Chapter 548: Dispute
Ling Xiao walked up slowly, step by step. He then moved beyond the protective range of the array and stood opposite Ouyang Yu, looking at him with a placid expression. “You’ve said a lot of nasty things, and you’ve even threatened me?”
“So what if I did?”
Ouyang Yu looked at Ling Xiao with disdain. ‘So what if you have seven Sword Venerables here? If I want to crush you, all it takes is the lift of a finger!’
“Heh, as for your Guardians’ orders… to me, they’re bullshit.”
As he spoke, Ling Xiao sighed softly. “I kindly agreed to Elder Sikong’s request out of respect for the Guardians’ righteous cause. I never imagined someone like you would be among you. Just go. My promise to Sikong Yang is now void! Whether the Demon Race attacks or not has nothing to do with me!”
“You… Ling Xiao! Are you courting death?” Ouyang Yu laughed in fury. “In all these years, you’re the first person to dare provoke the Guardians. Ling Xiao, you’ve got some serious nerve!”
“Bullshit!”
The Fourteenth Master sneered, “Don’t blow things out of proportion! Who said our Sect Leader was provoking all the Guardians? Kid, weren’t you running your mouth pretty happily just a moment ago? What… scared now?”
“You dare insult me? I’ll kill you!” Ouyang Yu wasn’t a fool, but he was practically seeing red from the Thirteenth Master’s insult. He had never met such a roguish Sword Venerable. In the past, hadn’t even people from the other Guardian Clans greeted him, Ouyang Yu, with smiles and pleasantries? To think that a minor sect from the Mortal World would dare to speak to him like this!
Ouyang Yu pointed his treasured sword at Ling Xiao and roared, “I’ll say the same words back to you: either apologize, or… die!”
“ARGH!”
The word “die” had barely left Ouyang Yu’s lips when a tremendous force suddenly slammed into his lower abdomen. Ouyang Yu couldn’t help but let out a bloodcurdling scream!
The scream echoed throughout the entire, massive Shushan City!
Countless people raised their heads and gazed at the sky. Though they didn’t know what had happened, they had all clearly heard someone insulting their great Lord moments before. So, almost everyone assumed the scream belonged to the enemy!
Because their Lord was Invincible!
Shangguan Yutong and the others stared at Ling Xiao in astonishment. Just now, Ling Xiao had merely flicked his sleeve! And just like that, he sent the incredibly arrogant Tier Four Sword Venerable flying several thousand meters away! Tumbling through the air, he didn’t crash to the ground, but anyone could see… Ling Xiao had shown mercy!
If Ling Xiao had truly wanted to kill him, Ouyang Yu would have been a corpse several times over by now!
Ouyang Yu felt as if his entire dantian was about to explode. The staggering pain made him howl and groan all the while, snot and tears streaming down his face.
He never imagined in his wildest dreams that someone in this world would actually dare to attack a Guardian!
But he had been so stunned by Ling Xiao’s attack that he didn’t even have the courage to return, because he hadn’t been able to see how his opponent had struck him at all!
Ling Xiao stood there and glanced indifferently at Ouyang Yu, who was thousands of meters away. “Get lost,” he said calmly. “If you come back, don’t blame me for being rude!”
His tone was as calm as ever, yet it carried a feeling like the edge of a blade—sharp and bone-chilling.
After speaking, Ling Xiao descended. As he did, he heard hundreds of thousands of people across the massive expanse of Shushan City erupt in a tremendous cheer!
“The Lord is Invincible!”
“Long live the Lord!”
“…”
Ling Xiao paused, slightly taken aback. Then, a happy smile spread across his face.
In a corner, Li Tianluo stood there in a daze. After a long moment, a bitter smile touched his lips. He thought back to when his father had opposed Ling Xiao, and it now seemed almost comical. ‘If his father had been decisive enough to join Ling Xiao’s side back then… would the outcome have been different?’
‘Then again,’ he thought, ‘that was completely impossible.’ Li Tianluo shook his head, then turned to leave. As he did, a hateful glare shot from his eyes. ‘My dear uncle, just you wait. This nephew of yours will be sure to give you a huge surprise!’
Hearing the waves of cheers from within Shushan City, the Thirteenth Master roared along, “That was a great hit! Dammit, that’s how you treat a bastard like that! He acts arrogant, so we’ll be even more arrogant and slap him right back!”
The Fourteenth Master chuckled. “Ling Xiao, do you take the Guardians’ orders for a child’s play?”
The Fourteenth Master put on a pinched, nasally voice, his imitation uncanny. It sent everyone into fits of laughter.
Far away, Ouyang Yu shot a venomous glare in the direction of the Shushan Sword Sect. He had already made a decision in his heart: ‘If I can’t kill Ling Xiao and seize his women, I swear I’m not fit to be a man!’
Ouyang Yu didn’t even fly back to deliver a parting threat, because he could see from Ling Xiao’s indifferent gaze that the man didn’t even consider him worth a second thought.
The feeling made Ouyang Yu burn with uncontrollable rage! He failed to consider, however, that this was exactly how he himself always looked at other people.
The area around his dantian was searing with pain. Gritting his teeth, Ouyang Yu flew back to a Guardian assembly point on the Mesopotamia Grassland.
There were twenty-odd Guardians there, including Sikong Yang, Sikong Liu, and Ximen Aotian, who had all met Ling Xiao before.
Beneath their feet lay a set of Ancient Ruins. They were preparing to activate a mechanism to raise the ruins and establish it as a Guardian stronghold in the south. The place was incredibly desolate, with no signs of life for hundreds of miles in any direction. It was a place humans could barely find, let alone the Demon Race.
Nearly everyone was shocked to see Ouyang Yu injured. Sikong Yang, who had given him this task, was also stunned. A crowd quickly gathered around Ouyang Yu, bombarding him with questions.
Sikong Yang looked at Ouyang Yu with a tense expression. “Little Brother Ouyang, did you run into members of the Demon Race? How did you get into this state?”
Ouyang Yu’s clothes were in tatters, his arms bore several wounds, and bloodstains dyed his robes red. He clutched his stomach and looked at Sikong Liu with an aggrieved expression, saying with great difficulty, “Lord Sikong, that Ling Xiao… he’s colluding with the Demon Race… and cultivating an evil technique! I discovered his secret, and he tried to kill me to silence me!”
‘This was the excuse Ouyang Yu had concocted on his way back.’ All the Guardian Clans were actually well aware that not all cultivation techniques practiced by the Demon Race were evil. So, even if Ling Xiao had absolutely no connection to the Demon Race, as long as Ouyang Yu adamantly insisted that he was cultivating a Demon Race technique, Ling Xiao would still suffer the consequences.
Of course, that was on the condition that everyone else believed his story.
However, Ouyang Yu was no pushover; he was confident he could produce rather compelling evidence.
Sikong Yang’s brows furrowed. He had long known Ouyang Yu was proud and haughty, even far more arrogant than Ximen Aotian. But there was one crucial point: the Ouyang Clan was extremely close with the Sikong Clan. Both were major Guardian Clans.
Among the twenty-odd Sword Venerable-level Guardians present, seven or eight were from the Ouyang Clan.
Seeing their kinsman being bullied, the members of the Ouyang Clan all stood up in righteous indignation. One of them, a Tier Five Sword Venerable named Ouyang Hong, sneered, “Lord Sikong, we may be under your command, but surely you can’t just watch your own people get bullied and not have the slightest reaction? That Ling Xiao has some nerve, daring to cultivate an evil technique. Hmph, does he really think… his array is indestructible? The Ouyang Family isn’t afraid of his damn Shushan Sword Sect! Oh, I hear some people even call them the Turtle Sword Sect!”
‘Idiot! The ones who called them the Turtle Sword Sect were all wiped out by Ling Xiao! How have you not heard about that?’ Sikong Yang cursed inwardly, but he couldn’t let it show on his face. He glanced dispassionately at Ouyang Yu and said, “If Ouyang Yu’s claims can be verified, I will naturally seek justice. However, Ouyang Yu, do you have any evidence that they are cultivating an evil technique?”
“What? You still need evidence? Lord Sikong, now I’m starting to question whose side you’re really on! Are you suggesting Ouyang Yu would lie?”
Ouyang Hong stared coldly at Sikong Yang. Others might fear Sikong Yang, but he, Ouyang Hong, did not. ‘So what if he’s a Tier Six Sword Venerable? Does that mean he can do whatever he wants? The Sikong Clan might be influential, but the Ouyang Clan is no weakling either!’
“No one was asking you. You’d best shut your mouth!”
Sikong Liu, who hadn’t spoken a word until now, moved like a ghost, suddenly appearing beside Ouyang Hong. With one hand, he seized Ouyang Hong by the neck and actually lifted the Tier Five Sword Venerable into the air!
Sikong Liu, who had a very good impression of Ling Xiao, didn’t believe for a second that he would be the type to cultivate an evil technique. Besides, he was sure that anyone here who wasn’t a complete idiot could see what was really going on with Ouyang Yu’s injuries. How could a battle between Sword Venerable Level experts result in such minor wounds? And this Ouyang Yu was truly vicious to frame Ling Xiao with such a method. A truly despicable person!
“Second Brother, let him go,” Sikong Yang rebuked. “Stop this nonsense!” Inwardly, however, he felt extremely satisfied. He swept a cold gaze over the few Ouyang Family members who were about to protest and said with a pained expression, “The Demon Race hasn’t even arrived, and we Guardians are already on the verge of internal strife? Or has it been that tens of thousands of years of peace have made you all forget your responsibilities?”
The crowd exchanged various looks, but no one dared to speak up in protest. Their gazes toward Sikong Liu now held an extra measure of awe. To so easily restrain a Tier Five Sword Venerable, instantly rendering him powerless to resist—was that level of strength something a mere Tier Six could possess?
The corner of Sikong Liu’s mouth curled as he set Ouyang Hong back on the ground. In that brief moment, Ouyang Hong’s face had already turned purple. The onlookers even had the feeling that if Sikong Yang had given the order, Sikong Liu would have dared to snap Ouyang Hong’s neck.
Ouyang Hong squatted on the ground and dry-heaved, his eyes glaring at Sikong Liu with pure hatred.
“What are you looking at? Keep looking and I’ll kick you to death!” Sikong Liu appeared calm and composed, but he actually had an explosive temper. He usually kept quiet precisely because he was afraid of stirring up trouble.
“Go on,” Sikong Yang said, looking at Ouyang Yu. He showed not the slightest hint of apology for Sikong Liu’s actions.
Ouyang Yu narrowed his eyes, his gaze flickering as he stared at Sikong Yang. He suddenly sneered, “Those of different principles cannot conspire together! Since Lord Sikong refuses to believe me, then let’s just wait and see!” With that, he called out to all the members of the Ouyang Clan and turned to leave, tossing one last, stiff remark over his shoulder.
“Lord Sikong, you said only Ling Xiao was strong in the Shushan Sword Sect. In less than a month, they’ve produced six more Sword Venerables! And Ling Xiao’s strength… is a bit greater than mine. If you won’t go, I will! I’ll see you at the Law Enforcement Elder Council!”