Nine Dragons Saint Ancestor

Crack!

A sound of bone fracturing was heard, followed by Song Zhen flying backward like a kite with its string cut. When he landed, he even toppled a wine table, appearing extremely wretched.

”Ah, my leg... my... leg!”

Song Zhen, after landing, was holding his right leg, wailing miserably. Everyone watched with dread at his twisted and deformed right leg, which was clearly broken.

Apart from Mo Qingling Pill and Li Yue, no one anticipated this outcome, not even Crown Prince Xuan Jiuding, despite having crossed paths with Yun Xiao a few times. He had never truly taken this young cultivator, whose cultivation was far below his own, seriously.

But just one exchange, both at the Early Stage of Meridian Union, with Song Zhen who even had one foot already stepping into the Mid Stage of the Meridian Union Realm, had resulted in his right leg being kicked and broken, leaving him screaming on the ground. Wasn’t this too unbelievable?

Even if Song Zhen wasn’t among the strongest present, he hailed from the first family of the Imperial City, the Song Family. The Cultivation Techniques and Meridian Techniques he practiced were definitely first-rate, so how could he fall with just one hit?

Only Li Yue shook his head and sneered, thinking to himself that in terms of mere physical strength, this Song Zhen was far behind his own third junior brother, Fei Yan—let alone when compared to Yun Xiao.

Just a broken right leg was probably the result of Yun Xiao showing mercy; didn’t they see that Fei Yan was kicked into unconsciousness by that foot? Without several months of rest, it was impossible to recover.

”Yun Xiao, you’re not following the rules!”

Song Yi, who shifted his shocked gaze away from Song Zhen, couldn’t hide the astonishment in his eyes, and yet he ended up shouting such a statement, making everyone immediately understand what he was getting at.

”Not following the rules? Are you referring to my kick, Brother Song Yi? But we didn’t say we couldn’t fight back just now, did we?”

Yun Xiao’s face revealed a peculiar expression. He then pointed to his left foot and added, ”I just lifted my foot, I didn’t move a step. Where did I break the rules?”

With these words, everyone, including Song Yi, realized that Yun Xiao had only agreed to take ten moves without stepping back, but who had said he couldn’t fight back?

But beforehand, Song Yi and the others hadn’t expected this young man, merely at the Early Stage of the Meridian Union Realm, to cause any significant waves. Even if he did strike out, he likely wouldn’t be a match for Song Zhen, right?

Who would have thought that the outcome would be completely contrary to what everyone had imagined? Only then did they feel that they might have neglected a fact: the strength of this young man from the Jade Pot Sect was probably not as they had imagined.

”If Brother Song Yi is not convinced, you can come up yourself. The same words apply—if you can make me move a step within ten moves, then I, Yun Xiao, lose!”

Yun Xiao did not bother about everyone’s expressions, his voice indifferent. He then pointedly added, ”But I can’t seem to control the strength in this leg of mine. If I accidentally hurt you by mistake, please don’t hold a grudge against me!”

These words seemed to be a reminder, but they were laced with a deep threat. If Yun Xiao had said these earlier, people would just sneer, but now, Song Zhen was still wailing nonstop.

”You...”

The precedent set by Song Zhen gave Song Yi a sudden feeling of losing control over the situation. He realized that even if he were to step up himself, it wasn’t guaranteed that he could make Yun Xiao take a step back, and he might very well follow in Song Zhen’s footsteps and end up in an equally dire state.

At this moment, Song Yi truly began to suspect that this youngster was hiding his strength. How else could he be so formidable? Even Song Yi himself couldn’t imagine kicking Song Zhen into a severe injury.

”What’s the matter? Don’t dare to? If that’s the case, then how about this...”

Yun Xiao’s face showed a hint of mockery. He then extended his right index finger, circled it in the air, and his voice suddenly rose, ”Everyone present counts as one. If anyone can make me take a step back within ten moves, then I, Yun Xiao, will admit defeat!”

His clear voice echoed in the hall of the Heavenly Moon Pavilion, creating a hushed reverberation. Apart from Yun Xiao’s words, all the talents from the Xuanyue Empire stood in silence.

Song Zhen’s fate was seen by all clearly. Geniuses at the Early Stage of the Meridian Union Realm naturally didn’t need to say more—they would not even have the courage to clash with Yun Xiao.

As for the mid-stage geniuses from the three major families like Song Yi, they too felt conflicted like Song Yi, fearing that Yun Xiao still had hidden tricks. If they made a mistake, it would be themselves who ended up in embarrassment.

Yun Xiao’s domineering presence was undoubtedly on full display at this moment. With his own strength alone, he silenced all the geniuses of the various sects and noble families of the Xuanyue Empire. This stirred an inexplicable thrill in Ling Wan, and in the beautiful eyes of Mo Qing, there flashed brilliance repeatedly.

In the past, the Jade Pot Sect, though always strong, didn’t dare to claim that it could suppress the entire empire’s geniuses single-handedly. Today, Yun Xiao had truly allowed the Jade Pot Sect to raise its eyebrows and sigh in relief in front of many geniuses.

While the early and middle-stage cultivators of the Meridian Union Realm dared not make a move, there were, after all, late-stage talents present. Surely, amongst such talents, even with Yun Xiao’s numerous skills, he would have to admit defeat, no?

Hence, after some internal conflict, everyone turned their gazes towards two particular figures. In their view, these two were definitely not going to allow Yun Xiao to continue showing off so arrogantly.

Apart from the Luoyi Sect, one of the three great sects that did not attend, there were three individuals in the realm who had reached the late stage of Meridian Union. Among them, the talented girl of the Jade Pot Sect, Mo Qing, was naturally disregarded by everyone.

The first genius they looked forward to was Li Yue, the senior disciple of the Qingshan Sect. Everyone knew the enmity between the Jade Pot Sect and the Qingshan Sect—they couldn’t stand the sight of each other.

Now that a disciple of the Jade Pot Sect was acting unbridled here, people thought that, given Li Yue’s usual manner, he probably wouldn’t even need Song Yi to ask for help before he’d step up to deal with that youngster himself.

However, under everyone’s gaze, Li Yue simply appeared nonchalant, as if he hadn’t noticed the commotion here at all, showing indifference to Yun Xiao’s domineering challenge.

This scene left everyone baffled. Could it be that during this time, the Qingshan Sect and the Jade Pot Sect had already made a secret pact? Why was Li Yue’s temperament so different from before?

What the crowd didn’t know was that Li Yue inwardly wished to tear that ragged-clothed youth to shreds. After his recent provocation at a Jade Pot Sect’s branch ended in defeat, he had made up his mind not to trouble Yun Xiao before the Countries Hidden Dragon Conference.

Aside from the deterrence brought about by Yun Xiao’s recent victories over two geniuses of the Qingshan Sect, his mentor, Li Feng, had repeatedly cautioned him to prioritize the Hidden Dragon Conference.

Therefore, until utterly certain of success, Li Yue was unlikely to make a move against Yun Xiao. Thus, his surface calm belied the extreme anger within, a situation that felt inexplicably odd.

Seeing Li Yue saying nothing and looking unfazed, everyone’s attention finally turned to the foremost position, where a young man in a brocaded robe was holding a wine cup, seemingly unmoved.

Yet no one noticed that the gold-trimmed wine cup was slightly deformed by an unseen force. One could only imagine how immense the force exerted by Xuan Jiuding’s hand must have been.

Truth be told, Xuan Jiuding had never considered Yun Xiao worthy of attention before, referring here to the strength of Meridian Qi or combat ability.

Even if Yun Xiao was intellectually superior, leading to occasions where Xuan Jiuding found himself outwitted, the Crown Prince took pride in his exceptional cultivation talent and had never viewed Yun Xiao as a rival.

Even when the results of the Jade Pot Sect’s Spiritual Chick Battle List reached the Royal Family, Xuan Jiuding merely thought it was the inadequacy of Yue Qi, Bi Luo, and others, not that Yun Xiao was too strong; he even sighed inwardly that the Jade Pot Sect was a shadow of its former self.

But today, with just a simple kick, Yun Xiao broke the right leg of Song Zhen, an early-stage cultivator of Meridian Union Realm. Such strength was truly alarming.

Xuan Jiuding admitted to himself that he could also severely injure Song Zhen with a kick, but he was a late-stage Meridian Union Realm cultivator, soon to break through to the Peak of Meridian Union Realm. If he couldn’t easily defeat a cultivator two minor realms below, he wouldn’t deserve the name of the Xuanyue Crown Prince.

Yet Yun Xiao, merely at the early stage of Meridian Union, had such a powerful combat ability—Xuan Jiuding questioned himself, as he couldn’t achieve this at that level.

Feeling the unusual and expectant looks of the crowd, Xuan Jiuding almost crushed the wine cup in his hand. If it were possible, like Li Yue, he wished to tear Yun Xiao to pieces.

However, the cultivation of his temperament over the years meant that his restraint was not much less than that of some elder statesmen. Before he had absolute certainty, he would not engage in actions that could possibly fail.

Therefore, after a moment, Xuan Jiuding’s face suddenly wore a smile. After glancing over someone, he said, ”Since you, Song Yi, dare not make a move, then give your place to these members of the Jade Pot Sect!”

Although Xuan Jiuding was smiling while speaking, he was extremely furious inside. Initially, he wanted to intimidate Yun Xiao and cause the Jade Pot Sect’s group to lose face. But their plan was aborted by Yun Xiao’s kick.

Instead, it was Yun Xiao who, stepping on the shoulders of Song Zhen and Song Yi, managed to suppress and humiliate everyone present—much like the recent embarrassment of the Qingshan Sect, a perfect example of ’stealing a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait’.

With Xuan Jiuding’s words, and since Song Yi indeed dared not act, all he could do was rush over to help the sweating Song Zhen and then, together with the remaining Song Family genius, withdraw embarrassingly to a spot by the hall’s entrance.

And that very spot was originally prepared for the members of the Jade Pot Sect!