As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue erupted in an uproar.
Soon, someone recognized Yue Xuanji’s identity.
“Isn’t that Yue Xuanji, the sect master of the Clear Breeze Sect?”
“Is that old man really so domineering and protective of his own? The other party is the beloved disciple of a Supreme Elder! And he’s not the least bit afraid?”
“It’s rumored that Yue Xuanji has always been hot-tempered and fiercely protective of his own. People like him usually fall into two categories: either they have powerful backing, or they possess such formidable strength that they fear nothing.”
“…”
The crowd turned their gaze to Rong Jue. His face showed no trace of emotion, but with a mere thought, the longsword he held in his arms retracted.
He did not respond to Yue Xuanji’s words. With just this action, the tension between him and Tang Qing escalated to a critical point.
In the private room, Yun Xiao looked at Yue Xuanji with murderous intent. “You really have no fear of death, do you? You dare provoke Yun Luo Chen? Let me tell you, that old bastard may look respectable on the outside, but inside he’s utterly sinister. If you let your disciple beat his disciple today, he’ll surely hold a grudge against you for life.”
Having been crouching all this time, Yun Xiao grew curious about the situation below and, without hesitation, slammed the window shut with a loud “bang.”
“You really are a dog that can’t stop eating shit!” Yue Xuanji mocked him. “Your disciple is about to be crippled, and you still have the mood to watch the commotion?”
“Disciple?” Yun Xiao couldn’t care less. “I have no disciple. That’s Yun Luo Chen’s disciple. What does it matter to me if he gets crippled? Anyway, when he comes to settle the score, it won’t be with me.”
Yue Xuanji snorted coldly and said nothing more.
Didn’t he know this guy all too well? The reason he agreed so quickly to let him become the deputy sect master was simply because he had been oppressed by Yun Luo Chen for too long and wanted him to stand up to Yun Luo Chen.
“Let me make this clear: I’m only here to watch the commotion. When Yun Luo Chen arrives, you’ll have to deal with him yourself.”
Yun Xiao picked up a cup of tea, his gaze fixed on Rong Jue.
That young man clearly wasn’t simple. His strikes were bound to be… heavy.
Before he could finish his thought, he saw Rong Jue extend his right hand.
Tang Qing thought the other party wouldn’t dare act rashly, but he remained highly vigilant.
The moment Rong Jue raised his hand, Tang Qing felt a powerful force clamp around his neck, instantly cutting off his breath.
Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Tang Qing’s body rapidly levitated into the air, without any chance to resist or struggle.
“This… this is too strong!”
“Simply terrifyingly powerful!”
“Second Senior Brother Tang is considered one of the top fighters among the disciples. Who would have thought he wouldn’t even have the strength to resist in front of this man? How horrifying!”
“That man looks no older than his twenties, yet his strength has reached such a terrifying level! What will he become in the future?”
“…”
Tang Qing’s body continued to rise, reaching mid-air in the blink of an eye.
His face flushed red, but he still couldn’t break free from Rong Jue’s restraint.
That tyrannical force controlled him, causing him to plummet downward like a kite with its string cut.
The crowd was horrified by this scene. With his body restrained and unable to resist, falling from such a height would undoubtedly result in broken limbs.
With a dull thud, Tang Qing crashed heavily onto the dueling platform.
As he hit the ground, the force restraining his body dissipated.
Intense pain swept through his entire body. He gritted his teeth and groaned in agony, beads of sweat covering his forehead.
Rong Jue gave him a cold glance, and in the next moment, his figure teleported in front of Jun Lanyue, who was embedded in the wall.
Shen Guiyi had just fetched some tools and, seeing her junior brother beaten to such a state, naturally felt distressed.
She wanted to stop her second junior brother from making a mistake, but he simply wouldn’t listen.
“Thank you, junior brother, for showing mercy.”
Shen Guiyi handed the tools to Pei Yan and then went to check on Tang Qing.
At this moment, her emotions grew even more complex, and she felt utterly torn.
She didn’t want her master and junior brothers to become the kind of people her junior sister described, but if she couldn’t stop them in the future as she had failed today, did that mean she and they would no longer walk the same path?
On one side were the innocent junior sister and junior brothers, and on the other were the master who had taught her and the junior brothers who had accompanied her for years. How was she supposed to choose…
Rong Jue ignored her, not even sparing her a glance.
In his heart, he loathed Shen Guiyi immensely.
He couldn’t fathom why he would ever do something that implicated his master and junior brothers because of a woman.
“Senior Brother, shall we chisel?”
Pei Yan held a large chisel in his hand, which currently seemed like the most effective tool.
“Second Senior Brother, don’t!” Jun Lanyue, embedded in the wall, felt sore in every joint. “Who knows how long that thing would take to chisel? Just use spiritual power to blast it!”
[The position I’m stuck in is too awkward; I can’t even move my limbs. Otherwise, I’d have blasted myself out long ago.]
Pei Yan and Song Qiguang exchanged a glance and silently took two steps back.
In unison, they said, “Senior Brother, you do it.”
Rong Jue: “…”
They were afraid of not controlling the force properly and hurting their junior sister. Senior Brother’s spiritual power was more profound and steady.
Rong Jue looked at Jun Lanyue in the wall, something flickering in his eyes.
“Don’t move.”
He gathered spiritual power in his hand, growing denser and denser.
[This? So much? Is he trying to blast me to pieces?]
Jun Lanyue panicked.
Soon, she realized she had overthought it.
The spiritual power first gently seeped into the wall, enveloping her entire body, then spread outward like an electric current.
[It can be done like this? As expected of my powerful, handsome, and dashing senior brother!]
Rong Jue: Hmph!
After a few cracking sounds, the wall around Jun Lanyue shattered with a “crack,” fragments of all sizes tumbling to the ground and stirring up clouds of dust.
As for Jun Lanyue, enveloped by the spiritual power, she remained completely unharmed. Not only was she uninjured, but there wasn’t even a speck of dust on a single strand of her hair.
[Senior Brother is awesome! Senior Brother is handsome! Senior Brother is loved by all, admired by flowers, and even coffins open their lids for him!]
Rong Jue: “!!”
Pei Yan: Although junior sister’s praise doesn’t sound great, Senior Brother still managed to show off.
Song Qiguang: I’m such a fool! I didn’t think of such a good method in time and let Senior Brother show off.
Yue Xuanji: Excellent. Since Yueyue arrived, that big troublemaker of mine has finally started acting like a human.
On the martial arts platform, Shen Guiyi was examining Tang Qing’s injuries.
Three ribs were broken, the bones in both palms were shattered to pieces, and his leg bones were fractured in several places. Yet, none of these were the most severe injuries.
“Se-senior sister!” Tang Qing gritted his teeth against the pain, his face already deathly pale. “My Dantian… it’s shattered!”
Everyone knew what a shattered Dantian meant for a cultivator. At best, it required rare treasures to repair; at worst, they would lose all their cultivation and become a cripple.
“This is too harsh, isn’t it? Even the Dantian was shattered!”
“Shh, don’t speak! Look who’s coming!”
“It’s the Supreme Elder! Now there’s going to be a show!”
Sensing Yun Luo Chen’s arrival in advance, Yun Xiao immediately slipped away…
Meanwhile, Yue Xuanji remained as steady as a mountain, sitting calmly in the private room as if nothing had happened.
Seeing the agonized state of his beloved disciple, Yun Luo Chen’s eyes instantly blazed with fury.
He scanned the area below the dueling platform, his gaze finally settling on Jun Lanyue. “Who did this?!!”