Proud Sword Soaring Clouds

Song Qi and the others were ecstatic. To witness a Sword Venerable become a Saint and enter the Holy Sanctuary—such an opportunity came once in a millennium! After all, no one knew what the Holy Sanctuary was like. Although it was common knowledge that when a cultivator reached the Saint Tier, their power would grow too great for the mortal world to contain and the Holy Sanctuary Gate would automatically open, no one had ever actually seen it happen. The reason was simple: everyone who had gone through the process had already entered the Holy Sanctuary!

Shangguan Yutong glanced regretfully at Leng Qianqian, who was still in the middle of her breakthrough. ’What a shame,’ she thought. ’She won’t be able to see this for herself.’

Ling Xiao smiled. "Just have Quefeng come stand guard. She’ll be perfectly safe here with us."

Only then did Shangguan Yutong flash a charming smile and follow behind Ling Xiao.

Gongsun Huang led the way, his flight speed deliberately slow. A Martial Artist at the Sword Venerable Realm could, if flying at full speed, instantly leave a Sword Emperor completely in the dust.

Ling Xiao, Shangguan Yutong, Song Qi, Gongsun Sword, and a few Sword Emperors from the Gongsun Clan followed behind him.

Gongsun Sword’s mind was in turmoil. He had never imagined he would run into his grandfather while attending the founding ceremony for his brother’s Sword Sect. He had been thrilled at first, but he was completely unprepared for the news that his grandfather was breaking through the Sword Venerable Realm to enter the Saint Tier. ’Now that he’s leaving... who knows how long he’ll be gone!’

Flying west from Shushan City, the group of experts traveled for more than two hours before Gongsun Huang finally came to a stop amidst a range of mountains.

He stood atop the highest peak, the evening wind whistling and tugging at his coarse cloth robes, giving him the ethereal appearance of an immortal about to ascend.

Gongsun Huang gazed back the way they had come, due east, where a full moon hung high in the clear night sky, blanketing the entire forest below in a silver glow.

Ling Xiao and the others stood several hundred meters away, following Gongsun Huang’s gaze.

Suddenly, Ling Xiao sensed faint fluctuations in the space around them. The ripples were incredibly subtle. A quick glance at the people beside him confirmed that he was the only one who had noticed them. His eyes glinted as he stared at a small, dark cloud near the moon. The moonlight traced its edges in gold, and at the border between light and shadow, a hazy, seven-colored vapor swirled, creating a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

’The spatial fluctuations are coming from there!’

...

After leaving Shushan City, the group from the Lie Family didn’t travel far. Instead, they took a roundabout route and checked into a very ordinary, small inn in Cameron Town.

This type of small inn was typically frequented by petty merchants and down-on-their-luck Adventurers. It wasn’t filthy, but it was chaotic. The main advantages, however, were the cheap price and the lack of any need for identification. Anyone could get a room, as long as they had the money.

Lie Suifeng, Lie Suixue, Lie Suitian, along with Lie Yang and Lie Que—the five of them—were currently seated in the inn’s tavern, eating some seafood specialities and drinking the establishment’s cloudy, potent liquor.

The tavern was a cacophony of noise. Many of the patrons were disgruntled Adventurers, their faces flushed from drink, loudly boasting about their greatest exploits.

Lie Yang frowned slightly. To be honest, he hadn’t wanted to come to this place at all. ’This is no place for a person to live!’

However, the three Elders had unanimously insisted on maintaining a low profile. The business they were about to conduct was, admittedly, something best done in the shadows.

As for Lie Que, he had no say in the matter. Lie Yang kept Lie Que by his side at all times, not wanting his younger, Sword Emperor brother to stir up trouble while he was away, and more importantly, not wanting him to have time to dedicate to his cultivation.

Lie Yang could not allow his position as Patriarch to face the slightest threat. Even though Lie Que was his own brother, if Lie Yang truly felt his position was at risk, he would eliminate Lie Que without a moment’s hesitation.

Of everyone from the Lie Family present, the most incensed was undoubtedly Lie Suixue. At the Shushan Sword Sect’s banquet, Ling Xiao had viciously slapped him—a Tier Four Sword Venerable—across the face, metaphorically speaking. And the worst part was, he’d had no way to retaliate! That was what infuriated him the most.

Lie Suixue’s face was contorted with fury. "I was hoping to pry some information out of that brat, but you all saw what happened! He’s completely unyielding! There’s no way he’ll hand over his secrets. And he had the gall to treat me like that! I will have my revenge for this!"

Lie Suifeng was also fuming. "That Ling Xiao is outrageous, completely arrogant! I’d only heard of him before, but seeing him today, I can say his reputation is well-deserved! He has no respect for us at all. What he did today wasn’t just an insult to Second Brother; it was an insult to our entire Lie Family!" He turned to the eldest among them, Lie Suitian. "Big Brother, you make the call. I don’t believe for a second that Ling Xiao will willingly give us the secrets to his arrays. If that’s the case, why don’t we just destroy his Shushan Sword Sect before it has the chance to truly rise? And we can’t let Ling Xiao go, either! Honestly, as long as we kill him, his people are no threat at all. A few minor Sword Emperors? What are they in the face of our family?"

As the Lie Family’s Young Master, Lie Yang naturally had a right to speak on such occasions. He had wanted Ling Xiao dead all along, so seeing two of the family’s Elders intent on killing him, he certainly wasn’t going to object. In fact, he was just thinking of how to fan the flames when Lie Que, who was beside him, suddenly spoke.

"Three Elders, Big Brother."

Lie Que first bowed respectfully to the three Elders and his brother before speaking. "Esteemed Elders, Big Brother, I believe we should not make an open enemy of Ling Xiao."

Although Lie Que was not from the direct line of succession, he was the strongest of the younger generation, and most of the family’s Sword Venerable Elders were quite fond of him. Thus, no one faulted him for speaking up. Besides, this was just family; it wasn’t a formal council meeting.

Lie Yang shot Lie Que a vicious glare, his heart filled with displeasure. ’What a damn traitor!’ he thought. ’I wonder what that Ling Xiao promised you to make you defend him like this! Besides, what gives you the right to speak here?’ But Lie Yang could only fume internally. On the surface, he had to maintain the dignified air of an older brother.

Lie Suixue and Lie Suifeng both glared at Lie Que, looking as if they were about to reprimand him, but Lie Suitian spoke first. "Lie Que, tell us your reasoning."

Lie Que collected his thoughts before speaking. "That Ling Xiao is incredibly crafty. The Zhe Family has suffered at his hands several times, and just the other day, he single-handedly uprooted their entire power base. He was also ruthless enough to place an array around the Zhe Family Manor, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out. I suspect that any members of the Zhe Family who are still alive are likely those with very little power. The strongest among them are probably Demon Sword Masters, at best."

"Don’t build up our enemy’s prestige at the expense of our own, little brother," Lie Yang scoffed. "The Zhe Family may have had two Sword Venerables, but they were both low-tier. How can they possibly compare to our Lie Family? Or could it be... that you think our family is now weaker than the Zhe Family was?"

Lie Que cursed Lie Yang’s shamelessness internally. He was trying to set a trap, twisting his words to create animosity between him and the three Elders. Fortunately, Lie Suitian gave him an encouraging look. As a Tier Five Sword Venerable, Lie Suitian was one of the strongest Sword Venerables in the entire Lie Family. Another was a newly advanced Tier Five Sword Venerable, though there was still a significant gap between him and an expert like Lie Suifeng, who was at the Peak Realm of the Tier Five Sword Venerable.

More importantly, Lie Suitian was Lie Que’s great-grandfather. He was Lie Yang’s great-grandfather as well. However, Lie Yang belonged to the direct lineage of the eldest son, while Lie Que was from a side branch of the family. In Lie Suitian’s eyes, however, Lie Yang and Lie Que were equals. Both were his descendants, and if anything, he favored Lie Que slightly more, believing the boy reminded him of his younger self. That was why, even now, the Lie Family had not officially confirmed Lie Yang as the future Patriarch; Lie Suitian’s opinion on the matter carried immense weight.

"Of course not. How could the Zhe Family’s strength possibly compare to our Lie Family’s? You must be joking, Big Brother." Lie Que’s casual deflection earned an internal nod of approval from Lie Suitian. Ever since Xie Xiaoyan had arrived at the Lie Family, the once-clever Lie Yang had seemed like a different person. Many of his actions, and even the way he spoke, had changed. Within the family’s Elder Council, the debate over whether Lie Yang should be the next Patriarch had been raging fiercely for the past two years.

Lie Suifeng, too, wanted to observe them both a while longer. In his heart, he was also leaning more toward Lie Que.

"Then what did you mean by that?" Lie Yang huffed. This little brother, who used to trail after him like a lackey, had become far too assertive since his power had grown. Lie Yang did not like it one bit.

"The Zhe Family was a first-rate aristocratic family; they had a solid foundation. Yet Ling Xiao, leading just the six Grand Elders of the Shushan Sword Sect, managed to annihilate dozens of their Sword Emperors and a Sword Venerable. To accomplish such a feat, even our family would need to dispatch two Venerables, would we not?" Since he’d already started, he figured he might as well go all in. He cursed Lie Yang’s foolishness in his head. ’Even a mighty dragon can’t crush a local snake,’ he thought. "Something that would require two of our family’s Venerables, Ling Xiao accomplished with just himself and six Sword Emperors. Need I say more about his strength?"

At this, Lie Suixue snorted coldly. "What do you mean, two? I could have wiped out the pathetic Zhe Family all by myself! It was just one remaining low-tier Sword Venerable. You think he could have fought me to a standstill?"

Lie Yang chimed in, "That’s right! Elder Yu could have annihilated them all on his own!"

Lie Suitian glanced at Lie Yang and said flatly, "Nonsense."

Lie Yang froze, then quickly lowered his head as a flash of resentment flickered in his eyes.

Lie Suitian continued, "Do you really believe a higher tier guarantees victory over a lower one? If that were true, the Zhe Family would have been wiped out long ago! Why would it have taken Ling Xiao to do the job? You reckless fool. Do you truly think a Martial Artist of the Sword Venerable Realm is so easy to kill?"