“You dare!” Chen Jiannan pressed his divine blade to Xue Qi’s throat, his expression hideously contorted as he growled, “Call your people off. Otherwise, I’ll kill them all.”
The surrounded supremes eyes flashed with faint hope. At a time like this, they didn’t care how underhanded Chen Jiannan’s methods were. On the contrary, they were inwardly celebrating that they still had basis for negotiations.
However, what happened next filled them with despair. Ye Zichen merely glanced at them briefly, then signaled to his yao army. “Kill them!”
“Do you just want to let them die?” Chen Jiannan’s eyes were bloodshot, but even now, he didn’t dare touch Xue QI or the others. They were his final bargaining chip. If he really killed them….
However, at that moment, Xue Qi, Stone, Xue Lan, and the others stepped out from behind Ye Zichen. When he saw this, Chen Jiannan’s eyes brimmed over with terror. He swung his sword with all his might, but cut through nothing but a pile of dirt.
“Have you despaired yet?” Ye Zichen laughed like a devil at Chen Jiannan’s frantic, fruitless attack.
The “captives” were just wooden dummies. None of the supremes knew just how or when Ye Zichen had saved the captives, but it didn’t matter; either way, their last bargaining chip was gone.
“Master, save me!” Chen Jiannan’s divine sword cracked and split it half. A wisp of a soul emerged from the shattered blade.
This diviner-level soul swallowed up the surrounding energy of heaven and earth, taking in so much, the ambient energy of the entire Lower Three Realms seemed to drop noticeably.
After taking in all that energy, the soul gradually condensed into a human figure.
This was none other than Xiao Hu of the Lightning Emperor’s Xiao Clan!
The surrounding supremes froze, and Yin Hu and Jackdaw’s expressions changed. When they next looked at Chen Jiannan, their gazes contained undisguised fury.
So, in order to obtain the Xuan-Yuan Sword, the gods had gone so far as to seal a diviner-level wisp of Xiao Hu’s soul inside Chen Jiannan’s weapon!
If he’d waited until the three factions were vying amongst themselves to summon Xiao Hu, the yao and demons would have all perished.
Don’t underestimate this wisp of soul. Even though it only contained a tenth of Xiao Hu’s power, it was still enough to destroy heaven and earth.
“Xiao Hu!” Ye Zichen watched him emerge from the sword, arched his brows, then turned to his attendants. “You said you sensed a diver-level presence. It was him, right?”
“That’s right.” The two women nodded in unison.
“They really spared no expense to obtain the Xuan-Yuan Sword.” Ye Zichen snorted, his expression dark, and his gaze increasingly serious.
“Brat, it seems we really were fated to meet again. We ran into each other so soon!” Xiao Hu wore long yellow robes, and his tiger eyes blazed with ferocity.
When he appeared, the yao of the Yao-Sealing Pagoda stopped; they could all sense this person’s aura. He was far more than they could contend with.
“Everyone, back to the pagoda.” Ye Zichen knew his yao army was no match for Xiao Hu, so to
avoid unnecessary casualties, he immediately sent them back inside.
As for Xiao Hu, Ye Zichen didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. Worst case scenario, he’d just hide in the Yao-Sealing Pagoda again.
After a few hundred years of secluded cultivation, he’d crush Xiao Hu into a meat pancake!
“I never would have guessed you’d gotten your hands on the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. Had I known earlier, I would have seized you then and there, even if it meant offending the Sea of Innocence.”
“Honestly, you’re a diviner, for better and worse. Don’t you have anything better to do? First you acted as Xiao Zhan’s nanny, now you’re doing the same for Chen Jiannan. Aren’t you tired?”
“Hmph,” snorted Xiao Hu. “You’re still so sharp-tongued. But this time, there’s no Sea of Innocence to save you. This time…”
Xiao Hu’s aura swelled and billowed around him. The surrounding maintains range crumbled beneath the weight of his fury. The earth cracked, and the rivers flowed in reverse.
Ye Zichen gulped instinctively, then prepared to return to the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.
Then, inexplicably, laughter rung like a silver bell through the wastes. “This time, I’ll be the one to save him. Does that make you angry?”
The crowd looked over, and saw an imperial carriage rising through the skies. Four Spectral Horses pulled it, their every step leaving behind a blaze of eerie blue flames.
In but a breath of time, the carriage arrived before them. “Aiya, getting here in such a hurry was exhausting!”
Someone pulled aside the curtain covering the doorway, and a tired-looking woman stepped out and yawned.
“Chi Mei!” Ye Zichen, who was just about to hide back in the Yao-Sealing Pagoda, stopped.
The woman smiled gleefully, rushed to his side, and grabbed him by the arms. “Sweetie, you aren’t hurt, are you? Oh no! You’ve gotten thinner since we last met!”
At the same time, Yin Hu and the yao following him all knelt to the ground and greeted her in unison. “My Lady!”
“At ease, all of you.” She waved them away, batted her large, luminous eyes, and smiled a dimpled grin. “Sweetie, I really missed you!”
“You…. who exactly are you?” Ye Zichen frowned. He’d clearly just heard Yin Hu and the others address her as “My Lady.” That implied that they weren’t merely her subordinates; they were her servants!
“Hee, wait a bit and I’ll tell you. Right now, we’ve still got a moron with a death wish to take care of.” She let go of Ye Zichen’s hand.
When Xiao Hu, who was just getting ready to deal with Ye Zichen, heard her insults, he glowered at her.
“Are you angry?” She cocked her head aside and pursed her lips. “Honestly, you could have provoked anyone else, yet you had to go out of your way to provoke my sweetie?”
The god and demon supremes watched, frozen in shock. Xiao Hu, a half-step ruler, had shaken them to the core, yet in front of Chi Mei, he couldn’t even move.
Even if this was just a wisp of Xiao Hu’s soul, it was still a peak diviner expert!
“You know what? I never liked your Xiao Family to begin with. Now you dare antagonize my sweety? Fine, then… just leave this wisp of your soul behind, then.”
With that, a white-haired, bent-backed elder appeared before them.
They couldn’t sense even the slightest fluctuation of divine power emanating from the old man; he looked like an ordinary senior citizen. Yet this only made him even scarier; for him to appear out of nowhere in front of them like this meant he couldn’t possibly be ordinary.
But no matter how well experts hid themselves, their power and influence would shine through. For him to hide himself so thoroughly could only mean one thing….
He was a ruler!
