Blood Grudge Ancestor

"You really are worthy of being a prized disciple of Qingyun Sect. This old man is impressed. But, young one, now that I've made my move, you can forget about going back. You have only yourself to blame for picking the wrong person to provoke—daring to provoke me, Blood Grudge Ancestor. You really don't know when to quit." Just as Ye Yun was preparing to finish off the three remaining men, a voice as unpleasant as an owl's suddenly rang out above him, making him stop his spell mid-cast.

Ye Yun looked up toward the voice and saw an old man in a black robe trimmed with gold hovering in the air to his right. Though the old man's hair was entirely white, his skin was remarkably rosy. It wasn't as elastic as a young man's, but neither was it loose and sagging. He stood tall and carried an imposing presence.

"I hate craning my neck to look someone in the eye." Ye Yun couldn't help frowning when he realized the old man was a Jade Purity Ninth Layer expert.

"Oh?" Blood Grudge Ancestor gave him an interested glance and sneered. "And what of it? When it comes to absolute strength—"

Rumble!

A massive bolt of lightning appeared out of thin air and struck toward the old man, cutting off Blood Grudge Ancestor's words. But as a Jade Purity Ninth Layer expert, Blood Grudge Ancestor narrowly dodged the lightning at the last instant. Ye Yun's attack had come too suddenly, though. Blood Grudge Ancestor had escaped the bolt, but his white hair stood on end, turning into an explosion of frizz.

Blood Grudge Ancestor was furious. He had lived for several centuries, and ever since reaching the Jade Purity Ninth Layer, he had remained in seclusion, trying to advance even further. This time, he had left seclusion after hearing his subordinates report that they had found a Vermillion Fruit Tree in the Great Wilderness. He hadn't expected to hear, as soon as he came out, that a disciple from a righteous sect had been causing trouble for his organization—and now that disciple had even found their hideout. He had thought that dealing with a young disciple himself would be child's play. Instead, he had suffered a small defeat at their very first encounter and made a complete fool of himself.

"Brat, you've really angered me. I'll tear you limb from limb!" Blood Grudge Ancestor was nearly apoplectic after the lightning's residual power had given him an explosion of hair. He had thrown his weight around for centuries, yet now he'd suffered a loss at the hands of a barely grown brat. How could he show his face in the cultivation world if word got out? The only way to wash away this humiliation was to tear the brat in front of him to pieces.

With that thought, Blood Grudge Ancestor drew on the magical power within him, enveloping himself in a blood-red glow. The light flickered and shifted, making his movements hard to read. Thanks to this technique, he had killed many opponents who couldn't predict what he would do.

Ye Yun understood that, though his foundations were solid and his strength might not be inferior to Blood Grudge Ancestor's, he couldn't match someone who had lived for centuries in either combat experience or hidden tricks. And no one would believe that a demonic cultivator of that age didn't have one or two sinister magical treasures. If Ye Yun wasn't careful, he could easily be caught off guard. So the instant Blood Grudge Ancestor was enveloped in blood-red light, Ye Yun went on guard and rose into the air to prevent a sneak attack.

It turned out Ye Yun had been right to do so. He had barely left the spot where he'd been standing when a massive pit appeared there, with a fearsome giant centipede inside it.

As the saying went, one good turn deserved another. Since Blood Grudge Ancestor had already attacked, Ye Yun couldn't just take the hits without returning them. He formed a sword spell with his right hand, and the ancient sword in his left shot from its sheath. With a clear ring, it flashed with a faint blue light and sped toward Blood Grudge Ancestor.

Blood Grudge Ancestor glanced at the flying sword streaking toward him and curled his lip in disdain. The idea that an ordinary iron sword, not even a magical treasure, could hurt him was a joke.

After getting a good look at Ye Yun's flying sword, Blood Grudge Ancestor ignored it completely. He merely raised a defensive barrier in front of himself, then formed a spell to send the centipede below charging toward Ye Yun. Though his centipede wasn't exceptionally venomous, he had spent a century raising it. An ordinary cultivator bitten by it would suffer severe injuries, if not die. Most remarkable of all, it was as fast as lightning—and it could fly.

Seeing Blood Grudge Ancestor disregard his flying sword, Ye Yun let a fleeting smile touch his lips. He pointed his left index and middle fingers at Blood Grudge Ancestor and changed the sword spell with his right hand. The flying sword's speed suddenly nearly doubled. At the same time, a bolt of lightning appeared in the air above Blood Grudge Ancestor and streaked toward his head. After doing all that, Ye Yun didn't even look. He quickly turned downward, changed his left hand from a pointing gesture to a palm, and struck at the centipede flying silently toward him.

Boom!

The centipede, more than half a meter long, was blasted away by the Palm Thunder that shot from Ye Yun's hand. With a thud, it slammed into a demonic cultivator below who had been watching the fight, caving in the man's chest. Black blood poured from his mouth, and after a few spasms, he lay still.

The centipede had survived Ye Yun's Palm Thunder, but most of its shell had shattered from the blow. Even its pincers had broken, leaving it completely unable to fight.

Ye Yun had great confidence in his Palm Thunder, so after striking once, he turned his attention back to Blood Grudge Ancestor. The old man was worthy of his centuries of experience: he easily dodged Ye Yun's lightning, while a blood-red skull intercepted the flying sword. Because of the sword's material, cracks had already appeared in its blade.

Looking at the cracked sword, Ye Yun gritted his teeth. "This won't do. Blood Grudge Ancestor has magical treasures, and I don't. He's already a step stronger than me. If this goes on, I'll lose. And his side has reinforcements, too. The longer this drags on, the worse off I'll be. If that's the case, I'll have to risk it."

Once he had made up his mind, Ye Yun changed his spell and shouted, "Explode!" At his command, the flying sword, already at its limit, burst apart with a boom. Its steel blade broke into countless fragments that flew in all directions, and the skull that had been pressing forward was blasted away.

After detonating his flying sword, Ye Yun didn't even look to see the result. He quickly began forming another spell. As he did, clouds of thunder gathered overhead. In moments, they had amassed into a vast bank. Blood Grudge Ancestor had also recovered from the shock of Ye Yun blowing up his sword. He didn't know what Ye Yun was planning, but the thick thunderclouds above looked powerful enough to make even him uneasy. Still, the spell took a little too long to prepare—so Blood Grudge Ancestor was certain he would win this time.

Watching the thunderclouds grow thicker overhead, Blood Grudge Ancestor didn't dare waste time. He bit the tip of his tongue and spat his vital blood onto the blood-red skull. "Brat, you're still too green. Don't think a powerful technique is automatically a good one. No matter how powerful it is, you have to be able to use it! So, brat, die!" The skull absorbed Blood Grudge Ancestor's vital blood, grew to the size of a car, and turned a ghastly red. It opened its jaws and roared as it charged toward Ye Yun.

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