"Who are you?"
"Hundred Flowers Valley. Huangfu Xiaoxing."
"Get lost! I won't fight anyone from Hundred Flowers Valley!"
"Why not?"
"Because you people are shameless!"
Those few brief exchanges plunged the stands and the area below into silence. Everyone fell quiet.
It was the first time the young Daoist had cursed someone. It seemed there was a story behind Hundred Flowers Valley. Wang Xian had swept aside everyone else, yet he actually disdained fighting one of its disciples!
Huangfu Xiaoxing stared at Wang Xian on the raised platform, as if deep in thought.
After a moment, she still climbed onto the platform, one step at a time.
She said coldly, "I'm here. You can draw your sword and knock me off the platform!"
Wang Xian shook his head. "I can draw my sword at any time. But I advise you not to look."
"Why?" Huangfu Xiaoxing asked.
"If you see my sword, you might end up dead."
Wang Xian thought for a moment, then added, "You came too late. If you'd come before I broke through, there might still have been a sliver of hope!"
The instant those words left his mouth, the whole square erupted!
With a single breakthrough, he had reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.
Wang Xian hadn't even stepped into the Golden Core realm, yet he was saying this to a cultivator at the fifth level of Nascent Soul!
This wasn't just an explosion—it was outright disregard!
And absolute confidence!
Even the East Sea disciples and elders secretly felt relieved. Fortunately, Wang Xian had only competed with Nangong Fei'er in calligraphy earlier.
Otherwise, Nangong Fei'er would probably have been seriously injured by now.
Huangfu Xiaoxing, however, said proudly, "I'm here now. Go ahead and draw your sword!"
"Are you crazy, or just stupid? Are you that eager to die by someone else's sword?"
Wang Xian snapped coldly, "I know what you're trying to do, but I'm not in the mood. So I've decided not to give you what you want!"
A flower petal drifted down. Huangfu Xiaoxing reached out and caught it, holding it before her eyes.
She raised it to her lips and gently breathed in its scent.
"Once a petal leaves its branch, does it have to die?" she murmured.
"Yes," Wang Xian replied.
With a sigh, Huangfu Xiaoxing gave a bitter smile.
"If I cross swords with you, and you don't fight back, I'll die quietly, just like this petal. Do you believe me?"
"Are you threatening me?"
Wang Xian raised an eyebrow and barked, "I'm not your fellow disciple, and I'm not your brother. I have no obligation to save your life!"
But as he spoke, he seemed to understand a little of Huangfu Xiaoxing's predicament.
Clearly, she had been threatened by one of her elders.
Or perhaps Hundred Flowers Valley had a cruel rule that left Huangfu Xiaoxing no choice but to fight him!
Thinking this, Wang Xian turned to look at the Hundred Flowers Valley elders in the stands.
Baili Yuhuang and Shangguan Wuchen sat there, faces icy, saying nothing.
Wang Xian looked toward his martial aunt, Dongfang Nishang. Her brows were tightly furrowed; clearly, just like him, she disliked the two elders from Hundred Flowers Valley.
At the thought, a mischievous idea came to Wang Xian.
As everyone stared in shock, he flicked his hand.
A spirit sword, its scabbard dark green and its aura laced with icy menace, appeared in his hand and before the eyes of the crowd.
Before Huangfu Xiaoxing could speak, he shouted to the thousand people in the square.
"This is the Netherworld Sword. I hate the aura coming off this sword, and I'd rather not use it..."
"Ah..."
The disciples of Hundred Flowers Valley screamed in unison.
Even Baili Yuhuang and Shangguan Wuchen shot to their feet.
Just as the two were about to rush down from the stands, Dongfang Nishang cried coldly, "What do you think you're doing?"
Only then did the two freeze, rooted to the spot, unable to move another step.
They murmured, "The Netherworld Divine Sword—that belongs to Hundred Flowers Valley..."
The square erupted again!
Damn!
This wasn't defying heaven. This was turning the whole sky upside down!
Just how insane was this?
The sword that had been lost by one of the Four Great Sects ten years ago—their mountain-guarding sword—had appeared in Wang Xian's hands!
Everyone could clearly see the disdain and disgust in Wang Xian's eyes.
He plainly found the Netherworld Sword's chill too sinister.
Even though the sword was still sheathed in Wang Xian's hand, Ximen Tinghua sensed its icy aura. She couldn't help sighing. "If you're holding that sword, I won't fight you!"
Meng Xiaolou smiled. "Neither will I."
Tang Shisan, however, laughed. "How much for that sword? Five thousand or fifty thousand Spirit Stones? Name your price. I'm asking on their behalf."
Wang Xian replied coldly, "This sword isn't for sale!"
Tang Shisan was taken aback, then couldn't help asking again,
"What if I offer a hundred thousand Spirit Stones? You're so poor, aren't you waiting for Spirit Stones to buy your master wine?"
"With a hundred thousand Spirit Stones, you could probably marry another pretty girl, rebuild the Taoist temple, and put up a resplendent golden palace..."
Wang Xian shook his head. "You're overthinking it!"
He spoke while looking at Huangfu Xiaoxing in front of him, but his gaze was really fixed on the two Hundred Flowers Valley elders in the stands.
Word by word, he said, "Forget fifty thousand. I wouldn't give this sword back to you even for five hundred thousand Spirit Stones. I didn't take it from your Hundred Flowers Valley!"
"If you want this sword back, have Granny Hundred Flowers come in person to Cloud-Rising Taoist Temple on Kunlun's southern mountain and find my master..."
"Her and the Valley Master, Baili Wenqiu, know why I won't return this sword!"
At those words, the elders and disciples of Hundred Flowers Valley weren't the only ones stunned.
The people from the Mystic Heaven Sect, East Sea Flying Immortal Island, and even the Kunlun Sword Sect were all dumbfounded.
Who didn't know Granny Hundred Flowers's standing in Hundred Flowers Valley?
Yet Wang Xian had named her directly, demanding that she come in person, along with the Valley Master, to ask for it.
Dongfang Nishang asked, "Why?"
Dantai Xiaoxue thought it over. "Junior Brother, did Granny Hundred Flowers bully you?"
"If Granny Hundred Flowers made a move, you must have suffered a lot... Master, you should ask our martial uncle what happened at the Taoist temple after we left!"
Just then, Dantai Xiaoxue remembered what had happened last winter.
Granny Hundred Flowers and Baili Wenqiu had suddenly come to visit and asked Master about the Divine Sword...
"Even if you die by my sword, I still won't give it back to you!"
Wang Xian's voice grew colder and colder. "So, do you still want to fight me? If you leave now, I guarantee no one will dare laugh at you!"
Huangfu Xiaoxing let out a long sigh and smiled bitterly. "But you're wrong!"
Wang Xian paused. "I'm wrong?"
"Shing!"
Huangfu Xiaoxing drew the spirit sword in her hand. A mountain breeze swept past, stirring her blue robes.
A hint of desolation crossed her face. In a voice barely audible, she said,
"Once a disciple of Hundred Flowers Valley steps onto the platform, she would never dare retreat without a fight!"
Wang Xian stiffened at her words.
In the blink of an eye, he seemed to be back on Phoenix Terrace at the Academy!
It was as though a spirit sword were slowly piercing his chest, as he watched blood drip, drop by drop...
At that instant, he had gone numb. He couldn't even feel the pain!
Just as his martial aunt had said, anyone else in his place would have had only one thought at that moment.
To die as quickly as possible!
Now, looking at Huangfu Xiaoxing, he felt the same despair he had once felt.
That helpless expression.
He exhaled softly, drew the Netherworld Sword inch by inch, then silently put away its scabbard.
Looking at Huangfu Xiaoxing, he said, "I'll strike only once! If you can take it, you win!"
Before you continue