Building a Martial Dao Celestial Family by Laying Low

"Everyone, fall back! Those who disobey will be killed without question!"

The Celestial Sword Sect disciples struggled to remain calm. They drew their swords and sabers, shouting sternly in an attempt to suppress the crowd, but they were powerless against the surging mob.

Amid the chaos, a figure in white flew down like a fleeting shadow, landing on a large, protruding rock by the roadside.

The newcomer was a woman. The icy Sword Intent and immense pressure radiating from her made her seem like a god of slaughter.

It was one of the Elders guarding Hidden Emperor Castle, Jian Dian, Mo Wenqiu.

"All merchants, return to the Ruins Market immediately and submit to inspection. Anyone who dares to defy this order will be treated as an enemy and killed without mercy!"

The final three words were imbued with a sharp Sword Intent. Those who were closer felt as if they’d been plunged into an icy cavern, their scalps tingling with fear.

But this command was like a drop of cold water in hot oil, instantly triggering an even greater backlash.

"Why the hell should I submit to your inspection?"

"Damn it! I’ve sold all my goods, why should I go back?"

"Does the Celestial Sword Sect even want to do business anymore? Dammit, if you don’t give us an explanation, I’m never coming back!"

"That’s right! You have to give us an explanation!"

The crowd was enraged, and curses flew from all directions.

These Black Market merchants were a motley crew of outlaws and desperados. Why would they return to Hidden Emperor Castle—which might have already become a deathtrap—when the situation was so unclear?

A frenzied, sharp Sword Intent spread from Mo Wenqiu as her tone grew even colder and harder. "Return at once! Defy me, and don’t blame my sword for being merciless!"

But this only provoked more resistance.

A few merchants, confident in their Cultivation or their connections, began shouting back even louder.

The caravan was jammed from front to back, horses neighed in alarm, and the scene was on the verge of spiraling completely out of control.

On the carriage, Bai San was sweating with anxiety. He ducked inside and whispered, "Sir, this doesn’t look good. If they really force us back and inspect everyone behind closed doors, we’ll be walking right into a trap."

Chen Li peered out through the gap in the carriage curtain and said calmly, "Wait and see."

’Returning is out of the question. I’ll just wait for the crowd’s anger to boil over and use the chaos to slip away.’

Bai San ducked back outside the carriage.

At this point, sarcastic remarks began to ripple through the crowd.

"I think the Celestial Sword Sect is trying to rob its own. This ’inspection’ is a sham! They just want to take our goods and silver!"

"We can’t go back! If we go back, we’ll be birds in a cage, waiting to be slaughtered."

"It’s just one woman. If we all charge, how many of us can she possibly stop?"

These few words instantly ignited the anger on the scene.

"Fuck this! I’m not putting up with you Celestial Sword Sect bastards! Everyone, with me! Charge!"

A hot-tempered, bearded man on a magnificent dun horse was the first to lose his patience.

With a furious roar, he dug his heels into his horse’s sides and brought his whip down hard.

The dun horse cried out in pain, reared up, and then shot forward like a yellow bolt of lightning, charging desperately toward a gap in the line of disciples.

His Iron-Steel Spear glinted with a dark light as he attempted to force his way through the checkpoint.

With someone taking the lead, the other merchants, now ruled by their anger, could no longer hold back.

"Go!"

"Charge!"

In an instant, the scene descended into utter chaos.

Bai San also snapped the reins, and the carriage suddenly accelerated, becoming the second to charge forward.

Like a disturbed hornet’s nest, people scattered in all directions.

A cacophony of shouts, whip cracks, horse whinnies, and crashing carts filled the air.

Mo Wenqiu watched the merchants charge the checkpoint, her face as cold as ice. A trace of frenzied killing intent, born of fury, surfaced within her.

She had never imagined that with her personally overseeing the situation, these people would still dare to rise up and defy her orders.

’If I don’t make an example of them, what will become of the Celestial Sword Sect’s reputation?’

"Move!"

Mo Wenqiu shot a cold glance at the Celestial Sword Sect disciples as she gave the order.

Her gaze, however, locked onto the first and most defiant person to charge the checkpoint.

"You’re courting death!"

She let out a sharp cry as killing intent materialized and poured out of her.

Her white figure flickered and vanished from the rock. The next instant, she appeared phantom-like behind the man’s horse.

Her speed was so great that she left only a faint afterimage.

The burly man’s hair stood on end. He whipped his head around to see Jian Dian, Mo Wenqiu, right on top of him.

A vicious glint flashed in his eyes. Knowing this wouldn’t end peacefully, he roared, "Get the hell away from me, you bitch!"

He thrust his Iron-Steel Spear forward. The Cultivation of his Inner Mansion Pass erupted, and the spear’s shaft glowed with an earthy-yellow light. He executed a powerful "Mountain Shattering Strike," which tore through the air with a piercing whistle as it aimed straight for Mo Wenqiu’s heart.

This single thrust contained all the Power he could muster in his lifetime, a desperate attempt to force his powerful enemy back.

However, a crazed look flashed in Mo Wenqiu’s eyes, and she didn’t even try to dodge.

"HUM!"

The Longsword on her back was not fully unsheathed. Only three inches of its blade slid out, unleashing a Sword Intent that was condensed to its absolute limit and laced with madness.

Though unleashed second, the Sword Intent arrived first. It instantly pierced through the seemingly fierce spear-light and struck the man squarely between the eyebrows.

The man’s charging figure froze abruptly. The furious expression on his face solidified, and the light in his eyes faded and died like a candle flame snuffed out by the wind.

The long spear fell to the ground with a CLANG. His massive body swayed and then fell stiffly from the galloping horse, tumbling into the grass, lifeless.

A single strike, a fatal blow!

The entire area fell deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by Mo Wenqiu’s incomparably domineering strike. Witnessing the horrifying scene, they were chilled to the bone and hastily halted their escape.

’An expert at the Spirit Realm Third Level couldn’t even take a single blow?’

Having established her authority with a single strike, Mo Wenqiu’s Evil Qi intensified.

Her icy gaze immediately locked onto the blue-canopied carriage driven by Bai San.

"Still trying to escape? You’re courting death!"

This was the second vehicle to charge the checkpoint; Mo Wenqiu remembered it clearly.

Her figure moved again, transforming into a white blur. Her Longsword was finally drawn completely, trailing a streak of bone-chilling light. Achieving Sword and Man Unity, she shot straight for the carriage.

The tip of her sword pointed forward, radiating a grim killing aura.

"Not good! That crazy bitch is targeting us!"

Bai San glanced back. Before the Sword Qi even arrived, the biting killing intent made him feel as if he’d been plunged into an ice cave. His back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Chen Li, however, remained calm. He ordered, "Keep driving. Don’t stop."

The curtain was thrown aside. Stepping out of the carriage, he stood silently on the shaft of the speeding vehicle.

The next moment, a long staff appeared in his hand out of thin air. It was a dark gold color, made of a material that was neither bronze nor iron, and faint dragon patterns seemed to flow across its surface.

Facing Mo Wenqiu’s fatal strike, which came at him like a bolt of white lightning, Chen Li leaped high into the air as if a great roc spreading its wings.

"WHOOSH!"

The wind from the staff tore through the air, letting out a dull, thunderous roar.

He brought the staff down. It was a simple Powerful Split of Hua Mountain, devoid of any fancy moves, yet it contained the terrifying power to split mountains and sunder peaks.

Enveloped by the staff’s shadow, Mo Wenqiu felt the space around her solidify as an irresistible, immense force bore down on her from above.

"What?"

The moment Chen Li leaped and swung his staff, Mo Wenqiu’s heart clenched.

’The power contained in that strike far surpasses my own strength.’

The Intention and power contained in her opponent’s attack were completely beyond her expectations.

’This is definitely not a technique an ordinary Grandmaster could possess.’

At this life-or-death moment, the madness in Mo Wenqiu’s eyes surged to its peak. Ignoring the fatal blow about to descend, she let out a sharp cry and pushed her lifetime of Cultivation and her frenzied Sword Intent to their absolute limits.

The Longsword flew from her hand, transforming into a grimly determined, blood-red streak of light. It shot toward Chen Li’s heart, three-tenths faster than before.

At the same time, a brilliant light flared between her eyebrows. A small, blood-red sword of Divine Soul—condensed to the extreme and filled with a crazed, destructive Intention—tore through the void and shot toward Chen Li’s own brow.

A mutually destructive attack!

A fight to the death!

This was Jian Dian’s all-or-nothing gamble.

She was betting that her opponent would pull back to defend himself. Even a moment’s hesitation would give her a chance to survive.

However, she bet wrong.

Faced with this vicious, decisive, and frankly insane counterattack, Chen Li’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

’If this were half a month ago, back when I was still at the Void Transformation Pass, I might have needed to retreat from this desperate two-pronged attack on both body and soul.’

’But now, having ascended to the Divine Intent Pass, why would I fear her death throes?’

The Qiankun Ruyi Staff, carrying a will that could suppress all things, continued its descent toward Mo Wenqiu’s head.

At the same time, a speck of golden light appeared at his Divine Hall Acupoint.

A Divine Embryo, about the size of a goose egg, stepped forth. It was the color of liuli glass, had a face identical to his own, and bore a solemn, sacred appearance.

Facing the blood-red Divine Soul sword rushing toward it, the Divine Embryo didn’t dodge. It simply punched out.

"PFFT!"

A soft sound that only a Divine Soul could hear, like a bubble popping.

The small, blood-red sword, which contained Mo Wenqiu’s frenzied Sword Intent and most of her Power of the Divine Soul, shattered the instant it made contact with the Divine Embryo’s tiny golden fist. It dissolved into a shower of blood-red light and vanished completely.

"Ah—"

Her Divine Soul Attack shattered, Mo Wenqiu cried out in agony as if struck by heavenly lightning. Dark red blood trickled from all seven of her orifices, and the madness vanished from her eyes.

And her life-bound Longsword, which had flown from her hand, was lightly tapped by the brilliant after-force of the Qiankun Ruyi Staff. It let out a mournful cry and was sent flying, falling to some unknown location.

In that same split second.

"BANG!"

A dull, heart-stopping thud exploded through the air.

The Qiankun Ruyi Staff struck Mo Wenqiu squarely on the top of her head.

Mo Wenqiu’s face, cold yet crazed, instantly froze.

Starting from her head, her entire upper body exploded.

A rain of blood sprayed through the air, dying a large patch of the ground below red.

One strike!

Jian Dian, Mo Wenqiu, was dead!

The Divine Embryo zipped back into Chen Li’s Divine Hall Acupoint as a streak of light.

He landed gracefully. With a light tap of his toes on the road, his figure became phantom-like, catching up to the galloping carriage in just a few leaps.

"E-Elder Mo... was... was killed with one strike of a staff!"

"My heavens! Who was that?!"

"Run!"

Only then did the fleeing merchants and the Celestial Sword Sect disciples snap out of their shock.

The dead silence was followed by an even more frantic commotion.

The merchants, all inhibitions gone, could no longer be stopped. They fled for their lives in every direction.

As for the Celestial Sword Sect disciples, every one of them was as pale as a ghost.

Their Elder had been killed instantly right before their eyes. How could they possibly have the courage to stop anyone now?

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

Xie Jinglan rushed to the scene. When he heard that "Elder Mo was killed with a single staff strike by a mysterious, masked man, her body and soul both annihilated," he froze in place as if struck by lightning.

"One strike?"

The fury on Xie Jinglan’s face instantly froze, replaced by horrified disbelief.

He knew Mo Wenqiu’s strength all too well. When she was in her frenzied Sword Intent state, even he would have no chance of winning so easily, let alone killing her in a single blow.

A thought that chilled him to the core rose uncontrollably in his mind: ’To be able to crush Elder Mo so completely... This person’s strength is far beyond an ordinary Void Transformation expert. Could it be... a Divine Intent expert?’

At this possibility, his anger was instantly replaced by a bone-chilling cold.

If a Divine Intent Grandmaster had truly intervened, then the nature of this matter had changed completely!

He suppressed the tempest in his heart, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip water.

He glanced in the direction where the disciple said Chen Li and the others had disappeared, abandoning any thought of pursuit.

His expression was more solemn than ever before. "Hanfeng, follow the wheel tracks. Remember, observe only from a distance. Just confirm their general direction and do not get close. If you notice anything amiss, return immediately. Your life is the priority."

"Yes, Master."

Luo Hanfeng also knew the gravity of the situation. He quickly accepted the order, used his Body Technique, and cautiously followed the tracks in the direction the carriage had vanished.

Xie Jinglan stared in the direction they had disappeared, silent for a long time.

He knew that no matter who the opponent was, he was no longer capable of handling tonight’s events.

He spun around abruptly and sped toward Hidden Emperor Castle.

The events of tonight had to be reported to the Sect as quickly as possible.

「But just as he was rushing back to Hidden Emperor Castle at full speed, something unexpected happened!」