Firmament Sword

On the Merak side, everyone was astonished. They didn’t know who had done it, but a look of satisfaction filled most of their eyes. ’Serves them right!’ they thought.

Just moments ago, their Sect Leader and Elder Qiushuiduan had turned pale, having clearly suffered a hidden loss. This had left nearly all the Merak Disciples present feeling indignant.

Aside from the Grand Elder’s few disciples who showed no reaction, everyone else was furious.

Now, seeing the Young Master of Tianquan seemingly suffer a great loss, the pent-up anger in the hearts of the Merak Disciples was finally released.

Joy was written all over their faces.

If not for their remaining inhibitions, some of them might have burst out laughing.

Over on the Tianquan side, the old man walked up to Fang Zhou. He shot out his hand, tapping Fang Zhou’s body several times like lightning. Fang Zhou’s body went limp and he was caught by the middle-aged man beside him.

The old man spoke slowly, ”Who did you just provoke?”

Fang Zhou was incredibly weak now, panting heavily, but he found that he could hear again.

Although sharp pains still shot through his ears, giving him a splitting headache, and the sounds he heard were somewhat muffled, it was better than not hearing anything at all.

”It was him! He was the one who just sent me a voice transmission! It was like a clap of thunder exploded in my ears! It nearly killed me!” Fang Zhou said, pointing a venomous finger at Xu Luo in the crowd.

On the Merak side, a look of disbelief appeared on the faces of many, including the disciples and elders.

They couldn’t believe that a young man under twenty years old could possess such an ability.

The old man didn’t quite believe it either. He carefully sized up the handsome, innocent-looking Xu Luo for a long time before narrowing his eyes at Fang Zhou and saying in a low voice, ”Do you know the consequences of lying?”

Fang Jing was pacing anxiously nearby, his forehead beaded with cold sweat. He looked at Fang Zhou and said, ”Zhou’er, you must tell the Old Ancestor the truth. What exactly happened just now?”

”I... I’m not lying! I... I sent him a voice transmission first, telling him... telling him to stay away from Phoenix. I told him we’d see what happens, and then... then he replied, ’Then we’ll see what happens’... and it was like an earth-shattering clap of thunder exploded in my ears...” Fang Zhou said, looking aggrieved.

The old man could see that Fang Zhou didn’t seem to be faking it, but he still found it hard to believe. ’A young man under twenty possesses this kind of sound-based attack technique?’

At that moment, Fang Jing narrowed his eyes, looked at Li Wenxi, and asked coldly, ”Sect Leader Li, aren’t you going to explain?”

”Explain? Explain my ass! Is there something wrong with your head?” Li Wenxi hadn’t said a word, but Xu Luo had already exploded with anger.

”Who do you think you are? You’re a Sect Leader, and my master is a Sect Leader too. What gives you the right? Constantly demanding explanations... are you stupid or just an idiot? You need someone to explain everything to you? I really don’t know how someone like you ever became a Sect Leader!”

”That’s right, I was the one who yelled at your little puppy son! He threatened me, said he was going to kill me! And you, puppy Fang Zhou, why are you trying to drag Senior Sister Phoenix into this? Did you mention Phoenix even once in your voice transmission to me?”

”Old man, I’m the one who blasted his ears. What about it? You want to make a move on me?” Xu Luo stared provocatively at the old man. He really wanted to test just how powerful the Jade Balance Demon Sound truly was.

Because just now, he had used less than a tenth of the Jade Balance Demon Sound’s power and had nearly deafened Fang Zhou.

Xu Luo’s words were earth-shattering, stunning everyone present from both sides on the spot.

The young geniuses of Merak suddenly realized that this worldly junior brother, whom they had always looked down upon, was actually so fierce!

He dared to say anything, even when facing a Sect Leader!

His audacity... was beyond description.

Fang Jing was fuming with rage. This kid kept calling his son a ”puppy son” while looking at him provocatively. The meaning was obvious: ’If your son is a puppy, then you’re the old dog!’

”Sect Leader Li, is this how you... educate your disciples?” Fang Jing ground out the words through clenched teeth, clearly at the peak of his fury.

Li Wenxi hadn’t expected Xu Luo’s sudden outburst either, but she was quite moved. Xu Luo wasn’t a true Merak disciple, and she had never treated him as a junior.

Xu Luo’s outburst was clearly in her defense. As for his methods... Li Wenxi didn’t mind.

Because judging by the attitude of these people from Tianquan, a conflict between the two sects was inevitable.

It wasn’t something that could be avoided just by wishing it.

”He’s a new disciple and doesn’t know the rules. I hope Sect Leader Fang can be magnanimous.”

”I can’t be magnanimous! If you, Li Wenxi, can’t handle him, I don’t mind teaching this rule-breaking little bastard a lesson for you, to let him know who he can and cannot provoke!” Fang Jing roared in fury.

”How strange. You refer to your son as ’quǎnzi.’ ’Quǎn’ means ’dog,’ doesn’t it? So ’quǎnzi’ is just ’dog son.’ I was only following your lead. Why so angry?”

Xu Luo looked at Fang Jing with feigned surprise and then said, ”Also, do you think this is your own kennel? You can bark whenever you want? If you’ve got the guts... come and bite me.”

Low chuckles came from the group of Merak Disciples. They really couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Even the usually cold and serious Qiushuiduan had a very strange expression. She looked at Xu Luo and shook her head inwardly. ’This little guy... his courage really is something else. Anyone who dares treat him like some worldly ant will suffer a great loss for it.’

Phoenix wanted to laugh but couldn’t help worrying about Xu Luo. ’Provoking the Sect Leader of Tianquan like this... it’ll be hard to get out of this mess.’

Fang Jing was about to say more when the old man beside him took a step forward and said slowly, ”Young man, you should watch your words!”

To others, the old man’s voice sounded weak, as if he had no strength at all.

But Li Wenxi and Qiushuiduan, who had just suffered a great loss, both had their expressions change drastically. Qiushuiduan strode forward and said coldly, ”You’re old enough to have one foot in the grave. Do you get some kind of pleasure from bullying a child?”

A cold light flashed in Li Wenxi’s eyes as she too walked forward.

Seeing this, Fang Jing and the group from Tianquan tensed up and went on guard. A conflict seemed unavoidable.

But Xu Luo, at the center of the storm, acted as if nothing was wrong. He grinned at the old man and said, ”Old man, tell me, how did I not watch my words?”

To others, his words sounded perfectly normal, full of youthful energy and rebelliousness.

But in the ears of the old man from Tianquan, it formed a series of earth-shattering, cataclysmic roars, RUMBLING incessantly.

When the old man had used his sound attack on Xu Luo just now, he had already put up his defenses, almost completely sealing his ear canals.

But he had never expected that not only would his attack on the young man have no effect, but the boy’s seemingly ordinary words would directly tear the defenses he had placed in his ears to shreds!

A deafening roar exploded as if from the very depths of his soul!

”PUH!”

The old man suddenly bent over and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, from both his ears, black blood began to GUSH out.

Immediately after, the same black blood started flowing from his eyes and nose as well.

”Demon... you’re a demon... you’re a demon!” The old man’s voice was no longer weak, becoming normal again. His cloudy old eyes were filled with terror, as if he had just seen the most horrifying thing in the world.

BOOM!

A violent aura erupted from the old man’s body, instantly blasting away the Tianquan disciples near him. Several of them vomited blood on the spot.

”Stay away from me! Stay away!” the old man roared madly.

He then shot into the sky, slapped at the empty air, and bellowed, ”I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! Don’t come any closer! I’ll fight you to the death!”

BOOM!

BOOM!

A series of thunderous roars echoed through the sky.

Waves of energy, visible to the naked eye, spread out in all directions.

Immediately after, the old man let out a terrified shriek and then... vanished into the distance in a flash.

Everyone stood petrified on the spot, as if they had lost the ability to think.

Only Xu Luo, standing in the crowd, looked innocently at the spot in the sky where the old man had disappeared and muttered, ”Oh no, the old man’s gone crazy!”

Everyone snapped back to their senses. The way they all looked at Xu Luo had completely changed.

This was especially true for the people from Tianquan. They looked at Xu Luo as if he were a demon. They were truly terrified.

The unknown is what’s truly terrifying.

They had no idea what kind of technique he had used to force a mighty expert of the Sword King Realm to first fight the air and then flee in terror.

The technique was simply too horrifying!

Most importantly... it was impossible to guard against!

Xu Luo let out a sinister chuckle and turned his gaze toward the group from Tianquan.

”What are you doing?”

”Don’t come over here!”

”Don’t talk to me!”

The group from Tianquan descended into chaos, all of them scrambling backward.

Xu Luo’s gaze then fell upon Fang Jing, a malicious look in his eyes.

As a Sect Leader, Fang Jing managed to remain relatively calm. He looked at Xu Luo and said slowly, ”Young man, don’t go too far. We have no grievances or enmity between us...”

”It’s good that you know not to go too far. I can’t stand you people and I don’t want to see you. So, all of you, scram. Don’t wait for me to change my mind.” Xu Luo curled his lip, speaking with complete indifference.

Fang Jing stared hard at Xu Luo for a long moment, then gritted his teeth and said, ”Fine. I will remember your words!”

”Let’s go!” With a face full of anger, Fang Jing had someone support his son, and they quickly disappeared ahead.

The other Tianquan Disciples didn’t even need their Sect Leader’s order. They had long wanted to get far away from this monster. Otherwise, they feared he would shout at them, and they wouldn’t even know how they died.

What an unjust way to go.

Only after the group from Tianquan had completely vanished from sight did Xu Luo give a somewhat weak smile. He said to the concerned faces watching him, ”I’m fine, just a little tired. Let’s go too.”

If the Grand Elder’s disciples hadn’t been there, Xu Luo would have found it truly difficult to hold on. The exchange with the old man from Tianquan had been incredibly perilous. The slightest misstep could have plunged him into an abyss of eternal damnation!

It was nowhere near as simple... as it had appeared on the surface!