Blood Debts Repaid in Blood, the Fisherman Reaps the Profit!

Xia Wuji stomped Li Chunfeng to death.

Li Qing's eyes flew wide open, the corners seeming ready to split apart, his face twisted into a vicious and feral mask!

"Aaaah!"

He let out a furious roar.

"Xia Wuji!"

"If I'd known, three months ago, I never should have held back and merely shattered your Dantian. I should have taken your life then!"

Li Qing roared again and again.

"Boom!"

A terrifying surge of air erupted from within him, forcibly tearing away a layer of the surrounding ground as sand and stones flew everywhere.

As the commander of the Sword Pavilion's Sword Feather Guard, Li Qing was naturally no ordinary man. His cultivation had reached the third level of the Sea of Qi Realm.

Xia Wuji shouted coldly, "Since you were the one who shattered my Dantian three months ago, then today, you will repay that debt with your life!"

"I'll chop you into pieces!" Veins bulged across the back of Li Qing's sword-gripping hand.

The ground beneath his feet exploded with a boom, and his body shot forward.

At this moment, he no longer cared about Madam Liu's instructions. The Soul-Confusing Pill Xia Wuhui had given him was cast to the back of his mind. He wanted only to tear Xia Wuji's corpse into ten thousand pieces!

The third level of the Sea of Qi Realm already counted as the strength of an expert within the Sword Pavilion. With one slash of his sword, sword light erupted in violent fury!

What he unleashed was the Sword Pavilion's mid-grade Yellow-rank martial art, the Eighteen Styles of Mad Sword!

Facing Li Qing's Eighteen Styles of Mad Sword killing move, Xia Wuji swept his sword horizontally, and the two blades collided viciously in midair.

"Clang!"

In the next instant, Li Qing's body was sent flying backward!

Xia Wuji's feet also sank into the ground as he slid backward, plowing two deep trenches through the earth.

A flicker of astonishment surfaced on Li Qing's savage face. "Your Dantian was shattered by me, yet it healed. And you can erupt with such power at the True Essence Realm... Looks like you've been hiding quite a few secrets, you little bastard!"

"It would be such a waste to kill you outright!"

"Once I suppress you and dig out every last one of your secrets, I'll torture you to death!"

Only then did he remember the Soul-Confusing Pill Xia Wuhui had given him.

He only needed to suppress Xia Wuji and stuff the Soul-Confusing Pill into his mouth. Then he could easily obtain the method for extracting the Azure Star Token and give Madam Liu an explanation.

As for Xia Wuji's secrets, he would keep them all for himself!

Perhaps this was a tremendous stroke of fortune!

Once he obtained this fortune, he could torture Xia Wuji to death and avenge his son!

With that thought, Li Qing launched another wave of killing moves. The Eighteen Styles of Mad Sword were savage and frenzied in every strike, carrying considerable might under the support of his third-level Sea of Qi Realm cultivation.

Moreover, this man possessed exceedingly rich combat experience and reacted swiftly.

Relying on the top-grade Yellow-rank True Sun Swordplay and the high-grade Yellow-rank Shadowless Wind Step, Xia Wuji remained calm and composed beneath Li Qing's onslaught, without the slightest hint of panic or constraint.

Instead, Li Qing grew increasingly shocked—and increasingly anxious.

In an instant.

Xia Wuji caught a flaw in Li Qing's Eighteen Styles of Mad Sword. With a light flick of his blade, he knocked Li Qing's sword aside.

Before Li Qing could change his move.

The blazing firelight within Xia Wuji's Jinghong Sword surged violently!

True Sun Swordplay, Three Suns Opening!

It was completely different from when he had used this move in the Mortal World Sword Master's tomb. Back then, Xia Wuji could only barely condense one great sun.

But now, his cultivation had reached the fifth level of the True Essence Realm!

Two great suns instantly hung upon his sword edge!

The great suns shone brilliantly, their might vast and majestic. Xia Wuji slashed down, and the two sword-qi suns crashed onto Li Qing's body!

Li Qing used every method at his disposal, raising his sword to block, but in the end, his longsword shattered!

"Boom! Boom!"

Deafening explosions rang out as the ground collapsed into a massive crater.

Inside the crater, Li Qing was somehow still alive.

Though he looked bedraggled, he had not suffered particularly grave injuries!

He rushed out through the rolling dust and smoke, the exposed portions of his body outside his armor charred black.

"Hahaha!"

"Xia Wuji, even that move of yours failed to kill me. I refuse to believe you have anything stronger!"

"You're ultimately only at the True Essence Realm. You cannot keep erupting like this!"

Li Qing burst into crazed laughter.

Xia Wuji narrowed his eyes slightly. "So a High-grade Treasure Armor was what protected your dog life!"

Normally, even as a Sword Pavilion commander, Li Qing should only have been able to wear mid-grade Treasure Armor.

Yet the armor on his body was High-grade Treasure Armor!

"That's right!"

"This High-grade Treasure Armor was the reward I received three months ago for agreeing to the Madam's request and shattering your Dantian!"

"Xia Wuji, Xia Wuji, you truly have surprised me. But in the end, you still cannot change your fate!"

"Is that so?" Xia Wuji charged forward in an instant.

His sword thrust out like lightning!

True Sun Swordplay, Pluck Chestnuts from the Fire!

Relying on the defensive power of his High-grade Treasure Armor, Li Qing actually neither dodged nor evaded. He thrust out his chest and slammed toward Xia Wuji's sword tip!

Although the Jinghong Sword had returned to the ranks of top-grade treasured swords and was further enhanced by Xia Wuji's Sword Essence, making it incomparably sharp, Li Qing's third-level Sea of Qi Realm cultivation combined with the defense of his High-grade Treasure Armor forcibly blocked Xia Wuji's strike!

The sword edge pierced slightly into the High-grade Treasure Armor, but could advance no farther!

"It's time to end this!"

Li Qing roared, the sword in his right hand about to slash viciously toward Xia Wuji.

"Indeed, it is time to end this."

Xia Wuji spoke softly.

In that instant, the Sword Seed within his Dantian erupted with incomparably brilliant sword light!

Man-Sword Unity!

Before Li Qing's raised sword could fall!

The Jinghong Sword in Xia Wuji's hand, its sharpness surging wildly, completely pierced through Li Qing's High-grade Treasure Armor, its blade passing through Li Qing's body!

The fierce aura contained within the sword erupted inside Li Qing's body in an instant.

It was like the agony of ten thousand swords piercing his body!

"Aaaah!"

Li Qing let out a heart-rending scream.

When Xia Wuji pulled out his sword.

Li Qing's body dropped straight to his knees. One hand braced against the ground, while the other clutched his chest.

Xia Wuji kicked Li Qing over, then planted a foot on his abdomen. Tyrannical force surged directly into Li Qing's body and shattered his Dantian!

The Jinghong Sword, stained with Li Qing's blood, rested against Li Qing's throat.

"Give me a full and honest account of everything!" Xia Wuji shouted coldly.

Though he knew all this was connected to Madam Liu, he still wanted to understand it more clearly.

"I'll talk... I'll tell you everything..."

"Three months ago, the Pavilion Master was about to emerge from seclusion, so the Madam ordered me to cripple you. That would prevent you from competing with Young Master Wudao for power in the Sword Pavilion... and make it easier to take the Azure Star Token from you after you lost your cultivation."

"And the order to capture you this time did indeed come from the Pavilion Master... because he believed you had stolen the Crimson Blood Sword, and that you had also taken the strand of Innate Vital Energy released when the Xia Family ancestor manifested. The Pavilion Master wanted to give these things to Young Master Wudao."

"The Madam and Miss Wuhui privately sought me out and gave me instructions... Miss Wuhui wanted me to capture you, make you take the Soul-Confusing Pill she refined, obtain from you the method of extracting the Azure Star Token, then kill you so you could not return to the Sword Pavilion and duel Xia Wudao."

"Because the Crimson Blood Sword was sold off by the Madam, she feared that after you returned, you would expose the truth and let the Pavilion Master learn of it..."

"Young Master Wuji... I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong... Please, give me a chance to turn over a new leaf. Don't kill me. I'll return to the Sword Pavilion with you, and before the Pavilion Master, I'll reveal everything the Madam did to you..."

Xia Wuji sneered.

The chill on his face grew ever deeper.

Tell Xia Xuan all these truths in exchange for Xia Xuan's understanding? To obtain his compensation?

As the master of the Sword Pavilion, even if Xia Xuan had been in seclusion for three years, could there truly be things he failed to understand?

He had merely deliberately pretended not to know.

Because in his eyes, Xia Wudao and Xia Wuhui were his good son and good daughter.

In his previous life, had Xia Wuji not explained himself before?

Yet Xia Xuan still had not uttered a single word regarding the persecution Xia Wuji had suffered, allowing Madam Liu, Xia Wudao, and Xia Wuhui to drive him into a dead end!

At that thought.

Xia Wuji's killing intent surged fiercely!

"Young Master Wuji... I've told you everything... Don't kill me..." Li Qing wept bitterly and begged for mercy.

Xia Wuji looked at him coldly. "You confessed, but did I ever say I would spare your dog life?"

As his words fell, his sword swept through the air and severed the head of this dog thief!

Xia Wuji skillfully gathered the spoils. Aside from some money and a small number of mid-grade precious pills, he found the Soul-Confusing Pill refined by Xia Wuhui and a bottle of high-grade Qi-Nourishing Precious Pills on Li Qing's body.

As for the swords scattered across the ground, they were nothing but scrap metal in Xia Wuji's eyes, beneath his notice.

A moment later, Xia Wuji arrived near the Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng.

The four top-grade Fierce Beasts were fighting each other fiercely like a snipe and clam. He would be the fisherman who reaped the final profit!