Chapter 111 : Chapter 111

Chapter 111: Wouldn't It Be Simpler If You Just Crippled Your Own Martial Arts and Surrendered?

Xiao Qian raised the sword at her side, golden-red light glittering at its tip.

A faint crimson dragon phantom even emerged behind her, charging straight at Cheng Yu with imposing force.

"Young Princess Xiao!"

Cheng Fang had failed to stop Xiao Qian in time, and his brows shot up at once. It was not out of worry, but anger and dissatisfaction.

He simply could not believe that a mere Thousand-Household Commander of the Jinyiwei could possibly contend with a Seventh-Rank martial artist with such a powerful inheritance.

What angered him more was Xiao Qian's impulsiveness.

How could a descendant of Prince Qing be this arrogant and short-tempered, without even a shred of composure?

He hurried after her to stop her.

He was already worried that Xiao Qian might kill Cheng Yu with a single strike. If that happened, he would not even get a chance to question him.

"Evil thief, hand over your life!"

Cheng Yu looked at the woman charging at him with her sword raised and merely arched a brow. Calmly, he extended two straightened fingers in front of himself.

Another sword user throwing herself right into the net. Would it not have been better to fancy some obscure weapon instead?

Now things were easy. He did not even need to draw his saber.

Xiao Qian felt utterly humiliated, and the fury in her heart surged to the limit.

A mere villain dared act this arrogantly!

"Stop putting on airs! I will kill this villain and uphold righteousness!"

She lunged at Cheng Yu, her blade stabbing straight for his vital points.

But in the very next instant, Xiao Qian realized something was wrong.

She saw Cheng Yu's outstretched fingers become incomparably dazzling, so bright that they nearly blinded her.

No!

That was not light!

Xiao Qian's eyes widened in absolute terror, so shocked by the truth that she forgot to breathe.

This was... sword intent!

In the next moment, she felt stabbing pain all over her body. The crimson dragon phantom behind her was shredded into wisps by the sweeping sword intent.

In that instant, the rage of vengeance turned into fear.

"You..."

Before Xiao Qian could react further, Cheng Yu tapped two fingers against the tip of her sword and forcibly crushed her attack beneath overwhelmingly superior sword intent.

The light at the tip of the sword dimmed at once, and the Internal Energy carrying Dragon Might within it was frantically absorbed.

The blade itself could not withstand the pressure either, and spiderweb cracks spread across it.

In the next instant, it shattered into fragments that scattered all over the ground.

The terrifying backlash of sword intent made Xiao Qian cough up a mouthful of blood.

She stood there, eyes wide and vacant, having completely lost the ability to think.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not understand how this was possible.

How could a villain who killed without blinking possess sword intent like this?

Seeing Young Princess Xiao fall into danger, Cheng Fang's pupils shrank in shock. Just who exactly was this Cheng Yu?

He roared, "Stop!"

Naturally, Cheng Yu paid no attention at all to Cheng Fang's words. He reached out and clamped a hand tightly around Xiao Qian's throat.

Xiao Qian felt her whole body trembling for no reason. She immediately gathered her Internal Energy and tried to resist.

A faint, elusive aura rapidly flowed out of her body and was absorbed by Cheng Yu.

Already injured from the shock of that sword intent, she discovered that the Internal Energy she had just mobilized was being suppressed layer after layer.

She had no strength to resist at all.

Feeling the Dragon Intent being absorbed by the Demon-Slaying Sword, Cheng Yu curled his lip in disdain.

This woman's Dragon Intent was trash, just like the one inside Tie Ke earlier.

Against the Internal Energy refined by the Demon-Slaying Dao Canon, it had no power to resist whatsoever. The Demon-Slaying Sword drew it out almost the moment it touched it.

It was as though it had never truly belonged to them in the first place.

It could not compare in the slightest to how domineering the Dragon Abyss Sword and Susu had been back then.

It was not even comparable to that trace of Dragon Intent within Cheng Feng's Internal Energy.

With her neck seized in Cheng Yu's grip, Xiao Qian was lifted into the air. Her whole body trembled as both hands weakly clawed at Cheng Yu's wrist.

"L-let go of me. I am one of the Descendants of Heavenly Fate. You evil thief harmed Big Brother Ke and me. Heavenly Fate will surely punish you, and you will die a miserable death..."

SMACK!

"Too noisy."

Cheng Yu slapped her across the face.

If she was going to be a captive, then she should act like one!

"Young Princess Xiao!"

A surge of Internal Energy that took the shape of a Black Turtle Phantom swept forward like a tide and struck toward Cheng Yu.

Cheng Fang had made his move!

"Release Young Princess Xiao, and I can spare your life!"

Facing an Eighth-Rank martial artist's attack, Cheng Yu did not panic in the slightest. He merely shifted his body slightly.

And placed Xiao Qian's body in front of himself.

Cheng Fang was immediately startled and hurriedly withdrew his attack.

"Despicable and shameless! You are playing with fire!"

Cheng Yu shook his head and jerked his chin toward the other side.

"You should worry about your accomplices instead. They are having a very miserable time."

Cheng Fang let out a disdainful snort. "A petty trick like this, and you think you can bluff me?"

Prince Qing's descendants had been building up strength for decades. Even if their power did not measure up to the Nine Great Sects, within a single circuit it was still absurdly beyond the norm.

Although their true experts had not yet made a move, dealing with the trash of Jiannan Circuit should have been effortless.

At most, that old sword guest was a little troublesome. But Madam Wu had once been an Earth Ranking expert as well, and was no less formidable.

Cheng Yu was clearly just speaking nonsense.

But in the next second—Cheng Fang did not see the anger of a bluff exposed on Cheng Yu's face. Instead, he saw a faint smile of relief.

Only then did alarm jolt through his heart, and he hurriedly turned to look back.

At once, he was so shocked by the sight before him that he could not even close his mouth.

The situation had roughly followed the original plan. The old hag Wu had been responsible for holding Jian A back while the others quickly dealt with the martial artists of Jiannan Circuit.

But the outcome was the complete opposite.

Jian A's Wind and Cloud Sword was erupting with gale sword qi in a frenzy, pouring out as if it were free.

The old hag Wu could do nothing but dodge, cursing inwardly the whole time.

Were sword cultivators not supposed to be elegant and unhurried, defeating enemies with a single strike?

Where had this fighting style come from?

It was like some prodigal wastrel throwing money around as if it grew on trees!

Her old bones twisted and darted about for quite a while before she finally found a chance to get in close and threaten her opponent.

But the moment she did, the Wind and Cloud Sword in Jian A's hand suddenly slowed.

His aura shifted from that of a reckless spendthrift to that of an unfathomable swordsman.

He struck with a single exquisite move, its sword intent condensed to an astonishing degree.

The wind roared, and the old hag Wu, pale with shock, was blasted back by that one move—

Then he went right back to wildly flinging sword qi...

Jian A could clearly have killed her in a single move, yet he insisted on alternately opening and closing the distance as he fought.

Cheng Fang's eyes widened.

That swordsman was toying with an Earth Ranking expert?!

Before he could finish being shocked, an aged roar rang out from the other side.

"I have kept to myself and treated people's illnesses all my life. What did I ever do to provoke you people?!"

Zuo Hong was slippery and was clearly holding back, while Ma Minnong was being forced into steady retreat by three martial artists. His old face flushed red with anger.

But there was no need to worry. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a talisman from his robes and flung it into the air.

"Dan Qingzi, come out and save this old man!"

The talisman burst into flame out of thin air, and its ashes transformed into the image of a Daoist with an immortal bearing.

He laughed at Ma Minnong and said, "Old Man Ma, were you not hiding in the mountains treating people? Why did you come out to stir up trouble?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?! Just attack them!"

Though the exchange was ridiculous, everyone's jaws dropped.

Dan Qingzi!

The Sect Leader of the Taiyi Sect, the current number one on the Earth Ranking, and a late Ninth-Rank expert!

"Uh... attack them?"

The phantom Dan Qingzi formed from the talisman ashes flamboyantly flicked the fly-whisk in his hand and raised a brow at the three early Seventh-Rank martial artists from Prince Qing's line.

"Old Man Ma, that is several thousand li away! These people are not anything special, are they? Otherwise I would lose a huge amount of merit, and the Patriarchs would make this poor Daoist repay it with his life!"

Ma Minnong urged him furiously, "They are definitely heaven-defying sinners! I guarantee it will not cost you merit! Hurry up and make your move!"

"Sigh, it really will not cost me merit...?" Dan Qingzi shook his head helplessly.

Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up.

"Wait, we can reconcile! Why don't you just cripple your own martial arts and surrender of your own accord? That way this poor Daoist would not have to suffer backlash!"