I was left dumbfounded, though I couldn't help laughing inwardly. Aside from showing that Xianqing had never seen much of the world and had mistakenly believed that he was the strongest swordsman under heaven, it also showed that he didn't know Shandao could actually be said to be the weakest person to emerge from the Dao Extremity Dimension. Still, since he refused to admit defeat, having Shandao kill him would inevitably leave him resentful. Besides, the man had many followers. Though he was riddled with flaws, for the sake of maintaining Taiwei's stability, we couldn't kill him and risk pulling the whole web apart.
Since he wanted to challenge me and make trouble, I couldn't very well refuse to satisfy him. "Heh heh, Xianqing, you're the one begging for mercy now. But if you want to gamble, that's not impossible. There has to be some stake, though. Otherwise, if you lose and still refuse to let it go, and your followers refuse to let it go either, what then?"
"City Lord Xia, don't give him the chance! That scoundrel Xianqing is crafty! City Lord Xia, just have some fun—don't trade spells with him!" Ji Zhongfeng, who had already switched sides, hurriedly called from the side.
"Ji Zhongfeng, what does this have to do with you? Do I need your permission to fight someone?" Xianqing roared. Shandao had chased him through heaven and earth, leaving him nowhere to vent his fury. Now, whoever cursed at him, he was going to fire back twice as hard.
Seeing that the two ministers on either side were going on forever, I raised a hand to stop Ji Zhongfeng and said to Shandao, "Miss Shandao, let this fellow off for now. He wants to fight me, so he must have prepared himself mentally. What harm