"Is this the place? So disgusting. It makes me want to vomit," Xuanyuan Wendao looked at the silent city before with a disgusted expression. "The air here is still as disgusting as it was 17 years ago, nothing changed. A fitting place for the birth of those bastards."
He turned his head and looked at one of the old men beside him and said, "Elder Jue, I will leave it to you."
Xuanyuan Jue was the father of Yufeng. When the news of the demon destroying the Heavenly Sword Villa reached him, Xuanyuan Jue's heart had fallen, and his face had lost all its color. In fear that something might have happened to his daughter and his grandsons, he was the first to volunteer for this hunt.
Before coming here, they had already visited the Heavenly Sword Villa. What welcomed them was nothing but ruins of once a prosperous sect. Thinking the worst, Xuanyuan Jue's mind was currently filled with extreme sorrow and rage: sorrow at the fact that he might have lost his daughter and grandsons, and rage at the fact that it was Canghai who killed them.
He had vowed to kill anyone related to Canghai to appease the souls of his daughter and grandsons.
A murderous and crazed look formed over Xuanyuan Jue's face at Wendao's order. He raised his hand, and a simple one-handed sword appeared in it.
Profound energy, in the shape of a sharp sword aura, was released.
"Serve!" Xuanyuan Jue shouted as he swung his sword at the capital below. With his strength, even the space felt as weak as paper, waving intensely; it looked on the verge of being destroyed.
"No villain talk? At least you guys are more direct than the goons from before." A nonchalant voice appeared in the surroundings, startling everyone.
"Boom!" Instead of serving the capital as they had imagined, the mighty sword beam had hit an invisible barrier, creating a deafening boom. It shook it but was unable to destroy it, as soon the sword beam dispersed in the surroundings.
"Who!?" Xuanyuan Jue shouted loudly with a serious expression. To be able to stop his attack so effortlessly, such a person shouldn't exist in this small capital; unless it was Canghai, but the voice they heard was too young to belong to the old man like Canghai.
This made them stand on their guard as they waited for the reply from this mysterious person.
"Don't you guys know me already? Aren't you here to capture me?" Hearing the chuckle in the voice, Xuanyuan Wendao frowned before asking doubtfully.
"Yun Che...? Is that you?" They indeed had received reports that Yun Canghai's grandson was in the Blue Wind Empire and he had fought with Canghai on equal terms, but obviously, no one believed it.
They knew that if Yun Che really was Canghai's grandson, then he should be around 16-17 this year. How could a sixteen or seventeen-year-old be able to fight with a peak Sovereign? If it was true—no, they dared not believe that it was the truth.
"Bingo!"
"Humph! Who are you fooling? Do you think we are that easy to be fooled?" Xuanyuan Wendao snorted in disdain, like everyone, not believing that a sixteen or so-year-old kid could fight a peak Sovereign. "Show yourself or don't blame me for destroying this whole capital."
"Impatient, are we?" Yun Che chuckled before replying. "Wait a second, my wife is dressing me right now. Unlike you, I'm a busy man after all."
"..." Seconds passed before a hazy figure appeared over the top of the royal palace, instantly stealing the attention of Xuanyuan Wendao and the elders he had brought with him. Their eyes widened as they stared at the young-looking man in front of them, not willing to believe what they were saying.
"Told you, didn't I? Hello everyone, I'm Yun Che. It's not nice to meet you." Yun Che smiled and waved his hand at Xuanyuan Wendao and elders, a teasing expression adorning his face.
Xuanyuan Wendao's expression abruptly changed as he blurted out loudly.
"Impossible! How can a seventeen-year-old kid reach the strength of a peak Sovereign?! Such a thing should not be possible!"
"Young Master, it seems that the rumors were exaggerated." The old man standing on the right side of Xuanyuan Wendao snorted, staring at Yun Che with a displeased expression and stated, "It seems that the people of this garbage land love to exaggerate everything."
"Really now?" Yun Che smiled wryly and sighed. "I am not even surprised at this point. Did you not see me blocking the sword beam just now? Or are you blind by chance?"
"Humph! Don't take us for fools, demon spawn. Go and call Yun Canghai. Tell him to stop hiding like a turtle and reveal himself."
"You guys..." Yun Che released a long sigh, an expression of resignation appearing on his face. "I give up. Sometimes I really wish that I could see what is going on inside the mind of people like you, but then I don't want to because I'll probably end up retarded if I did that. So let's ignore all of this and come to the main point."
He looked at Wendao, then at Xuanyuan Jue, and then at the last elder who stood at the right side of Xuanyuan Wendao, Xuanyuan Bo.
"By any chance, any of you is named Xuanyuan Jue? If so, can you tell me who it is?"
Yun Che's question caught the three off-guard as all of them looked at each other in confusion before Xuanyuan Jue glared at Yun Che with unhidden murderous attention and stated,
"I am Xuanyuan Jue. Yun Che, tell me, what happened to my daughter and grandsons?"
Yun Che looked at Xuanyuan Jue silently before his lips curled up slightly.
"Not going to ask about your son-in-law?"
"Humph! I never liked that bastard to begin with. Not only did he steal my daughter from me and bring her here to this backwatered land, he even dared to have thoughts about other women while ignoring the love of my daughter. I cannot be happier if he is dead." Instantly, his gaze turned into a bloodthirsty one as he glared at Yun Che with unhidden bloodlust. "But if something happened to my daughter and grandsons, then you can only blame yourself for the destruction of this pathetic place you call home."
"Overprotective? Hahaha. I like you, old man." Yun Che laughed before his gaze turned towards Xuanyuan Bo and a feral smirk appeared on his face, causing Xuanyuan Bo to shiver. "Anyways, you guys are not needed then."
"You—" Xuanyuan Bo couldn't finish his sentence as everything slowed down explicitly within his vision as he stared at the closing open palm wide-eyed. In the next instant, his face was grabbed by the said palm as a calm voice entered his ears.
"Blue Flames."
Xuanyuan Bo's eyes widened before—AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—a loud shriek left his mouth, startling Xuanyuan Wendao and Xuanyuan Jue who finally registered what happened.
Eyes widened and mouths agape, they stared in terror at the first elder of Mighty Heavenly Sword Sacred Ground as he shouted loudly while his body burned by the weird [Blue Flames]. He thrashed his body within Yun Che's palm and used his profound energy to deflect or extinguish the [Blue Flames], but nothing seemed to work as, in what felt like a second or two, his body turned to ashes and vanished.
Pin-drop silence covered everything as fear gripped the hearts of Xuanyuan Wendao and Xuanyuan Jue. Yun Che, with his back facing them, turned his head over his shoulder to look at them.
The mysterious [Blue Fire] still burned viciously on his hands as he stared at Xuanyuan Wendao with a devilish smirk.
"You must be Young Master Wendao, right? Well, forgive me, but my adoptive grandfather wants to have a chat with you. As the nice guy I am, I will be crippling your veins."
Xuanyuan Wendao's heart jumped at Yun Che's voice. Fear gripped his heart, and his face became pale.
Xuanyuan Wendao was at the peak of the Sovereign Profound Realm. The fact that Yun Che killed a participant at the peak of the Sovereign Profound Realm in seconds, something not possible even for the strongest person on this continent, Xuanyuan Wentian, made Xuanyuan Wendao realize he had hit a solid wall.
He wanted to slap himself for not believing the rumors. If he had believed them, he would have brought more people with him.
"W-wait! M-my father is Xuanyuan Wentian, the Sect Master of Mighty Heavenly Sword Region! If you spare me, I can have my father drop all the charges that are upon you and your grandfather. I-I can even leave my position and give it to you. Imagine being the Young Master of a Sacred Ground! No one will dare to even raise their eyes towards you! Cultivation resources, money, women, artifacts! Anything you desire, you can have it!"
A crazed smile formed over Wendao's face as he tried his best to come up with the best offer to save his life.
Xuanyuan Wendao was a coward by nature who would suppress the weak and bow towards the strong. Hence, Xuanyuan Jue, someone who prided himself on his bloodline, felt disgusted looking at Xuanyuan Wendao.
"So, how about it? Do you agree? If you do, I will step down from the position of Mighty Heavenly Sword Region's Young Master right now!"
Yun Che stared at Wendao with an amused expression. He blinked and appeared in front of stunned and horrified Wendao before his lips curled up into a smirk as he stared down at Wendao.
"Say... Why do you think I would need YOUR help in achieving all this?"
"Huh?" Wendao looked confused before a huge amount of pain hit his nerves, causing him to scream loudly.
"I alone am enough to take over everything." He brought his hand out from Wendao's crushed dentian and dominatingly stated, "I don't need some nobody's help to achieve all that."
Gulp
Despite his courage, Xuanyuan Jue couldn't help but take a fearful step back, feeling the aura being released from Yun Che's body. To him, it felt like he was standing in front of the apex predator; someone who stood at the top of the food chain, and everything else, including the world itself, was nothing but food to him.
"Well then, now that the annoying flies are gone, we can have a heart-to-heart conversation, father-in-law." Throwing Wendao over his shoulders, Yun Che looked towards a scared Xuanyuan Jue and smiled.
"Huh?" A confused expression instantly formed over Xuanyuan Jue's face, not understanding what Yun Che meant.
"Hmmm. I guess showing you would be easier than explaining everything." Rubbing his chin, Yun Che smiled. "Come then. I will take you to where your daughter and grandsons are. I am sure you would be surprised to see them."
...
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