Firmament Sword

At this point, all the guests who had come to the Xu Family wedding banquet finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

Although the sects had entered the secular world in force, most people hadn’t felt much of a difference. This was because there was almost never any interaction between the two worlds.

Cultivators from the sects might see secular people as ants, but they rarely engaged in the wanton slaughter of innocents for no reason. Such acts were absolutely forbidden in the Sect Realm.

Today, they had truly witnessed the power of the sects. At the same time, what opened their eyes even more was witnessing the might of Xu Luo!

He had faced a major figure from a sect and killed him without a shred of hesitation!

That temperament alone was enough to fill many hearts with awe and fear.

Previously, whenever the Xu Family’s second young master was mentioned, nearly everyone, even the common folk on the streets, would put on a show of shaking their heads and sighing, ”The second son of the Xu Family... what a disappointment to his great father!”

Now, who would dare say such a thing?

Although some guests still felt a lingering unease, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue drinking at the Xu Family’s feast.

Xu Ji and a group of his military colleagues were drinking merrily, not letting the day’s events bother them in the slightest.

”A pot is often broken at the well’s edge; a general often falls on the battlefield.” This old saying was practically the Xu Family’s motto. Therefore, whether facing a brutal enemy or a powerful sect, there was no fundamental difference to Xu Ji.

If it weren’t for Xu Su’s wedding day, he would have even wanted to settle the score with those bastards from Dubhe.

The deaths of Sui Wanli and Xu Zhongtian had been a heavy blow to Xu Ji. Not to mention the Emperor, who had been a childhood friend of Xu Ji’s, had also died due to Dubhe’s machinations.

The Xu Family and the Cangqiong Royal Family were now practically one entity, sharing all fortunes and misfortunes. As the mortal enemy of the Royal Family, Dubhe had naturally become the mortal enemy of the Xu Family as well.

Little Fatty was incredibly excited, downing large bowls of wine. For once, Lan Xin didn’t try to rein him in, letting him drink to his heart’s content.

”Hahaha, Third Brother, that was so satisfying! You didn’t see those people from Dubhe—their faces turned green with fear! Each one of them wished they’d been born with more legs, the way they scrambled to get away!” Little Fatty laughed heartily, making no effort to hide his loathing for Dubhe.

Sui Yan kept his head down. After downing a bowl of wine, he looked up, glanced at Huangfu Chongzhi, and then said to Xu Luo, ”Third Brother, I want to ask you for a favor.”

Xu Luo looked at Sui Yan and said softly, ”Is it about Huangfu Haoyue?”

Sui Yan nodded, gritting his teeth. ”I want to kill him with my own hands to avenge my father!”

Although Huangfu Haoyue had not killed Sui Wanli personally, it made little difference. If not for Huangfu Haoyue, Sui Wanli and Xu Zhongtian would never have died.

Sui Yan hated the people of Dubhe to the bone. Huangfu Haoyue, in particular, was an enemy etched into his very soul.

”Alright. Tonight, you will go and kill him.” Xu Luo didn’t hesitate in the face of his brother’s request. ’I’ve already killed a major figure from Dubhe, so what’s one more Huangfu Haoyue?’

The Prince of Ying City, Huangfu Haoyue’s father, was long dead and gone. When Huangfu Haoyue had rebelled in the Imperial Capital, his father had supported him from afar. After Huangfu Chongzhi ascended the throne, his first act was to dispatch troops to suppress the Prince of Ying City, who had been beheaded long ago.

”Third Brother... are you really prepared to confront Dubhe head-on right now?” Huangfu Chongzhi frowned slightly. ”What about the Kaiyang Sect?”

”Might as well herd two sheep as one! Let’s just fuck them all up together!” Little Fatty, a bit drunk, spouted nonsense from the side.

Lan Xin shot Little Fatty a glare and secretly pinched him twice.

”What did you pinch me for? If you don’t believe me, ask Third Brother if that’s what he’s thinking!” Little Fatty looked aggrieved.

Xu Luo nodded. ”Fourth Master is right. That is indeed my plan!”

Huangfu Shishi and Phoenix, who were sitting at the same table, were somewhat taken aback. They understood far better than Little Fatty and the others what it meant to go up against one powerful sect, let alone two at once.

”If you really do this, I’m afraid even the Celestial Cauldron Sect and the Jade Balance Sect won’t be able to speak up for you directly. After all... some things are better done than said,” Phoenix said with a hint of worry.

Huangfu Shishi looked at Xu Luo and said softly, ”If brother really decides to have a complete falling out with the Kaiyang Sect, then I will announce my withdrawal from it!”

Xu Luo waved his hand and smiled. ”Why would you quit?”

”Then what do you mean?” Everyone looked at Xu Luo in confusion, wondering what he was planning.

”The Kaiyang Sect Leader is incompetent. He’s not up to the task, so we’ll just replace him. I think Qiqi would do a fine job,” Xu Luo said lightly.

”Ah, that’s impossible!” Huangfu Shishi said in a panic. ”Brother, you mustn’t say such things. The Kaiyang Sect’s foundation is incredibly deep. Although the Sect Leader represents the sect, he is by no means the most powerful individual. He merely represents the will of the entire Kaiyang Sect. There are still many old masters who have been in seclusion for years. They are the true core and foundation of the sect.”

”Nothing is impossible,” Xu Luo said calmly. ”Let’s set this matter aside for now; there’s no rush. Whether we have a complete falling out with the Kaiyang Sect will depend on Shangguan Qing’s own choices. But as for Dubhe... I have no fear!”

Today’s battle had given Xu Luo immense confidence. His countless life-and-death trials in the endless starry sky had raised his strength to an unbelievable level. Now, even if he had to face true titans like Xiang Wentian and Shangguan Qing, Xu Luo was confident he could hold his own!

But whether people like Xiang Wentian would actually make a move themselves was a big question mark... After all, they were famous figures who had established their status over many years. It was impossible for them to completely disregard their pride. No matter how you looked at it, Xu Luo was still a junior.

Confronting Dubhe wasn’t a matter of Xu Luo’s arrogance. Even if he didn’t take this stance, Dubhe would never let him go.

Although Lin Luoxue was the Dubhe Saintess, she was just a junior whose words carried little weight. How much influence could she possibly have? He believed Lin Luoxue would never be willing to oppose him directly; her absence from the Imperial Capital this time was proof enough of her stance.

In fact, the members of the Celestial Cauldron Sect and the Jade Balance Sect had also entered the secular world long ago. However, their target and focus was the massive Spirit Stone Vein discovered in Cangqiong!

This news was precisely what gave Xu Luo his confidence. Dubhe was currently too preoccupied to spare much effort to deal with him. If he didn’t seize this opportunity to strike a heavy blow against Dubhe and boost his own side’s morale, should he just wait for them to catch their breath and annihilate him and his people in one fell swoop?

”No matter what, we’ll follow you, Third Brother, to the end! I, Fourth Master, finally get it. This world is the same at every level—the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. It’s better to rely on yourself than on others! Tomorrow, Fourth Master is going into secluded cultivation!” Little Fatty exclaimed, waving his arms around. Then he looked at Lan Xin. ”When this brother of yours achieves supreme mastery, I’ll take you as my wife!”

”Get lost!” Lan Xin gave Little Fatty a huge eye-roll, but her heart was filled with sweetness.

...

In the Cangqiong Imperial Capital, inside a luxurious tavern, a group from Dubhe had gathered. They had booked the entire establishment.

There wasn’t a hint of a smile on anyone’s face. The reality was completely different from what they had envisioned.

They had gone looking for trouble, only to be slapped hard across the face and sent packing. They had even lost a senior member.

While that senior member might not have been the strongest in their group, he wasn’t far from it. His death was a massive blow to the people from Dubhe.

”What do we do? Elder Meng is dead, Elder Li is seriously injured, and most importantly, Huangfu Haoyue has been captured by them. I fear he’s as good as dead. If the Sect Leader finds out, he’ll be furious,” a middle-aged man in his forties said with a grim expression.

”I never expected Xu Luo to be so powerful. Our previous estimates of him... were ridiculously wrong!” a rather ugly middle-aged woman growled, complaining bitterly about the sect’s intelligence division. ”If we had known his true strength earlier, we could have planned accordingly. But now look at this mess!”

”Indeed, who could have thought that a mere secular youth would be more than a match for even Elder Meng...” an old man with a sorrowful face said sadly. ”But Elder Meng... he was a bit too arrogant. If he had used his Dharma Heaven and Earth to suppress him from the start, the outcome might have been different.”

”But how could he casually use a major technique like Dharma Heaven and Earth in that kind of situation...” the middle-aged man said in a low voice. ”Besides, we aren’t the only sect in this city right now. There are experts from many other sects present, which makes it inconvenient to do many things.”

”If you ask me, tonight we should charge over there, forcibly sweep through the Xu Family, and slaughter every last one of them!” the ugly middle-aged woman said viciously.

”That... that won’t work, will it?” an old man who looked to be in his fifties said with a slight frown. ”Xu Luo’s strength is...”

”No matter. After winning today’s fight, they’ll never expect us to attack tonight!” the ugly middle-aged woman said coldly. ”We’ll catch them by surprise. When the time comes, the six of us Elders will attack Xu Luo together. The rest will slaughter the others in the Xu Mansion. I refuse to believe... that we, the number one sect in the Sect Realm, can’t even wipe out a tiny secular family!”

The old man with the sorrowful face nodded from the side. ”That’s actually a pretty good idea. It’s just that, with the Sect Leader...”

”The Sect Leader won’t blame us! We’re doing this for the benefit of the sect... and for our pride!” the ugly middle-aged woman said in a cold voice. ”If we don’t destroy the Xu Family, what will become of Dubhe’s reputation?”

”But the Saintess...” The old man in his fifties seemed to disagree with the ugly middle-aged woman’s plan and hesitated.

”The Saintess? Just a little girl. True, the Saintesses of past generations have all gone on to achieve great things, but...” The ugly middle-aged woman gave a cold smile. ”It’s not as if there haven’t been Saintesses who... have fallen!”