Firmament Sword

Du Qingteng and Master Mao followed close behind, tearing through space. They desperately pursued, keeping a great distance behind Xu Luo’s shadow.

This time, Xu Luo didn’t take a wrong turn. In fact, he had passed by the place Tang Xiao mentioned before.

But back then, they were still in that other space, which was like an Illusion Realm, so they couldn’t detect each other at all.

A journey that should have taken many days would likely only take a few hours with Xu Luo desperately tearing through the void.

However… how much can happen in a few hours?

‘Brothers… hang in there!’ Xu Luo’s heart burned with anxiety, but there was nothing he could do.

He could only hope that Tang Xiao and the others could hold on until he arrived.

‘Hold on, wait for me! We agreed we’d enter the Xi Hezhou competition together. We agreed we’d compete at the Peak of Jiuzhou. We were going to make a name for ourselves in this world together!’

‘In the future… we’re still going to explore the most mysterious No-Man’s-Land in the Divine Domain together!’

‘You have to… hang on!’

…

BANG!

Tang Xiao took another palm strike to the body, sending a spray of blood from his mouth.

Tang Xiao turned around, looked at the person who had struck him, and gave a bitter laugh. “Is this to the death?”

His attacker was tall and slender, with a graceful bearing and the air of a superior. He looked down on him haughtily. “Between you and me, there is only hatred. Of course it’s to the death!”

“Good, very good! Jin Ming, I don’t need you to care about our past as fellow disciples. I just want to ask you one thing…” Tang Xiao stared at Jin Ming and asked coldly, “Are you going to kill all of us?”

“Hah… how naive. You think I’d fail to pull the weed by its root? Just so you can come back for revenge later?” Jin Ming sneered, his face filled with disdain as he looked at Tang Xiao.

“I don’t care if I die, but the boss… he will definitely avenge me!”

“Jin Ming, you’ve always been a loser at the boss’s hands!”

“Compared to him, you’re not even fit to be a dog!”

“HAHAHAHA, Jin Ming, you don’t want to admit it, do you? But you have to!”

“You kill us here today, and one day… your entire family will be annihilated because of you!”

Jin Ming’s face turned ashen. He sneered, “You naive little thing, dream on! The Jin Family’s foundation is beyond your imagination! No one involved in this ambush today will ever speak of it. Who would be willing to face the wrath of Celestial Brilliance?”

“As for how you die… it’s simple. This Small World… is full of dangers!”

“Falling in battle… is perfectly normal!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget, we still have Luo Tian! He already knows about this!” Tang Xiao said.

“Him? Haha… You really think he can leave this Small World alive?” Jin Ming laughed at Tang Xiao. “Do you have any idea what this ‘boss’ of yours has done?”

Jin Ming glanced at the Blazing Flame Province disciples attacking the others and said coldly, “He killed the spiritual body of a Celestial Venerable Ancestor from the Blazing Flame Province right here!”

“Tell me, after we get out of here, do you think that Celestial Venerable Ancestor… will let him go?”

“HAHAHA… So, you see, you people from Celestial Brilliance… are just digging your own graves through your wicked deeds!”

“Today… all of you elites from Celestial Brilliance will die here!”

Jin Ming laughed maniacally. Especially when he said the words ‘you people from Celestial Brilliance,’ a wave of both pain and pleasure surged in his chest, a sensation so intense it was almost suffocating.

Besides the people from Blazing Flame Province and the Jin Family, there were also many disciples from other Xi Hezhou powers. They held no grudge against the Heavenly Brilliance Disciples, but they coveted the treasures and inheritances Tang Xiao and his friends had just obtained!

If not for those treasures, how could Tang Xiao and the others have held on for so long? They probably would have been wiped out long ago!

After all, no matter how powerful they were, they were helpless against dozens of times their number in Martial Artists of the same rank.

Not to mention, several Venerable Peak elders from the Jin Family were hidden among them!

Although these elders also had their cultivation suppressed to the Initial Tier Ultimate Venerable realm, their combat experience and strength far surpassed these young people.

The most severely injured ones were likely their handiwork.

Tang Xiao and the others formed a defensive circle, protecting their heavily injured comrades in the center. He, Yu Tianjie, Shao Zheng, and Ming Youyue each held one of the four cardinal directions, desperately fending off wave after wave of enemy attacks.

Their opponents were in no rush to kill them. On one hand, the chance to toy with the peerless prodigies of Celestial Brilliance was rare. On the other, they all wanted to get their hands on the treasures and inheritances Tang Xiao’s group had just acquired!

As for the Jin Family, on Jin Ming’s orders, they were mostly toying with them like a cat playing with mice.

“With such a life-and-death feud between us… how could I bear to let you die so quickly?”

Those were the words Jin Ming had spoken the first moment he saw Tang Xiao and the others.

It also showed that this Young Master of the Jin Family, who had been expelled from Celestial Brilliance, had now completely forgotten any past camaraderie with his former sect-mates.

All that remained in his heart for everyone in Celestial Brilliance, from top to bottom, was endless hatred.

“Tang Xiao, Tianjie… Junior Sister Ming, and Shao Zheng… you guys, break out and run!”

A heavily injured Yu Tianying lay on the ground, saying weakly, “Don’t be so stubborn. Don’t worry about us. The boss… he’s probably very far away. By the time he gets here, he’ll likely only find our corpses.”

“Yeah, you guys should go quickly. You can’t let us… drag you down!” Lv Di said with difficulty, coughing up blood.

Zhong Jiuyan, who had lost an arm, was pale. The bleeding from his severed limb had stopped. He gritted his teeth, using his saber as a cane as he stood beside Yu Tianying and the others, ready to charge forward and fight to the death at any moment.

Wang Tong stood next to Zhong Jiuyan. His injuries were lighter, but his body was still covered in seven or eight wounds from which the blood wouldn’t stop flowing. They were all Dao Injuries!

Wang Tong’s bloodless face was ice-cold as he said, “You all have a chance to break out now. Senior Brother Zhong and I don’t. We’ll stay here and fight to the death. We won’t bring shame to Celestial Brilliance!”

Zhong Jiuyan said, “That’s right. It’s only death. We won’t bring shame to Celestial Brilliance!”

“Bullshit! We’re not leaving!” Tang Xiao roared. “Heavenly Brilliance Disciples don’t have a habit of abandoning their own! You think everyone is like that scum from Celestial Brilliance, Jin Ming? Scum like him… Celestial Brilliance has only produced two in hundreds of millions of years. One is him, and the other is his younger brother, Jin Xian!”

“AHHH! Tang Xiao, you’re asking to die!” Jin Ming flew into a rage, and the group from the Jin Family… also erupted in anger.

“HAHAHA, come and kill me then!” Tang Xiao laughed wildly as he began to chant the Great Wilderness Scripture, pushing past his limits to recite the later passages.

Ancient mountains and rivers, all sorts of ancient Divine Beasts, flew out from the ancient scripture hanging above Tang Xiao’s head.

They slammed into the crowd of attackers!

“AAAAAH! Kill!” Tang Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood, but his spirit was excited to the extreme.

SQUELCH!

An expert from the Jin Family had his skull pecked through by a raptor that flew out of the ancient scripture, and his brains immediately spilled out, mixed with blood.

Another expert from a different Xi Hezhou power who was charging over was directly crushed into a meat paste by a pitch-black mountain!

Several other members of the Jin Family, unable to retreat in time, were directly swallowed by several terrifying behemoths.

The sight made everyone’s scalp tingle with fear.

But at the same time… this terrifying ancient scripture only fueled the crowd’s greed even more!

“That kid’s ancient scripture is a supreme treasure! It’s definitely a Treasure of the Sect!”

“Kill him and take it!”

“Kill him! After that, it’s every man for himself. Whoever grabs it, gets to keep it!”

“That ancient scripture is mine!”

Jin Ming glanced around at the many people who had been holding back but were now eager to make a move. He shouted, “These Heavenly Brilliance Disciples and I have a blood feud! I, Jin Ming, swear on my Dao! Today, the Jin Family is only here for revenge, not to seize any treasures!”

“Therefore, whoever kills them, the Jin Family will absolutely not compete for the treasures you seize!”

“You’ve seen the power of that ancient scripture. Whoever obtains it, if they go into seclusion and cultivate for a few hundred years, will surely become a true titan of the entire Divine Domain!”

With the proof right before their eyes, and spurred on by Jin Ming’s words, many who had been hesitating could no longer hold back. They roared and charged forward.

Someone shouted, “Young Master Jin is a man of his word!”

“Young Master Jin comes from a prestigious family. Of course he’ll keep his word!”

“We’ve heard about Young Master Jin’s grudge with Celestial Brilliance. Young Master Jin wasn’t to blame for what happened!”

“That’s right, how could he do nothing when his own brother was killed?”

“Exactly! If you do nothing after your own brother is killed, you’re not even human! Young Master Jin did the right thing!”

The crowd showered Jin Ming with flattery as they charged forward, becoming fresh reinforcements in the siege against Tang Xiao and his group.

Tang Xiao couldn’t help but laugh coldly. “HAHAHA, you bunch of idiots! You’ve all been fooled by Jin Ming! Do you know what his Dao is? His Dao is deception!”

“You ignorant fools, you’re being sent up here as cannon fodder, yet every one of you is so excited. I really don’t know what you use those heads of yours for!”

Jin Ming nearly coughed up a mouthful of old blood. He roared, “Tang Xiao, stop your slander! Who in this world would make deception their Dao?”

“You do!” Ming Youyue’s Bright Moon Dharma Aspect obliterated several enemies rushing toward her. She then said seriously, “All this time, the Dao you cultivate, the Dao in your heart—hasn’t it always been deception?”

“Ming Youyue… I was originally going to spare your life…” Jin Ming gritted his teeth.

Ming Youyue immediately cut him off. “See? Did you all hear that? Just a moment ago, he said he was going to slaughter every single one of us here. Now he says he was originally going to spare my life. How can you possibly trust a hypocritical liar like him? It’s baffling!”

The roaring crowd that had charged forward suddenly froze. Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that was indeed the case…

Jin Ming was about to go mad with rage, fuming so hard that smoke could have come from his orifices. He roared, “I, Jin Ming, swear on my parents’ honor! What I said… is all true! Now… do you believe me?”

Ming Youyue asked in surprise, “Didn’t your parents die a long time ago?”

“Yeah, Jin Ming, that’s going too far. Even though we don’t like you, we have to be fair. When you joined Celestial Brilliance, you said your parents died young and that you were ostracized at home, which is why you joined the sect. Now you’re joking with the honor of the deceased? You… you’ve gone too far!” Shao Zheng, with his boyishly innocent eyes, said with a naive expression.

Yu Tianjie said, “We already told you. His Dao is deception!”

PFFT…

Jin Ming finally sprayed out a mouthful of old blood.