Firmament Sword

In the moment the old Steward of the Xu Family was stunned, Xu Luo had already roared, slapped the giant black tiger he rode, and vanished like a black whirlwind at the end of Vermilion Bird Avenue. All that remained in the air was a thunderous bellow: ”Wei Family, if you dare touch my sister, I’m not done with you!”

A large group of Xu Family retainers were left behind, staring at one another in confusion before all turning to the old Steward, wondering what had just happened.

The old Steward was also completely baffled. He didn’t know where Lianyi had actually gone, but he was certain that her departure had absolutely nothing to do with the Wei Family!

’The Wei Family may be one of the Imperial Capital’s top noble houses and rivals of the Xu Family, and the Wei Family members are certainly arrogant, but they’ve had their share of troubles over the past six months. Meanwhile, the Xu Family’s star has been rising. Even if they wanted to move against us, the Wei Family wouldn’t dare to do it so brazenly!’

”Th-this… What is the Second Young Master… planning to do?” The old Steward suddenly felt his limbs grow cold. He forced himself to calm down, looked at several Xu Family guards, and said in a low voice, ”Quickly, go inform the Second Young Master’s brothers. Remember, be quick. You have to be quick!”

...

On the streets of the Imperial Capital, Xu Luo raced wildly on his tiger. Though Xiaohai’s body was immense, he was incredibly agile. The streets were bustling with an endless stream of people and carriages, but Xiaohai weaved through them like a gust of black wind, not touching a single person.

Only much later did his lingering presence cause the carriage horses on the street to grow weak in the knees, hesitating to move forward. But by then, Xiaohai’s shadow had long since vanished from sight.

Aside from a rare few, no one even saw clearly what that black wind actually was.

The noble and powerful families of the Imperial Capital typically lived in concentrated areas. Vermilion Bird Avenue was mostly home to Military Generals, and the residences of top Civil Servants weren’t far from there either.

Therefore, in just a few moments, Xu Luo and Xiaohai charged up to the gates of the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Two enormous stone lions stood guard on either side of the Wei Mansion’s main gate. They had weathered many years of wind and rain, exuding an air of ancient, solemn majesty.

Upon seeing the two stone lions, Xiaohai let out a ROAR, charged forward, raised a massive paw, and swatted at one of them!

BOOM!

With a tremendous crash, the stone lion that had endured centuries of wind and rain instantly shattered, crumbling into a pile of rubble.

Then came the other one!

With another BOOM, it too was reduced to broken stones.

Sitting atop Xiaohai, Xu Luo suddenly let out a roar. ”Hand over my sister! Otherwise, I’m tearing this place down today!”

”Who the fuck are you!” A guard at the Wei Mansion, who had been scared stiff at first, finally snapped out of it. It was unclear whether it was from shock or fear, but he started pointing at Xu Luo and cursing like a madman.

POW!

Xiaohai’s paw deftly flicked a piece of rubble on the ground. The stone shot through the air with a WHIZZ and smashed directly into the Wei Family guard’s head, splattering his brains on the spot.

”Hand her over!” Xu Luo roared.

”Gods, it’s that little Demon King from the Xu Family! What’s he doing here?!”

”It’s Xu Luo! This is bad, Xu Luo is here!”

”What is going on?!”

Everyone on the Wei Family’s side was completely baffled, with no idea what was happening. Some cried out in alarm, some ran back to spread the word, and others were so terrified by the sight of Xiaohai that they collapsed to the ground, too scared to even move.

”So you won’t hand her over? Fine! The Wei Family thinks they can bully anyone just because they have power. If I don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll think I’m an easy target!” Xu Luo cursed, his eyes bloodshot and looking as if they would pop from their sockets. Then, he leaped into the air.

”Breaking Army Seven Kills!”

”Great Mountain Collapse!”

RUMBLE!

A heavy fist smashed viciously into the gatehouse above the Wei Mansion’s main entrance, letting out an earth-shattering crash.

CRACK... CRACK!

Cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the surface of the ancient gatehouse, which had stood for centuries, spreading in all directions.

Finally, with a loud BOOM, it collapsed entirely!

Just like the Wei Family of Hongcheng, it had been brought down by a single punch from Xu Luo!

”Charge in!” Sitting on Xiaohai, Xu Luo stormed directly into the Wei Family grounds.

”Breaking Army Seven Kills!”

”Broken Tendons and Bones!”

CRASH!

A beautiful rockery was smashed to pieces, sending shards of stone flying everywhere.

”Breaking Army Seven Kills!”

”Broken Tendons and Bones!”

”Broken Tendons and Bones!”

”Broken Tendons and Bones!”

BOOM!

Three load-bearing pillars of an exquisite pavilion, each so thick a person couldn’t wrap their arms around it, were shattered, and the entire structure came crashing down!

”Xu Luo! Are you insane, causing trouble at my Wei Family’s estate?!” Following a roar full of shock and fury, Wei Ziting charged out with a large group of people.

From a distance, Wei Ziting pointed at Xu Luo and cursed, ”What did the Wei Family do to provoke you? How dare you come here and cause a scene? Stop this instant!”

”Wei Ziting, you treacherous villain! If you have a problem, bring it to your grandpa Xu Luo! If you can’t hand over my sister today, I’ll tear down this kennel of yours!” Xu Luo pointed back at Wei Ziting, retorting without hesitation.

”You—you—you… What nonsense are you spouting? Your Xu Mansion is the real kennel! And who captured your sister? This is just baseless slander!” Seeing the clouds of dust rising behind Xu Luo and his family’s gate smashed to bits, Wei Ziting wanted to eat Xu Luo alive. He was fuming with rage.

”If not you, then who could it be? Is there anything the Wei Family *wouldn’t* do?” Xu Luo gritted his teeth, looking as if he was ready to fight the Wei Family to the death.

At that moment, two middle-aged men exchanged a glance, then leaped into the air in unison, charging toward Xu Luo.

BOOM!

A True Essence Aura erupted from both of the men’s bodies.

Great Sword Masters!

Xu Luo felt a thick, undisguised killing intent emanating from the two of them!

”Xu Luo, you walked right into this. Today, you will surely die!” Wei Ziting gave Xu Luo a cold, sinister smile. With a wave of his hand, another seven or eight men moved to surround Xu Luo.

”Hahahaha! Your Wei Family has harbored treasonous ambitions for a long time, hiding so many masters! If I hadn’t stumbled upon this today, who knows what outrageous acts of sedition you would have committed in the future!” As he shouted, Xu Luo drew Lan. He poured his True Essence into it, and the blade erupted in a deep blue glow.

”Be careful! That sword in his hand is incredibly sharp—it cuts through iron like mud!” Wei Ziting shouted as a warning.

”Don’t worry, Young Master Wei. He will surely die today!” one of the middle-aged men said coldly.

The other middle-aged man suddenly drew a Long Sword, pointed it at Xu Luo, and his body blurred into motion. He moved like a sudden gale, his Sword Qi flaring like a rainbow as he stabbed directly at Xu Luo’s chest.

The man who had just spoken was bare-handed. He thrust a palm at Xu Luo’s face. ”Little bastard, you had a path to heaven and refused to take it! Now die!”

His body, transformed by the Kaiyang Star Soul, finally revealed its power under this immense pressure.

Xu Luo’s body seemed like a meteorite from beyond the heavens, emanating an aura that only stars possessed. After all his recent days of arduous training, even Xu Luo himself didn’t know what realm his physical body had reached.

BANG!

Xu Luo’s left hand met the palm strike of the middle-aged man who had aimed for his face.

The move Xu Luo used was Great Mountain Collapse!

’This man had been full of confidence. He had judged from Xu Luo’s True Essence Aura that while it was shocking for someone so young to have the power of a Great Sword Master, he was not a High-tier Great Sword Master!’

’Otherwise, he would never have boasted that he would surely kill Xu Luo today.’

But who could have imagined that after his palm—a fatal strike containing nearly all his power—connected with Xu Luo’s, it would feel as if he had slammed into a solid wall?

CRACK!

With the crisp sound of shattering bone, the man—a Tier Six Great Sword Master—let out a sudden, bloodcurdling scream as his hand was snapped clean off!

But that wasn’t all. He had poured a massive amount of True Essence into his palm, intending to kill Xu Luo with a single strike. With the sudden break, this vast and powerful energy was directly detonated by Xu Luo’s Great Mountain Collapse!

If his hand hadn’t been broken, he could have controlled this power and retracted the True Essence in an instant.

But now… the middle-aged man had completely lost control of that powerful True Essence.

As Xu Luo’s Great Mountain Collapse struck, the vast True Essence let out a deafening BANG.

The force sent Xu Luo’s body flying, allowing him to perfectly dodge the sword strike from the other middle-aged man!

Looking back at the man whose palm had exploded, his entire arm and half his torso had been blasted to a bloody pulp by his own True Essence!

He was a blurry mess of blood, lying on the ground over ten meters away, his body twitching violently. It was clear he wasn’t going to make it.

”AAAH!” The middle-aged man whose strike had missed let out an earth-shattering roar. His Sword Qi flared majestically as he charged recklessly at Xu Luo. ”Little bastard! You dare harm my junior brother?! I’ll tear you limb from limb!”

”Ptooey!” Xu Luo shook his hand, spat in the man’s direction, then executed the Shaking Light Step and lunged toward the men who were surrounding him.

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!

A blue light flashed. With a quick series of stabs, he killed three or four men. Then, Xu Luo leaped into the air, landed on Xiaohai’s back, pointed at Wei Ziting, and roared, ”Release my sister! Otherwise, I’ll make rivers of blood flow through your Wei Family today!”

”You’re spouting baseless accusations!” Veins bulged on Wei Ziting’s forehead. He was on the verge of going mad with rage.

For the first time in his life, Wei Ziting felt so powerless. For the first time, he understood just how infuriating the grievance of being falsely accused could be.

Meanwhile, Xu Luo was secretly amazed at his own physique. ’I never thought the Kaiyang Star Soul, which didn’t seem to have given me any obvious benefits, had actually transformed my body to such a terrifying degree.’

’The moment I clashed with that Great Sword Master, I already felt something was different about my body.’

’In the past, a clash of this level would have relied on the destructive power of a strong technique like Breaking Army Seven Kills. But today was different. I could clearly feel that even if I hadn’t used any technique, or even any True Essence, his palm strike wouldn’t have been able to harm my body in the slightest!’

’What did that even mean?’

’A Great Sword Master several tiers higher than me, striking with his full power, couldn’t even injure me?’

Xu Luo’s gaze involuntarily shifted to the other middle-aged man, the one whose eyes were practically splitting with rage as he held his sword, desperate to cut him down.

A thought crossed his mind: ’Just how many of the Wei Mansion’s experts do I have to kill before Wei Feng reaches his limit?’