The dagger missed, and Yang Fu was slightly startled; in his estimation, it should have been impossible for someone at the Mortal Realm Second Layer to evade it.
Xiao Yi seized the moment of Yang Fu's distraction, immediately shifted his footing, and quickly widened the distance between them.
"Humph, I wanted to give you a quick death, but since you seem to find discomfort in that, don't blame me," Yang Fu didn't want to waste time, no longer holding back his strength, he attacked Xiao Yi with all his might.
The full-strength strike of a Mortal Realm Ninth Layer was frighteningly fast, more than ten times faster than that of a Mortal Realm Second Layer.
"The flaw is now." Xiao Yi's eyes narrowed, revealing a cold smile.
Although Yang Fu was confident, being within the territory of the Xiao Family, he was wary and felt compelled to attack with full force.
Going all out, with speed reaching its pinnacle, meant that he would have no path of retreat.
Of course, in his view, he didn't need a path of retreat; after all, he was up against a mere Mortal Realm Second Layer. He was absolutely certain he could kill him in an instant.
However, Xiao Yi also had his own life-saving trump card—his Ice Phoenix Sword Soul.
With respect to the mysterious Ice Phoenix Sword, Xiao Yi had sufficient confidence; he was convinced that it must be extremely powerful.
Given Xiao Yi's exceptional battle experience and extensive knowledge, he was completely certain that even at the cost of heavy injuries, he could take Yang Fu down.
Although the price was steep, the gap between the Mortal Realm Second Layer and Ninth Layer was simply too wide.
Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Yiyi entered, timidly saying, "Young Master, I've warmed your meal; please eat it yourself, Yiyi will leave right away and won't disturb your mood."
Yiyi kept her head down, fretting over possibly upsetting Xiao Yi.
The atmosphere abruptly became still.
"Uh," Xiao Yi was stunned for a moment.
Yang Fu also paused, halting his attack. After all, this was the Xiao Family, one of the Three Great Families of Purple Cloud City, and he worried that a powerful Martial Artist beyond the Mortal Realm might suddenly appear.
When he realized it was just a powerless maid, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately thrust his dagger at Xiao Yi again.
At that moment, Yiyi also lifted her head and noticed the situation.
"Young Master." Yiyi was shocked, and her slender frame burst into extreme speed, immediately running towards Xiao Yi.
"Yiyi, run!" Xiao Yi was instantly alarmed.
"Kid, you better take care of yourself first," Yang Fu stabbed down with his dagger.
Xiao Yi gritted his teeth secretly; the sudden appearance of Yiyi had distracted him, allowing Yang Fu to take the initiative.
"Kid, die," Yang Fu revealed a ferocious smile.
With a "schick," the poisoned dagger struck.
But it was Yiyi's body that it pierced.
"Yiyi!" Xiao Yi was in shock.
Yiyi's appearance was too abrupt, so much so that Xiao Yi could hardly react. By the time he did, Yiyi had already positioned herself in front of him.
Fortunately, his quick reflexes allowed him to just barely catch Yiyi, preventing the poisoned dagger from hitting her vital spot and piercing her waist and back instead.
"Bastard." Xiao Yi was shocked and furious, a strong sense of anger and desire for vengeance surging within him.
"Die," Xiao Yi instantly conjured the Ice Phoenix Sword.
A dazzling purple radiance appeared abruptly, and a supreme divine weapon materialized in his hand, thrusting fiercely at Yang Fu.
"Hmph," Yang Fu snorted coldly, pulling the poisoned dagger from Yiyi's back and then stabbing at Xiao Yi.
"A mere Mortal Realm Second Layer dares to confront me head-on, what a death wish," Yang Fu said with scorn.
However, in the next second, the scorn on Yang Fu's face instantly turned to shock and panic.
When the Ice Phoenix Sword collided with the poisoned dagger, blade to blade.
The poisoned dagger, formed by True Qi, instantly shattered.
"How is this possible?" Yang Fu was horrified.
Before he could react, the poisoned dagger had already broken apart, and that streak of purple radiance, with an incredibly sharp aura, pierced straight into his body, penetrating his heart.
The powerful physical body of a Mortal Realm Ninth Layer offered no resistance.
"This... this..." Yang Fu couldn't finish his words; his brain had already lost consciousness, and he collapsed to the ground, powerless.
He couldn't understand, even at the brink of death, how he—a powerful Martial Artist, second only to the Postnatal Realm, from the Mortal Realm Ninth Layer—could be killed by a kid from the Mortal Realm Second Layer.
The infamous poisoned dagger assassin of Purple Cloud City was thus dead.
"Yiyi." Just as Xiao Yi was about to check how severe Yiyi's injuries were...
Suddenly, with a 'boom' in his mind, a flood of unfamiliar memories emerged.
The words 'Ice Phoenix Sword Inheritance' suddenly appeared in his mind.
At the same time, a flash from the Ice Phoenix Sword Soul inside his body transmitted an ancient power to his eyes.
Xiao Yi's eyes suddenly changed, the left eye deep and as black as ink, exuding an endless abyss of coldness; the right eye blazing with heat, glowing bright red as if containing a sun star.
"So cold... so hot." Xiao Yi found the sensations suddenly appearing in his eyes to be very uncomfortable.
"Taiyin in the left eye, Taiyang in the right eye, is this the inheritance of the Ice Phoenix Sword?" Xiao Yi murmured to himself.
Through the memories in his mind, he learned that Taiyin and Taiyang were the powers inherently contained within the Ice Phoenix Sword.
However, these powers could only be obtained and used by the rightful master acknowledged by the Ice Phoenix Sword.
Put another way, Taiyin and Taiyang are the marks of the Ice Phoenix Sword recognizing its master.
From then on, the Ice Phoenix Sword truly recognized Xiao Yi as its master.
Only with this ability could one truly control the Ice Phoenix Sword and unleash one hundred percent of its power.
Beneath these black and red eyes, Xiao Yi saw through Yang Fu's body and spotted the Yellow Rank Martial Soul's poison dagger within him.
Suddenly, a void and invisible vortex burst forth simultaneously from both his left and right eyes.
The two invisible vortices began actively absorbing the poison dagger Martial Soul within Yang Fu's body.
At a speed almost visible to the naked eye, Yang Fu's poison dagger Martial Soul continued to shrink until it vanished completely.
And this power, through the vortexes, was transmitted back to the Taiyin and Taiyang Eyes, and finally conveyed onto the Martial Soul within Xiao Yi's body.
"Absorbing Martial Soul power, this..." Xiao Yi was dumbfounded.
Xiao Yi felt that the weak Fire Control Beast Martial Soul within him, which had been emitting a red light, instantly turned orange; however, there was no change in the Ice Phoenix Sword Soul.
No, the Ice Phoenix Sword did change, but it was exceedingly subtle. Its already deep purple Martial Soul darkened just a tad, almost insignificantly.
The power of a Yellow Rank Martial Soul was enormous for a Red Rank Martial Soul but seemed incredibly weak against a Purple Martial Soul, weaker by more than a hundredfold.
"Absorbing others' Martial Soul power and enhancing one's own Martial Soul power... tsk tsk, Ice Phoenix Sword, ah Ice Phoenix Sword, your abilities are too freakish," Xiao Yi rejoiced.
Xiao Yi guessed that the Ice Phoenix Sword must have already approved of him as its master long ago. However, this was the first time he had materialized it, which then triggered the Ice Phoenix Sword Inheritance and granted him the Taiyin and Taiyang Eyes ability.
The next second, as the two invisible vortices disappeared and his eyes returned to their normal color, Xiao Yi immediately snapped back to reality.
"Yiyi," Xiao Yi immediately began inspecting Yiyi's injuries.
Yiyi was already barely conscious, with fresh blood gushing from a wound on her back, forming a pool on the ground.
"Yiyi, don't sleep, wake up," Xiao Yi called out to Yiyi while trying to cover her wound.
Xiao Yi had often traveled in perilous regions and had long since taught himself considerable medical skills.
"Thank goodness, it missed the vital spots, just need to dress the wound properly..." Xiao Yi had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, Yiyi's face turned black in an instant, and her breathing grew weaker and weaker.
"Not good, that's the poison dagger, it's extremely toxic. Even if the bleeding is stopped, the toxicity could still take Yiyi's life," Xiao Yi panicked, only now remembering that Yang Fu's poison dagger Martial Soul contained potent poison.
At this moment, under Xiao Yi's continuous calling, Yiyi struggled to open her eyes and whispered weakly, "Young Master."
"Young Master my ass," Xiao Yi scolded, "Haven't I told you not to always block in front of me when there's danger, you... sigh..."
Yiyi managed a weak smile and said, "Yes, Yiyi's life belongs to the Young Master. Young Master Xiao Yi is dashing, elegant, handsome, and peerlessly charming, Yiyi will listen to everything Young Master says."
Yiyi's voice was low, her speech staggered, but Xiao Yi heard every word clearly.
"You... you really remembered..." Xiao Yi suddenly recalled that earlier during dinner, Yiyi had often been distracted, mumbling to herself.
She had been recalling his words all day, trying to remember them.
At this time, Yiyi closed her eyes again.
The poison of a Yellow Rank Martial Soul was far too strong for someone like Yiyi, who had no cultivation at all.
"Dammit, open your eyes, I won't let you die."
"You said you'd listen to me, so wake up now."
"...."
For some reason, Xiao Yi, once the king of assassins with a usually cold heart, began to feel panicked.
"Don't panic, I can figure out a way to save you." Xiao Yi, with exceptional mental strength, quickly calmed his heart.
He knew that being anxious was pointless and that he should instead focus on finding a way to save Yiyi.
"I've got it, Xingyi Five Extremes, Crane Form; I could heal myself no matter how severe my injuries in the past."
"It won't work, Yiyi doesn't know the Xingyi Five Extremes."
"My medical skills... no good, this toxicity is granted by a Martial Soul, an alchemist in this world might cure it, but my medical skills won't work."
For the first time ever, Xiao Yi felt such urgency, that even when he once entered a large mercenary group's den alone on Earth, facing countless enemies, he had remained calm and unflustered.
"I've got it," Xiao Yi's eyes suddenly lit up, "The Taiyin and Taiyang Eyes can absorb Martial Soul power."
Xiao Yi wasn't sure if it would work, but he wouldn't waste any chance.
"Focus," Xiao Yi commanded lowly, and in an instant, his normal eyes once again turned black and red, filled with coldness and heat.
With the memory of how to use this ability fresh in his mind.
As he looked at Yiyi, he saw a dark, pitch-black energy eroding inside her.
If he wasn't mistaken, that energy was the toxicity of the poison dagger.
"Absorb," Xiao Yi commanded lowly.
A pair of void, invisible vortices burst forth, instantly absorbing all of the pitch-black energy.
Oddly enough, this time, the energy was not absorbed into his Martial Soul but instead disappeared within the invisible vortices.
This pitch-black energy was indeed Martial Soul power as well, but having turned into toxicity, if Xiao Yi absorbed it, it would harm him rather than benefit him.
At this moment, the black qi on Yiyi's face had dissipated, indicating that the poison had been eliminated.
"Indeed it worked, the toxicity is gone, now all that's left is to dress the wound," Xiao Yi smiled and let out a breath of relief.