Firmament Sword

”You’ll be in terrible danger!” Lianyi said, looking at Xu Luo with worry-filled eyes.

Xu Luo smiled. ”Sis, if they want to make a move, they’ll definitely use the Ancient Ruins trial during the sect assembly. If I’m in danger then, you can just help me!”

Lianyi considered this and had to agree. The Tianquan Sect Leader would never forgive Xu Luo for killing his son. And with the dead boy’s brother also at the Jade Balance Sect, Elder Xiao wouldn’t let Xu Luo off the hook either.

An esteemed Elder of the Jade Balance Sect, and Xu Luo had killed Ark right under his nose. With that little girl Xu Qing there, the story would definitely get out. When it did, Elder Xiao’s reputation would be in tatters.

Although the Jade Balance Sect was a major power, Elder Xiao was not the most influential Elder within it. The other Elders, even if they said nothing to his face, would definitely laugh at him behind his back.

Therefore, during the Ancient Ruins trial at this sect assembly, Elder Xiao would surely send someone to assassinate Xu Luo.

Just as Xu Luo and Lianyi had predicted, the first thing Elder Xiao did after leaving was to beg Xu Qing not to tell anyone what had happened.

Xu Qing did promise not to spread the word, but Elder Xiao knew she would definitely tell the Jade Balance Sect Master—her own master—about it. When that happened, the story would still likely get out.

Besides, even if she didn’t say anything, could a thing like this be kept secret? Plenty of people saw them come here today.

Now, Fang Jing was emerging with the slain Ark on his back, looking completely devastated. Anyone who saw him would wonder what on earth had happened.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before almost everyone attending the sect assembly knew about it.

Although they didn’t know the full details, that didn’t stop them from using their imaginations to fill in the parts they hadn’t seen.

”Did you hear? There was just a conflict, and the Young Master Tianquan was killed!”

”What? How could that happen? You’re supposed to set aside grudges during the sect assembly. Killing someone here is just insane, isn’t it?”

”I heard the Tianquan Sect Leader took his son to the Merak Sect to propose a marriage. Turns out the Merak girl was already engaged. Then, Elder Xiao, who was playing matchmaker, forcefully demanded she break off the engagement. In the end, the girl’s fiancé got furious and killed the guy in a fit of rage...”

”Heavens, isn’t that a bit too bold? Merak is just a small sect. Do they really have that much nerve?”

”Yeah, I never expected the Merak Sect to be so assertive. They didn’t even give face to an Elder from the Jade Balance Sect...”

”If you ask me, Elder Xiao of the Jade Balance Sect was being too arrogant. This whole affair had nothing to do with him, but he just had to stick his nose in it... I heard there was bad blood between the Tianquan and Merak Sects to begin with!”

People were gossiping everywhere. The Merak Sect, a small sect that many had previously looked down on, became well-known through this very unexpected series of events.

These people also managed to find out about Phoenix, the girl from the Merak Sect at the center of the incident. They heard she was a peerless beauty of captivating grace.

But almost no one knew anything about Phoenix’s fiancé. The young man who dared to kill the Young Master Tianquan in front of Elder Xiao had a mysterious identity, and everyone was speculating about his background.

”To kill someone in front of Elder Xiao of the Jade Balance Sect—and the victim was the son of another sect’s leader! It’s impossible that he doesn’t have a powerful background!”

”Maybe he’s the illegitimate son of some super-sect’s leader...”

”Or maybe he’s a secret weapon hidden away by some major sect...”

”He definitely has a powerful backer. Otherwise, why would Elder Xiao not dare to stop him when he killed the man right in front of him?”

The sect assembly hadn’t even officially begun, yet Xu Luo had been passively thrust into the spotlight in this huge way. For a time, his fame even seemed to eclipse that of the super-geniuses from the major sects, and people were incredibly curious about him.

Xu Qing stood before a middle-aged man, recounting what had just happened.

”That young man, Xu Luo... his actual strength might not be that high. He might not even have reached the Transformation Realm yet. But his method of attack is so sharp. It was very much like some kind of mental attack. I didn’t even notice anything, and then that Young Master from Tianquan was bleeding from all seven orifices...”

Recalling the scene, Xu Qing still looked impressed. ”Those people don’t know what happened; they’re just spreading wild rumors. It’s not that Elder Xiao just stood by and watched him kill someone. The truth is, just like me, Elder Xiao didn’t sense any intention to attack from Xu Luo at all!”

The middle-aged man wore a set of white clothes, washed so many times they had faded. His hair was tied up messily with a simple wooden pin. He looked a bit scruffy, and his face was slightly pale, but his beard was cleanly shaven. The most striking feature about him was undoubtedly his eyes.

They looked remarkably pure and calm, like the surface of a lake in autumn, though they would occasionally flash with a curious light.

No one who saw him would ever connect such a person with the Sect Leader of a major power like the Jade Balance Sect.

And yet, this middle-aged man was none other than the Jade Balance Sect Master, Xushan!

This man was a living legend. Xushan had grown up in the Jade Balance Sect. His father was an Outer Elder of the sect.

Generally speaking, the Elders of the Jade Balance Sect were divided into the Inner and Outer Sects. Inner Sect Elders like Elder Xiao were high-ranking and powerful, able to treat the leaders of smaller sects like Tianquan and Merak as equals.

But the Outer Sect was different. In many people’s eyes, the Outer Sect... was just for doing menial tasks and serving the Inner Sect!

So although Xushan’s father held the prestigious title of an Outer Elder of the Jade Balance Sect, in reality, he didn’t have much power.

After Xushan was born, he showed no extraordinary talent at first. As he grew up, it seemed likely that, barring any surprises, he would one day become a Steward of the Outer Sect, then a Senior Steward, then Chief Steward, and finally... take over from his father as an Outer Elder.

Even reaching his father’s position would have been quite an accomplishment!

But all of that changed when Xushan was sixteen!

At sixteen, Xushan was just a Tier Three Sword Venerable. Disciples at that level were a dime a dozen in the Jade Balance Sect; he had no advantage whatsoever.

The Jade Balance Sect was located in the Celestial Break Mountain Range. It was said that in the Ancient Era, this area was home to many sects, and as a result, it was littered with all sorts of ruins from that time.

At one point, the people of the Jade Balance Sect discovered a small set of Ancient Ruins. After a round of exploration yielded no exciting finds, they abandoned it and opened it up to the entire sect as a training ground for disciples.

At that time, Xushan had just offended the disciples of two Jade Balance Sect Elders. They dragged him to that place, intending to teach him a harsh lesson...

This kind of thing happened every day in a large sect with tens of thousands of disciples. No one thought anything of it.

But strangely, after the three of them entered those small Ancient Ruins, they all vanished!

They were gone for a full six months!

The two Elders who had lost their most beloved disciples searched frantically everywhere, but they couldn’t find them.

You have to understand, those two disciples of the Inner Sect Elders, both sixteen or seventeen at the time, had already reached the Tier Nine Sword Venerable Peak in their cultivation!

They were just one step away from entering the Transformation Realm and becoming true genius disciples!

For such disciples to go missing would make anyone furious. The two Elders vented their anger on Xushan’s father. At the time, Xushan’s father felt both wronged and enraged. ’It was your disciples who dragged my son away! I haven’t even come looking for you, and yet you have the nerve to cause trouble for me?’

But reason, more often than not, is just a toy in the hands of the powerful. Seeing that Xushan’s father dared to argue back, one of the Inner Sect Elders attacked him on the spot, severely injuring him.

That poor Outer Elder, after being bedridden for several months, died full of resentment!

At that time, almost everyone in the Jade Balance Sect believed that the three youths must have met with disaster. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been missing for so long.

The Celestial Break Mountain Range was fraught with danger, home to all sorts of powerful Spirit Beasts. Even if they had met with an accident, it would have been considered normal.

Who would have thought that a year later, after being gone for an entire year, Xushan would actually return!

However, the two disciples of the Inner Sect Elders who had been with him were gone forever. According to Xushan’s own account, the two Inner Sect disciples had taken him into the Ancient Ruins, where they triggered a mechanism and fell into a mysterious space.

There, they encountered a powerful Holy Beast cub. In the ensuing battle, both disciples perished, while he luckily survived. It took him a year, but he finally managed to escape.

This story was hard for anyone to believe, let alone the two Inner Sect Elders.

”Two cultivators at the Tier Nine Sword Venerable Peak are dead, but a mere Tier Three Sword Venerable like you survived? That’s just unbelievable!”

But whether they believed him or not, the facts were the facts. The two Inner Sect Elders immediately declared their intention to kill Xushan.

By this time, Xushan had also heard that his father had been severely beaten by one of the Inner Sect Elders and had died full of resentment after being bedridden for months. He immediately swore an oath to kill the Elder who had attacked his father.

This was an outrageous affair. A super-sect had strict rules; insubordination was absolutely forbidden.

Even if the two Inner Sect Elders were in the wrong, this kind of thing would never be permitted!

Otherwise, wouldn’t the genius disciples be able to kill their own sect elders whenever they pleased?

Therefore, no one believed Xushan would actually do it, nor did they believe he had the strength. They all thought he was just speaking out of a blind rage fueled by hatred.

But what happened next left everyone in the Jade Balance Sect utterly stunned.

All by himself, Xushan stormed the Inner Sect’s grounds, found the Inner Sect Elder who had fatally wounded his father, and with just a single move... killed the Elder, who was a Tier Two Sword King!

Everyone present was shocked!

Immediately, a large number of Jade Balance Sect experts appeared, intending to surround and kill the defiant Xushan.

As a result, that day, the entire Inner Sect of the Jade Balance Sect flowed with rivers of blood!

No one knows how many Jade Balance Sect masters died with resentment at Xushan’s hands. Those Tier Two and Three Sword Kings were as fragile as glass before him!

Although Xushan suffered some injuries himself, they were all minor. In the end, he stood like a Demon God, and no one dared to take a single step closer!

Finally, his actions alarmed the Jade Balance Sect Master of that time.

Facing the most powerful figure in the entire Jade Balance Sect, Xushan spoke a single, calm sentence that once again shocked everyone.