Chapter 390: Sacred Dark Family

Li Shentong declared, "People with guts will fight even if they can't win, just like the Nine Li Tribe during the Battle of Long Mountain. Although those tribal chiefs were defeated, at least they had integrity, unlike those Nine Li Hidden People who don't even have the courage to make a move."

The Young City Lord of Licheng opened one of the boxes, revealing the body of a young man. "This is a Hidden Person from the Nine Li Hidden Gate who was lurking inside the Li clan. He was very well-hidden; if not for our transcendent ancestor sensing something amiss, we would still be completely unaware. Miss Qingli, please hand him over to Li Weiyi and tell him that this Hidden Person was very stubborn and didn't reveal any secrets of the Nine Li Hidden Gate. But even if he was stubborn, his bones have all been shattered!"

Upstairs, several Hidden People from the Nine Li Hidden Gate, such as Star Moon Slave, Hidden Eleven, and Hidden Nine, walked over to the railing.

From the third floor on the right, Shi Liuyu's laughter rang out. "You're really arrogant! Zhizhou is right next to Lizhou; be careful of retaliation. Is the Li clan planning to move their entire clan to the Demon Nation?"

"How could an entire clan relocate? Ninety-nine percent of the clan members would die on the way through the Underworld of the Dead," Shi Jiuzhai said solemnly.

The two of them were there to freeload.

Li Shentong said, "It seems the two Dharma Kings are Li Weiyi's lackeys. Perhaps you could deliver a message for him?"

Their main goal was to force Li Weiyi to appear, so their words were naturally extremely provocative.

"What's the point of delivering a message? I'll test your strength first."

Shi Jiuzhai lunged over the railing, exhaling a mouthful of grey spiritual energy. Instantly, the energy spread throughout the entire Sky Pavilion, obscuring the sky and earth, causing countless formation light veils to illuminate.

He formed hand seals, transforming them into two scorching fire clouds that enveloped Xie Chucai, Li Shentong, and the Young City Lord of Licheng.

Xie Chucai sat calmly, exhaling a puff of spiritual energy. With a whoosh, it condensed into dozens of flying blades of spiritual energy, breaking through Shi Jiuzhai's divine ability and defense.

Shi Jiuzhai's expression suddenly changed as he sensed a deathly threat.

At the same cultivation level, he couldn't even block a single breath exhaled by his opponent?

"Whoosh!"

He conjured a translucent bead.

From the bead, numerous scriptures flew out, blocking the oncoming spiritual energy blades, as he continuously retreated.

His defense was on the verge of being broken through...

"Old Nine, you're not doing well! Xie Lincai talks big, but you can't embarrass the Earth Wolf King Army like this."

Green flames erupted from Shi Liuyu's body, crushing the spiritual energy blades.

His gaunt body danced in mid-air. He clenched his fist and struck, shattering the air and creating a massive green flame shockwave.

He wanted to help Li Weiyi probe Xie Chucai's true strength, to see how capable this prodigy from the Du'e Temple truly was, and if there was any possibility of fighting him.

This was the supreme leader of the Earth Wolf King Army, a powerful expert at the eighth level of the Dao Seed Realm.

Li Shentong and the Young City Lord of Licheng immediately retreated.

Xie Chucai had already stood up, facing a formidable opponent, and his profound ice energy spread wildly from his feet. In an instant, dozens of pavilions within the Sky Pavilion were frozen solid by the ice.

"Hiss!"

Dark energy, thread by thread, spread from his ancestral field, forming an area of absolute darkness several zhang in size.

Within this area, it was like a vacuum, devouring all external forces.

Shi Liuyu's fist force was undeniably overbearing; though his body was frail, his cultivation at the eighth level of the Dao Seed Realm was absolutely solid. Yet, the fist force he unleashed felt as if it had nowhere to land.

"Boom!"

Within the area of absolute darkness, a spatial rift appeared, and a withered hand flew out along with countless scriptures.

That withered hand exuded an ancient and mysterious aura, as if it had traversed endless years from an infinitely distant era. The moment it reached out, the souls of everyone in the Sky Pavilion trembled.

The two attacks collided.

Shi Liuyu retreated, landing next to Shi Jiuzhai, and quickly steadied himself.

The area of absolute darkness that Xie Chucai had conjured shattered, and he reeled back more than ten steps, all the way to the entrance of the Sky Pavilion. He then exclaimed, "Many thanks for the guidance, expert of the eighth level of the Dao Seed Realm!"

Shi Liuyu and Shi Jiuzhai exchanged glances, as if they had seen a ghost.

They were well aware of the immense power of the Du'e Temple's peerless prodigy, but for someone at the sixth level to defeat an opponent at the seventh level, which is a major realm, was already defying the heavens to an extreme degree.

For someone at the sixth level to withstand a punch from an eighth-level martial cultivator and remain completely unharmed was utterly incomprehensible!

Not only the two of them, but all the martial cultivators in the entire Sky Pavilion were stunned.

Before this, they had most often heard about Xie Chucai gravely injuring a seventh-level Dao Seed Realm martial cultivator in three moves. But clearly, that was not Xie Chucai's full strength.

"If Xie Chucai were just a little bit serious, Li Weiyi wouldn't even be able to land a talisman on him; simply touching his clothes would probably be as hard as ascending to heaven."

"No wonder Xie Chucai was so bothered after his defeat at the West Sea Prince's Estate. If I were to carelessly fall into the hands of a mere nobody I could crush with a finger, I'd also be terribly upset."

An elder who had once traveled outside the borders showed a look of horror in his eyes. "That dark power is extraordinary. Could he... could he be a direct descendant of the Sacred Dark Family?"

Nearby, some young martial cultivators were puzzled and asked what the Sacred Dark Family meant, as they had never heard of it.

The elder explained, "The Sacred Dark Family comes from a life realm called Cangtu, and they are its rulers, known as the Myriad Clans. Members of this family possess incredibly noble bloodlines, and their lifespan is twice that of ordinary humans. Even if they don't reach the Longevity Realm, they can easily live to be two hundred years old."

"He shouldn't be named Xie; his true surname should be Xue (Blood)."

"The Xue surname, in southern Yingzhou, is an extremely noble and prominent surname, exclusive to the Sacred Dark Family."

Li Shentong said, "Brother Xie is indeed a peerless genius of the Sacred Dark Family! To be valued by him and considered an opponent is, in fact, an honor."

Xie Chucai's status was incredibly noble. Although he was only at the sixth realm, he possessed the combat power to withstand a punch from an eighth-realm expert without injury, which even intimidated the Song siblings.

The other Hidden People, naturally, dared not show themselves even more.

"Fairy Yu is here!"

Someone, it was unclear who, shouted this, breaking the dead silence in the Sky Pavilion.

Many martial cultivators in Lingxiao City's life realm breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how grand Xie Chucai's background or how strong his cultivation, Fairy Yu could handle him, and he would not be an enemy of Lingxiao City.

Jiang Ning and Ge Xiantong arrived together, appearing before everyone in the Sky Pavilion.

Already, a master from the imperial court stepped forward, fawningly bringing good news. "Lord Jiang, you truly kept it a secret! Young Master Xie is actually a favored son of the Sacred Dark Family. With him protecting us, why worry about turmoil in the world? We'll always have a fallback plan in the future."

Having just returned from Du'e Temple, how could Jiang Ning not know Xie Chucai's background?

Xie Chucai immediately stepped forward, smiling gently. "Ningning, I didn't deliberately expose my identity; I'm not that high-profile. It was all for self-preservation. It's been almost a month since we last met..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Ning pulled out a challenge letter. "Senior Brother Xie, I'm here to deliver a challenge to you."

Inside the Sky Pavilion, a stir immediately arose.

Everyone was speculating who from the imperial court wanted to challenge Xie Chucai.

"New Year's Eve, at the peak of Six Thoughts. Cold stars reflect on snow; life and death are determined by Heaven." Jiang Ning flicked her fingers, sending the challenge letter flying.

Ge Xiantong said, "Li Weiyi says, if you have the courage, accept the challenge. If not, get out of Lingxiao life realm immediately and stop pestering Jiang Ning. Jiang Ning is his woman."

"Boom!"

At that, the entire Sky Pavilion erupted into chaos.

Star Moon Slave, Hidden Nine, and Hidden Eleven felt both exhilarated and deeply worried.

Xie Chucai was not an easy opponent.

Shi Jiuzhai was somewhat disbelieving, unable to believe Li Weiyi would do something so reckless. "This so-called challenge letter, it's not a tactic by those two to force Li Weiyi to appear, is it?"

Ge Xiantong looked over. "Fairy Yu herself came to deliver the challenge for him! Dharma King Jiuzhai, do you think the Fairy would joke with her own reputation?"

Shi Liuyu burst into laughter. "He's truly got balls! I'm genuinely impressed this time; compared to him, I'm just a rookie. No wonder he has a new woman every now and then. Haha! Xie Lincai, before the battle, you've already lost, and lost face completely!"

Xie Chucai's expression turned extremely grim. Seeing that Li Weiyi had chosen Six Thoughts Zen Temple as the duel location, he instantly understood a great deal, realizing there was a deeper meaning behind this battle.

If anyone else had sent him a challenge letter specifying Six Thoughts Zen Temple, he would have found a way to refuse or perhaps ignored it.

But it had to be Li Weiyi!

And the person delivering the challenge happened to be Jiang Ning.

How could he avoid the fight?

Xie Chucai clutched the challenge letter tightly, his gaze coldly fixed on Jiang Ning. "I want to know, what is Junior Sister Jiang's attitude? Does he hold any weight in your heart?"

"My only confidant in the mortal world," Jiang Ning replied.

"What a 'confidant in the mortal world'!"

Xie Chucai strode away, his red robes flowing like blood. His voice echoed back from the night, "I'll kill this so-called confidant! On New Year's Eve, remember to order a good coffin for him."

Inside the Sky Pavilion, countless people were bewildered.

They couldn't understand why Jiang Ning chose someone whose ancestral field was crippled instead of the peerless prodigy of the Sacred Dark Family.

Those who knew Li Weiyi couldn't understand why he was so aggressive and acted so unwisely. Would he throw his life away for a woman, for a mere dispute of honor?

Seeing many people worried, Ge Xiantong declared loudly, "Is the Sacred Dark Family so impressive? Don't they still have to act according to Xiaoyao Jing's wishes? Sometimes, sticking your neck out means death, and shrinking back also means death. Why not be a bit more resolute?"

Yao Qingxuan, dressed in men's clothes, stood by the window of one of the pavilions. Looking at the Hidden Person's corpse in the box and the retreating Li clan martial cultivators, she could envision Li Weiyi's bold figure as he wrote the challenge letter.

That boy...

...is becoming more and more like a true man.

An Xianjing said, "We can't wait any longer; we have to stop him. I don't know what he's planning, but he's clearly heading towards his death. A single woman has made him so reckless. Can you find him?"

"The Death Spiritual Flame I planted in him allows me to sense his location. However, many places in Lingxiao City block perception," Yao Qingxuan replied.

Li Weiyi returned to seclusion in the transcendent mansion of the Nine Li Hidden Gate.

As soon as he entered the Blood Mud Space, Tang Wanzhou praised him, "You've got a heroic spirit about you now! Say, how about I also send a challenge letter to the Demonic Child? If we're going to cause trouble, let's make it big. Let those timid and cowardly officials in the imperial court see our boldness. Others have already clearly set their sights on Lingxiao life realm, yet they still hold onto fantasies, playing dumb and deaf, thinking the opponents are just here for fun."