Careless, Didn't Dodge

Three months had passed since the Zhang Family was wiped out!

Zhao Yuling contacted the Xia Clan's upper ranks and gathered every Half-step King who was home on rotation. To be safe, she even secretly recalled the Half-step King Old Ancestors stationed along several relatively peaceful borders. After making airtight preparations, they launched an unprecedented purge against the Charm Clan.

Blood and carnage filled the air. Countless Charm Clan members hidden in the shadows were surrounded and slaughtered, while every family that had colluded with them was exterminated.

Yet some Charm Clan members reacted in time, fleeing their known hideouts and vanishing without a trace, concealing themselves even deeper.

During the most perilous encirclement, a Half-step Invincible King of the Charm Clan who had been lying in wait suddenly attacked. He killed a Half-step King of the Xia Clan, along with countless martial artists participating in the purge. Blood flowed into rivers.

This Half-step Invincible King of the Charm Clan was absent from the records of the black-robed protectors and the Peerless Holy Son. He was a Charm Clan elder hidden in the dark, a secret guardian whose existence even most of the Charm Clan did not know.

His attack threw the Xia Clan into turmoil.

The Map of Mountains and Rivers issued its strongest warning, enraging the three Half-step Invincible King Old Ancestors of the Xia Clan who were far away at the borders.

But just then.

Upon learning that the Charm Clan was being slaughtered on a massive scale, the Charm Clan's Half-step Invincible King went mad! He declared that blood would be repaid with blood, tooth for tooth.

He would massacre three thousand li of Xia Clan territory.

And make them burial offerings for the dead souls of the Charm Clan.

He spread slaughter everywhere.

Before long, he encountered Zhao Yuling, who was leading people in the siege of a Charm Clan stronghold.

Zhao Yuling stood in white, pure as snow, a three-foot azure blade in hand!

As she looked at the enormous bat before her, its demonic flames soaring into the heavens.

She was very tense.

Her opponent was a Half-step Invincible King.

And in her own mind, she had only just broken through to the Half-step King realm.

They were separated by an entire level.

Like the difference between an acquired martial artist and an Innate Grandmaster.

The gap was so vast it inspired despair.

This was a deeply ingrained belief.

"Heh! A Half-step King of the Xia Clan. Little girl, your bone age seems quite young—your talent is remarkable! Your future is boundless. It would be a pity for you to fall now. I'll give you a chance: submit to me, and you may live!"

The Breath Concealment Art Zhao Yuling practiced was a skill Chu He had focused on teaching her. Her attainments in it were quite profound, and she had concealed her aura extremely well.

The Charm Clan's Half-step Invincible King could not see through her. He could only estimate her realm based on the fact that she could cross the air.

After all, under normal circumstances, one could not walk through the air unless one had reached the Half-step King realm!

Seeing that Zhao Yuling was young, he assumed she was a Half-step King.

His desire to hunt talent was stirred. Rather than immediately avenging his clansmen, he wanted to subdue Zhao Yuling as a servant.

Perhaps in the future, she could provide the Charm Clan with another fighter at the Half-step Invincible King realm.

That would make up somewhat for the losses of several clan prodigies and protectors this time.

And when the time came, perhaps he could enjoy her as well.

The best of both worlds.

"Submit to you? Dream on!"

Zhao Yuling's voice was icy, her expression resolute.

Her Fighting Spirit began to burn. Even knowing she was no match for him, she had no intention whatsoever of groveling for her life.

"Is that so?"

"Hmph!"

The Charm Clan elder snorted coldly.

"You know nothing of power. You will never understand how powerful I am. Once you have witnessed it, make your choice again! I will give you another chance! This is the treatment a prodigy deserves! You will thank me!"

"Now, I shall let you witness the power of a Half-step Invincible King!"

With that, he suddenly thrust a claw toward Zhao Yuling.

In an instant, the rolling yin energy swirling around him was drawn together, condensing into a demonic claw dozens of zhang wide that seized toward Zhao Yuling.

Space itself seemed about to be torn apart beneath that claw.

The martial artists who had come with Zhao Yuling stood on the ground, looking up into the sky with faces pale in terror.

The claw was not aimed at them, but merely watching it from afar made their hearts and minds shake violently, as though they faced the might of heaven itself.

Before such terrifying power, they were nothing but ants.

"Fight!"

Zhao Yuling's expression was incomparably grave, her mind on high alert.

This was the first time in her life that she had faced such a powerful and earth-shaking attack.

Though she did not know why, it did not give her that overwhelming terror of imminent death.

Nor did she tremble as she had imagined. Instead, her Fighting Spirit surged high.

That was not important now.

What mattered most was blocking this attack.

Though she had little confidence, waiting to be captured was not in her nature.

Zhao Yuling swung her sword.

Sword Twenty-Three!

This was a Martial Skill Chu He had given her, and also her strongest offensive technique.

As a sword cultivator, Zhao Yuling was not skilled at defense, so she chose to use offense in place of defense.

She attacked with all her strength, pouring out every ounce of power she could wield at that moment.

Twenty-three phantom greatswords appeared in the void, each more imposing than the last!

The piercing ring of swords shook the nine heavens. A terrifying Sword Intent rose from the firmament, suppressing heaven and earth!

Sword light flashed, and the earth-shaking demonic claw directly collapsed, its yin energy scattering in all directions.

This sudden change left the Charm Clan elder unable to react for a moment.

"Fuck!"

His eyes flew wide as he cried out in shock!

His immensely powerful attack had been all show and no substance, so fragile that it shattered at the slightest touch.

The sword light smashed the demonic claw and continued onward without losing momentum, arriving in the blink of an eye. The sharp Sword Intent upon it struck terror into the Charm Clan elder's heart, leaving him unable to gather his defenses in time beyond instinctively crying out.

Before his horrified eyes, the twenty-three streams of Sword Qi surged forward one after another, savagely slashing across his body.

The Charm Clan elder's once-mighty body, brimming with sinister power, instantly became a ruined wreck. Black blood sprayed everywhere, his aura fell into disarray, and he could no longer remain in the air as he plummeted toward the ground.

Zhao Yuling stood rooted in place, forgetting for a moment to go down and finish him off.

She blinked, first looking at her hands, then at the treasured sword in her grip.

What was going on?

Was that really a Half-step Invincible King just now?

At this moment, she was even more bewildered than the Charm Clan elder.

That strike of hers had been an attack, yes, but she had only intended to protect herself. How had she so easily dispersed that terrifying demonic claw of the Charm Clan elder?

And then, without losing momentum, directly crippled him!

Could the Charm Clan elder have merely been all bark and no bite, terrifying in appearance but actually just a weakling?

Unable to make sense of it, Zhao Yuling descended with a heart full of doubts.

"H-how could this be?"

The Charm Clan elder was not dead yet. A Half-step Invincible King's life force was still rather tenacious.

But even if he was not dead, he was crippled. He had crashed heavily onto the ground, every bone in his body shattered. Black blood continued to gush from all over him, and the yin energy around him was dissipating.

His eyes were wide, filled with disbelief.

He had been effortlessly defeated in a single move!

Recalling that Sword Intent which had enveloped him from head to toe and left him unable to react in an instant.

As he watched Zhao Yuling descend, he realized something!

"Y-you're a King!"

The Charm Clan elder asked in a voice that was nearly suffocated by terror.

If she truly was a King, then it all made sense!

Damn it!

He had been careless. If he had known earlier that she was a King, if he had been prepared, he could have escaped!

He was, after all, a Half-step Invincible King. Even against a newly advanced King, he had the strength to contend!

Even if he could not win, he could still flee!

When he had attacked just now, he had not used his full strength at all. He had merely wanted to intimidate Zhao Yuling and see whether he could subdue her.

And the result!

He had been tricked!

She had pretended to be a pig to eat the tiger!

The moment he let his guard down, she unleashed her full strength. He had no time to dodge before being instantly defeated!

P.S.: Thanks to boss Ta Huang Shi Jie for another hundred reward.

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