as he stared at Xiao Yishan in disbelief. "In this tiny Great Xia Dynasty, there is actually a powerhouse at the Martial Marquis Realm?"
"Xiao Yishan, the humiliation you brought upon us—this elder will make you pay it all back today," Hann Shan glared fixedly at Xiao Yishan, his eyes filled with venomous resentment. "Two Array Masters and four Celestial Element experts! Even if you are a Martial Marquis, you might not be able to escape with your life!"
"Even if all the powerhouses in the East Spirit Realm came, so what?" Xiao Yishan smiled faintly, not paying the slightest attention to Hann Shan’s venomous gaze.
He walked slowly through the wind and rain. Pointing gently at Shen Diexin, a surge of pure power instantly shot into her body, flowing along her meridians and merging into her Profound Sea.
"You..." Shen Diexin’s bloodshot eyes widened as her expression changed slightly. The Martial Soul that had been burning in her Profound Sea was actually gradually calming down under that trace of Xiao Yishan’s power.
According to the Martial Arts theories she had learned, the burning of a Martial Soul was an irreversible process. Yet, Xiao Yishan had casually halted it. Just how terrifying was this man’s strength?
As the burning of her Martial Soul ceased, Shen Diexin immediately felt the strength in her entire body recede like the tide. Due to the overexertion of her power and the injuries she had sustained in the fierce battle, she became incomparably weak. Seeing the teetering Shen Diexin, Xiao Yishan frowned slightly. He reached out, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, and pulled her into his embrace.
"Let go of me!" The sudden, warm arm around her waist caused Shen Diexin’s face to flush. Her curvy body squirmed as she bit her lip, her voice as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz.
"If you don’t want your wounds to tear open again, don’t move!" Xiao Yishan said, his expression calm yet overbearing. He tightened his grip around her slightly.
"Death is upon you, yet you still have the mood to play the hero saving the beauty." Qii Lie stared at the scene in the rain with a gloomy expression. A majestic aura surged from his body and rushed toward Xiao Yishan.
"Kill him for me!" Hann Shan spat out killing intent that was piercingly cold, as if he were pronouncing Xiao Yishan’s death sentence.
On this cold, rainy night, killing intent rose once more. Four arrays overlapped, and a terrifying aura rippled outward. Within the continuous curtain of rain, raging flames condensed into extremely horrifying magma, with countless giant fiery snakes coiling around.
At the same time, Yin Spears materialized! The restrictive power of the arrays bound Xiao Yishan like Profound Iron Chains. The four Great Celestial Element powerhouses charged forward. Their powerful auras completely unfurled, like a rainbow sweeping across heaven and earth. They surrounded Xiao Yishan from all four directions, sealing off all avenues of escape.
However, Lin Huang, who was standing behind Xiao Yishan, did not seem to feel the slightest bit of killing intent. It was as if that majestic power capable of shaking the heavens simply did not exist.
Facing the killing intent from all sides, Xiao Yishan’s expression did not change in the slightest, treating the four Great Celestial Element powerhouses as if they were stray mutts. The incoming, heaven-shaking murderous intent did less to stir his heart than a woman’s gentle panting.
With one arm around Shen Diexin, the other holding the oil paper umbrella, and Lin Huang standing behind him, Xiao Yishan stood quietly in the pouring rain. He merely curled the corners of his lips into a contemptuous smirk and spat out a single word.
"Kneel!"
The moment Xiao Yishan’s voice fell, the expressions of the four Great Celestial Element powerhouses changed drastically. It felt as if they were bearing the weight of a massive mountain. They were ruthlessly smashed down from mid-air, crashing to their knees on the ground. At that exact moment, the walls surrounding the alley were pulverized into dust!
In the rain-drenched alley, Xiao Yishan walked forward slowly, seemingly oblivious to the four Martial Artists who were in a state as wretched as beaten dogs. His calm and mellow voice exploded in the alley, vibrating like a thunderclap in the ears of the four Celestial Element experts.
"Mere cultivators in the Celestial Element Realm actually dare to entertain delusions of holding the power of life and death? You think far too highly of yourselves. I could make you kneel at the Tianxiang Tower that day, and I can do the exact same today!"
"Who exactly are you?" Hann Qixiu raised his head from where he was prostrate in the rainwater, his face filled with malice. He never would have imagined that with his imposing strength at the Celestial Element Seventh Heaven and as a Third-Level Array Master, he couldn’t even stand up under Xiao Yishan’s oppressive power.
And from beginning to end, Xiao Yishan hadn’t even truly attacked!
"One hundred and thirty years ago, single-handedly, in a single night, I annihilated the Lingxiao Sect. Seventy-two years ago, I had a Registered Disciple named Yann Cangfeng; I taught him a Martial Technique called Snow Falling on Earth. Fifty-one years ago, the Celestial Thunder Sect’s patriarch, Hann Tianfang, kneeled before me. Thirty-two years ago, the three great patriarchs of Fengyu Tower were tortured to death by my hands!" Xiao Yishan said with a placid expression.
The four Celestial Element elders kneeling in the rain, and even Shen Diexin in his arms, were filled with shock. Their eyes brimmed with abject terror.
"You... You are... Xiao Rentu?!" Hann Qixiu’s lips trembled as he spoke in terror.
Xiao Rentu was the nightmare of all Martial Artists in the East Spirit Realm. No one knew when he had first appeared in the realm, and no one dared to track his whereabouts. He didn’t show himself often, but every time he did, it resulted in a reign of terror and mountains of corpses atop a Sea of Blood!
In the one hundred and thirty years of recorded history, the first time he truly made a move, he exterminated a Royal Family. The second time, he slaughtered an entire city, leaving no survivors. The third time, he annihilated the Lingxiao Sect. Every time he struck, it was an inhumane massacre!
If Xiao Rentu wanted to kill someone, no one could escape. If he wanted to slaughter a city, rivers of blood would undoubtedly flow, turning it into a living Hell. None of the people present had ever imagined that this middle-aged man, holding an umbrella in the heavy rain, with a bland expression devoid of any outward dominance, slowly walking forward, was the murderous Xiao Rentu.
"Elder Xiao, we have deeply offended you just now! We hope you can be magnanimous and spare our lives!" Hann Qixiu and the others groveled in the pouring rain. Their hoarse voices were laced with extreme fear. Their hunched bodies pressed against the puddles, shivering as if affected by the chill in the air.
"If there is a next time, there will be no need for Fengyu Tower or the Celestial Thunder Sect to exist anymore!" Xiao Yishan’s flat voice sounded in their ears amidst the heavy rain. It lacked any imposing might, yet it caused everyone’s expressions to change drastically.
Joy flashed across Hann Qixiu’s old face as it was buried in the rainwater. For Xiao Yishan to warn them like this, it meant he was letting them go. However, just as he raised his head to look at the departing figure at the end of the alley, his expression suddenly turned to one of terror. He felt an extremely overbearing power within his body forcefully sever one of his meridians, inch by inch. Immense pain swept through his entire body, yet Hann Qixiu did not dare to utter a single groan, causing his wizened face to become exceptionally twisted.
It wasn’t just Hann Qixiu. Hann Shan, Qii Lie, and Qii Yan nearby were all in the exact same state. With contorted expressions, they opened their mouths and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Crippling one of your meridians serves as a warning. Not just anyone can touch a disciple of mine, Xiao Yishan. If you want to kill him, do it in a fair and square fight. If you want to use underhanded tricks, you must first possess the strength to defeat me!"
Wrapped in heavy curtains of rain in the alley, Xiao Yishan’s figure gradually faded from near to far, eventually disappearing at the end of the alley. However, his words continued to reverberate through the passageway.
In the rain-drenched alley, the four Celestial Element experts stared in the direction the group had vanished. With sluggish and terrified expressions, they clenched their fists and struggled to pick themselves up from the rainwater.
***
"This time, we have to admit defeat!" Hann Qixiu’s hunched figure swayed unsteadily in the wind and rain, making him look exceptionally wretched and aged. If it had been anyone else, they might have considered revenge. However, this Xiao Yishan was a powerhouse whose mere name struck terror into the hearts of all experts in the East Spirit Realm. They simply could not afford to provoke him. The fact that Xiao Yishan hadn’t killed them was already a massive blessing.
Everyone present shook their heads bitterly. Xiao Yishan’s appearance had completely shattered their plans. It was supposed to be a situation where Shen Diexin would certainly die, but they hadn’t expected this outcome.
Meanwhile, in a pavilion outside the alley, Elder Su Li of Qianying Valley was equally horrified. Xiao Yishan had merely cast a passing glance in his direction, but it had caused all the hairs on his body to stand on end as an aura of death rushed to his heart.
"It seems we cannot make a move against that little guy, Lin Huang, so easily," Su Li muttered to himself as he watched Xiao Yishan’s departing back. "Even if he can’t enter my Qianying Valley, at the very least, our relationship with Piaoxue Palace cannot become too strained!"
With that thought, Su Li had already made his decision.
***
"I’ll leave those old fools to you. If you can’t even deal with them, you aren’t worthy of being my, Xiao Yishan’s, disciple," Xiao Yishan said flatly on the street, carrying the unconscious Shen Diexin.
"Mhm!" Lin Huang trailed closely behind Xiao Yishan and nodded. He had long since harbored killing intent toward those people from Fengyu Tower and the Celestial Thunder Sect, but his current strength was far from sufficient.
Ultimately, Cultivation depended on the Martial Artist themselves. Xiao Yishan could kill all of Lin Huang’s enemies, but he couldn’t Cultivate on Lin Huang’s behalf. A Martial Artist’s path to prominence was always paved by struggling through the mud and fighting for survival amid the glint and flash of cold steel. By sparing those people’s lives, Xiao Yishan was doing so with the intention of tempering Lin Huang.
By the time the three of them returned to the Divine General’s Mansion, it was already late into the night. Only after Xiao Yishan laid Shen Diexin on a bed did he turn around to look at Lin Huang, his expression serious.
"In three days, I will be leaving..."