Firmament Sword

Afterward, almost no one saw how Xu Luo moved. In any case, when the scene came into focus, they saw Guo Yi already in Xu Luo’s grasp. Xu Luo had him by his long hair and was forcing his head down… The scene looked more like a street brawl.

The stronger fighter would grab his opponent’s hair, force their head down, and simultaneously drive a knee upward.

And that was exactly what Xu Luo did.

He was truly enraged. ’A fight is one thing, and winning or losing doesn’t matter much. But this guy wants to kill me… I can’t let that slide!’

If this weren’t Celestial Brilliance, and if he didn’t have important business to attend to, Xu Luo would have killed Guo Yi in a thousand different ways the very instant he’d shown killing intent.

Although he couldn’t kill him, Xu Luo had no intention of letting him off easy.

”You look down on me, don’t you? You told me to get lost? You wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone?”

”Well then… today I’ll make sure you lose every last shred of dignity!”

CRACK!

A sickening crack of breaking bone echoed, making everyone’s scalp tingle.

Guo Yi’s handsome face made intimate contact with Xu Luo’s knee!

An inhuman shriek escaped his throat. Never in his life had he experienced anything like it.

Guo Yi came from a prestigious family and had shown extraordinary talent from a young age. After being accepted into Celestial Brilliance and joining the Medicine Garden, his life had been one of smooth sailing; he’d never suffered a single setback. Today, however, in front of a large crowd, Xu Luo used a move straight out of a street brawl to turn his face into a bloody, mangled mess!

Afterward, Xu Luo let go of Guo Yi’s hair. Guo Yi crumpled to the ground, clutching his face and writhing as he howled in agony.

Blood, mixed with bits of shattered teeth, spewed from his mouth… The sight sent a chill down the spines of the dumbfounded onlookers.

Many of the onlookers grimaced in sympathetic pain, and their gazes toward Xu Luo were now filled with terror.

”This piece of trash dares to lecture me?” Xu Luo stood tall, his gaze sweeping over the crowd as he demanded coldly, ”Is this the younger generation of the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden? Is this your idea of a welcome? Is there anyone else? Someone a little more capable? Trash like this should be kept at home where he can be an embarrassment in private. Why bring him out?”

Arrogance! Dominance! An aura that looked down upon the entire world billowed from Xu Luo, roaring like a tidal wave as it crashed into the crowd before him.

Such brazen words would normally have drawn endless ridicule. But in that moment, not a single one of the Celestial Brilliance Inner Sect Disciples across from him dared to utter a sound.

They were terrified.

The sharp-tongued, beautiful woman stared at Xu Luo in terror and muttered, ”He’s no pushover who got in through the back door… He’s a Great Demon King.”

Someone in the crowd whispered, ”A moment ago, I was worried Guo Yi would kill him… Tsk. Now the worry is how this whole mess is going to be resolved.”

Guo Yi continued to howl on the ground. It wasn’t that he was being overly dramatic or couldn’t take a hit; Xu Luo’s furious attack had simply been that vicious.

It might have looked like a move from a street brawl, but that single knee strike had shattered most of Guo Yi’s teeth, caved in the bridge of his nose, and broken his cheekbones. His entire face was a mangled ruin, as if he’d been struck by a charging beast.

Just then, an icy voice cut through the air. ”What an arrogant, insolent brat. You haven’t even formally entered the sect, yet you’re already this vicious? How could the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden dare accept someone who would strike a future sect brother so grievously?”

As the voice faded, a tall, handsome young man descended from the sky. He landed and strode toward Xu Luo with a powerful, commanding presence. His gaze was glacial as he stopped before him.

”Third Senior Brother!” The petrified crowd seemed to find their pillar of support, rushing forward to greet the young man.

The young man glanced at the still-writhing Guo Yi, frowned, and said coldly, ”Aren’t you going to carry this disgrace away? Hasn’t he caused enough embarrassment?”

Li Yin was the first to rush over. He and another disciple, who had long been eager to leave, lifted Guo Yi and hastily carried him away.

The young man then turned back to Xu Luo. ”You will give me an explanation for this!” he said coldly.

With a flip of his hand, four flying daggers shimmering with an eerie blue light appeared in Xu Luo’s palm. ”Is this explanation enough?” he asked faintly.

The young man froze. His eyes locked onto the four daggers in Xu Luo’s hand, and his face shifted. With a cold sneer, he said, ”I never imagined… you were such a malicious person. What are you doing with four poisoned daggers? Do you want to kill me?”

At the young man’s words, the expressions of the disciples around him turned awkward. After all, they had clearly seen Guo Yi shoot those same four daggers at Xu Luo.

Furthermore, Guo Yi was rather well-known within the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden, and even throughout Celestial Brilliance as a whole. He even had a nickname: Xiaoguo’s Flying Saber.

It was his signature technique!

This was common knowledge, yet the young man completely ignored it, twisting the facts to use as evidence against Xu Luo.

Xu Luo glanced at the others standing near the young man. ”And what do you all have to say?”

The dozen or so people present all looked conflicted. Not one of them made a sound.

”Hahahaha!” Xu Luo suddenly roared with laughter and flicked his wrist…

Thinking Xu Luo was about to throw the daggers, the young man instantly assumed a defensive stance. A powerful aura erupted from him as he moved, instantly hiding behind one of his junior brothers.

The entire sequence was executed in a single, fluid motion, unimaginably fast!

Even Xu Luo, using his Shaking Light Step, would likely only be able to match that speed.

Then, with a contemptuous smile, Xu Luo watched as the four poisoned daggers in his hand rapidly disintegrated into fine powder, rustling to the ground.

The disciple he’d hidden behind glanced back with a bizarre expression at his Third Senior Brother cowering behind him. His mouth twitched. Without a word, he turned and walked away.

Then, the beautiful woman also glanced at their Third Senior Brother, her expression complex. She lowered her head and walked away.

The remaining eight or nine disciples all followed suit and left.

Soon, only the young man and Xu Luo were left.

Xu Luo looked at the young man, gave a slight shake of his head, and turned to return to his room without a word.

The face of the young man called Third Senior Brother flushed red, then drained of color. He was both incandescent with rage and… utterly mortified!

’The guy wasn’t even trying to kill me, but my reaction was completely over the top. I actually hid behind a fellow disciple.’

’If word of this gets out, I’ll be a pariah in the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden.’

’No one wants a Senior Brother who uses his juniors as human shields!’

”I’ll kill you!” The young man finally snarled, his body blurring into a streak of light. A Long Sword, glinting coldly, appeared in his hand as he thrust it directly at Xu Luo’s back.

Xu Luo spun around in a flash. Executing the Shaking Light Step, he dodged the sword and delivered a vicious slap across the young man’s face.

”You utter disgrace! Get lost!” he roared.

SMACK!

The crisp sound of the slap reached the ears of the disciples who hadn’t walked far. They all stopped and turned to look back.

They then saw their Third Senior Brother, his body like a kite with a broken string, sailing right over their heads. He landed with a heavy THUD, crashing hard on the ground.

He was still clutching the Long Sword that radiated a cold light.

The group exchanged glances, then… with a silent, mutual understanding, they all walked around their fallen Third Senior Brother and continued on their way.

Xu Luo’s peripheral vision swept over a large tree in the distance. He said nothing and went straight back into his room.

A moment later, a few leaves on that large tree quivered slightly, as if brushed by a faint breeze. The movement was so subtle it didn’t even startle a small bird perched on a nearby branch.

...

...

On the First Peak, inside Grand Elder Yuwen Ji’s reception room, the beautiful woman was recounting what she had just witnessed.

”This kid is incredibly strong!”

”To be more precise… his combat prowess is formidable!”

”He definitely hasn’t reached the Great Saint Realm, but his combat ability… it seems he could even hold his own against a Great Saint for a short period!”

”Inner Sect Disciple Guo Yi tried to assassinate him with poisoned daggers in front of everyone, but…”

”And Chu Lin, a Direct Disciple under Seventh Brother, has serious character flaws. He not only openly accused the new kid of owning the poisoned daggers, but when the kid destroyed them, Chu Lin thought he was being attacked and actually hid behind a junior…”

As the beautiful woman spoke, her lovely face was frosty with anger. She was clearly incensed.

Finally, she added, ”That kid’s Spiritual Sense is exceptionally sharp. It seemed as if… he knew I was there the entire time.”

Yuwen Ji’s expression had remained placid throughout her report, but her last statement finally stirred him. He looked up at the beautiful woman. ”What did you say? He could sense your presence? That… shouldn’t be possible, right?”

”I agree, it shouldn’t be possible. He’s clearly not even at the Saint Realm, while I’m at the Great Saint Peak. We’re an entire major realm apart. Logically… there’s absolutely no reason he should have been able to detect me.”

The beautiful woman frowned, her brow furrowed. ”And yet, right before he returned to his room, he glanced from the corner of his eye… right at my hiding spot…”

”Perhaps it was a coincidence,” Yuwen Ji said. ”If his Spiritual Sense were truly that powerful, he wouldn’t be a genius. He’d be a monster.”

”Perhaps… perhaps it was just a coincidence,” the beautiful woman said. ”But in any case, I must congratulate you, Big Brother. It seems you’ve finally found a disciple you can be satisfied with!”

”Satisfied?” Yuwen Ji gave a sudden, bitter smile. He offered no explanation, only sighing softly. ”Let’s hope so.”

...

...

Before long, news of what had happened at Xu Luo’s residence spread throughout the Ninth Mountain. From there, it began to spread like a virus, moving rapidly to the other mountains.

Each of Jiulong Ridge’s mountain ranges was immense, like an independent country. Traveling between them required the use of battleships.

Flying from one range to another would take an incredibly long time.

Only those who had reached the rank of Elder could freely use the Teleportation Arrays connecting the mountains.

Because of this, news generally did not travel so quickly.

And yet, by the very next morning, word of the incident… had spread through the entire Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden.

It caused an uproar.