Feng Mingfei stepped out from the side hall. She took a deep breath and glanced at the pale-faced man at the front. Seeing the gloomy expression on his face, her heart involuntarily skipped a beat.
The man before her was a hall master of the Shura Sect, and his status was extremely high. Back when Feng Mingfei sought help from the Shura Sect, she had seen this pale-faced man standing beside the Shura Sect Master.
At this moment, the pale-faced man, Xue Shan, restrained his anger, his pair of venomous eyes fixed on her. Clearly, he had not come with good intentions.
Feng Mingfei quickened her steps. When she saw the back of her Grandmaster, her heart finally settled.
“Hall Master Xue, what brings you to my Lingyue Sect?”
The pale-faced man Xue Shan let out a cold snort. “A few days ago, three of my martial nephews went with Sect Master Feng to hunt the Purple-Scaled Demon Tiger. Now Sect Master Feng has returned safely, yet my three martial nephews are nowhere to be found. How does Sect Master Feng intend to explain this?”
“Th-This…” Feng Mingfei panicked inwardly, unsure how to answer.
It was clearly the other party’s sinister and malicious scheme, yet she could not speak of it.
Feng Mingfei had originally thought that after she saw through the Shura Sect’s despicable plan, they would only be able to swallow the loss in silence.
She had never expected them to shamelessly come and accuse her instead.
Feng Mingfei said, “Those three from your sect intended to plot against me, so a conflict broke out, so…”
“So you killed my three martial nephews?” Xue Shan’s tone suddenly turned harsh. He stepped toward Feng Mingfei, and a powerful aura pressed down on her:
“Sect Master Feng! You killed my three martial nephews? Yes or no!”
Although Xue Shan held no moral ground, his imposing aura was terrifying. With that single shout, Feng Mingfei instead looked as though she were the one in the wrong.
“The three disciples of your sect intended to annex my sect. I was forced to take action,” Feng Mingfei said, her thoughts in disarray, unsure how to respond.
“For such a trivial matter, you killed my three martial nephews?” Seeing Feng Mingfei’s slightly flustered expression, Xue Shan’s tone grew even more aggressive. “If you had obediently agreed to their request, would my three martial nephews have died?”
Shameless.
Utterly shameless!
How could there be such shameless people in this world?
After their poisonous scheme failed, they actually came to question the victim for not obediently falling into their trap.
Watching Feng Mingfei looking completely at a loss, Xu Chengfeng could not help feeling annoyed at her lack of backbone.
The dignified Sect Master of Lingyue Sect had actually been frightened into this state by a mere hall master of an insignificant sect?
Since the reputation of Lingyue Sect was at stake, Xu Chengfeng could no longer stand by with folded arms.
“Gather the spirit and guard the heart, return to origin and accept the void…”
Xu Chengfeng’s voice reached Feng Mingfei’s ears, and she immediately knew. Grandmaster was about to possess her.
Instead of fear, she actually felt a sense of relief.
“I’m the one who killed those three bastards. What are you going to do about it?!”
Xue Shan was startled by Feng Mingfei’s sudden, forceful reply. Before he could react, he heard her continue:
“Those three scum deserved to die. Do you want to hear how they died beneath my sword?”
[Grandmaster is so cool!]
Feng Mingfei was thrilled inside.
Xue Shan’s shameless demeanor had long filled Feng Mingfei with pent-up frustration.
Now that Grandmaster was using her voice to berate the man, she felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Xue Shan was utterly baffled. Just moments ago, Feng Mingfei had been completely suppressed by his pressure. How could she suddenly possess such imposing momentum?
At this moment, Feng Mingfei’s tone was icy cold, like a biting winter wind, causing Xue Shan to shiver involuntarily.
“Y-You…”
“Me? What about me? The fact that I didn’t go looking for you already counts as an act of mercy beyond the law, yet you still have the nerve to step onto my Tianji Peak?” Xu Chengfeng pressed a hand against the hilt of the sword. The moment the blade left its sheath, Xue Shan and the Shura Sect disciple behind him would lose their heads instantly.
But…
Xu Chengfeng knew that doing so would be meaningless.
Even if he used Feng Mingfei’s hand to kill Xue Shan, Feng Mingfei herself would gain no growth from it.
How could someone like that possibly become the sect master of the number one sect under heaven?
Xue Shan’s cultivation was not weak. He would serve perfectly as experience for Feng Mingfei’s growth.
No…
It would be better to let the entire Shura Sect become the foundation for Feng Mingfei’s rise.
“Seven days from now, we will hold a sect duel at the arena in Lingju Prefecture. The loser will be at the mercy of the winner.”
Seven days would be enough time for him to train Feng Mingfei and Bai Lingxue until they could easily deal with the Shura Sect.
Xu Chengfeng turned around and flicked his sleeve.
“See the guests out!”
Hearing Feng Mingfei issue the order to leave, Xue Shan felt a wave of relief in his heart, and almost as if possessed, he slipped away down the mountain in a rather miserable state.
Only after leaving Tianji Peak did a Shura Sect disciple behind Xue Shan finally ask in a low voice, “Master, are we really just going to let Lingyue Sect off like this?”
“Even if we let them struggle on for seven more days, what of it?”
The farther they got from Tianji Peak, the lighter the pressure Xue Shan felt. By now, he already dared to speak loudly again.
“Master, did you really agree to some kind of sect duel?” the Shura Sect disciple asked.
“So what if I agreed? It’s just Lingyue Sect. How big a storm could they possibly stir up?” Xue Shan sneered with disdain.
A third-rate sect like Lingyue Sect posed absolutely no threat to the Shura Sect.
“But just now on Tianji Peak, Master…” The disciple had only spoken halfway when a single glance from Xue Shan frightened him into swallowing the rest of his words.
“Lingyue Sect may be nothing remarkable, but it has still been passed down for thirty-two generations. The past sect masters of Lingyue Sect are all buried here; their lingering spirits remain. Fighting here would be disadvantageous for us.”
Xue Shan attributed that strange pressure he had just felt to the lingering spirits of Lingyue Sect’s past sect masters, scaring the Shura Sect disciple into nodding repeatedly.
***
“Grandmaster, Grandmaster, you were so cool just now.”
The little fox Bai Lingxue’s eyes had already turned into sparkling stars as she looked at Xu Chengfeng with admiration.
“Senior Sister was so frightened she went completely stiff. She couldn’t even say a word…”
Xu Chengfeng knocked Bai Lingxue on the head. Of course, Bai Lingxue didn’t actually feel the knock. “You were hiding behind the side hall door just now and didn’t even dare to step outside. Your senior sister is much braver than you.”
Bai Lingxue grinned and said, “Senior Sister Mingfei is the senior sister, after all. Of course she’s much stronger than me.”
“The sect duel Grandmaster mentioned just now… what does it mean?” Feng Mingfei felt somewhat unfamiliar with the term. She had never heard her master mention it, nor had she heard other cultivators talk about it.
“You don’t know about sect duels?” Xu Chengfeng rubbed his chin. “Back when I was the sect master, sect duels were quite popular…”
Thinking about it now, that was still quite a distant matter for Feng Mingfei and Bai Lingxue.
Xu Chengfeng explained:
“A sect duel is a way to resolve conflicts between sects. Through several, or even a dozen, arena matches, the victor can obtain the benefits that were agreed upon beforehand.
Sect duels can resolve many kinds of matters.
For example, when two sects are competing over a blessed land or a unique spiritual treasure, the ownership of the blessed land can be decided through a sect duel.
There are also friendly competitions between sects, where the two sides hold matches to temper their disciples, and the winners receive a certain reward…
Sometimes, even the annexation of one sect by another can be accomplished through a sect duel…”
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