Zhou Heng paused at this critical moment because he suddenly received a hint of mastering the Sky-soaring Third Form!
Originally, he didn't have the opportunity to perceive it, but who knew Feng Tengyuan would actually jump out to help him? Zhou Heng naturally wouldn't miss the chance and immediately devoted his mind to the intricacies of the Sky-soaring Third Form.
Such an opportunity, once missed, might never come again!
It's something you can only encounter but not seek!
And now, he had finally grasped it!
With the Frost Cold Sword held horizontally, Zhou Heng fixed his gaze on Zhou Xianming, his aura firmly locking onto the opponent.
Zhou Xianming immediately felt a terrible danger approaching, an intuition formed from decades of combat. He always trusted his intuition, which had saved him countless times.
But facing an adversary who was not at all weaker than himself, how could he afford to fight back?
He could only be cautious, adapting as the situation demanded!
"Zhou Xianming, surrender without delay!" the other four elders all shouted loudly, joining the fray one after another.
"Hmph, do you few rats really think you can overturn this old man's sky?" Zhou Xianming's gaze suddenly erupted with a terrifying cold light, and under his imposing aura, all four elders simultaneously stumbled in their movements.
Zhou Heng let out a fierce shout, his body lunged forward, like a dragon soaring through the skies!
Zhou Xianming's unease intensified. After throwing a claw strike at Feng Tengyuan, he quickly retreated.
With quick steps of the Cloud Flying Step, Zhou Heng charged forward, thrusting with his sword!
In Zhou Xianming's eyes, the whole world turned incredibly dark, with only a sharp sword piercing through the darkness, headed toward him with a dazzling light.
His mind was completely captivated!
It won't do!
Zhou Xianming hurriedly shouted, barely struggling free from the immense mental suppression, but the world was still dark. The sword light grew brighter and brighter, the fierce light blinding, completely breaking through the darkness and forming a vast expanse of white in front of him.
He couldn't see anything anymore!
Pu!
The sound of a blade piercing through flesh and bone reached him, but Zhou Xianming felt no pain in his body. However, his strength was rapidly draining away, his consciousness blurring, the white light in front of him fading. The first thing he saw was a shiny sword embedded in his chest!
His heart had been pierced!
Merely having the heart stabbed by a sword was not fatal for a Blood Refinement Realm expert, but his entire heart had been destroyed by the Sword Qi, turning into a lump of flesh – beyond any hope of rescue!
The fact that he was still breathing was all due to him being of the Blood Refinement Realm, with an extraordinarily strong life force.
"Unthinkable... unthinkable..." Zhou Xianming's gaze grew dimmer. Of course, he never imagined that in one night, three generations of his family would die at the hands of Zhou Heng, a universally recognized waste, a nobody they never took seriously!
Bang, the old man collapsed, blood gushing from his chest.
Dead! Zhou Xianming was indeed dead!
A freak! A youth from the Bone Refinement Realm actually killed an existence from the Blood Refinement Realm, and even the strongest expert at the peak of Blood Refinement at that!
If this youngster were to grow into the Blood Refinement Realm, would there be any rivals left in the world?
—Unless it's those peerless experts from legend who have crossed the path to ascent!
The venue was silent, save for the heavy breathing that echoed around.
Zhou Heng broke the silence, cupping his hands towards Feng Tengyuan, "Thank you for your righteous assistance, senior!"
"No need for thanks!" Feng Tengyuan gave him a smile that carried deep significance, "It's getting late today; I shall pay a visit early tomorrow morning!"
"I will be waiting to receive you!" Zhou Heng bowed again.
Feng Tengyuan turned around, his figure sprang up, and he was already drifting away.
Though he had left, no one dared to harbor any thoughts against Zhou Heng, seeing how much this Body Refining Twelfth Layer expert cared and was concerned for Zhou Heng. Who would dare to offend Zhou Heng?
Besides, since this youngster could kill Zhou Xianming, no one else dared to challenge him!
Since even Feng Tengyuan said it was too late and didn't want to disturb Zhou Heng, the others certainly didn't dare to do so. They quickly moved the bodies of Zhou Xianming and the others out. With a sudden power vacuum in the Zhou Family, internal strife was unavoidable, and everyone was busy.
It wasn't until everyone had left that Zhou Heng's body trembled violently, and he sat down on the ground, blood gushing from the wound on his lower abdomen.
Using the Sky-soaring Third Form had completely drained his strength, naturally leaving him unable to suppress the wound.
He struggled to sit up, tore off a strip of cloth to tightly bind and wrap the wound, and then he dragged his heavy steps into the inner courtyard.
"Dad—" Zhou Heng called out, but saw Zhou Dinghai lying motionless on the bed. Startled, he stumbled over, and after feeling Zhou Dinghai's pulse and detecting a sign of life, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Just unconscious.
There on the floor, Zhou Heng started circulating the Moonshadow Heart Jue to recover his True Yuan Force. He believed that after eliminating Zhou Xianming, the family would definitely not overlook Zhou Dinghai's plight—who would want to be the next Zhou Xianming?
Now, the most important task was to recover his strength.
Before long, the Broken Sword vibrated, a great amount of free energy flowed out, filling his body, as midnight approached.
He greedily absorbed the energy, and quickly had not only completely recovered his strength but also made significant progress.
With his strength restored, he got up to fetch gauze and medicine, intending to redress his wounds. However, when he unwrapped the bandages, he was amazed to find that the wounds had already scabbed over!
The speed of healing... was astonishingly fast!
Zhou Heng was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. Under the transformation of the Black Sword, his body was evolving towards absolute ferocity. Otherwise, even as a Bone Refinement Realm martial artist, his wounds could not have healed so quickly.
He recalled the Sky-soaring Third Form he had previously executed.
This third form of swordsmanship was more powerful than the first two, and it put an even greater strain on him! If his body hadn't become increasingly powerful, and he hadn't entered the Bone Refinement Realm, the excessive force he gathered while performing the swordsmanship might have burst his body first!
The fact that he could kill Zhou Xianming was mainly because Feng Tengyuan had distracted much of the latter's attention. Otherwise, that one strike might have greatly injured him, but to claim it would kill him in one blow was beyond Zhou Heng's current capabilities!
After all, there was a five-realm difference between them, and not even the Sky-soaring Nine Forms or the Frost Cold Sword could bridge that vast gap in power.
After several fierce battles and suffering injuries that caused a great loss of blood, he couldn't hold on much longer; he lay on the ground and fell asleep. When he awoke, it was already dawn.
"Dad—" Zhou Heng quickly got up and rushed to the inner room. Only when he saw that Zhou Dinghai had not yet awakened did he feel somewhat at ease. He undid Zhou Dinghai's clothes and saw a fiery red palm print on his chest. It seemed alive, slowly moving about.
Upon touching it with his finger, an intense burning sensation immediately assailed him, as if it could burn his skin and flesh.
Was his father constantly suffering from such scorching pain?
Murderous intent appeared in Zhou Heng's eyes, and he clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked audibly.
Knock knock knock, at that moment, a knocking sound came from the courtyard gate.
In fact, the gate had already been torn apart the previous night, but Zhou Heng was no longer the same person he was before—who would dare to enter without permission?
Zhou Heng went out, only to see the visitor was none other than Feng Tengyuan!
He quickly clasped his hands in greeting, "I have seen the senior!"
"Haha, no need to be so polite!" Feng Tengyuan waved his hand, strode in, smiled at Zhou Heng, and said, "Are you curious why I would lend you a hand?"
Zhou Heng's mind raced; he had pondered this question last night.
The other party had mentioned the term 'sect', and Zhou Xianming had been overly cautious around him, not daring to deal a killing blow even when their faces were torn. It was clear he held immense fear for the power behind Feng Tengyuan.
And the only sect Zhou Heng could think of that was connected to him was—Nine Spirit Sect!
"Is it because of this sword?" Zhou Heng raised the Frost Cold Sword.
"Smart!" Feng Tengyuan raised his thumb in praise. "This is the young miss's most cherished sword, and she actually gave it to you. Tsk tsk tsk!" He nodded repeatedly, his face showing unabashed surprise.
He didn't doubt for a moment that Zhou Heng stole or seized the sword because while a sword can be stolen or seized, what about the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique? Zhou Heng had performed several moves of this sword technique yesterday and had already mastered its subtleties. How could he do that if the young miss hadn't taught him herself?
The Frost Cold Sword was the young miss's most treasured possession, never leaving her side, and she would get angry even if someone else touched it, let alone gave it to someone!
Yet this sword was in Zhou Heng's hands, a man's hands—what did that imply?
The young miss was moved!
Indeed, the young miss was also nineteen this year. In ordinary families, she would have been married and had children by now!
Son-in-law!
That was why he had risked his life yesterday to protect Zhou Heng—it was a great merit!
Zhou Heng's thoughts stirred, "Senior, my father has been poisoned and is seriously injured. I am helpless; could you possibly take a look?"
"You need not call me senior; just use my name!" Feng Tengyuan hurriedly said, wishing he could call Zhou Heng 'Young Master Heng' without sounding sycophantic!
"You are my elder, both in terms of cultivation level and age; how could I be disrespectful to my elders!" Zhou Heng shook his head, insisting on the term 'senior'.
Feng Tengyuan had no choice but to comply, but inside he was overjoyed, thinking that this son-in-law knew how to conduct himself, neither arrogant nor impetuous, and worthy to follow.
The two went to the inner room, and when Feng Tengyuan's gaze swept over the red palm print on Zhou Dinghai's body, his face changed dramatically, and he blurted out, "Crimson Flame Burning Heart Palm!"
"Senior, do you know the origin of this injury?"
A solemn look crossed Feng Tengyuan's face, "The Crimson Flame Burning Heart Palm is a secret technique of White Jade Valley, only cultivatable by Spirit Gathering Realm experts!"
White Jade Valley!
It was truly a narrow path for enemies; previously, due to the Ink Fruit, he had already incurred the wrath of White Jade Valley. Later, that Young Master Jin believed he had an illicit affair with Lin Fuxiang, and challenged him repeatedly!
Now they had even injured his father!
This enmity could only be settled with blood!
Spirit Gathering Realm expert? So what? The enemy had struck so ruthlessly, not only aiming to kill Zhou Dinghai but also to make him suffer immensely before death. If he did not avenge this, he would be unworthy as a son!
Since the Crimson Flame Burning Heart Palm was an ultimate technique of White Jade Valley, the person skilled in this technique must certainly hold a high status. To kill such an enemy, he might well have to contend with the entire White Jade Valley!
His current strength was still too weak. To take revenge, the first step was to advance to the Spirit Gathering Realm!
Zhou Heng took a deep breath to suppress the raging anger in his heart and said, "Senior, is there a way to treat my father?"