Firmament Sword

”However... rest assured, I already have a plan in place for the fiefdom!” Xu Luo said, looking up with a chuckle. ”If everything goes smoothly, the situation there should be very good by now!”

Liu Feng asked in surprise, ”What? You already have a plan in place for the fiefdom? When did this happen? How did we never know?”

Xu Jie teased from the side, ”Ever since you got back, you’ve spent every day with that little Princess from the Lan Meng Clan. When would you have time to care about anything else?”

Liu Feng protested with an aggrieved look, ”You say that as if *you* knew about it. And speaking of which, haven’t you also had no heart for forging swords lately?”

Xu Jie’s face flushed slightly, though it was hard to notice against his dark skin. He sounded dejected as he said, ”I’m afraid I’ll never get to see her again. Besides, even if I did, she’s so exceptional. Why would she ever be interested in me?”

”She lost to you. That means you’re more exceptional than her,” Sui Yan said expressionlessly. ”If she won’t marry you, we’ll wait until we’re stronger, find a chance, and just kidnap her to be our second sister-in-law!”

”Mhm, I’m on board with that idea!” the Little Fatty chimed in, eager to stir up trouble.

”Agreed!” Even their eldest brother, Huangfu Chongzhi, who normally disliked such antics, chimed in.

”You guys love chaos, don’t you? How could I possibly do something like that?” Xu Jie looked at his brothers with mock indignation. ”Besides, you think Mo Yun is that easy to kidnap?”

”Ahem...” Xu Luo rolled his eyes. ’Looks like Second Brother has really fallen for her this time,’ he thought. ’But I’m about to head to my northern fiefdom, and they insist on coming with me. Who knows how long it’ll be before we have a chance to travel to the Southern regions again.’

With that in his mind, Xu Luo looked up at Xu Jie. ”Second Brother, are you really in love with this Female General from the Great Yan Empire?”

The other brothers stopped their banter and looked at Xu Jie seriously.

Xu Jie hesitated for a moment before speaking seriously. ”I don’t know why, but I just have this very strong feeling for her. Seeing her in such a difficult situation... it didn’t make me happy. As a woman leading the remnants of her army in the Cao Kingdom, it must be incredibly hard for her to survive, let alone gain a foothold.”

The brothers all fell silent. They knew they were the direct cause of Mo Yun’s current predicament. Otherwise, even in defeat, she could have returned to the Great Yan Empire and remained its formidable Female General.

”Maybe you should...” Xu Luo began, looking up at Xu Jie.

Xu Jie immediately held up a hand and shook his head firmly, his expression serious as he looked at Xu Luo. ”Third Brother, don’t say it. I know what you’re thinking. Of us five brothers, you’re the one with the best chance of reaching the top. This is a critical time for you to establish yourself. I have to be by your side, no matter what.”

”That’s right! With the five of us brothers united, we’ll definitely carve out a glorious future for ourselves! And then, I can finally fulfill my dream of being a local despot!” Little Fatty declared smugly.

Sui Yan sneered, ”Aren’t you already the little despot of the Imperial Capital?”

Liu Feng rolled his eyes. ”That hardly counts. I don’t even harass respectable women...”

The brothers were left speechless by the Little Fatty’s shamelessness. The guy used to hang around beautiful women on the street every single day, yet he had the audacity to claim he didn’t harass respectable women...

”Still, Prime Minister Wei must be absolutely furious this time!” Xu Jie snickered. ”Third Brother took out the Wei Family’s branch in Hongcheng, then came back to the Imperial Capital and pissed him off so badly in the Golden Hall that he coughed up blood. I bet the Prime Minister is tearing his hair out at home right now.”

Huangfu Chongzhi mused, ”The waters of the imperial court run too deep. The wisest course is to distance ourselves from it as soon as we can.”

Liu Feng looked at Huangfu Chongzhi and asked, ”Eldest Brother, do you really have... absolutely no designs on that position?”

Huangfu Chongzhi gave a wry smile. ”Consider my status. Which of my brothers would tolerate me getting too involved in court affairs? Not to mention, I truly have zero interest in that position to begin with.”

”Yeah, we all come from bureaucratic families. We’ve seen too many plots and schemes, too much backstabbing and betrayal. It’s exhausting and pointless, really,” Xu Jie added.

Xu Luo’s eyes flickered, but he remained silent. ’My brothers all want to distance themselves from politics and conflict,’ he thought. ’But born into families like ours, unless we can stand by and watch our clans decline... how can we ever truly get away?’

Xu Luo couldn’t help but think of Phoenix and Qiqi, sighing inwardly. ’The secular world has its own conflicts, but the sects... are hardly peaceful either!’

’I suppose as long as you’re alive in this world, wherever there are people, there will be a Jianghu, and there will be strife. Most of the time, you can’t escape conflict just by wishing it away.’

The brothers drank late into the night. Though all were a little tipsy, none were truly drunk. They declined Xu Luo’s offer to have them stay at the General’s Mansion and departed.

Before leaving, they agreed to depart from the Imperial Capital in three days.

Xu Luo returned to his room alone. Outside, Xiaohai lay quietly, seeming to melt into the darkness of the night.

Just then, a low growl from Xiaohai echoed from outside, immediately followed by a ferocious roar and the whistle of weapons slicing through the air.

Xu Luo’s expression turned cold, the last vestiges of drunkenness vanishing instantly. Azure appeared silently in his hand.

The Xu Mansion guards had been alerted. Scores of them materialized from every corner, their battle cries echoing through the night.

Xu Luo pushed the door open to see several figures moving with incredible speed in the courtyard, each shrouded in a faint halo of light.

’True Essence Protection... Great Sword Masters!’ Xu Luo’s eyes narrowed as he wondered who could have sent these assassins.

The Xu Mansion also had masters in the Great Sword Master Realm among its guards, who were now clashing with the intruders, weapons in hand.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Weapons clashed, ringing out loudly and repeatedly. No one spoke; no one retreated. The intruders exchanged no words, seemingly determined to wreak havoc on the Xu Mansion.

”Leave no survivors,” Xu Luo said coolly, watching the duels.

Upon hearing the order, the Xu Mansion Guards’ attacks intensified, becoming a furious squall as they unleashed a mad flurry of techniques on the intruders.

The intruders heard Xu Luo’s words but acted as if they were deaf, continuing to defend with desperate resolve.

Grunts of pain sounded out as fighters were wounded.

Meanwhile, Xiaohai was in a standoff with a man who was clearly a High-tier Great Sword Master. The man and tiger had just exchanged a probing attack and both had found their opponent to be formidable. Now, they were focused intently on one another, wary of the next move.

HUMMM!

Suddenly, a faint hum vibrated through the night air. An arrow, moving at incredible speed, was already upon Xu Luo the very instant the sound registered.

It was aimed straight for the space between Xu Luo’s eyes!

”Young Master, look out!” a Guard who saw it cried out in alarm.

THWACK!

The arrow struck Xu Luo, drawing gasps of alarm from the crowd.

The fierce fighting in the courtyard faltered for an instant.

But then, they saw the arrow embedded deep in a wooden pillar. The Xu Luo it had struck was merely an afterimage!

Xu Luo had cultivated his Shaking Light Step to a new realm, allowing him to create several convincingly real illusions of himself in an instant!

In the next moment, Xu Luo’s figure shot into the air, and he threw a vicious punch toward a certain spot in the night sky!

BOOM!

Breaking Army Seven Kills!

Great Mountain Collapse!

Xu Luo opened with a killing blow. His entire being seemed to merge with his fist as he entered a profound, ethereal state. It felt as if the world around him was completely under his control; with his every breath, heaven and earth seemed to tremble.

In that instant, Xu Luo seemed to become one with the world around him.

Xu Luo himself never expected it. His cultivation, which had been stagnant for some time, had actually broken through—on a night like this, with a punch like this!

His opponent clearly hadn’t expected Xu Luo to break through at this moment and let out a small gasp of surprise.

The sound was sharp and clear—it was a woman!

’A woman?’ A glint flashed in Xu Luo’s eyes. He poured all his True Essence into his fist, and the Great Mountain Collapse of his Breaking Army Seven Kills hurtled toward his opponent with an aura of pure destruction!

The person opposite him sneered and met Xu Luo’s fist with an open palm.

RUMBLE!

A deafening roar shattered Xu Luo’s connection to the Void Spirit Realm. He felt his blood and qi roil within him, his internal organs shaking violently from the impact. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

His body was thrown back several dozen meters through the air before he flipped and landed on the ground.

His opponent hadn’t fared much better. Her body shot back like a kite with a snapped string, flying several dozen meters before she, too, hit the ground.

Xu Luo snorted. Executing the Shaking Light Step, his figure moved like a flash of lightning as he charged in her direction.

At that moment, a tiger roared as Xiaohai charged the High-tier Great Sword Master...

The woman steadied herself, but seeing Xu Luo charge again, she leaped into the air, landed on the roof of a building in the Xu Mansion, and then tried to escape under the cover of darkness.

Xu Luo gritted his teeth. His Shaking Light Star Soul and Kaiyang Star Soul simultaneously erupted with unparalleled power, making him several times stronger in an instant. His speed became incredible, and he caught up to the fleeing woman in a heartbeat.

Azure flashed with a brilliant blue light in his hand as he thrust it toward the woman’s back.

A chilling, deadly Sword Intent instantly enveloped the woman.

The air crackled with killing intent!

The woman had clearly misjudged Xu Luo. She cried out in alarm and, in a split second, wrenched her body to the side.

PFFT!

The sword pierced straight through the woman’s shoulder blade!

The woman cried out in pain, cursing, ”You little bastard, you dare!”

”Die!” Xu Luo raised his hand and slammed another Great Mountain Collapse fist into the woman’s back.

THUD!

With a sickening thud, the woman staggered and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. A bone in her back had been shattered.

She collapsed to the ground.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xu Luo rushed forward, raised his foot, and brought it down viciously on the prone woman.

Just then, a flash of sword light ignited several hundred meters away. A powerful aura locked onto Xu Luo, and the light stabbed toward him in an instant!