"If Sect Master Yue isn't here to apprehend you, then for what purpose?" someone inquired.
"A good question," Xiao Man said with a smile. "As everyone must know, my Qin clan once had a Great Cultivation Stage mighty figure, didn't they?"
"We know, he was rumored to have gone mad refining artifacts."
"He didn't go mad refining artifacts, but rather sacrificed himself to refine artifacts, forging an artifact of heaven-defying power, the Sky-Piercing Pagoda."
"Stop spewing honeyed words here..."
"Honeyed words?" Xiao Man turned to face the enraged Yue Tianxia. "Back then, you destroyed the Qin family, wasn't it for the Sky-Piercing Pagoda? After the Qin family was annihilated, you, fearing that someone would expose your acquisition of the heaven-defying artifact, spread rumors that the Qin clan's blood could double the efficacy of pill refinement, heal illnesses, and aid cultivation. Using the hands of the world, you eradicated the Qin clan. Afterward, still uneasy, you pursued them to the Yong'an Continent, slaughtering the remaining direct descendants of the Qin clan who had migrated. Now, you won't even spare a lone orphan like me. Sect Master Yue, the Sky-Piercing Pagoda, is it serving you well?"
"What kind of artifact is the Sky-Piercing Pagoda?" someone asked.
"With the Sky-Piercing Pagoda, even if you are merely a Golden Core cultivator, under its protection, you can traverse spatial rifts and travel to higher continental planes to seek the ultimate path of cultivation."
"The Sky-Piercing Pagoda is clearly on you!" Yue Tianxia blurted out.
"Sect Master Yue, if the Sky-Piercing Pagoda were truly on me, I likely wouldn't have lived to see this moment," Xiao Man said neither hastily nor slowly. "For a heaven-defying artifact, you murdered your sworn brother, annihilated his kin, and to ensure no loose ends, you didn't hesitate to tear space to reach the Yong'an Continent and kill people. If you didn't have the Sky-Piercing Pagoda, how did you travel to the Yong'an Continent twenty years ago?"
Yue Tianxia then realized that Xiao Man had dug a pit for him from the very beginning, and he had now fallen into it. However, he was not one to reason things out, and immediately moved to apprehend her!
Xiao Man was not one to resign herself to fate. Seeing Yue Tianxia attack, she did not flinch and charged straight at him. The onlookers thought to themselves, truly fearless, to dare charge at a Great Cultivation Stage mighty figure like Yue Tianxia. She was surely doomed!
However, as their palms met, Xiao Man was repelled by Yue Tianxia's force, retreating over ten steps before stabilizing her stance. Yue Tianxia, on the other hand, retreated one step. For Yue Tianxia, this step was a humiliation. A dignified Great Cultivation Stage expert, forced back by a junior, even by just one step, was a complete loss of face.
"You court death!"
Xiao Man raised her sword again and lunged forward. In a short span of time, they had exchanged dozens of blows. The speed was so great that human eyes could not keep up. Yue Ran stood frozen, his mind occupied by a single thought: they were enemies!
"Stop, don't fight, don't fight." Madam Yue stumbled forward. Yue Ran held her back, preventing her from intervening. Madam Yue's cultivation had always been stagnant at the Golden Core stage, and this battle was not one that Golden Core cultivators could participate in.
"Ran'er, quickly stop them, quickly stop them," Madam Yue urged anxiously. "Go quickly."
"Madam, what nonsense are you speaking!" Jing Shu supported Madam Yue. "Young Sect Master is only at the peak of Golden Core stage, how can he possibly interfere in such a battle? Wouldn't this be putting the Young Sect Master's life at risk?"
"Mother, did my father truly kill Xiao Qin's clan members and parents?"
"I don't know, I don't know..." Madam Yue's eyes welled up with tears. She didn't know how to answer Yue Ran, nor how to face him. All she knew was that she absolutely could not stand by and watch her own daughter die at Yue Tianxia's hands!
Yan Yuqing had tried to help several times, but Jin Ling held her back. "Don't rush, let's see how things unfold first. If Brother is unable to hold on, he will give us a signal."
"Until when do we wait?"
"Don't you see that the others aren't making a move?" Jin Ling calmly analyzed. "Our task is to prevent others from interfering and to cover her escape from the Heavenly Sword Sect. Exposing ourselves too early will only be counterproductive."
"I understand, it's just..." Yan Yuqing's gaze shifted towards Madam Yue's direction. "Things might turn out very badly."
"It's already bad enough to have developed to this point, how much worse can it get? Now that Yue Tianxia possesses the Sky-Piercing Pagoda, which is a valuable item, the people from the other three major sects surely desire it. Just this alone is enough to give Yue Tianxia a headache. As long as Brother can escape from here, she will be safe. At that point, Yue Tianxia will be overwhelmed and unable to continue pursuing Brother."
Jin Ling's thoughts were beautiful, but all of this was predicated on the assumption that the Sky-Piercing Pagoda was indeed on Xiao Man. However, the Sky-Piercing Pagoda had been on Xiao Man from the beginning; this was merely a ploy by Xiao Man to sow discord.
Just as Xiao Man was about to falter from exhaustion, a divine beast phoenix appeared out of nowhere. Its magnificent feathers blazed like fire, and its phoenix cry was clear and resonant. With the help of the divine beast phoenix, Xiao Man, who had been at a disadvantage, managed to regain her footing.
"It's a divine beast phoenix! This little girl is truly extraordinary, to have a divine beast as a contracted beast!" Upon seeing the phoenix, the eyes of the crowd glinted with greed. That was a divine beast! A divine beast was comparable to a peak Nascent Soul expert. This divine beast was not yet an adult; if it were an adult, it would be another Great Cultivation Stage expert, and one who obeyed its master's commands!
"Human nature is inherently greedy," Shui Lu raised the wine cup before him and drained it. "Grandpa, look at these people, the way they look at Lan Lan, like starving dogs seeing meat, wishing they could pounce and tear a piece off. Truly unsightly."
Elder Yao glanced at the two locked in their fierce battle. "That girl is no match for Yue Tianxia."
"If she's no match, why did she come to the Heavenly Sword Sect?" Shui Lu mused. "Is there something in the Heavenly Sword Sect that would cause her to risk her life to infiltrate?"
"Perhaps, she's here for the Demon Lord's soul?" Elder Yao teased.
"Do you believe that?" Shui Lu looked at Elder Yao and asked earnestly.
Elder Yao rubbed his nose. "No. This girl is extremely shrewd. Who is the Demon Lord? How could she possibly offend the four major sects for a Demon Lord who is hunted by everyone? Isn't she courting death?"
"Therefore, Yue Tianxia is truly acting to silence her."
"Naturally." Elder Yao's gaze fell upon Xiao Man, who was currently fighting. "If she can survive this ordeal, her future is boundless. A alchemist at the Nascent Soul stage, who has also contracted the divine beast Fire Phoenix, she might reach the pinnacle of alchemy."
"Yes, therefore, she must survive and leave this place!"
However, even with the help of the divine beast Fire Phoenix, Xiao Man was still no match for Yue Tianxia. After all, Yue Tianxia was an ancient monster who had lived for thousands of years; his cultivation and experience were far beyond what Xiao Man could contend with. Soon, both Xiao Man and the Fire Phoenix were struck down.