"Guards, shut the doors—release Duobao!"
At Ye Changqing's command, the gates of the Azure Palace suddenly slammed shut.
Profound patterns emerged across the walls, forming a powerful formation.
Daoist Duobao felt utterly miserable. What exactly was he in Senior Disciple Brother's eyes?
Still, he obeyed Senior Disciple Brother's order, putting on a fiercely vicious expression.
"Seize Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal!"
At Ye Changqing's command, Daoist Duobao and Zhao Gongming pinned Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal to the ground from either side.
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal felt his head spinning. Wasn't he supposed to be receiving a treasure?
He quickly came to his senses and cried out desperately from the ground, pleading his innocence. "Why are you arresting me? What did I do wrong?"
Ye Changqing gave a cold laugh. "Should I address you as Joyful Buddha of Dingguang?"
The expression on Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's face suddenly froze, while stormy waves surged through his heart.
There were naturally quite a few spies from other forces within the vast Jie Cult, and he himself had been sent into the Jie Cult by the Two Sages of the West.
Joyful Buddha of Dingguang was the Buddhist fruition the Two Sages of the West had promised him.
How did Ye Changqing know all this?
Yet he soon calmed down. Ye Changqing could not produce any evidence anyway, so what was there to fear?
"Senior Disciple Brother, you can't falsely accuse me!"
"I've never even heard of any Joyful Buddha of Dingguang..."
Though Ye Changqing was the Jie Cult's sole inheritor disciple, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was no insignificant figure either.
He was one of Sect Master Tongtian's Seven Attendant Immortals, and could be considered one of Sect Master Tongtian's most trusted disciples.
If Ye Changqing could not produce evidence, he could forget about forcing an unfounded charge onto him.
"Good. Very good!"
"Since you want to die with your eyes open, I'll show you what ironclad evidence looks like!"
Ye Changqing laughed in fury. Even now, this fellow stubbornly refused to admit it.
In truth, Ye Changqing had kept a close watch on Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's every move ever since before he achieved Dao at the Primordial level.
After all, in the final battle of the future Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, the Myriad Immortals Formation had been broken because Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal, who held the banner, defected in the midst of battle.
Ye Changqing tapped the center of his brow, and an image appeared before the myriad immortals of the Jie Cult.
On a deserted island, a killing formation lay concealed, hiding the filth within.
Beneath the island was a space of its own. In that sunless darkness, female living beings were imprisoned one after another.
There was not a trace of life in their eyes, as though they had long since despaired of this world.
The instant Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal saw the scene, he was stunned. How had Ye Changqing found that place?
A cunning rabbit had three burrows; this was also one of his hidden residences.
As for the women imprisoned there, they were cauldrons he used to vent his lust.
Having achieved Dao as a rabbit, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal had never severed his innate nature. If he was not in heat, he was on the way to being in heat.
He had originally wanted to find one or two female cultivators in the Jie Cult as companions.
But most of the Jie Cult's female immortals were devoted to Ye Changqing alone, and he had been rejected time and again.
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's eyes turned crimson as he stared hatefully at Ye Changqing above. It was all because of him!
He took a deep breath to calm himself, yet still refused to admit anything.
The corners of his mouth curled upward in a sinister smile. Ye Changqing could never have imagined that he still had one final move.
He had long ago set up a formation within that island. With a single thought from him, the entire island would be blasted to pieces and sink to the bottom of the sea.
Explode for me!
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal roared inwardly and immediately detonated the formation.
"Why is this happening?"
He suddenly froze and shouted aloud. A force had severed his mental command, suppressing it within his body.
He abruptly raised his head and saw Ye Changqing's face filled with a cold sneer.
"Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal, you have committed every kind of evil. Today, I shall uphold the heavens' justice and cleanse the Jie Cult of this traitor!"
"Sword, come!"
With Ye Changqing's shout, an immortal sword appeared in his hand out of thin air.
"The Immortal Executing Sword?"
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal cried out in alarm. As one of Sect Master Tongtian's sword attendants, he naturally recognized this sword.
"Wait..."
"Why do you get to kill me?"
"I bled for the Jie Cult... I stood against tribulations for the Jie Cult. I want to see Master..."
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal struggled desperately as he watched Ye Changqing walk toward him step by step.
Seeing that his howls achieved nothing, he changed his tune.
"Ye Changqing, if you're a man, then face me one-on-one in a fight to the death!"
"What kind of skill is ganging up on someone?"
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal kept trying to provoke Ye Changqing with his words.
The Jie Cult disciples around him had already retreated several yards away, their eyes brimming with contempt.
The female immortals of the Jie Cult had originally felt only disgust toward him, but after hearing those words, their disgust reached its peak.
They had thought Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was merely lustful. They had never imagined he would be shameless to such an extent.
He clearly knew that Senior Disciple Brother was severely wounded, yet he still had the gall to demand a life-and-death duel with him.
Bixiao ground her teeth in hatred and was about to smash Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's dog head apart with one punch.
But in the next instant, she froze, because Ye Changqing had agreed!
"You can't, Senior Disciple Brother!"
"Senior Disciple Brother, please reconsider..."
The Jie Cult members hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal already deserved to die ten thousand deaths. If he injured Ye Changqing again, it would be a sin beyond measure.
If Sect Master Tongtian returned and learned of this, none of them would escape responsibility.
Daoist Duobao in particular bore the greatest burden—before Sect Master Tongtian left, he had entrusted both the Jie Cult and Senior Disciple Brother to him.
San Xiao and Zhao Gongming could not understand it. Senior Disciple Brother had clearly taught them never to put themselves in danger and never to give up a numerical advantage.
Why, then, was he insisting on doing this now?
"He is merely a petty wretch. I can kill him with a casual stroke!"
Ye Changqing held his immortal sword, his bearing soaring with heroic spirit.
Seeing him like this, the myriad immortals of the Jie Cult no longer tried to stop him.
Because at this very moment, their Senior Disciple Brother had returned!
They only needed to stand quietly and watch as their Senior Disciple Brother, with a mortal body, slew Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal—the Daluo Golden Immortal traitor.
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was instantly overjoyed. His body suddenly felt light as Zhao Gongming and Daoist Duobao released him at the same time.
His eyes darted as a scheme sprang to mind. So long as he took Ye Changqing hostage later, would he still need to fear being unable to escape Golden Ao Island?
As long as he fled back to the Western World, the Two Sages of the West would naturally protect him.
Then he would become the rightful Joyful Buddha of Dingguang.
At that thought, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal did not wish to remain in this damned place for even a moment longer.
When he looked at Ye Changqing, killing intent flooded his eyes. Though Ye Changqing was now grievously wounded and on the verge of death, he could not afford to underestimate him.
Caution, prudence, and suspicion were precisely the secrets that had allowed him to grow from a weak little creature into a Daluo Golden Immortal expert.
"Go!"
Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal summoned his magic treasure, the Dingguang Pearl, before everyone's eyes. In an instant, it unleashed a blinding radiance.
It was as though a sun had risen within the great hall of the Azure Palace, instantly robbing Ye Changqing of his sight.
Taking advantage of that fleeting instant, he rapidly arrived before Ye Changqing.
His fingers transformed into a pair of sharp blades, gleaming as they thrust toward Ye Changqing's throat.
"I've got him!"
A curve of triumph rose at the corner of Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's mouth.
Shhk!
With only a hum, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal stood frozen in place.
Ye Changqing coughed up a mouthful of blood. The Immortal Executing Sword in his hand had already turned into a streak of light and vanished.
Bang!
Only after Ye Changqing slowly returned to the throne above did Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal explode into a cloud of blood mist.
San Xiao and the other female immortals cried out in shock. Who said mortals could not slaughter immortals?
Their Senior Disciple Brother was a man whom even the Heavenly Dao feared!
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